The little bastards seem to have infra red vision and go for the largest, hottest thing in range.  I found that out pushing a petrol engine mower – they were all clustered on the hood and largely left me alone, but that changed when it was time to attack the briars with a slasher.  IIRC their saliva is anaesthetic, so you don’t feel the bite until they’ve had their fill and buggered off to find the next victim.

Like this?

Try the find a professional tab on the Arb Association site

http://www.trees.org.uk

An Approved Contractor should be able to advise on that and handle TPO applications.

If it gets really technical you might need a Registered Consultant, but it sounds like a job for a contractor

2.5m long by approx 300mm diameter cardboard tube containing telescopic pole saw bungeed into the top tube. Length wasn’t too bad but tight corners needed a bit of planning. Harder part was the bandy legged pedalling.

Nearly as bad was stuffing two Ortleib panniers with apples from an abandoned orchard then trying to keep the front wheel on the ground.

Science and technology museum.  Loads of fascinating stuff, including a steam loco sawn in half down the middle, quite a bit of interactive stuff if you have kids with you

Still a bit old fasioned in some ways, many places don’t take cards and just about everything closes on Sundays

Not seen anyone for a long time, but used to hitch regularly in the 70s and 80s.  Used to go between home in Bath and Bangor, about 200 miles and always managed it in a day.  Also back to Bath from the concert at Blackbushe aerodrome with a leg in plaster.

Memorable things are the noise a two stroke Foden makes going up hill and the driver who took an artic through the middle of Conway before they built the by pass, which meant going through an arch in the old castle wall.  There were tight turns through the town then a turn into what looked like a dead end with a small hole in the wall at the far end.

IIRC it was wonky because it had partly subsided into an old mine.  Not much incentive to buy a house on the site

Quote Doris5000…

“Madonna said she was ugly”

**** off Madge, you’re ugly on the inside AND outside you pretentious mercenary ****

Mark,
There’s an ancient yew with a hollow trunk down the road from you in Llanbedr churchyard. Like a small room inside and last time I saw it there were a couple of chairs in there. IIRC Llanbedr churchyard has some too.

Some yews must be older than the churches, wouldn’t be the first time the upstart religion has adopted the old customs and sites to gain a toehold.

S

“Time invented itself to stop everything happening at once”

Benjamin Zephaniah – I think

I did my Mum’s myself, but the estate was simple and I’m used to doing that sort of thing. If you aren’t confident doing it or it’s likely to be contentious with other family members I’d get a professional. Some are crap, if you go down that route best to get someone recommended personally.

The Russian robot dog makes a change from using real ones to blow up tanks
Potentially disturbing content

Taking some details from a woman of mature years

“Is that Mrs or Miss?”

“Miss, I’ve been on the shelf all my life…….

Mind you I have been taken down and dusted once or twice”

Arete

This is more nuanced, better for individuals and everyone else.

I’ve been sent AutoCAD drawings where the architect has worked in mm, but the units are set to inches. It took a while to work out why everyting was out by a factor of 25.4.

Does Jacob Rees-Mogg send instructions in inches to a tailor who works in metric?

If you gift aid the donation 52% of the extra must be from Brexit supporters’ tax – Result!

MrMo

Inland Revenue used to write to people claiming that they owed X, X being an entirely fictitious but very precise number. eg £473.18. The idea being the recipient would then spend their own time trying to prove the amount wrong and come up with their own figure and so do IR’s work for them.

My wife had a letter like that. Neighbour, who is an accountant, said write back saying you agree, but don’t pay anything. She did and heard nothing more.

Tree and leaf are black poplar, looks like a native one from the burrs on the trunk.

One use in wagons was for the brake blocks because it doesn’t burn readily. It goes black and chars but doesn’t turn to ash, so good for making matches, but not great on the fire. Good for floorboards, truck beds etc. because it dents, but doesn’t splinter.

If you’re interested I have a pair of 15mm thru axle Fox Float 140s, 1&1/8th steerer cut to 200mm. Not much used, they came off a 2012ish Soul, swapped to 120mm which works better for me.

I’m also open to offers for the Soul.

I prefer my Surly 1×1 to the Inbred, they’ve both been run in various combinations of ss or Sturmey 3 speed and with front suspension or fully rigid. I don’t think there’s much in it, but the 1×1 has always been the one to just get on and ride. I also have a Cotic Simple, which is a very different animal, much lighter and with a definite zing to it. With a straight suspension corrected steel fork it is much faster and sharper handling, great for quick blasts for an hour or so on a warm evening (remember those?). Not sure how easy any of those frames are to find these days though, but all the bits off the Inbred transplanted straight onto the Simple with no trouble.

Westbury White Horse, Wiltshire – big wide view off the N edge of Salisbury plain.

Car park / picnic site at the top of Tog Hill S of J18 of the M4. View over Somerset to S Wales. (Go during the day, popular with some very odd people after dark)

Reigate View point off the A217, just off J8 of the M25

Odd one perhaps but the view off the crest of the QE2 bridge over the Thames at Dartford is impressive. That’s southbound, northbound is a tunnel.

