See the Top 10 PMP Youtube Clips for the past month

TRUCKS AT IMMINGHAM AUGUST 2013
TRUCKS IN HONG KONG FEBRUARY 2014
HCMC TRUCKS 2012
BUSES IN MANDALAY MYANMAR ( BURMA) 2011
TRUCKS AT LYMM SERVICES AUGUST 2012
TRUCKS IN SAIGON DECEMBER 2012
BATAM ISLAND INDONESIA TRUCKS FEB 2018
VANCOUVER PORT TRUCKS AUGUST 2012
RETURN TO CAT LAI CONTAINER PORT CHRISTMAS DAY 2012
CAT LAI CONTAINER TERMINAL DECEMBER 2012

If anyone has had problems purchasing our DVDs on Amazon, it is am Amazon problem not ours, the shop on this site should be your first port of call, everything always sent earliest possible, in fact whether it be post, EBay, Amazon or our own shop they all end up together on our packing table!  I've spent ages sorting Amazon and updating the shop hopefully it should be fully functional soon. EBay is now 100% up to date, that took some doing. Our shop is always updated first. There are clips on Youtube for our releases right up to Birmingham yesterday. The only big job now is getting our 4000th special Bus Spot Ultra Brighton prepared, so much material to go through.

A bit of a gamble given the iffy weather outlook but it paid off and after breakfast we set off down the m6, goodness knows what would have happened if we were doing the journey in reverse, it was a jam from Stafford to Knutsford. Anyway the road works around Birmingham centre threw us a bit but we finally found our usual spot by the cathedral and there is a very good coffee shop nearby who bring your coffee to the table and what good coffee it is, Costa, Startrek etc take note.  The weather was as near perfect as you may expect this time of year, crisp, dry, not too much breeze and light cloud. This was as good as it gets in January and made filming easy pickings and the bus drivers were 100% friendly as in days of old, perhaps they have pruned out the bad ones. The new red livery is nearly all pervading now very few in the previous colours, a few electric buses with 68 regs seen and filmed. I saw police with machine guns our near the Bull Ring station area, it always makes me nervous and angry rather than reassured but I did get a wave back from patrols passing me when filming which I think is lovely, as so few constables are on foot it is about as much communication as you could make but gives me a feeling that we are all in it together.

Talking of which of course brings up that contentious subject of the EU, we are federalists and I see little barrier left to us aligning with the Euro is the intelligent route of staying in is taken. I am constantly horrified by the little englander statements  of life in cloud cuckoo land, if they really imagine we can live in isolation they are in need of medical attention. To whom would we align ourselves, the USA hmm perhaps not, Russia, really - cheap trolleybuses and trams perhaps then China, wow that stalwart of liberal traditions but it is safe to walk around at night and little hassle if you tow the line. I really do feel that the EU and the British executive failed to point out the benefits it has given us like generations growing in relative peace certainly in west europe and stability even when the greedy ones have wrecked the banking business. Freedom of travel and access, laws to protect workers and disabled, citizen rights, food standards, supporting local food descriptions, all manner of things to improve our world. We could argue against the bad aspects from within, we have several natural partners in many areas. The one thing the Tories will do is line the pockets of the rich even more . Don't expect even the fascist UKIP types to be lining folk up on boats 'to go home' any time soon. The appetite in the EU for restricting immigration has grown and can be developed sensibly and humanely.

Well there is nowhere as equality of race than Birmingham so we arrive thee as we did this morning with everyone equally friendly , well with a Brummie accent you need friends anywhere you can find them. ( only joking). Here are some photos from this morning.

The cowboy builders cum developers who are causing mayhem in our rural community have resorted to threats and intimidation of pensions as residents voice their concerns over the illegal access being used by our small estate road which is already falling to pieces under the stress of constant HGV movements. The trouble is that the council hasn't the money to take them to court and the maximum fine a meagre two thousand pounds. The Miele spin dryer has broken down, not getting fixed until next Thursday, lasted less than two years, last one went twenty years and then a further life next door. I've topped up the bird feeders, better keep them coming until the big garden bird watch weekend. Mandy was at the PCC meeting last night, the backward facing brigade are still prevaricating over the disabled access, thank goodness it isn't my responsibility any more.

