We had a very pleasant meal out last night the restaurant is very near the hotel and wasn't too much of a jaunt which is as well as my legs were near dropping off. A bit of a Kate night really but I slept fairly well and was up ready for breakfast at 7 an once more, I discovered that the hotel breakfast boasted more than just cake but nobody had ever shown me and it was amongst the area used for their noodle bar not somewhere I'd be rooting about in anyway this evening I discovered that there is a Waitrose around the corner so I stocked up on snacks and done fruit for tomorrow so I don't have to worry about finding a shop , it isn't the same standard you'd get in UK and it was full of svetlanas and a carier bag cost about 20p. I went up to the top of the hill at the naxxor quarry's and got just over an hour of film the temperature was warm and subdued light at that time of day really just right for filming. Then I wandered around picking up a road back towards the docks and found no boats unloading so I did some film on the dual carriage way after I'd taken the strange week days route through the harbour which takes you past the hills of the old bus fleet which has been evicted from storage inside giving way to some song contest which you could hear in the back ground, this doesn't bode well for the buds which are already in a poor state although each has a sheet in the window with its number and Malta heritage on but I wouldn't think that many will ever make it to a museum best key the local operators have them back and let them don't hem up and restore the traditional service. Round the back of the dusk carriageway I wandered around as there were a few oldies going there noticed this before the stench should have been the give away its the public abattoir . Then I spent the afternoon at the roundabout in the road back in towards Valletta from the airport I spot I found a few trips back and great exempt it rained and I sheltered under a house canopy it's up for sale so I don't think anybody was about. A first ever I got some anise from a passing Maltese van driver also noted that they are now in to the covering their face with their hand or papers when they see a camera, very rare but an alarming new tend for the island no doubt spread from the UK via east Europeans. The Africans now gave huts replacing their tents and seem to be employed ever more widely. I got a wide range of lorries and cans today it's harder to get really old gens these days but still much of interest from leyland, Bedford, scammels , and a few odds and ends . I fly tomorrow evening and leave the car at the airport about 6 but bit could be a lot earlier as there are storm force winds in the morning so I can't see me standing on hill sides I'll consult with the lads this evening we are meeting up in the Scotsman pub. Pictures probably Thursday ill blog from the airport tomorrow evening.
Day two was better for hot sunny weather and the absence of the strong winds . Tomorrow marks the start of the working week and I turn my attention to the lorries after having really given the buses a pretty good bash. I met up with Carl and Glenn last night at the small Italian restaurant nearby we are all staying quite close at Spinola bay just up from the love monument which spoilt the backdrop of the bay in photos but now they've put some small advertising hoardings up on the bus stop on the bend which destroys the shot altogether. I may be tempted tobdovsome night shots at some stage but after a pretty hard days filming my leg and knee don't really want to do snything much . We are meeting up with the bus club on a group visit I think there will be nearly ten for dinner which will probably fill the Italian restaurant there was a queue last night I wouldn't mind giving the Irish pub a hk one night with done Guinness. I started out with a quick trip around the docks eyeing up locations ready for Monday then went back to Valletta and did shots from the bottom end of the bus station as they leave I didn't do much there yesterday as the weather went downhill. Got some great shots they were setting up ready for the Remembrance Day ceremony but there wasn't any formal diversion and services and traffic were just excluded from driving down floriana . The I went to Paola and the sun came out again after a few dark clouds passed by with a tiny drop of rain. Nothing much different in the bus front although I'm sure I'll get some more stuff amongst the trucks next tel days. I then went to the built up central areas before ending up at biggiba and then up towards Gozo end with some nice elevated views before I took the roads to west side and then ended up at medina where I finished off the lads cruised by in their hired car thought at first it was more locals a bit heavy with their horn. The roads have got worse but helped by the storm which has wasted away the surface in places and thee are still areas where they haven't gathered up the fallen trees. I slept ok through the bad antics of pace ills on Saturday night as the double glazing is enhanced by ear plugs and cesk bitter. Mandy is still at sues they went to another national trust property but shell be home tomorrow and get all the DVD orders dispatched . I might go and gavexacread and relax for an hour we are all meeting up at 7 for dinner we had coffee at mc cafe last night before bed with the panoramic via of the buses which ae quite intense tight through the night on a Saturday there we quite a few sights to behold.
