Making up for the lack of recent post here are some images of Toulouse transport taken on our recent tour of France. I managed to get Brighton bus DVD edited and burnt and next will be Portsmouth with clips appearing on Youtube today Greetings readers, friends, relations, customers and its super to be back with you all after some very erratic ability to blog from France which Orange, Weebly and French IT all contrived to make impossible for much of the journey and you'll never know the time we spent trying to get connections from motorway services to McDonald's, even bought a cup of coffee which we didn't drink as there wasn't even a connection from there so how all the kids get on I don't know. Anyway other than rearing a muscle in my side which Mandy insists was my back going yet again but is nearly better just about everything went to plany with the big exception of zero internet at the Gites in Montpelier which meant I had to use a cafe for our one and only blog. We saw everything we hoped for, Limoges trolleys grotty place but trolleys look good, then we carried on down to Toulouse which is another industrial city which we struggled to find our hotel in but had a good meal and it was interesting to the point when the trams just stopped running mid afternoon for no apparent reason which I suppose is a bit like Manchester. Then of course Montpellier and its nearly got 4 whole routes although another place which is showing signs of neglect through the financial crisis in France. We did manage to get truck footage between Toulouse and then near Marseilles and Auberon which is east of Martseilles has a free tram service and free buses in the town which was a great surprise, a small route and small tram although in Besancon its more small trams with a great route and some of the best backdrops I've seen on a new system for quite a while very impresses, hellish finding our hotel it was actually on the tram route, honest I didn't know but I don't think Mandy was entirely impressed as they start very early and we were one stop from the depot. All DVD orders in post Monday, Garden needs sorting tomorrow. Weather on trip good most of the time, its was very mixed on the trip up through France and England today. Here are some shots starting with Limoges. I'm just editing Brighton from the weekend before we left, also to come Portsmouth plus Southdown 100 before I start on the French trip! Good evening readers world wide just think yourselves lucky you don't live in Limoges or Toulouse unless you are really a trolley or tram enthusiast I suppose we could add truck fan but only if you like them stationary. so we left Limoges and had a very pleasant drive due south to Toulouse coming off the motorway so we could head towards the industrial area and look out for lorries which was a plan which nearly worked, thousands of them in fact but with road works mainly stationary until it became lunch time and they all vanished like rabbits into burrows. I tried my best and got forty five minutes but hoping we'll see some more tomorrow morning heading south east out of town towards Montpellier. we found the outer end of the teams at the north , they avoid the residential areas serving only the outer industrial areas and developments although they soon get back to habitation as you head south through the suburbs.Mandy did her best to keep dropping me off to film at bendy bits of the router, it was probably the hottest it will get this trip at twenty seven degrees. the teams were OK all the drivers waving so no problems there. eventually the tram route left the road altogether and we headed to the city centre or part of it. we stopped for ice creams and lemonade which was really a very expensive toilet stop. e then spent the evening driving through the rush hour traffic in the old parts looking for the hotel. eventually we parked up and I hobbled to find it too much walking today. having located it the receptionist suggested a route which would get the car there and into the nearby car park, hotels here are very expensive, pleasant but no better than premier inn for a hundred wuid without breakfast added. I.ll look for buses in the morning most seem outside the hotel and tramternimus is about ten mins walk away max at least I've got the lay of the land now.
we were up at four am in Sanford and very quickly it seemed on the train and bleary eyed picked up a tea at the terminal before we boarded and supped it with some muesli bars as we floated under the channel and emerged to a cold grey morning about like Kent although it soon cleared and a blue sky over northern France albeit pretty damn cold. we had three hours driving each with two stops for drinks and cakes etc and encountered some rain near Limoges as the temperature again plummeted and by the time we had parked upnear the centre it was brighter and warmer indeed quite sticky with the moisture. we were straight into trolleybus territory they have a fleet with crisalis rigids and a few artics all in the samelivery so not that much livery variation. having been a couple of times I knew where to head for and was soon getting the footage I needed especially as it was teatime rush hour plus school buses . Limoges is a grim hole full of Africans and not the most pleasant place to hand around so I was glad for Mandy that I'd got the footage already all we had to do was find the hotel which turned out to be on the Toulouse road which well be taking in the morning so already en route for the second part of the trip.
