Pedroski

Still wrong. If they are put into these jobs then they need to be paid a proper wage for doing them, not expected to do them in exchange for dole money. It's either a job that needs doing in which case it's got to pay a proper wage, regardless of cutbacks. It's all being done arse about face.

So it's the offset of the attachment point that's doing it. An HMS krab won't solve that either as it still moves around and will be putting straight down on the offset attachment point. It must all be just the way it is.

It's all very easy to say that people should be expected to pick up litter or dog poo, or help in old peoples homes or schools in exchange for their dole money. BUT, it's a crap idea. It does people out of jobs. If an old peoples home can get free assistance from unemployed people, then what's going to happen to the jobs they would otherwise be employing people to do? Same with schools. My Mrs is pretty highly qualified in terms of early years childcare (she sat gawd knows how many courses etc in order to maintain her registration) and is has tried for months/years to get teaching assistant jobs in schools. But she can't get a look in because there are some right knobby mums, with absolutely zero qualifications, no early years childcare course under their belts, or anything, who go in and do it for free just because they "want something to do while hubby is out earning a fortune". These mums typically drive to the school in brand new Range Rovers and BMW X5s that hubby has had to buy in order to reduce his tax bill. And the same with litter pickers. The council EMPLOYS street maintenance crews. If they start having free labour picking up litter, then what happens to the maintenance crews? They become underworked and then unemployed. And same with free labour doing weeding in old biddies gardens - that does me out of work. Next thing, the government will be putting unemployed on Arb courses..... they'll have no work.... so they'll get dole and then be put out to work for free on council trees, or in gardens of old biddy homes. So what will happen to your work? It'll become completely devalued, you'll have less of it, you'll pack it in because you can't earn a living and then become unemployed. You'll have your qualifications and experience, but no work, so they'll pay your dole and in return you'll be expected to do tree work for £70/week dole money. Good eh?

OK, another thought... you owe £2.5k of which £1.9k is charges, so pay them £600 now and then ask if they will write off or reduce the charges.

That's not what I meant, sorry.... What I meant was that in normal DRT without a rope guide, then the angle between each side of rope becomes greater as you get near the top of the climb. So if you were to use an LJ in that situation, without a rope guide or saver, then again that angle between each side of rope will be greater and so the LJ won't be straight. And what the RW is doing to the LJ is the same.... it's spreading the rope apart. A longer tether would bring it back straighter than it is now in Oldmilltree's set up, surely?

That twisting of the LJ must also happen when in DRT with just the LJ as you get toward the top of the climb where the rope is spread apart by whatever part of the tree it is over. I would have thought that the only way for the LJ to NOT twist is if using DRT with in conjunction with a friction saver at the TIP. The RW seems to be increasing the twist by acting on the LJ in the same way as ropes pushed similar to how they would be close to the top of a DRT climb.

It's not just your spleen, it can also lead to pneumonia and heart failure. Likely increased risk of heart failure if there's a pre-existing condition - the trouble is, many people with a pre-existing heart condition don't even know about it until they drop down. One study found that something like 35% of heart failure cases were preceded with flu. Always be aware of what your body is doing.....it could be you!

Are you angry with yourself about anything at the moment?

The difference in distance covered per revolution, expressed as a percentage, is: 100 x (d1-d2)/d1 where d1 is the total diameter or wheel and tyre you're changing to and d2 is the other total diameter of wheel and tyre. We don't need to calculate the circumference as "Pi" is common to both and cancels out (i.e. circumference = d x Pi). So, difference in distance covered between 738mm diameter combination and 738mm + 26mm (i.e. 738 + 2 lots of 13) is 100 x (764 - 738)/764 = 3.4%. The bigger wheel combination will travel 3.4% further per rev, so speed will be 3.4% higher than previous.

I wonder if everyone's LJ is like that and they just haven't noticed. I can't see how it could be any different given the fact that the crab attachment point is offset to the side and not in line with the rope.

We use one of the Bostitch coil nailers. The nails come in a coil with a capacity of up to 225 nails in the magazine. Longest nails are something like 70mm and shortest about 35mm and nail diameter is 2.03 to 2.5mm. Wide range of nails are available, incl stainless. Compressor we use with this is the RC-10-U. It's a 10 litre easily portable one that can be lugged with one hand. Comes with 10m hose and is happy running all day. It's 240v and we have no problem running it off inverter from truck or from a small genny. Typically run the compressor in the middle of its range, about 100psi. They also do extra 15m or 30m airlines, although we find the supplied 10m one to be sufficient. Re cost, we managed to get a good deal where we paid something like £600 for the whole lot. I know Screwfix do the compressor we have for £200 inc vat, and one of the nailers for £200 inc vat. The nailer they do is good and nice and light making it ideal for closeboard fencing. We got one higher up in the model range, but I can't for the life of me remember the shop we got it from. It was on-line and we found it through fleabay! All in all, we've been really happy with this set up, and just find it so much less hassle than the gas nailer. Plus it means you end up with a good compressor too which is great for flat tyres, cleaning equipment, air tools etc. Far more useful than a gas nailer for that sort of thing!

I'm going to sort out some sick cover methinks. I've got personal injury.... always expected to hurt myself and not be able to work, and that hasn't happened. No sick cover...and what do I get.... sick. Flippin' typical! My worry, though, is that when I apply for it I now have a pre-existing medical condition, and I bet they won't cover me for that despite no diagnosis being made yet!

Here's the one my kids made....

