trigger_andy

I’m trying to base my views on what you’re telling me and from reading blogs of past members on the internet. Im cutting my firewood for my own personal use. Although I’m always happy to help folk out I’m not cutting firewood for a whole community who (I’ll assume) can take as much or as little as they feel like for their own personal use. Some who, as you mentioned, pay that time and efforts back with a cup of tea and a bit of cake. If that lifestyle works for you then great. But I dispise communism so my views will always be tainted by that I guess? I get cake, coffee and pies brought to me. 🤣 I know you think you’re not being forced into your labour for the commune but you yourself said the entry requirements are very strict to ensure those who are allowed in tow the line. Since your two days a week labour is apart of your rent I wonder for how long you’d get away with not doing your forced labour before you’re turfed out? When I’m home I’ve outside working virtually every day. I feel the difference here is I’m bettering my own property for my own enjoyment. Potentially this is where I’ll retire I’m putting the backbone of the work in now and whilst I enjoy this work very much I’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of my labour when I retire. You on the other hand have to walk away with nothing. And that for me is the crux of why I hate renting. All you’re doing is bettering someone else’s property.

Depends which problem you are talking about I guess. I'm not talking about a lack of rentals. I'm talking about over inflated house prices. People owning houses they don't live in takes houses out of the housing market and inflates house prices. People owning many houses they don't live in is just rude. What percentage below market value did you sell your property for?

I agree that it’s outrageous. It’s a disgusting waste of resources. But that was the point I was making.

Similar reasons to yours in part. I don't like the hierarchy. Not wanting to be part of the housing problem in part. The fact that the mortgage was pretty high compared to the rental income and back then I was expecting a price crash and an interest rate hike(I was wrong). Id also renovated it to a very high standard whilst I lived there. Too good for rent really Don’t you think that by selling the house to what is most likely a home owner and not renting it out you removed one house from the rental stock making the problem that wee bit worse?

Its only stupid if you dont understand the reasoning behind it. They do, we dont. They're in that line of business, we're not. They'll be saving money in doing it, its as simple as that. In my main line of work we have Tools machined in Arbroath (Scotland) Then shipped to either Houston or Singapore for Assembly then back to either Scotland or Norway to be ran into the a new Well. Where every penny is scrutinized and accounted for this is still the cheaper option for the Company. We need lengths of Control line thats between 2000-6000m long that we need for each new Well. We used to get them for a very good supplier in Scotland, its now cheaper to get the Control line produced and shipped over from Brazil. These lines can be over 3t each.

Yeah some do. I did for a few years but didn't like being a landlord so sold it. May I ask for what reason? I also felt uncomfortable at being a 'Landlord' when I rented out an apartment below my house in Stavanger. The whole Landlord, renter and the deferral they have towards you felt uncomfortable.

The Bean Counters? It always boils down to money, if they can save money doing this then they will. Cheap food, cheap fuel and cheap labour. I think Scottish, (or was it Norwegian Salmon?) that is/was shipped to China for processing then shipped back again ready for the shelves.

Exactly the point I was making to you. I do get the point you where making. But in my mind you're forced into this service for a community. You have to do it as a part of your rent. Its not for you and your family, its for you and your family and what seems like 7-9 other family units. All the while some old guy brings you cake and a cup of tea as apart of his two days a week forced labour. Out of interest if you go on holiday for a few weeks do you still 'owe' two days a week for the missed weeks or as you're on holiday thats seen as a complete break away from the commune?

This to me shows how cheap food, fuel and virtual slave labour is around the world. Thats about 50p worth in the picture.

Do you have a price list Steve? I cant see anything on your website.

You’re quite correct. It does cost me my time. But looking at the numbers it’s certainly worth it. Perhaps I should have said the wood costs me nothing. 50 cubes at current local market prices is £5000. It takes me a comfortable 10 days to have that bagged up. After tax I’m not gonna make that kind of money unless I’m working 10 days over time off-shore. So nicer to do a hobby that I like and be home all day long working with my family. Plus I have to deal with the wood either way. I don’t really count a hobby as taking time away from work either.

Im so glad we added a Wood Burning Oven in the kitchen and a 280 liter hot water cylinder. Hot water 24/7 and it costs me nothing. Interestingly I see a Miller up North is selling 1.5t of Larch Backs for £100. I easily go through a cube a week just now. Would be crippling having to pay for that myself. Id have to stop swanning around the house in my boxers.

Energy is dirt cheap, as is food (which is heavily subsidised) and almost everything else we consume. People have become far too aclimatised to swanning around in bare feet and tee-shirt with the heating in the whole house cranked right up. Next to no one knows how to grow their own food any more and when they do try they realise how labour intensive it is for a crop that will last them a few weeks. Everyone wants everything handed to them on a plate and then complain when they have to pay the (subsidised) price at the local supermarket. Gas in bottles is normally for recreational use is it not? The labour and costs involved in getting it in a bottle all ready for you to collect is obviously going to be significantly more expensive than having it piped to your home. The Haulage companies have tried to call the governments bluff for near on 5 years now. They've had plenty of time to entice British based Drivers to come work for them for a wage someone in Brittan can live on. But we're repeatedly seeing this is not a UK-centric issue, there is a global supply catastrophe happening right now, Driver shortages in other EU countries. The world is gonna have to brace itself for some seriously hard times ahead! We might even have to give up Avocado on toast for a while. Personally Im looking at expanding my veg patches quite significantly and buying a plough attachment for my wee Howard Rotovator.