Greetings from Malta which at present is fair heaving with transport enthusiast . Ryanair were their usual obnoxious selves but the lounge offered cream teas at Liverpool . As I went to get on the Ryanair woman grabbed my hand luggage which is all I have and said it had to go in the hold I decided it was best to do direct action and not argue so as I walked across the Tarmac I just ripped off the stick from my case and off the boarding card hiding the bit that showed something had been torn three was no problem getting it stowed and I had a really great flight chatting to a lovely couple from Liverpool who were on their second Malta visit. The hotel is good in bits like very clean but breakfast was useless and it is slightly noisy but bearable but nothing English language on the television and the only free wi go is in reception areas which is pretty well back in the dark ages . The weather was great first thing this morning at Valletta but later turned into short sharp showers and remained on and off all day tomorrow might be similar. There was plenty of bus action going on around triton fountain area and I did manage to cover several more of thenpopularcareas such as sliema. It's about twenty degrees in the day if you get wet is drugs quick. Day two of bus coverage tomorrow may do a bit of the remembrance service bus diversions but I don't want too much Valletta when there are so many other areas to cover. A fair number of truck gems being used in new road construction and an interesting truck scene at st Julian's bay with Bedford tuk uploading a wrecked car at sea level in stormy weather . It was good to be able to catch up with friends from England some from Manchester bus museum and a lot from another group on tour. Off to bed now and ready for an early start on Sunday morning.
Well here we are on our adventures once again this time to that transport wonderland that is the tiny island state of Malta one of the smallest in the eu which perhaps we may not be members of for that much longer. The weather today in Cheshire had been pretty dreadful and coming home from work there were flooded sections of road. Last night we were at the Halle in Manchester the traffic getting there was horrendous as usual which must turn a lot of people off going to events I. The city in the evening and of course this is the city where the chief constable has said he wouldn't venture alone after dark. The concert was fine although it was the sponsors evening when they also invite along a huge bundle of sprogs last time we were seated too near for comfort this time they were at a safe distance and were shepherded out before the applause had really got going. Sir mark elder sported a red poppy I thought he may have chosen white anyway these days he seems to be able to reconcile his pacifism with history and heritage and this was a concert derived from those dark days a century ago when the First World War started it included regard last Great War work with much thunderous backing as possible for the forces of soprano choir and full orchestra plus the Bridgwater organ. I would have thought the experience memorable for the kids. Butterworts brief piece before he was killed reminded us of a composer who died st the outset of his work and that he had destroyed a lot of his work before he left for the front he died in the last days of the war. From Nordic depression via a piece for John Pearse some not so familiar yet stunning music for a more subdued orchestra linked the Irish heritage and the days of 1916 when another fight for freedom started. The trip home was a lot quickens than getting there and we caught up with the soaps before bed both of us ready to travel as Mandy after dropping me off at Liverpool airport was heading down to friend sue's at Cannock and they leave early Saturday morning to join the millions who are making the pilgrimage to view the poppies at the Tower of London which really seems to have caught the public imagination more so than much of the pompous ceremonial. The installation which has a poppy for each of the commonwealth or empire fallen will in theory be dismantled from Wednesday armistice day onwards but there is a clamour for it to remain a while longer. The atmosphere there has reached its own subdued respect without any bidding of those on high. It is difficult to hide emotions I know last night at the Halle many were near tears in the first half of the programme. Today at work was also very memorable for all the wrong reasons as the alarm was raised fairly early on this dark wet morning when one of the lads fell from a ladder, it looks as if he has avoided serious injury and come away with little more than a severe shake up and a gash on his face although it seems miraculous after the long drop he made, I guess he had an angel sitting on his shoulder.
