Greetings readers worldwide a bit more straightforwards tonight rather than Colombo last Saturday evening we are now in the premier inn at bellshill near Glasgow with a very poor modern version of dr who on television whilst waiting fit casualty. My coat is hung up drying out still after acratherboffbthe mark bbc weather forecast said there might be very scattered showers which turned out to be monsoon rains in Ayr and Glasgow .we didn't set off too early so eventually woke at 6am and then set off up the m6 to arrive in Dumfries just after 9am and found that the local services no longer go around the riverside stops but have a turning circle on the town centre. I was surprised to be greeted by one of our friends from the borders chris baker who had travelled from beattock to meet us. We actually got about 20 minutes of film and had to push on to Ayr where the heavens opened. I got soaked bybthevrakn and by a loony local driver who delighted in laughing through a huge puddle and soaking me on the pavement. There wasn't much variety in Ayr and once again we pushed on tonirvinecehere sunshine now posed the problem but eventually we had an hour of hard early footage and set the sat nav for bellshill and the premier inn. After a wash and freshen up we went to dinner at the slobs hotel nearby which had some nice background music from a quartet and singer but the food and service wasn't up to our last visit but the atmosphere had been great. We had set up at Bridgeton museum in the Late afternoon and then the next lot of monsoon rain came down and we found we wre under several leaks in the roof but thankfully had a waterproof sheet to the stock. The forecast for sundar is good but who knows what will happen .
I finished getting the stills from Sri Lanka tidied up ready to upload on our Smugmug site where you can purchase them from just 50p each but the memory stick wasn't large enough capacity so I'll bring the rest home from my works computer next week and get them finished off. It's continued to be lousy wet weather but with the promise of sunny weather we are sticking to the wide open roads of Dumfies and Ayrshire for filming tomorrow on our way up to Glasgow for the annual Bridgeton running day, a super event which these days always attracts enthusiasts both from England and Northern Ireland. We've just finishes packing the last bits in the PMP van and we shall hopefully be at the museum setting up about 4pm tomorrow. We will be going to dinner at the good old Alona hotel by Strathclyde country park where they have plenty of fudge to kerep my sweet tooth satisfied although I'm arealy pining for the Sri Lankan dessert Wattlehappen, apologies for any misspelling but whats new there the. Just been watching out friend Tony O'Mahoney's sessiomn on the television re the BBC player, he was on a diary programme which featured him as the birdman of Southern Cemetery which I introduced him to for iots bird life back around 1970, happy days indeed and it was Tony who kindly passed on the almost full set of Manchester produced Catonsville Roadrunner magazines which I helped put together back in the day, now highly sought after and listed in the great libraries and repositeries of the world, who would have ever though, got another spliff anyone. So I've also just finished editing the last of the Sri Lankan films and got all the DVD covers, they are all listed in the shop section of this site and available, they will all be in Scotland with us. Lets hope a lot of you manage to come along, as ever the whole stiock of our Scottish DVDs will be there at amazingly low prices just for that discerning Scots customer. I'll give you links to another couple of our Sri Lanka Youtube uploads and then I must have dinner, it was a red letter minus day as we had no post, mind you with the roads around still blocked by road works perhaps it will be midnight before it arrives. Please, Please Please remember to click on an advert or two each time you visit our Youtube clips as it helps keep the whole thing afloat! More clips going on tonight including more lorry scenes. I've got a sort of Lower Peover Ebola cold, well its better than man flu and clears people out of the way quicker. I'm now running off the penultimate Sri lanka DVD which is the best of the lot, its a very long session I had in very bad air conditions near the port access road in Colombo. You wouldn't want to have seen the colour of the flannel that night, it took three washes to get rid of the particulatews even after I'd taken a shower, Mandy would have been mortified. You'd think with that lot in my system a cold wouldn't stand a chance, anyway it's not really too bad and long may it stay not bad but quickly please depart. It's pub night which should be something of an adventure as the Plumley Moor Rd which takes us to the Golden Pheasant is plagued with roadworks and is supposed to be closed, I think the whole thing is something of a bluff to reduce traffic while they fix a few more cables under the road. Talking of traffic the whole of the North West well our bit anyway was gridlocked this afternoon after two wagons made mincemeat out of a