Doug Tait

That's my local butcher. Andrew, now Amy I think. I used to play football with him. He's been living as a woman for a long time, last I heard he'd had an operation to finish the transition but he's been going downhill lately with drink. Don't know what this incident with the girl is about yet as they're not saying much but knowing him I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to "mother" her rather than being abusive. It'll all come out so we'll see but he's bound to get a sentence for abduction whatever his reasons. If he's not actually got any male parts now will that mean he gets sent to a woman's prison? Just glad the wee lass wasn't harmed.

They specialise in woodland burial.

Spud the private outfit that are now helping with the water search are called Specialist Group International. Their owner says they're using world leading sonar technology which is a lot more advanced than what the Police have available. He estimates they can cover the entire length of the river in 3-4 days and be confident in the results. Apparently he spoke directly with the family before they started and told them "if she's in the river we will find her" which strikes me as supremely confident.

Ice circle - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Watched war of the world's at the weekend, so I'll suggest it's exhaust venting from an advanced craft secreted at the lake bottom awaiting the arrival of the mothership.

The last couple of your posts on this subject just make me think, Spitfire cockpit!

Another thought, if you've only got a few positions available and hundreds of applicants you have to discriminate against the majority in some way to choose the successful few.

Just possibly he's an entitled, average chap that can't come to terms with not getting the career he wanted. Let's face it, if he was as highly suitable as he believes he was personally, another one of the 80% of successful applicants that were white males would have been 'discriminated' against in favour of him. Also, he says that having no demonstrable leadership ability shouldn't matter because he'd get leadership training for the role. I'm not convinced, I think it entirely appropriate to select people for a leadership position with previous experience or a natural aptitude for it before training. From the article... An RAF spokesman said: “At no point did the RAF recruitment process select ethnic minority and female pilots over better qualified white male pilots. Over 80 per cent of our recruits during the period in question were white men.

I consider this sentiment to be highly likely. From what I know of people at times of great stress like this they'll believe anything rather than the worst, however implausible. I've seen people convince themselves of the most fantastical scenarios rather than accept the obvious in order to accept the finality of a situation. I've been there myself when the Police arrived on the doorstop to give me the worst news possible I argued for a long time as to all the reasons they had clearly got it wrong, but they hadn't and with the clarity of hindsight I could see just how desperate my thinking was. Heart goes out to the people involved with this.

Had that Friday feeling today and we've had a productive week, so I organised the inaugural Cone Curling Championship at lunchtime. The rules: 1 curl per entrant. Cone must be curled from behind the stop/go board. Cone must be upright after the curl to qualify. Cone must not touch target (15mph sign). Closest to target wins. Prize was the first note picked randomly from my wallet (containing a selection of twenty, ten or five). It was all taken very seriously and there had to be some adjudication by myself to prevent an argument over an inch or so, but all agreed in the end it was a great sporting event. After an extremely close finish, the winning cone was 5.5" from the target, thrown by our Cone Curling Champion of 2023, Craig! Who proudly plucked his prize of £5 from my wallet, congratulations Craig (but remember, you're only as good as your last curl!).

You should go on a course John, there's 2 of those booklets to get your teeth into and you even get to simulate a "layout" in an industrial estate!

Was thinking about this thread today and I'd like to suggest the humble blower as a tool worthy of a mention. When used as intended it makes the final clear up almost pleasurable, especially on road work, never had that feeling with only a rake or brush. But there's so much more they can be used for, a cool breeze on a sweaty day, get the worst of the mess off your clothes when covered with wet saw chip before you get in the truck, even clean out the pockets that don't turn inside out, do wonders for getting a fire going as well, and cleaning crud off a machine to grease it... They just don't get the credit they deserve.

Agreed. People on boards can make decisions in the moment about releasing traffic which makes for a far smoother operation from a traffic point of view. Especially if close to fixed traffic lights at one end of your work lane because you can't afford to have traffic stacking up close to them. In my experience the abuse is far less when using boards than if you operate the same system with lights as you're able to let things flow better.

Can't really say if 20mins is a decent or poor run time, depends what you mean by processing timber. We use them for stop/start cutting of branches at the chipper or occasionally crosscutting smaller limbs. Haven't timed it but the batteries last fine. I'd think continuous cutting of larger stuff would be the hardest on battery life. It'll help anyway to keep the chain properly sharp.

Horrendous for you but these things really are worth sharing, thanks. I still think about a particular lad that had an accident with a top handle years ago and lost his life. His father wrote about the incident extensively with the intention of making people more aware. It's a real eye opener to hear a first hand account of something like this but it stays with you.

Might want to register yourself as a tip site if you haven't already. https://arbtalk.co.uk/recycling

That's a thought Steven, someone gave me an iPod years ago which I never used, I think after discovering I needed an apple account to put anything on it. Maybe I can find it and get someone to prep it for me. Thanks for reminding me!

Found it really frustrating when I used Bluetooth headphones in the past as they seemed to lose charge quickly. Iirc I gave up with them after having to take 2 pairs with me for a days listening. I suppose you'll tell me the 'modern' ones are a lot better!

I've got some of those in the garage somewhere!

Very good, and you're in good company as everyone I know has been insinuating I'm neanderthal. The OH has been quite insulting about the fact I didn't unbox the new phone for 9mths after it arrived, apparently I was due another new one before I'd turned the new one on. Seriously though, I like the look of that, does it have a headphone socket mate?

How are people listening to music on their phone? I recently got a new phone, somewhat against my will as there was nothing wrong with the one I had other than it no longer being supported by various apps and updates due to being too old. To give you an idea, when I called my contract provider to upgrade I said "just the natural upgrade to the one I have" and the call handler laughed at me. Once she'd composed herself she explained "there's no natural upgrade for something that ancient, you've had it like, forever!" (an exaggeration by the young lady I'd add, only had it for 6yrs!). The whole upgrade thing I find traumatic to say the least. So now I've a new phone and it's all I have. No iPad, PC or laptop. No broadband at home or anything other than my mobile. I don't like the idea of streaming music as I'm often out of range for reception, I'd download stuff and save on phone but so far what I've tried doesn't play anyway, not a recognised file. Thought about the premium streaming stuff like Spotify or Prime that supposedly allow you to download but all I've heard from feedback is problems with it. My listening habits are probably unusual as I tend to listen to the same one or three albums for ages so it suits me just to have them saved, available whenever I fancy with only the need of a charged up phone, no signal, subscription or data use required. Any suggestions please?

@cornishman07 I know someone that has been looking for a saw and I suspect your 261 might be of interest. If you're looking for a buyer and would be happy to send to Scotland let me know and I'll ask them...

That 261 looks so desperately sad. Sat in its little box with nothing but a lonely loft to exist in, sharing its tomb with a 1L bottle of chain oil just to tease it with what could've been. It clearly longs to be out in the woods, felling and snedding from dawn to dusk with a sharp chain and all the fuel it could dream of. Set it free and let it live the life it was born to live!

Might be worth introducing yourself in person as well as sending emails, maybe follow up the email with a phone call a week later and if you see or hear someone working try and have a chat directly. Think about other attributes you have that relate to the work like mechanical knowledge, customer skills and so on. Most people you're competing with will have done a course or two and be fairly fit. Sorry if that's all obvious stuff, good luck with it.