philmayfield

There’s plenty of trees in our field hedge and on our property but fortunately we’re just out of the conservation area so we can cut them as we wish. Not that we would unless it was absolutely necessary. I think four big lads from the council have pulled the branch into an open gateway on the corner leaving someone else to deal with it. The owner of the tree has a wood burner and a son with a chainsaw!

We’re lucky in having two 8 by 12 aluminium greenhouses. Neither cost us a penny. One was given to my wife by my parents over 40 years ago as a birthday present and the other was inherited from her mother. We’ve got peppers, aubergines, cucumbers and tomatoes, some of those are three feet high already. I have had to move them, dismantle and re-erect both of them from other houses though. I’ve just had a nasty accident with a detached hosepipe. I didn’t carry out a safety assessment on that before use!

Food of the Gods Barrie. I guess my neighbour will get a bill from Notts CC. The tree’s in a conservation area so she wasn’t allowed to cut it down!

Two vans with flashing lights have turned up so it must have been reported to the authorities.

There’s an ash tree that’s just dropped a big branch on our lane this morning, totally blocking the road. We contacted the owner who’s currently away and she’s been in touch with her son in the next village who will be round to deal with it. I could get out a chainsaw and start to cut it up but I thought ‘why should I?’ Health &Safety and all that. There are plenty of much younger people around to do the lifting and I’ve got a ‘full English’, my Sunday treat, to tuck into. I can’t hear the sound of chainsawing yet though and it’s been lying there for over two hours.

Heath and safety procedures are now accepted in the workplace as the norm. The concept was difficult to introduce back in the 70’s as people were set in their ways. I always apply health and safety rules when I’m in my workshop and I’ve only lost half a finger since I’ve been retired and that was horticultural!

I remember the Health and Safety Executive being set up in 1975. That was subsequent to the Robens Report on the Flixborough chemical factory explosion in 1974. Alf Robens was formerly the director of the Coal Board. I flew over the scene of the disaster near Scunthorpe a few days later and it was a scene of absolute devastation. That resulted in the Health & Safety at Work Act and, like so many things at our factory, the board put me in charge of implementing it. The workforce thought I was crazy putting up lots of safety notices and laying down the rules regarding procedures. There were

You couldn’t win with these guys if they got their teeth into you. I knew one who lived in the village. He would brag in the pub about the notices he’d served that day. He wasn’t popular amongst the blokes running businesses. There are some cowboy outfits out there but most organisations endeavour to operate in a safe manner. It’s in their interests to do so. Women factory inspectors were the worst!

Try telling that argument to the factory inspector! I know what you mean Rog but I was the guy who dealt with them and many could not see reason. My ploy when they visited was to be amiable and ask their advice on a particular matter and whilst discussing that it kept them from wandering around the works. We didn’t condone unsafe practices by any means but some of the b******s could be very nitpicking and try to find a problem when there wasn’t one.

Our fig tree, which is on a N/W facing wall has quite a few figs but they won’t come to anything in this part of the world. The only home grown ripe figs I’ve tasted were from an old south facing greenhouse in the village with the fig tree trained along the back wall. There was also a mulberry bush in the garden, the only one I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t go round it though as that was also up against a wall!

I’ve actually been out in the cold today but only over to the greenhouses. It was a pleasant 25C inside and nothing required watering. I would normally be doing my weekly grass cutting tomorrow but the growth has slowed considerably so I’m ok for a few more days. On Monday a tree surgeon is coming to deal with a neighbour’s large ancient willow tree in his field hedge which semi uprooted itself last year and hangs over our garden. This requires the use of a telehoist, borrowed from a farmer friend, as there are some heavy high branches to remove. It’s previously been too boggy in my neighbour’

Our fig tree, outside the kitchen window, is looking splendid. Many of the leaves are already large enough to cover my requirements.

June 1st. 11C outside. Central heating is on. 25C on Scotland’s west coast yesterday!

Bring back global warming!

I always give them a generous tip!