Tonight as well as running off the Trafford Park truck DVD master I'm also copying some Standard 8 cine film, its two reels of a Norway tour undertaken in 1961 giving about an hour, about as good as amateur cine can get especially considering the weather and difficult lighting conditions ion those latitudes. I'cve found that the smaller cine size which was favourite amongst most people entices the photographer to undertake shots of all manner of street scenes and not eschew the trams and buses as is the case with the chauffeured 16mm rich folk who stop he film at anything which smacks of ordinary people preferring the natives to be lined up for shots. Photos needless to say from todays truck session
I can't believe we haven't already done any filming at Trafford Park as its a superb place despite indifferent weather this morning. We were up early and off to the VW dealers ready to get stung nearly a grand getting the van services. The mileage may be low but we hit all the renewals on length of time rather than the mileage. So it was new this and new that all the way. While it was in we set off to find good spots around the park and decided that the roundabout near by was a good shot. Later I realised there is a container port or transfer area further up which looked a likely spot for another day. We are sure to return there soon and this gives yet another new location and of course does prompt me that i need to get some bus coverage in this week. The weather and our chores can sometimes dictate matters but I'm looking out for windows of opportunity all the time. Tonight as well as running off the Trafford Park truck DVD master I'm also copying some Standard 8 cine film, its two reels of a Norway tour undertaken in 1961 giving about an hour, about as good as amateur cine can get especially considering the weather and difficult lighting conditions ion those latitudes. I'cve found that the smaller cine size which was favourite amongst most people entices the photographer to undertake shots of all manner of street scenes and not eschew the trams and buses as is the case with the chauffeured 16mm rich folk who stop he film at anything which smacks of ordinary people preferring the natives to be lined up for shots. Photos needless to say from todays truck session The knee is playing up today the worst for many weeks, I assume its just another period of adjustment as it eventually gains full functionality but if it persists I'll have to get it looked at, its not pain as such but the swelling prevents full movement such as getting up stairs without using the hand rail, strange as when I was at work it was mandatory to use a rail, now its my prayer never to use them! Mandy was doing her modelling for the potential consultants at Oswestry today, they seemed a brighter bunch than previous batches according to Mandy who is getting quite expert on it all. I had jobs to do as Mandy set off after we had clocked up another £60 worth of post which included a mix of DVDs and cine film I'm selling on. We seemed to do very well yesterday at auction, its a lot quieter today. Christmas cards mostly done now the last few friends and family off in post in the morning, it began to get a bit of a chore, starting out it's easier. I went to Chelford and picked up a sack of sunflower hearts , back to our old supplier, bit far to go to Ellesmere Port pet superstore just for that. They had some Christmas tree lights and we've just found the timer and set them to an acceptable pattern, at least I won't frighten myself in the middle of the night wandering what the flashing lights are. There were a few calls mostly rubbish stuff and although another 3 films to post the DVD side has gone quiet today. Mandy is cleaning the house as the cleaners are here tomorrow, don't ask! I've made a start on the Standard8 cine films, a bit of a mixed bag, some nice shots in Calcutta including buses and trams in 1964 and a trip to Norway in 1965 with amateur standard 8 film at its very best in all respects, a bit like the old Hi8 or Mini dv at best is almost rivalled HD. There are of course a few relatively duff ones which I'll be happy to give the low down on as I sell them, a bit of honesty seems to work and doesn't really inhibit sales. A quick link to a clip from the shots at Liverpool docks yesterday and tomorrow we take the van in to the VW centre at Trafford Park in Manchester where we hope the weather is suitable to allow filming of the lorries there. The clip didn't upload Youtube are having lots of problems this week anyway loading again fingers crossed. I wasn't that sure what I'd be able to do today given the variable weather around, it did look as if Merseyside would be sunny late morning and after getting a rather huge load of film and DVD orders ready to post I shot off over the M62 to the docks at Bootle and there was a clear blue sky. The temperature had soared to a balmy 16 degrees and it was a pleasure watching a very varied parade of lorries passing by, goodness knows what it will be like when the new dock is ready for the larger ships it pretty hectic there now. I did try using the 101 call to let the local police know i was filming in the vicinity of the docks but after 6 attempts I gave up. With the yellow hi vis vest one I didn't get a second glance although the drivers had mostly figured I was friend not foe although as the sun was behind me it was a hard job for them to get a focus on what I was doing although there were a lot of last minute waves and a lot of lights and a few toots. I'm just making the DVD of the visit, tomorrow I'll probably be coping the smaller format cine films and Mandy is going to Oswestry hospital for her annual genea pig act for the consultant exams there. Wednesday we have the van in for service at the VW dealer in Trafford Park, we are going to try and get a film rattled off there as it would add yet another new location to the list and we are there anyway! Thursday Mandy is out and I'm keeping my eye on the weather for bus films. I do need to get some bird seed in but i've put enough out for the little blighters that should keep em going for a couple of minutes. I did unload the van ready for the service and there is no point having the stock sitting there through the winter months. I gave up trying to fix the flood light in the back garden