Billhook

Go and have a word with Bunnings in Norfolk, they make strong machines! [ame] [/ame] Failing that, when things break just keep singing this song by the Sanctified Grumblers.......it will make you feel better! [ame] [/ame]

P-51 Packard Merlin, turn up the volume! [ame] [/ame]

A couple more thoughts on subsidies. When I started farming in 1970 there were hardly any rules. I could grow what I liked, trim trees, cut down trees, pull up hedges, put up buildings and do what I liked with the old farmhouse.(now listed) We never did rip up the countryside as we had to live with it or mess about too much with the house. My ancestors planted most of the oaks and I and my father have planted many more because we love trees and nature The money from the EU seemed ok to start with but the supermarkets soon learned how much farmers were being paid and adjusted their payment accordingly to a point where most farmers are being screwed into the ground and surviving on previous profits or diversification, selling land for building or maybe having a large farmer contract farm their land. With the payments came all the rules, and there are so many rules that a farmer may as well not own his land. Sort of nationalisation by the back door. If the rules are broken there is a fine imposed by a little bureaucrat somewhere that is disproportionate to the offence and there is no judge and jury. For instance a tractor driver may be distracted for a second ploughing the headlands and cut into the field margin only by a few inches and the fine is imposed across the whole farm and may be several thousands of pounds. Certainly more than I would be fined for mugging an old lady or shoplifting. The politicians have achieved exactly what they wanted, and that was to control the farmers who are all runnng around like blue arsed flies trying to adhere to these rules. The supermarkets make more rules and fines. The value of the wheat in a £1.00 loaf is only about 5p so you can see where the profit goes. I am the average age of a British farmer at 63 and if it was all a bed of roses where are all the young farmers?

During World War 2 there was a desperate food shortage in the UK. Before the war we were reliant on shipping bringing in food from all over the world but German U boats put a stranglehold on the country. "Dig for Britain" campaign meant that every bit of land, park, garden was dug up to grow food. The great cry after the war was to make our farming efficient enough to feed ourselves so that we would never have to endure such hardship again. Grants were given to rip up hedges to make fields more manageable for larger machinery. A lot of money was put into plant breeding, chemical control, fertiliser development and education. Apart from those subsidies there was a deficiency payment if the price of wheat for instance fell below a certain level the government would step in and prop up the price to prevent bankruptcy and introduce a bit of stability. This system seemed to work well without anyone complaining about farmers receiving this help The EEC changed things. By the time I started farming in 1970 we had increased the yield of wheat from about 1.5 tons/acre to 3 tons/acre and by 1984 it was nearer 4 tons and the EU had to buy the surplus wheat and store it in intervention stores. At the time there were "Grain Mountains" and "Wine Lakes" all costing a lot of money to store Something had to be done so "Set Aside" was invented whereby we had to set aside 10% of all our land to fallow. We were paid for this but not nearly as much as if we grew a crop. This was eventually changed in a political move to a "Single Farm Payment" which was designed to make farmers unpopular in the eye of the public by being deemed to be paid for doing nothing. The main aim of this was to make subsidies for farmers so unpopular that they could withdraw it altogether. Back to square one then, import cheap food from abroad. Farming does not pay, land reverts to scrub and a whole generation of farmers sons head for the bright lights of the city. The fact is we were at our healthiest as a country in WW2 as we did not eat too much and become too fat. The drive for ever cheaper food just for the sake of it does no one any favours except the supermarkets.

[ame] [/ame]

I think her name is Chalara and if you were to venture into a serious stump grinding session with her you may find yourself with an uncomfortable case of Hymenoscyphus fraxineus leading to stump dieback!

"We all travel along the same railway line , but where we get off is a different matter..." Except for Southern Rail on strike where we do not travel!

Not the worst thing to cut, maybe the worst thing to watch! [ame] [/ame]

Yes I am pleased and proud that England won but Scotland were not overwhelmed in the way Ireland were in this clip [ame] [/ame] The way I remember the game on Saturday is that the scrums were 50:50 as were the line outs. I cannot remember many turn overs and very few handling errors. Tackling errors yes but trying to stop Joseph on his beautifully times runs would be beyond most players. Scotland put quite a lot of pressure on England at times. I have sat in the South West corner many a time and some games where one side was dominant, you had a rotten half visually as a spectator as the action was all down the other end. This was not the case on Saturday. I just think that the score did not reflect the game. Maybe 42 to 21 would have been fairer. Scotland have been playing well up till now and it is a real body blow to suffer such a defeat. Just a shame to knock their increasing confidence as I would love to watch more even games like the Welsh Irish match which was genuinely exciting.

I think that the reason we have not heard from the OP Logdesperate is that having lit the blue touch paper on this forum, he is now cheerfully warming his hands on his computer screen!

