janey

You don't 'alf get up to some odd things in your time off !

Thanks for the heads up Monkey, I'll be trying to get my place sorted anon.

Wear one of those disposable gimp suits next time, you know you've been dying for an excuse to!

Give me new, bionic knees that don't have a nasty habit of dislocating??? I used to be pretty good on a set of spikes, but it's the whole shyness thing that stopped me from ever competing . I don't think I'm alone in that affliction and I don't know how you would get around it. Maybe no loud speaker running comentary? Which would make it a very dull and uninformative sport

Have you seen the posts from Lawranced1 about work in Essex? It might be worth PMing him to find out what you would need for him to take you on. Good luck, there IS work out there for people with the right attitude, so hopefully you'll find something soon.

It's just as well hemlock water dropwort isn't poisonous or anything if you ended up getting covered in it and inhaling a good few lungfulls of fine mist then, isn't it? Oh, it is How are you feeling?

I like that! I could spend ages on there finding my fave trees for the next time I'm at Wetonbirt. I've just admitted my geek tendancies for all to see, haven't I? I did a bit of work in the Arboretum a few years ago and the team there were only part way through surveying and locating all the trees for their the data base. It's amazing how far things have progressed since then.

Ya heathen!

Quote section 6 at them: tposguide.pdf

A ladder? That'll give you a bit of start, before you DON'T spike the rest of the way.

Move to Tenerife?

I suffer terribly from this, so you have my sympathy. Is it just your hands and HAVS related or your other extremities as well? Strangely, when I stopped working on't' tools, my hands weren't too bad. It's in the years since that they have got steadily worse The bad news is that there is no cure. The symptoms can be managed, to an extent. You'll probably have to try different things for a bit and find out your triggers and what helps. I was given soddall information about this from my GP and I've had to do a bit of research into this myself (I love Google!). The main thing is to try and keep hour hands warm at all times. For me, this can involve wearing gloves even in summer if I'm out surveying. Avoid caffeine and any legal or illegal stimulants as these constrict your blood vessels and reduce your circulation. The same goes for smoking. Try to find things that increase your circulation. Exercise and generally keeping active (which I suspect you may do, given the job n' all ) are good. I take high strength Ginkgo (120mg tablets) and find this really helps. Your GP may prescribe something to boost your circulation, but there are a lot of side effects like sweating and flushing. That's something you should discuss though if your hands get really bad. Keep your hands all girly and moisturised. The reduced blood flow means that less moisture gets to the skin and your hands can become very chapped and even more painful. So you now have a perfect excuse for that rose scented hand lotion you've always wanted to use

Ya sneaky bugger . The colours not quite right but it's incredibly like a giant puffball. I have a feeling that's going to be remembered by some on here when you ask for a bit of ident' advice next time. You may not get an entirely sensible answer

I knew that, of course. I just didn't want to overwhelm with information...

That's a brilliant link! You just know I'm going to be looking through there later trying to spot me ol' comrades. I even had the obligatory dog-on-a-rope and dreadlocks at one stage DO NOT go down that road. Wood chip and unwashed hair is not a good combination.

Cool How's the renovation going? Are you going to be doing your crusty traveller impression on our highways this summer, do you think?

Crown Imperial - Fritillaria something or t'other. It's a close relative to our native Snake's Head Fritillary.

Sorry, I phrased that part of my quick answer given above very badly. I was trying to do too many things at once .

Glad to hear it . But if you still have the energy to type after your first day then they didn't work you hard enough!

It's quite a broad question, isn't it? (cue ironic understatement). In no particular order, these quickly sprung to mind: Planning constraints (Con areas, TPOs) SSSIs, ancient monuments etc Protected species, eg, bats Occupier's liabilty Duty of care Robust caveats in your report Risk assessment(s) A tree owner has a legal obligation to ensure that their trees are inspected on a regular basis by a competant person, though as is often the case, terms like "regular" have not been legally defined. Um, sorry, my mind's gone blank now . Hope the above is of some help.

What a fantastic find! I'm not really an orchidophile, but I'm still envious. Great pics.

Or nothing that you're going to admit to here ?

If a tree has a trunk diameter of 7.5cm at 1.5m above ground level, then it is covered by Conservation Area regulations. This means that you have to notify (as opposed to asking permission for a Protected tree) your Local Authority of any tree work that you intend to carry out. This is known as a Section 211 Notification. They then have up to six weeks to either allow the work as outlined to go ahead or place a TPO on the tree. Take a look at the planning pages of your Council's website or give them a call if you need help, they're usually nice enough in the tree section

Um, yeah, I kinda set myself up for that...

For once I can actually name everything in a set of pics you post! Hurrah. I don't want to make you big(ger) headed or anything, but you do take a craicing photo