Tomorrow I'm scheduled to be at Crick near rugby filming the trucks at the distribution centre, I must check the latest weather forcaste. May Blossom our dear leader blessing be upon her is issuing our piss off notice to the EU on Mandy's birthday, I think Mandy would have appreciated something better than that. I've just finished sending off the copy for the May magazine PMP adverts and changes to our email. I managed to copy the cine film for John Bishop and the windmill crowd in Sussex and our friend at Clonter who wanted me to have another bash at his ancient Oxford sports day shots. I'll try and get these edited this evening. The photo slide show this evening was at Bishop Auckland at 8am onwards this morning. Rothbury cards have some super new images for 2017, already considering our Christmas card!
Today I was up very early and in Bishop Auckland ready to film the rush hour bus services, this early rising paid dividends as I caught a few school services and all in all it was an interesting visit to a location I'd not covered for some years. Even more behind was our coverage of Chester le Street, Stanley and Consett where it's been a decade since I visited. I hardly recognised some of the scenes but soon picked up on my usual photo spots. The weather was mixed, dry but windy and very cold but varying levels of cloud or sunshine. I came and went over the A66 which was a good thing as I'd forgotten about the A1 road works which go on forever and like the M60 around Manchester seem to have been in place for a decade. It was a good craic in Co Durham, everyone was very friendly and the car parks were only 60p for a couple of hours except at Stanley where they pay you for visiting ( only joking), actually I met a young enthusiast there who was a mine of info on local services, Stanley Motors survives with just one service bus although they obviously have contract work and coaches, even saw a decker at the bus station. Consett lookled quite nice in the sunshine. I got back home at 5pm, we are having our fasting days Mon/Tues this week as we have a cream tea on Wednesday at Clonter opera. Tomorrow I'm scheduled to be at Crick near rugby filming the trucks at the distribution centre, I must check the latest weather forcaste. May Blossom our dear leader blessing be upon her is issuing our piss off notice to the EU on Mandy's birthday, I think Mandy would have appreciated something better than that. I've just finished sending off the copy for the May magazine PMP adverts and changes to our email. I managed to copy the cine film for John Bishop and the windmill crowd in Sussex and our friend at Clonter who wanted me to have another bash at his ancient Oxford sports day shots. I'll try and get these edited this evening. The photo slide show this evening was at Bishop Auckland at 8am onwards this morning. Rothbury cards have some super new images for 2017, already considering our Christmas card! A while back we decided to have a preliminary tidy up in the office but when I've come to copy some 16mm films the projector reel which must be the biggest thing in there has vanished and also the lead to plug it in. Neither are irreplaceable but not things you have in every drawer. First thing i put covers on all the DVD stock which I'd copied to bring the rally sales stock up to date, there were nearly three more boxes to add, I've popped them in the van with everything else for Boyle St next Saturday, I can't say I'm particularly looking forwards to what was once one of my favourite weekends of the year. It was quite full at church in the 11am service and I had a go at the bits I'd never set out before, you never learn until you try it yourself. Then we came back, had a brew and then went on to Clonter where in the gallery just along the road they had an interesting exhibition of stage and costume design and the processes and models used in the creation of a production. We had a cream tea there and that was almost the afternoon done. I got the remainder of the orders coming in today done, stocked up the bird feeders in the garden and moved the cars around so I'm ready for an early start. The way things are panning out I should be in Co Durham tomorrow for buses thwen trucks at Rugby on Tuesday and finallt Bristol for buses on Thursday. Wednesday is Flossie the French Geordie at Clonter and Friday we have a Polio Fellowship[ collection at Tescos on The Wirral. Now I'm start and run out of energy having been thwarted by the results of clearing up, it's just never a good idea as things have a habit of vanishing. Here are some shots of the stage set models at the Clonter exhibition. Some links to recent DVD adverts on Youtube It's been a hard days slog but I'm really on top of things at present with all the recent films edited to DVD and covers made, all our recent releases are on all shops, this site of course and also Amazon and Ebay plus an