Dear BudI thought I would open my suburbanforest account with an invitation for all your readers to a new field sport. Here's a picture of my uncle Leon (he's French you know, which explains the relaxed attitude to health and safety and the jaunty titfer) revelling in a bout of Recreational Directional Felling, which they've been doing in France now since around 1987.
All you need to get you started is a chainsaw, a loaded combi can, a sense of direction, and you're away.
Oh, and of course, you will need to find yourself a wood full of caravans. That's no problem! Thanks to the drop in timber prices, the retirement / shooting / redundancy of any staff who would give a shit otherwise, the nonsensical fashion for the civil servant always to laud multifunctionality and landowners' general love of loot, growing trees has often given way over the last few years to growing relationships with people who live in aluminium sheds on wheels. (For interactive site maps of your local encampment, go to www.arbdiddicoy.co.uk)
Tim Burr, Eastern Division Chairman of Recreational Directional Felling UK, the sport's governing body said in a recent interview with ForestTV: "Felling trees on caravans is a great winter sport for young and old. We have all walks of life coming here, to our training facility near Thetford. Some of our lads are off to Beiging next year, to work on dropping big stuff on statics in time for the Olympics. We have a few guys in Leeds and round there who drop stuff from trees into sheds and garages and that as part of their everyday work, so getting into RDF is just a natural progression for them. I like it when they leave the crockery in and you drop a seventy footer into 'em. It goes with a bang, I'll tell yer. "Specially if they left the gas on."
So, do you think any of your readers would like to give it a go? If we can get a party of ten together, it makes it cheaper on transport.
By the way, I really like your blog. It really is very good indeed. Has just the right amount of wit and caustic good humour, while balancing that with thought-provoking imagery and a real sense of purpose. I wish you and your team all the very best for 2008. Happy New Year.
1 comment:
Thank you Handyamps, and nice to have you on board. What took you so long?
No. I haven't heard of Recreational Felling before - I am sure that is a new one on our swandrii-bedecked brethren.
The suburbanforest team are actually quite fond of caravans - I take it you have noticed that from your perusal of our recent postings? Of course, we would never allow them to be pitched in woodlands - we have more taste than this.
Happy New Year, Handyamps. Come back soon.
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