5thelement

I just use standard 99p pine disinfectant from the supermarket, diluted in a small spray bottle, it kills 99% of known bacteria. Most of the sites I work have high numbers of public, foot traffic/dog walkers etc, so a small team of cutters doing bio security measures is pretty pointless, but we have to be seen to be doing our bit.

FISA have announced that they will no longer be conducting refresher training from 1st November. To me, it looks like the start of the end of FISA. I mean, what else do they do apart regurgitate the previous HSE/AFAG guides with a different logo and colour?

It was the ergonomics and the smoothness of the power delivery that impressed me the most. I haven’t used many 90cc saws apart from huskies for a while so can’t really compare it with a Stihl etc. The pre orders will be in with my local dealer any time soon so there should be lots of forum based chat imminent.

There are several, with at least three ‘H’ Team members using them. I think there was was also an opportunity to use one at the Honey Brothers show a few weeks back too.

I’ve used a 592xp, it’s a great saw, but so is my 395xpg so I won’t be replacing it. I have a 562xpg, don’t really rate it at all to tell you the truth. The 550xpg does 90% of what the 562 does, only better, and the 572xpg does the other 10% better also. The 562 is a clumsy, heavy, underpowered saw that drags on 3/8 unlike the 560 on .325 IMO, it rarely ventures out so I have converted the guide bar to use it solely on my sweetchestnut fence mortising jig.

I had the same, the Husqvarna dealer swapped it for a new one under warranty, the new one has never done it.

I know of at least three of my mates with HGV licenses that have received these letters, none of them drive for a living and none of them are taking up the offer. Are there 15,000 new civilian drivers appearing or have they just sent out 15,000 pleading letters?

He was driving the van.

I love that book, the illustrations are fabulous, I’ve read it a thousand times and now read it with my own kids, my boy has the same white pyjamas as Max.

The bromance is back on then …they will be arranging a date soon enough, Brokeback mountain, drive in, back seat of the muscle car.😂

I’ve had one of these for years after developing tendinitis around my elbows from continuous wedge pounding. Got it in Germany, it was expensive but worth every penny, not suffered with the problem since. It is lighter than a traditional sledge hammer, but you can compensate this with the increased velocity of the swing.

My Dad, a tanker driver for over 30 years just sent me this from a Facebook group:- So, you are running out of food on the shelves, fuel in the garages, you can’t buy things you need, because the shops can’t get their supplies. Why is that? A shortage of goods? No A shortage of money? No A shortage of drivers to deliver the goods? Well, sort of. There isn’t actually a shortage of drivers, what we have, is a shortage of people who can drive, that are willing to drive any more. You might wonder why that is. I can’t answer for all drivers, but I can give you the reason I no longer drive. Driving was something I always yearned to do as a young boy, and as soon as I could, I managed to get my driving licence, I even joined the army to get my HGV licence faster, I held my licence at the age of 17. It was all I ever wanted to do, drive trucks, I had that vision of being a knight of the roads, bringing the goods to everyone, providing a service everyone needed. What I didn’t take into account was the absolute abuse my profession would get over the years. I have seen a massive decline in the respect this trade has, first, it was the erosion of truck parking and transport café’s, then it was the massive increase in restricting where I could stop, timed weight limits in just about every city and town, but not all the time, you can get there to do your delivery, but you can’t stay there, nobody wants an empty truck, nobody wants you there once they have what they did want. Compare France to the UK. I can park in nearly every town or village, they have marked truck parking bays, and somewhere nearby, will be a small routier, where I can get a meal and a shower, the locals respect me, and have no problems with me or my truck being there for the night. Go out onto the motorway services, and I can park for no cost, go into the service area, and get a shower for a minimal cost, and have freshly cooked food, I even get to jump the queues, because others know that my time is limited, and respect I am there because it is my job. Add to that, I even get a 20% discount of all I purchase. Compare that to the UK £25-£40 just to park overnight, dirty showers, and expensive, dried (under heat lamps) food that is overpriced, and I have no choice but to park there, because you don’t want me in your towns and cities. Ask yourself how you would feel, if doing your job actually cost you money at the end of the day, just so you could rest. But that isn’t the half of it. Not only have we been rejected from our towns and cities, but we have also suffered massive pay cuts, because of the influx of foreign drivers willing to work for a wage that is high where they come from, companies eagerly recruited from the eastern bloc, who can blame them, why pay good money when you can get cheap labour, and a never ending supply of it as well. Never mind that their own countries would suffer from a shortage themselves, that was never our problem, they could always get people from further afield if they needed drivers. We were once seen as knights of the road, now we are seen as the lepers of society. Why would anyone want to go back to that? If you are worried about not getting supplies on your supermarket shelves, ask your local council just how well they cater for trucks in your district. I know Canterbury has the grand total of zero truck parking facilities, but does have a lot of restrictions, making it difficult for trucks to stop anywhere. Do you want me to go back to driving trucks? Give me a good reason to do so. Give anyone a good reason to take it up as a profession. Perhaps once you work out why you can’t, you will understand why your shelves are not as full as they could be. I tried it for over 30 years, but will never go back, you just couldn't pay me enough. Thank you to all those people who have shared this post. I never expected such a massive response, but am glad that this message is getting out there. I really hope that some people who are in a position to change just how bad it is for some drivers, can influence the powers that be to make changes for the better. Perhaps some city and town councillors have seen this, and are willing to bring up these issues at their council meetings. It surely cannot be too much to ask of a town/city to provide facilities for those who are doing so much to make sure their economies run and their shops and businesses are stocked with supplies. I never wanted any luxuries, just somewhere safe to park, and some basic ablutions that are maintained to a reasonable standard. I spent my nights away from my home and family for you, how much is it to ask that you at least give me access to some basic services. There are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of licence holders just like me, who will no longer tolerate the conditions. So the ball is firmly in the court of the councils to solve this problem. WOW. 100,000 shares in a week. I have been humbled by the number of people who have never been involved in transport expressing concern about just how badly truck drivers are treated. I don't think the general public have really ever given it a thought, but I have been pleased to see so many express their displeasure about how we have to live while just providing a service for all of them. I have heard from a number of news outlets since posting this, but not a single councillor or politician has contacted me. Not that I think anything will change. Trucks always have been an inconvenience for local governments, and the cost of catering for them is left to someone else, anyone else, yet there is no someone else out there. I avoided another aspect of the job, that makes it bad even for those who try to get home every night. We have many transport hubs where goods are collected and then distributed onwards to supermarkets and large retailers. Anyone who has delivered to any of these regional distribution centres will tell you the same story. You arrive there at a fixed time slot (don't be late or you will face serious delays), and you will be told where to park and then where to take your paper work, after that, you will be instructed to back onto a bay at some point, to be unloaded. it might take just 20 minutes to unload a truck, but you can bet that the time spent in this RDC will be much longer, waiting for a bay to tip, waiting for them to actually unload you, and then what is usually the longest wait. Waiting for your paper work, so you can carry on to the next job. It is no wonder there is a shortage of trucks on the roads, 1/2 of them are stuck inside these soulless places waiting for a piece of paper.!

