AAgood day after a noisy dinner last night. The airport hotel has good food and we got dining credits which actually covered dinner but there was a special event in the bar area for Michelin starred Irish chefs and this surprised the hotel as it came with boom boom music and they couldn't do anything as one of the chefs was from the hotel chain . As I said the food was very good and we are looking forward to a repeat with no sound track tonight. We went east y twaterford and found a wonderful cafe attached to the architectural college, then I cracked on with filming the buses with the transport for Ireland liveried local buses and even some deckers it didn't take too long so we then headed up to my favoutrit Irish truck film spot outside the cider factory at clonmel. The weather was mainly dry and warm but it went very cloudy but overall there was plenty of lorry traffic and I got the two hours that I'd hoped for. We went to the town and had a brew at marks and Spencers and then to the Ulster Bank to get a statement of the current and savings accounts, it seems they'd converted us to electronic banking which we hadn't requested so should now start to get statements again. Tomorrow the weather could be rain and mainly cloudy but we'll try and get the trucks at Tipperary filmed which should be ok if it doesn't throw it down, fingers crossed.

Welcome to cork it has been a splendid day with good weather especially this morning, we left the great bed and breakfast place and with some help on avoiding cork at rush how we went to mallow via blarney and then on to mallow which turned out to be a good spot for filming and I git enough for two videos and then on to cork, aabit more cloudy and about two spots of rain and I managed to get an hour of the buses there. Tomorrow we'll try watrrford and maybe clonmel for trucks, Wednesday looks a bit iffy weather eyes but better again Thursday so we should get all our objectives accomplished! Clic here to edit.

A day of unbroken warm sunshine and clear blue sky over west cork. After a fill Irish .breakfast probably the only one I dare have on the trip and a superb meal at Emmet hotel in clonakilty we set off today for dunmanway a very rural town in West cork with the worst traffic outside the county town. We topped up the car after an initial scout around the town and then out on the road towards the last family addresses I had. Then we stopped by the local shop, SuperValu. The first two older customers I bumped into and got talkjng produced good in seconds, I had two surviving aunties in the town and within ten minutes we were with one of them and the family photo albums came out, mainly looking at those from our grand mother's collection. There weren't a whole uncle but I saw my grandfather's picture for the first time and my natural father Jim,s image when he would have known my mother in Battersea after he first came to England. There were also shots of my half sister and brothers as children there and my uncle John's small holding, he was actually know as hon! The chaps in the shop though I had a look of him about me. After tea and biscuits we visited the local cemetarc. My auntie knew nothing of the Sullivan O'Grady name change or about the extended Driscoll family and said my grandfather's would have surely talked abiut anything she knew as she loved the gossip. I did get the locations of my uncles and aunts and who was alive or dead and a couple of anecdotes about my grandfather's army service, it seems he was in charge of loss who were fruit picking in kent. I guess this must have been in the great war. Anyway after leaving the town we visited loch June nearbaltimore and had a sit in the sun watching the mullet shaols. Then back to our dogs and muffins with a lot of tea in the garden enjoying theevrningt sunshine and we are getting a lift down to the Emmet hotel and picked up later by Mick our host. Tomorrow it's cork for buses and trucks, perhaps not the same weather but should still be fine and the rest of the week not as bad ashait first looked

The driveddown from athenry in galway to limerick took about an hour quitea change from the oldpre motorway days. It was still cold and cloudy first thing but as we git to limerick the sun started to come through but not too much to challenge the bus filming. Plenty of sctivity considering it was a Saturday with lots of deckers about. I was surprised how quickly I got my footage enough to go with Waterford later to make up a programme. Then after meeting up with Mandy we set of South to cork on the old road and then  west down to clonakilty by which time it was mainly sunny and much warmer by tea time it was a clear sky and hot. We had spotted along the coast, heaving beaches full of bathers in the popular spots. . the bed and breakfast place is high above the town and seems very comfortable we had a great meal at the Emmet. Hotel in the town. Tomorrow we investigate dunmanway town and the town land of tonamora where my father Jim's family lived perhaps we'll find some still there.

We had breakfast when they opened at 7.30am and were on the road into Galway by 8am and quite quickly got parked up and out with the camera. Lots of commuter bus services as well as bus eireanne and city direct the independent local operater who hashbeen on the scene some years now and complete when deckers. By abiut 11am iid finished and caught up with Mandy and had morning coffee in Debenhams then went off over the burren and via cliffs of mother and back up the coastal route to Gakway. The weather was. Mostly overcast which suited me for filming then periods of sun for touring but quite a stiff breeze. Tomorrow we head south stopping at Limerick on our way to west cork and Sunday investigating my family connection in dunmanway.



