Big Joe

Nice to see you today, Paul! A good show, I thought, and here's why... My local agricultural show wants £12 for entry, and the on-site catering is similar: expensive, maybe, but more convenient than lugging my own supplies. Pay up, or set the alarm and make the effort - we can choose. Several impressive car park set ups by those who prefer to make the effort - I salute you! I was going to try and keep this short - hey ho... It's my association and I will get out of my show what I put in. I wanted to talk to Canopy Access and twice approached the display area, got eye contact and one hello but no engagement. Maybe there is some currency to this notion of elitist arb snobs on a jolly hanging out with mates, with zero interest in little old me, I thought. I need to find something arb I can add to our LA annual event that brings ecology to city primary schools. In June. How to include trees? The site is our 'stately home' with some fine park trees. My conscience got the best of my ego and I went back a 3rd time, met James and I think we might be in business, with the outside possibility that some city kids might have fun with trees and learn a bit more about them. Result. Worth the trip for that alone, but I also got some useful info on woodwaste markets, tree data collection and management systems, bought a few books and caught up with a few mates. My tree team colleagues enjoyed all the shiny new kit, so everyone's a winner. Thank you to all who clearly put some effort into a well-organised show. If it makes a contribution to AA budgets for future years that will evangelise trees and build our tree work profession, that has to be a Good Thing. Surely? Off to the bookies to put a fiver on South Africa's Tshabalala to win the Golden Boot - wot a screamer! Cheers.

Attending for the first time tomorrow as paid LA bod. See you for a chat, Paul...?

Landowners need a "defensible system". Birmingham City Council Ash (1999), Poll vs Bartholomew (year?); some good stuff on AIE.org. Definitely scary territory! Poll v. Bartholomew judgement basically found that inspector was both underqualified and negiligent. Some definitions up on AIE website in joint statements from both prosecution and defence expert witnesses

Er, failed it twice, so far. The 3 day course is a refresher, assumes you already have Tech Cert or similar. Lantra PTI Level 3 is in 3 parts. Written paper, not too bad, refresher training helps; fungi test, easy if you have some knowledge, have Lonsdale with you, AND HAVE WRITTEN OUT the info the trainer will give you (name, seat of infection, type, strategy, typical consequences) but be careful - if you get the name wrong, you can't score any other points. 2 wrong and you cannot pass! Finally, as the man says above, you must survey 2 trees and produce a report. Prepare a key, a pro-forma, and then make sure it all hangs together - examiner has failed me once partly because my report conflicts with my key. It's a bit different to anything else I've ever done (forestry, utility arb), and I thought very tough - basically, you need to speak the lingo. If you're not used to detailed inspection work and aren't rock solid on your arb, you will do well to pass. Last time, I crossed the 70% threshold, but still failed with critical faults - basically the examiner did not agree with my assessment of tree condition (and I'm sure he was probably right!) With 3 good A levels and 15 O levels, I'm not used to failing The Man's little tests, and thought this was an absolute b*stard