Santas grotto here is working very hard and still turning the DVD orders around within the day. This morning after a good sleep and recovered from yesterdays marathon to Tyneside we got the DVD orders cleared and ready to post. Then I made a start on editing the latest material from Lymm and next Tyneside.  I also made a start on outstanding DVD covers and updated the DVD list. I also managed to get several more films on to the shop as digital downloads. So a busy morning but i wasn't finished as the kitchen tap assembly had come loose which meant some wriggling around after I'd emptied all the trays in the under sink unit, hardly any room to wield a spanner, then tried to fix the door to the cupboard which is annoyingly lop sided, well it is when you notice it but a bolt won't purchase on the hole so need to get a fitter in to sort.

After lunch it was time to go to Leighton hospital for the final check on Mandys tear ducts after the last round of operations. I think it is as good as it will get and certainly a great improvement, it was chaos at the hospital, all car parks full and cars left on verges on the approach roads. The eye clinic was full and they were asking companions to wait elsewhere to clear space for patients. They were running 45 minutes late but we were only with the consultant for a few minutes then topped up Mandy's fuel at ASDA in Northwich on the way home. Yet another batch of orders have come through but I'm on top of things now, I've even managed to file all the Merseyside and lymm truck photos, I'll get them on our Smugmug shop asap. The last of the Lymm programs  is burning as I type. Shots tonight from Tyneside yesterday

We do our best to deliver on promises and we've been trying to get up to Tyneside for several weeks. I can't say the cloud was very impressive, looked more like sunshine at times! It did come over almost misty just as I'd struggled and succeeded in getting my Newcastle footage. It was a nightmare finding my way back into the car park from the shopping precinct, nothing is marked, there are two car parks and no apparent way of knowing which is which other than one obviously doesn't have your car in it! Anyway it was a very swift trip back south over the river and Gateshead where it was easy pickings as the weather was by this time spot. By car it was oh so easy better than that blasted Tyne & Wear metro which is slower than a mule tram, we were soon at South Shields. The work has started on the new transport interchange and temporary stops for inbound buses plus some of the existing stops for posterity. We decided that it would be best to come back via the A66 and down the M6 to avoid the evening rush in West Yorkshire.

A very long day though, up at 5am and back 6.30pm. We've quite a deluge of orders tonight, mostly via the internet, why will people use EBay and goodness knows why Amazon who charge postage as well. It is of course free post on our shop worldwide and all the money goes to supporting the PMP Film Archive rather than making some rich Americans even more wealthy. I'll bring you shots from today on Wednesday night but meanwhile I've a few jobs to catch up on, even some plumbing tomorrow morning the tap assembly in the kitchen needs tightening up, orders to sort then we have Mandy's Leighton hospital tear duct operation follow up after lunch. Thursday its the Polio Fellowship Christmas meeting at Ellesmere Port and Friday a concert at the RNCM, their big band, we have been to that particular group before, we try and support all the many facets of the college. So more shots from Lymm poplar services yesterday. There is a good chance that i may have the weather and time to suit a close to home shoot on Friday, we don't need to leave until 4pm so I'll see what i can squeeze in.

I won't know tomorrows destination until I've checked all options on the computer and tv weather forecast but today worked out quite well with the promised light cloud cover gradually spreading through Cheshire this morning. I got enough for three stand alone Lymm DVDs plus added to the surplus Liverpool footage yet another volume. The list has been updated once more. We had quite a little avalanche of DVD orders today so we ended up with two trips to the post office. Due to problems with people downloading digital versions then saying they really wanted the DVD we cannot refund the download versions once they have been accessed unless there is a genuine fault on the service. Please check before you order, a quick method of double checking is the price, DVDs are £13, downloads just £8. It really is time to start thinking about using the download service for just as the old VHS videos vanished the lifetime of DVDs is beginning to be questioned and less manufacturers are making the blank media and thus the price is rising.

It was a good session at Lymm and tonight we bring you the first look at the lorris as seen and without any editing. I'm just making the mater DVD of Bus Spot Ultra Derby, clips / trailers will be on Youtube this evening.

The ever changing weather outlook causes so many problems at this time of year and some of our target locations are so far away you really don't want to get it wrong. At the moment it looks as if it will get increasingly cloudy but light cloud near home and with a usual pre christmas homage to Lymm Poplar Services an all time most popular truck film location we can't let the opportunity pass us by if the weather is right. It is only a few minutes drive away so even with motorways gridlocked we can get there via the back roads. I#d really like to be filming in Newcastle first thing on Tuesday, we'll be glued to the weather updates.

A busy day editing well actually downloading the material for Bus Spot Ultra Derby, it is also necessary to make decisions about what to include, I think that the Midland General Group can go on a future Mansfields Bus Spot and then the likes of Stevensons on with Burton and the remainder such as Hulleys on with Chesterfield. We has a surfeit of material for this area and it would work well evening it out like this. So all the film to edit is now on the computer, I'll start stitching it all together later this evening. It is a shame we don't really have much on the NBC era although with scenes on video from 1989 there wasn't much difference only the livery which again wasn't that changed on Trent. The Trent scenes are nearly all by Robin Hannay pre video era, he did so much brilliant work which was by then near home. His knowledge of the bus industry and Guy in particular knows no match. Sometimes I really struggle with some locations and have to do a lot of research, I think the Midland General group had a particularly interesting history which well rewards looking it up on the net or buying a book!