I've been out ( to be out of the way of the cleaners) to Middlewich with the camera, well actually second time with the camera, first time I forgot it, good job it isn't far away, hard work this dementia. Below freezing, lots of ice on the roads. I filmed above the M6, the m6 exit roundabout and approaches and in Middlewich itself, well over the hour, I kept going until the cleaners were done, Mandy rang me and then we had coffee and cake at Plumleys Garden Centre. 

Good news for those who like to peruse lists etc, tonight I've uploaded the PMP archive spreadsheet, it was a database but excel is easier to use and update. It is a combination of the physical archive on tapes of various sorts including material taken from cine. It doesn't include cine films which are on a separate list, that I'm waiting for a copy of from John Bishop as I lost the one I had. Pub night tonight, wrap up warm. Looking at Birmingham tomorrow, will check main forecast as the computer seems to over simplify on the BBC site but no promises. Anyway already have 4 films done this week. The observant will note that the new list, uploaded today has a gap at film 4000, it will be Bus Spot Ultra Brighton but I don't know when it will be ready. Photos from Middlewich this morning.

I've never know it take as long to get a new printer set up, the old one was only two years old but the ink jets were a sealed unit and no able to be cleaned when clogged up. It took quite a while to get the new Windows7 computer linked but I did it without too much distress but getting the old XP machine linked was a nightmare as the disc although claiming to support Windows XP didn't, they sent through several compressed files which should have done it but Winzip no longer supports XP and it took several more hours of heartache to get it to open and finally after starting at 9am I sorted it at 8pm, not on is it, very poor really although I doubt if Epson do anything about it. At least I don't have to scratch around looking for a second hand printer, the only one on EBay was in Cambridge! I did get the film I took yesterday downloaded to the editing computer but with all the hassle today, that and many other jobs didn't get near the starting block.

Not sure what ia happening the rest of the week, we had the Scottish Power chaps here late afternoon re the continuous power outages but it turns out a big problem is the number of awkward people that won't let them have access to trim back trees which are wrecking the power lines and as a rule it is so bad in Cheshire they can only hand prune rather than use a chain saw. We've agreed a joint approach to the parish and count councils to urge people to help our community to help ourselves as 60% of line here are above ground. Here are some shots I took in Wakefield yesterday afternoon. Perhaps I'll get out with the camera on Friday.

Sorry you had no blog yesterday, it was a bad day , the weather forecast was yet again 100% inaccurate and a wasted day trying to film in Sheffield. I had trouble with a group of addicts near the cathedral and main tram station, I ended up getting the police who were actually very quickly on the scene and supportive, the main chap was already well known to them. I'm not sure what they can do though as there is nowhere they can put them out of harms way and not molesting ordinary people. I saw the tram trains, two ways to spot them other than destination they are clean and they have a tt on the front. So enough of yesterday, I certainly had enough of it. I wiped out what little film I took and will re do when the memory fades a bit.

Today another early start, I found a great new truck spot at Goole in the east of Yorkshire just off the M62, very busy, nice mix of trucks and plenty of Stobarts, almost continuous activity. It clouded over at lunch time after I'd got two hours of film and I called in at Wakefield to take advantage of the light cloud cover and got another hour there and bumped into my friend Phil Stephenson who trades in still bus photos. Mandy meanwhile had a busy day and the most important thing is that the builder called in just before I got back and will give us a quote to convert the garage to a display room for my models. Lots of other stuff including I must book the Hong Kong hotel for March as China John from Guangzhou has his permit for Macau and Hong Kong for the weekend I am there so needs to know where he will meet me. The digital downloads on our shop are doing well, especially with international viewers and particularly the archives. Here are some of this mornings lorry photos at Goole.

A bit late now and a few things to get sorted for tomorrow. We are hoping the new printer arrives before Tuesday I've sent out the Amazon stuff without slips in the packages, there was little else we could do. It was the weekend of strings at the RNCM, we had a fantastic time at the college today, this evenings concert was a superlative performance with two brilliant soloists and the BBC Philharmonic playing side by side each musician with a college student. Anyway tomorrow the weather looks suitable for filming and I intend to take in Sheffield and Doncaster, the latter last Feb was the scene of white out blizzards. Normal service resumed tomorrow!

