Billhook

You beat me to it! It was not me who needed the mask, it was my mate behind on the quad!

Not sure what I did wrong with the video above the first one refused to upload and I cannot delete it or write a message The second one should show the capability of the XC70 in the mud the poor old thing needs a few new filters and a bit of TLC I took the car down hill to service the JCB digger thinking that I would need to fetch the Ford 8210 tractor to tow it back. i asked my mate to follow me down in his new Honda Quad to take me back to the tractor when we arrived at the JCB after an easier trip than I thought , he bet me £10 that it would not make it back up the hill. This was too much to resist and you can hear him chuckling as the Volvo goes sideways. The beer tasted good at the pub later on!

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I think one of the main reasons that the ride is so good on the early cars is that they had sensible 60 series tyres and not stupid low profiles. The other reason for choosing the earlier model is because it just looks like an ordinary estate car and is not made to look more aggressive like the later cars which are a bit in yer face , so people are not so wound up about them as they can be about big 4x4s., not saving the planet and all that.

Oh Joy!!! Just managed to find one half dry day to rescue the old girl before it slowly sank into the mire. Managed to drive the Matbro up to it with gear difficulty and extend the boom to lift the track over the idler. I would have used the bucket if I was on some dry level ground and we could put logs under the chassis to left the track off the ground. Of course every time we tried the 15 tons of machine just pushed the logs further into the mire. Anyway track back on, ditching finished, Matbro pushed itself out of the mire with the teleboom, all back at the yard now, oiled and greased as a reward, on top of this, a good election result, just been to a very romantic Christmas family Wedding with everyone in great form, so now looking forward to Christmas Day and I hope it will be a good one for all of you!

Posted this before but I had this old Dolmar saw which I had abandoned as it had no kickback safety . But it always was a powerful mains operated saw and handy being quieter and easy to start. Bought a little saw bench with a thing that clamps the blade and has a red protective shield for kickback i was operating it one handed in the video as the other hand had the camera but even then felt fairly safe as the saw was fixed and I was standing well to one side It is not much use for anything except some quieter domestic work where perhaps you do not want to disturb neighbours on a Sunday morning. I think that it cost around £35 on eBay

A + E is a lottery Do not have an injury on Saturday night in Boston as there will be a queue of fight victims and drunks before you. The staff are overworked and often insulted and you do not have a warm reception Go 35 miles further North to Louth and there is one of the best hospitals around, very friendly receptionist, usually no long queue and good cheerful doctors and nurses i suppose the answer is Postcode and management . Bit similar to working for different arb firms !

Yes, that is the place but I am not going to try and pronounce it!

I took our first viscous coupling model 2000 year, to the Gower near Bishopston to see some friends. Decided to go for a walk down to the sea but were told to drive along a narrow track to a turning place where we could park. when we arrived there a large car was already there so could not turn round and reversing for a mile up the track did not appeal Ahead was a very rough road cut straight from the rock, very narrow with a huge drop on one side. There were some large steps in the rock at various intervals but it never grounded. It started to become steeper and my wife was screaming (she had the view of the drop!). We met a walker coming up and asked her if it becomes better further down. she said no it is worse! Arrived at the bottom where a Land Rover Series 111 was parked belonging to the owner of the cottage down there, and turned round. Now I had the view of the drop and I could see why my wife was screaming! Anyway the old car clambered up to the top, very sure footed and did not ground once. When we told our friends of our adventure they could hardly believe us and apparently it is still talked about in the pub! We replaced it after 220k miles for a Japanese import. They look after their cars very well and have a strict system to replace safety parts after a certain time regardless of wear or mileage. Right hand drive but the speedo is in kph

So if somebody is lying unconscious around a blind bend, you should not be allowed to stop traffic because you are not authorised?????

