Tomorrow I'm in work to hand over everything to our team from Darlington office, not I lot I can do after that. I need to ring through to the medical managers as the bills from the hospital are spinning around as usual in mid orbit. It was cloudy in Kent but unbroken blue skies in Cheshire and quite warm but I think it has rained. I'm getting the last of the DVDs from Wakefield last week burnt as well as clips on Youtube then I need to get the covers done, I must keep on top of things as time will fly so quickly with our trip up to Lathalmond on Friday.
There is no way i've got time to go over all that was covered in the blogs on Sat & Sunday although everything was successful in many way although my knee is right up now but no bad thing as I'll be convinced to the last that I'm doing the right thing having the knee replacement. Saturday saw us filming in Romford and Stratford East of London and then the Herne Bay rally on Sunday. Numbers down both people and vehicles but great selection of buses and the weather was to die for plus the organisers handed over nearly 2000 to the hospice charity which the event supports. We had a weird evening on Sunday as the Premier inn restaurant was like a refugee camp with the nearby Harvester soup kitchen closed because of a gas leak. We ended up having fish and chips in Whitstable which at night is really not a nice place, at least two pubs which advertised food on Sunday evenings in reality were shut like all the rest, most strange no food on Sundays where do they eat. Today we were at Maidstone sharpish and then to Tunbridge Wells with 8 operators that's some head count isn't it. Well here are some shots from today. Tomorrow I'm in work to hand over everything to our team from Darlington office, not I lot I can do after that. I need to ring through to the medical managers as the bills from the hospital are spinning around as usual in mid orbit. It was cloudy in Kent but unbroken blue skies in Cheshire and quite warm but I think it has rained. I'm getting the last of the DVDs from Wakefield last week burnt as well as clips on Youtube then I need to get the covers done, I must keep on top of things as time will fly so quickly with our trip up to Lathalmond on Friday. thankfully sharp eyed Tony O'Mahony spotted that the new Hardy family bench was in place at the cemetery but found that they had spelt Berta 'Bertha' anyway nice spot and they are going to get it changed in the next week. Mandy and I will pop along and have a look and do some tidying up after I've had my pre-operation medical and physio sessions next Wednesday. So with lots happening suddenly it all seems to be falling into place and I've been emailing people at work, contacts, colleges etc and I've already got quite a collection of very nice best wishes. I'm going in on the Wednesday 19th Aug and the next day before my op I'll have off, that will the end of 40 years which have seen a progression from Wm Press & Son Ltd to Press Construction, AMEC and latterly Amec Foster Wheeler, I feel as if I'm a rat leaving a sinking ship the FW takeover really became an Albatross around their neck. Thankfully it all suits us quite well and it means that I get my notice in cash which means no tax. This will tise me over by supplementing the pension from the company until the beer money from the government starts when I'm 65. It is of course one of those major life markers we pass through, a very low key pass mind you and by now I'm not that sorry to be getting away. The training and all the work we've put into developing courses and getting government accreditation really goes into hibernation , I'll just be getting everything wrapped up and enable a smooth transition for our clients internal and external via our existing trainers. I've got the van washed along with my little car, even done the inside of the cab. Then I've loaded the Kent stock and some of our packing for the weekend. I've also done some weeding, mown the lawns, strimmed the edges and fed the birds. I'm no downloading the 3 hours of truck film I got over in the Wakefield area of Yorkshire and should have at least one DVD done tonight and the clips on Youtube. photos then from Yorkshire, there were lots of Stobarts as ever, anyway I'll be attempting to blog via the Premier Inn internet so fingers crossed and if anything goes wrong I'll be back home Monday night. It's going to have to be a quick post tonight as we have to be at a meeting for the fund raising cycle ride and walk for St Oswalds which Mandy is doing back up for, sadly I can't join in the last few yards as originally hoped as my knee operation is that day when they arrive at Chester cathedral. The weather wasn't as good as expected until late afternoon by which time I was at the Spire Manchester hospital and signed up the consent form for the knee operation on 21st August. Had a brief chat with my auntie Thelma in Eastbourne who is now well into her 90's. The forecast for Saturday is very good we still intend to cover East London Romford, Stratford, Ilford area we'll see how time spans out. I've now done my long promised return to the Wakefield distribution centres etc on the industrial estate, 2 hours of film and then on to the new location on the Europort which thankfully has a truck stop where I could park as its yellow lines as far as the eye can see. Orders dispatched up till tomorrow afternoon after that we'klll be back on Tuesday, Monday we hope to cover Maidstone and Tonbridge Wells. I'll bring you some of the trucks photos tomorrow, there was oodles of Stobarts, lost count so that should please a lot of people,