EBay sale at £10 each starts just after midnight. The van is loaded ready for Boyle St Manchester next Saturday. All I've got to do is update the rally stock with releases since December, the list is in the office ready to go through. We are taking from box 60 upwards to Manchester, we have 105 boxes for the complete stock, what that means if you want us to bring anything early in our range ask and we'll fetch it, remember we are only there Saturday this time. We have now booked the stand in for several rallies including Alton, Lathalmond, Gaydon truck event, Kelsall to name but a few. I've also dealt with a lot of other subjects such as St Oswalds access arrangements with a quote in from The Ramp People. Tomorrow I intend being at church early to look at the LED light issue and how many bulbs we need to get the place brightened for safety and comfort, when I'm on go mode there is no stopping! I must just check the flights to Lviv in August for our Ukraine trip as our super new friend Andreii is sorting out a programme for us, well I've got a programme he's making it work. We really do have a great circle of transport friends around the world, we even bumped into a friend at Preston, and that's as exotic as you can get these days. Tonights slide show is of Preston on Friday. Next week's weather look a bit dire, we have Mon Tues and Thurs free so I will scan the charts for locations which match. The list is pretty well on schedule at present so no panic. We were a bit annoyed to find this late that the Exeter event has been moved a week forward to tomorrow without letting me know, the last time I'll be visiting one of their rallies. I gave up the Sunday at Boyle St and all our plans were around a trip to the South West following on from the running day. As it turns out with Mandy's accident it really suits us and it will be a busy day at St Oswalds on Mothering Sunday so I'll be there to do my bit and Boyle St, well the last event before Christmas was awful, the atmosphere was terrible and trading was the worst in decades so I can't say it isn't a welcome change not to have to be there on the Sunday. In fact we'll probably skip setting up on Friday afternoon and I'll just turn up on my own for Saturday which will stop Mandy from feeling she should attend, it's not the most wheel chair friendly place anyway. The following week it's Detling and I think our only rally in Kent this year, we have a large stand space booked and will have all our latest DVD releases, a good range of our stock, the South east photo boxes and some DVD bargains as well. We'll have to come down early on the Saturday as we have events at the RNCM in Manchester on the Thursday and Friday. We'll stay Sat and Sunday , hopefully catching up with John and Maureen Bishop on the Sunday and then filming before returning home Monday night, if the weather is going to be brilliant we may stretch it to film Tuesday as well. We are still looking at other events through the season, the Dublin Port rally has moved and takes place at the end of October, I can feel the chill off the Irish sea already, like Cultra in April our attendance will be confirmed late in the day and very much subject to the weather. We've got the booking form for Kelsall rally which will be our nearest to home. The POPS rally which didn't happen may well be wrapped up as a running day i conjunction with a First Potteries depot open day. We had to go to Colwyn Bay to pick up collection tins for a British polio Fellowship collection on this coming Friday, another reason that skipping the Friday pm set up at Boyle St is a good option. Funny how things turn out for the best. We had to get up sharp today and get the DVD orders ready, I got the cine film sales sorted when we returned from Colwyn Bay, Lawrence is on his own in the shop on Fridays, no surprise that some of the parcels are carried over to being sent tomorrow morning.Dropped off posters to go up at the shop and managed to contact The ramp People re a quote on the access ramp for St Oswalds, it seems we also have to sort a rake of primroses out for Mothers Day, also that reminds me we saw our first primroses out by the Nth Wales coast this morning. I've got three volumes of trucks to edit this weekend plus the bus film at Preston/Lancaster. The van needs loading ready for Boyle St. Other than that Mandy is making very slow progress but is sleeping quite wel, that's probably as we are both so tired! Photos from Lancaster Thursday. We had a lovely meal early on at The Dog last night and then friends Tom, Keith, Tracey, George and Ged joined us for a drink The Rotary club at Colwyn Bay had a display to promote their world campaign at eradicate Polio, taken after we'd collected the charity tins. We have filmed in Preston and Lancaster today, enjoying my birthday I'll blog with news etc tomorrow as we are off to have a birthday meal this evening.
