David Goss

with the things in the first pic you can make a lovely mess like the second pic.... dontya just love it:thumbup: I love trees but i also love destruction whats a guy to do?

Some more wildlife... the last pic with the maggots or whatever they are was a weird find, it was just a pile of them on the pavement but i didnt get a chance to inspect them any more than just this picture, before being dragged away by the wife telling me that i was much more weird than they were:lol:

1) Why? to me this is completely stupid and a waste of time. The only thing this does is inform the HSE that we get bumps, bruises and scratches daily and the next thing you know some desk jockey will come up with the idea that we should all be wrapped in cotton wool and kevlar. 2) adjustments? (see my first point) e.g. "ok guys before we start i want you all to wear the chainmail overalls because you might scratch yourself on a twig" 3) Why? (see my first and second points) 4) Yes they are. We have a difficult and dangerous job that involves lots of physical ability and strength on difficult terrain or in the air, slips, trips, small cuts/scratches, bumps and bruises etc ARE inevitable unless like my first point we wrap up completely in body armour, in which case our job becomes physically impossible to move with all the stuff we have to wear. Here is my thoughts on the subject.... When people pass their saw tickets or whatever tickets they have for the jobs they do. It then becomes their responsibility to do what they have been taught. If these people have accidents because of ignorance or just complete stupidity then either they shouldnt have passed the ticket in the first place (which many do, going by some i have seen) or they are just not cut out for the job to begin with. I have seen many people in my time that are just terrible woodcutters and it amazes me how they passed the course in the first place, are the tickets so easy to pass these days that all you need to be able to do is just start the saw???? or did they just have the correct ppe on??? It seems to me that skill and intelligence have been bypassed and now all we are producing is robots that need to be programmed to do every movement. I know we joke a lot about common sense being dead but in truth it is very close to it, and it is getting worse by all these stupid rules and regulations that we have, which stop people thinking for themselves. I am all for health and safety up to the point where it is insulting to my intelligence which it passed a long time ago. Most of the rules and regs we have are in place because someone had an accident, some of which were probably avoidable if the person had just used a bit of common sense and foresight, so we get hit with another bit of programming for the robots. With my experience i can pretty much see all the things that could go wrong before they do and get myself in the correct position to avoid danger but sometimes things can surprise you (every day is a school day) and you learn from these. I have never had a serious accident in all my time just by using common sense, sure i get bumps and bruises but that IS part of the job and for the most part completely unavoidable. If we keep going down the road we are going then bumps and bruises will be a thing of the past but so will humanity and practicality. We will be all dolled up like spacemen with the ability to cut 1 branch per day before collapsing with exhaustion and i bet we will still be paid the same for the WHOLE tree. Anyway i could argue this forever and still get nowhere because we cant go back to the good old days where skilled labour and common sense were all that was needed, now we need a degree in paperwork and an inspector to tuck our shirts into our trousers. Before i get crucified by the HSE lovers i will say that i do agree with keeping us all safe and some of us need a bit more guidance than others but i suppose thats what happens when natural selection was taken from us just like common sense will be taken too. Keep safe people and think first:001_smile:

if i am up in the tree i wont even bother with it till i get the job done and come down, unless i have done myself some serious damage then its only a scratch as far as i am concerned and nothing to be fussed over. Silky cuts bleed a hell of a lot and usually look worse than they are so unless i cant move something or feel something then its business as usual with extra colour:lol:

To be honest i have only used plasters once or twice because of some interfering busy body insisting i put one on to stop the cut getting dirty, hah what a joke that was. I think i wasnt even up to the first branch on the next tree and it was already flapping in the wind. I prefer to leave it as it is and let the air at it, always heals quicker that way imo.

I was expecting something shiny there but that looks the business anyway:thumbup:

can you actually get plasters to stay on for more than 2 seconds? i think they are the most pointless thing in a first aid kit to be honest. I think you only need a bandage to conform to HSE aid kits unless i am mistaken but mine is always in the car unless i am forced to carry extra useless gear with me to please some office worker:sneaky2:

criminal, seems there is a good market for stealing and selling arb equipment and its also an easy one to get away with too it seems:001_rolleyes:

spare crabs and a multi sling as a bog standard:001_rolleyes:

Oh yea just remembered i did have to get a few stitches on a couple of occasions but i only ever went to hospital after i finished work and always took the stitches out myself instead of wasting time going back to get them out.

many many silky cuts on left hand and arm. My first aid is let it bleed till it stops, cry a bit in the shower that night while picking the dirt out of it and repeat each night till its healed enough.... normally around 3 days sometimes more if its a deep one.

must admit i do wear them more as a habit from my utility days than anything else i guess, plus they are way better with the thorns than any of your sticky gloves. I must say they are way overpriced and i should stop buying them i guess.

Deliver each (exaggerated but just) quote by hand, take a shotgun with you and get them to sign the acceptance while chewing on the end of the barrel:001_rolleyes:

thats why i use a prussic on my flipline... simples

little money for lots of work and dangerous work at that.... i want my danger money you tight public you! stop complaining we are too expensive cos we aint! we are too cheap is the truth.

probably because we are sick of the sight of them! does a week go by when your not getting slapped in the face by the whippy little dead twigs or trying to shove the big bent branches in the chipper and having to pull them out again because you misjudged the size of the bend, or the blockage in the spout because you were trying to get as much of it through as you could but the sticky heavy greenery just clogged up. Or that huge hedge that you have to climb to get the top and its so thick with twigs that your getting them up your nose and in your ears and eyes at every turn. What about all those pigeons that like to nest in them so much and seem to have active nests all year round so you have to keep putting it off until one day the damned pigeon flys off and then it starts raining heavy on the day you finally get to do it, gotta love how much water they can hold on the greenery.... blah blah etc etc I love em by the way

Brrrr bit chilly that no? great pics but theres a lunge missing in there...

wind turbines are way higher than any trees around so they wont affect them. Must be a wind up

I know a guy calls himself the "tree fella" closeish... I was called the hippy tree rat but i am no longer of the hippy look so just tree rat seems to fit now, i have been known by other names as well but scottish west coast humour is a bit colourful and i would probably get my botty slapped if i said any here:lol: Oh yea arborist and tree surgeon are the same. Its only when you start doing tree surveys etc you can call yourself an arboriculturalist (i think:blushing:)

paperwork????

I am NOT scared of heights! i am however scared of falling and hitting the ground:001_tt2:

In Rome we used to just stack everything roadside and a lorry with a 20 cube container and a grab (the kind you get in scrap yards) would come in and take it all away for about 300 euros a load. Complete waste of time and cash imo, a chipper and a firewood guy is the best way i found. Your groundies chip it all as it comes down and the wood gets stacked for the firewood guy to collect. I dont think your idea will work here because everyone has chippers but if you are the firewood guy then your in if you can make it pay.

Cant say i am innocent and havent done it in the past but the older i get the less risks i tend to take, becoming a bit of a wuss myself I just dont think its a good idea to tell anyone starting out that its ok to freeclimb, especially in a working environment and even more so if you are working for someone else. The HSE will be down on you like a ton of bricks

very true but do you want to take the chance of 1 little slip that leads to a broken leg or arm and your insurance not paying out cos you were not tied in? I can understand perfectly the logic in the statement but if you were to have a slip then you aint covered matey and you get poor till your leg works again.