Our by now fairly regular meetings down in Shrewsbury tie in very nicely with lunch at the local pub who are now back to their usual large range of real ales. I had dinner there as well which saves me cooking this evening with Mandy still being over in Ireland. I got in touch with my friend in Sao Paulo to see if I can fix up a trolleybus visit on the way back from our wildlife tour in July this year. I've got some more Phil Tatt cine to scan mostly on the near continent although by 1959 he had stretched his wings as far as Italy, Switzerland even Luxenbourg plus the usual Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Always an adventure delving into material that old. I received the key board to use with the new super computer, I have everything I need to get it set up just the courage lacking at present. A couple more slide shows with more for truck fans with lorries on the M56 yesterday and electric traction in Romania from last week this time at Craiova.

Another busy day with Mandy away in Ireland not back until next Tuesday. I went over to Ellesmere Port to have my hair cut and took the video camera, got a couple of hours of trucks filmed at two junctions on the M56, I had an idea about all busy truck motorways country wide from over bridges, this could be the start of another development. I'm hoping to be in a position to run up some more archives in the coming months.

I have ordered up all kit to fit my new super computer in and link up to the others, I want to have the back up capacity of using the 'old' machine if I get stuck starting work on the new Grass Valley editing system. As the new one is mostly USB sockets I've already ordered a bunch of adaptors. I'll get the truck films edited, minimal work as shots very long and continuous.

Here are a few shots from this morning on the M56

The second location in our Romania trip was Ploiesti

I think this sums up Newport nicely! A bit short on time this week, I'm keeping Friday free and see what happens with the weather. Hot in South Wales still wet and windy in Cheshire... again..

A very hefty piece of kit, weighs almost more than I can handle. It created a whole bundle of waste, in fact I went to the tip to get rid of the packing, our bins wouldn't hold anything like this lot

It is designed to be used with the rear nearest, note the huge number of usb and other ports, I want to be able to have the extension discs plugged in all the time ready to power up and use rather than play cats cradles with all the leads. As well as getting this unpacked I had to take the side panel off to remove the remainder of the shipping protection. I managed to get some scanned cine files copied on to the OTA copy as I go down to see Peter Waller Thursday, possibly a pint or two and pick up the next batch of Phil Tatt's work for scanning. I also did the cover for the Fenlands Busfest which is already on the PMP Shop

Meanwhile here are some more shots from Romania last week

Bucarest isn't the best looking fleet but has been sustainable but workshop built cars have probably had their day with all the technology now involved.

A bit of a rarity on a relaxed day which ended on 700mm limestone ng railway these scenes earlier on our departure day.

Medias depot , trolleys not running even one of the three new ones was with the demics, these was a motley bus substitution, bridge repairs which looked as if they would last quite a while

Trolleys and trams at Cluj Napoca.

Just to prove we are more than just transport  folk Dave and travelling companion Martin on our last night of the Romania trip in Brasov. Then a contrast between the countryside and transport in the city, much of Romania leaves the UK way behind.

I'll get some slide shows ready for the next few days, hoping to get the jubilee bunting up tomorrow

I will probably be able to post on Facebook as we progress around Romania, leave from Manchester Airport tomorrow morning.

Once more I think I'll let the photos tell the story, it was difficult handling the brolly and tripod against wind and rain but I got there in the end and have two hands to show for it with the first the lorry line ups and the second carrying on to the modern lorries and light commercials finishing with buses on the field and shuttle services. We are going to try and have a rest this evening and finish domestic and gardening jobs tomorrow and get the packing finished ready for me to get off the the airport early Tuesday, a two stage Lufthansa flight via Munich catching up with my travelling pay Martin.

It was great to meet  up with so many of our followers at Whitehaven today, the weather was quite fickle, it started nice but got cold and windy and spots of rain. A variety of buses were scattered around the dock area and there were several working some excursion trips to Workington or on town tours. A few normal service buses and a couple of sparkling Albion lorries and a little bit of Cleator Moor brass band makes up the coverage for this event. Tomorrow I'm at Llandudno and Tuesday off to Romania.