The weather looks very good in Moldova and hopefully also fair enough for next Sunday at Worthing rally, if you didn'tt make it to Alton try Worthing, we'll have plenty more copies of Southdown 100 run off by then. There was a good internet haul of orders over the weekend and lots from the latest Buses mag on the phone today. I'm just burning the Reading buses DVD and clips should be on the internet later. Reading forms the slide show as filmed on Saturday. Next weekend we hope to cover croydon and Crawley being on the way to our hotel at Gatwick.
The woodpecker seems resident morning, noon and night at the moment. after the weekend away the bird feeders were all empty needless to say now they are full with diners a plenty and one of which has just provided the Sparrowhawks with dinner. Such is nature and the wildlife in our garden. I noticed that there were hedgehog dropping in the garden again but we don't see them now as its so late when they emerge from their nests. The garden looks very well after the weekend no doubt it rained here a bit, the late summer flowers are taking over, lots of reds and yellows very bright everyuwhere plus an area of pinks several plants across, the from bed need weeding but i thought as i'd remembered to get the touch up paints from Halfords that i'd take care of the van which needed some black inside the rear door panels which had scraped on the stock inside over the years and the wheel hubs which needed a tidy the first parts to get a hint of rust but again needless to say not dressed for mechanics or painting the paint went adrift in the wind and I've got some on my pullover although the path scrubbed up clean. The weather looks very good in Moldova and hopefully also fair enough for next Sunday at Worthing rally, if you didn'tt make it to Alton try Worthing, we'll have plenty more copies of Southdown 100 run off by then. There was a good internet haul of orders over the weekend and lots from the latest Buses mag on the phone today. I'm just burning the Reading buses DVD and clips should be on the internet later. Reading forms the slide show as filmed on Saturday. Next weekend we hope to cover croydon and Crawley being on the way to our hotel at Gatwick. it's a bit of a nightmare trying to blog on the pad I think it's all around the thing updating apps when you turn it on. anyway we did do Reading as planned its a breeze these days when the revised bus flow not only for photography and video but it saves my legs. actually the knee held up well and when it doesn't hurt it makes me think I'm doing the wrong thing with the operation. after reading we went on to Bracknell which for a smaller location has lots of bus action, there seems to be construction work going on at the bus station. then it was over to Guildford, expectations of school buses in the afternoon were dashed as the kids seemed to finish for the summer hols that lunch time. today meeting up with my sister at Fareham and going down to Dorset. Hope to see my sister Margaret later on she has had a knee operation. the weather forecast for Alton has altered yet again and after a wet start it should be dry by the time most people have arrived. Well its now Sunday evening and the blog never did work on my pad so here we are back in Lower Peover after a very good relaxing Saturday other than getting stuck in jams due to accidents in boths direction to and from Dorset. We ate far too much including a giant Dorset cream tea and an evening meal with real ales near Yvonne's in Hampshire. We traveled up to Alton from Eastleigh this morning in a more hopeful mood as the weather forecast had bucked up and in the event it was a mainly warm sunny day but very breezy. The rally was superb, it just seems to get better every year and for once our taking were up on last year, only just but perhaps a sign that things are starting to move and a heavy 'post bag' on the net so Mandy will be busy in the morning. We saw lots of people we knew and caught up on news and had a great journey back up to Cheshire with no break downs not like last years journey back on the AA truck. Phots from today at Alton. We'll be on the road for the next two nights with a stay over in Hampshire, en route we'll be filming at reading, Bracknell and Guildford and possibly on Saturday morning at Southampton. We are down for the annual Alton rally one of the largest events in the preserved bus calendar and attracting all manner of vehicles particularly buses which start pouring into the site before 9am. The huge free bus service links up with the Watercress line steam railway or so I'm told never having actually made it that far. After the disaster staying at a grotty hotel near Alton last year we;ll be at The Premier inn in Eastleigh which is handy for visiting my sisters down in Hampshire. Yvonne and Graham are busy with a house move down to Hythe near the New Forest hence the reason we are in a hotel rather than staying. We are hopping for a family day out on Saturday but it probably won't kick off until lunch time hence the hopes to film in Southampton.
