WorcsWuss

I'm with DC on this. 1. The problems with banks I believe actually started in the US with their sub-prime mortgage collapse. 2. The UK banking industry is a world leader and honestly, it's the most successful industry we have at the moment. 3. Europe is going to become an ever smaller buyer of premium [uK] products as their economies collapse, I've no doubt that pretty soon we'll be getting cheap holidays abroad again. 4. The UK manufacturing industry creates a premium product, the volume sales for that are going to be to China, India etc as their economies boom [ironically on the back of the West demanding more cheap goods] and NOT European countries 5. The Euro was a very cynical and shameful attempt to create a super-state to rival the US and it's foundations are not stable enough to allow it to survive. It was put together in a hurry without giving real thought to the implications of how it was arranged. Oh, and yes, the country's debt problems are OUR fault and the previous chancellor's, not really the banks. Interest rates were kept low to stimulate borrow and spend to create the impression of a successful economy, but like Europe, it was not built on sound foundations, it was forced to grow too quickly...

All you guys out there with chippers standing idle over the weekend, would you hire yourselves out for a day's chipping? It's not often I need one but on the odd occasion that I do, would anyone be able to rock up with a chipper & chip box or hire it out to me? I could do with an idea of cost so I can factor it in if it ever comes up. Alternatively, can anyone suggest any hire locations between Hereford, Worcester & Shrewsbury? I have previously hired from our local plant hire firm but honestly, it wasn't quite the right tool for the job! Anyway, thanks in advance guys! Simon

I agree, had a quote today for 450 quid for PL & EL.... 5m & 10m I think. What amazes me about this clip is that they actually have the balls to make out they know what they're doing! Incredible!

Start here Arran... NPTC | Assignment Schedules

Done!

I use a length of 8mm cord to make up a VT on my lanyard, buntline each end, I guess I could use the same here... just a pulley then... Right there with you...

I'm a hoarder, if I do acquire one it'll be going nowhere.....! Going to give the helical a whirl first. But I already have a couple of Ultra-O's so it's just eye to eye cord & a pulley and I'm there.... It will happen sooner or later!

Well I've had a go at tying the helical, I reckon I could learn to love it. It's a bugger to set, as it implies in the knot guide it's either wrong, wrong or with loads of fiddling, right. Having dangled from the rafters it seems that if I run it up and down the line a few times before weighting it then it sets quite nicely. I do think I need a thinner cord though, on 11mm rope a 13mm tail is too big. Not sure how I can set up a pulley to self tend either, will have to experiment with that... Anyone else climb[ed] on a helical?

Doesn't look like I'll ever get an excuse to trade up to a set of ali spurs then.... I'll see your SPURS OF WRATH and raise you 'DESTROYERS OF TROUSERS'....

Cheers Rob, will do. Thanks, Simon

I've got some cords out on my kitchen table having a go at that now Drew. The only problem I see is actually tying the thing. I use 11mm Aeris & my split tail is 13mm Gecko which seems to present some issues with setting it properly. I'm going to go out to my workshop and hang the line up and try it with the proper kit, the prusik cord I have been using won't take it very well.... I'll try it with some cord & a buntline onto a crab as well instead of the gecko. Might need to invest in some 10mm Ocean, and if I get e2e it's there if [when!] I decide to go to a HC...

Tautline binds too easily. What I'm looking for I guess is an open hitch with the characteristics of a VT....?

Which bit of it is a howard hitch? There doesn't look to be a lot of it left in there...! Is a closed hitch going to work with my gecko split tail? Going to get a bit messy when I stick a buntline or something on the end of it...? Would I not be better with an open hitch like a helical?

Cheers lads. I will try to set up the knut! Does this self-tend? My blakes runs up by itself on a pulley off the standing end of the climbing line.

They are mega money and it does seem difficult to understand why, they're not a safety critical item afterall. I would really like some nice ali spurs, but I have a set of steel ones with leather straps & pads which I paid 90 quid for from a guy selling them on eBay in Leominster. I believe the 'brand' is 'Arbtechnish' if that means anything at all...?! They are perfectly functional and serviceable spurs, but they won't win and kit bag bling contests!

