AHPP

When they’re liable with their own money and not the taxpayers’.

That’s not shat itself. Shat itself is bits of metal breaking/splintering/wearing away. Bottom end bearings, rings, rods etc. Needing a carb clean is an often observed and non-disastrous effect of going straight after a long time on pump petrol. I use battery, mains 240, Aspen, Motomix and pump petrol for different tools for different jobs. My 500i was on Motomix for an arb job last week. It and my 661 will be on pump fuel for the next fortnight while I do a big firewood stint. Then back to Motomix to sit around for a while. Anyway, calm down dear. Aspen’s fine.

Define ‘shat itself.’

Whereas there's only one sort of air.

Thought so.

@kram Raking murders my back, which is a shame because I find it satisfying. So I tend to use the blower a lot. Now Mick and you mention it though, I am always impressed with how little fuel they use. Maybe they’re not that power hungry. Power is work done over time btw. I understand what you meant though. My blower choice has been made easier since this discussion began by dad giving me the petrol one he barely uses. So I’ll use that until it dies and see what the market has to offer in about 2040.

Bloke in NZ that posts here occasionally. Jesse Coleman? A guy I know worked for him out there, helicopters etc.

They’ve learned to jumpflap onto things, which is probably why there was shit on my chair yesterday. Integration into main flock becoming more pressing priority. I want the pavilion back.

See, I can quote right. I just don’t.

£70/hour?

Interesting. Anyone second Mick on the blower?

I was thinking about what blower to buy the other day and it made me think which tools you want battery and which petrol. Chainsaws are stop start so battery ideal but for long stints of constant throttle, you need petrol. I'd put blowers, hedge trimmers and strimmers firmly in the constant running category. Battery polesaw would be fine.

Come now. Play along a bit. You're a batman. Advocate for your people. Unless your approach is just, "I'm not interested in your gay ideas of right and wrong. That's the way it is. £60ph." In which case you've rather proved my point.

Fabulous little things. Way cooler than a grom. I convinced a girlfriend to buy one. She ditched me and kept riding the bike (until it was stolen).

I've been trying something I've always been curious to see with my own eyes, the woodchip mulch thing. Also whether the thing about conifer chip being basically poison is true. I used pretty fresh conifer chip on the outside bed and half this polytunnel bed. Outside. Pros: Does retain moisture, does look neat, I think it keeps slugs from crawling over it to get to plants, is obvious if something's been digging in it (dog, chicken). Cons: You can't see plants/weeds easily, you can't earth up potatoes without incorporating it, you can't hoe as easily. Can't say whether it's botanically good or bad becasue I let weeds get away from me so everything's a bit anaemic. Still have edible lettuce and peas, onions and potatoes are alive but small. Inside: Pros: As above. Cons: I still have to water pots and I think the acid or nitrogen stealing freshness of the chip really shows on the tomatoes. Look in the foreground here. No chip on the bed. A little bit in a couple of pots. Generally healthy. Now look in the foreground here. Chipped beds (cow manure well mixed with soil underneath). Everything's just a bit shit. Tomato wise anyway. There are a few other oddments in the bed. I think the roots coming out of the bottom of the pots are finding the chip and not liking it. So yeah. Not very scientific but I'm not loving the chip topping here. I'd rather water. Watering's easy. Maybe it'll be better with hardwood chip and/or rotted chip. Maybe I'll try that one day.

Enlighten us.

Mine are in a polytunnel but I tend to leave one door open overnight because I can't guarantee opening it early enough the next day that they won't cook. I think this is why people dig those semi subterranean polytunnels/greenhouses so the beds retain heat and the cold wells in the bottom of the footway.

I've got several varieties. No patterns that I can remember though.

Some of mine look like that. Total mix of potted/in ground, mulched/not, underwatered/overwatered.

I went on a little freebie bat seminar at the APF a few years ago. 90% of the attendees walked off as it progressed. I stayed to the end, thinking, “He must be getting to something actually useful soon.” Soon never came. Total waffle. Met a few bat twats since. None struck me as much different.

I have an uneasy relationship with planning consultants, ecologists etc. They help you fight the state rules but they wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the state rules. Some are quite happy the rules are there to give them something to do. Same as when I put that trailer towing instructor on here in his place years ago. He lobbied the government to keep rules tight so he could keep selling the cure. Then you have the revolving door between poaching and gamekeeping. Planning consultants often boast they used to work for the local planning authority. They get their former colleagues to nod stuff through so when those colleagues come out for a stint in the private sector and they’ve gone back to government, they can repay the favour. Tax consultants do it too. And indeed consultants for any activity the state meddles in (so everything then). ****************ing murder them all.

Bloody climbers and their need for overengineered gear.

Hey ho, silverback. Must dash and apply my pubescent frame to an axe.

Notionally 48” then. Must have looked smaller because you’re so grand and imposing. If you haven’t met him btw, you look like a fat Steve Bullman. Or since he stopped climbing and became a web developer, just Steve Bullman.

Insurers all are. Arb insurance is just insurance with tree packaging. I’m viewing a smallholding later, marketed by an estate agent firm comprised entirely of gilets. Same thing. Phone shop staff with labradors.