So much to see at the moment as fleets take in the new models and not long to the next change in registrations. I met Mandy at Cheshire oaks M&S at lunch time and had a Mark's Bakewell tart which is always welcome, we'll tuck in again at Marks in Reading. I've downloaded some clips from the new A41 Whitchurch truck DVD and these will be on Youtube this evening. I've cut the grass and tidied the garden, its looking a bit brown on the front lawn, the back is always more moist and looks a treat. The birds are still eating us out of house and home and the woodpeckers are now seen at all times of the day, the birds seem to have taken to the fruit and nut mix very well, certainly much better than plain peanuts, on diet days it almost makes me feel hungry. We could still do with more hits on the adverts on our Youtube channel which seems to be languishing in the doldrums this summer. Thankfully the weather forecast for Hampshire seems to be dry right through to the end of the weekend. I've some quite old enamel bus stop signs being sold at Alton for the first time plus that Southdown Motor Services coach traveling blanket. I'm now busy arranging events around my knee replacement on 21st August, cover for work ( if I'm still there) and appointments to hand over mentor ship of apprentices etc. Some recent releases on DVD, all on the store page of this site plus our Amazon shop and selected items only on EBay often at reduced prices and limited duration. I'm pleased to say that we've now added a new location to our truck films by way of the balloon trip. We had seen the amount of lorry traffic on the A41/49 road and thought it may make a good location for our DVDs. I waited until the weather forecast was good and I had some available time, a morning would have possible been even better but when I'm retired I'll be able to pick and choose such things. Anyway after scouting all three roundabouts on the Whitchurch bus pass some several times and film taken at each plus on the road heading back to Chester I've got well over an hour of film and this will be getting edited this evening. Work not surprisingly continues to be hectic although I did start a major clear out in my office and the recycle bin is already overflowing. We are having our central heating boiler replaced while I'm away in Moldova with Martin at the end of the month. This works out quite conveniently for us. Mandy has been totting up our shekels and making sure we can ride the tide after the final pay check in October. Between now and then there is my knee replacement. I was in touch with Ed at Dublin reference their September rally which if we make it will have to be a last minute decision. We had intended taking the full stand with us and still hope to do so although I think I'm being continuously over optimistic on just how much I'll be able to manager, keep the pain killers rolling is my usual answer. I did manage to finish putting the sound on the 5th Scottish social history film which unlike the others carries a minority but interesting selection of bus scenes on trips north of the border on a Alder Valley Dennis Loline. I'm burning the disc which should be just about ready, I need to take stills for the cover, this together with all other Scottish releases will be on sale at Lathalmond, the Bridgeton event in October should also be a goer if my knee is healed enough. Anyway tonight's stills are from Whitchurch earlier today. Perhaps just slightly less news tonight although it is never dull around here. A slightly better day weather wise and tomorrow is set to be the best day of the week and I've an outing planned for later in the day and ffingers crossed the truck fans get a new location. It is the last day of my week long sessions of blood pressure and it still looks very good against the readings at the surgery which must have been a result of the white coat syndrome. I had a long chat with John Bishop down in Hailsham and perhaps John, Martin and myself may all meet the following weekend at Worthing rally. I filled in the forms for the Spire hospital and they'll go off in the post tomorrow plus I made the two weeks before operation appointment with Prof Jari and updated the company medical admin people. Still no news on my pension statement which makes planning ahead so difficult approaching redundancy. I managed to finish off trimming up all the remaining Kelsall rally photos plus Lymm and Stoke trucks, the balloon flight etc which I need to file and upload on our Smugmug site see links page, you can purchase prints there from just 50p each. I've been out in the shed cleaning up the old bus stops signs I took down from the side wall, many back to 50/60s and solid enamel mostly with a variety of wording most from Southdown and Eastbourne disposals back in the 70's. They'll be on sale at Alton and Worthing. Left over from Southsea is the genuine Southdown Motor Services blanket which will do the rounds a while longer before hitting EBay. When I was changing after work I noticed a chap with a really useful long extension hedge cutter anyway had a chat and he came round to our place and took off all the apple tree branches overhanging our drive from next door which David planted not long before he died and thus our neighbours widow was loathe to have it cut down but just inches from the boundary its a nuisance. He had lots of gadgets and we loaded the waste into a builders merchant bag and he blow cleaned the drive. I must remember to comment on Coventry parks department's wild flower roundabout, the best I've ever seen. Links to recent Youtube uploads. Damn I just knew it , Monday the 13th unlucky