TIMON

An excellent post Joe. I am working for a charity and don't earn a salary as such. I get living expenses. A flat , a car, phone etc.. I work with recovering addicts, overseeing a small centre and an ARB business which is developing nicely. I really enjoy the treework side of things but the biggest satisfaction is seeing people turn their lives around. All the profit we earn goes back into the charity to help others. I've never been happier in my life. Chasing money and material things never brings satisfaction cos you never "quite get there" Respect to you mate, sounds like you got a good thing going there. Timon

I went from first climbs on a Blake's hitch to a prussic on my CS 38/39 Then got a hitchclimber . Learned to be very comfy on that and then got a zigzag. Love the zigzag but also still really like the HC system as well. It took a bit of time to get used to the HC coming off a prussic, finding the right hitch set up etc.. But once I had it was great. Also it was good preparation for the zigzag.

Dressed as Santa doing a charity fundraiser...... Should be a BIG day I'll be glad to be getting back to tree work in the New Year. Hope you all have a great Christmas!

Hey Jon , it's here! You must have sent it instead of a Christmas card Happy Christmas mate Timon

Hey Jon .. Must be on its way up here mate..... I knew we've been having it good (too good!) Timon

Happy Christmas Jamie , All the best with the new job...! Timon

Hey, Elliott Your new mog looks awesome at work, mate.... The complete package Happy Christmas mate Timon

Hi Jon. It's 10c in Smethwick today Jon. Can't ever remember it being this warm in December. Timon

Hey Paul, I really enjoy reading your thread and everyone's posts on here... I've had a couple of snarky posts in the short time I've been on... So what!!! I'm still here and love being a small part of Arbtalk ... I'm hooked Thanks mate. And Happy Christmas! Timon

Hi Jon .. 12c. Here in Brum it's like the tropics mate. Timon

We have a neighbour who wants to move her fence 3ft onto our land (she says the last owner put it up in the wrong place...) she complains if we let the grass grow. Etc.. Then she asks if we can come and cut her trees cheap/give her free logs etc, but it doesn't matter that much because we're "only" a charity.... Hmmm. I told her "sure". Just show us the deeds and she can move the fence.. No problem... Funnily enough I haven't heard anything more from her.....,,,,,,,,

I went to Skegness the other day which must be the mobility carriage centre of the universe. It is really quite dangerous to walk down the street window shopping as you are likely to be mown down by one. Many of them seem to be enormous girls who are still in their thirties. We really do live in a very sick world... NHS mobility (or obesity) scooters for people who are gorging themselves literally to death on food. Then millions starving to death without access to clean water. I think mankind in general has become disabled.

Cool video. Liked the tunes as well

We do have people here who have eating disorders. My wife used to have an eating disorder. The difficulty is that unlike drugs and alcohol, food can never be completely removed from a persons lifestyle. Whereas I've been completely free of drugs for over 8 years, my wife still has to eat every day and maintain a healthy relationship with food.

Of course!!

No the book about our lot is called "we dance because we cannot fly" It tells the story of BETEL. How it started with one junkie in Spain and then spread across the globe... We're in over 100 cities including Mexico , Russia , Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India . All over Europe and of course the UK. It is a truly amazing story of changed lives. I'm blessed to be a small part of it. Did all my tickets in Betel and now run a centre and business.

Enjoyable video..... Bet you were glad to get the "near miss" bit on the deck! Cool tunes as well. Looking forward to the next one...

I'll post a selfie in a minute

Our ARB business is set up to help addicts turn their lives around.... Our "recovery" programme is free to enter but residents must work a realistic working week in one of our charitable businesses to fund their own recovery... Gaining work skills and more importantly a work ethic. Only the very broken and desperate seem to grasp the opportunity.. Why??? Because we've created a national culture of "helplessness" Habitual criminals and drug addicts are labeled "vulnerable adults" and no one is allowed to challenge them because they are "vulnerable" and it infringes their human rights (believe me, when I was a junkie I was anything BUT vulnerable, I was a menace.) So we pension them of with state sponsored methadone prescriptions, free flats and £280 per week disability living allowance... Tell them that they are sick or disabled with no hope and then create an industry around it...No wonder so few seek real change for their lives...... Why should they.?????

As long as they are not Monsanto seeds!

Sow a thought; Reap an action. Sow an action; reap a habit. Sow a habit; reap a character. Sow a character; reap a destiny.. (Steven Covey) This is true, wether you are talking about drug addiction, alcoholism, eating disorders , or any destructive behaviour pattern. When governments put the label of "illness" or "disability" on these behaviours and consequences they are removing responsibility from people. When I was an addict ( I am not any more ) a doctor told me I was an addict because I was "ill" and had a "disability" thereby I was not responsible for my condition ( or the misery I inflicted on my family ) I didn't accept this. I knew that I WAS responsible for my own bad choices. I chose a different destiny. Not a "disability" label.

I agree with that, but the workings and bio-mechanics of a tree are a lot more measurable and predictable than the depths of the human mind and psyche (and dare I say it the human soul). In the course of my work (rehab and addiction stuff) I've encountered people who have suffered horrendous damage to themselves through opening "doors" they know little or nothing about. I've been to hell and back in my own battle with addiction. Thankfully I've got through it and now help others through. I've seen some excellent treework done and love being a part of this forum. I'm learning a lot from people such as yourself. I have never yet met anyone who has a good, lasting outcome from hypnotherapy. It's just where I'm at with it having seen what I've seen. (Nice mog set up by the way)

We've got all three. The 540 is by far the quicker obviously. I liked the idea of the 150 more than I did actually using it. We hardly use it at all. If it's more than I want cut with a silky then I tend to go straight to the 540. My oppo has the 201 and he swears by it even though it's slower the the husky. The Stihl guy told me they will do a free upgrade on the old 201 (new carb and ignition) through your local dealer.

Hi Jon .. Cold wet and windy in Stratford upon Avon. No good for tree work (or carol singing) Timon