I can't say that Liverpool airport holds much attraction but neither dies travel by Ryanair but both have improvement as a theme and so far the passage through has been a pussycat compared with the louts who run the security section at Manchester where I was pushed and kicked earlier in the year when they stoke the tiny little gizmo which tightens the legs of my tripod which ties in well with the run down of Britain to a minimum pay paradise manned by people not of own own heritage if I'm allowed to say that without facing more threats of prosecution. Well one day come the English spring when the fires burn in Whitehall we shall be able to get revenge on the sods who sold our birthright down the river. How we ever had to endure the Tories once more I cannot imagine and I weep when I think of my youngest political days when we fought the Tories with the liberals as the only moral alternative and loom where that has ended at least we can understand the Tories and where they are coming from but where on earth did the liberals think this sycophancy would get them in the long run. Of course a few days on Malta and you realise that even Ireland or Italy are sane when you consider their Byzantine ways and after the bus service disaster with German Arriva they are going to launch into an even more unpopular period with a Spanish outfit who will double the fares and halve the services.im hoping the wind will not be as bad as forecast as it soars up from Africa across the Mediterranean as it is more tiring than the heat of mid summer there. I'm hoping that there will be the usual Sunday Remembrance Day bus diversions at Valletta which produce done nice shots in the side streets leading to town , I always leave he car down by the old railway shed cum cafe and dock and walk up over the hill although whether my knee is up to that sort of thing I'm nit so sure. More tomorrow after a day on the buses and back at the hotel at st Julian's bay. Good evening folks, readers, customers, friends, relation, lost, lonely etc here is a short quickie for today as we are just about to leave for the Halle at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and traffic can be pretty gruesome of an evening heading into the city. I did a fair bit of tinkering with the Bangladesh travel plans for next February, should be nearly there by next week although Martin my travelling companion leaves tomorrow for Laos and Cambodia whilst I wing off for a short filming trip to Malta. It looks as if it will be mild and mainly dry but with a lot of wind straight up from Africa so like filming in front of a hair dryer. I did a lot of work yesterday evening on the Yorkshire archive, its getting near editing time, I want to try and stop Bradford overpowering everything else with masses of trolley footage which I do possess.
So off now, I'll do a blog from the airport lounge en route tomorrow, next pictures will be Wednesday Many people have constantly badgered me into doing another volume in our regional archive series featuring Yorkshire, this has been divided with the first volume concentrating on West Yorkshire although as the Ridings and boundaries and local government changes have happened so much has changed with the bus services that it's quite hard to know what to put in and leave out. As we have oodles of South Yorkshire material mainly centered on Sheffield I suppose we could let some places like Selby into this volume, I'll just have to see how the editing process goes on. There are some wonderful scenes taking us from way back before the war in Huddersfield through the Bradford trolley jubillee of 1960 and then the phasing out of trolleybuses, the RTs of Bradford, Leeds and the PTE and other proud companies municipal, independent and groups. What wonderful days these were and it is a pleasure to relish them all in detail sometimes almost frame by frame trying to squeeze as much footage as possible into a state worthy of viewing, whatever happens it will be a whole lot better than the videos we once produced where they were third generation copies and no computer editing to compensate the exposures, saturation and sharpness. I've also been digressing into watching adjacent material and look forwards to another archive on the East Midlands some time as well as the South Midlands. I think there is also another Scottish one due some time but I've lost track a bit. I've quite a few tapes which have been copied off cine which aren't on the database another job that really needs some attention from me just to fill in any spare moments I might have. We got quite a lot done today and that included getting a lot more detail with our guide done for the February Bangladesh trip which also takes in Dubai and finishes at Calcutta, I fully intend to get some truck film out of the trip as best i can. Then tomorrow evening we are out at a Halle concert in Manchester and then that's the week gone as I've just been checking in for the flights to and from Malta which i leave for on Friday afternoon. Busy too at work proper and still plenty to do tomorrow. The next week I get back to work Wednesday and have a conference after college apprentice reviews so a bit of a short week in the office. It's bonfire night, can't believe after all the displays around here