Mick Dempsey

How did you get that little R next to the word Swarfega?

That’s a shame, but an older brother can help.

I can’t remember ever posting this, plus it’s not like me to use multiple question marks.

Sometimes in the half sleep/half wake thing that I have from about 3am onwards I dream random stuff, cars, pets, houses from the past. I often half wake up and think ‘I must ask Dad about that, he’ll remember‘ then, as I wake fully, it dawns on me that I can’t anymore and all over again I realise he’s gone. Same for everyone I guess.

That is a hell of a callback Khriss.

My old man went in 2014, just turned 87. Just enjoy the moments you can have with him now.

Sorry to hear this.

@Ty Korrigan Plan is he’s coming here to live and work. He is a decent rugby player so hé will join a club down the road, which will help with finding friends and a bird. It may not work out, but we’ll give it a shot.

Yes, I think I’ve seen that vid.

Horsey birds are ok, as long as you realise you’re always second to a horse. Unless you have money, in which case you can fund their horses.

My nephew is doing a course at Kingswood at the moment and enjoying it from what I gather. Got me a bit nostalgic about my 10 weeker at Merrist wood in ‘95. These days in the age of social media everyone will at least know how to contact others later on, but in ‘95 we all just drifted off to the different parts of the world with a ‘see you around’ on the final day. I wonder how many are still in the tree game? Some distinct memories I have are how testosterone fueled it was, we were nearly all quite young and physically fit so wrestling matches were common, sometimes quite edgy with the need of a submission before it would stop. I was a total newbie, but a few of the students were already very accomplished and just doing it for the tickets, which was a bit dispiriting as you can imagine. Jack Kenyon ran the course and he was pretty dismissive if you weren’t progressing after a few days climbing, I came pretty close to being left behind (the instructors marking you down as not worth the effort) but pulled it out the bag one day. The practicals at Windsor Great Park where we were dismantling Turkey oaks were a bit dodgy to say the least, I remember skinning the inside of my forearms really badly when spiking up a trunk, large sections falling from great heights near people wandering around, you had to keep your wits about you. All in all a great experience, anyone else cast their mind back to things that stick in their heads from college?

A grinder would be ok for that, if the operator was careful, wall is already cracked at the back.

If you get the chance to read his autobiography I recommend it. Very honest and funny.

Tree surgeon is right, you can hit it hard and it’ll be fine, or take it out, the choice is yours. Khriss you can’t treat an apple like an ancient oak.

Geese are smart.

I tell you what would be really really funny Dougal.....

Yes

James Bolam is a private man and rarely, if ever, socialised in the village, not rude, just private. One day he did come in the pub, sat with a friend in the corner and one guy (pissed) stood in front and sang ‘When the boat comes in’ With comic dancing and geordie accent. Never saw him after that.

Oh yes, that was good as well. I did some work for him at his house in Sussex. Nice couple, bit bohemian, dogshit everywhere.

‘ ‘ Whatever happened to the likely lads?’

Interesting.

Probably not.

It may well develop into a twin leader, meaning two main stems (co-dominant in Technical speak) Like that it would be more vulnerable to splitting in two (much) later on.

As my old boss used to say ‘it’s got two chances’ Dont let it dry out too much this first year, and in hot spells next summer. Keep the grass away from the base (so the new roots aren’t competing) A lot of shrubs will wilt immediately after planting till they get themselves settled, though I don’t see any wilting tbh. Chose which one of those two highest stems you want to be the dominant one and remove the other. Lets hope in a hundred years time someone is wondering who planted this massive oak in a back garden.