Steven P

A UK-US joint operation, there are 2 elections coming up remember.

He reckons about 18k a year in expenses for local work

Going back a few years, think it was Pentium Pro's at the time, can't remember, anyways I set up an old 386 with DOS and a web browser - for casual surfing it was just as quick. (Maybe I should explain, 386 was an intel PC chip from about 30 years ago, DOS is the operating system that Windows is built on, and a lot more powerful if you could use it, not so pretty though, ahh, happy days.) Still going back to the old days, dial up modems were 56k (500 times slower than broadband), because that is the speed that someone can type at, if you don't want anything more fancy than a few e-mails then any speed is good.

the UK average wage in December was about £660 a week, 2/3 of your take home, however I think you are suggesting your £200 a day also includes expenses - saws, fuel for saws, travel (after your commute - we all have to commute), safety kit, climbing kit and so on - which your accountant should be able to do before tax. Are my sums right here that your £1k a week gives you £350+ a week in expenses and a below average UK wage? I'm not directly in the business (the company does do some tree stuff), so perhaps a bit naive to the expenses, so how do they build up so much?

Edinburgh is over run with tree surgeons... (and he was quoting £1250+ a day... 5x £200 + £250 for the groundy, and in a saturated market too)

I've never done anything else apart from keep dried wood in the garage. We have roller shutter door and a side door, I would be bettering that more moisture comes in the garage that way than from the logs. Never noticed any mold in there, but occasionally get some damp - but attribute this more to the doors. Kiln dried / Air dried / Seasoned... doesn't mean a lot in my view, 'dried' means not as wet as it was. So unless they are specifying a maximum moisture content you could be getting anything. Kiln dried helps them sell more and more quickly, only need a yard to store 1 years worth of logs rather than 3 years, don't need to handle it as much, is a nice easy sales technique. No one is offering 'air dried' logs as if they were special you see - even though just as good, always 'kiln dried' Anyway. you should be fine keeping them in the garage, if you are worried just open the garage doors every now and then in the summer to blow some air through

So back to the original thing, if they have blocked or lost your e-mail account am not sure there is much you can do. I've always gone for e-mails that are not linked to my service provider - just a paranoia what happens when I switch or move. Might be something to do in the future, I use hotmail / outlook, which apparently dates me, GMail used to be the thing but suspect that has been superseded now and only for old people (in computer terms, 30 year olds+). If there was a computer genius reading this, they could set you up with a webpage, and e-mail address for a few ££ a year - complete control then (John87.co.uk ? ), but I'd probably stick to the free webmails. After than what do you do online really? Watch a few videos is the most intense we go, and they are all OK, don't need to go any faster than we have (I think we get normal broadband, might be superfast now), and how much do you do online? Some phone sim deals work well if you have decent reception and not watching hundreds of TV shows month

£500 - £700 a week in expenses sounds a lot for local work, no accommodation to pay for.

Likewise, but for others who might follow looking for employment a lot of the above advice is good stuff.

We did a project years ago sending internet up a valley via radio - worked really well and at the time was about the fastest internet there was (was before fibre broadband, not sure how it compares now). Think the radio link was about 10 miles all in.

If it was professionally swept in the summer then I wouldn't worry about that a few months later. There is anecdotal evidence, stories or whatever of stoves and chimneys working perfectly well without being swept for a few years. Maybe not best practice however. Yes, I have a set of brushes and will do the chimney, sometimes twice a year (Easter - at end of winter and September in case we had small fires over the summer (small fire: sets up air flow in the house, freshens it all up a bit). I'd still be looking at the basic installation, chimney perhaps. Perhaps also make a diary of how bad it is each day with a note on the outside weather - wind direction - and temperatures (very cold, cold, warm maybe) see if there is a pattern when it is worse or better

Definitely the problem is always going to be the air filter location for knackering the engine and exposed electrics like alternator for conking out

Not my line of work directly but other plans I work on you can go from very low tech to as techy as you want. Very low tech, buy a large scale paper print from Ordnance Survey (about £20 sent as a PDF), get out the Sharpies and scribble, scan and send back, to full tech with a professional drawing or CAD package and a GPS coordinate for every tree, wall, ditch, and whatever else you want. I use emapsite for electronic plans, however each is only licensed to use for 1 year (however for records, like a PDF in the archives that is OK), cost to our company is about £20 for a vector map which should do you, plus you'd then need to update that. Might be if it is a one off job you go the Sharpies route, scribble on paper and pass that to a CAD software house to make up something posh. Can also get large scale plans from emapsite too, Can go google earth and make notes on that I think for free. Doing the site maps is easy, getting good software that is affordable is another story.

At 16 it is going to be a little trickier to break into the industry without transport... but hopefully potential employers can see past no bike and too young to drive (not all 16 year olds have cash for lessons, a bike, insurance, fuel). What about public transport, where are you able to get to in a morning? (without giving away too much personal information). You might be able to reply here saying "no transport but I can get to these places for a morning pick up and drop off if that is convenient". Sometimes it will work out well that whoever is driving that day will be passing your house and get you from there, other days you might need an early start and the first bus to get 10 miles away for a lift - start doing some good selling of yourself here, someone might be watching this as a part of in interview process and your willingness to put yourself forward

Depends on the value of what is being taken, poaching for 'sport' - foxes, rabbits, wild birds is perhaps seen differently to poaching on stocked area of ground, grouse pheasants and so on which have a financial loss to the owner. Foxes don't.