In a similar vein, a friend of mine, now sadly no longer with us, was out on a call with his reflective jacket BT gear on. He came to a level railway crossing where people had obviously been stuck for ages and had become frustrated and had started to cross the line, the barriers being half barriers so they could weave their way through. Fearing a dreadful accident, and not being able to stop the drivers from crossing, he decided to conduct the traffic from the centre of the crossing as he could then see a long way down the line either way to make sure it was clear When the police came eventually he of course received a major bollocking, but I think he had a strong argument and was not prosecuted. Which brings me to our line of work. How much authority does an individual have to put his hands up and stop the traffic if he is warning of imminent danger, say a tree fallen on a blind bend or an accident, and can people be prosecuted for ignoring such a warning.

So you are sitting at a set of faulty lights with both ends stuck on red. You cannot reverse as there is a queue behind with a big artic. You phone the HA, how long do expect to sit there, an hour, four hours, all day and night?

I would think that 90% of roadworks lights do not have this sensor and my argument is that it may be bad manners/ form to hold the traffic up for what , ten seconds, but it is in no way dangerous and does not compare with jumping the lights at a dangerous junction. Yet from what people are saying here it has exactly the same penalty.

One other thought on the subject is something I bet that thousands do every day and everyone of us has done at some time, and that it to follow the last cars in a queue at a roadworks past a red light. There may be three or four cars in front and a couple behind doing it. There is generally such a delay in the lights changing over that when you reach the other end they are still on red so that you gave not even inconvenienced anybody. How can that receive the same punishment as somebody jumping the lights on a M25 roundabout or fast main road junction?

https://www.rac.co.uk/discuss/forum/driving/driving-discussion-aa/motoring-discussion/7799-traffic-light-frozen-on-red Although the law seems clear that there are no circumstances when you can cross a red light, what about emergency vehicles and even civilian vehicles trying to make it to hospital for child birth or accidents.

XC70 brilliant car and much more capable than it looks. Underside well protected and good entrance and departure angles We started with an early petrol with viscous couple which did 220k now on another petrol bought from Japan but this one is diesel and just used around the farm. It has done 259k is Haldex and failed its MOT because the instrument panel packed up. The panel cost more than the car was worth and the owner nearly gave it to me for scrap value. It has been fine and will remain fine when I find my collection of cable ties thank you Jack P

Definitely a big wind up for me also. Outrageous the lights in your video but there are plenty of examples of a tiny hole in the side of the road that could easily be coned off with just warning signs. Cannot be more difficult than coming across a parked car or a cyclist, both without any warning. There are many where they have been working all day cutting the verge with no potholes where thay just cannot be bothered to take them down after work I have seen a pair of lights about ten yards apart protecting a tiny hole on the side of a very straight road where you can see for a mile in both directions. I presume that by crossing a red light in those circumstances you would have the same weight of law thrust at you as jumping a red light in the middle of London, unless anyone on here knows any better. Are they ever advisory?

I drove forward into a clump of what I thought was nettles, felt a crunch and rather stupidly reversed without investigation!

Just reversing and hit a hidden Ash stump...........ouch!

That is the sort of thing. Keep 'em coming

Brings a whole new meaning to the term "Having a woody!"

Just been cruising both the local towns and the web for presents and find them all full of vacuous tat, probably made in China Trying to think of something I could make for my wife which would demonstrate love rather than expecting her to do chores. This rules out chopping boards, bread boards, cheese boards, wooden salad implements, gardening tools. I thought that I might find an interesting piece of yew with lots of little branches that I could mount on a plinth and call it a ring/ bracelet holder. The only trouble with that is she might expect me to decorate it! Little coffee table perhaps , Swedish candle is a bit too easy Most of us have a lot of wood around and i m sure loved ones appreciate the effort of making something unique, even if it is not grade one. I have looked through the woodcraft forum but could not find anything there. Anyone with any ideas?

It is becoming a bit dark down there in the woods, but if I could find four candles and a bit of 'ose I might be able to go down there and put something together!

Just spent a week on the old JCB 806 C with the ditching bucket successfully helping to release the massive amount of water that has been building up in the drains and ditches However I just had about fifty yards left to do on the last drain in the woods and the track came off the front idler having hit a stump It should go back on easily enough but it is better with two people so it can wait till later. While I was waiting a little Bank vole came out into the stream and swam like a jet boat. Amazing little creature, I did not know they could swim like that and it did not seem frightened of me at all.