Good evening folks,a very hectic Monday evening and a busy day at work getting caught up and ready for the holiday,some good news on training business which will help the position of my work for the next six months although if euro lottery does better than the three pounds last Friday its all bets off. we set off at four pm and had an amazingly clear run down just a little slow in the m42. around Birmingham area but sailed down to Kent and had to get some fuel and we stopped on the way back from sainsburys at the Rose inn needless to say a shepeard neame pub, a really local pub and had a couple of pints of white table bay and master Brewer plus chilli con carne which come to think of it I never saw in Mexico. it's freezing cold down in Kent although I'm sure we had a first at home in Cheshire last night. a very early start tomorrow and the crossing is before six am so we should be in Limoges by around two pm ready to have a look at the latest trolleys. hopefully I'll be able to report on this tomorrow. all DVD orders are cleared today back on 21st June.
Yes once more a trip ruined by VW and their blessed Caddy van which has now suffered 3 faulty fuel injectors and this time probably managed to strand us at the furthest distance. Their VW assist cover provides AA relay but starting at just after 5 pm, with their chap in a van it was gone 8pm before we got going and after 1am when we arrived back in Lower Peover. I couldn't get Weebly site to work on Saturday night hence no blog then either so I expect we had vanished from your radar. On Saturday I filmed at Brighton in the morning and Portsmouth in the afternoon meeting very pleasant fellow enthusiasts at both locations although many locals had headed off to get shots of the open toppers at Epsom Derby. The Southdown day was truely memorable and with well over 60 Southdown vehicles and all manner of other visiting preserved buses and indeed those in operation and some commemorative vehicles amongsat them notably Wilts & Dorset it was a really great turn out. The organising team had no experience in running the Southsea rally of old although well versed in taking vehicles and stalls to the event. Typically this sort of thing involves councils and their rules and regulations , anyway the team thrashed away and turned out a suitably notable occasion to make this anniversary. I was at Amberley for the 75th, a few of the golden oldies have dropped off the roster but of course there are now the likes of Britol VRs and Leyland Nationals etc taking us though to the early Stagecoach livery so a wide span of the company's history is covered. Lots of people there, perhaps a tad too many stands as ever which will be the case at Alton but this is a source of revenue vital for the events. We had a good wide expanse of stock available and it was great catching up with our central southern friends on the coast who we might not have seen since the demise of Southsea rally and indeed when we stopped going to the Stokes Bay rally. I think there were a few tensions early on but with the obvious success all round I think most people had relaxed a little by the afternoon. Stagecoach had their special livery buses there in a display near the seafront side of the field. The sun shone for 90% of the day which was fresh but very bright as my sunburn attests, a real red nose day today. Very busy after such a late night back from the event and an early start as I had to catch up and try to get ready for our departure to France tomorrow. We are staying overnight at Ashford near the tunnel ready for an early train Wednesday morning and then straight to Lomoges my first stop, hopefully Weebly will co operate a little and allow me to post the blog each evening as we should have access most of the stop overs including our 6 nights on the outskirts of Montpellier. I'm trying to download the film from the weekend, not much chance of getting DVDs done although I might get a couple run off. There are DVDs on London and the South Coast plus the rally at Southsea, I got lots of coverage and tried to do some none bus shots of the atmosphere and crowds and team at work, a job very well done, after this Julian Bowden and team will be looking at the Herne Bay rally and more councils matters to get through over in Kent, can we book the same weather, mind you some of the buses would be very welcome as well!!! welcome to pmp on the road at the start of a very busy period wrapped around a trip to France. today we were up at 5.30 and straight down to London and despite grinding through the Midlands road works and almost getting caught up in a smash between a lorry and car near Oxford we made quite good time and arrived in our first destination of Uxbridge just after 9am and although the weather was sticky and threatened to rain as it had along the m40 it stayed mainly dry and there was franticbus activity all the time and a couple of drivers came along for a chat and generally it was probably the best session for friendly drivers I've had for a whikenorwich and Scotland could well take notes from their betters in our capital city where despite the constant traffic and challenges the drivers are gems. then we went to the small marks and spencers cafe and had my usual bakewell tart and cappacino and then set the sat nav for Hounslow where the temperature and sun were improving all the time. I've only filmed there once before plenty of buses but they all seem to head off in different directions and not everything goes in the bus station. I did get about twenty minutes and we then set the satnav again this time heading to Kingston upon Thames where the bus station was shrouded in constant fierce traffic and the town centre ships where buried amidst Thames waterworks causing havoc but I did get a lot of nice sunny shots which rounded off the filming then headed out slowly to the m3 which had just one lane working and down into Hampshire it was a crawl all the way so came off and headed on country roads down to the hotel at Eastleigh. staying at the dreaded premiere inn chain of Whitbread they tried to charge for parking but we complained and got a note from reception marked paid and booked for dinner later, my feet stuck to the floor on the eatery section not promising but the bed is comfy and the room seems to be quiet. tomorrow we are going along the coast to Brighton first and then back west to Portsmouth and then back to change and meet my sister Yvonne and Graham for dinner at romsey.
