've been busy most of the day with work on the older part of Bus Spot Ultra Manchester which should be ready later this week. I have that much material to pick from there will only be room for about 2 minutes from each visit there and I'll still be struggling to get it down to 2 hours duration. As with all our other releases now it will also be available for digital downloading. This evening we had dinner at the Bridgewater Hall and then a strong Halle concert with some great music from Dvorak and Vaughan Williams. The soloist Chinese cellist attracted a large patriotic audience from the Chinese community but they were rude enough to leave at the interval after he had completed his piece, I've noted this type of behaviour with the Chinese in the RNCM, very bad manners in my book.

A shame that I couldn't get to the Stoke Potteries  running day but we had to leave at 4pm. Tomorrow its an early start as Mandy has the stent removed from her other eye after the tear duct operation, the first one repeated was eventually successful thank goodness. Well just a quickie tonight, another week of sunshine, I'll try my best to salvage some bus shots from this blight, roll in cloud please. I will however use it to get some truck shots in the open spaces better suited to autumnal sunshine next worst thing to winter sunshine! Well it must be Manchester for the slide show but just a few as i want to get to bed!

We were up early so Mandy could get a parking spot in central Manchester first thing, we went to M&S and had breakfast then I went to Victoria Station looked for the free bus service to the museum but couldn't find the stop or see any likely buses other than Blackpool's on the rail replacement, strike again. Then I caught a local bus up Cheetham Hill road, nice First driver, very chatty, told me about the EDL demo at Piccadilly which I wanted to warn Mandy about. It was very quiet at the museum despite being start time, nothing inside that was special and checked with the chap with the running order, all that seemed to be on were a half dozen regular museum performers and a visiting Ribble Atlantian in NBC livery. I tried again inside and nobody knew about the advertised photographic trips, I thought we need to cut our losses on the day.

It was hard getting Mandy due to lack of signal in M&S but eventually we got sorted I took a bus back to the centre and met Mandy we went through Stockport, Hazel Grove etc to Macclesfield, a bit of a crawl up the 192 route. The sun was dodging clouds a bit in Macclesfield but I managed at my spot by the toilets bottom of the hill by the lights which has proven a useful footage filler on occasions. Thus done we went home and I cleaned the cars inside and out plus the van , they were all covered in Saharan dust, thankfully we have seen the last of that. Not sure what the week holds for us but next Bus Spot Ultra will be Manchester, I've already got the archive sections on the editing deck. I'm running off the Crewe, Congleton and Macclesfield film as I type aided by a pastis, my favourite 'short'. So today and from Boyle St museum and then Macclesfield. Drivers were a bit hard to crack a smile but got there in the end!! Four operators isn't bad for a small town these days.

After getting the DVD orders posted out it was off to Leighton hospital for my screening prior to booking the colonoscopy following the results of the bowel screening. As you cannot fly for two weeks after the procedure it wiped out any chance of getting it out of the way prior to our trip to Reunion and Madagascar. It will however be done at the end of the week when we return so no undue hanging around and they made the appointment the moment my screening was completed. Finders remain crossed, there are so many reasons why it could have shown blood cells, we did have black pudding the day before one of the samples so that could be a culprit.

Then as it was still relatively early I decided to go to Crewe and start my Cheshire buses DVD for the year, we got shots there and at Congleton and will finish off at Macclesfield on Monday but it has provided me with some shots from this afternoon to keep the blog topical. Buses magazine is now on sale and mentions the digital downloads and need to get Christmas orders in early if required before we return late November. Nothing appeared in the mag ref my ideas on archive retention and how we are planning it from a PMP perspective, mind you I had no acknowledgement for the article either, perhaps Buses is blanking me like Classic and Vintage commercial but as long as our adverts appear who really cares, does anybody read it all.

I'm going to the 1970's weekend at the Manchester Transport museum tomorrow, perhaps I'll catch up with some of our viewers there. We shall not be at the Christmas Cracker event there as the stall  rates charged went up and we were already losing on the weekend. It is a shame as I started the original spring event when I was sec for the local MBF region and did my first ever sales of photos at the PSV circle meetings which went back to the earliest days of the museum. Anyway here are some shots in sunny Cheshire this afternoon.

