wrsni

Providing it's not going in a "good" room in the house, try and pick up a second hand Stanley solid fuel cooker. We've one in from new in 1988 and it's as good as the day it went in. It's had an easier time this winter with the arrival of the Burley stove (in a different room) which has negated the need for the central heating to be used so it now sits shut down but keeps hot water on tap 24hrs a day and background heat in the kitchen using about a bag of coal in the week. A few years ago they were making buttons s/h, a lot pricier now but a good one would still be a cracking buy, especially as the new ones are of more dubious quality (allegedly!).

Optimum charge rate for a battery is a tenth of it's capacity, prolonged charging at anything greater runs the risk of shortening the life of the battery. So a 50 Ah battery would ideally get 5 amps for 10 hours, 20 Ah would get 2 amps, etc. Anything totally discharged for any length of time will need a charger with a "de-sulphating" setting to have any chance of bringing it back to life

I've a Streamline terminal through the phone line. I'm fairly certain that Streamline are the largest card payments provider in the UK and it's still on average three days from me swiping the card in the shop till the money appears in my account. At the end of the day it's just like anything and everything financially related, be prepared to be shafted by a huge company who you will grow to detest but can't actually do anything about!

Extraordinary, really? I simply don't see how that can be the case. Well i'm not looking to be rude and certainly have no intention to cause offence, apologies to any concerned if I have. Against that, I stick by my comment resolutely and passionately.

Well if that's the pinnacle of your wisdom then dear help you because frankly that's complete bollocks. The real truth is ALWAYS clear cut, there are never any different versions of it, there are no different shades, it is ONE thing. All the other shades, versions, etc, etc, only come in to play when people want to deny, hide, or alter the truth. Truth is becoming extremely unfashionable and harder and harder to find but if you want a REAL piece of wisdom to cling to, remember that out among all the bullshit it's always there somewhere.

Clegg knows which side his bread will be buttered on in future as well. Can't see him having much of a future in UK politics after the next election anyway and if he thought the sparing with Farage would revive his fortunes he misjudged very very badly. On the similarities with Scottish independence I don't really agree. To start with, the UK still has it's own currency, Scotland doesn't. It would actually be more like saying that if the UK had the Euro, that we could break away from the EU and still continue to use it. Firstly you couldn't, and secondly you wouldn't want to! The irony of-course is that the independence movement want away from the UK but want to remain part of the EU. Then again maybe they'd prefer Scotland was open to Romanians and Bulgarians than Welsh, English, or Northern Irish.

Totally! Don't know if he's being disingenuous or just so removed from the real world that he genuinely doesn't know but I've done a lot of business directly with several Italian companies and any of them, or me, being in or out of the EU won't make a blind bit of difference. Different currencies and tax regimes anyway so actually no difference to dealing with China, Taiwan, Australia, American, etc, etc, except that all of them are so much nicer! Business is business.

Haven't heard one credible, substantial, undeniable reason yet for staying in. Have heard many of the above for getting out. So out it is, unless someone can convince me that I'm wrong!

Personally, I'm not in the slightest bit worried what my wood ends up being called. I thought of it, I planned the initial layout, and I planted it, that will never change. I'm quite content with that and just hope I get to stick around for as long as possible to see it flourish.

Well, yes and no! "Chicken wire" has became a sort of generic term for wire mesh. Some of the more open ones will still be OK for a chicken coup but too open for rabbit protection, so make sure you get one with a small enough diameter hole. The one I got was actually 600mm tall rather than a meter and was specific for either keeping rabbits in or out, so there was a bit of cost saving both in the wire and the posts required, bit easier to work with as well. Turned the wee buggers just as well as the full height one too.

Correct, just as effective as digging it in and easier to remove the wire in future if you wish. In fact, probably better because if they start digging they can easily go down a foot or more with no trouble. The wire along the ground prevents them from digging at all. Just be sure you leave no gaps below it!

Could easily swipe a PTO shaft from something sitting about doing little so no problem there. It's the drive and couplings from the middle out to the two rotors which is totally unprotected. I'm sure a new guard would be pricey enough but the mower is not serviceable without it and he's not reflecting that in the asking price IMO.