car on the M56 east bound which needless to say was still blocked when i came out of work and Mandy from her Polio Fellowship meeting in Ellesmere Port. We were probably only a few yards apart at the start but I kept cutting across country and managed the trip in 21/4 hours, Mandy was another 15 mins sticking to the main roads. I made progress with the planning for our February trip to Dubai, Bangladesh and Calcutta and finally found photographic evidence of deckers working outside Dhaka, this confirms my choice of second city to visit to the ship dismantling city of whatsit, memory going oh yes Chittagong. Anyway I'm pressing forwards with it and praying that travelling companion Martin has a rapid fix on his bad foot.John Bishop has arrived back from their Italian tour of trolleys and trams, word is that the Rome trolleys look to be displaced by new buses. Anyway I'd better draw to a quick close and give you a few more clips from this recent trip before we set off to the pub. The 4th Sri Lanka DVD from our recent trip is now burning the master disc on the computer and three are already loaded on to the shop page although it took a few tries as this Weebly site seemed to be playing up a bit, perhaps its the weather. Mandy has been busy getting all our warmer winter clothes out as the heating is turned up. She has also cleared the remainder of DVD orders and has been getting the top up stock for Scotland ready for loading in the van for the annual Bridgeton bus museum running day in Glasgow which is this coming Sunday, hoping for a clearance in the weather by then. On the Saturday we are hoping to cover Dumfries and then the Ayrshire coastal area which we have neglected for a wee while now. We are staying at the Premier Inn which gives easy access to the nice restaurant near the Strathclyde Country Park, already looking forward to plenty of fudge, I wonder if they'll remember my ultra sweet tooth, talking of which we are now on day two of our weekly fasting diet, the dates from Marks were particularly nice but couldn't beat those at Dubai Exec lounge on Sunday. I'm still a bit tired in the evenings as the body swings back those 6 hours adrift in Sri Lanka but it's getting better now. We are having some moments curled up by the fire catching up with telly recordings. The cleaners were in today, they are cancelling their holiday to Spain because of the Ebola outbreak and don't want their grandchildren at risk, they were aghast when Mandy told them it was caused by people eating monkey meat infected, they are now cutting out trips to Chester zoo. The editing process fits in quite neatly with the rest of the evening as I just have to bob up the stairs now and then, I've been doing plenty of that at work today, hectic or what, still trying to catch up with the holiday week and with our trainer off its been mayhem. I'm now looking at the arrangements for the Dubai, Bangladesh and Calcutta trip in February, time seems in short supply this year, we need to set down and see if there are any possible dates to go down to Hampshire and over to Ireland before Christmas. Tonight a couple of the Sri Lanka clips which are on Youtube, lots more to go on tonight. I haven't brought you the viewing results for last month but I don't think regular readers will be that amazed that Mansfield clips are now in 1st and 2nd place, why? any vestiges of the Indian summer are now well gone as a wet icy blast has ripped across the north of England bringing localised flooding and treacherous driving conditions. I've just added the first of the Sri Lankan films to the PMP shop, it threw a bit of a wobbler as I had to create a new category for that country but I expect it will settle down, there may be a couple of items for the same DVD. I'll get the updated list uploaded later if my hands thaw out enough. The central heating is already coming on twice a day but this will be supplemented by the gas fire as we attempt to settle down and catch up with some television this evening. Mandy has bashed on through the DVD orders and got the majority in the post today. I was busy interviewing apprentices at the Maritime college in Birkenhead, I'm still a bit in catch up mode at work particularly as our main trainer has had to take a few days off due to his wife's illness. The dark evenings don't do my to lift the spirits although in Sri Lanka it was dark early and because it was warm it didn't seem to matter that much. I mentioned the Dublin Port rally a few times and we have had a chance to review at attendance there a week ago courtesy Mandy and friend Sue who did very well despite rain which arrived midday despite the weather forecasts which is typical Ireland. Sales virtually all went to our friends from Northern Ireland perhaps they are already more familiar with our sales stand at venues in England and Scotland but ROI material really didn't move at all and what did was photos rather than DVDs, A shame really but encouraging enough for us to have another crack at it next year. When we download the photos from Mandys camera we shall have a few nice shots which Sue took. I must remember to take some clips off the