for some. The weather is foul with humid but damp and cloud all day and quite dark. It was the day for the progress meeting on my redundancy but nothing new had happened, the company confirmed that they don't pay one penny out just the government money which does happen to hit the max so its not all bad. I was expecting my colleague who was attending as manager to come to the offices at Ellesmere Port but late in the day we decided it would be better if I went to the contract at Warmingham which was pushing it and it was gone 10am the meeting time when I arrived, the wet weather always slows the motorway even when the rain is light. I waded down through the gooey white paste that is the road surface and reverse parked at the appointed place whereupon a few minutes later one of our lads came in to tell me my tyre was flat, yes I'd reversed right onto an offcut of sharp metal left on the ground. There is no spare so after the desultory meeting Alan kindly got the wheel off and pout it in his boot. We sussed out the nearest tyre centre and went to National at Crewe. Thankfully it was a repair rather than a new tyre and I'll claim it back. by this stage myself and car where getting white at dusty ghosts. I couldn't believe where the day had gone and I needed to get back to my own office but be the time I did that getting the car washed en route it was just time to clear emails and pack up ready for home, a;so glimpsed at the hospital info for the knee replacement operation and pre op appointment. Mandy got a consultation date for her blocked tear ducts over the phone, the nearest hospital wasn't available until September but Macclesfield could do it August, big deal that's just to see the consultant the procedure will no doubt follow much later. Please please hit the adverts on the Youtube clips when you visit, the hit rate has been in free fall for the last month although I see that we are now starting an upward trend once more, we need all the pennies I can get if I retire.The photos tonight are the Warwickshire ones postponed from Friday evening. spending a Sunday at hoke together can prove quite a quest for survival so what were the chances of surviving retirement and being in the same place for much of the time. The Weebly site was a bitch again trying to load the new DVDs on it with the category box disappearing for the umpteenth time. When you contact them like Amazon and Ebay they just come back at you with some really stupid question like have you got your computer turned on or such rubbish- I know they are Americans but surely even they must have some grasp of English. A sod of a day really trying to get the hedges cit and then the hedge trimmer goes up in smoke so I had to go to Northwich B&Q to get a new one, what a place they have an old chap greeting you as you enter but if you need assistance there is nobody around, the biggest issue there is have you a club discount or discounted clubs card, if we go on a Wednesday we get everything for half price because we are old and can join the wrinkly set on their otherwise quietest day. The hedges are cit, the birds are fed and flocking around the full feeders. I finished the Luton and Milton Keynes DVDs and clips are on Youtube. Talking of which we are desperately short of hits on adverts on your visits, without clicking on an advert it is worthless to us putting the clips on the net unless of course you go on to but the DVD which are all on our shop. I put the cars back on the drive, unwashed a job at position 2 or lower which wasn't reached. The hedges and lawns etc behind our garden a unkempt and no sign of them tending anything this year, likewise either side of us we are now surrounded by weeds. Its a good job its not the peak of my gardening life I'd be after blood by now. Its been quite busy for orders on the net, perhaps its the weather cooling down. I attempted to book Mandy in for her blocked tear duct operation but the stupid site wants a different pass word than the one we've already set up for the NHS, what a waste of money they have shelled out billions and it is still easier just to phone up. The photos today are from Milton Keynes yesterday. Lets hope I have more luck loading the photos on this evening, on the good side and there isn't a bad one my knee held out a lot better today and the weather in the south was a whole bundle better than it was oop north as we returned home it had plummeted to 15. There were more orders in the post than on the net, we have a sale on our EBay shop should you be looking for DVDs, I'll update the list and upload it on this site later. A win on the lottery wouldn't go amiss this weekend but failing that I think my mind is more sert than ever on retirement and I'll express those wishes at the interim progress meeting around it on Monday , yes my whole life is a whirl of hospitals and retiring, they'll be putting me out to pasture. There was a budle of hospital bumpf yesterday which I've stuck in my briefcase , I'll have a look through at work. Mandy has been lining up jobs for Sunday, cleaning cars, topping up bird feeders, clipping the back hedges just to start with, the alarm clock is firmly off for Sunday as we've been up at work time or a little earlier today and started off with the crawl along the M1 which we hadn't realised was so bad. We did good time though and were in Luton ready to start filming by 10am. At first I couldn't figure out what had happened to Green line buses and after a while filming at the old stops followed the buses along round the back of the shopping precincts and found the busway crossing and then to the right by the railway