Steven P

Missed this one the other day.. - Big Cats in Britain - reckon there are a couple of pockets of them though like a lot of stuff never anywhere near anyone with a half decent camera (or a phone camera), just a 1kb 20 year old digital camera on its last legs. - UFOs (but not little green men on earth, just the people on the ground or pilots doing 900mph can't work out what a weather balloon looks like. Little green men somewhere else, yup, loads of them.) - Yeti (sort of, there is a big ape species yet to be identified by science, likewise, the 'little men' - a little ape species is out there) - Ghosts - wasn't sure whether to move this up a bit. A memory of a being exists I think however a sentient 'ghost' with a mind of it/s own like in Ghostbusters? maybe not. Getting less sceptical as I get older, perhaps a hope that I'll linger and not just stop. - A new world order... is the old world order of ££. The power behind the thrones is the cash that slips them a bung. Not a coordinated effort globally though - Facebook and Twatter arn't giving Putin wads of fivers, the Russian oil barons arn't giving Sunak or Biden the same (Trump maybe...) - Nessie - not as a big fish thing except on a Friday night.

Only watched part of the video, once I thought "He looks a lot like Mr Bean", I couldn't take him seriously. Essentially the video is 'pay per mile' is coming.. which to be honest is no surprise. Fuel duty is a kind of tax like that anyway, the more we drive, the more fuel we use, the more tax we pay. If we all get Electric vehicles in 2035? or within 5 years after, the government won't be getting any tax revenue from fuel (about £25 billion in 2022/23 though it has peaked at about £28 billion) . That is a lot of lost revenue isn't it. So where to make up the shortfall - has to be from drivers I think. If you add the tax to electricity in the traditional tax-road-fuel model then this becomes a "being in poverty tax" since that is the demographic who don't have cars but would have to pay anyway. So what to do? I think pence per mile is the fairest way. There might be a period of pain where there is a cross over (petrol car paying petrol taxes plus pence per mile for example, but electric car will only pay pence per mile). Domestic users might be winners, charge at home for short journeys. Business and heavy users might lose out a bit having to use commercial charging sockets away from home. Over all though, so long as the tax take is about the same I don't think we will be better or worse off.

A few caravans in the forest near me at the moment - sociably spaced about half mile apart. One job I had long term we booked a static caravan on a site, get sick of hotel meals every day of the week, pocketed the change (we had a basic uplift to salary, sort accommodation yourself job), nearer the end of that job was in a hotel week to week (rather than a commitment on the caravan) - weird Saturday mornings being the4 only guest and letting the staff in to make my breakfast/

Aliens.... with anything that the internet tells me, always ask "What would the Russians say", Fake moon landings and they wold have squealed so loud you wouldn't be able to hear the Australians doing the same. So for Aliens.... what are the rest of the world saying? They are certainly very picky preferring nations that watch US films. A million light year journey and they land in the US - either preprogramed and a massive coincidence or they decide where to land last minute... and in that case China, Pakistan and India would be my target being the most densly populated areas of the world... and yet, they don't rank in alien sightings. Else you would target quieter areas like the steppes of Russia... but not the mid populated areas like Europe or the US. Then consider how long it takes to get here, many many year, factors of 1000 since we started talking on the radio, pure luck that the chose earth then? Highly unlikely overall - just because a pilot drove past something at 900mph and didn't identify what it was in the second it was in sight doesn't make it out of this world though Aliens as a concept though, it would be inconceivable if there was no other life in the universe anywhere, we are not alone, just they arn't here.

Reading this all again, what is the timescale that you want? Next week or next year? The longer you have the more options you have. In a years time you could have taken on the new owner to show them the ropes (as it were), the contact list, introduced them to the clients, and profitable areas, working as a partnership - they throw in some cash upfront to buy half (else they will just get all your knowledge for free and set up anyway). Want out next week and then it is a fire sale on your used kit. The profit is in the knowledge, your name and contacts but got to make them work I think for the new owner. Last option is selling to a competitor but if they know you are just walking away whatever they might not be interested, pickup the work anyway. Loyal staff are tricky to pass on legally - they have to retain some terms and conditions I think - but to a competitor or new owner pretty invaluable. Good staff are worth a bit.

That's nice,

Saves double handling it. If you have an open sided shed to put it in this is good - plenty of air flow, a roof over the top for the winter and rain. If all you have is a garden shed then you need to dry it outside to get the air flow and then handle it all again to move it under cover in the autumn. Just shoving wet wood in an enclosed space is asking for mould and wet wood in the winter

Get an air flow around it and it is not important, the air blows through the stack Often the bark will fall of certain species, it burns OK so can be dried to use - it is no effort to put to one side and throw on the top once the pile is complete. However OP is for domestic use, not sure they will have an open sided shed, splitter, few IBC cages and a tractor?

Can also use pieces of bark that falloff as you split - some species the whole ring of bark can come off in1 piece as 'roof tiles'.. and once dry burn OK too

In the winter some sort of cover is useful - log shed, half the garage, tarpaulin. Drying wood is more about air flow than heat though, a windy spot will dry wood quicker than not - I have 3 sides I can use on he drive, lengthways along the house, wind blows along it will fry far quicker than at the end of the house where the wind just hits (same amount of sun), other side of the drive is shaded and will need 2 seasons to dry anything

Rac Man - thought this was jokes and not Johnsons phone in current affairs. Whoops. Not current affairs, that would be a in poor taste for a recently married man.