videos and put on Youtube I must be getting out of practise, its amazing how much a week away takes it out of you! Here are the covers for our first two Sri Lanka films. Greeting from the heart of PMP Films as we resume normal service after a week on the road in Sri Lanka. The last couple of memory cards are being unloaded as I type and with that task completed I hope to get the first volume of our bus coverage done before Many arrives home with Sue later this evening after their stay in Ireland. I'm looking forward to hearing how the Dublin Port rally went, although as she hasn't been mentioning it I expect it fell short of expectations but we'll see. Our next rally will be this coming weekend up at the annual Bridgeton depot running day in Glasgow, the stock was packed before I went off to Sri Lanka so just these very latest films to add and we are raring to go once more. We got the quotes through today on the February flights to Dhaka via Dubai and stop off on our way back at Calcutta where the tramway is at long last mainly open with the majority of main routes working, for a time it looked as if it was all on a slippery slope lets hope that they have a great future as India looks at clean city transport options. Talking of which the traffic in Colombo was anything but clean but everywhere they have emission testing stations, perhaps they just test but then do nothing as my flannels were black when I washed. It was inevitably a hard day back at work catching up on things and my trainer's wife had been taken ill and thankfully our operations manager stood in at the last minute. One of our longest serving engineers lost his wife over the weekend after a fairly lengthy illness, managed to sort out a sensible sympathy card, so many are just OTT. I managed to get a lot of stuff sorted as tomorrow I'll be out interviewing apprentices at Birkenhead, there seem to be a rush of meetings coming up this month plus I've some trips to site to make for safety briefing, this may prove fruitful for some stop overs with the camera if the weather is kind. This morning the weather was nothing but bad with string winds and heavy rain, this seemed to have a knock on effect with the traffic which was grid locked throughout much of the North West of England, it's a bit better now and I've been out to feed the birds who must be feeling neglected. There was a small bundle or heap is a better word of parcels from around the globe parked in our greenhouse with Atlas EBay orders being delivered whilst Martin and I were living the high life in Sri Lanka. It's certainly one of the most humid of destinations and sweat running down your face and into your eyes makes filming a bit of a challenge. I'm going to give you another series of taster photos from the trip this evening. I'm quite looking forward to seeing the results especially as it was often challenging. The people on the whole were much better than in 1980 when begging from adults and most children was rife, things have changed a lot in that respect. There are large shanty areas in towns but this is now more the exception although I read that the railway into Jaffna due to open soon will have few if any Tamil speakers on it's staff. A feeling of inclusion for all their people will be hard to realise with that attitude. Interesting to see the towns picking themselves up but a lot of hidden scars besides the minefields and bullet riddled buildings. Yes I'm back, I've just unpacked p[honed Mandy over in Ireland and stacked up the post and downloaded telephone messages. No need to eat as I seem to have spent all day at the trough in lounges or on the planes. Home on time and swiftly back from airport with the excellent Arrow cars. I'm also downloading some of the films which should be coming off the production line from tomorrow night. Its all a bit of a whirl at present but hopefully normal service resumed tomorrow evening.. off to bed Hello dear readers world wide we are nearly half way home just a seven hour flu got from Dubai to Manchester . I hope that many of you have been following our adventures I think we gave around eight hours of film and possibly he first scenes taken of buses in Jaffna trincomallee and batticolea . We did miss getting scenes of the three deckers but did verify their continued use visually and we also go t enough for two lengthy truck films with a lot of classic leyland content. I'm not sure just how many still shots there are I've never discovered the button for that yet. I'll try and get everything ready for posting out on Tuesday morning, Mandy returns from Ireland on Monday. It's frightening how quickly the whiners come in if people don't get stuff in a couple of days despite holiday settings and my constant blogs on our pmp site. We will now be looking at arrangements for the Bangladesh trip in February which will also probably take in Dubai tram and certainly Calcutta. I might have by one to blog tonight but until then I bet its not 37 degrees where you are sitting and if it is I hope you have plenty of ice in your gin and tonic
