coppice cutter

Most vehicle charging systems actually produce more than is required a lot of the time and the excess is converted in to heat which is then lost via some sort of regulator. So in theory, using the vehicle to charge something, especially at a time of low electrical demand on the vehicle, may simply to using energy that would just have been lost anyway. So it's not a straightforward equation.

I'd hold off. They're already bring out stuff with two of the 40v max batteries, an 80v (or 72v if you want to be accurate) chainsaw can't be far away.

Excellent post.

Wow, I hope the bikes don't start doing that or I'll be out of business!

I've no doubt that now Charles is monarch he will act publicly in as apolitical a fashion as his mother did and in keeping with the role. But of-course we will all remember his views on things from before when that wasn't the case, and many will therefore extrapolate and judge him on what they assume he will really be thinking (seems familiar!). Elizabeth wasn't so judged for several reasons. Firstly, she came to the role at a much, much younger age. Secondly, media and it's intrusiveness is now on a different level to seventy odd years ago. Thirdly, it was a helluva long time ago. I suppose what I'm getting is that Charles is on a hiding to nothing if he's going to be compared to his mother as a monarch, simply because a fair comparison is impossible.

Hard to take him as seriously. Then again, most of us were born with Elizabeth as Queen, that's all we've every known. The psychology of that has to be profound even if you consciously try to counter it. But I've no doubt him and Camilla are well up to the job of steadying the ship after such a major upset, and it'll probably be William who will determine the longer term future of the monarchy.

So presumably, rather than the oil actually needing changing, that'll be when the service light comes on? So even if you done the oil change yourself, you'd still need to go somewhere with the capability of putting the service light off before doing a regen on the DPF?

This! I still have a 10 by 5 from my contracting days, great for anything that fits in it but hopeless for anything else as the sides get in the way for loading. A twin axle, drop-side flat bed with ramps is the ultimate all rounder. Son-in-law bought a new one a couple of years ago and we've had cars on it, sheep hurdles, blocks, timber, furniture, tractors, machinery, etc, etc, there really isn't anything that it's not suited to.

F**k the cherry tree. We did our best!

The most ridiculous thing in the whole debate is that farmers would benefit the most from decreased production and extensivication, but they're the most against it. While the average consumer would suffer the most (think present energy situation, but applied to food) yet they're the ones largely shouting for it. "Careful what you wish for" was never more apt!

Well at least we can agree on something. I cancelled my subscription to NFU about 30yrs ago when it became obvious that their main priority was selling insurance. And I don't claim Basic Farm Payment as I don't want then to have any say over how my farm is run. I still abide by the vast majority of legislation, but if there's something which is any way detrimental to best farming practice I will have no qualms about ignoring it. They could still potentially prosecute me if they felt so inclined, but nowadays they prefer to just threaten to withhold money from you unless you promise to be good in future. With me, they don't have that option.

Farming is something which can bring great joy, but equally take you to the depths of despair. It's very easy to regard your own place as being the centre of the universe, absolute bliss when all is going well, but then when things go wrong (as they will sometimes no matter what you do) it can just as easily consume you with hopelessness. He's not the first for whom the latter ultimately wiped out the former with tragic consequences, and he certainly won't be the last either sadly.

Except that's not what he does. As you would know if you'd actually watched the feckin' thing. And yes, I did read your post before responding to it because despite what I said, to do otherwise would be STUPID!

That sounds like a start-o-matic. The generator acted as a starter to get it going and then flicked over* to generating again when it was up to speed. Ours was grand until the batteries got knackered and we couldn't afford new ones so it was back to swing start. There was a lever beside one of the pushrods to stop the valve closing while you swung like buggery to get it up to speed with no compression, then you swung the lever back, closed the valve, and away it went. I remember starting it for the first time when I was about twelve. My old fella said that if I chickened out when the valve was shut, and not swing it through the compression, it would break my arm so I better be ready for it. It was a tough education! * - when I say "flicked", it was really a loud clonk from the three big contactors in the control box, no electronics.

Stop, stop, no more!

Maybe in future I'll not bother reading your posts and just react to them based on what I expect you to have said.

Was it one of those big thumping 5hp jobs?

Oh man, that's a catalogue of events there that would utterly do my head in. There'd be divorce proceedings.

So you're getting all hot and bothered about something that you didn't even watch because you thought you knew what it would be like anyway. Hmmmmmm!

No, the Guardian article totally agreed with your point of view. If you're comfortable with that, then there's no problem.

I know the theory, i.e. that it would cost more to police than to just give to everyone, but I think they could do more. For example, if a pensioner earns enough, then they pay income tax. So there's a degree of individual means testing taking place there already surely?

Last electricity quarter at 33p per kw/hr was low two hundred and something, so even it goes to 40odd as some are predicting we should be able to keep it around or little over 100 per month most months, probably not possible February and March during lambing though. Also about one and a half medium tanks of propane for the cooker and that's us for the year, everything else is self-produced firewood. House and yard has all been switched to LED over the past four or five years, even the lambing shed, and workshop has been switched to LED this summer. Can't do much more now other than pay whatever it is.

No, I don't specifically need the firewood, but I see what you're getting at. It's not the first infected tree on the farm, but it's the first one I've felt the need to take down, it's also the biggest, so most likely to come down of it's own accord messily. Been watching it a couple of years now and it's all been downhill, increasingly so more recently. There's a young tree growing right beside it showing no signs of infection so far, as indeed are all the rest in the same hedge, so I think I'll take it out in a controlled fashion and give the young upstart it's chance to shine. Don't want it falling on a sheep in a storm or something equally ridiculous.

I've the first infected tree on the farm to take down shortly. Seems the best policy will be to do it in dead of winter and treat the firewood as normal? Shouldn't be any issues felling it as it's nowhere near the public and plenty of room around it.

Completely missing the point. Clarkson never claimed he was the farmer, he was the well-heeled landowner. All the good work was being done by those around him, who he had to pay to get anything done as he was too incompetent and totally incapable, without them nothing worthwhile would have been achieved. Giving the real credit to those around him was a recurring theme throughout the entire series and also illustrated that there were thousands of Kalebs, Ellens, and Gerards working away across the land day and daily, totally unknown, yet doing stuff that a huge percentage of the population wouldn't be capable of, and wouldn't make the effort to do even if they were. But don't worry, you're not entirely alone in your view! Clarkson’s Farm review – Jeremy the ignoramus rides again | Television | The Guardian WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM Eight hours of a buffoon screwing things up for our supposed entertainment is bad enough, but it’s his total...