The amorphous weed

I came home the other day and two nice men were working on my neighbour’s hedge. I don’t know for sure that were nice men, I did not talk to them – that would have been weird. I assumed that they were nice because they had set up the work site with cones and...

‘And’ protection

The line between social media and social networking can be a fine one. Once you press enter, and your comments appear in a group chat the roller-coaster begins and where or when it stops nobody knows. On one occasion, I innocently entered a slow-burning chat that...

Outrage Management

A while back I gave a presentation on risk; ‘Risky Business – the business of risk.’ I was able to present it a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was intentionally emotive ‘Disaster is lurking and we will save you’. I filled it with selected statistics for...

Can bad be good?

Today I visited my favourite stub. Yes, A stub, not a pruning cut but a stub. I also got to try out my new rope wrench; its purple, so it doesn’t go as fast as the red ones and it’s not as cool as the black ones – the wrench worked well, the climber…...

Concepts and awareness required

Recently I was asked to review a unit of competency. When I say, ‘I was asked’ the ask was to industry, and when I say ‘industry’, it was the industry in the widest possible context, so really every man, woman, child and their dog was asked to be involved....

The shyness of trees

Tree or ‘crown shyness’ is where the uppermost branches of different trees in a forest canopy avoid touching one another. This stand-offish approach creates clearly defined borders when viewed from below the forest canopy appears to fit together like some crazy...