trigger_andy

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.

How is my work lifestyle unsustainable? Not many have the mindset to handle my kind of work. A few here do or did but it’s certainly not for everyone. Many can’t handle a year off/shore. But that’s an asset for me, less competition. 😁 What happens when you’re too old or too frail to be a contributing member of your commune? Do you get reduced hours dropping off to zero the older you get?

What does that share mean in reality? Certainly nothing you can cash in. When you eventually leave you’ll leave empty handed. Out of interest what happens to someone when their usefulness is over? Or too old or too frail/disabled? Do they get a free pass or do they get expelled from the commune? I too rather spend time growing veg than working for the man. I’ve Polytunnels, veg patches, soft fruit patches, front and back porches devoted to citrus. I have time for all this since I only work 80-120 days a year, “working for the man”. I assume you pay tax and NI in the U.K.? If so at the end of the day you’re working for the man. Id like to rear animals right enough, one day maybe. Just now I enjoy holidays to much to be tied down like that. I can have 20 acres of land for a nominal fee if I wanted. Couple days milling a year.

As mick says you relate everything to money. Earning potential etc. I don't. I dont relate everything to money, although I can see why it seems that way. I could work way more days off-shore than I do if I wanted. I could double my yearly wage by going from 80-100 days a year to 180. But I want a balance of home life and to be able to provide my family with a comfortable lifestyle and if I can do that by working just over a quarter of a year then I'll do that and not chase the money. If you're having to give two days a week labour to the commune then of course Im going to consider the earning potential you're giving up in the belief you're getting 'low rent'. You've still not explained what this £1 buy-in is you mentioned?

I have other toys to buy first. Want the new Rock Stump Grinder first.

Well I was quoting from some on-line articles posted by members or ex members of your commune. Id keep quite it only took you 2 hours, you'll still owe them 6 more for today otherwise. Im glad you've found your calling. Its clearly for some folk and not for others. Personally I like my own space and the joy that comes from gaining the fruits of my own labour and not being forced to share that with everyone and then one day have to walk away from it all. Each to their own.

It is a Husky. [emoji4] Just a wee YTH 150. 42" Cutting Deck. Its now the log-getter with a bogie that carried half a cube down to the house each day. Got a steal on this old McCulloch (husky), Basically the same as the YTH150 but has a new 22hp engine. Was owned by a local Caravan Site and meticulously maintained. Got it for £400 with a spare 15hp motor that I just flogged for £200. [emoji3]

I would if it took me all afternoon and was for 10 adults and however many kids! Evening meals are eaten together, and people sign up to cook. This means that you only have to cook about once a fortnight, but it takes all afternoon. Everyone pays a monthly rent to the co-op. Rents are kept low because members put in two days per week work – this could be in the gardens, working with the animals, splitting logs, maintaining the property, admin, cooking, cleaning etc. This means that members have paid work outside the community, but part-time. You might have more private living space than me, but is it a competition? I doubt you do though. [emoji3] Im sure its a rewarding lifestyle though, but certainly not for me. Im sure we like very much the same things in life, I just prefer that on my own terms and in privacy and seclusion. I have enough of living in a commune when working off-shore, I certainly do not need more unwashed hairy buggers around me when I come home too! This is my new wee workshop my brother and I are building. 4.7m x 4.7m ( guess how long my mill can currently cut? [emoji3] ) Will be for wood working only as I have a Barn up on a local farm. Plus whisky drinking and looking out at the views.

Eggs might get upset if you say clearing a drain is not 'work'. Regardless, both spouses have lost two days earning potential a week. 16 days a month between them. But I get your point, as a home owner you have tasks to do to maintain your property, but no where near 16 days a month. Well, I do but I took on a fixer-upper. The upside is whilst I enjoy what Im doing Im doing to my own home and although it seems to be a dirty work of late Im adding 'value' to my home. I also like to keep things cash free as much as possible. I swap a days milling for some nice Mill Logs, or Stup Grinder hire, or get a mates chipper in for a few days. Each to their own though and Im not really knocking the hippy lifestyle. The cost explanation seemed a little disingenuous to me though.