Yup. However I will qualify that - they get moved inside at the end of the summer and before September rains start. A lot depends on the stacking too - for a few years I made a double / triple log thickness walled den for The Boys in the garden, with log roof. Even in January the inside walls were pretty close to 20%. 1m cubes will get their outer layers wet with rain but if you can angle them downwards a bit the rains runs off the stack. Also helps lifting the stacks off the ground (mine are on bricks, old habits, brick in each corner, long split branch between the, and logs stacked on top). All about air flow.# Logs dens have stopped now, they wanted a skate board ramp (which also has a den underneath - they like hiding>)

.. feck em... seriously though, my neighbour gets a ton of logs thrown over her wall in September, makes up for a lot of my idiosyncrasies (and she is best buddies with the next neighbour)

Might be good to give advice where to spend the ££ and where you can buy the less expensive stuff? Then when the OP is shopping they can make a decision based on what they are looking at?

I tihnk we're taling about 2 different news stories here. One last comment on electriciy, India nad Africa are much wealthier than the uk... so who is going to win the bidding wars when the oil starts to run dry, and here we are arguing that the UK should have no alternatives..

A few thousands of extra people in this country isn't the big issue though, got to look outside our own borders and wake up a little. In India there are about 1.4 billion people using half the electricity that we do, the same in Africa using about 1/50th of the electricity that we do. These 2.4 billion people will all want an electricity supply, to connect to the interwebs, to advance and live the lifestyle that we blast at them in the films and on the TV. 2.4 billion people. 1/3rd+ of the worlds population. and another 3rd will want more to equal our lifestyles (probably in the next 50 years to). Worldwide electricity supply is set to double. Worldwide where are we going to get the oil to do that from? cannot be done. So our choice is then turn off the cities at the weekends, rationing, or make electricity where we can. Green electricity. Uncomfortable truth maybe. When it comes to population rises, the UK has nothing.....however a comment on immigration when it comes to electricity, You might say "Stuff them let them live in their countries without electricity" but then 'the west' becomes a shining beacon attracting everyone like moths to a light bulb... because we tell them all the time how good our lifestyle is... they want some.... so no good saying that. To reduce immigration we need to reduce the push-pull factors that drive it, equalise things a bit (and not by current government methods of dragging us down, lift them up instead). If that means sharing worldwide resources then that has to happen.

My gran on her way to the Co-op for a bottle of milk is going to change nothing no matter how many times they stand in front of her car. In fact one day she might get out for a natter. In fact, maybe she should - they wouldn't be back, once they can politely get their excuses in to leave. It is a fair point, the people they are annoying are not going to change the world no matter how many times you shut down a road (cars idling away in the background). However it must be a fair sized organisation to get that many locals able to walk to their protest sites, no cars, buses, trains used..... (and of course, no computers with their gas generation used to organise things either)

Depends how much you have taken a dislike to him, but a drive by every morning throwing bird seed in front of his car will see the pigeons loving you. They will need somewhere to sit... sit I said..... Never worth upseting someone too much, offer for him to bring the car over to your yard and get the team to clean it for him one weekend morning (unless you lie near, he won't)(and if he does, a perfect time to treat your team to breakfast with the £50 you did;'t just spend

Likewise, in the city do you take bin bags for the birds that hit windows, are killed and weakened from car and power station exhausts, from cats.... point here is that whatever we do we affect our environment (t'internet reckons that domestic cats kill a factor of 100 times more birds than windmills). We have a choice and it is one we will have to make very soon - turn down our electricity use, go green with energy generation, or go back to Russia to get our gas supplies till that runs out. Can't see London being very happy if we tell them to turn off the electricity at the weekends.

China and India polluting the world - so the rest of the world should as well? That doesn't sound so good to me. I was always told the best thing to do is lead by example, aim to be the best we can and not equalling the worst that they can be. I reckon I would prefer a day in the hills surrounded by windmills than an hour walking around a nuclear power plant or dodging coal trucks heading to a power station any day. Anyway, couple a few quick stats, if you like that, for electricity Chinas electricity use per person is about the same as Europeans... but have many with no electricity supply India uses about 1/4 of Europeans US, Canada double and Norway 4 times what we use! (won't mention Iceland) Some African states annual per person electricity use is what I use in a week .. when everyone in the world have their technology aspirations met (pretty much to do what we do today) we are going to need a lot more electricity and that means green energy, far better to be on it now, learn, get the experience, knowledge, factories and then we can make a profit from that.

Back to a comment earlier about the drill bit skating about - how about a small pilot hole so the larger one gets something to anchor into or punch a dent in it - again to give somewhere to stop the bit moving about?

Thanks, I'l look for the MS260 one then - first port of call was L&S spares, a lot of other parts except the one I want of course. \i'd forgotten abouy DIY spares - but I've got things from them before too.

I need to replace the fuel pipe on a Stihl HS61 - an older machine - and I can't see the part online. Does anyone know what other machines fuel pipes would fit? As far as I can tell it is a fuel pipe with a grommet part way down, not measured it up yet to see what I need though. (this is the Stihl where they went against conventional wisdom and have the blade up-down instead of across way, as a spares or repair that works but had a leaky fuel tank... replaced and now needs the fuel pipe replaced I reckon) Thanks

Its all on the computer now - don't even have to go in to look at the adverts, it is worse, on the computer and online! (I'd agree with the barbers probably avoiding some tax, but in a more subtle way - ours is a pound or 2 under the next £5, so you pay cash "keep the change" it is only £1 or £2.. from everyone. So ours keep a tally chart of who cuts what hair - auditable I guess, but not those tips, which are probably equivalent to the tax)

Similar to what GarethM says, I guess that you want to check it is safe for use... and as such that the tree is safe to be used as a support? Guessing then that your insurers have asked for this or the local council? Can you give a bit more information - example, a sapling might not be able to take it but a 100 year old tree probably would - and I guess that you want to use the older trees just for size? I would go back to whoever has asked you to get this for more information what they would accept.