I was going to go filming lorries today at Uttoxeter but the weather in the North West was dreadful, very different from the weather forecasts so I ended up staying at home warm and dry and carrying on the good work I had done on a very long working day Thursday, however we were already going to eat at the Crown this evening so I wrapped up everything at teatime. I've now got 8 films on the PMP shop as digital downloads being the last 8 releases. As the outlook for tomorrow is even worse I imagine we'll get a few more uploaded. On the positive side I completed the latest Bus Spot Ultra production on Dundee following through on my promise and next in line is Hull. I also managed to get our Amazon shop updated, there were about 35 DVDs which needed adding, they all went on first try but Amazon are rejigging the whole upload procedure and it will be a shambles again after Christmas, leave things alone when they work! We had venison casserole and an extremley creamy creme brulee tonight. Going to catch up with some telly now! Here are the latest DVD releases and digital download DVDs. We like to do what we say and as promised we now offer digital DVD downloads at £8 a film, save yourself a lot of hard earned money and ourselves from all that copying, packing and posting- just go to our shop and pick digital downloads, from September 2018 all our new films will appear here. I've only just started the uploads, a full DVD takes about 20 minutes to upload. Hopefully I'll find time to go back through other recent releases. I've also loaded the DVDs from Heaton Park plus Devon and Cornwall on to our ordinary shop page. This damp cold day has also provided the time to sort a lot more photo files, I do need to upload them to the Smugmug site where you can now also download as digital images, there is even an option to purchase them for commercial use. So lots of things happening , I've also tinkered a bit with the shop in general a few things will l hopefully work more easily. I hate visiting sites which never update, don't you? It shows either that the owner is dead, couldn't be bothered or done nothing. I got the latest Northcord model last week, it's a Stagecoach Oxford version, very nice, not too much to detract from a standard Stagecoach Enviro MMC , sometimes it pleasant to skip adverts and route brandings. It was surprising to see so many new buses from First down in Cornwall though. The weather tomorrow looks to be cool but a lot of sunshine, planning on being on the A50 near Uttoxeter, the roundabout by the services. If your driving past please give me a toot! I'm going to spend a few moment releaxing before we go to the Crown for a couple of jars this evening but first let me get those DVDs digitally available for you, go on give it a try you might like it, nearly half price, can't be bad. Shots from Cornwall tonight. We managed to arrange a meet up with sister Yvonne and Graham just off the A30 near Indian Queens where are ways divided. We had a good day filming at first Penzance then Truro and finally at Newquay. The weather despite a forecast of cloud all day actually turned out to be sunshine all which was very welcome and caused no troubles filming at the given destinations. The big problem last night was getting home, the M5 was closed and the M6 had lots of one lane only sections and a lengthy standstill near Stafford. We got back about 12.45 and were really ready for bed, it is a long drive back from Cornwall without all those additional hold ups. We couldn't catch up this mornitg by laying in as Mandy had her ct scan appointment at Macclesfield hospital. We got there quite early as the rush hour traffic wasn't as bad as anticipated and they called Mandy through son after arriving. All we have to do now is wait for the feedback. I've already started editimng after the rest of the morning was spent working out way through a pile f DVD orders. Good news the digital photo downloads on Flckr/Smugmug site are really starting to move, loads of options for size of file etc and it is still possible to order prints but I think the downloads will be much more popular. It is now down to me to suss out how I get the video downloads uploaded to our shop here on Weebly plus Smugmug, I hope to have both operational soon and prices will be very competitive and allow for the savings on material and postage. I've edited Heaton Park and just burning the master for Exeter buses. Next will come Plymouth then a long running programme on Cornwall. I've not even looked at options for later this week, I believe rain is on the way but it has been clear and sunny today in Cheshire. Photos from Monday starting at Exeter. We were up early this morning and grinded slowly down the m6 M5 finally arriving at exetEx at about 9.30 this morning. It was much sunnier Bryan predicted, it took a bit to suss out the layout of stops with the partial closure of the bus station although many routes do still use it. Once I got started it got a bit easier but there wasn't much that was new but what there was I got good coverage of and after a midday snack we headed up to Plymouth arriving before 2pm again it was brighter than forecast which made it a struggle to get good images but eventually it settled down to a cloudy sky but bright and I'd wrapped it up by 4pm. Then it was down to camborne and the wetherspoons hotel which was a bit of a gamble but we have been well pleased with the room and enjoyed a superb Cornish sundse which was a delight. Tomorrow we film at penzanPe and Truro plus perhaps Newquay, waiting up to catch the weather forecast, if cloudy as supposed I will start in Penzance but Truro is best in cloudy conditions when I can get shots from the bridge looking down.
