APC

Oh, and check out bournemouth Surfing Centre and Sorted Surf Shop for webcams of the beaches. One of best surfs I had was actually branksome chine, when a large groundswell pushed through. The piers were absolutely rammed although Bournemouth was sizeable, the wind was slightly cross-on. We checked branksome for some reason. It was solid 3-4foot breaking outback, wind just enough offshore, all way between there and durley. Ive never seen it like that before or after. There were a few people in getting standup barrels. It was clear skies and glassy as hell. There were plenty of peaks going unridden too. Like I said, never seen it work before or after that day.

Oh, to add to the Highcliffe bit, to be in the right place, head for Barton on Sea, park in the carpark by Cliffhanger Cafe. On bigger days with southwesterly swells, travel west towards Highcliffe, getting the shelter from Hengistbury Head.

Ok, After growing up in Bournemouth, living there for over 25 years, surfing there for 10 years, I've seen the place be really, really good and really really crap. It's not that great as a "beginners" wave as the peaks are focused on Bournemouth and Boscombe piers, which have crowds of over 100 people at the worst of times. The other is Southborne, where the wave is a sucky shorebreak, not really suitable for anything apart from bodyboarding, although you do get the odd decent standup who can manage the takeoff and get barrelled. I would recommend Highcliffe, the other side of Christchurch. It's not so busy here. The waves can be long and fairly slow, so perfect to learn on. Kimmeridge ledges can be sketchy due to it being over rock. Often, the main hazard is getting in and out of the water, due to all the holes in the floor that you can get your leg trapped down. Once you are in the water though, it is extremely easy to get "out back" although can be a long paddle, perhaps 250metres some days. It was one of my favorite spots and when I first started, it was always quiet over there. You'd pull into the car park by the ledges and there might be 3 or 4 other cars there. Last time I went, just over a year ago, we pulled up and the car park was totally full, as was the car park by the toilets, with the main clifftop carpark looking busy too. This was at 7am on a weekday. I refused to go out as I won't get involved in the whole crowd thing, having to fight for waves etc. We went and checked out a secret spot to the east which involved a proper long walk but was worth it and had better waves and nobody else surfing! I would keep an eye on magicseaweed.com's forecasts. You can get an iphone app for it so you get alerts if it's "5 dark stars". These forecasts take into account swell size, period, direction, wind direction, fetch and tides, so does all the work for you.

I failed cs31 first time around. Can't remember what on. Passed it 2nd time around. Don't worry too much about it. Like someone said before, fell a few trees high up so you can practice on the stumps.

AO1 is a right bugger to find.

I'm interested in finding out about any schemes or grants for people over the age of 25 who have been out of work for a long time. I ask this as I regularly get asked by members of the public at my park whether we have any jobs going, as they have lost their jobs etc. If they were the smaller side of 25 there seems to be loads of help available, such as Future Jobs Fund. I quite resent this, as we have had almost 10 FJF's in various roles around the park, and only one of them was any good. Most of the others were consistently late, by several hours, take massive amounts of instances of sick-leave (one guy been here 5 months hasn't managed to work a full 3 day week yet ) or complain about the work causing them all manner or injuries (manual handling training provided). One even said, on his first day "I'm quite happy at home claiming, it's much easier". The one who was good, we now have on our books as a casual and have happily put him through cs30/31. He seems to be a rare occurance. We have tried to get rid of the chaff but the process is longwinded and very much in the FJF's favour. I think there is too much emphasis on getting young people who genuninely don't want to work, into positions where they have to be micromanaged throughout the whole day. With the recession knocking 1000's of people out of jobs, through no fault of their own, there must be a hell of a lot of more worthwhile candidates out there, to fit into a variety of roles. I would love to be able to say to someone that if they approach X company and ask about Y scheme then they might be able to get them back into work again. After all, they might have contributed several decades worth of NI and Income Tax and so should expect something in return. A lot of younger folk get it all on a plate and live with no consequences, after willingly contributing nothing. So question is, are there any schemes available for the over 25's?

Yeah for sure. There's a few in the park I work at. A couple of them were put in by our assistant. We hire out gps units to school groups and have them do some sort of challenge with it. I keep my nose out of it though as it really is dull as dishwater, particularly when you find people who are into it to the point of obsession. When I was young, it was all orienteering. Now it's bloody hanging off the side of bridges looking for a kinder egg sized parcel wedged between brickwork. The kids lap it up though, so I suppose it is a good thing, and it gets them out and about.

The Brick Testament Old and New Testament, illustrated with Lego.

I went through a period of umming and ahhing about starting using whey, but I got confused with the massive range of supplements out there, and that 2.5kg tubs of one product might contain a totally different proportion of key nutrients in comparison to another brand. Plus, I argued that I wouldn't be disciplined enough to make use of the additional whey and reap the benefit, and starting on the supplements is a long term commitment. I've just had a proper good opportunity to join the local gym, £20/month for anytime use as opposed to £45 previously. So I'm going to do that, train there 3-4 times a week, plus 2 Krav sessions, plus general work-related activity. Hence I think i will be able to get benefit from whey. That "myprotein" site, is their range good quality? How does it compare as a brand, to something such as Maximuscle? Cheers, Adam

grim.

