devon TWiG

14 hours ago, Muddy42 said:

T,

No disrespect and I wish you all the luck with this.  You may be lucky and have older permissions to shoot deer at zero charge, but I think landowners and agents have woken up to the popularity of stalking and the ability to charge stalkers a rent to enjoy their hobby. Rates vary depending on species, terrain and whether the landowner really wants the job done in terms of the harder task of shooting sufficient breeding female deer in the depths of winter.

I have heard the complete opposite .....with gun licences getting more difficult to obtain landowners may well have to pay for deer management services ...

Well it is now officially spring ....after the most horrendous winter I have ever known with record rainfall and just endless drizzle and misty dull days , but it has not really improved much !!!

Plenty of times a land owner BEFORE selling to a developer or trying to get Planning permission will "get rid " of any trees if they can that  could cause problems with their plans , not illegal but but can at times just be selfish / money orientated !!

So those in charge of this scheme spent a fair bit if time and money to come up with and announce it only do do an immediate U turn ,,,,tossers !!!!!!

37 minutes ago, Botty Cough said:

A range rover will do all of that and has far more class being the executioner of all witches.

Aren't Range Rovers one of the most despised ( as well as stolen and unreliable ) vehicles on the road ??

This suggests a "loophole" for modified vehicles with rear seats removed and windows blanked ..

Double-cab pick-up truck tax explained: 2024 company car tax changes and VAT | Auto Express

WWW.AUTOEXPRESS.CO.UK

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The inside line on HMRC’s VAT and Benefit-in-Kind tax rules for those using double-cab pick-ups as company vehicles

It appears that if you already have one then no change until 2028....it seems to be about "benefit in kind" if you are supplied one as a company vehicle , not sure on the situation for owner drivers , farmers for example ??   

It is the claims that the PM2.5 particles in the house of a woodburner are so high as to be a serious health risk that bewilders me , if this is the case are there high levels of illness / health problems with owners directly attributable to the woodburner ??  

1 hour ago, GarethM said:

What are you afraid of, a tar feather on your door ?.

 

Next you'll be telling people you're a gardener because you don't want to be publicly shunned like a leper.

Not afraid of anything , just not sure the cost will be justified , as well as potential hassle / restrictions going forward .

There does seem to be a growing movement of Anti Woodburners going on , I regularly see articles about it , often grossly exaggerated claims , but it is hard to disprove once they are said ...I am moving house soon to one without a woodburner and not too sure of I will fit one ...

no where near as bad here as predicted , storm Henk was worse yet received a lot less hysterical warnings !!

3 hours ago, Big J said:

I've just become aware of the Danes building a sub-sea tunnel from Rødbyhavn to Puttgarden (I'm a little slow - they've been planning it for over a decade).

 

The projected cost for it (to be completed in 2029) is 6.1 billion euros, or 340 million per kilometer. 

 

HS2 will cost around £1 billion per kilometer, by the time it's finished. 

 

How on earth can building two train tracks across fairly flat English countryside cost more than three times as much as constructing a 4 lane motorway and 2 lane train tracks on the sea bed? 

 

And I bet the Danes finish the tunnel first too.

You have obviously overlooked the fact that LAND , houses farms etc does not need to be purchased to build a tunnel !!!!

2 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I think people are pissed off with living too long.

They get to 75 or whatever and think ‘that’s enough of that, pass the whisky for my cornflakes, I don’t give a toss anymore’

As I get older I am less worried about dying than I used to be ....I have no fear of dying I just do not want to die yet ...my biggest fear is living too long , but not really sure how long is too long !!  some one once told me that retiring is a bit like going on holiday but you do not know how long for !!!  so difficult to budget and pace yourself !!!

9 hours ago, Steve Bullman said:

Other tree is different.

 

Personally I think the tree will be fine, but only time will tell.

 

In future only have your tree cleaned by professional tree cleaners.

I have washed a clump of Himalayan Birch to bring out their whiteness in front of a recently trimmed Leylandii  hedge ....looked great ...climbed them with a bucket of soapy water !!

2 hours ago, Steven P said:

South Africa jail system is odd compared to ours, I think money talks over there, am sure he would have been out sooner - if he wasn't famous (11 years and I think that was them making an example of him too). Fairly sure I read one that some serious crimes (murder serious) and you are put in house arrest rather than jail (was about 11 years ago I was reading that, coincidence? but my memory might be wrong)

I have spent time in South Africa and the murder rate is very high , so I doubt they keep all the murderers in jail for life ...knowing the mentality of life there they get let out to murder would be murderers to keep the jail population down !!!

we have "won" when we have no more customers because we told them that they are stupid , but we kid ourselves that we are now part time  /  retired 😁

just been on the news ... we have the wettest 6 months ( july --december ) on record !!  it has been bloody horrible ... 

21 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I’m 60, they can piss off, they can all piss off.

I'm 62 and have pissed off plenty of people and the policy works well 👍

12 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

What is your preferred method for driving through flood water? I was always taught to drive though slow in 1st gear and dipping the clutch if necessary to keep the revs up and exhaust clear.

 

meanwhile there’s a guy preaching on our local Facebook group how the correct method is to drive through at a snails pace with the engine just ticking over. I questioned this in good faith, asking for a source, as the only information I could find on google backed up my knowledge and not his. I was ridiculed for listening to google rather than a mechanics with 25 years experience who had successfully driven through flood waters in his lowered bmw using his method 🙄

 

just happens that the ‘google’ links I trusted was from the likes of rac and aa, rather than Simon from Facebook who I don’t know from Adam. 

classic "facebook" twattery !!!  never really worth commenting / posting ...

3 hours ago, JDon said:

I've a 6x6m or so grassy patch that I want to put a second driveway/join onto my old one. 

 

Can get a 3 ton digger off my boss for a weekend no problem. 
 

Will be getting someone to tar it after I do the ground works but I was curious as to how much type one I would roughly need? And if anyone knows roughly how much it is per ton. 
 

 

Would be a sheer drop off the curb on the new drive way side as I'm sure you need planning permission etc from the council and what not?

read this first as I know someone who got seriously caught out by this !!!!

I have an unlined chimney and the entire chimney breast is effectively a giant heat sink acting a bit like a night storage heater , one good reason not to line a chimney if it is not essential ....

Selling stuff is far more difficult than making it !!  marketing is a very difficult thing to master , even the biggest brands in the world still have an expensive marketing dept , some people seem to sell craft stuff online quite successfully it would seem , but I know far more who have spent a LOT of time and MONEY to promote their stuff , from what I gather ETSY fees work out about 25% on smaller sales  and you do the work ....I have no idea how stuff is sold on Instagram , I think those who have gathered a lot of followers over time , and post a lot , direct them to their own website ...

It has been incredibly wet in Devon over the last few weeks / months , I notice my own supply of wood kept out of rain in a draughty log store still seems wet from the atmosphere / humidity ...keeping a few next to the fire sorts it out , but still wetter than I can remember !!!

4 hours ago, openspaceman said:

I always worked piece rate and it was good for a long while, on average earning 30% more than day rate and that's how things should be. Things get tight and firms reduce the rate till it's nigh impossible to earn a living.

I have known guys who worked really hard and were making very good money on piece work , the customer ( big forestry company ) thought these guys are earning too much so reduced the rate !!!  other guys who did not beast themselves every day could not make a living then !!  shot themselves in the foot , this scenario happens quite a bit in other industries as well ....