Billhook

I had a look through the search engine here but could not find the subject mentioned although it must have been discussed many times. A half grown hedgerow Hornbeam was blown down earlier this Autumn and I tried to put a 10 inch diameter trunk through the Palax Combi and the hydraulic splitter would not touch it. I cut the trunk into 18 inch lumps. This was quite hard work even for the newly sharpened Stihl compared to a similar piece of Ash. So as a challenge I took out the trusty old Fiskars X27. Gave the lumps my best shots and they just laughed at me. I was joined by a strong young fit lad who thought that he would show the old fella how to do it but they laughed at him too. We just managed to split them with the X27 when I halved them again to 9 inch lengths and only then by going round the edge rather than down the middle. What is the hardest timber any of you have dealt with?

Yes, we could have appeased Hitler, they would have occupied us in the same way as they occupied most other European countries . Nobody would have known about the six million Jews as that would all have been "Fake News". We would all be speaking German and building Volkwagens and millions of lives would have been saved. Yes it would have been better to all live in harmony under one unelected dictatorship, but wait.............................

There are so many different versions by Eric. I find the backing singers irritating on the one above and rather spoilt the nice guitar. This earlier one has a better feel for me

Raining hard on Monday, 8.00am I had just made my omelette and a nice cup of tea was waiting when the phone went, could I help please urgently. Guy who runs a county house weekend party business had given instructions to a family of Germans on how to find the house, however they elected to turn into one of our field gateways where there was plenty of chalk for them to turn around. But no they carried on about three hundred yards down the side of one of our heaviest clay fields, just sown with wheat. I went down with the Teleporter making a filthy mess myself and when I arrived there were five of them looking pretty miserable under umbrellas. They were well and truly stuck Slipped a strap through the towing eye and gently pulled them out onto the road, mud everywhere. Their English was limited and they could not explain why they carried when it was obviously a field rather than a driveway Tea and omelette were cold on my return Apparently a couple of whiskys are waiting for me at the local pub so I may go down and hear a little more. All in the interest of keeping friendly relations with Germany after a hard Brexit! (you never know when you might need a Claas spare part!)

There is some good work going on for the forces personnel affected by ptsd in the form of helping them back into the community through working with archaeologists. Here is one site http://www.breakinggroundheritage.org.uk/ We had some archaeology on the farm this year and I was asked if I minded if some of these people joined. I said they would be welcome but it turned out that the British group were on another dig so we had some Americans who had been in Afghanistan and Iraq. They came for two weeks initially with their heads down a bit and a bit awkward but left with their heads high and full of enthusiasm. Some local RAF also became involved and the group Captain who came out initially to observe found himself on his hands and knees digging away. It was hoped that this sort of positive activity will be reported back to higher authority and more funding will be available You would think that perhaps people who had had their mates blown apart would think that the last thing they would want to be doing was digging up human skeletons. The 1500 year old skeletons were somehow more remote and the important thing was the history and archaeology but perhaps the most important thing for them was the socialising after work which did involve alcohol at the pub, but it was drinking with new friends in a happy situation as opposed to drinking alone to try and cure depression. It was interesting for us to hear their stories and to see their relief and release I suppose while talking to people who wanted to listen. The archaeology was hard work with long days but their discipline was good and they did fine work and importantly felt needed. Next year we are hoping that a group of Danish ex military will join. It is not just people who have had a very bad experience in battle but also people who have just been institutionalised.

I learned to fly at good old Skeggy Aerodrome and I can assure you that the dark patches are probably not crude oil but more likely something much more unpleasant As we took off over Butlins and then the North sea there was a black slick heading out from the caravan sites in certain weather and tide conditions.. That was in 1978 and although the Golden Sands project did improve things, there are still problems down the whole East coast https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/15412592.Millions_of_litres_of_sewage_pumped_into_sea_by_Southern_Water/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/23/uk-bathing-water-ranks-next-from-last-eu-beach-table https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10178020 A couple I met near Oxford back in the 1980s told me the sad story of their eight year old daughter swimming off Bognor Regis in about 1960. That evening when put to bed firstly it was "Daddy I can't feel my feet" An hour or so later it was "Daddy I can't feel my legs" It was a very virulent form of Polio caught from the sewage contaminated sea water and she was dead by the morning. They spent the rest of their lives inspecting all the sewage outflows of all coastal resorts and recording the "solids" and various other items in a book called Golden Sands. I think this may have sparked off the Blue Flag system but obviously things have become lax again with all the extra holiday makers. All that food has to go somewhere.........

