Steven P

So does Denmark - we had a week staying with friends who took the empties back after... and had a meal out on what we drunk

They're the worst for greenhouse gasses....

or just use them regularly

Looking at the chart above.... anyone notice India with the same population as China are a ticking time bomb when it comes to green stuff?

For kindling I use a no-name DIY warehouse hatchet - great if you use them for that - wouldn't even consider going across the grain with it though - I need a better collection of axes I think,

Wasn't it Tesco that coined the phrase, "Every Little Helps"?

Just to add a little more details, here is the government report on this.# A few charts, some are split into PM2.5 at the road side and in Urban areas (doesn't specify the exact difference), roadside has more particles and urban values follow the roadside values closely.... which to me suggest the biggest culprit occurs at the road. Also to note that in the last 30 years that the charts show, the values have dropped to between 1/3 and 1/4 what they were in 1992... the issue is getting smaller over time despite the recent popularity of wood burning stoves (small dip during the Covid years when we weren't driving about as much) Particulate matter (PM10/PM2.5) - GOV.UK WWW.GOV.UK

I'd also blame volcanos as well, and forest fires.

If you look at the figures and the chart above shows this too, over time in the last century the emissions in question have dropped considerably - including domestic combustion. Domestic combustion is seeing a resurgence but nowhere near like what it was and never will be. So now with all the other emission types falling it is a substantial portion of the total... and so is on the radar. Suppose that all stoves are banned, no domestic burning (including bonfires) then another burning type will become significant in the mix too and they will whinge about that one too.. until we live in a sterilised world where your front door is an air lock with particulate filter, windows will not open and we'll all live till 130.... but it will feel a lot lot longer. Before commenting I read a few articles - not in depth research - but it appears that the particles as such are not a killer, but... if you have another condition then they can add to those problems - and the other conditions? Things like high blood pressure, overweight, and so on.... the ones that a better diet and more time outside (in the polluted air) could help a lot. Like a lot of things in UK politics, education into a better healthy lifestyle is too difficult, so tax and ban is the way forward - sugar taxes, minimum alcohol prices, high taxes on spirits, banning chocolate bars from the checkouts and so on and of course, wood burning stoves... but cut the tax on sports equipment, trainers, bikes, gym membership.. not a chance (and here they have redone the largest park in the city with a new museum... and turned the 24 hour £2 parking fee into £5 for 2 hours... so it isn't viable to take the kids there for a 20 minute kick about). Of course they could also cut the electricity taxes to equalise gas and electricity prices (without the tax electricity prices would fall a lot) - and then I could afford to run a few fan heaters in the winter (the tax thing... will be going into political stuff... but a modern essential like gas / electricity, water and sewerage, perhaps even broadband.. should be under close control of the government to stop profits going overseas... electricity is taxes several times apart from the end 5% (tax on the gas producers, added to tax on the gas distributers profits, added to tax on the electricity generators profits, added to taxes on the electricity distributers profits, and whoever you are supplied from, their profits, and then 5% VAT.. it is a lot of tax) I do believe that a lot of this is given time by the politicians because me burning firewood is not a taxable activity... and they hate me to do anything without taking a cut.

However, all might not be lost, once the flu if hot (hot enough for any potential acids to not condense on it), then you might be able to burn a mix, have a bed of anthracite as a base heat and logs on top to keep the fire going - at least till you use up the coal you have. As above a little experimenting with the fuels you have will get you a nice fire going. I've also used smokeless coals similarly, about 3-1 mix smokeless to anthracite to use it up. (alternative might be an angle grinder to the grate to give a better air flow, but not sure anyone would recommend that, it will lower your wood burning efficiency a bit)

I'll just take the stove out then and have an open fire. Fuel will burn at 1/4 of the efficiency, I'll use 4 times more and emit 4 times the pollution.

Anthracite is a bit of a specialist coal, it needs a good air flow and a decent start. I have 2 fires, the stove multifuel grate has half way between coal and a flat bed sized gaps, sort of best of neither but it will burn wood Ok and it will burn house coal or smokeless OK... but not enough airflow for anthracite. Upstairs is a traditional open fire, the grate has larger gaps and anthracite will burn on that. It is never a roaring fire, more a steady burn - with the blue flames. On larger steam engines, much better air flow and the fire box is a lot hotter generally and anthracite is good on them. Right to your problem them. Ignore the sulphur thing, it is only really an issue if it condenses in the chimney as an acid (sulphuric acid?), as a gas it will go up and out. If the chimney is warm you'll be OK. Get a good wood fire going to start, you can try making a bed of coal and lighting the fire on top or you can try wood fire and adding coals on top of that, both ways should work. You need a decent heat in there to get the coals to light - letting the wood nearly burn out will be too cold. I found it works best with a thin bed (not a thick load of coal) but you do need to add more coal more often. If at bed times you have a decent red / orange fire going then you can bank it up a bit for overnight. As above, keep the grate clear of ash, riddle it ever so often to keep the air flowing. Not a lot of volatile gasses from Anthracite, so it works better with more lower air than top air

Main roads it is off the back of a truck, on the side roads it is dumped out of a parked car window, MuckyDs style. This week seen it where lots of wind blows all the little stuff about - so it looks like loads of domestic waste but that has just been blown from hedgerows on the smaller roads - around here anyway (I littler picked my road before this weeks storms, spotless, after the storms and I don't think I should have bothered - all wind blown)

If only there was some sort of mower thing that could be swung out the back of a tractor, say 1/2m to 1m over the grass verge and cut a strip at 30mph. Leave the bit in the middle for the wildlife