I've had a search and I know this has been covered, but where do you guys recommend I go from a Blakes and why? I'm getting a little hacked with my Blakes, on 11mm rope it can bind up with the big old split tail I have. Without investing in a load of new kit, what do you think is a good alternative? I want to stick with DdRT and ideally I don't want to shell out 70 quid for a hitchclimber kit [although it is on my christmas list I ascend on the Blakes, use it as a back up & high anchor for limb walking but come down on a figure 8 [really fast ]. I have a lanyard with a VT on the end of it for work positioning, and I like it so much I'm going to make up another really long one to use as well. What friction hitch could I use with my existing 13mm split tail [i know I know, don't say it's too fat...!] which will jam up less than a Blakes? Thanks Simon

I tie as many wraps and braids as I can get round on the lanyard to take the pulley as tight to the wraps as possible, it makes a huge difference to how it tightens up. It can have a tendency to not want to lock up at all if the pressure is applied very slowly [unlikely to be a problem when climbing I guess], with a fairly stiff cord the braids can hold the wraps free causing it to simply keep sliding till it's yanked on. The easy release is definitely a VT's best feature though...

We've done this for ours for a couple of years now, our 5 year old sat through it the other day open mouthed, it really is good... well worth spending a few minutes filling out the details...

Wow... I don't know what to say.... I tell you what, I'll just wave.... wait, let me get my hat....

While I agree that it sometimes feels like it's one rule for one, on this occasion I don't think anyone could claim that what the black woman said was really discriminatory nor inflamatory. She was giving what in her experience was an accurate answer to a provocative statement from our bird with the gob. I would disagree that the work immigrants do is poorly paid. Our neighbour employs 2 Poles, I'd take their wages for what they do! The same rules apply to their employment as it does 'the natives'.... the work could be a little bit more demanding physically though, or perhaps less glamourous than most white Brits would accept.... The jobs aren't 'stolen' but are simply 'done by' immigrants because our indigenous menial workers have been spoonfed ideas way above their station by careers advisers, job centre & benefits staff and 13 years of 'you're entitled to what he has whether you earn it or not' socialism. The greater part if it comes down to idleness and the insistence by the establishment that we should be a nation of professors and bachelors of arts and doctors and lawyers. After what I was told at school I still believe I should be made Queen...

It's a travesty that I'm so far from London [not that it usually bothers me all that much...!] particularly with this mention of 50% off.... I guess I will have to stick to shopping on line and emailing you incessantly asking when my delivery will arrive, like an over-excited child.... Or I could come down to visit my sister..... Second thoughts... maybe not....

This is very true, because as we all know, white people make TERRIBLE rappers...

You said it, my wife can be like the woman on the tram! I use a VT on my lanyard, I find there's a lot of sit back in it although it tends lovely, I think that would hack me off if I was climbing on it. Can't comment on a knut... looks like it would bind up more though to me....?

Not today.... If I had it probably would have come out more as 'wtf did she get on the tram for in the first place then dumb b****..? Don't like it, then why not f off back to your squalid crack den' So good job I haven't been... Sort of answers it's own question doesn't it! Now, as it has ever been, racism on the grounds of simply being different is the most baffling of all human emotions. I think it probably comes down to fear above all else. I'll hold my hands up and admit I can on occasion be guilty of a nervous mistrust of other cultures seeming to change the face of our cities and towns, shop fronts in different languages, even different alphabets, unusual clothes and attitudes to women - I live in a very rural area so am surprised to find that there are areas within our cities which would be a 'no go' area for someone like me, I wouldn't like our little town to end up like that - but that shouldn't become a race issue, it's an immigration & integration management issue.... We can't blame those who set up home here for the situation, we know who is responsible for our perhaps 'over tolerant' immigration rules. What I can't fathom is why people still see creed or colour as a valid reason for prejudice? Can you imagine the daily turmoil this woman must go through, seeing people who are different from her EVERYWHERE she goes? It's a wonder she can leave the house at all! She seems to be basically totally uneducated and lacking fundamental reasoning skills. BUT, projecting her own failings onto what she perceives as legitimate targets is HOPEFULLY less real racism and more simply delusion....

They do, and the bundles look good value. I did find making up the kit myself part of the fun though....