Mick Dempsey

Howard Donald off of Take That is the next one in the stocks for Wrongthink. Pitchforks lit and angry mob descending..

I was going to contribute to this thread anyway. I have two types of shirt, the standard cotton one, where I sweat like a pig or some of these lightweight breathable things that seem to give you body odour and somehow keep the smell in its memory and releases it early on in the morning. I tend to err towards the cotton ones as the lesser of two evils.

Looks to me as if it’s already been heavily pruned a good few years back at about where I’ve drawn the line. Some included bark in the crotches. I would suggest a reduction to the previous points, liquidambers respond readily to pruning so should be ok. Many people won’t agree with this course of action though, just my opinion.

Dunno, check with animal rescue centres for advice. Well done for saving it anyway.

Looks like a whitebeam, but not sure.

Yep. Here’s what we have to do, and this is how we’re going to do it is a good start. I’m sometimes guilty of jumping in too fast trying to get a head-start without clearly telling anyone else what the plan is.

Looks like cherry to me. Bit of goat willow as well.

I was wondering. I was thinking, middle age has really hit Mark like a train, the man is falling apart in front of our eyes.

Dunno if this’ll have legs but it’s something I think about a lot, it’s an underrated skill, but can make a hell of a difference to the bottom line. I’ve worked with and for some great and some terrible guys and feel I have gleaned a few bits over the years. Even from up a tree, I’m like the Eye of Sauron, judging, always judging. There’s nothing I like more than going home in good time with the job done, so to this end I thought I’d throw a few tips in and see if anyone else has any. 1: If it’s a job with multiple trees over different areas, but don’t get tempted to move on to the next bit before you’ve finished where you are. Younger, eager climbers often browbeat you with ‘I’ll just go and strip that tree out round the back now shall I?’ When there’s still work to be done in the front. It just spreads the job out and you lose control. The correct answer is ‘no, stay here, we’ll finish this, then we’ll all go round there together’ 2: In the afternoon when everyone is losing energy try to set a target ‘look, let’s get this done, then that’s it for the day’ give the poor bastards something to aim for. 3: People (who work with or for me) often comment on my reasonable and friendly attitude, however when you’re in the middle of something really gutty try and encourage with ‘I know this is a nightmare, but once we’re done with this it’ll be easy street for the rest of the week’ 4: It’s ok to be a ball breaker about always raking towards the truck on the final cleanup, that sh#t is serious, and they will thank you in the future (this is true)

I can’t understand why there’s confusion here. Bloke does gardens and bits. Wants a climber to do some bigger stuff his clients has asked for, he can ground and run the ropes. Seems reasonable.

Well you can waste your time trying to disabuse him of that view, or do it anyway.

Is that such a big deal? Don’t those rubber tracks have steel reinforced bands in them?

No, I think he’s after one.

You’ve put some work in there @Ty Korrigan!

Wouldn’t have thought a dry spell in Berkshire would trouble eucalyptus.

Depends if you’re gay or not.

Broad beans grown in the chip pile. Mahoosive!

Reinforces my earlier opinion, just have out what’s on your side, don’t get bogged down in pointless discussions with the bloke. But don’t (as someone suggested) poison what’s left.

Got any other pictures, further back? give us some more context.

Just put all the teeth on the blade on the end where you need them, job done!

You’re not going to kill it.

Often with neighbours it’s best to fall out early, saves embarrassment later on.