Pedroski

Sorry Will, I was having a blond moment. I was talking about the way a rope is tied through in parallel to the belay loop on a normal climbing harness. Mixing up my belay loops and bridges!

Isuzu Rodeo or a Jeep

I love things like that. It's amazing when working in really overgrown gardens how often pointed bits of angle iron, re-bar etc etc, can be found pointing upwards out of the ground. All nasty things to fall on. Goes to show how important it is to have a proper looksy to see what hazards are about.

Knowing the rules and driving not in accordance to the rules is NOT "bending the rules". It's blatantly breaking them. You MUST, by law, drive in accordance with the rules. In a similar vein, if you drive on the road without having passed a test and without a licence, even if you are driving perfectly well, then you are still breaking the law. If you get stopped and end up in court, or have an accident, then there is no option to prove you were driving safely - no licence, then that's it.

If worried about cutting the bridge and the bridge failing, then why not do what is often done in climbing with a back up tied through leg loop and waist belt?

Ha, well then, here's a problem. You are fully aware of the requirement to have a driving licence, you are fully aware of the rules of the road as demonstrated by you holding a driving licence, and yet you still drive other than in accordance with that licence. This makes your 'offence' worse, yet the penalties are smaller. Bizarre.

Why is digging and winching not an option? Pickaxe, fence spade, loppers/saw to cut roots. 15 inches diameter isn't big and the customer wants it removed then make a job of it. Anything you put on it to try and rot it will take ages and ages and ages.

Women's cycling.....phwooaarr!

Sure you mean "the latté" as opposed to "the latter"???

It tickles me.... how experienced people were never inexperienced.

Conifers - attack them with telescopic pole saw from the ground or scramble up them and attack with a big Silky

Might be worth reading "Chainsaws At Work" - http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg317.pdf Clearly states: "Anyone who uses a chainsaw at work should have received adequate training and be competent in using a chainsaw for that type of work. The training should include: - dangers arising from the chainsaw itself; - dangers arising from the task for which the chainsaw is to be used; and - the precautions to control these dangers, including relevant legal requirements" And under the section Use of chainsaws in tree work "‘All workers who use a chainsaw should be competent to do so. Before using a chainsaw to carry out work on or in a tree, a worker should have received appropriate training and obtained a relevant certificate of competence or national competence award, unless they are undergoing such training and are adequately supervised. However, in the agricultural sector, this requirement only applies to first-time users of a chainsaw.’ This means everyone working with chainsaws on or in trees should hold such a certificate or award unless: - it is being done as part of agricultural operations (eg hedging, clearing fallen branches, pruning trees to maintain clearance for machines); and - the work is being done by the occupier or their employees; and - they have used a chainsaw before 5 December 1998. In any case, operators using chainsaws for any task in agriculture or any other industry must be competent under PUWER 98." NOTICE THE WORD - "should", as in "should be competent", "should hold a certificate" etc etc DID YOU KNOW - over a third of small business owners have never heard of PUWER 98? Compare this with drink driving, where you MUST NOT exceed the blood alcohol limit. Compare with speeding, where you MUST NOT exceed a certain speed. Driving without due care and attention, where you MUST NOT use a mobile phone when driving, etc etc. And then compare the penalties.

You're making a big assumption here.... you don't know how many times he has done this. This may well have been the first time, in which case he hasn't got away cheap at all. How do you know he has "an entire career behind him, not following the rules" that has "saved him thousands" and that he is "well in pocket"???

I like it

My view of the Olympics is through my TV screen.

Wages might make a difference. Although it's wrong to make a selection based on age, an employer can pay a wage that is so low that the only people who can live on it are kids living at home!

Andy, I fully agree - compulsory education would have been far more beneficial. I also think that the current course costs are far too high for the majority of people. I was looking at doing CS38 - course fee over £700, add loss of earnings for the week of £500 (makes £1200) - it's just not viable for someone like me who who is struggling every month to pay the bills.

I'm 180cm (5'11") and 79kg. Think I'll opt out of the slimming diary:001_tt2:

Ta man! Just finished desoldering 32 switches, cleaning the boards up and making sure everything else is good. Not managed to find the oil filler yet - think it may need 2 stroke mix instead

Brilliant Gary Numan was always top of my music pile along with all my metal stuff! Listening to the radio in them olden days was always brilliant - I'll always remember mucking out crappy horse stables and a good Numan song coming on And NIN..... even now it's just Trent Reznor - genius. Saw them and Skid Row supporting Guns n Roses back in the day at Wembley in '91, then following year saw GNR supported by Faith No More and Soundgarden! I'm all reminiscing now

Cheers! It would be even more cool if I'd ordered the correct 2 pin switches instead of 4 pin. Now waiting on an £8 delivery from China - would have ordered from Farnell or RS etc, but they wanted £12 delivery I managed to get this keyboard for free through Greencycle, and being quite old, a lot of the switches have packed up (they're those membrane tactile types). 10 were replaced previously and they're good, but the others just not working at all - the circuitry is all fine as I get the proper function when shorting across the switch, which is handy! This is my idea of heaven Definitely my wife's idea of hell though.... all I hear is "what you doing now?", nag nag nag nag nag naaaaaaaggggggggg

Oh, fun times. Under the bonnet of my Roland JD800...... many switches to replace

What a finish for Kazakhstan! Fantastic move. Shame the interview was so crap - why ask someone who can barely speak English what he though of everyone being "against Britain"? Typical British stuff - instead of being positive in congratulating the winners, we get all negative about the GB team!

I just wish it was my pic.... but it's one my daughter shared with me through FB. It actually looks just like her though. Like you say, Silky would take too long for cutting hair, and I think top handle might be a bit dangerous. I'll stick with the hedgecutter for the top and then strim around ears and neck

I'm aware of thousands of pounds on tickets/kit/vehicles and it's sad when people get done out of work. However, it goes both ways. The firm I work with has many thousands of pounds invested in vehicles, landscaping machinery, training etc.... and it's annoying when arborists take on fencing jobs, hedgecutting, hard landscaping etc etc, doing us out of work I don't see people sticking up for the landscaper up the tree. Rather they are expressing dismay at what occurred. There are arborists who breach H&S rules on a daily basis - I've seen them, up trees with no helmets, no rescue kit on the ground, no exclusion zone to keep pedestrians out... the list is endless. Yet these all go missed because there's no snitch with a camera in the right place at the right time.