the new bus station, inevitably there were a couple of fellow enthusiasts to share notes with, one hadn't realised that there was another location having arrived by train, there isn't really one spot where you get everything but a combination of the old town stops and the busway bus station pretty well clears up the majority and includes a new service from Metroline. The was plenty of activity and before midday we were on our way to Milton Keynes and started off with lunch at Marks & Spencer's where thankfully there was no queue involved. The sun was less prominent now as clouds were gathering but for buses Milton Keynes provides virtually non stop action and especially for the south of England lets you enjoy a variety of operators of all sizes and even adds route brandings and odds and sods to the mix which makes it a great stop over. The drivers throughout were really friendly and just one miserable lady driver from Arriva who put her hand over her face as she drove past , blind faith will get the passengers through, actually I would have thought it was dangerous driving at least and warranted a fine , endorsement and disciplinary action from Arriva - when the day comes and a bus crashes through this silly reaction something will no doubt happen, knowing our luck they'll ban bus enthusiasts! Another warm day and the further south you go the hotter it gets I bet that London was up near 30 once more. Anyway I've been struggling around on the knee which doesn't really lend itself to walking although standing still on a spot isn't that much trouble. We've got some superb footage from Coventry to bring you on a very long running DVD which will also include a brief visit to Rugby and then Stratford upon Avon. Coventry was very interesting with the new National Express deckers on the Birmingham airport run and there were also some equally old Mercedes still kicking about. Stagecoach also varies like mad from ancient to not so old and on between the other Warwickshire fleets from smaller groups and companies. Coventry produced a very friendly squad of drivers, great weather and lots to see. Rugby is best forgotten, I couldn't really think of anything positive to say and it really makes me glasd that I haven't wasted time on the place for many a long year, gone are the Warwickshire independents of long ago and mainly Stagecoach with buses running in from all directions including Northampton. Stratford upon Avon, not so much activity there as would be on a Saturday which in school term time surprised me and nothing new since out last visit although Johnsons give it a unique bus flavour and adds variety. Again the weather was great down there and even if the vening rush hour traffic is fierce we'd never seen the toll road so busy it was up north on the M6 where it all eventually ground to a halt, we came off at the turn off with the new roundabout at Sandbach which is supposed to ease the problems on the slip road although surprise not it didn't it seemed as bad as ever and a total waste of money. I'll get the Warwickshire DVD ready tonight and hopefully clips on Youtube, it last forever but hopefully it will just fit the limit. Photos needless to say from Warwickshire and tomorrow we shall be out and about with the camera heading down to Luton and Milton Keynes. We hope to cover some London destination on our way to the Southern rallies and know we are now overdue to do Romford, Stratford etc but once retired and my knee recovered we can concentrate on these things. Sorry Weebly just won't upload photos this evening! I can't start with I've been busy as that features too often but it's the truth. Anyway at least the weather has bucked up a little and after the hectic and sometimes traumatic day it was almost therapeutic to rip up some of the species geranium in the borders which chokes all the other plants and is a pernicious weed here. I got a quote on the flights for the May 2016 China flights but i need to tie in with the others first and see what they want to do, it's Air France and works out well from Manchester, I've used it a couple of times in the past although once they couldn't land at De Gaulle and I lost the connection and the ground staff all went and hid, they are much better in the air. We are off down the Pheasant this evening, the new summer beer was launched last week but its a bit too pale for my liking, we are meeting Tom Loyd there and perhaps it will be a Guinness evening. I feel quite chuffed that I'm on top of the garden despite my knee and everything else but the test will come on Sunday when I tackle the hedges at the bottom. I finished the Balloon DVD over Whitchurch last night and post clips on our Youtube channel. When I have a quieter day at work I'll bring home the next batches of photos to load on our Smugmug channel. I've put yet another brief sale on our EBay shop should you require any of the more recent releases. The full range as ever on our own shop and at Amazon which has produced most of today's DVD orders. The next DVD job is really to try and get the next Scottish social archive finished off, I'm well on with the picture side of the production. I'm trying to find a minute to speak to my sister Susan and Graham should i ever get a minute and bring them up to speed with retirement and my knee operation. We shall be covering buses over the next few days and releases should come over the weekend. We are having some extra time in Kent after the Herne Bay rally, hoping to cover Maidstone this time plus trucks at Dover. Here are the Youtube links to the balloon flight clips. |
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