and we've called the electrician in to fit a new LED one. We got the outdoor Christmas tree dug up and trimmed off the roots and planted up but we couldn't find the outdoor lighting set so something we require to purchase. Our usual thanks to the volunteer staff For probably only the third time ever at Boyle St Manchester the Sunday return was better than Saturday, mainly I think because foul weather stopped many good customers attending yesterday. It's a long weekend starting with set up Friday afternoon then all day Saturday and the inevitable collapse after lunch when everyone vanishes and the languor of Sunday sparked up a bit this time thankfully. Little wonder then that most people have had enough mid afternoon and want to start making tracks home. For us it's no great hike but even then a pile of internet orders at home wait to be completed, one bag full by yesterday evening now another bundle, I'll hopefully be able to clear them all for Mandy, we really relish the idea of knocking off the alarm tonight, I'd better not forget then. The weather has now eased but little comfort to the many thousands flooded or without power. I took a look at the forecast going forwards this week mindful of filming opportunities and it remains variable, a possibility is that I'll get away late morning over to Liverpool docks where sunshine is promised but then it was promised last Friday and clouded over 100% on the A50 near Derby. I has suggestions today that Pontefract and Castleford would make a good duo to film, if a day looks suitable I may just try them always looking for something different. We were down a bit on last December at Boyle St but with the net sales probably the same, it's always a good chance to catch up with friends and share experiences and share knowledge. I'm trying at present to get on the subscription list for the Jotus model Bombardier buses, its strange that by the time you hear they have often sold out, same problem with those from Australia. I did pop out in the afternoon and take some shots outside Boyle St, an eclectic range of visiting buses and some very good ones indeed. Our usual thanks to the volunteer staff at the museum for providing such a great weekend. The North West of England certainly came in for a bashing today as the wind and rain lashed down overnight from Friday and many people stayed off the roads while up in Cumbria flooding threatens lives in several towns where evacuation of residents is under way. No wonder then that several regular customers at Boyle St failed to show, fingers crossed that as the storms abate people will be able to travel tomorrow albeit there could be line blockages on the trains. I know that numbers through the door at Boyle SDt were up to normal levels but this is usual and like Lathalmond where statistics seem to defy reality. Still as we came home to a fair scattering of DVD orders its no wonder that we cannot win at all locations after all the numbers of customers hasn't soared that much just the means of purchasing has shifted to the internet. I know this as I'm one of those who has moved in that direction. I did pop my head out of the door at the museum early afternoon, it was still raining but i grabbed some shots and these are they with Mandy's car seen next to the Ribble coach outside the museum. This evening after eating a hearty meal of bullfighters stew which was three days in preparation and thankfully provides enough for another 3 meals I had enough energy to replace the DVDs sold and match up all the orders received, I do need to get covers fitted though. Our first heavy flow of Christmas cards and as Mandy wants a traditional Christmas there will certainly be no lack of these and unlike previous years more than a representative few on display around the house. I hope to get some more cards written later this evening, when we get back tomorrow I'll try and replenish stock but its our last sale before Boyle St again in the spring. We received the 2016 dates and I'm adding them to our rally calendar for next year. Boyle St are having another big orange event next autumn which proved very popular at the Manchester City football club car park a few years back, the biggest muster ever of ex Mcr orange era buses. now we aren't restricted by time I thought we'd leave a tad earlier to set up at the Manchester Transport museum at Boyle St but there were more than ever there already so next time we'll just go that bit earlier. Everyone reports that the motorways seem very quiet. I know that another bout of severe wind and rain is forecast but that doesn't usually put anyone off. Up in Scotland bless their cotton socks they'll be fuming at jams with the Forth road Bridge shut, looks like remaining that way for a bit as its falling to pieces already. This morning i was going to film trucks on the A50 in Derbyshire with sunshine being promised which not surprisingly turned out to be cloud cover which would have better suited a town or city visit but I wanted to get back at lunch time for the Boyle St set up. Anyway its been mild but you wouldn't know it. Today has been the first quiet day so far in the Christmas run up with only a couple of PMP orders. The cine films have been going well at auction and I just need some of the overseas bidders to cough up the cash, annoying isn't it, why buy if you aren't in a position to pay. I've loaded the first of this latest round of 16mm films on EBay plus they are on Youtube, a couple of nice construction equipment films for Euclid and Poclain from way back in USA.Anyway they are up there ready for you to bid. Looks as if it will be wet and windy for Boyle St but better Sunday. Goodness knows what next week will bring, I try to get out and film at least three times a week but December isn't that easy. We didn't go to the pub as I was out of it with my cold yesterday so will go tonight, worst of its gone now. I washed both the cars today, filthy weather. I also put weed killer oj nthe random growths around the edges of paths and house. I mowed the front lawn, not the back which is far too wet, looks better for it. I was up most of the night as the hacking cough wasn't going to let Mandy or Sue next door get to sleep so I gave up and came downstairs and cracked on with the DVD orders which had piled up during the afternoon and evening while we