TArrryan

Just noticed I miscounted. The pictures, the 15th image is in fact looking over beaulieu pond towards either palace house or the old monastary, it was also taken on the same frosty morning as the other picture

The 15th picture was taken at hatchet pond in the new forest, Hampshire. I took it on a frostymorning a few years ago, haven't seen it as still as that for a long time If I remember right the flower is from a magnolia grandiflora, it was a very old specimin growing on the side of a listed building we would visit evry other week (because the grounds keeper was too lazy to do it himself!!)

Here they are, the seipa isn't too good but the B&W picture is much better. I've also included a picture of the original tree, the girth at chest height was about 193cm, I didn't measure it but i do remember trying to put my arms around it and my finger tips barely touched. In case anyone didn't know, the length of your out streched arms should more or less be exactly the same as your height!! In the centre of the unions was a rancid pool of water, bot did it reek when i stuffed a stick down there, was about a meter deep so it went on underground if my measurements are right. and the picture of the baby gorse I just found amusing, I like plants growing in strange places I found the grid Ill put it to use tommorow I just noticed the picture of the pool is from one of the other multi stemmed chestnuts, tricky blighters

Thankyou very much, If I have time tommorow after work (have to prune a wisteria) I will go out and take a few new pictures keeping in mind what you have taught me. Mum recently bought a camera with a manual zoom but I somhow doubt i will be allowed to venture into the forest with it! I did take the first picture in B&W and seipa, Ill hunt them down quickly, they were mature sweet chesbut's, there were about 4 maybe 5 like this, all multi stemmed.

Lumix DMC-TZ3, a little old now but she has served me well

I like it, My original feels like it has wasted space around the edges where i couldn't get any closer without blurring the picture. Thank you

I must admit I only know how to press the button to take a picture but ill remember what you have said, you are a very exprienced person when it comes to this, I have seen your other pictures and i like them very much. I'm using a Lumix DMC-TZ3, nothing fancy Ah ham not a silky, I wasnt using one back in those days, I had a 3rd degree burn on the pad of my thumb, went to pick up a frying pan and put my thumb on the metal piece in front of the handle, not the pan itself --={ wasn't paying 100% attention and it was a good few seconds before i noticed, only felt pain for about 10-15 seconds then nothing, jumped in landy and went up the road, kinda foolish of me to think the doctors would be open at 10pm, just stuck a bandage on it and dressing while i was working. I battered the same thumb about a month ago, crushed it between two logs, split the thumb joint open so i could see my own tendon moving in the hole. no pain again drove to doctors surgery again and got refered to hospital in case i had damaged the tendon, all was good and i had three stiches out in and removed 5 days later, nurse was surprised i healed so fast. just a little stiff in the cold now the blower was the weapon of choice when we had fires, got it going in no time:thumbup:

if this ever happens to me I'm putting gunpowder traps down, nothing dangerous, just a little bit to scare the hell outta them, maybe they will think twice

A few more but not as good as the first

Yep Its growing on it, A don't know much about fungi (I'm teaching myself) but it seems odd to me too. I think that was in the new forest if i remember right. why thankyou:blushing: but trust me, I take a awfull lot of bad ones for every good one i get

We had to destroy the company documents as they were over 4 years old back then, found some intresting stuff when we were readin...err destroying the documents There was also allot of stationry too like files and folders, deviders. I had the lot so it didn't go to waste, saved me a fair bob when I started self employment The drum did glow bright orange in the end and melted a hole in the back, had to use a paving slab to stop flaming debris setting the hedgerow alight!! It was a asbestos pipe by the way!! I learned that day asbestos pipeing explodes in fires We were rhody bashing in newtown part (near lymingtom) when the gardener told us they would be foreing up one of the cheftains (they have two!! and a cheftain recovery tank among other's) They had put out a load of old cylinders to be taken away, but the scrap man refused them unless they were cut in half or crushed.... so that's what they tried to do, never thought a dozen gas cylinders would support the weight of a 60 ton tank!! Just remembered, the place with the tanks was the same place they built the steam powered car they set the world record with recently, quite often heard (and saw) jets of steam being released from the wearhouses where they kept the tanks

After seeing some of the great pictures others have posted I feel compelled to post a few of my own, Most of them are tree related with a odd exception. My apologise if its a little image heavy. Enjoy!!

Firstly I thank you all deeply for your replies:biggrin: never before have I met such a great community of people on a forum before. there Is a small degree of stress I must admit, but this is only been recently in the past few months and not for the same period of time I have had this problem, I am 23 trying to run my own garden services company after all Its not the easiest thing I have ever done. But thinking about it now I recall the same problem when i worked with my previous company, I would pull myself out of bed at 6-6:30 and then promptly fall asleep in the van again having struggled to sleep at home. so I guess its been well over a year now, I just never realised it untill recently, I always blamed the companys erratic work schedule for my problems then. In response to TimberCutterDartmoor's post i have this 1) Diet inc fluids? - no change for many years, eat fairly healthaly, no alcahol, drink mostly milk and water. 2) Routine? - Eratic I must admit but no worse than the past 4-5 years 3) Bed comfort? - hmm possible 4) Your weight? - Never strayed from 12 stone 5) Fear of going to bed because of not sleeping? - hmm intresting point but i'll have to say no 6) Background stressors i.e. money, family, other? - possible 7) Any recent trauma? Physical and emotional? - crushed my thumb just before christmas, had 3 stiches, hurts a little when moved but tolorable. what emotions!! Thanks again I will try some of the things you have suggested and let you know how it goes

Good evening everyone For little over a year now i have been having great trouble sleeping, Its not uncommon for me to still be awake several hours after going to bed. I'm currently falling asleep eventualy at about 12-2am and when its time to wake up I have great difficulty pulling myself out of the groggy haze. I was wondering if anyone here has any suggestions on what I could do to get a good nights sleep, off the shelf 'sleeping pills' have no effect, before I finaly relent and go to the doctors as its proving to be a real big problem now. and please don't suggest a night cap, I don't drink or smoke in any way, I'm totaly clean thanks again for your help

nope but i have seen people walk across nice lawns after spraying roundup!!

when I left the company we still were, I'll ask my mate if he still dose it or not then, but he was a real fussy pain in the arse too. he would complain about blades of grass being caught in spiders webs on the fencing. fair enough on one hand but you can come outside and talk with us, not call the office and file a complaint!

