AHPP

That doesn’t follow. If the conservation press is to be believed, just about all the reds are facing those frustrations of not being able to establish territory.

I’ve been meaning to buy plastic boards for ages. What’s thick enough to run a micro skidder on and thin enough to bend round a house corner?

I’m great at fixing stuff with whatever’s within arm’s reach. Guess how often I do the full fix. My entire life is the bungee cord on the chipper throttle.

I always find it funny when shooters etc are giving it the big one about being custodians of the countryside, killing greys to protect trees and let the reds back in. I bet the reds are just as bad for trees.

This one’s a beauty because it sounds like Wigan Council are into people trafficking. Children's Strategic Business and Intelligence Improvement Lead - Wigan, Greater Manchester JOBS.THEGUARDIAN.COM A key member of the senior leadership team within Children’s Services...

Wear crocs until something better or some money turns up.

Stacked well.

You can probably tell I’ve never owned a dual wheeler.

On a dual wheel truck, has anyone put mud terrains on the insides and road tyres on the outsides? Perhaps the best of both worlds for performance and hides the probably unrated ones a bit. Sounds funny I know but so do lots of things that work.

Quite. And how is my 5’ tall, 75-year-old mother going to reach the bottom.

Made this earlier. The machine just about stays four wheels on the floor with my meagre 11 stone on the back. That puts it at just over 250kg on the pallet. Haven’t measured volume yet. Guesses? I’ll make another tomorrow and see how they stack.

You are an impressive legal resource. Theft Act 1968, s 3(4).

I almost always use a big pulley for a main point and a ring for a redirect. The ring adds just enough friction that if you drop the rope, it won’t pull itself to the top of the tree but not so much that you can’t lift stuff. Buy the Pinto Rig as well. You can use it as a predirect somewhere before your main point to build your system into a strong shape. Or as a spare redirect. Or on the base of the tree instead of a portawrap; you put the portawrap on truck/machine and can drive that to lift stuff. Or you’ll find yourself taking it to make a little mini system with an old climbing rope on small stuff. I don’t know what you mean when you say, “16mm shouldn’t take that much friction.” Nice double braid rigging ropes (like Sirius) of any diameter won’t thank you for natural crotching them. Three strand like the white Marlow with black flecks or probably the green polysteel on ebay will just go a bit hairy and make you look like an old school boss.

A mate has one of those. He loves it.

I keep a bowl next to the front door and insist incoming visitors put their keys in it. Most of them are young and haven't got a clue. They soon learn.

Well if he will court disaster...

Don't put your keys down!

This is from my Skidster. 90kg from memory. Looks purpose made. The top is chequer plate finish.

I find I can do pretty much everything with a hairy 16mm three strand and a nice 12mm double braid. The 16mm is easy to hand hold (especially good for tensioning/lifting light bits) and tolerates natural crotching and branch/trunk friction well. The 12mm is for proper rigging, lifting with Hobbs etc, run through pulleys and rings only. I used to think I needed a monstrously thick line to be the big rigging hero I am. I don't. I've never broken a 12mm and with clean systems and thoughtful rigging, I don't worry about doing so. 16mm double braid is heavier manipulating it up the tree. If you really are doing a lot of heavy negative rigging, yeah, you'd want 16/18/20mm double braid but I'd only get it out for the end of the climb anyway. You're low down the stem by the time you need that much stopping power. I don't even own one. I just use both ends of my 12mm. I don't have strong opinions on pulleys besides being wary of the ones that open with a button push and have built in swivels (e.g. Rock Exotica Omni Block). I'm sure they're fine but I'd worry about accidental button pushing or breaking the swivel from crossloading or something. Worry distracts. Rings are mint. If you're tight for money, buy rings first. I spliced some onto a scrap of three strand, which won't win you any kudos on instagram but they're cheap and mega handy. Pulley/ring slings you're only going to set once so they might as well be beefy. I don't like the fancy choking or spliced pocket ones. You can't move them around with a rope threaded and you can't get them as snug as tying a deadeye how you want it. Same for ring/pulley/portawrap at the base. In terms of my own gear, I went straight from pikey tricks (branch/trunk wraps etc) to a Hobbs but I would often say to people I was climbing for to use whatever base friction they wanted or had on hand. Portawraps work and I can't recall one ever going wrong. They sit how they want to sit and work. Fixed bollards can tilt if not strapped tight enough and you can end up with a pinched rope and a piece you can't get down. Portawraps can also be tied/chained/shackled to things like machines/trucks that might have sharp metal edges and won't have the nice tree trunk shape a bollard wants to be strappped to. One of the most important things is gloves for you and groundsmen. Leather, heavy enough to protect against three strand, light enough to operate biners and saws in. And bin them when they get holes in. You can't work confidently if you're trying to avoid a holey spot in a glove. Curious what gear you used on your course btw? Pulleys/rings, double braid/three strand, portawrap/bollard/lifting bollard?

Turkey macchiato. Fried a couple of onions and some leftover turkey, bit of garlic in at the end. Spoon of horseradish cream (didn't have cranberry sauce), spoon of plum jam (didn't have cranberry sauce), salt and pepper, pot of cream. Gentle heat. Dribble of balsamic vinegar to finish.

That sounds like absolute hell. Is it not dinging every two seconds with bollocks about dog fouling?

Did you get this yet, @Mick Dempsey?

My office work is paper only. Everything printed. I generally get paid in advance but if I ever have to invoice after the fact, it goes hard copy, first class post.

Do you have a lot of those tangly bastard trees where you are? The last domestic job you posted about was one of them.