Yup, I'd go with this too. Google street view would suggest you have 400-ish pupils? plenty of trees, and a reasonably affluent area (well, no bunt out mattresses and cars on the drives), within your school I'd bet someone has used a tree surgeon in the last few years and someone might be planning to do so in the next couple - so put a note around the school with what you are looking for and you never know. Farmers in the area but also saw a riding centre - perhaps give them a call, they might have a contact too. Ever thought about taking in big logs too for a 'wild play area'? If you are getting chippings, might get some wood as well if you ask.

A great start, someone will be interested. So sell yourself..... Do you have any experience so far, apart from the assessments - not necessary, someone will be interested if you have the right attitude What about grafting first before you do anything interesting, a few months doing the boring jobs - lifting, carrying, sweeping up, making a brew, could get you a foot in the door and show your work ethics ....and a million and one other questions... So over to you, sell yourself (remember that this is a public forum, no personal details, they can e-mail you if they want to know more). At 16 years old no one will be expecting a 20 page CV but might want to know a bit more about you as a person, would you fit in to a team, would you be an asset in a years time or a liability, what are your interests when it comes to working, what would you love to do So sell yourself... (and if it all goes wrong no one in the area, this forum is pretty good with helpful tips, but they will get distracted within about 6 posts)

I forget the Terry Pratchet quote on his definition of suicide, included insulting various fictional characters in his city, the US has suicide by police (or something like that where they can't do it themselves so goad the police on), perhaps this is the Russian version, suicide by Putin ?

Not sure I would be making my first statement "fully insured" - I'd be operating in a way such that insurance is the last thing I'd ever need. A sign is all good till you get a toddler out for a days walk wandering over your land (it happens every now and then), or a dog (happens all the time) - can't read and could be an admission that what you are doing is dangerous (same with 'Dangerous Dogs' signs, 'Dogs Loose' - an admittance you know they are dangerous, all it takes is a child climbing the fence to get a ball back....) Not into air rifles... got an axe throwing range, the thrower has visibility as far as they can throw an axe for, there is no access to the sides (carefully cultivated brambles....), whoever is overseeing the session is trained and all are briefed. For what it is worth it is private land... but anyone can walk through a gap in the hedge... point is that they would be noticed and the session stopped.... and so far as far as "fully insured" yes, but a session would never get as far as that being a consideration for 3rd parties. Perhaps a far better way to think, rather than "I have an air rifle range and am fully insured" but "air rifle range that we operate safely" Just going off on one, perhaps too much red meat for dinner. Whoops

I'm thinking that price is a bit optimistic. For a wood turner they'd have to produce products retailing at about £300 to make a profit (£100 cost, less their time, 10 hours? and add on 1/2 extra for retailers profit). For planks, not a lot of wood in there. For firewood.... probably have to give it away EDIT: Got some time to add some details to my earlier answer: The shorter log, is not 1 log, it is 3. The black ellipse for a side branch / log and the red ellipse for a lengthways split. These 13" diameter breaks down to 1 off about 6" diameter, 1 off about 4" diameter and taking into consideration the side branch coming off it, the last one is about 5" diameter. Blue circle, the ends of this log has 3 or 4 marks on it which might indicate a weak spot, once it has been sliced to useable lengths and the support of the wood around it will spit. Might be wrong - I don't work a lot of wood but split a fair bit by hand for firewood and this is how I would look at the log. Split along the red circle, split off the black side branch, and the last one hit at the perceived weak spots. Usually quite good at spotting the weak areas these days.

South Africa jail system is odd compared to ours, I think money talks over there, am sure he would have been out sooner - if he wasn't famous (11 years and I think that was them making an example of him too). Fairly sure I read one that some serious crimes (murder serious) and you are put in house arrest rather than jail (was about 11 years ago I was reading that, coincidence? but my memory might be wrong)

Send the text to 1000 people, if 1 replies then it is working - a numbers game. I reckon after a replying 1 in 100 will give their details enough to be scammed? Send 1,000,000 texts, you get 10 scammed people at what, £5k a time? Better than working for a living? Even at that anyone who replies will be added to the suckers list (don't need to put in your details, single pixel graphic in the message can confirm if you have opened it, a active account). Just need to get the right 'in' to get the suckers details. I treat all unsolicited messages as if I was walking down the street. If I was stopped and asked "You might have paid too much, what are your bank details?"... would I reach for my bank card to give them over? Don't click on the link but go to a computer and type the link into the browser. Note that the displayed text is not necessarily where you get taken to by clicking on the link, get the details that the link points to. Scam.

I understand that but are many fans direct drive now?

Another vote to the slow and steady, and if I can't see the road edges have a think about another route. Engine air intake is at the top of the engine, battery terminals at the top, the only things I can think of lower down that might not like being flooded are alternator and starter and the exhaust. For the starter and alternator these are above the door sills I think in mine, so as long as my feet aren't getting wet should be OK. (However my limit for thinking again is about half wheel height)

Just done the survey and while I am sure the results will influence someone, as you suggest the questions are quite narrow with the answers. "Yes" and "No" answers are quite broad but adding in "Yes, but... " "No, but... " "Yes, but..." "No" answers limits what you can say if you are outside of what they thought off that we might say.