Even getting 12 member of our polio fellowship branch together has taken many weeks of trying as folk have so many catch up things on the go. We had a splendid afternoon tea at a hotel near Chester, finding the entrance was a bit of a puzzle and a couple of folk ended up in the care home next door but we managed to pay a release fee!

Tomorrow we have family arriving from Hampshire but i still intend to get some cine film scanning done and a start on stock for Showbus and Detling which will include the last 6 months or more DVD releases and some of the archive features we released during the lock downs. Anyone wanting to collect please let us know beforehand which will need to be by next Thursday as we may be going to visit relations on the way to Showbus.

Meanwhile we go back to lorries on the Ireland trip this time we are in Tipperary, its a long way of course.

Still running to stand still but some progress has been made. I finished all that was required on Roger de Boers collection which he has entrusted to the Online Transport Archive, all scanned and ready to drop off with Peter Waller the OTA sec when we next meet. I've still got to see Robin Hannay about the long term future for his cine collection.

I've got all the latest batch of John Bishops cine scanned and am making progress through the OTA Les Collins collection. At the same time we have to start getting ready for Showbus which is only just over a week away. thanks to those who have already rang through their orders to be collected. This really helps us. We shall have stock from the past year and some special archives which will appeal to Southern audiences. I'm hoping to have at least two new releases on the day and will bring a few of our Luck Dip Boxes, great value with DVDs just over £2 each! £50 for 20 plus no post if you collect at Showbus or Detling.

Going back to Ireland we carry on with another slide show this time Waterford

A solid day working at getting all the Irish DVDs ready had paid dividends although I did divert to grass cutting as that needed doing. Everything seems to be coming in one great rush and I'm running to stand still. I hope that we are more on top of things by next week. I cannot see me out filming before Showbus although I might try and get a couple of archives done to release at Showbus. We will only have around 6 months of releases with us so if you want to pick up DVDs there please let me have a list so I can put them to one side for you. This will set the trend as we are no longer fit enough to struggle putting up tents and there are mountains of jobs to complete before my operation 25th October. Meanwhile expect lots of trailers on Youtube, bear in mind I don't as a rule look at comments on Youtube so if you wish to communicate use email please. Here are some more of todays completed films

Goodness knows where the day went but at least all the DVD orders received up until this afternoon went off today and there was a large pile considering I'd advised we were away. The first three films have been edited and I've loaded the covers up below. I've also been scanning more cine films, some very good stuff which will be revealed among our archive features ready for the Christmas trade. I had to fill all the preamble bumpf for the hernia operation, great hen you go private, they want the money at least 7 days before the op in case you die or abscond I guess! We had piles of paperwork to get through and the editing will certainly also take up most of tomorrow although we need to get out for some banking and shopping plus getting my hair cut! I'll resume with a slide show from the Irish trip picking up at Limerick.

It was a joy in so many ways to visit the NWVRT open day and running day, I met so many friends and customers / viewers and everywhere we go now I seem to be 'spotted'. We are always glad to meet our followers and there were so many at Kirkby, the weather was mainly dry although cloudy, just right for filming and no wind. The event will move back to its earlier date next year and perhaps be at full strength with buses in service and visitors. I think it may be in vain but a plea that anyone attending should get a programme and support the cafe and shops. Just riding around all day is a great thing to do but without contributing is really taking the p out of the event.

It is always so friendly and has a minimum of fuss and hi vis jackets sort of organisation which is reflective on the likes of Lathalmond which we have supported since it was established after moving due to motorway development. The Kirkby based collection is on an industrial estate and seems to pull off restorations regularly each year and this time there were no less than four buses making their fresh appearances in public. We hope to have an announcement about a relationship with the trust in the coming months and certainly before next years event.

I must no get on with editing the Irish film but meanwhile we divert to Kirkby for this slide show taken today.

