honitonhobbit

Thanks son - much appreciated Have to say I'm proud of you - you've come a long way..

When you feel bad - go an look at the prices of parts for G wagens or LC's; or even that stuff from the good ol' US of A Now say to yourself "people have to pay these prices and I don't" Now have a big strong drink of something pleasantly alcoholic - do they do a good vintage rum in Belgium these days? And suddenly Mr Bluebird is on your shoulder and it's a wonderful day

Lots of cheap 4x4's in Holland... Some nice G wagens

You need five sandbags to block a door to 10" but it will seep

Well, it's all gone to Rodent poo here The Tone is about to breach the flood wall . There are two big surges coming down the Tone. The villages South of the Parrett are being evacuated - police chopper with a megaphone. Taunton is flooding, Wellington is flooding. Pretty much every road between the M5 and Somerton is blocked or becoming blocked. The Sowey is looking dodgy and the KSG is now over a mile wide. The council are issue 2 sandbags to each household. We are fast becoming an island again The 4x4 Response are running themselves ragged - well done lads. whilst the fire service are getting kit nicked and some unpleasant chap is stealing heating oil from the abandoned properties Householders in the 'dry' villages are taking in folk who have nowhere to go High tides Friday - rain surges due until then and for the weekend we get a huge storm And I'm stuck at home incapacitated

My dad, bless him, has his property marked on various insurance and EA maps as a flood risk. It's because he's not 100 yards from the Wye. What the EA and their little friends fail to look at on the OS map is the fact that he's 230 feet above the river! Every year it's the same damned argument with the insurance company...

Like John I use backcountry navigator - brilliant. On an S4 with it's manly screen it's great... John how do you cache on it - keep meaning to find out

It is the rivers that are the limiting factor - they haven't been dredged in 30 years and are down to 42% capacity due to silting up

Si The EA reside on another planet so any common sense ideas will get the knock back...

Hi Folks Just a little heads up - hence the International Section As you may know we have a few water issues in Somerset at the moment Some of our less than thoughtful brethren in the 4x4 world have taken to going out to drive the roads flooded by the incompetence of the EA (bit political there) That's fine... except it isn't. It's thoughtless and stupid. You see flooded road networks often pass through villages, or past property or businesses. Even where they pass by farmland there is an issue. That issue comes form the bow wave formed when you drive deep water. It spreads the water, doing more damage. It's not appreciated. Using the roads whilst flooded also causes damage to the road bed, which will cost money and time to fix Added to which in my local area a bunch of half wit inbreeds have decided that driving over the temporary flood defences is a laugh. It's not. Nor is it clever or macho. It's pathetic and illegal (trespass laws) I know that no one on this forum is that stupid, but if you do know someone who is then please tell them to stop, or even better report them to the police so they get charged... Alternatively the locals have had enough, so accidents may start happening - something we don't really want

I bought my screen from Ian at IRB - I forget the make. I paid a local screen fitter 20 notes to fit it - much easier. I use a bogo' relay (it draws less than 30 amps) and a switch with a very bright led on the end. Works fine. Takes less than 90 secs to clear a frozen screen. Still works fine after 5 years

Agree with Simon... I 'lane with a couple of guys with modded G's I go further with less fuss pretty much every time

MikeC's got a point... There is still work for cutters about but most of it's not fun - I hated most Rail work but inherited liabilities was spotty dog. Live line LV is mind numbing, HV is more fun and Grid is again spotty dog. The trick is to be more than a cutter or a chipper bitch. For example according to the law every 28th Feb every bird in the country makes a nest; come July 31st they all stop nesting (unless like this year they have been told to keep nesting for another month); so unless you are on emergency works or play the visual inspection card, nothing gets cut. But H&S tree Inspections are easiest between the end of March and the end of September. This is also the period of the year when Horticultural Maintenance is busiest - so if you can adapt or change roles easily, you work better. Tree Officers are paid a fair wage and it's often a job share situation as it's a council role Mike why not give us a bell - you've most likely still go the number

If she were to re-train as an Arboriculturalist up to Level 4 (the old Tech Cert Arb) then look at Lantra Professional Tree Inspector, there is good work there without the physical destruction that is climbing. Tree climbing is far harder on the body than rock climbing or free climbing. I retired from tree climbing at 30 - and I was fitter than the dog that beat the butchers dog to the bone. I'm still paying for it, my second reconstructive surgery on the shoulder is due soon. Although climbing now is far easier with modern concepts stolen form rock climbing. However a good H&S tree Inspector can pull in 30 - 35k a year after expenses and just do a lot of walking.... I do this as part of my job - I have about 3.5million trees on my patch and about 80k of those are veterans. I cover about 600kms a year on foot just inspecting trees - but it's steady Get her to look up QTRA and VTA as well as Claus Mattheck and Alex Shigo. The former is the god of Bio-mechanics in trees. Tree knowledge is important - I'm a Horticulturalist by trade so my plant knowledge exceeds anything an Arborist requires, so I can tell you with all honesty, Tree Ident takes time, let alone fungi ident There's good work in managing trees especially on a big scale that is not commercial forestry; and the damned things grow all the sodding time so the job gets bigger... I work for one of the worlds largest civil engineers and at the moment they have thousands of engineers world wide, but only one of me - and they need more; that need will only get greater... PM me for more info

I had a good look at the Bedford... I also loved the VW Syncro boys stands and the fact that they were next to the Carawagons..

Best show non 'steam fair' show I've been to in ages Great vehicles and that was just the campsite Loads of traders selling stuff that was useful - most I've never seen at Land Rover shows although I have no idea why The guys at West Coast Off Road who must be the oldest surviving 4x4 bits company in the UK were a great bunch - not stuck up their collective backside like some companies I could name but won't. They even had the new EU compatible Maxxis MT on show and on sale.. The bar was a rip off though - off set by the most excellent Severn Valley Cider stand with it's own bar

Project 1). Budget 2). Concept 3) what do I want 4) what do I need 5) Budget check 6) Build 7) Snag 8) Finish and take bow to audience NB Do not use Forums as sounding boards, use friends in pubs/bars Dreams 1) Faff about 2) Faff about some more 3) Do some more faffing NB Use Forums to postulate and listen to postulation being postulated

*walks away shaking his head*

I've driven both the Silver and the Blue 6x6's The Silver feels big and a bit cumbersome but is beautifully built. Just ring Sam who owns both and talk to him!

Ask Foley's about whether or not there 'conversion' will pass TUV... See what they say There is a nice 6x6 up for sale here www.millin.biz It's a genuine factory vehicle built by Scottorn in '86 so has all the correct legal status including the VIN plate It's got a Nissan FD 3.5 under the bonnet At present with an Ali tipper back it's plated for 4.5 tonnes with a GTW of 7.5 tonnes. It's also built on a 110 chassis not the usual 127 chassis - making it a lot shorter. The Ali back is a simple take off I've driven the vehicle and it's sweet - even unladen The engine is from a Nissan 7.5 tonner but is now intercooled and would lend itself to tuning

Mike I've got a spare Mile Marker bikini mount that you can have for some beer vouchers

A popular engine amongst the G Wagen crowd, as is the NA version

Tirfor ratings are for load lifting not rolling load or pulling load. So get a Tirfor T15. They are small enough yet big enough. Get a pulley block as well and look at extensions and ground anchors

Yup, good choice

I was ready to vote for Bill as Austrailan Premier as he's a top bloke Dan's okay as well