On Wednesday this week we have the post operation check up on Mandy's tear duct intervention, it seems to have come out quite well although one eye is better than the other. Most of our Christmas cards have now been sent out and we are pretty well on the count down to Christmas although it is very low key here as we are going down to Hampshire on the Saturday prior, there seems little sense in getting too festive as we'll only be getting back felling it needs to be tided away, stuff the 12th night racket! All the DVD orders continue to be sent out by return. I got a few earlier DVDs on digital download while I was uploading material for the Derby volume. So plenty of work going into things at our end. The net is bubbling away nicely but breaking no records.

Numbers of views per day seem more or less set at 49-51k views, the areas producing most Youtube views continue as the last year with the UK at the top and places like Indonesia and Vietnam for second and third. No sign of anything European or American budging the Asia countries, what is up you people come on now there must be transport fans in the Americas and Europe. Remember though it is an English language site, do your best it isn't a test - anything prejudice , racial hatred, violent etc will see the poster banned from commenting on our site, family friendly it is and will stay. Tonight we go to Tyneside is hoped we'll be there Tuesday

Some areas of UK bus interest have been covered on film very well and Derby is certainly one of them with many hours of film in the PMP archive alone particularly the trolleybuses but going back to the tram era which were quite short lived I've only a few brief shots but they were gone in the early 1930's replaced mainly by the trolleybuses. As well as the Derby municipal fleet this volume will also feature big on Trent plus Barton and Midland Blue and shots of independents. I started filming in Derbyshire at the end of the 1980s so coming forwards there is an almost annual visit which takes us through to the takeover of municipal operations, Trent and Barton untied, the pedestrianisation and of course the controversy over destroying the popular and iconic bus station.  I've got masses of old Video 8 and Hi 8 tapes plus miniDv to go through, I've only just started.

We had a superb visit to the RNCM yesterday with a very filling Christmas meal in Brodskys and yet more outlandish gins for the girls from their ever expanding range. We had a drink reception in the interval. Got home quite late but caught up with Corrie then bed but disturbed by the fierce wind and heavy rain which came down overnight. It was not too bad this morning but as the day wore on it went downhill again. We had to go to John Leves's to buy a new iron, had lunch there and then took the new road from Handforth Dean which links up the bottle necked A6 and you wonder why they did it as yet again you stuff the traffic down the toothpaste tube but it still comes out at even more congested junctions. Turned off back through Macclesfield and home then started getting out all the tapes to copy. With Derby in mind a dip tonight into the archive. I'm still looking constantly at possible film locations Monday and Tuesday as the outlook keeps changing.

The latest DVDs on trucks at Liverpool docks are both now in the shops as DVDs and digital downloads plus the Bus Spot Ultra Tunbridge Wells and I've uploaded the very latest DVD list this morning. The slide show today is from Liverpool docks lorries taken yesterday . We are out at the RNCM this evening for the end of term and Christmas opera opening night two one act Puccini works , Sue has arrived and I'm just about to get changed, we have dinner at Brodskys restaurant at the college and there is a reception in the interval. I'm gathering material together for my next Bus Spot Ultra which will cover Derby, lots of material to sort through. We are looking at the weather for Monday and Tuesday for possible openings in the film schedule but not looking that promising , too much sunshine in winter is bad for photography, low light, shadows etc.

As it turned out this morning on checking the weather we could have got away with filming at Newcastle but it wasn't much help them changing the forecast at the last minute when they can look out of the window, not so much a forcast rather just a report. Anyway I'd already decided that I'd take a punt on going to Liverpool docks which were supposed to be dry and have light cloud, actually other than some drizzle to start it wasn't far off the mark and the temperature was a very mild 14 degrees so although I started out with scarf and hat I soon 'stripped' down to a coat. I was at the Cargill side of the docks where it is foodstuffs, crap,steel,oil etc and this sees a very different collection of lorries than the main entrance with containers et. I think I spotted at least three paint jobs and a nice classic ERF. The drivers as ever oh so friendly and plenty of waves, toots and flashing lights. It has almost become a tradition to have a good session at Lymm Poplar services just before Christmas and we'll certainly have a go. Next week we are just available Monday and Tuesday so it is really getting to be an outside chance of Tyneside and Kent but never say never. I've updated the DVD list again and must get covers done for these very latest releases at least I'll have some lorry clips to put on Youtube. It seems to be climbing nicely although not perhaps as good as last year, the average hit seems to be bouncing around the 50k a day mark.

