waterbuoy

what were/are the poles made of, and what colour are they? A bit more of a description might help.

Thanks Rapalaman - good to hear How do you find it handles the thicker/more woody stuff? Whilst I see that it has a relatively wide tooth pitch of 35mm the stroke rate is pretty high at 5000/minute. I understand that a lower rate is preferable for thicker stems, and a faster rate is better suited to fine finishing etc.

Evening all I'm looking to invest in a decent long-reach hedge cutter to try and tame some of our larger hedges - our trusty old HS45 is simply not up to the job as some of them have been left for 12 years or more and are over 6m high in places. Thus far it has taken me the best part of a week to clear about 20m of ponticum using the 45, loppers and various tripod ladders and scaffolding. I was initially looking at the larger long-reach cutters such as the Stihl Kombi 131 but have had the Echo HCA-2620ES-HD recommended to me by a local contractor. Not only is it cheaper but (a) it can come as a similar combi-unit and (b) the 5-year domestic warranty suggests they have confidence in their build quality - the engines are still made in Japan for example. Does anyone have experience of the Echo cutters - good or bad please? Thanks

Warwickshire school apologises to girl over culture day speech refusal WWW.BBC.CO.UK Bilton School in Rugby apologised after preventing a pupil from making a speech at school while wearing a union jack dress. Make of this what you will - can't help but think it is more fuel for Farage and his mob

Because the buildings are not theirs to repair - they belong to 'The Crown' which is more than the monarchy - it includes (I think) the church, the judiciary and the government. The Royal Family own a very small number of properties - I think just Sandringham and Balmoral - which are not publicly funded. So far as selling a castle or two is concerned - they are prevented from doing so by various acts of parliament - not least because they are not theirs to sell! Rest assured I am no fan of most of the Royal Family, I was merely pointing out that the coastal revenue does go back to those of us who do live on the coast etc.

The primary purpose of the Sovereign Grant is to pay for the upkeep of the castles and palaces, plus the travel to and from official events etc - hence the dropping of the Royal Train to save money.

Sorry to bring a touch of reality to the table but FYI: All of the operating profits from the Crown Estate Scotland coastal 'portfolio' are given to the local authorities via an agreement reached with COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) - the authorities whose coastline generates the greatest revenue receive the largeer shares which, in some cases, can be between £1million and £2million a year - to be spent on projects targeting coastal communities. South of the border (ie England and Wales) then the income is passed directly to the piublic purse by The Crown Estate (TCE), though TCE also have a number of initiatives by which coastal communities can apply for funding directly. The Crown Estate is effectively a land management company, managing land and assets owned by 'The Sovereign' (not the Royal Family) on behalf of the public. It dates back to 1760 when George III (who was financially inept) passed the Crown's assets to Parliament in return for an annual stipend - this became the Civil List. Over the past 10 years TCE have generated an income of over £4 billion for the public purse (aka the 'consolidated fund') which is passed to the Treasury.

Back to the chain - are the rakers correctly set?

Are you putting the replacement stakes in vertically or at an angle? We tend to stake at 45 degrees about 3' above ground level when/if the trees are large enough. Photos might help people understand the problem a bit more (edit - just seen the link to be clicked)

As above The most relevant bit is perhaps as follows: If your tree is protected by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) or is located within a conservation area, legislation relating to tree protection overrides that of permitted development rights, and you risk prosecution if protected trees are damaged.

Generally speaking the larger the trailer the more stable it is - provided everything is within gross train weight and nose weight limits etc.

Is that incident related to your user name perchance?!

Plenty of others are already doing the same kind of hires - you just need to know where to look. That means you need to be sure you can compete with them to make it worth your while as (a) they already have their own customer base, and (b) they usually have their own in-house engineers etc. I recently did a small job for my parents who live just north of Liverpool - I live in Scotland 350 miles away, and didn't want to have to tow anything down. Their local tool hire place,Hodgsons in Ainsdale, just 10 miles from where they live, had everything I needed - and more. Tracked stump grinders, chippers, Avant (with flail etc) etc etc.

As we run two Landrover Discos and do a lot of off-road work and towing, with combined annual mileage of over 50k, then breakdown cover is pretty much an essential requirement for us. We usually go with the AA because they offer a range of sensible options - we have included the replacement vehicle and also the mechanical repairs sections as well as the bog standard relay cover. This means that if they take your car to a garage to get it fixed they will, subject to approval, pay for the first £500 of any repair. Over the last three years we have claimed on this every year and got more than our premium back. They do try and ramp up the premiums each year but we just cancel our renewal and take out a fresh cover, alternating the policy holder between myself and my wife.

Ground anchord? Similar to this: Slackline Without Trees - How to Build an A-Frame WWW.INSTRUCTABLES.COM Slackline Without Trees - How to Build an A-Frame: I have a large yard but no two trees are close enough to set up a...

Preferably not from the local A&E dept!

The most signifivcant difference is in lifting capacity - but as others have said it has to do the job you are buying it for, which means getting there in the first place! What are you towing it with? A 2.5 tonner with suitable plant trailer should come in at under 3500kg even with an extra bucket etc.

We have an older Volvo EC15B (approx 1.7 tonnes with a grab) and have hired in a 2.5 tonne machine for various tasks - the difference in capacity is significant given the relatively small difference in mass. If a 1.9 tonne machine will do what you want then press on, but I really wish we had put our money into a Kubota KX61-3 or similar, even though it would have been a financial stretch at the time.

I regularly have the same dream - either jumping off something or on a bike/in a car and continuing onwards and upwards! Another recurring dream is being unable to find thunderbox in a house when desperate for a dump or, worse still, finding that the outlet goes straight through to the floor below. Go figure!

They look very similar to a couple of French restaurants I have seen where they repurpose retired cablecar cabins from some of the ski lifts

How old is 'old'? I have an elderly GM Chipmaster 150 sitting on the drive.....but it is chucking it down!

Alternatively, if you do have the appropriate skills then BAS (British Antarctic Survey) often look for guides to accompany the research teams down south