last weekend anyone has fireworks left, a lot of money going up in smoke there. Times then is short so I leave you with a few Yorkshire Shots . Hello everyone, its about hour 16 of my working day up at 4 this morning and one the 7 o clock flight to Aberdeen, long queues at the security in Manchester airport, always very bad that early as its all the business people like myself going off for meetings. Anyway I had a couple of bacon baps that they do in the escape Lounge and then up we flew, plane was early, bus was outside only i had to get some money from cash till as I'd gone casual but left dosh in suit trouser pocket. The Versa of Stagecoach shook rattled and rolled very swiftly but i wouldn't have wanted to go much further in it, seats very comfortable and it was clean but the blessed noise it made especially revving too highly at lights or held in traffic, its only £3.50 return from the airport for the day. It took a short while though and I leapt out at Marchisall college stop but the weather was cold and wet but as I had an hour to kill I had my still camera and took a few shots as I wandered eventually down to the docks. There is only so much walking that my knee can stand so wandered in for the meeting, not the first nor last but hot drink and biscuits were much appreciated as it was so cold. The meeting was productive, I'd swapped dieting days, really didn't need dinner when i got back but can't tell Mandy that! One of the delegates had the same hand problem as me only further on with two operations which had been quite successful, full details ensued which I will try to forget and I will NOT be watching him do it. I walked around a bit on my way back as I had much of the afternoon to kill, my colleague I think was tied up doing some urgent training, again the walking after airport corridors etc was too much, I've got a few nice shots but Aberdeen on a cold wet November day is fifty shades of grey only someone has already used that , oh well some photos and some of the Metrolink shots I've uploaded on Youtube plus I'm still making progress with the West Yorkshire Regional Bus archive DVD. Well here is the NHS website description, the consultant at the Alex in Cheadle says wait until I can't place my hand flat and then it is time to operate, too early and it risks regrowth and too late well its just hmm too late. Dupuytren’s contracture is a condition that affects the hands and fingers. It causes one or more fingers to bend into the palm of the hand. It can affect one or both hands and it can sometimes affect the thumb. Dupuytren's contracture occurs when the connective tissue in the palm thickens. Often the tissue thickens in one small area first and a “nodule” forms (a small, hard lump about 0.5-1cm) under the skin of the palm. The nodule sometimes feels tender to begin with, but this usually passes. The nodules are non-cancerous (benign) and the condition is not life-threatening for those who develop it, although it can be a nuisance to live with. Over time, the nodules can extend and form cords of tissue. These cords can shorten (contract) and, if the cords run along a finger or thumb, they can pull it so it becomes bent towards the palm. These contractures are often mild and painless, but they can get steadily worse over time. Sometimes, the term Dupuytren’s disease (palmar fibromatosis) is used instead of Dupuytren’s contracture, because not everyone with the condition will develop contractures. I was in work first thing but left in good time as the M56 has a new lot of roadworks near Mcr airport. I had the car loaded up with computer equipment for returning to our head office at Knutsford. As promised I stopped off and got some more lineside shots of the airport line on its first fare paying passenger day, the weather was mainly sunny but chilly, I could stand a dose of that next week in Malta. My knee has been terrible for these last two days and hardly seemed to go down last night, I can't risk anything too heavy duty like diazapan tonight as Mandy takes me to the airport very early tomorrow, the flights at 7am, I'm up at Aberdeen for a meeting, I've declined lifts as it's easy to get an all day bus ticket from the airport and the bus station is just a short hop from the venue down by the docks. I'm just finishing the Metrolink DVD and will have the Lincoln Running day ready either tonight or Wednesday, I don't get back tomorrow until late evening. Photos from todays Metrolink first fare paying passenger day. And lastly congratulations to our friend Albert in Barcelona who is now a grand father! Hi folks, it's evening here in Lower Peover and we are just warming up a flan in the oven for a late tea. Today was the annual winter running day at the LVVS needless to say in Lincoln where the museum spreads its wings over kindly loaned business premises adjoining the museum and puts on a running day display perhaps only beaten by Alton. The weather was very damp first thing a horrible drive, the satnav took us over the M62 and then down the M1 and then over the toll bridge to the museum whilst coming back it decided to take us along the new road towards Leicester and then towards Nottingham only problem being that its a sea of cones and dazzling lights on a damp evening, horrendous journey but