Tomorrow I have scheduled in a trip to Worcester depending on how well I do I may get somewhere else in the day, the afternoons are certainly starting to be noticeably longer. I though I'd better get on with filing last years photos from my March London trip which with the van breakdown proved to be the sole real result from the capital for 2016. We are hoping to have a few days there centred around the Victoria coach station event. We have received the paperwork for Boyle St in March but aren't very impressed by how it is now being managed and the rocketing cost of the event. The Exeter bus finale is on the Sunday we may just have a small stand on the Saturday at Manchester. Anyway before i edit them here are some shots in London just under a year ago.We have a superb evening out at Clonter last night plus our friend Sue and other friend Sue who joined us there. The RNCM candidate picked up the audience prize whilst a Russian chap won the main contest with the RNCM candidate runner up.
It doesn't seem that long since the geese were flying out but now they are returning, I guess by most measurements it has thus far been a very mild winter. I did a little bit more tidying up in the garden, the tickly throat is still there and it was fingers crossed as I was reading at church this morning. I also had my first hands on light bulb change on high. Not a lot else to report, this time next week we'll be winging our way to India mean while we have a few more bus trips to fullfill perhaps by March when we are back in the full swing the weather will be better suited to filming lorries once more. London - Friday, yea I've already got my tickets, a Midland snail journey but very cheap but then it doesn't offer much in return but I can have a snooze and park my car near the station so Mandy doesn't have to worry about getting up in the middle of the night. Tomorrow I have scheduled in a trip to Worcester depending on how well I do I may get somewhere else in the day, the afternoons are certainly starting to be noticeably longer. I though I'd better get on with filing last years photos from my March London trip which with the van breakdown proved to be the sole real result from the capital for 2016. We are hoping to have a few days there centred around the Victoria coach station event. We have received the paperwork for Boyle St in March but aren't very impressed by how it is now being managed and the rocketing cost of the event. The Exeter bus finale is on the Sunday we may just have a small stand on the Saturday at Manchester. Anyway before i edit them here are some shots in London just under a year ago.We have a superb evening out at Clonter last night plus our friend Sue and other friend Sue who joined us there. The RNCM candidate picked up the audience prize whilst a Russian chap won the main contest with the RNCM candidate runner up. Although it rained in the night followed by a clearance and frost it was great once the sun had climbed a bit and just the day for cracking on with jobs outside including giving the front lawn an early spring haircut at a high setting. I didn't touch the back as its so wet. I washed my little car and the van, it was time to clean out the back of the PMP van before we put the stock back in for the new season. I also cleared up a bit of rubbish from the borders where i could reach without trampling the soggy lawn, I put down bleach and washing up liquid mix on the flat roofs and along the bottom of the walls as well as giving any algae a rub off with a stiff brush. I then washed down the drive and paths by which time Mandy was back after some shopping and dropping off the post which I'd completed before dressing this morning. Sue then arrived and I finished off my chores and cleaned up, in between chats with neighbours, next door is selling up and while they were out this morning I managed to get round and tear up the shrub which was forcing their fencing onto our side, one of those plants with suckers which without a bit of brute force is impossible to shift, got the roots up eventually to make it an end although further on behind the neighbour's gated fence there is more perhaps we'll get someone a bit more chatty next an can get them to replace the panels which are damaged. We are off to Clonter opera this evening, it's the annual prize tonight, usually an interesting and enjoyable time. It looks like being a hectic time at church in the morning with baptisms following communion and a light bulb on high to change, my first! Another volunteer for the toilet cleaning rota which is encouraging. It's the fund raising committee this Tuesday. We'll be getting ready for India this week, the PMP shops will close on Friday so if you want anything why not get online this weekend. Hopefully we'll be bringing back some exciting footage from the trip. Still a bit up in the air over the Balkan trip, I'll try and tie in with Martin before we head off this week Anyway lets look at the Balkans for tonights photo selection. Our hopes were raised when Martin thought that the time table for the Zagred Sarajevo service had gone on a couple of web sites afresh although Mark the Man in seat 61 stated that he doubted they'd ever been off the time table although services terminated in December. To settle the issue I contacted the Croatian tourist office in London who were most helpful and instead of brushing me off investigated and emailed back although the answer was not what we hope, there seems to be no early prospect for their return. Thus we are back to the far from ideal bus connections with lengthy rides to Osijek and on to Sarajevo although no return journeys are required and thus no dead miles retracing out steps as we would fly between the capitals one way. I did manage to devote a lot of time and effort into finishing off the film cum presentation on being a church warden at St Oswalds, Lower Peover. It had pottered on for a while and I wanted to knock it on the head. I could be tweaked but I'd sooner keep it as it is even if there are a couple of mistakes, who knows perhaps it's spot on. The quote for the signage these has been well received but I heard nothing at all back from Portaramp in Thetford on the disabled access ramp, I don't think I'd go with them as the level of service seems poor. We had a whole heap of DVDs and cine films to post off, we got up early and while I waded through these Mandy took the car back to the