Breaking Through, Travelling On

Thank you all, that's brilliant feedback. I'm going to turn down the quote tomorrow, apologise for calling him out but its way outside what I'm comfortable paying.

I didn't do anything on it after my last post - the heavens opened, and have stayed open. I'm not going to do anything big on it today, I don't want to "work" every day, so I'm off out for a walk this afternoon, but I'll be doing a lot of tidying and sawing myself. I think I called him at the wrong time too - I hadn't swept the decking, so all the seeds were there, it looked like it had a lot of clearing work to do.

Actions
1. carry on with the sweeping up - two thirds already done.
2. sawing branches, from ground level up to me-on-a-dining-chair.
3. chuck the branches to the front yard, offer first pick to neighbour, offer the rest on freegle as bonfire/woodburning material.
4. experiment on other prunings with my BBQ, when it stops raining and things dry out a bit.
5. ETA - use the mobile waste collections, 6th November for my town, 20th November for my village, then 15th January and it starts up again.

:j:j:j

Verbatim wrote: »

Excellent. Sorted. Remember that 5/11 approaches as Eating the E alluded to above so perhaps the scouts/ community group etc might be arranging a bonfire/ fireworks event and be willing to collect/saw/ lug for free wood.

Ah! Round here, most towns have a Bonfire Society, and my village is one of them, it's huge. That may just be fireworks now, but I'll check, thanks, its a great idea.

Goldiegirl wrote: »

Hello there!

Sounds as if retirement life is suiting you. So glad it's working out well.

I read the posts from your retirement day, and the only way I can describe it, is that joy was radiating off the screen!

Hiya :j:j

Good to see you! Yes, I was very joyful that day, and the joy continues :j:j I keep thinking back to your journey to get things straight, and how similar it is

greent wrote: »

We hacked the smaller branches off an old tree years ago and then put an ad on freegle for someone to come and chop it down and take it away for firewood (was quite a tall tree and a thick trunk) - didn't cost us a penny and they got a load of wood (granted it needed to season for a year or so) for their heating

We did pay for someone to chop a large cherry down last year (bordered ours and neighbours house) and treat the stump. They took the branches away and sawed the trunk into manageable lumps which I've been burning on the chiminea this year. Cant remember exact cost - £150ish?

x

That sounds more reasonable, if there was a lot of sawing ... what I'm hoping is that by the time I've thinned everything from me-on-a-chair, I can do what I did at my previous house, where there was an ash tree only four feet from the house: I lassoed the top of the tree to control the fall, and sawed through the trunk about eight feet from the base

More thinning today, plus writing, i.e. transcribing my 1976 diary. I'm up to Beograd, Belgrade as was, just about to get to Greece.

I've already checked the French current account, the latest rent payment has gone in, and because I paid the taxes online, they don't take the money till 10 days after the due date, which seems odd, but I have an email saying exactly that. Over the next two years, I'll be sending another £6k in total, probably, partly because the exchange rate has sunk so badly, and then it *should* be more or less self financing, though it will provide no income.