We look forward to meeting lots of our lovely friends at the Kirkby running day tomorrow. Mandy and I are trying to catch up after 10 days in Ireland. I'll be bringing you lots of shots of the buses and lorries which I saw.  Getting the film downloaded takes a while let alone editing it all. So lots to do, our Youtube clips will resume asap when the films come out of my machine. Lots of new buses in Ireland for you to see. An initial taster is at the beginning of the journey in Cork.

I will have all the Peterborough Showground trucks DVDs ready tonight which means that the decks are clear for our return. I managed to finish the Malta film which has taken ages to put together, I scanned another superb railway cine film which covers steam on BR in 1973. I went to Liverpool and picked up some film for scanning from Fave Forrest who has been gallantly  manning the VW Beetle powered  dotto train at Morecambe. I have filed away the Peterborough stills and really with the car already packed we are ready for this the longest trip of Corona and our only overseas foreign trip although of course it doesn't feel very foreign or hot! Fingers crossed and back 10th September when we will endeavour to return to normal service. We will not be at Brooklands as I have got to isolate for three days before my hernia operation which put paid to that weekend but I don't want to start messing with dates. Some more shots from the show and the new DVD covers conclude this blog.

Just typed out the blog when it vanished, far too tired after a long day at Truckfest in Peterborough to type it all out again so some photos must suffice for today. Tomorrow case packed and ready for an early start off to Ireland. Several orders were received for DVDs today, as they are singles we can pop them in the post box but please if you read the front page of the shop it states we are away but if you are ok waiting we'll clear them on our return, likewise with Ebay ( why is anyone still using this, Do my words blow away in the wind) it states when we are away but again if you are ok waiting thats fine with us. Please no messages that it hasn't arrived. I've taken the message facility off the phone and we reinstate when we are back. OK photos from Truckfest. Three volumes will ensue.

We had to get our neighbours in to help get our scanner things done for Ireland, Mandy didn't even know she could get emails on her phone, she has got mine as well, all we need is to remember how you get to them, we have paper copies as back up. It really does put older people off with all this mucking about to travel, it all seems to revolve around internet, computer phones and stuff. The world is now run by little kids who know nothing other than being a phone zombie.

I've got around 20 minutes of the latest Down Your Way edited its on Malta and I'm trying to get a bit more done asap as we are having Sunday dinner tonight and then I need to be up early tomorrow to get over to Peterborough, I'm not doing the departures this time as it is the day before our early sailing to Dublin. The answerphone is off and nobody is sending in orders, we've tried to let all our regulars know we are away. Fingers crossed for clement if not hot weather in Ireland.

We did get a sit in the sun in the garden this afternoon and have already made inroads into my next bedside book, I think that is the last to hand so had better get to Waterstones. I got the date for my hernia operation in October, shielding before I go in isolation means that we shall miss Brooklands event but we will be at Detling which has just been booked.

Photos of Malta to tie in with my latest film

Stena ferries are doing as much as they can to confuse information on travel to Ireland. They state that the receipt for the tracker should not be paper but what else would a receipt be, I phoned up and they said that it was fine as the print out has a Q code ( whatever that is) and it can be scanned like a supermarket bar code. Easy then, typical Irish effort which is as hard to follow as anything in Britain where we have at least 4 versions of everything for constituent nations doing there own thing. Our neighbours have offered to help us get it all sorted as we are not experts of mobile phone computers, I don't even know how to which the one Mandy got me on or off. Fingers crossed we'll get there but no means certain given the increase in infections and my hernia which is getting worse.

I've made a good start on the DVD of Malta buses 1970-90 with Roger De Boers collection scanned to HD digital. I'm also still working my way through scanning other collections and some very fine stuff there is among it. I've got the chip in my still camera emptied and filed then I really need to update the Smugmug still photo download site. Talking of downloads they haven;t really taken off that much but then again I haven't been that good getting them on the shop. Anyway before I forget about the Scottish trip a few more shots from that journey last weekend.