I suppose we are reflecting the relatively mild weather we have endured thus far but still another two months to get through yet. Mandy polished the silver and I helped a bit then I tidied the front garden flower beds following on from mowing the lawns and raking them last week. Not sure if the weed killer has taken hold of the huge crop of weeds left next door but I've tried, if it doesn't work I'll attack them with my spade. I've tried to get all the paths cleared, I guess another coat of varnish stain is due. I will need to get the new shed ordered as soon as we've accepted a quote from a builder for the work on the garage, one should be here midweek. We had yet another power cut last night, the bods from the Scottish Power shambles are here next Wednesday to tell what they haven't bothered to do and why we have endured 40 years of outages. The two replacement video cameras arrived today, very good condition, hardly used I would think. I've set one up ready to use as the old one was rendered u/s in the Manchester rain, I must really learn my lesson and never get them wet, the touch screens are the weak point with them all. I've got extra batteries with them , remote controls and lots of leads, they are in a lovely sturdy carrying box which they were safely posted in.

The printer bit the dust yesterday, I looked up suitable models last night and went to PC World this morning but they hadn't anything which could reach the spec and still print from XP essential for the covers which won't easily convert to Windows 7 excel.  I've eventually ordered one through Amazon, hate doing it but it saves so much money. It is another Epson, Brother don't support XP.

I've been through the weather outlook and come up with a matrix for next weeks filming based on light cloud days, of course it will change again and again but it gives me a starting point, expecting most to be in Yorkshire. I've got more DVDs and archives on the shop for digital archives and yet more archives have been loaded for preview on our Youtube Channel. Some really good orders starting to come through on digital stills as well as video, about time people got into it, the DVD has a limited life predicted as manufacturers give up making the blanks. I'm sure we'll be making them into the 2020's but like VHS when the demise happened it came on quick. This means that people who have resisted computers will either need to die or get themselves on the net, sad but that is just the way it is. The last of the present batch of archives being processes has almost gone through it various stages before lodging at Online Archive. I suppose you will want some photos, I also managed to file away the latest trip photos today which of course doesn't include Hull as I forgot my still camera and used screenshots for the cover which nevertheless look pretty good. I'll be trying to do a Bus Spot Ultra Brighton soon on bad weather days probably, here is a taste of things to come

Plagued this afternoon and evening with dirty nozzles on the printer, annoying after I've had a catch up getting the latest DVD covers made. Then printing them off the machine runs out of all inks, the black it won't accept because it isnt an Epson, then after all that and getting some done its gone again, frustrating or what. We had some really damp weather, quite foggy again like a sort of misty light rain so a good job I wasn't filming or I would have wrecked another camera. Two are on their way and the old one still works after a fashion, a bit like me you could say. Anyway although we felt like laying in bed forever after a late night, watched telly after the pub we had to get ourselves sorted as we had made arrangements to pick up paintings from Jenny in Liverpool. It turned out that the second painting left after another to we picked and turned out to be sold was still sold by the cafe who were hosting the exhibition. We had even marked up the list of painting as sold to Dave and Mandy. I don't think Jenny was best pleased with their management but has another exhibition coming up in a city centre gallery. The tale has a happy end as Jenny looked through her portfolio and pulled out some more paintings for people to look at, we immediately agreed on one we both admired and within minutes of getting h9ome had done a quick sway around to get them hung.

The other icing on the cake was that Jenny's sister Liz was also there, yet another artist and really they are a clan of artists covering so many forms of expression. We stopped at M&S foodhall on the way home and then looked for cheap petrol but didn't find any then after filling up found Sainsburys with theirs several pence lower which always gets Mandy hopping. I've been busy after we got back getting DVD covers made, loading digital versions of latest films on our shop page ( I'll get a new list done in a minute). I'm also getting the covers ready which is where I came in with the dodgy heads. I really want to be bang up to date on everything as it could be a good week for filming Monday onwards, we've so many targets on our to do  list. I also want to knock on the head the St Oswalds 750th flower show plan or history - something to hang the story the flowers will illustrate on, a narrative for the visitor. I had an awful bit of abuse which i was surprised to get through the filters on Youtube, from New Zealand of all places , I couldn't believe it- the knee jerk reaction is to remove the facility for people to leave remarks, I've noticed that several other archives do that but as the nice comments are by far the biggest ammount it seems a shame to remove the dialogue with viewers. So here are the covers for the latest DVDs, all on the shop and by tomorrow all also as downloads.