Greetings to our thousands of kind readers scattered around the world. Here in Sri Lanka we are having a delicious evening meal at the ozo hotel it doesn't get everything right but two evenings in a row and at buffets to boot I've managed to cobble together a good meal tonight it's been medallions of beef with roast pots and market veg, I had to drain the juices fro m the beef dish to get a gravy but it worked just fine. Starters were a different kettle of fish who ch as astute readers will know I'd not my thing so I had spicy stuff with pineapple chunks smothered in Parmesan cheese not everybody's first choice but it really was a small choice which wasn't fish and no cheese either , the bread was yesterday's stale stuff left to garden for a couple of days it's still sitting there even after I suggested it would be better binned rather than used as a negative advertisement. Lots of japs arrived who are eating with gusto all the bits other people didn't want. We've been following the news of co ruse and fully expect internment for ethnics to have been introduced , Martin is afraid he may have to shave off his beard and do scarf the towel that is wrapped round his head which was keeping the sun off armed with the buffet knife he caused a little alarm to some American tourists but then seeing as arf the guests are mbo's one even then with sunglasses I guess we are all afraid. No not turning racist heaven forbid and I'm certainly not turning into a ukip person but perhaps a survey of suitable uncomfortable islands may be of use shortly when we sift though the population perhaps modelled on the people's democratic republic of Australia who really know how to beat North Korea at their own game. Hong Kong rumbles on but here in Sri Lanka they believe in strong government and everybody is free to vote for the most popular Buddhist candidates especially those belonging to the government. Actually very no ve people throughout our trip and the country has made great strides since my 1980 visit the health education roads etc although the buses are similar as are the railways. On the way back from Halle where we went today down south in tourist land where the nudist beaches were full we went via the new motorway coach service and came back on the minibus on the old road which passed through bentota where we stayed in 1980 and obviously the tsunami reeked havoc and there is still a lot of evidence of the destruction caused . Getting nearer Colombo out of the dark with the fruit bats soaring overhead came lumering into site was the unmistakable shape of an at latest and unbelievably followed ten seconds later by a metro bus with no chance whatsoever off catching them and this the last evening of our trip why really was a bit of a downer but at least we can confirm that they were on routers 100 and 130 respectively and good luck to all those who follow in our footsteps may they miss the dog muck and not get hit by passing cars as I did near the hotel down a small road after dropping off by our Toyota cruiser. Flights home in the morning via Dubai Martin and I split flights there I hope to blog late evening UK time so signing off for now and as tony Hancock said cq cq anybody out there.
Greetings readers world wide as we blog on the road from Sri Lanka . It's national no smoking or drinking day in Sri Lanka I don't think that we'd accept the nanny state that much in the UK thankfully for small mercies the mini bar has a couple of cans in it. I caught the early train from handy while Martin had a nice breakfast and came back by the later morning train and in the process managed to catch sight of the Routemaster in kandy, we'd been on the tight place the day before but never caught a glimpse it was outside the municipal market , it vanished and I guess went off to the botanical gardens. We had a good meal at he clove villa mini hotel in kandy which is highly recommended although breakfast was a bit of an ordeal as everything is done to order at length . It's been a mainly cloudy bright day and of course hot but not scorching without full sunlight. I think I've broken the world record for picking up so many particulates on my face still had to have a third wash after shower. We are back at the ozo in Colombo rooms great but bar staff are snooty actually other than the rooms and food the rest falls short of expectations plus they tout for trip advisor reviews with reductions on future stats which of course breaks all trip advisor rules. Other the he tuk tuk to kandy station early today I used public transport by train bus bus again then train back to the station near the hotel although nearly go knocked down by tuk tuk on pedestrian crossing which is generally wel observed. I did get about 80 minutes of trucks today and thus includes a fair number of leylands from classic years which should be widely appreciated and he photos should boost the current range available on the net don't forget our still photo sales are from just 50p per photo. We aren't quite sure what we should do tomorrow but it will not be an early start as well have that on Sunday god he flights home. Still managing to keep up with corrie and emmerdale via YouTube!
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