bye for now Testing,testing, 123 as they say after I risked some beans on toast for dinner this evening and await the results- I have felt fine all day the best I've been since returning from Moldova. It was something to note that it was 13 years since we were last year not eleven as we first though and I've never pt the results on DVD but that is being remedied as I type as I download the three hours film we took and I'm going to condense them into 2 long running DVDs, I certainly don't need to spin out the material. Also remember over the winter I've a mass of ancient cine film to be gone through whilst not transport orientated in particular it is sure to throw up some scenes of interest and we can combine these to bring you more archives. I've just been outside in the garage to make a note of stock required to complete our collection of Scottish material ready for the open weekend at Lathalmond, it's been pretty marginal over the past few years so please come along and give us your support particularly on the dead Sunday. The weather has just been on the BBC and it looks as if it should be warm and suny for the Herne Bay bus rally this coming Sunday, we'll have a great variety of extra DVDs on the South East plus all our regular stock but remember with the wash out last year there will be many hands grabbing at our last couple of years releases so if there is anything in particular you want contact us by Friday and we;ll put them aside for you. We'll have our full South Eastern bus photo stock covering Kent and Sussex operators plus a little on Hampshire. I'll run off the 'modern' era Kent pictures for the next rally year as there are thousands of views which we've never taken out. Remember our still pictures appear on our Smugmug site links to which are on this site. I got my statement from Amec pensions department today and there was certainly no bad news and it was much as expected and confirms my heart felt desire to slam the door on my way out. My consultation before the operation is tomorrow and I have to sign the consent form , everyone is trying to talk me out of requesting my knee bone back to mount on a plinth. We are starting to contact Hardy family members to come along to the bench unveiling on 20th September at Southern Cemetery. When I know that I'm going to retire we'll probably have a small 'do' to celebrate. So lets have a look what I have for tonight, well Greece has been in the news a lot so lets go to Athens. a long undisturbed sleep last night albeit I only had toast for two days and instead of dieting fruit I've continued that through Tuesday. Some fierce windy weather, I was at the doctors at 8am to get an appointment with duty doctor, this wasn't until 9.40 then he was running an hour late so it was nearly lunch time when I got into work. I had some routine jobs to do and as well as clearing training enquiries I managed to catch up on entering up data to create certs for candidates. It is a bit perverse that nearly everyone seems to be sat around twiddling their thumbs as i prepare to finish but I'm demob happy and still have to get through the HR meeting on Friday but before that I have the final consultation with the consultant surgeon Prf Jari this Thursday. I've now managed to make the covers for the Moldova trip DVDs and in the process discovered that I had never put the original visit 11 years back on DVD which I can easily rectify during the reminder of the week. The weather looks good down in the south east fingers firmly crossed that it remains so for Herne Bay rally and not a repeat of Herne Bay. Mandy hasn't booked our favourite pub yet until my tummy really settles down the doc gave my antibiotics or whatever and a sample has been dispatched for analysis. Foolishly I had another attempt with Orange / EE to get somewhere on the fibre optic broadband, I actually got as far a a quote but the young girl on the sales desk could nort answer any questions and had to keep stopping to ask her supervisor everything, I stopped the conversation it was ridiculous, can even Orange/EE be that bad it was the stuff of a comedy sketch. Tonight I give you the covers of the latest DVDs, the list on the shop page is updated and I added the categories for Moldova and the PMR. I had a terrible night with the stomach problem persisting right through the night and it carried on at work this morning. This Friday I have my final consultation of redundancy dealing with our HR is a bit of a joke, wonderful from the sidelines but to be a part of it isn't such a grand idea. Really I just want to get the hell out as quick as possible and brush off the dust of 40 years and get on with my real life. It's been impossible to get an appointment with the doctor as they are all off sick, I've been better through the afternoon, we've been up to Manchester to the Spire hospital for Mandy's quaterzone injection in her kneee, fingers crossed that it makes the pain lessen. My knee really has got into the renewal spirit with lots of pain throughout which with the stomach is making my very weary. I've now completed all the DVDs from last week's Moldova trip and tonight I'll make a start on the covers. I think our plan for next weekend is already set with East London destinations on Saturday and then Herne Bay Sunday, we'll come back up Monday doing Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells to avoid getting near all the problems associated with the channel. I've a lot to get done if they are going to pull the plug on the safety training at work but I could easily close it down in a sensible way with little to no disruption for any of our customers. There is a sale starting on our EBay shop tomorrow morning with all the items including those recently listed included. I've risked a couple of slices of toast for my dinner but still sticking to drinking only water. I'm loading clips from Balti on to our Youtube channel this evening, this includes extracts from the hilarious trolleybus pole erection process but you have to admit it was quick, easily done, minimum of kit and zero health and safety! The date for the unveiling ceremony for the Hardy family bench at Southern Cemetery has been set at 2pm on Sunday the 20th September, they will open the gates up for access. I'm going down to give it a clean up with Mandy one afternoon before my operation, I've the pre op meet with Prof Jari this Thursday afternoon. I'll put more info on the bench ceremony on the Hardy family site see links page and if we get it all recorded we can put it up for the family around the world to see within a day. Its due in August 22nd, they already have the plague to fit there. The clips from Youtube from our trips to Croydon and Crawley last weekend but one. A good long nights sleep undisturbed and today I'm just about in the pink again and getting back to the routine after a day of diy and decorating whilst i was well under