After a lot of hassle yesterday with DHL we braved massive jams near Manchester airport this morning to pick up the second cine film scanner at DHL's place on one of the new industrial sites springing up around the airport and adding to already serious rush hour congestion at this crucial transport hub. Anyway this evening it is up and running with a mixture of 200 and 400 ft films going through. It is a bit of a juggling act, really long term it is how to cope with the 400' reels which need to be treated in two parts due to limitations of the scanner unit.

Today we were down in Staffordshire just off the toll road M6toll at Burntwood to RGK who manufacture high end wheelchairs. We've ordered up a sub 4 kilo titanium chair which will be so much easier to get out of the car, less than half the weight of the current one which Mandy will keep for traveling, the way airports like Manchester mistreat things makes it a logical choice for using your already battered wheels.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to get down to Stoke if the weather is suitable and finish off the bus DVD which I started a couple of weeks back now. Not sure about weather next week too early to tell but many destinations including Manchester and Worcester on the to do list for buses. Lots of truck trips ready to go if weather more sunny, better suited to expansive outdoor setting than for buses which in January really don't want shadows like I copped in Yorkshire at Pontefract and Castleford.

I've put another coat of grout sealant on the shower area of our bathroom and the new office chair is under my bottom as I write, assembly very easy, no tools required, much better now I don't tip over. I'm going to put an undercoat on kitchen wall which is to go orange matching the roller blinds etc, its not a big area so it will just be a splash of colour contrasting against the grey. Hoping to get the Wakefield film edited and some photo files put away in the correct folders, thats a constant battle let alone uploading to our smugmug still photo sales site and ergo back up cloud storage. Few people actually seem to use it and there is a £30 a month charge. Here is Mandy at RGK this morning

Next some shots from Pontefract the other day

I hope my new office chair shows up soon as its getting difficult typing on a tilt, one of the feet has come adrift and the duck tape will no longer hold it. Anyway an early start and over the hills to Wakefield, arrived about 7.30, coffee at Costa, you could almost get your teeth into the Bakewell tart, normally like stale and rock hard. Then as light came up I got cracking at the bus station having already noted the new deckers of which they seemed to be working a group of routes 110 etc. There were yet more super friendly drivers , really its been a good week so far and lots of new buses and friendly drivers everywhere although I had yet to reach Castleford. The weather outlook should have meant light cloud slightly thickening mid afternoon.

By the time I'd done Pontefract it was nearly a blue sky ad at Castleford it was clear all over. Later a large cloud approached and gave up as did I! BBC nil point once more for its weather outlook. It is largely hit and miss perhaps they should be more honest if they haven't got a clue. A few DVD orders to process but on the whole quiet. I'm considering scrapping the EBay shop as I'm only getting around £5 for a DVD less costs so we are selling on it for next to nothing. I've put fliers in orders warning that the other shops will end soon and people should use our own shop. Amazon seems to be a better bet now especially as they have actually made it easier to list. Come to think of it the Buses and Classic Vintage Commercials also soak up a large monthly sum which we can ill afford. As an online only concern although turnover may initially fall costs would plummet. Got a wireless intercom doorbell thing off eBay so Mandy can reach me in the new office, typical Chinese rubbish, we can't even get it open to put the batteries in!  Photos tonight from Wakefield.

Everyone seemed very friendly today in Liverpool, I can't recall such an overwhelmingly fine reception with everyone returning smiles, waves and thumbs up - a pleasure indeed. The weather was spot on for photography and the DVD has already been made, cover to follow. Tomorrow I'm filming at Wakefield and then hopefully on to Castleford and Pontefract, fingers crossed that the afternoon rain today doesn't happen tomorrow. I'll leave home early to be sure of easy parking and get past Leeds before the main rush hour. Thursday we are looking at a new super lightweight wheelchair for Mandy and get the brake fixed on her old one. Then Friday we may well be catching up with the footage I need for completing Stoke. Mandy did her bit at the Oswestry orthopedic hospital where she was a 'patient' for would be consultants completing their exams.

News on our travels for 2020, Dave will be making a truck trip to Cyprus and looking at the potato harvest lorries near Ayia Napa, hopefully I've found a nice quiet hotel, there were no plces left near Liopetri where the spub packing plant is. Photos tonight, where else but Liverpool!

Not a good start to the day, Mandy went out to her car and slipped just outside the front door, the only ice was on the ramp to the door, I was just behind and rushed forward to assist and went straight over, two of us sprawled across the path and front lawn. Thankfully Mandy only has a bruised knee and ditto myself. We we on our way to the old gits MOT at Holmes Chapel Health Centre, everything fine on that score. I then went filming lorries at Middlewich and haven't lost the film this time. Hopefully I'll be out filming buses at least two days this week, possibly Liverpool and I must get to Stoke to finish off the material for the DVD already started. I've made initial progress on the Bus Spot Ultra Leeds. I scanned John F Bromleys film of Austrian trams in 1982, it is sublime. Here are some shots from the Middlewich visit. The latest DVDs are now on the PMP shop and listed updates. The Birmingham DVDs are both on digital download.