+1 for chicken of the woods, went past some fresh ones exactly like that on Sunday. That looks like an oak or sweet chestnut stump which would also fit.

The other one that can look similar and grow on stumps is giant polypore, Meripilus giganteus.

This is a good guide to any growing on trees:
http://www.tma-fungi.co.uk/

Time to appoint a foreign interference tsar

Badgers Mount, just off the M20 / M25 junction not far from Pratt’s Bottom.

There also Wasps Nest in the Lincolnshire Fens.

+1 for Fibrox handled Victorinox, for practical use at sensible prices.

Sooty bark will kill the sycamores and might get any Norway or field maples. All the others you mention are immune and ash will usually seed themselves well anywhere that sycamore grow well, so they are likely to start taking over. It might take time and unfortunately there is an ash die back disease, but natural regeneration is cheaper and often gets results quicker than planting. Also losing the sycamores will give more light to other trees, which might do better.

In defence of sycamores they aren’t native, but have been naturalised here for a long time. Not the best thing close to houses but provide greenery in places not much else will grow – for instance the gap in Hadrian’s wall seen in the Robin Hood film a few years ago. They get bad press on ecological grounds because they have a wide range of associated insect species (about 15, compared with 280+ on oaks), but the large biomass of aphids on a typical one can support a wide range of birds

Surly 1×1 rigid SS on 26 x 2.75 dirt wizards for summer or 3″ Duro leopards which deal with wet clay/mud better than anything else.

Close second is the Cotic Simple rigid SS on skinny tyres, on the face of it similar to the 1×1 but ride is completely different, lighter and more nimble, good for quick blasts. Bought from a classified on here, thanks again Sean, it’s doing well in its new home.

trying the pic again

I like the sound of Jamaican woodbine but the tree is a Himalayan tree cotoneaster, Cotoneaster frigidus, frigidus because it stands the cold. Its often put in amenity woodland for birds

Definitely contact the rail operator. Apart from the safety trespass / issues of doing a DIY job, they are quite heavy handed with trackside trees and sycamores are one of the species that produces the “wrong type of leaves”, which reduce traction and interfere with the tracking system, so there a fair chance they would remove it.

Simply bearings do them and a load of other useful odds and ends for bikes.

https://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/Products-Cycle-Bearings/c4747_4586/index.html

Deliverance teeth

I used to live in Wilts. There’s not much on the flat land close to Melsham / Trowbridge and, like Daffy says, it gets churned up into really thick clag in winter. Up side is it’s not far to the N edge of Salisbury Plain, ride towards the big white horse on the hill above Westbury. There’s miles of trails including some military stuff which is open if the red flags aren’t flying. It’s also possible to join the Ridgeway with a short link on roads across the flat land E of Devizes.

Used to ride in the woods round Center Parcs at Longleat. Most aren’t public rights of way but the estate used to have a tolerant attitude.

There’s some better stuff over towards Bath as well

Not exactly urban, but a loop I do goes through some big infrastructure at the M1 / M25 junction. From a field edge it cuts through the hedgerow then over the M25 slip road on a high footbridge that feels very narrow, up a rise through trees, down steps on the other side onto a higher footbridge over the main M25, runs next to the carriageway for a bit then winds it way round the pillars holding up the M1. Short bit though a wood then down more steps and under the M1 though a big concrete pipe and back out into another field.

Quite a few years ago a mate of mine organised a loop round the Isle of Portland, taking in the town streets, little snickets and cliff paths. And a stop at a chip shop.

Suspended from a lamp post by meat hooks pushed through behind the Achilles.

That’s standard butchery practice, although while we remain in the EU the animal must be killed humanely first. There is also a handy double hook thing called a gambrel that does both legs in one

I’d have thought Roe deer most likely there, but there have been a few sightings of Muntjac deer in s/central Scotland, probably brought in fron elsewhere and released. They also have shorter legs and look more dog like than other deer, might be mistaken if all you got was a glimpse of it. Real distinctive feature is that when they’re running away they put their tails up, which flashes the pale fur beneath the same way as a rabbit.

Good to know red squirrels are still about. We’re overrun with greys round here in the SE and its going to be a big year for acorns so might be a population explosion later in the year

According to Urban Dictionary its the opposite of Penivore. As in:

“My dietary choice complements that of my girlfriend – I am strictly vagitarian whereas she is 100% penivore.”

Felco and Fiskars are both established good names. By pass ones are great for fine pruning, anvil ones are not as neat cutting but less susceptible damage from stones etc if you are doing rough work like cutting roots. I have felco bay pass loppers and secateurs for nice jobs and an unbranded anvil pair like the Corona compound action ones bought from Mole Valley Farmers about 30 years ago and still going strong.

There are handsaws that will do that – how about the Silky Katana Boy 650