I wasn't the one who drew up the quote but I did see it, I was still young and a little foolish at the time. If I remember right It included reshaping the beds to look more natural, the shape you see there was only created as a tempory edge when we started the maintenance just so we had a edge to mow the lawn too. the planting would of been on a much larger scale, groups of 3 or 5 shrubs with some herbacious here and there. there was a privit hedge at the back which was to be removed completely, something the pikeys only partialy did. 2" fark mulch all round. nothing too special to start with but in a few years time once the shrubs had grown it would of looked nice for what he was willing to pay (or not) Not sure about the tree work as that was passed on to the local surgeon, but i guess it would of been along similer lines, only done properly. This was a job in lymington/new milton area edit: I should point out the area of lawn in the second picture was naturaly crap, it was in heavy shade with clay soil. nothing much would be done unless he wanted ris of the conny hedge which consumes about 10 feet

Poor tree, pikeys really did one over on that. If my memory serves me correctly our quote (not including tree work) was aprantly only a little lower than what these people charged him, shows people are willing to sacrifice alot in the name of saving a few quid

A guy walks into a bar with a pet alligator by his side. He puts the alligator up on the bar. He turns to the astonished patrons. 'I'll make you a deal. I'll open this alligators mouth and place my genitals inside. then the gator will close its mouth for one minute. he'll then open his mouth and i'll remove my unit unscathed. in return for witnessing this spectacle, each of you must buy me a drink' the crowd murmured approval. the man stood up on the bar, dropped his trousers and placed his genitals inside the alligators open mouth as the crowd gasped. after a minute, the man grabbed a beer bottle and rapped the alligator hard on the top of its head. the gator opened its mouth and the gentleman removed his genitals unscathed as promised. The crowd cheered ad the first of his free drinks arrived. The man stood up again and made another offer. 'I'll pay anyone £100 who's willing to give it a try' A hush fell over the crowd. After a while a woman timidly spoke up 'I'll try but you have to promise not to hit me on the head with a beer bottle' Why dose a prostitute make more money than a drug dealer? A prostitute can clean her crack and sell it again One day a boy comes home from school and says 'Dad I really need to know the meaning of Hypothetically and Realistically for school' the father replies 'Go ask your mother if she would sleep with another man for one million pounds' The little boy goes and asks and sure enough she says yes his dad says 'ok now go ask your sister if she would sleep with another man for one million pounds' He dose and sure enough she says yes, the father says 'You see son Hypothetically we are sitting on two million pounds but realistically we are living with a couple of whores' A woman answers the door to a market researcher 'Good morning madam, I'm doing some research for Vaseline. Do you use it in your household?' 'Oh yes, all the time. its very good for cuts grazes and burns' 'Do you use it for anything else?' 'Like what?' 'Ahem.. err.. well.. during.. ahem.. sex' 'Oh of course. Yes, I smear it on the door knob to keep my husband out' Three boy scouts, a lawyer, a priest and a pilot are in a plane that is about to crash The pilot says 'Well, we only have three parachutes, lets give them to the three boy scouts, they are young and have their whole lies in front of them' the lawyer says 'F**k the boy scouts' The priest says 'Do we have time?'

Having seen some of the examples of cowboy work here I remembered a few pictures of work that was carried out by another company a few years ago. I had been maintaining the garden of a client for about 6 months when he approached the landscape company I worked for In regards to pruning back some overhanging branches, cleaning out the beds and putting some new plants in. The company didn't do tree work so we reccomended a local surgeon for that and gave a quote for the other work he desired. about a week later we found out he had declined to contact the surgeon and turned the quote down. fair enough we thought, a few weeks of normal maintinence passed, then on the 3rd week we returned to a massacare!!! Seems he had employed a local cowboy company to do all the work instead, I'll point out now that the client was actualy happy with the results!! and the planting done didn't in anyway resemble what we had quoted for. the tree work had been done horrendously either from a ladder or pole saw, and in the front we found evidence of them using a chainsaw as a hedge cutter. the so called bark mulch they put down was just rotted leaf littler which would vanish in less than a year. Oh and the trees in question are on council land. Brace yourselves

If a Client offers to pay me half way through, or god forbid at the very start! I always turn them down and take payment at the end. That way I feel like I'm working towards my payment with a greater eye to detail and take more pride in my job. If i was to take it half way then I would feel a little half hearted about doing a job I have already paid for!

will it survive gunpowder and thermite? if not then its no good to me

The sad part is he speaks the truth, I Respect him more than I'll ever respect any politician. We continue to bicker among ourselves when we have so much potential as a species to explore the stars. Maybe one day we will all realise this and work together for the greater good of the human race, probably not in my lifetime though.

Why do people always forget the pointy corner of a fish tank test.... tut tut

how about they count the tree rings and give them a jail sentence equal to that, without parole of course. or simply call it £1000 fine a ring