It was good weather at Heaton Park , the afternoon was quite hot and we had lots of pleasant time chatting with our myriad friends there. However on the negative side we had very poor sales albeit up on last year which was a wash out. We have decided that we will attend nothing after Showbus until spring 2019 when the opening of the season will be Cobham at Brooklands covering London and Detling for Kent the same weekend. In the summer we would like to carry on with Alton and Worthing in the South, Taunton if the running day is back or Plymouth if that ever gets back on its feet for the South West and then Lathalmond for Scotland. Showbus unless it ends up duplicating an existing location. That does leave huge areas from N West N East, Midlands and Wales not covered but our growth will be in digital downloads which become standard for new releases ( as well as on DVD) both through this Weebly shop and also through our Flckr/Smugmug sales outlet where digital photo downloads are already in place. I think when we got home today the fact that there were three times the amount sold at the rally online says it all. This site already sends DVDs around the world post free, we love the international fellowship of transport enthusiasts and downloads really open many avenues in lots of countries particularly in the developing world. Hopefully we shall have platforms which are accepted in China although EBay has never taken off for us there. This seems a moribund way of selling, perhaps that will drop off at some stage. We'll do the above rallies for two years and then intend to stop taking the stand out, we'll retain th PMP van and new tent as it's handy to have a van and it's a back up vehicle we can both drive. This would open up more events to just visit and film and not be tied to the stand, it's soul destroying for Mandy sitting there all day and winter is a no no for old hangers or museums. I think attending as a punter will be more liberating and the imperative to make sales removed makes lots more options worth pursuing especially for those who like the running day aspects. So with immediate effect around two thirds of our sales stock will be used to fulfill online or post orders with new covers and printing if required, the hope to sell stock of cheap was futile, sorting them out and blending in the truck, Scottish and Irish stock will take some time, we'll hang on to the Scottish for our two last events at Lathalmond, we may have a stock clearance sale their next August as a lot of items have far too many copies in stock. The price of printable DVD discs is rocketing due to a shortage of raw materials, China soaks up nearly every mineral these days for their own needs, online downloads gets round that obstacle. You can keep in touch via our blog , by phone and email. We shall continue to serve older customers who have no internet access but this will fade away with the passing years. Somewhere along the line we'd like to have an IT savvy young entrepreneurial enthusiast who can maximise the huge potential of the PMP archive online into avenues we haven't dreamt of. With 50-70k hits a day on Youtube, 43k subscribers and 200 countries and territories viewing each day the possibilities must be enormous. I would like to think by our 70's we would be enjoying the filming and travel aspects alone. Meanwhile before we head off to Devon and Cornwall we leave you with some scenes from Heaton Park, there will be a DVD of the event. A very busy day, the badger attack last night was quite destructive but at least I caught sight of it's escape route and had a hygiene clean up and a few smells down to put them off and reinforced the defences along the bottom of the hedge to rear of the garden. They are obsessive diggers and seem to just like digging holes. Then I got on with the days planned work, painting the greenhouse, long, tiring, hard work, frightening working over glass etc but eventually I got it done and had a read of the papers mid afternoon. Then got the DVD stock right up to date for the Heaton Park rally at Manchester tomorrow. A chance of showers so the new PMP branded tent will see action for the second time. Hopefully it won't actually rain as that would help packing away, last year was the first of two washouts at Heaton Park and then Showbus. The Penrith truck DVD wouldn't burn last night but I managed it this evening. There are of course a few half made projects resulting from more 'quiet' destinations and distant. We'll find something to go with Lancaster and when I get to South West Wales we can finish that with the scenes at Aberystwyth and Cardigan. I'm adding the latest DVDs to our shop. I'll update Amazon and EBay next week. We've had the first downloads of digital photos from our Smugmug shop, thousands and thousands of shots for you to work through covering old, new, local, abroad, bus, tram,truck,trolleybus and more. Here are the covers of the latest DVDs. We have got all DVD orders to date sent off in the post today, anything received now onwards will go out on Wednesday after we have been to Macclesfield hospital for Mandy's ct scan. After Wednesday as a rest/ catch up day I should be getting out on Thursday or Friday dependent on the weather. The programme for Devon is Exeter and Plymouth and we are overnight in Camborne at the Wetherspoon hotel and then down to Penzance and Truro and see what time we have left. There is a chance we may be able to catch up with my sister Yvonne and Graham in Cornwall as they are on holiday in Devon and are thinking of visiting the Eden project. I've some editing for the Battles Over commemoration on 11th November, that should have it finished so I can put to one side, handing the files to Roger who is co ordinating the evening which we'll miss being in Madagascar at that time. |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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