What contempt the author shows for people who might just want to use tools that make life easier. Perhaps the author might want to reflect on the status-symbolism of the Internet, and stop using it, so we won't be polluted by his greenie pseudo-left hatred for anyone who doesn't live in a mud hut.

http://strangetimes.lastsuperpower.net

I have an electric leaf blower which actually sucks as well so that when I am on my roof sucking all the leaves out of the gutter I can dispose of them in my compost. Try doing that with broom. It is ten times more efficient than any broom and it is effective in the wet whereas a broom doesn't shift leaves that tend to stick to the pavement. I have 80 metres of drive way to clear, from all the trees that I have planted that shed 24 hours a day. All debris winds up on the garden where the litter decomposes. It is not burnt............that just creates pollution and distress to neighbours who have to put up with the smoke. I don't feel guilty about having a leaf blower.

At a guess snake you don't live cheek-by-jowl with neighbours in a built-up area. Where sound is muffled by trees and an 80m driveway, no problem.

But for city living, you said it yourself. Blowers suck.

We must be the most affluent nation on earth, when we care enough to write about and then comment on leaf blowers. Folks,there's a whole world out there. Stop thinking about leaf blowers - go and enjoy it.

Why would anyone need a leaf blower? With this twit around, all we need is a handle for him. There is enough hot air comming out of him, to blow all the leaves in Oz, into a big pile.

We won't need a compost heap either. The majority of his output can then be put to work, fertilising our gardens.

I've had one of the cheapo electric leaf blowers for years. It only gets used a few time a year when I get in the mood for a major clean up. Great for blowing stuff out from hard to reach, impossible to broom places, excellent for moving small stuff out from amongst rock and pebble beds.

It's loud but not intrusively so if used at an appropriate time of day. Not a tool for 7am on a weekend morning.

Mine has a switch to allow it to suck up piles of material, do a basic shred of the material and deposit it in the attached catcher bag. The resulting trainee mulch is then ready for a garden bed or the mulch bin.

It does use some power but probably less in a year than the power used in a weekend to make cups of tea or coffee.

I wonder if the author has neighbours who use theirs too often or at inappropriate times.

R0bert