Mick Dempsey

It’s fine, don’t worry.

Yes, sycamore.

Got a job in a back garden today , a fair few crappy trees to reduce/butcher, dragging the brush up the side alley. Hateful. Hope you all have a better day than me!

Another story from the old days. The climber for this firm was 55, Northern Irish, alcoholic, smoker, he had worked with the boss in the old days. They hated each other, they both hated me. It was a circle jerk of hate. So on the way to work in Dulwich and Croydon, John (the alky climber) would read the Daily Express and do the quick crossword whilst I drove (he always lost his license a few months after getting it back, regular as clockwork) So I like crosswords, and sometimes I’d ask him for a clue to help me stay awake (no radio remember) on the way back to the yard from London. He’d usually refuse, saying some mean spirited bollocks or other. I said “well, let’s try the cryptic crossword” Begrudgingly he accedes and reads out 1 across ”Capital smoke, 6 letters……got it!….London” he says triumphantly I said “no, the answer is Havana, it’s the capital of Cuba and is also a cigar” Theres a pause, he folds up the paper and puts it away. We finish the journey in silence as usual.

That is not a problem, don’t worry about it.

Put a picture up.

Hello. Yes. No.

Raining all day, indoor pursuits only. Can’t be arsed with uneven egg-chasing matches, be done after 10 minutes. Man U against the Arse this afternoon is the sporting highlight for me.

Hi Joe, I was relying on what the client told me. Anyway I went out this morning and found a slice of re growth from the job that came from the rakings up. I counted 17 rings, whether that qualifies as “20 or so” I dunno. The photos don’t really show the tree’s size in all fairness.

Two full transits. You do the math(s)

It was my first year in the job. I was keen to learn, the first job straight out of college ended badly after a couple of months. This (second) boss was old school, he didn’t much care for me (it was mutual) He abhorred new fangled stuff like top handled saws (bloody flat iron saws boy!) Chippers (load the wood on the truck) Dealing with women, referring to them as “the female party said to me…etc But…he knew the job backwards. It’s where for a year I kept my mouth shut and my eyes open (for a change) So I let the small indignities slide.

Total coincidence guv.

I do love a bit of classic country on the way home after a good day. This is a great singalong if you’re old enough to remember it.

Lime repollard, 20 years or so since the last one. 10 cubic metres of chip. Windy as hell, but pretty straight forward. Early finish.

When I first came to France in 2005 it was good money, as good as climbing etc. Then gardeners and the like caught on and more people bought them, price went down..

Had a run of unbelievably good weather, so we’re flying through the work. Big lime repollard today, two men on the ground so should be a doddle. Have a good Friday all.

Stump grinding is a piece of piss. I love a day off real work to spend the day twiddling levers. @Stefan Palokangas

yes, I thought about that.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not like my old boss who removed the radios from the vans to stop us ‘sitting in the vans all day listening to music’ But I cannot abide music on the way to the job, I prefer to quietly brood, planning the work in my head, not listening to some bird screeching about her wet pussy. On the way home, ok a bit of a celebratory music is in order. Am I so adrift of modern mores? do others prefer to pump themselves up with Rap or the like?

I took off a big oak limb a long time ago with a husky 288. Anyway, bolloxed it up, and the saw went with the limb, got a big tug and the saw freed itself, albeit with a bent guide bar. I got a bit of a sore hip. My question is this, can a saw really hold on to the limb till the bitter end? Surely, as in my case, it’ll free itself before anything more catastrophic happens.

Have you ever trapped a saw in a free falling branch? If so, what was the outcome?

@Rich Rule C IMG_1693.mov Can I be in your gang now?

Ha ha! No I’m only joking he’s a good lad. We finally got the RC3000 winch thingy I spoke to you about working properly today. It’s not a game changer, but once you’ve got it dialled in it is handy enough for tensioning limbs over buildings etc.

That is such a bullshit cliché.