WorcsWuss

Stihl Digital Wood Moisture Meter Allegedly in stock....

Simply write to your local MP and tell them the whole story from start to finish including copies of all evidence, what you want to achieve and, with a bit of luck and if he's anything like Bill Wiggin, he'll contact whichever pillock you have the misfortune of leading your council and tell him to sort his incompetent workforce out pronto. Herefordshire Council had the bailiffs round to our house because THEY lost the parking ticket in their office which we sent in with the cheque for a parking fine. No matter who we spoke to they simply would not admit it was them who had the power to stop the bailiffs nor discuss the matter. As ever they just stuck their fingers in their ears and denied all responsibility. Afterall, not their problem personally is it? I don't know what Bill Wiggin said to them but 3 days after writing to him I had a VERY grovelling letter of apology from the chief exec of the council and the ticket overturned. Got to be worth a shot and won't cost you a penny.

But what about this one instead....?! mercedes 4x4 versalift cherry picker tipper | eBay I think I need it... god alone knows why....

Our local tyre fitters runs Kumho KL71's on the back of their Transit duelly tail lift truck, don't know if they swap them over for the MOT but they've run them for a while.... He's made it across some pretty slick stubbles to repair punctures on the combine in the recent soggy seasons we've had....

Doesn't mean it's actually better than anything else though, just that you prefer it!

Ref the OP, I take my springer with me when I'm working on our own land and he's a bloody liability, particularly when working near a road... he is fascinated by cyclists and tries to mount them as they pass.... and chases them down the road barking at them. He also sits on my climbing line and gets himself tangled up the ropes. He's a pain the ar&e but he enjoys himself.... I wouldn't take him to someone elses property. We used to use a carpet fitter who brought his Alsatian with him. A bloody Alsatian! Into peoples offices! What kind of drugs was he on you ask?! Well, weed most of the time I think. His mate was a pillock as well. I forget what the dog was called but it was something like Killer or Ripper or Chopper.... So no, dogs on site probably not the best idea... any kind of site!

I don't think anyone has said the 260 is a bad saw, it is in fact far from it. I think what comes up a lot is that it's 'overrated', that's a slightly different proposition. Stihl have sold HUGE numbers of these saws and the sales figures suggest it's the most incredible piece of engineering in the history of intelligent life which is, perhaps, something of an over-statement. The 260 is a brilliant saw, I have one, but it's not the saviour of the human race implied by the vast quanities of them out there....!

You're right, I'll only do this if I don't have to pull my rope up for anything else. I've not had anyone help me yet who can put one in properly! As with everything there are a million different answers and some great methods I've never thought of using coming up here...

Mike, pulling it up your climbing line is fine unless there are limbs between your line and the lowering line, so it's not always the answer, quite often you will need to pull the line back from the pulley end rather than the floor... Quickest answer is usually just a whippy stick sent up from the floor. Before I ascend I stick a marling spike hitch & a crab onto the climbing line for anythnig I need sending up, be it the sling & pulley to rig up in the first place, or a stick to retrieve a rope...

This EZ file thing appeals to me.... can I give you my NPTC certificate number off my card to get unlocked... can't find the paper certificate and NPTC want 30 something quid for copies! I hate filing my rakers, they make that noise that goes up my spine.... ! I tried one of those electric abrasive wheel sharpeners once, as said, didn't seem to get it as nice as a hand file and it definitely didn't last. I also have an Oregon file guide but I never use it, I have always just used a file in a brace which seems to suit me fine. Would definitely like to try an EZ file though...

I just get a stick sent up to me to pull my rope back in! I quite fancy one of those telescopic Stein retriever hooks.... I have thought about running a lightweight rope through the crab holding the pulley in a continuous loop round a pulley next to wherever I'm stuck, and hanging a short prussik and another crab off it which the lowering rope runs through. Pull the line in and the crab will bring the rope back to me, then pull the line back the other way to send the crab back to line up with the lowering pulley for the drop. I'd need twice the distance plus half again of rope [probably 6mm?], 1 60cm ish prussik, 2 crabs, 1 small pulley plus a sling to fix the pulley to the tree. A pinto might be better in place of the crab round the rope.... with one end on the becket and the other on the usual holes with the rope running through the sheave... keep it all nicely in line then... Unfortunately I don't have that much gear to spare nor the patience to rig it so I'll just go with a stick for now....

Or David Bowyer at Goodwinch. He really is Mr Winch, one of the pioneers of Dyneema winch line and has been floating around the scene for 30 odd [plus?!] years. Goodwinch Winches & Parts, Electric Winches and Winch Bumpers, UK – Goodwinch.com

I wouldn't go above a 14 if you don't want to spend all morning bogged down. We have an old 025 with a 14 on somewhere at the farm as a firewood saw, that's quite handy. Depends what flavour you're cutting up really...

What boots are they? Are you trading up or knocking it on the head? I've been up this afternoon and every time I get in the crown I ask myself why the hell am I doing this? It genuinely does make me feel awfully queasy! But sitting here now I can't wait to get up again on Sunday!