Exactly the same here. Got fed up with Paslode and Hitachi gas guns. Even with servicing they just aren't reliable enough when it comes to doing closeboard in dirty, cold and wet conditions.... fine for indoors, fine for dry days in clean places. But we find the air nailers so much more reliable. Bostitch ones are brilliant, so is their compressor, and with a massive long reel of airline (Bostitch too) you're good to go. No power, then just run it off an inverter in the truck. Much much cheaper to run too.

Thanks Andy, I'll have a proper read through, but I don't think the treatment I end up with will be covered. I'm not sure if they cover time off for fitting of closure devices and stents, but I'll definitely check. As you say, every penny helps.

The trouble with sickness cover is that it's so damned expensive and is usually one of the first things that gets chopped when money is really tight!

Vast majority of families do pay for it - they work, they buy clothes and food for the kids etc etc....and money goes into the system. The kids grow up and work.... and pay tax and buy stuff and money goes into the system. Some become nurses and doctors and carers and look after other people who get ill or old... and it's all part of what works. So what if people get a small amount of child benefit per child each week (about £15), or child tax credit to help where earnings aren't enough. My oldest kid is 17.... she's working full time, she's moved out and paying rent on a house with 2 others who are also working full time. She's a benefit to society. And I'm sure my others will be too when they leave. Sure, there are some families who don't work, but they're the minority.... it's unfortunate that it's these ones that the government and the media love everyone else to focus on!

I work full time, my Mrs works part time and looks after our kids and other peoples kids. I've got a diddy little mortgage. But we're in a hole. My wages haven't budged in years, they are poor by the time I've considered expenses and paid tax and insurance. Basically something like £11k/year. We get working tax credit and child tax credit, and this enable us to eat food and pay bills. While my wages haven't budged, my gas bills have gone from being something like £30/month a few years back to £90/month now. And same with electric. That's £180/month.... that's well over £2000/year. My council tax is £1500/year. Vehicle insurance £700/year, mortgage £3120/year, home insurance £600/year, life and critical illness cover £600/year (which I need for the mortgage), phone £360/year.... the list goes on. A few months back I got proper ill for the first time in my life.... I had a suspected pulmonary embolism, bibasal (double) pneumonia and clots were found on my lungs. I spent 2 days in hospital, got antibiotics and couldn't afford to take time off work despite being told I needed to take it easy for 3 weeks - I'm self-employed, working virtually exclusively for one company, but they won't pay me sick pay, so I was straight back to work. I phoned job centre about claiming ESA. The most I would have been able to get is £81/week.... and I would have had all the hassle of dealing with HMRC as well re my working tax credit. So my options were to either work or not be able to pay the bills. So I worked.... and got ill again, ended up back on antibiotics... and carried on working. I have a hole in my heart that is being investigated as I'm continuing to have shortness of breath problems - I had a cardiac angiogram a week and a half back, again for manual workers it's necessary to take a week off as they cut into the femoral artery in the groin to get a tube into the heart to investigate, and there's a real risk of bad bad bleeding if you strain it after. The week off has cost me a weeks wages with no sick pay. In a few weeks I'll hopefully be having the hole closed, but that means a month off, again no sick pay from the bloke I work for, but I should be able to get £81/week ESA for the 4 weeks. And this past week, and possibly tomorrow I've been screwed by the weather. No pay from the bloke I work for. So to all those who slag off people who need help from society, don't tar us all with the same brush. I work my butt off and always have done - I have never been unemployed and neither has my wife. But we're in a sh1tty situation right now. I know you all work hard too, but just look towards yourselves and think about how you might need help if something changes in your life, or how different your life could be if things were different earlier on. What Cameron and all are doing is trying to put blame on society for the state of the economy. This is all absolute hogwash.

I see two different meanings. One is the cultivation of arborists, whether that be carried out in nature or in the lab, it's the putting together of different varieties of arborist to come up with another. So we have gorilla type arborist and the well educated poncy type arborist, and by combining the two we hope to be able to come up with an arborist who is both highly efficient and physical, while having a degree of social skills. The other meaning of arboriculture is literally the culture surrounding arborists, so it's typically male posturing, heavy drinking (esp tea and coffee, maybe even the odd pint of beer), a penchant for shiny metal objects and sexual gratification obtained through tying things up with rope utilising a variety of knots and hitches.

They won't get fed up accepting minimum payment. It'll just go on and on and on and on. Might be worth getting in touch with Citizens Advice and asking if they'll write to the bank with suggested settlement terms.

But, yeah....every firm should charge the same tariff. Thinking about it, maybe every tree surgeon should charge the same rate.....

Not quite. If you pay same DD amount each month, and using more gas or electric than that is covering, they have to inform you prior to changing DD amount. You can insist DD amount stays the same and pay the amount you've been underpaying by cheque. Same goes if they decide to reduce DD amount. With British Gas, at the end of the summer I've always paid for more gas and electric that I've used. They tell me that they are going to reduce my DD amount, but I just tell them to keep it the same as it means I don't fall behind in winter. Phoning in with regular meter readings will help them calculate the right DD amount. I know it's confusing witht he tarifs etc, but I don't think there's a deliberate attempt to get people to pay for more than they're using. It all comes out in the wash!

plenty snow here now and bad vis. Was taking my 2 girls tree climbing in the morn to try some stuff out....looks like sledging instead now!

Yeah, I know there's no ban here.... just wondering what the rubbish is they're spouting about bans in the US.

Stereo, is the ban they're talking about to do with log stoves in built up areas because of fear of smog, or is it more to do with health risk in the home? A return to the days of smog filled cities doesn't really bear thinking about, but if it's to do with indoor health risk then rather than ban stoves they need to look at proper sealing and flues. I wonder if there is some anti-woodstove sentiment being fuelled by the oil companies?