Creatine can make you show muscle more obviously, mainly due to water retention within cells. Due to this, you need to be upping your water intake to allow for this otherwise your wee will be the consistency of coffee. It does have worthwhile benefits but I think that the majority of people on supplements such as creatine and whey expect massive results from lesser effort, whereas really the converse is true; you need to work harder, for longer, to realise the benefits. This is fine if you are very physical, such as you climby people. If you are climbing more than a couple of times a week then this sorta stuff will probably help out! An office geezer sat at a chair will just get fat from the additional calories they are pumping into themselves without an outlet to expend the extra energy. Or something like that.

Can't go wrong with sun salutations: [ame= ] [/ame] Folding in half at your waist, head between your knees, arms wrapped around your legs, legs straight as you can manage, is a goodn', especially if you get prang about getting watched doing downward facing dog and there rest of the sun salutation. Legs shoulder width and a half apart, feet facing forward, bend at the waist, try and get your hands to the ground, then your elbows to the ground. Now get your head to the ground (I can't get my head down yet). They are a few of my favorites for your back and legs to an extent. The sun saltuation is pretty much a goodn to do every morning. Folding in half looking like you are trying to put your head up your arse is good to repeat througout the day whenever you feel a little stiff. Apparently the premium time of day for general stretching is within 20 minutes of waking up. I don't do that although I could do with sorting some sort of stretching into my daily routine. I want to be able to kick higher and the only way to do that is by stretching to allow myself the movement to be able to build the strength to be able to deliver hardcore roundhouse kicks to the chops. Also, I'm tall and lanky, so am pretty much resigned to a knackered spine. Decent stretching coupled with sound manual handling technique is a recipe for being able to walk when I'm 50. With all stretches, gently ease into them, don't bounce into them. Breathe out to relax yourself further and hold for 20 seconds. Repeat each movement 3 times, aim to ease into the stretch a little more each time. Make sure you are well hydrated!!!!!!!!!

Made me think more of the portly Irish gentleman from Sharpe.

Use a marker pen, for the authentic feel.

I always try to remember to ask what size they can accomodate. The housewives love it. As do their husbands. I try to keep them between 7-10", a good mix of size. If a customer wants em' bigger, I've always got some big stuff to hand to mix in with the standard size. They get the unsplittable knotty bits that I lob to one side especially for this occasion.

I've got a horse chestnut that I suspect of having it. We have tonnes of rhodie immediate parkland around it.

I got a bit carried away with some hedge cutting a few years back and bashed my knee with the business end. Made a lovely snaped cut and bruised like a big purple thing. It was brilliant.

From the sounds of it, Hampshire has been hammered a few times in the last week. I end up in a perpetual state of paranoia and unease when stuff happens like this locally.

That isn't the tree I was talking about yesterday. That was an ash, in the woods. The poplars were the day before.

First two pictures aren't actually the tree in question, but it was an identical one to the right of the one we pulled down with the tractor (that one had heavy back lean). The tree which is about as close to a stuntfell as I have got before, was the one in the bottom picture. I didn't think to get a pic until it was down. It looks piddly on the ground. The idea was to drop it onto the fire, sned it and remove the top and burn it, keeping the stem entire. I had the option of using 361 with a 20" bar but chose to use the 260 with a 15". I estimate diameter where I was cutting to have been 25-28". I prefer using smaller saws and trying to improve my accuracy. Anyways, dropped it down without a pull line, tip landed slap bang in middle of the fire. Happy days. Just to reitterate, the first two pics are of an identical tree that i took to give a sense of perspective.

Why thank you! I've recently turned 30, so certainly no spring chicken! I don't generally beat myself up over things, and the whole asking questions things, I'm just one of those people who ask questions all the time. Reason I was bit sketchy about asking this though was that I have removed pinched saws several times before but cannot for the life of me remember how I did it and on a site full of pro's, it probably seems a little novice. Might bother my boss for CS32 if we can scrape any money from anywhere.

Didn't even think to bring a line down with us!! That would have solved everything really.

They're excellent pictures!!! They look like proper good dogs!!

Hiya, thanks for the interest. Portsmouth to Manchester probably wouldn't be economic for transporting poplar would it?

Thank you for the replies, maybe you're right Stephen, perhaps I made bad judgement on the lean. I've been mostly spot on in the past though, perhaps I was complacent with this one and should have looked for longer. The wind was definitely blowing a fair bit where I was. It's possible it was more evenly balanced than I thought so only needed a gust at the right time. And wedges, glad you said that, I thought about them at the time and it dropping sideways did cross my mind. Bob, I can't remember whether head or stem led, I get what ya mean though. Thank you for the ideas guys, I thought it would be something as simple as judging lean poorly. Sometimes I find it better to ask and look temporarily thick than sit in bed pondering it all night.