wree out in Manchester. The weather was very damp and this evening the stoprm force winds seem to have returned, fingers crossed that yet more panels don't come out on the fence although there was one I hadn't noticed out behind the green house at the bottom of the garden. First thing which was nearly lunch time we went to Northwich and pumped up the tyres on the trolley in the van ready for Boyle St Manchester set up Friday afternoon. We also stopped off at the chemists and got some fresh anti nose block spray and Mandy said I needed something else which Hil was having in Ireland which makes your hair grow back thicker and your skin better, she reckons with the trauma of the surgery this year I'm fading away although bringing back Florentine biscuits from Waitrose did see me perk up a little. Quite a lot of the 16mm cine films have been selling or have bids on Youtube although i wish some buyers were as swift to cough up as I am, I can't see why anyone would purchase something and then not pay or if they are away at least send a message of some sort. I had a session with the 16mm projector today and got the balance of the existing films coped, some nice construction equipment / road making films and the usual mixed bag which included the Queen in Fiji 1953 and a travel film on Yugoslavia which prattled on how the different races lived in harmony, they spoke a few years too soon didn't they. Couldn't believe it in the village shop/post office this morning, having not heard the news for a day that the British air force is bombing Cilla Black who i though was already dead, well that was on the front page of the Mail, isn't it weird the mis matches they make. If the weather abates by the morning to promised sunshine I'm going to try a new truck film spot on the A50 in Derbyshire and then get back home for lunch time and then up to Manchester avoiding the Mancunian Way which is a nightmare because of the large hole which appeared this will be a pain all weekend to and fro from the museum. Clips from my visit to Mansfield and Worksop bus station earlier this week. Its been a productive day after a good nights sleep catch up thanks to sleeping pill, cold taking hold but still battling on as us old Trojans are won't to do. In the morning we cleared the last orders to trickle through over night and then I had a longish session in the garden replacing the fencing panels which belong to next door which had blown out in the gales last week. I then tidied up did growth and trimmed back shrubs until the recycle bin was full. I planted the very last of the spring bulbs and fed the birds. After lunch Sue arrived and a bit of a catch up and then battled through evening rush hour traffic into Manchester and had dinner at the restaurant at the RNCM and afterwards the opening night of Kurt Weill's Street scene, superb performances on this musical cum, opera which must offer a few challenges but was surprisingly accessible.
I'm now downloading the DVD orders which have come in whilst we've been out. Sue is showing Mandy how to do recording off the BT system we now have, we've only worked the catch up side to date one step at a time for us oldies eh. Must go meds to takes, I'll write and post longer tomorrow. Judging by the number of hits each and every month Mansfield bus station is actually one of the most viewed locations from the thousands of hours of material I put out there in the web. Anyway whatever your taste don't forget give the adverts that pop up a click or two each time you visit and using apps which escape them altogether is one way of putting the kiss of death on Youtube as a whole and I don't know how many use it as a resource , I know I do several times a week. The material out there is quite staggering. There is a lot of stuff which would get censored out on many main stream tv things as it opposes the USA who generally have a strangle hold on the net. Recently released images still being uploaded from 1945 show the US and some UK servicemen killing surrendering prisoners and abusing those who have already surrendered, strange as we are generally first to call foul when people do such things to our own troops. I guess the tv show with that wouldn't get much advertising outside of Iran or North Korea. It looks as if Jeremy is up against the Blairites in the Labour party over going in to yet another war, not content to have been humiliated like the Soviets in the Afghan conflict and to have wimped out of Iraq and been shown as rabble rousers in Libya replacing a dictator with a hundred separate loathsome militias now the reckon the parliament in London is going to vote to drop a whole load of bombs on the ISIS crowd which will no doubt find victims mostly amongst the civilians which they hide amongst just like the Palestinians. Its very hard to come out of such set pieces with any honour at all and just add to the nations who hate the US and us for being their lackeys. The thought that a country where gun ownership sees regular massacres of innocents can tell other people how to live makes me shiver. I try to avoid the place as much as I can. It's good though to have a thoughtful leader of a party in Jeremy who thinks before he speaks and baffles the sound biters with inconvenient silences whilst he gives a considered response to questions. He joins Michael Foot and Tony Benn as the impossible squad candidates who will never be accepted, goodness even darling Harold was hunted down on his every move and phone call by the secret services goodness knows what pressure Corbyn is under. Anyway enough of that, give the lads at Cheltenham something to chew over, back to buses, I got stuck in hours of tail backs on my way to Mansfield as the A50 across to Derby was shut due to a multi vehicle pile up early on, I got there about 10 am after setting off before 7, I could have got to London in that time. After Mansfield I went on as promised to Worksop, the new bus station is quite handy for photography and reasonably busy for the size of the town, photos below. Tomorrow I'm gardening if the weather is OK, fixing the fences blown down again in the recent gales, friend Sue is coming along later on we are off to the RNCM for Kurt Weill's Street Scene so we won't be here to blog to our relatives in New Zealand. |
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