Apologies that once again I skipped a day but time rather overtook me and we didn't sit down until nearly 8pm after catching up on jobs. We did the difficult task of covering the bits of ceiling which I'd missed. white on white in winter isn't easy and it took Mandy looking and directing the brush aka me to the correct patch. We've got some orange in a match pot from B&Q to try in the kitchen just a small section f wall around the back door which needs a brighten up anyway as the kitchen installation didn't reach my standards of acceptable finish especially on edges and areas easily viewed. We also went to the garden centre at High Leigh for afternoon tea and got some azaleas for the bottom of the back garden which will be behind the new spot for a bench. Today I put all the plants in and also fed the borders with plants growing. It is starting to look almost spring like despite a frost and freezing fog with plenty of bulbs up including crocus, snowdrops and the first of the daffodils as well as the primroses of varying hues.

I did some tidying up on the film clips I hold on file, now I've got so many films scanned and digitised I need to get them included on the archive database. I have redone half the Oxfiord material as there was an errant hair on the scans, the same or similar has happened with George Roberts Brighton views and the machine is buy on these at the moment. I'll go on to copy his Bristol ( with Blackpool) scenes later on. I've discarded some of the material gathered from all over if it isn't suitable for reproduction, only the very earliest shots now get included when the quality is very low. I've plenty of Oxford but not from my earliest video days so these ones I've now scanned from 1980 and 1985 will be useful bridging the gap to the 90's. I also need to get these archives on the shop as downloads. Indeed I've a few recent DVDs which need to be uploaded as digital versions. These are starting to take off slowly. The hits on Youtube are holding up, at minimum 50k a day, advertising plummets after Christmas as it is auctioned by Google depending on demand as to price it attracts, thus January is usually the lowest of the year which is a blow after bumper returns for December, paid in January.

I have just completed the minutes for the Polio Fellowship meeting and also this morning we had our non paid vicar from Knutsford supporting us at St Oswalds. I'm now looking ahead at the weather for the coming week as we decide on feasible destinations, Oxford may well feature in view of te next Bus Spot Extra from Oxford. I've a few others in mind such as material on London. I will ask my pal John if I can have a go at his film for a third time as we have transferred it to first Video 8, then Hi8 and Mini Dv and now scanning to digitise which is now far superior to previous efforts. For today I look at Oxford.

I suppose it won't be long before we are all reporting in when we've discovered local applications of the new Stagecoach branding meanwhile in Hull it is GoAhead owned East Yorkshire who provide the livery interest and also the new buses when we visit on the fairly mild mid January day. We were up early, we went in Mandy's car so a bit of comfort and easy driving as Mandy's has cruise control while mine relies of hamsters in a wheel. Anyway the weather was as is often the case not that much relation to the weather forecast. The predicted light cloud hardly happened although as the sun rose there was a layer of cloud around which made it good light first thing for filming and although it was then a lot more sunny than hoped there are places in Hull especially round by the BBC and park area plus the back of the bus station in only partial shadow.

When I'd finished filming the sun was still out so I decided to move on to the dock traffic, alas the sun went and it was then dark and ominous and out poured hail stones. We then gave up and headed home. I think the film will be absolutely fine and below are some of the photos I took. The only outstanding thing now is to shoot a little more at Stoke to replace the scenes with wonky focus. I'm already considering options for the next Bus Spot Ultra but some covers to do for the DVDs before then plus some to put on the shop as digital downloads. I need to get a whole lot of photos filed and update the still photo sales site Smugmug. I'm scanning some films on 400' reels from the PMP archive from various collections. I've ordered up with some difficulty the new Magic Bus Stagecoach Manchester three axle job on route to Chorlton where we used to live and Mandy grew up.  I put the small amount of Hull truck footage on Youtube.

A busy couple of days seem to have flown by, I finally managed to get the Bus Spot Ultra Wrexham out of the way although as yet I've not done the DVD cover. Problems with the focus on the video camera at Stoke so some replacement footage required to complete, perhaps Saturday if suitable weather. The truck trip to Middlewich just down the road produced some good footage but I was interrupted by phone calls when going to download and ended up wiping out all the shots so nothing to show for it. Hopefully with suitable weather next week we shall be able to get some lorry film done. I had to get a new tyre fitted at Northwich, while they were bringing the car to the ramp area I noticed that the offside headlamp wasn't working, I got that fixed at Halfords, really helpful so full marks all round.