Tyres are good with new ones on the front LAND ROVER TYRES 600-16 and 750-16 For Sale on Car And Classic UK [C330200] But you are spot on with rest of your comment, especially about the weight being spread at the rear. It was just a demonstration to show that on a level grass field, no special off road course, that a six wheel drive Landie with five wheels turning can fail to progress to the surprise of many, except for the knowledgeable few on here! PS Good job the rain held off until Saturday night for the Rugby!

I still stand by my opinion that Scotland did a great deal of good work and that it is a bit unfair to judge them harshly when they were down to 14 men and lost a key figure with Hogg injured. They showed great spirit and determination at the end when many a side would have just given up. Joseph's tries were a piece of individual magic and impossible to defend against. I just read John Barclay's comments on the game and I am amazed that they still could come second in the six nations! "“It’s pretty dark at the moment but we get to finish with Italy at a sold-out Murrayfield and still have the possibility of finishing second. So there’s a lot to play for but we also have to learn some lessons.” "

Went to Twickenham yesterday and was slightly underwhelmed by the massive England victory. Felt sorry for Scotland who played well and tackled hard and never gave up right up to the end. The final score did not reflect their strong performance against the favourites. All the players are so good now that there are hardly any errors. Few penalties given away near the posts and very few handling errors. It only needs a small mistake now or an unlucky bounce to make a try scoring opportunity. All the tries were excellent but the game did not really flow. By contrast I was on the edge of my seat watching the Wales/ Ireland game. It was 80 minutes of full steam, great Rugby and the tackling was so brutal you wonder how those young men's bodies will stand it. Maybe they will start to introduce American football type of protection at some point. Anyone else feel the same?

It is my special field for demonstrating to people who think their 4x4 is invincible, that it is not! The one wheel which is not turning you can see has quite a chunky tread on it, as have the other five, but they have been turned into slicks by the sticky clay. In this case I do not think locking diffs across each axle would have made any difference,. Charging the mud may have helped if momentum was maintained on the other hand it may just put you deeper in the mud. In the same way letting the air out of the tyres which are crossply I do not think would have helped but I am willing to be corrected on this. I was very impressed with a German friend when we were in Namibia driving over very soft sand on the way to Sossusflei. We had bottomed out in a really soft patch of sand and the chassis was resting on the sand. He let the air out of the tyres. I thought that all it would do was make the chassis go down even further onto the sand but the Defender just pulled out easily. I am not sure how that translates into sticky clay.

I suppose y'all would have found it a more interesting video if Sandringham Sydney had suddenly found a bit of traction while I was outside filming and had started off towards the beck with me running after it!

This is delightfully dated. Perhaps I should invite them over to try the grass field if they still exist! [ame] [/ame]

Perhaps I should try these tyres to haul a bit of timber [ame] [/ame]

Were you thinking of massive Trelleborg low ground pressure? These are proper off road tyres standard fit for series 3 and two new ones on the front. [ame] [/ame] A Discovery had same problem in the same field. Once the really sticky clay has filled the tread and there is nothing underneath in the way of stone that soil will stop most things. Even the Matbro stopped and I had to use the boom to push myself out. The only diff lock is the air locking centre diff which was obviously engaged. There are no locking diffs across the axle on any of the old Land Rovers unless put on as an extra, hence the one front wheel which was not turning. More weight on the back is a possibilty but there is nothing under the clay but more clay to push down to ,so it may end up going down to the axles!

Land Rover V8 Sandringham 6 comes to a halt with five wheels still going round on a fairly harmless looking grass field which rather hid the terrible sticky clay which lurked beneath! The Panda 4x4 would have romped through it! [ame] [/ame]

Could have been worse! https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jMCQD-oUu_4/hqdefault.jpg

Trailer has just seen a female trailer coming down the road with nothing on!

I've a splitting headache!

I thought that scams would be less likely on Amazon but it seems this is not the case. Ordered an Aduro 9 from a company apparently in Germany. So it was not ebay or Eastern European or Chinese. They also call themselves Klimaworld Had a phone call from a company called Merritt Robinson telling me that their account had been hacked. They seem to only sell glassware and do not deal in stoves Order was cancelled and money although authorised from Barclaycard has not been released by Amazon. Contacted Amazon to confirm and cancelled credit card. Hope this warning reaches you all in time

Bit breezy here in Lincolnshire but I cannot hear the name Doris without thinking of the Hale and Pace sketch on Yorkshire Airlines! The Air Doris's will give you a warm welcome "Wipe thy bloody feet, and if yer can't see the bloody signs yer must be bloody blind!" [ame] [/ame] Never seen the name Doris in the births column amongst all the Kylies and Amelias!

BBC iPlayer - Dragons' Den - Series 14: Episode 15 Bit of a non starter at £500 as you could buy a lot of wood for that or even a whole stove. Grenadier firelighter is similar for £125 and more versatile.