It was almost a cloudless blue sky at Wakefield Europort today, there will be 3 programmes from the coverage I made and as usual all the drivers were super friendly as is the great little truck stop on the estate which really boasts the spread of the lorries seen as many pop down just to fill themselves and their wagons or run through the wash. I left Mandy at home which meant that she could only manage a few things although did somehow get to Marks & Spencers on her own. I'm hoping we get out tomorrow for some bus filming, possibly Preston and Lancaster and Bristol/ Reading is put back to next week. It's all dependent on the weather really. I though overall it was a much better day than forecast today. The run over the M62 was no problem, usual delays through leeds area but coming back it was a joy until I got past the M6 Junct 19 at Knutsford and tried to get home on the A556, the M6 closure had caused chaos plus the A50 with a sink hole is still shut and also closed is the road from home to Northwich. The bits that were open were choked with traffic, managed to get back via some cutting up on the queues to our smaller country lanes. It's the pcc meeting tonight at Lower Peover school for church warden election and more importantly its my 65th birthday tomorrow, thanks for all the cards received. The state pension people wrote to me and the ammount there are paying has gone up again and is nearly at the rate I had been promised before playing silly beggars with their calculations, they are hopeless but i expect nothing better in this poor old country which is sliding down the pan in a fools paradise, I'm not sure if the fishy woman is worse or dear leader May blossom blessings be upon her. As usual a hectic day tempered by Mandy's injuries which lead us nicely into the days activities. An prompt start and off to Macclesfield hospital but the A50 to Knutsford was closed ( as well as the Northwich road, we are getting cut off from the world) this meant that diverted traffic was grid locked on the route we'd take to Macclesfield. Turned around and went across country via Holmes Chapel, after all the rushing the fracture clinic was running 50 minutes late. They are going to send Mandy for an MRI scan on her knee, the boot will be on for 5 more weeks. Then we came back getting some shots of progress on the toilet at St Oswalds ( see photo shots). Then I got the covers done for the recent London DVD releases and put them on the shop page, the first orders are coming through already. Then after a banana for lunch ( back to dieting this week) it was to Sale to see cousin Trish and Derek, Trish and I share birthday on 16th. More cards arrived today. Tomorrow I will be going to the distribution centres at Wakefield for truck filming. Thursday remains uncertain as yet. Tomorrow evening the church pcc agm in the evening. Then Thursday birthday celebrations, 65, can I really be that ancient. The Norfolk ramp supplier declined to offer a solution to our access needs at St Oswalds so it's down to 'the Ramp People' who seem to be the country's lead in this sphere.I'm getting the DVD and cine film orders ready and will put in her car boot, she can beep outside the shop and they'll carry them in while I'm away filming tomorrow. If I went to tick off the items I'd planned to do there wouldn't be a lot of ticks on the page, as I've said before this week we are in slow gear with Mandy's war wounds and it really is like running to stand still. I did eventually manage to get all the outstanding DVDs ready, no covers yet but they are all complete and I will update the list on this site shop and news pages so those wanting to be first in the queue can get lined up. The first big job was catching up on the orders for DVDs and cine. The DVDs were fairly straight forward but the cine films were very heavy as people took advantage of my clearance disposal of cine films to try and turnover the stuff which was sticking much reduced some by as much as £50, going for a tenner meant that postage became critical but I'd judged ok, just. The weight was something else, if you've never handled 16mm film by 20 minutes or more its a bone breaker if you drop it on your foot. I had a box with 6 reels in it. Others went off around Europe, there are still a few more bargains working their way through, it's magazine time of month coming up so DVDs should pick up. Rallies are fast approaching with the Saturday only at Manchester and the Saturday 'do' at Detling. Obviously with my position as church warden at St Oswalds Sundays are now in ration for trips out trying to be fair with my fellow warden Keith but as spring gets going we shall still be out and about. The to do list of locations is almost on schedule at present, I've my eye in Reading and Bristol this week but we have Mandy at the fracture clinic tomorrow and collection tins to pick up at Colwyn Bay some time. Wednesday and Thursday are the most likely film days this week. Trucks if suitable I might pick up at Rugby or even Wakefield, sunshine required for lorries. Whilst gertting the post away this morning