It was the annual spring clean at St Oswalds which followed a very stressful day trying to finish off the access arrangement for wheelchairs at the church which had all gone wrong but now on the second attempt was easier to achieve although as time consuming and took up the whole afternoon which itself followed on from an earl;y start at 7am and cleaning through to lunch time. I'm looking forwards to a couple of choice ales from the cupboard and Mandy the butt so often of my stress will be downing some of her new birthday gin. Mandy got the post away although I'd got the DVDs ready to go. I'm about to start editing the 16mm films I've got on digital and ready to put on EBay, I'm going to let the film side slide down a bit as nothing is moving at present. I've got a lot of my old transport cine back which includes several famous collections but I'm not letting it go for nothing and would even hand to over to a national archive rather than go for silly money, recent eBay sales of trolleybus film had fetched quite a lot even for 50' films. I want to get back to our new subscription channel uploads and get it ready to go public , I must see if Google have anyway of promoting them, they will be free of adverts. Also I want to get more on Youtube ordinary channel to keep taking advantage of the upsurge in viewers, we are heading for 18 million very soon and passed 12k subscribers weeks back. Here we are working at St Oswalds this morning. Taking a jump back a few days here are photos from my trips earlier this week at Tunbridge Wells. No not some fashion item but the bleach I used to clean off the algae on the roof came through my overalls and bleached the seams of my trousers, this was in addition to the mastic I had on my hands even with gloves after I'd been round to St Oswalds to apply the black stuff to the edges of the door mat I made from rubber over the cherished door step. It should be dry by morning, I've got the church key so I'll lock up this evening and open up at 7am tomorrow ready for the annual spring clean. I'd also been over to next door's house who have now moved out to get rid of the climbing ivy etc which is bringing the fence panels down, it was like hacking through the jungle, a nice arrival present for whoever although i don't think the last lot ever ventured to the cul de sac besides our house. We also went to Booths in Knutsford and stocked up on ready meals with Mandy still being unstable and on crutches around the house and wheelchair outside. I've downloaded all the scenes I took yesterday in the north east and starting to make the DVDs. Mandy wants me to type up the agenda etc for the BPF branch agm next week. It felt cold today, we didn't wake until gone 9am, its good to be able to rest after a long day out. It's actually come out sunny now, no sign of sun forcast for next week but hoping I can get some truck film, done. After Easter we have booked a hotel in Comber the old School House where will Brown is the chef, this will enable me to film at Belfast and Derry trucks and buses plus the rally on the Saturday. We've nothing booked Saturday night and need to sort out a ferry once we have a notion of the weather, we still have the option of cancelling up to Easter. Photos from Middlesbrough and Stockton/Darlington yesterday,. A 5am start, it was cloudy this side of the Pennines but as soon as I passed over the tops into Yorkshire the sunny came out and stayed out until I entered Cumbria on me return late afternoon. Temperatures topped at between 13-16 and it felt pleasant in the sun albeit still with jumper and coat. I had breakfast in Costa Coffee at Stockton then as the light gathered on the bus station I got cracking moving on to Middlesbrough to arrive about 9.20. It was a bit boring bus wise in both Stockton, Middlesbrough and Darlington. A couple of anti enthusiast drivers in Darlo but other than that they were all very friendly.. No hassles at all ad the kids seemed to still be at school unlike Cheshire. Durham was the best for photography and bus content , lots of interest and the afternoon had soon flown by. I headed back over the A66 then down the M6 with a straight run other than the new road on the A556 near home having a lorry on fire and causing gridlock in the afternoon rush around the junction with queues in all directions although it looked worse going north. I'll give you some photos from today although I've still to bring you a sample of Bromley and Tunbridge Wells. There will be three DVDs from today's trip then next week I'll see if the weather suits trucks shots. The outfit next door to us fitted the replacement fencing panels as their final goodbye, well actually they never even said they were selling the estate agents board was the clue, it was priced to sell and went quickly as have the occupants. I don't think we talked more than twice just a few random hellos to the woman. At least we have our privacy back and the panels needed replacing for many years. We'll probably go down to the Golden Pheasant for a couple of drinks this evening, we managed to skype Max in New Zealand last night, Tina was still on her travels. We are hoping to be at Taunton running day after visiting the Culta Ulsterbus celebration in Northern Ireland later this month, must get hotel booked and mention we intend coming! The weather looked better for buses in the North East tomorrow ( Thursday) so I had a lay in bed today then got the DVD orders done and started to load the cine film copied on