As if I didn't have enough things to fret about, I got a notification ( in French) that Air Austral had cancelled our flight from Reunion to Madagascar and booked us the next day, this would have bitten into out limited time there so after struggling to find a contact number I eventually found they had a UK agent which wasn't listed until you had delved three layers of rubbish. Long story short, we have booked to previous day whereby we save £100 on car hire, booked at £36 room in Tana and then get picked up and transferred  to the NP lodge in daylight, not a bad outcome but some fretful moments but already have the changed tickets, the chap at the Tana hotel has arranged a taxi to the hotel. Fingers crossed that the next round of challenges goes so sweetly. I see the consultant at Leighton  Hosp, Crewe tomorrow morning and I assume he recommends a colonoscopy which I'd hope to get done before the trip but not really panicked on it.

We said goodbye to Yvonne and Graham this morning as they headed ever northwards on their road trip to Scotland and family events. We'll see them on their return leg. I have managed to get a few more DVDs on digital download, slowly building the resource up and a gentle trickle of people using the facility. I will try and devote time at the weekend to look at the Youtube clips prior to resubmitting for motorization approval next week but as I've said before it is just working in the dark with another weird US organisation. I keep getting notifications of things on Facebook and if it is someone I know well I sometimes look and then wish I hadn't awful language, mostly racist, fascists, perverts etc - Friends Reunited wasn't that bad an idea how did such things spawn this awful Facebook creation. If you do have to use it why swear all the time and show character traits which you would shudder to discuss at work or with relations.

Here are some more shots at Carlisle earlier this week. I've penciled a possible South East bus trip in for the end of next week.

 I started clearing up after the storm damage at the side of the house and manged to cut back the climbers and got nearly all the debris in one wheelie bin. I've mowed the lawns, the first cut in the front since the reseeded sections have sprouted. I've weeded a bit, swept up, fed the birds, vacced the house, dusted and having a rest. I've uploaded the latest DVDs to digital as well as DVD after making the DVD covers earlier today. We are now waiting the arrival of Graham and Yvonne who are fighting through the roadworks as we speak. I've upped the bookings at the RNCM concert when they return weekend after next so we'll be a party of four at the college session band concert, thankfully they had spare tickets near the disabled section at the back where you get a great view.

Time seems to be snowballing away, I hope to spend some more time double checking our Youtube uploads before I get the ok to reapply for moniterisation next week, as they don't tell you what went wrong you have to guess, I think it was around other big outfits laying claim to the BC sound effects archive which I've used on heritage scenes to create road noises. Fingers crossed as we are probably losing out on our funding at the busiest and most lucrative advertising time of year. Thankfully DVD sales are doing well but we have a major trip about to happen and expenses to cover. Meanwhile here are some photos from Cheltenham yesterday. I need to get the CVC advert copy done so I'll do that right now before I forget!

It's rather late and it has been two busy days. This morning Mandy and I headed down through the myriad roadworks which plague us to Cheltenham and Gloucester. Worryingly the sun was out first thing when it was promised as cloudy but it soon settled down to be overcast which suits autumnal bus filming in towns and cities. I got some good shots in Cheltenham and then we headed over to Gloucester where we celebrate the passing of the old bus station with the new one almost ready for its opening, our visit next year will have extensive shots from the new bus station which stands with its back to the old one which is to be demolished , a great temporary wall will prevent anyone seeing any trace of the old facility which looks like something left over from Yemen. I had a chat with a very pleasant driver with Stagecoach and discussed the choice of small buses like Solos for urban routes, Cheltenham seems to have been dumped with a lot of them.  We had a drive back through Tewkesbury where we stopped for afternoon tea then a relatively clear run back home directly through the M5 M6 junction and associated roadworks which we avoided going via the toll road on the way down.

Tomorrow Yvonne and Graham my sister and brother in law arrive for a night on their way north to Thurso and Wick, a long drive. I'll get the DVD orders away first thing, I need to get the storm damaged roses and other climbers cut back after they were felled in the great winds last week, I hadn't spotted the damage until this evening. Yvonne and Graham continue their journey Thursday and Friday I have my appointment with the consultant at Leighton hospital, fingers crossed for the whole issue, I'm hoping it is a scare only from a wrong sample reading, still feel quite calm but yet again a very disturbed night with the sciatic shoulder pain. Anyway bed calls, I need rest at least, photos from Cheltenham this morning.