In the interests of balance, I have an MS260 which I bought new and must be coming up for 10 years old now. It has never let me down, never needed a re-tune, has felled 3' diameter Oak with a 16" bar, has been used for all the firewood for our central heating system up until this year [smokeless for the Rayburn now] and all the maintenance round home. It hasn't been used day in day out but I've always found it to be a dream to start, totally reliable and with plenty of power. It's been a great saw and the reviews I have heard of the 261 are very favourable... http://www.forestryjournal.co.uk/pdf/StihlSep11.pdf I can't really comment on the Husky. I used one for some of my CS tickets years ago and couldn't really get on with it, can't remember which one but it was a pro model, I found it less consistent at starting and the slimmer bar & chain didn't leave a lot of room for movement in the kerf before the bar would bind.. [although I was still quite new to it then so it could just have been inexperience]

Definitely a top tenuous! I agree on the superdry, I normally try to support local business but can't quite do it in this instance.... I used to shop in Cult Clothing years ago, before I became deeply uncool... that's his aswell... I have no idea where the name came from, but I'm pretty sure it's NOT off one of ma 'n pa's demis! Robinsons has found its way into most of the pubs around tenbury, I think you can buy it from them direct aswell....

Alec, we have both in our house as well, and I have worked as a contractor for the school my wife was working at [till we had another child] both directly for the school and through the LA, so I feel qualified to compare what I know of our own situations. The rewards in public sector employment are there, they're just different.... family hours, job sharing, a pension for everyone, but above all, job security. I work on the HOPE that I'll get recognised, and if I don't, I work a bit harder.... If I get rewarded it will likely be a lump sum payment, but it won't have any greater worth than the perks you receive over time [and irrespective of performance] working in the public sector. I am salaried, I get what I get no matter how many hours I work [but believe me, I don't get to work less!] I have as much opportunity to increase my earnings as anyone in the public sector. It is those who have gone on strike demanding something which is not economically viable which has made a them and us situation. Because they have made themselves out to be more valuable than those of us who don't work in the public sector, those of us who suffer job losses, pay cuts, short hours.... And I'm not sure what type of school you refer to which had to lay of staff to repair the roof. If it was a state run school I can state categorically that would not have happened, the LA has a responsibility to maintain the envelope, sanitary facilities and mechanical and electrical installations in a school..... bills for those items do not come out of devolved capital, they're covered under the service level agreement.

Did you know that the Dunkerton's son Julian is the brains behind that Superdry clothing brand you see all over the high street these days...? It's not from Japan, it's from Lem'ner! [Cheltenham actually but, you know....] Our apples go into Robinsons... if you find it, try it, even if I say so myself it is a particularly nice cider..... Robinsons Cider | Tenbury Wells | Herefordshire

Alec 1. You are not taking into account TLR, or 'management' roles, which all teachers are encouraged to take on once, if not before, they reach their pay ceiling. There are all manner of ways of earning this, HOD, HOY, pastoral, etc etc. I still don't think that a starting salary of £17k is bad based on what I have seen of NQT's... 2. I am a bad example. I work in the constructin industry. Some of my work is for the local authority, most for private sector. Public sector work has so many flaws I can't even begin to go into them here. I don't have a pension [i can't afford the contributions, I pay life insurance instead]. The only changes to my pay packet in the last 3 years have been a10% pay cut and losing my company car. I don't often take lunch, if I do it might be a sandwich at my desk and occasionally I'll pop home for half an hour. I work the hours which need to be worked to make sure the job gets done and the company makes enough money to keep me employed. Last night I was working until midnight to turn out some as built drawings to save us £400. Mostly, I do whatever is necessary to survive and give my wife and children a stable life, and think myself bloody lucky to have a job at all. I am currently working 6 days a week, something which is VERY common in the private sector, while 5 days is an achievement in my experience of the public sector.... I don't think we are on the breadline, however when I compare our situation, both currently and long term, with friends who work for the state, actually, we pretty well are on the breadline. 3. A friend is HOD at a local high school, he knows better than to grumble to me about having to work the odd day in the school holdiays. If teachers are so broke, there is nothing to stop them working part time in the holidays... I dunno, bale bumping, fruit picking, 1-1 tutoring... the possibilities are endless. Teachers are very quick to make a big deal about what long hours they work, without seeing how very silly they look because actually, theirs sounds a lot like an easy week for most other people. I questioned why the alphabet on the wall of my 4 year old son's classroom read 'E F H G J K' and 'T U V X W Z'... I got a very arsey call from the head mistress telling me that 'the teacher had put those letters up at 6 in the evening and was very tired'....!!!! My heart BLEEDS!!! I'm not saying that many teachers, nurses, bin men etc don't do an absolutely wonderful job, nor am I saying that they are not worth what they're paid. What I'm saying is we're all broke. facts and figures and reasons and blame aside, what's done is done and we're in the situation we're in and that's that, make peace with it. The huge public sector must shoulder some responsibility for this situation and accept that they can't hide behind their unions forever demanding the impossible. They need to roll up their sleeves alongside those of us who don't have a union to fight our corner, those of us who can improve our lot only by working harder for it, and help us make the country profitable again. They need to stop making it 'them and us' because, and I can only speak for myself here, it makes me resent them massively.... I don't feel I'm getting good value. And you know what they say.... the customer is always right....

