difflock

Whistle blowers charter? Surely?

Probably nearer the mark to suggest mistaking a weekly rate for a monthly rate. Which wouls sound a "fair" price. Ho hum! I do wonder. Though perhaps most such Council cock-ups are down to sheer incompetence. Like buying kitted out trailers plated at 3500kg and probably weighing a tad more, before finding out the van fleet was only legal to tow 2000kg But could I"£$%^& tell them. scheesh BUTin all seriousness this information should be in the Public Domain and subject to an FoI request after the finincial year end.

Or as was dutifully repeated in Moneydig Primary School ( near Garvagh) Thaaaa caaat saaat on thaaa maaat. My mother was a Primary School teacher way back then an thought quare an funny, her being a mair sosphistaced girl fae Maghera.

Parcel Farce recently took from posting on a Tuesday (mid day ish) Until the following Monday. To deliver a fully tracked parcel. With Guarenteed 48 hr delivery I had opted not to insure cos, sure it was "fully tracked" Boy was I sweating. Marcus

Extremely humbling.

Glad to see a sensible lighthearted tone of comment from the ladies involved, and presumably glad to be alive and almost unhurt. As oppossed to the usual "blame somebody" tack taken in most all of these incidents.

Seems our teenage Son got into a heated debate early days in secondary school. Re whether cars came with a towbar as standard. He was quite adamant that of course they bloody did. He then thought to check the facts with his dear old Dad when he got home. Our 17/18 year old daughter also asked quite seriously "Dad, what lot is it that marches on the Twelth again?" Think we made a proper un-biased individual of that one!

Go on:001_tt2: Man up and demonstrate on the Mrs. there big boy. Who wears the trousers in your house anyway:lol:

I still refer to his "a big boy done it Miss an run away" When attempting to trace miscreants at work. As the all smile dumbly saying in unison "It wisnay me" to which I reply with Billy famous excuse.

(i) A local Citroen time served Indy plumbed mine in copper the first MOT. Never needed owt after that. (ii) Hydraulic pump failed in Glasgie ower Hogmany., winter o 1995. Safely, and without fuss, made it back to NI sans hydraulics, steering were a tad heavy mind. (iii) In absence of LHM, use cheap cooking oil. cheers marcus

Sniff ! Citroen BX's were not at all high maint. I put over 100 k miles on one that I bought at auction with sommat like 96,ooo already on. Dogs abuse, house building and towing. As tough as old boots. And would NOT rust. jat m PS Good luck with the Focus byw.

Older Galaxy-Sharan-Alhambra type vehicle. 1.9 diesel of course. Comforts of a car, the room of a van AND remarkdly frugal Ours was essentially utterly reliable for over 250,000 miles. The engine never missed a beat. I still see a few about locally that are obviously viewed as ir-replacable family cars

Dear old Aunt Lucy, insisted on re-filling and re-boiling the kettle, to freshen up the tea pot. For this very reason. Insisting 40 year ago that twice boiled water was not as good as freshly boiled water for making tea. Which also tasted better out of a Porcelain cup, but only if the milk was poured first. This from a woman reared in a hovel in Co. Cavan.

Useless an all that a Fasttrak is for serious draft work, in combination with utilizing the steering ram to the max on the dumper i.e. "screwing" her out. I would have thought that was relatively extractable. Those dumpers will literally bulldoze their way through some serious mud/muck. If the steering ram is correctly utilized. From an Northern Ireland farmers son perspective. From experience.

Well! Sniff! I knew that. Jist couldnay figger the professionals could or would mistake a Pine tree in Pine woodland for an Ash tree in Ash woodland:001_tt2: So I kept looking:confused1:

Wheres the flipping phantom photo folks?

I have scrolled an searched an hunted an looked. Umpteen times. Only photo I can see is of a Pine of some sort. I have not yet been surprised by a wind-thrown or hung up trees behavouir, they must after all obey the laws of Physics. However anything I would be cutting is generally long-time windthrown, so no trapped tension or compression, other than that caused by self weight and gravity. Plus since I am doing it as a hobby I can spend time looking at and accessing likely behavouir, while taking a break from cutting other stuff. Anyway, owt with large Mass is slow to accelerate, and plenty of time to get away. Tis the small stuff that needs more care, as it will react so much faster. In my very limited non commercial experience. PS Anyone care to link that photo for me?

:thumbup:

I would like to see a photo before commenting. Never dealt with 24" stuff. Only perhaps 15"/18" windthrown conifers. But the principle remains the same. Only trouble is if they stay stubbonrly hung up, with the butt above head height. Furthur felling of supporting trees or winching is the only option. But as someone else commented, it is a challange therefore enjoyable. Sometimes one has to start several treess back, and indeed forward, after accessing the "what ifs". PS I baint got NO tickets.

As an outsider could I comment that it would be my continued preception, that some of the more passionate arb types on here expect every tree owner to subsidize them to indulge in perfectionist work. A bit like going to some Architects, who, regardless of the Clients clear requirments, insist on an overcomplicated/fancy and therefore more expensive design with commensurately higher %age based fees. To the clients great frustration. There is an old saying something to the effect "Do not let the best be the enemy of the good" I have employed a reputable firm of tree surgeons through work. They are definately meticioulis in their work and leave a super tidy site. But bytimes I wish they would simply focus on getting the potentially hazardous trees onto the ground. Before my always limited budget is exhausted. If that was what I had instructed them to do. Marcus

:alberteinstein:Eaugh.......................................................does...................................................not.....................................................compute.

I was stripping the plumbing out of a house (that we own btw) on Sunday past. I had mentioned to wor daughter that I would be salvaging the slates off the roof before putting a digger to the house. Daughter says, "Dad, you are not for working on the roof on your own" "Dont be silly I replied" Then I very very very nearly fell out an upstairs window, about 6' square with a 15" high cill and no glazing, unto the concrete yard below. I would definately have landed head first among the broken glass below. Simply went over on my ankle. Shite happens. PS Finally absolute confirmation, shite is the polite way of saying ****, apparently.

That ud work. Manouvering it into the correct position surely a bit tricky though. PS Might need a fatter ram:lol: PPS Secretly jealous cos I haint got a digger to play wi:001_rolleyes: cheers marcus

Is that an older model lovingly cared for Fendt tractor I spied. Looks very clean. PS I found the rest of the post interesting as well. cheers marcus

Surely for that sort of usuage Chris, one should be starting with a 6/10/13 tonne 360 excavator, with a suitable range of attatchments?, but primarily a pincer type splitter, mounted on a "steel wrist" for max manouverability, perhaps? Ideally, in some way with a cunningly (but I dont know how) incorporated hydraulic drive harvester bar included, rotating so as to store up out of the way alongside the dipper arm when not needed. Leastwise for splitting the type of material you describe. Probably difficult to get high output though, perhaps this stuff is better run through one of the humongous Yankee/German tub grinders and turned into chip. Or really really "ideal" Design one with a optical/laser scanning system, backed up by software alogrithims, to recognise size and configuration of individual log, select optimum option of splitting knives, mechanicall/hydraulicly/automatically rotate log to best configuration, split, and either return to beginning of splitting cycle to repeat, if still too large, or split and make into firewood logs. Might need to build a factory round it though, with the size and complexity. OOps, dammn. I fotgot, the Polish produce them already, fuelled by Vodka. And they can be housed in a hut/cheap caravan.