Guy in Antrim has a 6000 for sale on e-bay but I think he's taking the pee with the price as there's no guard on the drive couplings. I don't really do health and safety much but as that thing sits it's potentially lethal. There's also a 6400 which is the same width but with 4 rotors instead of 2. It has a higher rotor speed so cleaner cut for fine turf, think the Trimax is the same with smaller rotors and more of them. Whatever, they're all pricey. Similar money would get us a decent s/h triple but if the roller mower done a good enough job there'd certainly be less maintenance with it and would cover a wider range of work. Might even be a decent topper for the farm.

I've a few specific blocks of it in the woodland for coppice but the majority of it is dispersed throughout the entire area to act as a nurse in the way you describe. The soil is not poor by any means, but the nitrogen they fix should still help to bring the other stuff up with it hopefully, ................and, if you want another plus for it, rabbits don't like them so tend to leave them alone. Which I can also testify to be correct.

What do you all think is maximum HOC before it starts to leave wheel marks? Are the flail versions any better due to only having the rear roller and more "lift" from the flails and rotor?

One of the main listed "traditional uses" in the books for alder is clogs. Probably a combination of being very light but very hard and then as you say suitable for carving. Also lasts almost indefinitely when fully immersed in water, Venice is largely built on alder piles apparently. Strange how many so called "experts" told me to avoid alder at all costs when planning my woodland as it was, according to them, good for nothing.

Not here!, quite the reverse in fact. Especially poor until well seasoned, which may be part of the problem for some, but terrific afterwards. Also, easily the best performer so far out of about 15 native hardwood species in my recently planted woodland.

Looking at a smaller one (five or six feet) to run behind a compact. My concern is using it on longer grass either on a regular basis to maintain a constant greater height of cut, or using it on an area every 4 to 6 weeks for maintenance. Worried about leaving wheel tracks uncut or less well cut on longer material.

Either, but my inclination at the moment is towards a rotary.

If, like me, you prefer to do your noseying from the comfort of an armchair via t'internet, you should check out Bing maps. Click on the "Bird's eye" drop down menu and then "Aerial". From what I've seen much more up to date photos than Google earth.

Anyone on here own or use a tractor driven roller mower? Could do with a bit of practical advice.

I know from experience that there is a now a precedent in most of these things that the "default" lies in favour of the consumer and if a dealer wants to avoid their statutory liabilities (as he seems to in this case) then the burden of proof lies with them. Whatever reason(s) he has for his conclusion he should be able to stand over to you, and a judge in small claims court if necessary, or he hasn't a leg to stand on. Supposition, conjecture and waffle simply won't do, he needs hard evidence or you don't pay.

With respect, not just as simple as that. Bear in mind that both Southern and Northern Ireland DO share membership of the EU and there is a general push there to make borders as insignificant as possible (although try telling that to someone sitting in the baking heat waiting to cross the border/runway in to Gibraltar, but that's another story!), however, the possiblities of Scotland and the rest of the UK NOT having the same EU status are significant, and the idea of having a land border with a nation not sharing that are a whole new ball game. Where the London situation WAS relevant to Northern Ireland however was in attitude to terrorism. If the Republican terrorist movement had confined it's activities to this island they'd probably still be at it. In 1992 however they detonated a bomb in the financial district of London, the repair bill for that one attack was about 30% more than the TOTAL for every terrorist bomb in Northern Ireland since 1969. The desire to keep that sort of trouble out of London led to the situation we have now where the blaggards and their cronies on both sides have essentially as much money and concession thrown at them as they want as long as it keeps the semtex out of London and to hell with what's happening over here.

Now you see that's a pro-independence stance that's hard to disagree with. I've seen Jim Sillars interviewed a few times and he's a very engaging man, his bottom line is that he wants his country to be independant, end of. He doesn't claim everything will be rosier, he doesn't claim that everyone will be better off, he doesn't claim everything will just fall in to place, he doesn't claim that everyone is bullying them in to remaining part of the UK, he says that people in Scotland should just decide if they want to be independant. Anyone who votes yes on that basis, fine, it's a brave move and should be applauded as such. Anyone who votes yes however to enjoy the land of milk and honey promised by Salmond definitely deserves the massive disappointment they'll suffer when it doesn't materialise.

Well then given that as it stands at present Scotland has NO territorial waters, it's not looking too promising. The UK has territorial waters but not Scotland.