Worried of Epsom

Over the last few days I have noticed that conservators from the Epsom Tree Conservatory, working in high visibility vests on behalf of Epsom Council, have been trimming the suckers off the bases of some of the trees, possibly lime trees, along the west side of Horton Lane. So far so good. But the conservators in their wisdom have been leaving the sometimes extensive ivy intact, rather than taking a lethal foot out of their stems. Not sure if stems is the right word, but trunks certainly isn't. Is there some country word for taking out the ivy from around a one foot segment of the trunk of a tree? Graunkling or something like that?

I even thought to approach some of the conservators yesterday, but decided against on the grounds that I might have been mistaken for a bizzy. And then, continuing long Horton Lane (clockwise) came across a tree from which the ivy had been taken out from around a one foot segment of the trunk. But why just one? It was not as if this particular tree was particularly infested. Had the Council given the Conservatory discretion as to which trees needed this particular attention? Perhaps I need to have a word with the powers that be (see http://www.epsom-ewell.co.uk/) about exactly what direction has been given to the Conservatory.

Nearer home I have a worry about earth bonding. I think I have mentioned that we have been installing new lights from Homebase in the ground floor of our house, new lights with bulbs and shades on the end of curved branches, the substance of which is painted steel. Now I had thought that the electrical connecting block came ready earth bonded to the appliance. But now I am not so sure because the three way connecting block (a white plastic gizmo about the size of a Knorr stock cube. Cubes which are not, confusingly, cubical) of the fourth appliance was only stuck on to the earthing prong with a bit of sticky paper. The prong had not been inserted and fixed into its connector hole along with live and neutral wires going on up the branches into the bulbs. So the fourth appliance is OK because I noticed, but what about the other three? Was the fourth appliance faulty and the other three OK?

I don't want to take them down to check as fixing them was a bit of fiddle, given the circumstances of the fixing. Is the answer an earth bond tester? A quick look at Google suggests that such a contraption might cost several hundreds of pounds, far more than this particular job is worth. Can I hire one? I shall ponder.

In the meantime, BH is under strict instructions not to change bulbs. Which hopefully will not arise as they were sold on the basis of being more or less everlasting.