Mick Dempsey

Cheers Peds, I cannot post links for some reason.

All start somewhere I suppose. IMHO those microchippers are not ideal for a start up. Ok for the odd minimum access job/through the house job admittedly. You need a minimum of a TW125/GM130 to really pose any sort of threat to bigger firms. I know people will say “it’s just to get me started till I can afford something better” Whereas owning it is just preventing you from getting what you really need.

Anyone interested in the backstory, punch on @Johnelle profile and see the thread from last year. @daltontrees and @Chris@eden will probably want to see the updates.

Plus knots as simple as that don’t really get ‘invented’ it had probably first been happened upon by some Arab sailor 4000 years ago. It seems to have two full wraps around his D ring..

Ok, possibly, but according to Wiki the Munter was brought into common usage in the 50s/60s this pic is from the 40s

From a French site, Paris in the 40s. Srt, some kind of slip knot on his harness, anyone know the knot? I seem to remember Hap Johnson using something similar on his famous “coffee break” tv ad. I think he’s using a hatchet to repollard the plane tree. Not much new in the world.

Amongst all the caps lock, multiple usage of punctuation marks and general nonsense, there’s always a particularly outrageous statement and the above is the one I picked. Here he is creating an apocalyptic certainty based on zero evidence and little to no knowledge. Preceded by a “now let’s get serious” Good idea!

Follow the bored bloke making up scenarios about something he has almost no knowledge of.

Like a lot of Andy’s posts.

I understand the national insurance part, the problem is when it comes nowhere near covering the individuals cost, multiply that for countless hundreds of thousands of an aging population and you get a shortfall, so money is diverted from other sectors to pay for them. As I said, it’s not my firm viewpoint, just can understand why it happens.

Purely from a hypothetical point of view if person A. Gets dementia or whatever and they have a house worth a quarter of a million quid. Their specialist care over a number of years costs say 200k, then why should their estate not pay for it? Why should the taxpayer foot the bill and the children pocket the lot?

As long as I have the internet to argue with strangers I’m happy! Big Macrocarpa gone down in Bude town centre just now, video on Twitter. People saying it’s a Cedar of Lebanon, I’m trying to get a bite, but so far no luck.

Had a cold for a couple of weeks, then the wife caught it, but was more like flu or Covid, really wiped her out, then it bounced back to me, shivers, aching bones, headache, painful kidneys. Kept testing for Covid but always negative. Over the worst now, but still rough, just a painful cough.

Yes, are you using Leylandii as an example of an evergreen that has evolutionary adaptation to resist high winds?

What evergreens are you talking about?

Well there is that I suppose. If you’re doing repeated cycles, like pulling brush to the hopper all day then a hydraulic one makes sense. An electric one will quickly overheat and drain the battery. Apart from yankee chippers a winch on a wheeled chipper will likely pull it in half fairly quickly.

If it’s just to pull an odd backleaner over and self recovery an electric winch is more than enough and a lot easier to fit.

Warranty issues on the chassis I imagine.

It does seem a bit daft. It is in line with the trend in this business for work that needs to be replicated in ever shorter time frames, thereby increasing the work and revenue. All the time telling the clients they’re wrong and idiotic if they want ‘bang for their buck’ On a French forum a guy posted pictures of a medium size eucalyptus close to a house. The guy had given it a light internal thin, barely even a season will pass before it’s right back where it was, lots of backslapping all round from his peers about his professionalism etc. I posted that I thought he’d wasted his time and the clients money, got a bit of stick, a bit of support, thread was withdrawn in the end. But what was the scenario for the coming years for this tree? Pay a tree surgeon every year to do the same, all the time the euc rocketing up to the sky before a topping (heavy reduction whatever) or removal becomes necessary. I’ve said it before, and as I’m off work ill with time to kill I’ll say it again, it’s not just the do as you likey sorts that can give this work a bad name, it’s the light thinners and 1 metre reductions, leaving monoliths in front gardens and other assorted nonsense from the self styled arbs with a conscience that can leave clients feeling bewildered and ripped off.

Why? What difference does it make to what your doing? Just figured it out, you’re saying that you bring the Ivy down to a certain point but not remove. Explain the rationale please.

In the south east where I come from the problem is new arrivals, who buy the houses in the expanding villages and quite legitimately start exploring the local countryside using the footpaths that were barely trodden 20/30 years ago. When their behaviour conflicts with the long term residents, sparks fly. My old neighbour, who’s son is my brother in law recounted an incident to me a few years back. We lived on a farm on the end of a lane that petered away into a footpath that became increasingly popular with the public as the nearby village expanded. He had the old lodge house at the top of the lane. Anyway there was an old dew pond in front of his house that he re instated, and a female mallard took residence and raised a clutch on it. One day he’s out there and a female jogger trudges past with a Labrador alongside, the unleashed dog leaps into the pond and kills the mallard, he shouts out in complaint but she continues her run explaining in no uncertain terms over her shoulder that he should have put a fence round it.

A lot of farmers think his honest appraisal of the issues and difficulties involved is refreshing. I’ve never seen it mind, my brother who’s in farming told me, so that’s not gospel.

In a word the problem is Countryfile. Back in the 70s/80s/90s the countryside was to be avoided, boring smelly and full of thick peasants covered in animal shit. It was great, we had it to ourselves. Thanks to that program, everyone wants a piece of it, all thinking they’re Kate Humble or that ginger farmer bloke, all centering themselves with the help of Mother Nature.