Although I like AJ, I fancy Usyk for this one. I think he is a far cleverer fighter and will diffuse AJ’s obvious power/size difference. If Aj wins, great, the next fight with Fury would be the icing on the cake for both fighters. But Usyk v Fury would be one hell of a match up also. Looking forward to it.

At least that amazing free trade agreement with the USA is going well 😂. Biden certainly shot a dose of reality into these negotiations, poor Doris.

Just filled the Landy up, it’s midnight and its absolute carnage at the forecourt, on the edge of fisticuffs. A high sided Gypo wagon with the ugliest fat birds that you ever seen are passing over Jerry cans to be filled up, they must have 500 litres in the back. I only fill up once a week, I drove to work this morning with the idea to fill up on the way home as usual, I hadn’t been watching the news so have been caught off guard, all the forecourts where rammed and I got home on vapour. Ask the public to take an experimental vax, wear masks, stay home, don’t go to funerals, leave loved ones to die alone, no problem, full compliance. Ask them not to panic buy fuel, mass hysteria, and as usual, it’s the EU’s fault.

This surely is the perfect opening for Retired Climber to give us his explanation of the psychological behaviour of this customer, and the correct method to approach any future dialogue for the benefit of the OP.

When I left Bolton in September of 2002 it had rained incessantly for the best part of 9 weeks. I had to cancel quite a few large reductions/dismantles and concentrate on straight fells and conifer jobs instead, waiting for the weather to break, it didn’t. Starting a job in good weather then having torrential rain by mid day is quite normal, I have never called a job off mid way through, but starting a wet Beech, Eucalyptus or Sycamore reduction without gaffs is certainly not my favourite thing to tackle, If I could reschedule, I would.

All a company needs to prove to Insurers is ‘Adequate Training’, under regulation 9 of PUWER. This can be done in house and recorded/updated as necessary. Most companies simply use a training/assessment provider that is widely recognised by insurers such as LANTRA/NPTC, but this is certainly not compulsory.

5thelement Having spent the majority of the last 5 years dealing predominantly with ADB in Sussex/Kent on large estates, Woodland Trust, RSPB and FC sites. Also doing extensive research planting Ash from all over the world in controlled experimental blocks for the FC. This was his reply to me that he swiftly deleted, he clearly has a hard on for Instructors, maybe his wife ran off with one. So you’re dolescum, you work for dolescum and you claim that some other dolescum won’t be squeezing whatever they can out of some public sector contract. Very credible.

He made a similar comment like this one in another post about ADB, directed personally at me, a load of absolute tosh, then he bottled it and removed his post. He didn’t even have the balls to respond when I DM’d him, he is the archetypal ’Hard Man’ behind his keyboard. I will post his previous post up later when I am through Border Control.

I am not claiming that it doesn’t happen, I just don’t believe the numbers, and they are certainly not responsible for decades of poor investment in our society and infrastructure.

As if these people are just going to be given a house, where from, total nonsense.

I spent 10 years living in Hastings, in that time the coastguard only escorted in a hand full of boats, your being fed media shit. A handful of immigrants aren’t responsible for decades of poor investment in our society and infrastructure by successive governments.

I’ve got a better idea. Rather than f**k my quality gear up trying to prove a point, why don’t you do it, make a YouTube vid and post it instead, I work for a living.

Don’t forget to use it in exactly the opposite way to what the manufactures who designed it say.😉