par yesterday. I thought late afternoon before friend Sue arrives I'd have a sit and watch some tv but such is the measure of output I'm listening to my mp3 player. We did enjoy Dads Army and Mrs Browns Boys last night which seemed to be the highlites of the evening's viewing. I spent ages on the phone this morning trying to find what on earth was happening with the fibre optic broadband we now seem to have available in Lower Peover. Despite registering with both Orange/EE/BT and the local council who have subsidised it we got no work that it was launched and only found out from a neighbour. I was on the phone for over an hour and really got nowhere, Orange are the most rubbish company after opodo which reminds me we have to start the credit card security fraud report on them, please if you ever see the name opodo advertising cheap flights avoid like the plague they are a bunch of crooks. I've mowed the lawns and tidied the borders and powdered the ants plus cleared the gutters on the road outside as it gets no attention from the council. I've run off the master DVD for the Chisinau trolleybuses and the clips are going on our Youtube channel. The Transniestre and Gagauzia clips should be on later, I'm just burning the DVD. I'll probably update the DVD list later although the new covers won't be done until Monday night. As the Worthing rally was a wash out the little footage I got around 30 minutes goes on with Crawley which is also in Sussex and I filmed it the previous day. Today I'll give you sime more pictures from the Moldova trip taken in Gagauzia, a selection of trucks and buses and scenics of this tiny republic with a capital of Comrat which has 14 thousand inhabitants most of whom must have been on holiday at the time. I think most of the information is in the post title, my bad stomach continued through to the early hours and I will spare your the gory details but thankfully it finally settled down. I won't spend too long on this blog but we have really been catching up first with restoring the kitchen and editing rooms after the fitting of the new boiler and meant restoring a wall in the kitchen as a temporary or even permanent measure where the old boilier was fixed, this has given a great deal more storage possibilities should we be in a position to go ahead with the new kitchen in the coming year. It has been hard work as whilst recovering from an illness I was obviously slightly jet lagged after the flight from Chisinau to Istanbul and then on to Manchester yesterday morning. Anyway it took us all day to get the jobs done including a trip to B&Q who seem to be having a help the customer campaign which is a novel concept for them and for a first time ever they give some service but not cutting timber to size or anything really meaningful. I managed to get the Croydon and Crawley DVDs done , I might get the covers done tomorrow. I've loading the Croydon clips on our Youtube channel please remember to click on an advert or two each visit. Then We hung out the tarpaulins to dry but then it rained for the rest of the day. I filled up the bird feeders but the flapping tarps frightened off none but the most brave. This evenings photos are from our visit to the PMR or Ttransniestre, I'll cheat a little bit with another description from Google of this weird little country the capital Tiraspol is almost as quiet as Pyong Yang but not nearly as forbidding and the trolleybus fleet is great.Transnistria (also called Trans-Dniestr or Transdniestria) is a breakaway state located mostly on a strip of land between the River Dniester and the eastern Moldovan border with Ukraine. Since its declaration of independence in 1990, and especially after the War of Transnistria in 1992, it has been governed as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR, also known as Pridnestrovie), a state with limited recognition that claims territory to the east of the River Dniester, and also to the city of Bender and its surrounding localities on the west bank, in the historical region of Bessarabia. The names "Transnistria" and "Pridnestrovie" both refer to the Dniester River. Unrecognised by any United Nations member state, Transnistria is designated by the Republic of Moldova as the Transnistria autonomous territorial unit with special legal status (Unitatea teritorială autonomă cu statut juridic special Transnistria),[3] or Stînga Nistrului ("Left Bank of the Dniester").[4][5][6] After the dissolution of the USSR, tensions between the newly created Moldova and the de facto sovereign state of Pridnestrovie (which unlike the rest of Moldova did not wish to separate from the Soviet Union) escalated into a military conflict that started in March 1992 and was concluded by a ceasefire in July 1992. As part of that agreement, a three-party (Russia, Moldova, Transnistria) Joint Control Commission supervises the security arrangements in the demilitarized zone, comprising twenty localities on both sides of the river. Although the ceasefire has held, the territory's political status remains unresolved: Transnistria is an unrecognized but independent[7][8][9][10] presidential republic with its own government, parliament, military, police, postal system, and currency. Its authorities have adopted a constitution, flag, national anthem, and coat of arms. However, after a 2005 agreement between Moldova and Ukraine, all Transnistrian companies that seek to export goods through the Ukrainian border must be registered with the Moldovan authorities.[11] This agreement was implemented after the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) took force in 2005.[12] Most Transnistrians also have Moldovan citizenship,[13] but many Transnistrians also have Russian and Ukrainian citizenship. The largest ethnic group is Moldovan (32.1%), who historically had a higher share of the population, up to 49.4% in 1926. Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia are post-Soviet "frozen conflict" zones.[14][15] These four partially recognized states maintain friendly relations with each other and form the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations. (Says it all really!!) |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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