to the timeline for editing. I've made a start on the weekend photos and tonight a selection from the non bus elements with Leeds castle where we stayed ( superb) and at Eastbourne with Shoreham coaches and the Beachy Head lighthouse. We had some shopping to do, I fixed a fused lamp, did the church pictorial newsletter which I reproduce here to prove I can do more than a bus! Leeds castle is well worth a visit and I think we picked a splendid time of year for it the sunshine also helped make it as did staying there overnight with the illuminated scenes. Next to Eastbourne and Beachy Head I've still got Tunbridge wells and Bromley to bring you. We had a pile of shopping to do, I went to St Oswalds to update on the toilet building works and the access mats, I've got some mastic to finish off the joins on the rubber sheet I used. I've now uploaded three full DVDs to our new Youtube subscription channel. I'm just copying some 16mm cine film, not really the inside job suited to a glorious spring day but I'm doing three things at once and who says men can't multi task! While i'm doing this there is a film uploading on to the new PMP Youtube subscription channel which is gradually taking shape if I could get into a rhythm on the uploads it would be better, each time I seem to have forgotten the steps required. We caught up with a few bits of soaps on tv before bed then caught up on sleep after a hectic long weekend down in Kent and Sussex. I've already edited the first of three programmes that being Detling which runs quite a while even when I've pruned out the cars arriving and just have mainly buses and lorries/ vans left. It was a check up at the dentist the first time back since I had the root canal treatment last year, all cleaned and polished so that's that for another six months. I had a couple of DVDs to sort which had problems, one was solved by digging out the rally stock copy and creating a new master then another which I had to re-edit as it wouldn't play at all from the master or any existing copy. All these probs were sorted and copies awaited sent out to the customers without any delay to them. thus back on top of things I mowed the lawns and fed the birds, tidied up the edges around the garden, it always looks good for a tidy up. On the way back from the dentist in Partington we called in at Southern Cemetery to check up on the family graves, the Hardy memorial bench needed a screw replacing on the name plate, I reported it at the office and I think they'll fix it quite quickly.I got all the South east area photos out of the van and back into the garage, pumped up the trolley and unloaded it, then it rolled away and left a tiny scratch on the van door which i removed with t cut. The water bottles need replacing, one had leaked but only into the plastic box with the kettle. If we get there with suitable weather the next rally will be Cultra in Northern Ireland then in May we are going to Taunton running day. I'm looking at weather for tomorrow, it should be truck filming, weather dependent as ever, I hope it's as good as today. More shots from Detling on Saturday. Another great day with filming at Tunbridge wells where I clocked up I think as many as 9 operators if you take Go Ahead BH&D and Metrobus as separate and why not! The sun was out, it was a bit sharp first thing but it was in the sixties in Bromley. I've just downloaded the first of the memory chips from the trip and recharging batteries. I've a dentist appointment tomorrow just for a check up but we'll need to be up by 9am so I can help Mandy and then get on my way to Partington, an historic link to the dentist via Mandy's step brother who was friends with the chap who had the practice before. I got a weird message from a contact who shall remain nameless but i must have crept onto his masonic distribution list rather than the normal one, that's one thing I'm certainly not in! We've nearly finished unpacking, post opened etc and we are having a flan out the freezer with baked beans.Goodness knows how awfully the Brexit negotiations are going but as a former firm European and a remainer, it's now all pull together as the Germans, French and Spanish are shown in their true colours. The Youtube channel is getting a lot more hits which is encouraging, I'll get back to loading on the subscription this week, once I've a few loaded I'll circulate with a link to it. Meanwhile here are some shots from Detling Saturday the blog vanished after typing for about fifteen minutes on our wonderful weekend at dealing and Leeds castle, I'll bring you the photos when we get home Monday night there is so much to show. We are now in sunny Eastbourne to meet John and Maureen shortly and then tomorrow film at Tunbridge Wells and bromley on the way back home, dentist check up Tuesday. Zero marks to weebky for another lost posting I would never recommend them to anyone using their site to blog from on the move. Magical moments in Leeds castle and took in a few beachy head shots late this afternoon, best wishes to all we'll be back in Eastbourne for a couple of nights later this year and will have more time to catch up with family and friends Once more it has proved impossible to blog from the iPad, everything I wrote vanished as we've been up since three am I'm certainly not in the mood to start all over again. It was a good day at detoxing a great turn out of buses. I'll put phots up when we get back home Monday night.
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