This is Romain. He is from France and has a pretty heavy French accent which is lovely to listen to. He is a tree surgeon and garden designer in the Sevenoaks area.
You can check out his website here: http://www.blackwren.com/
he was one of the chainsawers during the January tree felling. Proud Papa to a brand new baby girl, and two others, making 3 girls for him. (John has 3 girls also... is there some rule about having 3 girls if you are a tree surgeon here!?)
And you've sort of met Nigel before... you've seen his red boots and heard his voice anyway in the "let it snow" video from December.
here he is again wedged between some trees... not exactly sure how he managed that!
Nigel has been involved in the scouting movement for many years and now works part-time for them in Sevenoaks. He's pretty experienced at wilderness camping and has acquired many wilderness "survival" skills. He and his family also do Morris Dancing, which is something I'd really like to see sometime while I am here!
John was off teaching one day and so the three of us were working in Bushy Wood. This turned out to be a wonderful day for "Betty" (my billhook) and me.
Up until this point, she and I had not spent much productive or UN-productive time together, as the case may be. I'd been a reluctant billhook user... for various reasons.
I was kind of self conscious for one thing.
I mean, imagine yourself as me - a slightly chubby woman with muscles like a cartoon characters... that roll to the bottom when they hold up their arms... OK. Maybe I'm not quite that bad - working alongside all these big strong men who can seemingly cut through anything with their billhooks... leap over tall trees in a single bound... and carry logs out of the woods on their shoulders.
All at the same time.
John had given me a basic lesson... I knew to use a hook safely and effectively I was supposed to a) lock my elbow and wrist and basically just rotate the shoulder... b) keep the wood between me and the billhook c) make sure no bodies would be in the path of my billhook, should it fly out of my hand... including any part of my own.
For cutting green wood, it has alot to do with the angle with which the hook makes contact with the wood. You are not wanting to cut straight across the grain but rather on a pretty sharp diagonal. And in the case of snedding a tree, working from butt to tip is the proper direction. Going from top to bottom means you have a better chance of causing the bark to tear off. Unless you are me of course, in which case there is a pretty good chance of messing something up even using proper "form."
There was also some fear factor involved... having broken my thumb on my right hand a couple years ago, I did not want to repeat that by any means. Also, did not want to cut any body parts off or sever any major blood vessels... Or minor ones either for that matter!
Another thing was that every time I did have my billhook out and gave it a try, the guys would have suggestions and advice for how to make specific cuts, hold the tree, etc etc etc. All very worthwhile and good! And I desperately wanted to heed it... all. But, what I discovered is that while everyone has the same basic formula, they all tweak it until they find what works best for them...
and so, what I really needed was time to just try to put everything I had heard, and seen, and learned, together, and find out what worked best for Betty and me.
While we were at Fern Hill, it was a big job. With John and Romain chainsawing that left Nigel and Mike and I (Nick and Richard were there sometimes too) clearing away... some days there was 3 of us clearing away but usually just 2, and I really wanted to make a contribution to the work and not just be off by myself, hacking up branches.
One free weekend I did bring a few ash branches away from the site to practice on... and made the slightest bit of progress.
But, there are alot of things to think about all at once, and for someone with poor proprioception as it is, it is a bit of a challenge!
The reality of it is this. Learning to use a billhook takes lots of practice! All the guys said it took them tons of practice too, so, it's not just me and my particular set of challenges.
That day in Bushy Wood though, with Romain and Nigel, I felt quite comfortable having a go with Betty. For one thing, there were not that many trees to fell... Some of the trees were hazel (small).
But probably most importantly, the two of them just let me be... giving me the time and space I needed and a thumbs up or encouraging word from time to time when they noticed something went right!
Alot can be said for positive feedback!
As a matter of fact, they gave me so much space that I forgot about keeping the fire "fed" and they had to come over and save it at one point.
But. I'm here to tell you something did click for Betty and I that day! Hurray!
Thursday, January 26, 2012. A day that will go down in history!
Mine at least.
(I have since been out there again and found I needed to kind of re-orient myself, but, it took slightly less time to feel like I was making progress once again. I mean I still don't always hit the same spot twice, or have the angle right, but sometimes I do! I try to be aware of what I'm doing and when I do it right, to remember what I did and repeat it next time. Thing is though... every one of those dang trees is different, calling for continuous thinking, re-evaluating and tweaking. That makes me tired in my brain. And. I figured out why peoples shoulder ached in January...)
So. It was a great day. I felt like I got to know Romain and Nigel a little bit better too. I think we had some "bonding" time!
Weather wise we has a mix of sun and rain (mostly sprinkles). At one point though, we got quite a heavy rain shower and so all piled into Romain's Land Rover for a few minutes until it passed.
That was fun. It made me feel somehow, like part of the team. Like we were comrades.
And then, once the rain had passed, there was a beautiful double rainbow, which I got on video. (OK. I intended to take pics, but discovered I was in video mode... so, here it is!)
And. I took that rainbow as a personal reminder, the same as I always, always do...
That dreams really do come true.
A year ago at this time - I was dreaming about coming to England... to learn the things I am learning.
And look at me now... I am living that dream and thinking what else is possible?!
So, if you have a dream that you have carefully placed at the back of the highest shelf in the closet...Get it out and dust it off, don't give it up!
Can't think of a better way to close than this...
hugs-
susie
Wow! So I don't pay attention 'cuz last time I checked you had slacked off, and BAM, now LOTS has happened! :-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like your dream trip is fulfilling your expectations and that is just plain wonderful!
Thanks for the rainbows to go with IZ's beautiful rendition of that song.....another great voice(Daniel Nahmod) sang IZ's rendition at CSL on Sunday...should be available on Cd soon.
Love you, Olin