We make a special point of taking friend's children there to show them what will happen if you smoke and drink too much energy drink and coke, eat crap food and do not take any exercise. It must be the mobility scooter capital of the world. You have not made it in life unless you became pregnant at fourteen, followed by a free house and obesity fuelled by benefits. You then at about twenty five stone qualify for a mobility scooter before you are twenty five. I am not joking when I say that the danger of being hit by one when window shopping is a serious problem!

Don't think there is much argument about the world becoming warmer as it has done many times in the past without Range Rover Sports and modern warfare. The big question which is up for debate is how much of it is man made. If we all cut out all fossil fuels now and other forms of pollution would it make any significant difference to global warming?. These things should be done anyway for a clean environment, but that is a different argument.

It was that part of the East Coast that I was referring to. I remember also the wheat was full of ladybirds and the wheat on trailers going into store was orangy red! Still it probably raised the protein levels and made a higher price for milling!

I am old enough to vividly remember 1976 , the hot Summer and the plague of greenfly which covered the ground like a green carpet. This was followed by a plague of ladybirds and again everything was covered with a red carpet and it was so bad on the beaches that people left in droves and complained about being bitten, although I have never been bitten by one. I do not think that they can bite a human. Compare that to this year and I do not think I have had to clean my windscreen once for bug splat, I have seen relatively few flies and moths, hardly any butterflies. Very few insects came into our bedroom in the evening with the window open and light on. Wasps and Hornets were doing ok though. The swallows left early without gathering on the wires Short of food? Was it the long wet Spring this year? Any other theories?

Taking a jump with a good look(er)

Seems to be the rule to go by. As an elderly farmer having never met Gary Prentice, I can see where he is coming from! We old farmers have had a lifetime of flak and are quite used to it. I was not aware that there were grandfather rights anymore with chainsaws. I seem to remember that in spite of the fact I do not employ anybody and my farm has only one footpath on the boundary. my insurance would not cover me as I was deemed to be working for the business (which is a partnership and not a company) unless I had a chainsaw certificate. So I duly went on a course and gained one. It cannot do any harm to do a course. I do not think it matters in the eyes of the law if someone is trespassing and happens to be under a tree you have just dropped, I suppose it may even be a child hiding in the bushes, you will be nailed in court without insurance. The strange thing is that I can use the chainsaw in my garden (last time I looked into it) without any certificate or insurance. An no Gary, my chain is never slack, always tight, just like my sixpack! And I do ride a bike!

Long thread and I am sure this has been mentioned but walking into a parts department is where it usually takes place. You walk in and nobody is waiting to be served, go up to the counter, look the assistant in the eye and the phone goes and they immediately pick it up and proceed with an enquiry or order. Sorry mate, but I am standing here and they can wait and ring back!

I bet he would remember a bowline and a hornbeam if you showed it to him once what is most remarkable is that he is very normal and confident with other people as most people with these abilities have autism and are social outcasts. I went to a wedding once where the groom was running a school for people with autism and they were unidentifiable amongst the other guests. One guy came up to me, smartly dressed, jacket and tie, and looking over my left should asked "What's your car number?" I looked back over my shoulder and there was nobody there, so I told him the number, JJL I think and he said that was too easy mid Lincolnshire. Gave him another off my tractor GGG Glasgow and he named the area. So I went through every vehicle I could remember and he could tell me where they all came from, but he was not much good at anything else away from that topic. What about the guy on the film Tim Peek who had the film Rain Man made about him. His father says he can read a page of a book which would take an average reader three minutes to read, in 8 to ten seconds and can read both pages of an open book, one with each eye at the same time.

He memorised Pi to 22,000 digits and recited them in a five hour session and learned the Icelandic language (impossible for most) in a week

Would it not have been better to take it down in small sections in the circumstances?

And amongst all these regulations, is there a rule regarding the correct loading of a trailer for its balance, especially if tail heavy and braking down a hill causing out of control snaking. This can happen even withing legal weight limits and I would argue is more important than the finer points of plates and licences

Buggered if I would ride that!

I suppose the obvious thing for a benign God to do would be to create a heaven full of love and understanding and sustainability and skip the Earthly bit. Oh yes I would not create a Devil either.

What about when the doctor is Harold Shipman?