With the weather looking good for Carlisle we at last managed our 2018 visit to the border country and it really paid off big style with three hours of film. Up until late morning it was still cloudy above us with the clearance slowly heading our way, once it was sunny it was a clear blue sky with not a cloud in sight so I really gave the place a hammering and got some great shots with of course an abundance of Stobarts from their training school, Explore, Rail etc. There were masses of timber lorries and of course a fair few Scots trucks from the usual suspects. I'm still checking out the weather for tomorrow which will be a bus filming day then the rest of the week is taken up with a family visit and the hospital on Friday. Thankfully my shoulder is hurting like mad at night so taking my mind off the bid c scare and today was one of the best we've had this year in the UK with so much to see.

Lets hope we get some interesting buses tomorrow. I've put out the notice about the shop, really just over a week to go before we leave for Reunion and Madagascar if you need anything for early presents do it now we'll be in the thick of a backlog and Christmas rush when we return which is why I've been trying to clear our UK film  destinations early as we'll have little time to spare. We've had a quick beans on toast for tea but we did stop at the garden centre near the Hexham road at Carlisle and has cream cakes with our tea. The choux pastry was a little too well cooked I think but otherwise we were impressed. So without further ado some piccies from today and I've hundreds of them , all will be in our Smugmug shop soon.

It looks as if the great deluge has finally ended although it is still quite mild out the stars are twinkling away tonight and it is dry. We didn't get up particularly early but I was awake a lot of the night with worry and the sciatic pain from my shoulder but nothing new in that part. The drive down to Northampton was a dream, near empty roads most of the way. Graham and Sue had actually come back from the New Forest a day early as the weather turned against them and they had enjoyed some good weather so cut their losses and headed home. When we arrived we thought they were out shopping but actually Graham was down at the marina sorting out the gas supply for Mark and Sarah, Mark is one of my nephews on my fathers side. They have a longboat on the canal/river at Northampton marina and have been living there for a couple of months.

We had a very nice traditional Sunday lunch at a hotel on the outskirts of town and it was tea time before we had to bid farewell, always great to catch up with this side of my family and on Wednesday we swap to my mothers side when my sister Yvonne and Graham ( yes a lot of Grahams!) stay on their way north to Thurso and Wick for a wedding. I've just sorted out the DVD orders for Mandy to post tomorrow morning, we only have Monday and Tuesday clear for filming this week with Friday now blocked out to see a consultant at Leighton hospital for my positive bowel cancer test, obviously hoping it eventually turns out to be a false alarm but it is hard not to worry, it has been a bit of a trying years for us both on the medical front. I've got to check the weather forcast for tomorrow, its mainly sunny which suggests trucks but Tuesday if cloudy will be buses, more than that I cannot say at present. I suppose as we were in Northampton we should have shots from there tonight. Includes some golden oldies from my B&W era!

Saturday our second day of stormy weather but still mild, we went down the Crown last night rather than Thursday as we'd been out with Mandy's cousin the previous night. This afternoon we have a Buses Worldwide meeting for which I've sorted out some DVDs on Singapore, Myanmar and India. I've made more inroads into the backlog of photos to be filmed and it is less daunting now. Yesterday afternoon I filed the shots from me last trip to Pontefract and Castleford which have since seen a lot of changes and certainly warrant a return visit. Some nice interesting shots so today I bring you a selection of them. Also here are the latest DVDs we've released all available as DVD or digital download.

We got some domestic duties done before we went out as well as getting the DVD orders out. I did some painting and finished off some grouting in the bathroom plus mowed the back lawn which is now looking vastly improved with rain and feed post drought. The front I just strimmed around the edges as a lot of new seed is sprouting through. Then a quick trim around the lawn edges and put everything away and got ready to go out. We were at Gordale garden centre on the Wirral go a book and lots more bulbs for spring plus a small white orchid which gets smothered on flower. I must get the covers done for the latest round of DVD releases. After such a sunny warm day reality strikes tomorrow but before any rain I'm hoping for slightly overcast conditions for Burton on Trent and Tamworth perhaps add an etc! Photos from the A1 A14 junction where I filmed on the way back from Cambridge yesterday afternoon.