Not when it comes to international travel during a pandemic though.

We need oil, we need gas. Both have been in the recent news regarding their supply and delivery. Our dependency on both will see my working life out. You use your fair share of the products I help produce as does everyone else on here. We’ve covered how my carbon footprint is on a par with many U.K. office commuters. I have a feeling my footprint is less than quite a few here as well. You really can’t expect every oil and gas worker to live within 30 miles of a Heli-port surely? If you think my commute is bad we have plenty Cementers who live in the US and commute to Norway. 😁 In the grand scheme of things me traveling to work is quite insignificant. Im a key worker don’t you know.

That would be ignoring the helicopter but yes. Well obviously ignoring the essential travel required to get to the Installation. Your point was that in your opinion my commute to Norway was unsustainable but we’ve now learned it’s comparable with a fairly normal office commute. It’s also on a par with many Norwegians who don’t live on the west coast. Aberdeen to Stavanger = 1 hour Aberdeen to Bergen = 1 hour Oslo to Stavanger = 1 hour. But Norway is a very long country. The flight time alone from Hammerfest to Stavanger is over 4 hours. We have many employees dotted around the remote parts of Norway. Seems like Im quite the green Employee being just an hour away from hop off point. 😁

I think you could be right! 🤣 On the job qualified is 90% of the oil and gas industry to be fair. It’s changing rapidly now though. But I’ve done a significant amount of training in Houston and Singapore to get to the level I am now.

I fly from Aberdeen to Stavanger. That comes up as .3t. So in reality my footprint to get to Norway to work is no greater than a good portion of the commuting population in the U.K. In fact my carbon footprint is going to be the same If not lower than a lot of Norwegians traveling from Northern Norway or the East of Norway to come down to Stavanger to work.

Makes sense. What kind of trees you got there? It’s just a wee patch. But was choke full of all sorts. At the back someone planted rows of spruce then beech then spruce then beech etc etc. DF, Scots Pine, Larch.Way to much Cherry, couple of oak, bunch of Birch, some Ash, munch of Sycamore. It’s more usable now.

Interesting and also confusing. What's your job title and what qualifies you to do it? I’m a Service Leader in Intelligent Completions. It’s still quite a niche market but massively expanding now. Halliburton (the company I work for) is the biggest provider of Intelligent Completion Products in Norway by a massive margins and there is only 8 of us fully qualified to install them. Im the only certified instructor and was initially the only rater of competencies in Norway. I’ve been with the company since I was 20 (42 now) and started my second apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering. Worked my way up from there. Guess which one is me. 🤣

I landed on my feet getting asked to join the Norwegian Team. 😁 The Norgies certainly have it sussed

Might be sustainable for you. Not so much for the planet. Hopping over to Norway a few times a year is hardly a mass polluter. I’d have to run the figures but since I don’t commute to work each day I do wonder how my carbon footprint would compare to someone who drive 30-40 miles a day each way? I don’t imagine living in a van and driving that around all the time is very green either

That surprises me. You got a lot of your own to do or are you going to go contracting? I have dropped a lot of trees on my property and have spent maybe 10 days grinding them out with a Rayco Junior. It’s a cracking machine but I made a deal to swap a days milling for 2 days hire if the machine. I set this deal up when I first got the Bandsaw and needed to learn “on the job”. Now I’ve got hang of things I feel the exchange is heavily in the Rayco owners favour. Anyway, I still have 20 x 20” dbh stumps and another 20 x 6-12” stumps to grind out. That’s a weeks work with the Rayco. (I think) 6 days = 3 days Bandsaw work = £1300 I could have earned. That’s well on the way to 60% of the Stump Grinder and I’ve a bunch more to fell after that lot. So just makes sense to me to buy my own.

I work a 4 week available/4 week unavailable rotation. In my 4 week available period I wait at home till I’m booked out on a job. If it’s on a floater the work is very weather dependant. A week or more waiting on weather is usual this time of year. So it could be 2-3 weeks into my available working period before I travel to Norway. Any further delays and they’ll get someone else as I’m to close to my 4 weeks off period. If this happens then I’ll be home for 3 months. Off-period/work period/off-period again. You’re only allowed to work 3 weeks anyway, so the best thing for me is 4 weeks off, work 3 weeks, which included 1weeks over time, last week in my work period “rest period” then my 4 weeks off. I can volunteer to work my off-period, or a portion of it. They are always happy for this and the money for this over time is unreal. Covid has meant I’ve done a lot of quarantine so it’s really messed with my work pattern. But so far this year I’ve done 60 days actual work, 21 of these days in over time. I’m on sick leave just now though as I’ve just had neck surgery. Full pay and they even give me 10 days off-shore bonus a month till I’m work fit again.

Where I live and where I go to work has nothing to do with sustainability. It’s obviously sustainable as I’ll most likely do this til my working days are over.