I nearly lost my microphone wind jammer and sock in Leeds, when I got to my desired spot to start I noticed I'd lost them, retraced my steps to the Victoria centre where I'd parked and then to the toilet which I'd used, just then a cleaner with her cart was passing, excuse me, you haven't seen a sort of little furry thing with foam inside, yes, she produced it from the detritus. Thankfully the days filming saved and so was a great expense as the parts for micro sized mikes comes expensive. I've now ordered a second cine scanner as two at a time will get through my backlog much more simply. The films to take back to Peter at the OTA archive are all done. 

Anyway the chap to rebuild our sofa came and I got home from Leeds as he arrived, before the Northwich car jobs. All sorted out, better keep what we have and like but recovered and springs and cushions sorted, not cheap but it works well for us. Its pub night at The Crown, I think we won the draw this week, fingers crossed.  Photos from Middlewich sans video and Leeds with lots of buses, roadworks all over the place, a big bang job getting a lot done at the same time, must have money to burn in Leeds. What about Boris, half a million to sound the Big Ben bell when we leave the EU, couldn't anyone find something more worthwhile than that.

Dismal, wet and dark all day which confirms my intention not to go out filming, the final weather was even worse than anticipated. The weather tomorrow is a bit too much sun and cloud but Thursday looks feasible in many parts of the country so fingers crossed. I haven't even look as far ahead as Friday, if sunny then it will be a lorry day. So thats the filming side of things. First job though this morning was to get the kitchen covered up for ceiling painting which bar a couple of bits I seem to have missed, hard to spot in a lit roon, natural light usually shows the gaps better. I also fixed the only remaining  job in the kitchen post water leak and that was a bit of trim above the cupboards. Then I finally got all the kit away and had a shower and got dressed and glad to be out of my by then messy overalls.

The cine film scanning continues each day at present, this time I was at Aldenham works open day, Wombwell scrap yard and lots of other London hot spots for buses. It seems to have moved on to tram preservation but still London. I'm well into the Bus Spot Ultra Wrexham, these really are mammoth exploits with rakes of film going back almost annually and a few archive shots taking us back a little bit more from my own first 1988 video there. So much has changed of course, one November I even got the carnival parade. I'm up to the turn of the decade, thats into the 2000's, plenty to go remember that still leaves twenty visits. I've gone back to the original tapes until I get to the digital era then I'll use the DVDs. Buses magazine was out today so hopefully a flurry of DVD orders to come. Well I've already done a bus slide show for Wrexham so lets go back in trucking shots today. We certainly cover some ground , all at random though, can anyone place them all - I can't and I took them!

Not too early a start today as I needed the cloud to gather at Stoke but also to get filming asap before the heavy rain and strong winds arrived. This all went mostly to plan, the video played up a bit with the focus and then the battery went of the mike but there is plenty of material for our usual hour as I took a bit to spare just in case. Then it was swiftly back home and after getting deliveries stacked away such as DVD covers and disc blanks I started up the cine scanner and then pressed on with filling and blending the kitchen ceiling to hide any damage done with the pre Christmas leak. With plaster its always a mess but then got some paint on the worst bits and new plaster and it took us both a good while cleaning up, the wind and rain by this stage was in full force.

The London collection I've been scanning it seems forever is now getting more modern except for the 1979 celebrations of the Shillabeer Omnibus 150 and a whole reel taken that day. I'm now recording a visit to Wombwell scrap yeard. So lots to do, started editing together the Wrexham Bus Spot Ultra which I'll have to get ready before I can move to edit Stoke. Tomorrow is looking a challenge but perhaps my promised return to Tamworth and Lichfield. Here are shots at Hanley this morning.

The day just seemed to rocket by, we had a family service at St Oswalds which was a relief after mattins last non communion service, we seemed to do quite well for families attending after a nudge on the school and nursery parents. The vacancy for the priest at Lower Peover has now gone on to the Church of England website. Then it was a quick cuppa and a couple of biscuits and then out again still on the hunt of a sofa, by now we are also minded to get a quote on repairing the present piece which has already been recovered twice. The springs seem to be gone under guess who's seat! Well we went to Furniture Village at Sealand Rd Ind Estate at Chester, horrendous traffic like Jan sales all over again.

I've had a day of twisted spools of film, overloading is a nightmare and causes no end of problems when it comes to using the film to project or copy and twice we have had to deal with enormous tangles where it has come off the reel. It is yet more superb footage now well into the late 1970's and with the London Country NBC era vehicle shortages which saw hires from Eastboune, Maidstone and Bournemouth among others. I'm looking at the weather for tomorrow, Stoke on Trent seems favourite at present , rain and wind expected midday onwards so must get done in the morning. I'm also looking at Tursday as a possible morning, same routine, wet and windy later. Must also get some truck locations limned up and will have to get the kitchen ceiling painting started tomorrow afternoon. Todays slide show from Potteries.