Can't go wrong with a Goldfish....!

Alec, to respond to the points you made. 1. When my wife was getting diagnosed with cancer, we paid to have her assessed privately. Ironically it was the same consultant who eventually treated her under the NHS, but working much quicker out of a private hospital. Yes, some NHS hospitals are bringing in cheap foreign staff, but you have to ask yourself whether this is because the profession is poorly paid or whether trusts are wasting money elsewhere instead of spending it on nurses and equipment. 2. My sister in law is a NQT, several very close friends are teachers & senior management [one is helping me this Sunday actually!] and my wife was a governor at our childrens school so I know that £17.5k is not a common salary for teachers, nor do they sit on it for long. Although for 39 weeks work I reckon it's pretty good yes....! I will accept that TA's are very poorly paid though for some of the crap they have to deal with, but most are not qualified nor strong enough to lead a class so I guess that's OK. [My wife works with special needs kids and was a TA as a local secondary school] 3. I have worked closely with schools and local authorities as part of my work, including taking classes as an industry contact. I have a close working relationship with senior management at quite a few schools [private and state] and base my opinions only on what I know for a fact. Teachers have nothing to complain about and really ought to bear that in mind....

Yes, it's rated, states how much in the spec on the online shops. Rig is obviously rated higher than standard pinto but both are rated. https://www.gustharts.com/UserFiles/DMM_Pinto_Flyer.pdf

For those like me who didn't have a clue what this was all about... BBC News - Jeremy Clarkson One Show exchange transcript Don't get me started on this. I am a terrible ranter about the unions, socialists and public sector on facebook and have lengthy debates [rows, whatever] with 'friends' who work in the public sector. Uh oh.. too late... I'm off.... sorry.... What anyone who works in the public sector needs to remember is this. The private sector doesn't need you half us much as you need it sadly. If the public sector was to disappear up it's own backside tomorrow, within a few weeks private companies would be popping up all over the place doing their jobs but better and cheaper. If the private sector collapses, which if the public sector workers [although it's principally the union leaders stirring rather than anything else] keep whingeing, striking and doing very little but doing it badly and for a high cost, then it could well do, then there will be no public sector. As is well proven by the strikes, public sector workers won't work for nothing, they have a vastly overinflated sense of self worth and very little grasp on economics in the real world. The public sector is a service industry. It produces nothing, it generates no revenue, it creates no export market, it simply consumes, in ever greater quantities, from the private sector. As a result of this I'm sorry but they just need to graciously accept what they're given right now. A public sector worker can't even claim to be a proper tax payer, since I'm pretty sure the money the pay their taxes with comes from private sector taxation in the first place. It's a giant moneygoround and it needs a slap across the face and to be put back in it's place. It needs to follow the private sector. Life is hard, we're all having to work a lot harder for a lot less in the private sector, but we suck it up and get on with it, we will make things better. Why can't teachers etc [who god knows have incredible packages in reality] stop complaining about how hard done by they are and just plaster on a smile and put up with it? All they seem to do is blame bankers, and although that's an entirely different thread, we really must accept that bankers share only as much blame for all this as we the consumers with our insatiable thirst for cheap borrowing and even cheaper goods, and the vastly overpopulated & complex public sector, and the general unwillingness to carry out low paid menial tasks leading to a collapse in manufacturing & export. We all played a part in making this situation. We need to face up to it and stop trying to blame everyone but ourselves. Public sector workers striking are doing the total opposite and have absolutely no sympathy from me whatsoever. I'm a fairly reasonable person and have no problem with public sector employees being paid fairly, but that's not happening at the moment. I have also found anyone in the public sector who I have tried to talk to about it to act like a idiot, mostly just raising the volume of their voice while repeating the same thing 'But we deserve it... blah blah bankers... blah blah Tories'... THAT MAY BE, BUT THERE IS NOTHING TO PAY FOR IT!!!. They're acting like children who have been told they can't have a new toy. So yes, I would take them out and have them shot too. Sorry guys, it does make me cross!

I have a couple of DMM Zodiac screwgates in my kit, I really like them. I don't use them on my main line but I do stick them on my F8 sometimes, or between a pulley & prussik, and I have some little ISC Gators which are handy for micro pulleys and the strop on my back handled saw...

This story can apply to any area. It is not down to who you know at the school though, it's who you know at County Hall. Local Authorities aren't quite as transparent as we all think / hope, they are staffed by human beings after all.... We have a very similar situation here, a contractor keeps getting thrown off the approved list and then blow me, next summer, he's mopping up work all over the place again.... we've put some of it right before, it's a bloody disgrace. Local government can be bent as hell as well as being shockingly inefficient. Talking of their fee, 20% is the norm taken from a budget here for 'professional services', which goes straight back into county hall to fund their ivory towers.... As said, FAR from a good deal for schools and sadly, it's the kids who get the crap end of all this...