we are sticking with our visit to London tomorrow thunderstorms or not and today was a very pleasant reminder that we can have the very occasional pleasant weather its just that its so special being that rare. I was very busy at work trying to keep on top of the avalanche of documentation which follows the training and chasing the missing threads etc. I got away sharpish ready for my days leave, we went to Knutsford Waterstones and stocked up on books, I'd passed some I've recently read on to Tom Lloyd at the vicarage and he'll put them in the charity sale when hes read them. I did some cleaning work on the PMP van which is looking quite smart only I forgot the silver paint to touch up the wheel rims and some gloss black for the rear windows which has rubbed off in places inside. I used the new gloves which Mandy bought in Ireland, actually after lots of manual work out side my fingers feel very flexible and arthritis seems well at bay although no doubt it will creep back. Then I did some more cleaning on the tiny Toyota IQ which had got covered in tar the other week, still a few spots lower down and a host of flies from the trip to Darlington. I've fed the birds, watered the tubs and newest plant, Malcolm from over the road is keeping an eye out for our new ornamental sea kale which should arrive tomorrow whilst we are down south. The van is pretty well all packed save for food for Sunday. We are meeting my sister Yvonne for her birthday on Saturday near the hotel. The latest DVD on Durham buses is ready and on the shop, I'll be uploading youtube trailers this evening which leads me onto some recent uploads as a taster for the new DVD releases. Hopefully tomorrow nights blog will come live from Hampshire. Yet another very early start this morning, it's getting tooo much of a habit lately anyway it wasn't a bad run I did take the normal route over the M60 M62 but the road work section is still as bad as ever and when you get up the A1 heading for Darlington its all still slow there with more road works. Coming back over this evening I came via the A66 but it was slow as the Appleby pickies were everywhere horses, transits, caravans, carts , racing, kids throwing tomatoes at the cars - I bet the people there just love June each year. Anyway it was better weather and after a bright start and a last flurry of rain it perked up in Lower Peover for a change. I had work to do meeting the lads at our Darlington yard and trying to locate the sections of my training rig and worse of all the missing bolts to put it all together which remained missing so had to go to Middlesbrough to collect some, ordering this took ages plus inductions and the lads leaving back and to getting their offshore medical and screenings finished. I left them to it mid afternoon and popped up to Durham for a session with the camera before tramping back home. It's been a busy day with DDD orders in the post and on the net. We've loaded all the stuff bar our case ready for heading south early ( that word again) Friday morning we are filming on the west and south west of London Uxbridge, Hounslow and Kingston on Thames then to Eastleigh for our hotel and meeting sister Yvonne on her birthday for a meal at Romsey Saturday evening. The Southdown 100 event Sunday at Southsea near Portsmouth. I'm filming Brighton and Portsmouth on Saturday , back home Saturday evening. Work Monday in Tuesday morning then driving down to Ashford ready for holiday in France commencing Wednesday. Photos from Durham this afternoon. |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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