We seemed to have gone into a higher gear, I know I'm sleeping well but wish that was the same for Mandy who gets a cumulative tiredness. I suppose we keep taking on more than we can sustain. It was the day for the Polio Fellowship meeting at Ellesmere Port but I'd double booked almost as I'd said the tax lady could come round this morning to try and sort out our problem putting in a return for Mandy's Irish house rental which is now required for all overseas property owned by Brits. The daft thing is we pay tax on it in Ireland and reciprocity agreements means that you don't pay twice and as the tax charged is identical you owe the UK revenue nothing, the catch comes in trying to use their system from a village without mobile phone coverage. She tried and tried and like us gave up and quickly filled in a paper form and after she had gone dashed off down the motorway to Ellesmere Port for the meeting.

I've also been trying to complete my bullet point history of St Oswalds for the committee to use when developing themes for the 750th anniversary flower show this summer. It is also pub night, so off to The Crown after the soaps. I'm trying to get another batch of clips from our recent outings plus archives on the youtube channel. I did manage to source two similar video cameras together on EBay which should sort me out for a while, just over £200 each which wasn't a bad proice, I could get new ones but they have too many stupid 'features' which I'll never use to the detriment of relative simplicity but no better picture quality.Here is the slide show from Llandudno.

Another year has passed and there has been little change in the degeneration of Hull, it was a speculative visit albeit I set off or at least got up that is at 5.30am to get through the Bradford,Leeds bottle neck. The traffic heading back towards Manchester is a solid queue from 6am so even worse than heading east. Once past Leeds it grinds on through the inevitable road works before finally clearing past the M1 turn and then you can sail on over the remainder of the motorwar and glide past the Humber bridge in time to meet the commuter traffic heading into Hull, yes that' two cars, the rest are just trying to get out. I would say there are lots of very friendly bus drivers there, often the case I think it is solidarity, like the police waving as they pass, a fellow traveler who is only trying to do a job and not hurt anyone. I managed to get a reasonable deal on the parking, they should actually pay people to visit not chargh3e them but I had breakfast at Neros opposite the station, avoiding Costa like the plaque should be zero rated. Actually the cafe we were going to use at Llandudno was closed and rated one star, you get that for putting your name on the form, last saw something like that in Whitstable in Kent. The promised cloud all day never happened, I went through sleet on the M62 then the sky cleared, I made the best of periods of cloud, mainly shower bearing but with that and some over by the BBC and garden I got my quota of film. Had a nice chat with an amateur photographer, he agreed getting stuff done early in Hull avoids some of the worst elements although I found walking across the empty wilderness which passes for a centre that the yobs were going at it hell for leather mid morning.

Next was back to the car and move up over the bridge to the roundabout which is so good for filming the trucks, oh no they are converting it to have two lames for dock traffic avoiding going round the roundabout itself, another good spot ruined. The light had really gone over to sunshine but I stuck with it and there was plenty of interesting lorry traffic although it did quieten down a lot after lunch. I'm sure that I can use many of the other possible locations especially the outbound side of the bridge so will return in the summer to see what I can make of it. Yesterday we saw our first primroses of spring and the first daffodil, how appropriate being in Wales was that, I was also spotted by Mandy's cousin Dudley and Ann who had noticed me filming from Debenhams. I think I'd moved back to Mandy at the car park and we missed one another. I did forget to take my still camera, so much going on, anyway I took some still one the video camera, which by the way is playing up, another job I must get a replacement, perhaps I'll check Ebay in the morning, like the model I have, will try for a good condition used one, few people hammer them like me! I'm still working on the St Oswald flower show, church 750th anniversary 'history', trying to find suitable stimulating bullet points in its long history. Had a chat with John Bishop, brought him up to speed on the situation re deposit of cine films in the Online archive and later Martin Rickitt rang re the Asia trip which he is up for so will start booking when he gets back from a wildlife trip to the Carribean. Photos tonight from Bangor yesterday. Working on the DVD masters from Hull and have several to load as digital download options and need to update Amazon and Ebay shops, it never ends does it.