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Up early and swift drive to Holyhead then a very smooth comfortable trip to dublin port just lost a few minutes stuck behind a slow cargo ship ahesd of us. The weather was warm and mainly sunny. I got a lot of bus shots at my favourite corner near the university and met an Irish enthusiast also taking pictures, the go ahead franchised buses don't go into the city centre but we'll seek them out next Friday on our return journey I think dun laoghaire or rathkeale will be our best place. Then I went on to the centre on o Donnell street and met two England enthusiasts. Weather still sunny with passing clouds, got back to many we'd been lucky and go a disabled parking spot very centrally placed. Then out of dublin before the rush hour and over via the motorways to athenry which is convenient for Galway near the motorway so parking without stress. Well go into Galway for Friday morning rush plus try for afternoon rush plus all the coaches and whatever perhaps a trip out of the city midday. Guiness now calls!

 A lot of jobs completed including rescuing a baby Greenfinch which flew through the back door to the window and crashed into it, it survived after coming round outside with some food and water but didn't bother with either. We've booked the room at Alton, right in the village so we can get up at an almost civilised time. I've edited the Ipswich and Norwich DVDs, need to get covers done now. Lots of deliveries stocking up and stationery and inks. Had a bit of a tidy in the garden between showers. Still getting things ready for the Irish trip, charging up the Ipad, I'll try and blog en route but it seldom works well. I've got all the photos from the St Oswalds Festival weekend together, edited and trimmed up and made a DVD of the event which is burning ready for Mandy to cast her eye over it. My traveling companion Martin is back from stalking Jaguars in Brazil and out trip to Ukraine approached rapidly and I then need to focus on the Indonesia trip. We have a Polio Fellowship outing tomorrow afternoon. Anyway getting back to the buses here is a slide show from shots taken in Norwich yesterday afternoon

Up at 4am this morning then drove straight to Ipswich arriving for the morning 'rush' hour only you wouldn't notice it and the usual nice variety of vehicles and operators plus a few other enthusiasts out with their cameras. The First buses in Norwich and Ipswich were pretty disgusting, I think if it were Manchester or Birmingham they would be refused access to facilities or even to run on the city streets. They were something like 1986 only worse, really disgusting, I've never been a fan of First in East Anglia but they have managed to scrape the barrel and reach yet another all time low. No hassles in Norwich which makes a change, weather bright overcast to sunny in Ipswich, sunshine and cloud in Norwich. Start with Ipswich photos

So much still going on, some superb weather today and as ever so much to catch up with. I'm possibly off on a long days bus spotting in East Anglia and then catching up with domestic and garden duties before we leave for Ireland on Thursday after a Wednesday afternoon polio Fellowship visit to a garden center on the Wirral. Then its an early start Thursday and over to Dublin and a catch up on the scene there much changed with a cross city tram service and franchised bus services. Then late afternoon straight over towards Galway, we stay just off the motorway and will cover Galway on Friday then leave Galway on Saturday morning calling in on Limerick before staying at Dunmanway in West Cork on the family history trail and then Monday to Cork city for the buses, Tuesday a trip to Waterford ( the weather looks iffy!)

The trucks between Limerick and Cork and perhaps Tipperary on Wednesday and trucks at Clonmel Thursday and then calling in on Dublin Friday morning, sailing back via Holyhead in the afternoon. Then home in time to leave Saturday bound for Alton rally for which we have yet to book a hotel, then home Sunday and catch up on DVD orders, gardening etc. I've had a sort through all the old shelves and hope that I can reuse most of the timber we've preserved and now cleaned up and drying out more securely under cover. This will reduce costs a fair bit and when I've finished all the cabinets on one side I can start the display cases on the other. We hope to get down to central Southern Britain in late August to sweep up Portsmouth , IOW, Fareham and Southampton and also Scotland around the Lathalmond open weekend. In between my trip to Ukraine coming up and then in November to Indonesia.

Today we had the leaving service for Jane Lloyd our vicar, well attended and sunny with tea in the old school as part of the four day festival celebrating 750 years of St Oswalds. Photos covering almost everything and DVDs being released regularly and clips on the Youtube channel and thankfully our revenue stream is or will be back on stream in a couple of months now monetization has resumed for PMP.

Yesterdays village fete

Not forgetting our flower show and concert starring Linda Richardson who attended the village school and has regularly supported local events.

The events seem to be tumbling over themselves there is so much going on, last nights concert, a fund raiser for St Oswald's in our village saw Linda Richardson a renowned opera singer and tutor at the RNCM with one of her very talented students plus the acclaimed Warrington Male Voice Choir give a well received evenings entertainment. We called at The crown on the way home and then today we were up early to get copies of the 1969 Peover Saga ready for sale at the fete and erect or tent for the raffle team. Tomorrow is the special service for the 750th anniversary of a church being on that spot in Lower Peover plus it will be Jane Lloyd's last service as she will be moving to a suburb of Crew after a sabbatical break. I've now managed to edit all five of the Belfast films and get the covers done.

Here are some shots of trucks in Belfast taken Thursday