our business card was declined, that meant an extra journery to the Nat West in Knutsford where we spotted our new friend George walking along, George has just rung and a few of the lads will be joining us at the Dog Inn, Nether Peover this Thursday to help celebrate my 65th birthday. I think I'll give up on the two pints a week that HM Gov has robbed me in my state pension, I think I'm too busy to care. I've not started the new email process yet but intend doing so this evening but first have a rake of clips from new DVDs to put on our Youtube channel. It's my sister Margaret's birthday today, I'll try ringing early evening when she is back from work. My friend Andrii who is now working in Dresden is helping put together my August short trip to Ukraine, I need to look up flights from Manchester to Lviv. I had intended to take piccies at the church on the toilet progress to share with folk unable to traverse the wet and mud to get a peek. Lets have some more shots from London. I have done Trip Advisor reports on the Pilot and the hotel both at wherever it was we were on Saturday, I've forgotten already. The photos are from the Victoria Coach Station 85th on Saturday last. Among the other activities we are visiting cousin Trish tomorrow, her birthday is share with mine on Thursday. We've just made a meal selection for the Polio Fellowship branch 10th anniversary bash at somewhere very posh on the Wirral, yes really - not like our hotel in Kochi which was like a 5* Birkenhead with infinity pool and container terminal. -Thanks to everyone who has expressed their good wishes to Mandy for a speedy recovery, each day there are tiny signs of progress although the bruising on her foot looks bad it's the knee which is giving most concern and the whole injury is on Mandy's 'good' leg which really scuppers getting around unless its wheelchair or crutches. Despite this we are getting back into the swing of things its just that everything takes a little longer to do. I've now edited and burnt the master discs for the two truck films in Cumbria taken last week and about to start on the London bus films. I received the keys for St Oswalds so I can cover the services unaided should the need arise, the pcc meets Wednesday when I'll get formally elected ( or not) so it's now in at the deep end. Keith the other warden and I have been asked with friend George to join the choir for a hymn at Easter, they must of course be pretty desperate but as it's all female I guess this particular number needs a deeper sound, now this really will be a first and we've even got to practice it a couple of times - perhaps they will abandon all hope of being in tune with me around. We have a pile of orders to get through for both DVDs and cine films, I've let the latter go at silly money just to try and get the number down although I'm not selling at a loss really but the post is a possible nightmare. I need to get the remainder I have to copy done before we go down to the Detling rally as I might meet up with John Bishop to return the Windmill trust material. I'll need to be thinking of another film show for the autumn, I'm doing another fund raiser and one for the Hooe old motor club in October in Sussex. It's quite a busy week all round, I must send off to our illustrious MP Osbourne about my pension and the £10 a week they have robbed me, I know its only a couple of pints but it was they who told me what it was going to be so I want an explanation about left and right hands in the pensions department. I hold no hope of getting anywhere. The really big thing this week is getting a new email and getting it implemented for the most important sites such as Google, Weebly, Youtube etc etc - typical that Orange ditches such a service after 20 years but it does seem a long time ago that Freeserve came about, now it's all history. We have to pick up the collecting tins for the Polio Fellowship collections at Tescos a week Friday and the pcc agm Wednesday, my birthday and night out at the Dog Inn Nether Peover, I've invited anyone who fancies to come along and buy me a birthday pint there. We are still cooking prepared dinners from the farm shop while Mandy is wobbly on her crutches. The walls are going up on the toilet at St Oswalds, I must take some photos and circulate and chase the ramp people in Norwich for church access requirements, e saw one they made at the Pilot in London looked well built. Photos from Stratford yesterday. Just a very brief blog as it's bed time but we had a good day filming in outer London on Friday, Saturday the weather turned out to be sunny not cloudy as the BBC forecast which made life very difficult. The Victoria event was a mere shadow of the previous event and lacked utterly in most respects. I tried to salvage something heading out of town but the public transport was at it's worst, people suffocating in over packed tube trains, cancellations, lines closed terrible a disgrace really something that even third world countries would be ashamed of. Some pictures from Ilford. |
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