Which I think is the point. If the employer is willing to stand in a court of law to prove that the employee was suitably trained and is certified to say so, then the employer could issue any certification that they want to, or use any other organisation to do the training and certification. I don't think there are many employers out there who would be willing to do that. Goes back to who is going to ask awkward question after an accident, I would say the insurers would and the HSE. HSE are going to be as vague as the regulations as to the training standard and certificates, but the insurers should be able to say what the minimum they would accept is, and that is what I would use for a groundskeeper (as a minimum)

It is like most health and safety requirements out there regardless of the industry. Very little set in stone along the lines of "You must be qualified with this or that ticket", but a little more vague "suitably qualified", "experienced", "competent" and so on with no minimum requirements. If you could get one to do this, a local tree surgeon watching the groundskeepers fell a tree, and then issue a certificate of competence complies with the regulations, if the employer and employee are happy with that.... Not sure I would want to work for them though. Not sure the insurers would either. Golf courses, lots of trees, lots of groundkeepers, I reckon this is not a unique case or question to ask, but for insurance purposes a call to their insurers might be the way to go.

Not a surprise, when Elizabeth was still going strong - several years back - I could have predicted she'd live till her 90's, and them predicted that Charles wouldn't get the job till well into retirement age and getting on towards average UK life expectancy. Not hard to predict that his reign won't be a long one. I'd have said a few years ago that 10 or 15 years which isn't that long for a monarch really. William will be monarch for 30 to 40 years, so will his boy afterward. No psychic abilities to predict that just maths.

I was going to post in making the news today, but not sure if there is an immanency. Harry and Beatrice have popped in to see him, which might be Charles passing off some duties to lighten his workload as he recovers. William hasn't been reported to be flying in to see him yet, and there is no stream of minor royals passing by either. Suspect he'll be making 'promotions' to their duties and Harry will come back to take on some role or other

Just making assumption here but there was a quote that he thought the government ban was "stupid", he says he didn't believe the government. Or the many press reports recently of this breed attacks. I shouldn't judge on appearances and the photo the press found but...... 'Some of the puppies' were still in the house, so others had been sold on, which at what, £1000 a pop explains the bling at least. Suspect he was a breeder. I might add my opinion... As for the breed of dog, what I had read was that most of the XL bullies have the same father or grandfather (or both) which is reputed to be a bit unstable even for this breed - an American - something like 90% has its DNA. The look of the dog and power doesn't suggest Mrs Miggins as owners, but someone who wants a status symbol (noted we've seen all the press reports, a lady saying "these dogs are harmless" yet the man who wants the status symbol is kept out of shot, the photo above might be why....). They are a new breed, new breeders who are breeding for the look and not the temperament. If we want dogs to live in a human world we need to breed them so that they can, and train them the same, otherwise we are just breeding them to be put down prematurely. Seen so many recently - since about lockdown that are aggressive and poorly trained, the wrong breed for the owner and accommodation that when they get to the park all they want to do is chase, run, and get rid of built up aggression. Which puts everyone at risk. We don't want to be adding a new aggressive breed into this mix

Another comment to the OP.... not every tree surgeon uses the tip site, but a quick google map search shows a firewood company on the same screen as your house, I'd bet they are paying for their wood, which might be a reason. Get some beer tokens on offer, not all tree surgeons want ££ (cash kind of works but you need some handy all the time just in case, cheques and a trip to the bank might wipe out all the time savings of coming to yours to tip), but in an area where everyone wants logs for free, the ££ sign might help you stand out. How much? Up to you to make an assessment on what unprocessed logs are worth - take the going rate for logs delivered, take off the profit margin, delivery costs, storage cost, yard rent for processing, processing machinery, kiln drying / seasoning the wood, wages and all the other costs and then you get the sort of base level of worth a load of wood, and what you might want to offer. Might not have to be ££, (or even could be a token amount), many stories of people giving away beers, coffee, cakes, biscuits or even ice creams. Last load I got was coffee at the local cafe and some craft things made out of the wood EDIT Forgot.... add in a beer for Steve, he sounds parched.

I reckon there could be a couple of things in this. First is you are not guaranteed to be given anything for free, signing up to a listing is not a contract to be given stuff. Second thing you might do is type "Wokingham" in the tip site search, a quick search just then suggest that there are a lot of other tip sites near you. On the flip side, tree surgeons will look for a tip site if the job is away from their local area, locals will usually use what they always use. Might be in a congested tip site area your site hasn't been the closest one to tree surgeons working outside their usual area. Final thing is that the tree belongs to the customer. Unless it is very valuable the tree surgeon will take it away as a service, but a lot more people recently are assuming they logs are valuable and keeping the wood - there is less to be tipped (not necessarily true, the value in logs is added in the processing, storage, drying and delivery of firewood)1 So yes it does work, it works often at the discretion of the tree surgeons not the home owner, but you might not get enough to heat your home for free by only putting a listing on the tip site

f'king immigrant birds!.....

A weed is only a flower in the wrong place. Right about the membrane, mums new place has it (soon to be gone), the roots have grown through it, all she can do now it trim off the green bits every few weeks. Have to scrape off the slate, cut out the membrane, pull up the weed to do any more (and at her age, bending to weed is out). In the right place I'd say it has its uses. For example a small garden where a lawn mower is as large as the grass area put stones down and planters, maintenance would be weed killer and blast every living thing there.

Not a fan of lifeless new build identikit pig-ugly houses, for the garden though I'd also factor in that it might not all be soil under the turf - left over bricks, cement, all sorts, usually a thin top soil - from round here that all gets scrapped off the plot first thing, and the slop suggests to me heavy machinery driven all over the garden to create that.. so perhaps factor in a little extra digging time and perhaps something for compacted poor soil.

War is very profitable.