THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Saipan

GreyQueen wrote: »

:eek: Crazy windy here today, we've got the arboriculturalists running around the city assessing downed and partially downed trees. Some of which have landed on homes and cars and across roads.Even some phone cables have blown down.

Roof tiles and fences and sheds are flying, this is the worst windstorm we've had for some time. Spare a thought for those stalwarts out there with chainsaws trying to clear several tonnes of timber away from crucial things.

I'm in for the night and staying in, it's flipping rough out there.

My son-in-law is amongst the arboriculturalists, assessing and chainsawing in appalling conditions, relying on body chains to keep themselves stable when they're working above ground level - stalwarts is an excellent way to describe them

Thanks for the mention, GreyQueen - it's good to see them appreciated for the very risky work they do on days like today.

[Deleted User]

culpepper wrote: »

LOL yes.I hunted in the park last Autumn and came home with various tins to practice making them with.

Vimto cans are the ones you want, for these kinds of stoves, due to the different style of rim.



You will notice that the inner lip is wider on the can on the right. It is probably most easily seen, in the photo of the cans with the tops removed.

It is the wider rimmed cans (on the right in the photos) you need for the Spirit Stoves.

thriftwizard

Looking at the news, we've escaped very lightly down here, but two of the giant willows down at the riverbank have lost their "heads". They've splintered & twisted down between the footpath and the river itself, so the PTB may not feel they have to "clear" the fallen branches as there's no danger to passers-by, but I think the main trunks would be open to infection with those huge open scars at the top, and if they died the bank would be much more open to erosion. There might be some good wood going begging if they do clear the fallen wood.

As our council is very cash-strapped, it probably won't be high on their list of priorities. However, it'll obscure the view from the new waterside properties there, not all of which have sold yet, so I have a feeling it will get done...

As we didn't get much rain, I also managed to get three loads of washing dried out on the line today. However, I also inadvertently breached the poultry regs; the polytunnels got a bit flappy, and come roosting time one little bantam was pottering happily around in the shrubbery, having taken advantage of a temporary gap in my precautions... as it's less than a week until they are allowed out now, I'm not going to panic too much.

GreyQueen

Saipan wrote: »

My son-in-law is amongst the arboriculturalists, assessing and chainsawing in appalling conditions, relying on body chains to keep themselves stable when they're working above ground level - stalwarts is an excellent way to describe them

Thanks for the mention, GreyQueen - it's good to see them appreciated for the very risky work they do on days like today.

They're top blokes, always got my respect, it's a dangerous and very important job. You can have a highway which cost millions and it's flipping useless with a tree lying right across it. And if said highway is one of the major arteries in and out of the city and it's coming up to rush hour - when you want a gang with a chainsaw, you really really want them.

We've had to do some triaging of matters over the phone, trying to prioritise the downed-and-not-in-critcal-place from the downed-and-very-much-in-the-way. Our most urgent category has to be trees or tree limbs which have fallen or are in imminent danger of falling somewhere dangerous.

I've been doing this job for a lot of years now and cannot recall this level of damage in a wintertime storm. We've had some bad goes in summer, when the rare gale catches the decidious trees with a full leaf canopy and hits them like wind hits a sail, with predicable results, but this is bad. Not the 1987 hurricane level of badness, but pretty rough. Blew out overnight, tho, thank goodness.

Having to tell people that fallen minor branches and downed garden fences aren't going to be dealt until we can deal with the emergencies. Most folks are pretty understanding once you explain the rationale - they're just glad they haven't got a tree through their roof.

Howsomever, it's an ill wind, and the fencing contractors will be getting some extra work out of this, which I am sure will be welcomed in their households.

I'll try talking to a pal later today, most likely, wondering what may have befallen his 80 acres of woodland, which is a much-beloved lifetime project. He's got a redwood in their somewhere........!

ETA; just had a call - via mobile - from the pal mentioned above. He's about an hour away on his farm, was due in the city today and a powercut means he can't get his garage door open ........ I think this is the big treble garage that may even hold the chainsaws........ possible resilience issue to be addressed there. I may see him later, I may not, depending on how

jk0

Anyone see latest news about RBS?

http://news.sky.com/story/rbs-in-the-red-for-ninth-year-in-a-row-as-losses-more-than-treble-to-163696bn-10779470

It has now lost £50bn after we bought them for £46bn, and they're still paying the bonuses! That makes a loss of £96bn, doesn't it?

I'm flabbergasted that this firm is allowed to keep going. They say RBS has 120,000 employees. That means we have spent £800k per person to keep them in a job! You could pay each of them £20k a year for the next 40 years in benefits for that money.

!!!!!!?

[Deleted User]

Slightly perplexing article on the newsfeed from the esteemed American President saying that 'he thought the UK would pull out of Brexit and that he was right'. Anyone know something I don't as the news at lunchtime was saying Theresa May was now going to concentrate her efforts on implementing Brexit and article 50?

maryb

I found the story in the Independent. He's doing a U turn on his former criticism of the EU and saying he has very good relations with it but he always thought Britain would pull out (he meant of the EU but got muddled and said Brexit)and he was right

[Deleted User]

OOOps!!! what a mistaka to makea!!!

maryb

Actually it could be the Indie getting muddled. This is another political news site saying:
Trump reiterated in the latest Reuters interview that he had predicted Brexit before the June referendum last year.

“I was right,” he said.

But what comes out his mouth is often as hard to make head or tail of as Dubya back in the day. Don't misunderestimate him!

[Deleted User]

jk0 wrote: »

RBS in the red for ninth year in a row as losses more than treble to £6.96bn

Fortunately, I don't bank with RBS, and indeed never have.