we actually arrived home to the exact minute that the satnav had predicted, clever things most of the time but why there one way and back another, strange. Anyway we were quickly set up in a reasonable spot perhaps only slightly overpowered by Bus & Coach Preservation who were inches from us and even put their DVDs on a table that adjoined us anyway not to worry, we were about 30% down on last years event but actually compared to some of the years events that's not so bad but hardly justifies having a stand there. The variety of buses each year is obviously always going to have the museum exhibits as a corner stone and then a great variety of visiting buses lends the mix which makes it such a wonderful day. There is adequate but minimal marshaling, no sea of yellow vests although the cones along the road outside the museum were an eyesore but what can you do. We saw lots and lots of people we know and managed to establish that Carl from Arriva will be over in Malta next week when I go so I'll be able to get all the gossip. It was also good to catch up with Graeme and Sue from Halifax and Ralph twice in a week now plus Mark Senior who reports back that Sue is now undergoing chemo once more but it worked last time so holding her in our prayers once more. Nicky and Chris att TTC who were holding off selling at a near loss in the now very competetive world of bus models, buyers could get some real bargains. The cafe seemed to be making the biggest sales which is obviously a great revenue source for the museum, Mandy had home made cakes for moi throughout the day. I spotted a couple of buses on route out of Lincoln that we hadn't seen , goodness knows where they were hiding all day. Julian had his broad range of mas, books and models etc, must get a booking form for the Southdown 100 event, come to that we'd better start looking at next years calendar courtesy of Dick Gilbert of Skyline Aviation who keeps it up to date and provides the best source of rally info there is. It's going to be a hectic week coming up, some photos below needless to say from todays running fleet and then tomorrow I see the consultant about the problem with my right hand with the developing contracture of the ring finger, no fun this getting old lark. Hopefully a few minutes of the first day of fare paying passengers on the Manchester airport tramline . Then Tuesday up in the middle of the night to fly up to Aberdeen for a meeting, Halle at Bridgewater, Manchester Wednesday evening and Friday teatime i fly off from Liverpool to Malta and come back Tuesday night. A dark dank autumnal evening in Cheshire but a successful Saturday for us. We decided to cover the trial running on the Manchester Metrolink trams out to the airport but what i didn't realise was that the first proper passengers would be today as it was running free rides from 10 to 3 and it wasn't that long after I'd arrived at the airport end nearest home that there was a slight delay after a normal service had started in bright cloudless skies and then the first load of passengers cruised past into the airport, thereafter the passengers came out to most of the main spots along the line. I got a superb cab ride whilst the sun was perfect from Wythenshawe civic centre to the days terminus at Barlow Moor Road. Then I road back with a very good driver, much smoother operation and did his own live announcements of stops so good that I did another cab ride after reaching the airport all the way back again to Chorlton where I caught up with Many in the car and then went back to do some more lineside shots as the clouds came over and the temperature dropped. All the drivers and staff were friendly and helpful, hopefully it will remain that way, I've not had the inclination to get the other 'new' lines done saving this up for winter when we don't want to travel too far. We then decided to call it a day and headed home feeling quite tired with all the fresh air as it was quite breezy. I'm hoping the weather forecasts looking ahead for Malta next weekend aren't right as they are telling of more storms to come after a sunny Saturday but a lot can happen in a week, my hope is to cover the buses on Saturday and Sunday and then get the trucks Monday and Tuesday, I don't get the plane until the evening so four full days. I've got a hospital appointment on Monday at the Alexandra at Cheadle which will give me a chance to catch a few linesides of the first fare paying passengers journeys on the airport line, I've already nearly finished editing the film , it will be 90 minutes long, I'll pop it on the net and send copies our from Tuesday. Tuesday I'm flying up to Aberdeen for the day for a works conference I'll be back on the 6.30 pm flight, a long day after a very early start. Tomorrow Sunday it's another early start as we go over to Lincoln for their running day, always a good turn out, hopefully the rain won't last too long and we should get sun at some stage a mixed blessing this time of year. Projects on my plate are the West Yorks regional archive and the West Midlands video archives I may just fall asleep this evening rather than bother starting either! Shots from todays first passenger services etc at Manchester airport tram line. |
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