We got a delivery of DVD discs and covers and have ordered up the labels we use on return order envelopes and on the outside as sender details thats another couple of hundred spent and the discs goodness knows, I don't want to look. The prices are shooting up not just as raw materials are increasing in cost but we are told be the supplier that there are less manufacturers making dvd blanks as they are afraid that demand will soon dry up as people are mainly downloading the films they want. This is where I saw the market going and why we have introduced digital downloads at just £8 each. THere is a steady trickle of orders although of course there is only a limited amount there on the shop. Going back into the thousands of releases will take more than the remainder of my life I would think but at least we have started. The commercial use licence is also on the shop and I shall start to put the archives unedited masters on as downloads for research or commercial use, I don't think there is a great demand for old trams and trolleybuses but at least we'll be putting it out there for future generations. Needless to say tonights slide show is the first selection from our visit to Liverpool docks today

 A day of torrential rain , non stop damp, cold and gusty, not the sort of day to go out filming mid winter but we do have our eyes on next week for either Kent or Tyneside or just maybe both. It didn't seem a big ask having just two locations to fit in before Christmas but the weather is either sunny, wet or both. Anyway we will get to both eventually and will soon be starting on our 2019 destination list, yes it all starts again the PMP annual merry- go-round. I decided to do what I thought would be a quick edit for a bus Spot Ultra, Tunbridge Wells, I haven't really got much old archive only a few seconds but I do have early 1988 shots of a Sunday when Southdown had got tendered routes there, taken on an old two part system of camera and recorder, really heavy kit, bought it for about £100 , the stuff cost a fortune at this time, you can get state of the art HD cameras for the price of an early video 8 or VHS camcorder back in those days. The scenes are probably unique for the location and then are followed up through the 1990s and to the present day with frequent visits to what is one of my favourite places for variety of operators, liveries and vehicles. Without boring you it all got a bit involved when you need to cut bits out and try to get to a specified length etc, one of the visits was taken when the camcorder didn't like Arriva livery and got it bright green, I keep trying to tweak it but it looks quite awful, I had to get shot of the camera well before it was due for replacement as it was wasting time and money.

The post seems to be drying up this week, most of the DVD orders are now on the net and it has gone quiet but I expect the magazines will be out next week, the Jan issues are always really early before Christmas. We have been busy getting Christmas cards ready to post out, the overseas ones will go in the morning. This evening we will be at the Macclesfield hospital for Mandys repeated CT scan of her lung with the growth on it, we are hoping the infection which blurred the image last time will have abated enough to get a clear understanding of what it is, the original thinking was that as it showed on an xray it was probably an old calcified growth, fingers crossed on that. I can't believe that the week is racing by so quickly, I've not lifted the cameras in anger for ages, I'll be getting withdrawal symptoms. I've about 50 locations on my Bus Spot Ultra list to cover so any rainy days will be well used. I always try and get a few hours at Lymm services for lorries around Christmas. We are down in Hampshire for the holiday, leaving on the Saturday morning, the last post will go out 21st in the morning, that's the Friday. We have a couple of concerts at the RNCM coming up, end of term Christmas opera is Friday, friend Sue will join us then another the following Saturday. Lets go to Lymm for some lorry shots as we haven't had many recently, taken December 2014

I'll add the two new Bus Spots to the shop this evening. We visited cousin Trish and Derek in Sale ( Manchester) this afternoon. All the DVD orders are being sent out be return of post. We are looking at next Monday and Tuesday for our outstanding trip to Kent for Chatham and Maidstone coverage. For some reason we can't access Youtube at the moment which is a bit strange. I am also hoping to get out with the camera for some year end truck film, obviously at this time of year the weather is a big decider on locations if any. Had some time in the garden this morning got the remaining bulbs planted, then on to the dentist to get Mandy chipped tooth sorted.

So there are now two Bus Spot Ultras waiting for covers, I'd better get those done before venturing further. I also need to get the Southend clips ready for Youtube. I'm just burning the DVD master as I type. It was a hard slog through the day getting it all done and just finished at 6pm. The temperature is falling rapidly but I do want to try and get into the garden tomorrow to plant the remainder of the daffs and ornamental onions, the badgers dug up a lot this past year, not something we'd suffered from previously.

I finally managed to track down a garden shed company who could tender for the new housing for my models, at 30' long it is a very thin structure so quite specialised. I'll have to put in the insulation and interior cladding and get a sparks in to do the electrics. Mandy had seen that there was a shed place next to Quckfit tyre centre when she got her Jazz done last week, we went there today and found they really specialised in stables and had anyway shut their Northwich premises but did phone back with another company not too far away. Getting stuff done in this area is difficult as everyone seems to be well off enough not to have to bother with service. I'll go and see them before the week is out, I've a lot of money in my new car account which I can dip into as I'm hanging on to my little Toyota for the time being and its doing well under 10k a year.

Mandy lost a tooth filling over the weekend so we are going to the dentist in the morning and then if they are home on to Sale to see cousin Trish and Derek. We are looking at the weather all the time waiting for a break with light cloud but dry and not too windy to get our last destination for bus filming done, the beginning of next week might suit Kent, fingers crossed. Wednesday Mandy has her ct scan re the nodule on her lung, hopefully it won't be anything to worry about. We are just about ready to start sending out the Christmas cards, Mandy has drawn up a new list, we could do with having it on the computer. Hoping we get to Kent particularly Maidstone and Chatham so lets have a few shots in that region to whet our appitite.