Honda garage at Crewe to get the failed low tyre pressure warning sorted, it seems motorway driving warms the tyre and it gives a false reading, derrrr....one good thing came out of it they were able to swap to Mandy's cherished number plate now the paperwork had come through plus she put it through the hand cleaner at Northwich. Tomorrow I'm going to get my car cleaned, put bleach on the house flat roof and drivers, paths etc. The garage door needs cleaning off and there is a bit of tidying I can do in the front without damaging the soggy lawn. Easiest putting on overalls and save getting dirty doing all these jobs in one morning or so. There is another big batch of DVD orders today which we'll get cleared before we start our jobs in the morning. The figures are now out for last years trading which showed turnover at PMP £6k down on the previous year but so was expenditure with less rallies, concentrating on the internet increases profitability which as a non profit making business means more is invested back into both archive material and new film trips. I'm starting to go through this past week's photos getting ready to file them, meanwhile a couple of links to Youtube clips. A mild but blustery day, the promise of light cloud at Lincoln encouraged us to head in that direction, Mandy's trip out in the new car! Anyway up at 6am out 6.30, arrived Lincoln 9.45 am the worst bit being Nottingham in the rush hour. The temporary bus station is in reality just across the other side of the railway station and there is a bridge between the old location and new albeit the old is now a large building site. The city has grown in all sorts of awful ways, really I can't record anywhere with so much history and such a prominent cathedral hiding it's assets away so much and relying on another Arndale type of shopping centre to be the mainstay, at least Liverpool almost pulls it off although even they are throwing their world heritage skyline out the window, short term gains yet again. The temporary bus station is in a car park area , very exposed and with the wind cold and blustery. A nice Gurkha chap on the gate stopping pedestrians entering the bus area, the correct path being unmarked through a car park, hmmm. Anyway he was very nice and when a bus driver of STAGECOACH had a whinge that i was outside taking pictures he just said don't worry, we decided they must have a very comfortable life if that was their only problem. I won't guess as to the moaning persons nationality, it wasn't Nepali and wasn't from Lincoln something to the east, sort of Skegness and keep heading east. It's a shame happiness is often eroded by the detractors, you will note that I've bitten my tongue over Dump probably because like Brexit I can't understand why anyone in their right mind would take such reckless actions with their country and promote xenophobia although if they really want something to moan about they can have a million plus from east of Skegness and keep going a bit which would make my life easier. Lots of orders for DVDs and films this week which will keep the credit card bills at bay. Some nice responses on the start of the church toilet with a volunteer to be janitor and a quote for the signage, I used a company that did well for me in my w****** days! I got the footage I wanted, wind noise will be a bit of a pig but can't be helped, PC Coaches were the main interest with a varied turn out including at least two deckers. Just running off the master DVD for the trucks on the M6 yesterday and then I'll edit Lincoln, must remember to do the Youtube clips. May pop down to the Pheasant for a pint later this evening. Tomorrow I'm going to get up to date with the DVDs and PMP in general and then tackle the church warden instruction film which is about 25% ready so far. The weather tomorrow is due to be grim which probably means better than ever but we'll stay close to home, ditto Sat and Sunday. Lots of appointments next week in the run up to departure for India on Sunday week. Photos from Lincoln this morning, unedited as usual they will go on our Smugmug still photo sales site in due course. When our present photo stock is sold off we will not be carrying any around and rely on the net if anyone wants them. We hosted the church access committee meeting last night which was constructive and reached a consensus with actions already being initiated although compromise is the byword but there are many considerations to be taken into account. I called by St Oswald's to take some measurements and found that the ground clearance works had started which was encouraging after the years of fund raising to finance the project which given the grade 1 listed status was beyond the wildest expectations on cost. There were some aspects of the work which I found a little concerning finding that my own 45 years experience in construction cannot vanish overnight even though I sometimes which it had never happened, oh to have been an artist, an opera singer, a musician - instead a jack of all trades and a finger in a lot of pies. Anyway with the weather a bit grim this week I didn't want to stray too far and was heading for Congleton and Macclesfield to cover the buses but hearing that the M6 was blocked very near home I stopped at the over bridge which was just a few yards before a broken down lorry in the road work section. Needless to say I took full advantage of the situation and got over an hour of film which is needed as I have neglected the truck lads this past month. Better weather in India we hope, also we have booked Cyprus in July, another good hunting ground for exported UK lorries. Plenty of other trips coming up this year. Pictures tonight from M6 near home this morning rush hour, glad I wasn't in the jam, better watched from an over bridge. I then went on to Congleton which was a bit dreary bus wise post GHA and Bear Town etc and nothing but hassle , never had so much in such a short space of time. Then on to Macclesfield which felt a tad better, the sun came out, mixed blessing when filming. Tomorrow getting even worse weather but maybe I'll still have a go, I'll need to check all the forecasts on the net and then guess. Qualms this afternoon over the church warden position as it seems more like a placement with the National Trust than a church at times! |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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