A catch up day after the marvelous but exhausting Kelsall rally over the weekend. Today I got a couple of bathroom fittings strengthened as they kept wobbling, got the bird feeders filled yet again, got some photos filed, got some Kelsall film edited, did some gardening, got ready for our trip to the South West etc. We are filming at Bournemouth, Poole, Weymouth, Exeter, Plymouth, Barnstaple, Taunton and Bridgewater. Remember to come and say hello if you spot us. I won't bother blogging on the road as it always seems to get messed up working on an ipad. I'll get all the DVD orders cleared on Friday, we arrive back home late Thursday evening.

Friday marks our Sapphire wedding anniversary, thats 45 years, we shall be at the end of term RNCM concert at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester with a pre concert meal at the Halle restaurant. This coming weekend we shall start decorating the main bedroom using the now empty but decorated small bedroom for furniture removed for the work. Hoping to get this finished by the Monday. We'll be looking at the weather for Ireland, East of England, South Central, Aberdeen and Jersey. I've got some photo files tided up and filed away a lot more to do. Meanwhile some more shots from Kelsall

It certainly wasn't as hot and sunny but the numbers held up and yesterday there were about 4000 visitors and the tally is about 700 lorries have attended. Today the departures started around 3pm and I covered them until it has considerably thinned out and only a trickle were leaving. I guess a good few were either staying overnight or waiting until traffic cleared. Anyway thats two really long days and masses of film to edit. This week we'll be concentrating on bus film probably the same for the week after and coming up will be another stab at getting to Ireland for both buses and lorries. More shots from Kelsall.

The meteoric climb to success has taken a logarithmic stride and the event has reached enormous proportions and attendance  egged on by wonderful hot sunny dry weather saw the grounds packed although not so many public wander to the ERF and Foden fields and beyond. The ERF content continues to be astronomic and by comparison I thought the Foden content with seats and stands in front of the most obvious lorries which in the ERF line up mark the perimeter was little but snooty, cigar puffing toffs compared with grafters over the 'road'. There was a large presence of Northern Irish lorries and loads down from Scotland and people from not only Britain but from overseas such has the acclaim spread and what was perhaps an open secret is no longer concealed.

You could have fitted the lorries from Gaydon and Llandudno within  the Kelsall boundaries and still have room for more. I never got as far as the steamers or cars, perhaps tomorrow I'll sit at the ring for a while and then get the departures, I had 9 hours on my feet filming today, had to take a painkiller for the muscle pain at midday. Met several friends, missed others. Wonderful day, everything went so well looking forwards to tomorrow. Mandy had a sit in the garden this afternoon after Sue had gone. We have a sketchy plan for bus filming in the south Tues to Thurs. The Fri-Mon decorate our bedroom and then that just leaves me to get the cupboards made for my models and we can sit back and have a rest, some luck there I bet! Photos from today at Kelsall

A hard day today not too early a start but still outside by 8am mowing the lawns. For weather probably the best day of the summer so far in Lower Peover. It was a completion day for several things including getting almost everything set up in the PMP office other than the work top which has another week or so before delivery but other than that I managed with some cheap units from B&Q to get the rest of the kit back in the office and working including swapping the old dining table from Mandy's mum's place for the new corner computer table which I'm now typing from.

The other machines were the disc printer, general printer and the disc duplication copies and amazingly everything moved over worked just fine as we place each wire carefully through the lead portals in the desk top to the new sockets. Some tidying up of electrics required but mostly well out of sight. A second tier of machines from shredders to DVD player followed.

Then I cleared a long space atop the file cabinets with master tapes in the showroom and moved the thousand models buses, lorries and cars into their new home albeit boxed up but at least they are in the room the display cases will occupy. We also finished moving clothes and bedding back ijn to the family wardrobe in the small bedroom. Sue arrived before lunch and came with us to B&Q for the shelf units, I'm now planning to pint some white and use in the display cabinets when constructed, it will be a quick and cheap way to get things set up and I think repainted they'll lose their black cheapo looks.

A few boxes of 'stuff' for future sorting are littering the floor in the show room but some can go into the loft. Some shots I took this evening, the longest day with a clear sky no less, Tomorrow is due to be warm and sunny, shorts weather, at Kelsall lorry gathering and steam event near home, hoping to spend all day Sunday there as well then later say Tues/Wed/Thurs next week we'll be bus filming in South of England, precise destinations weather reliant. I'm also going to finalise the Ukraine trip hotels etc this coming week and make a start on the November Indonesia trip.

We are off to the Crown this evening for a couple of well earned pints  after another very long day on the office and associated moves. The small bedroom former editing suite now has a carpet and the Hardy family wardrobe restored and filled  and the room looks quite tidy. The last thing in there after patching up the paint on the wall, I curse whoever put that wrinkled lining paper on. The silicon filler has successfully sealed the lose lining paper, a realm messy job, getting through my box of 100 latex gloves. I've touched up the paintwork on the landing and painted the third bedroom door to finish it all off. I learned about carpet laying from one of my pals back in Eastbourne in the 1960's, I do however lack the correct tools.

Anyway the day ploughed on, the cleaners came early so we went to do food shopping at M&S near the airport and called at B&Q for some all purpose glue for our main bedroom walls and ceiling repaired, yes we are going to continue with the decorating right through to our room which is really desperate for a makeover. The lining paper is wrinkled and needs sorting. Otherwise fairly straight forward, we'll not put a bed into the small bedroom until we've done so we can stash stuff there from the main bedroom while we decorate. We called at John Lewes for a new office chair which comes next week, the blinds for the new showroom got damaged in transit so are now being remade after being forgotten, its taking about a month and the window is quite tiny.

I hope to get the main office desk up in place tomorrow and then when I know the precise gap between it and the shelf units I can see if a cheap shelf unit from B&Q will fit to take the printer, DVD printer and DVD duplicators. This weekend is Kelsall, I'll be there aws long as the weather is good, certainly Saturday perhaps Sunday if it stays good long enough ore rain on its way. If there is a break in the weather next week we'll have a couple of days away filming eith South, S West or East depending! Our friend Sue is staying over tomorrow, trying to get some normality before she arrives, I'll get some photos on as soon as it looks presentable, the work surface is due next Friday. Here is a taste of Kelsall 2018

a long tiring day but we've almost got the small bedroom finished just need to touch up one of the colours and then return furniture, we need to buy a single bed for the room. I also managed to get the new corner computer desk assembled but not fitted as yet, ran out of time and Mandy banned me from doing any more today. I'm going to have a look for tomorrow and see if there is anywhere feasible to do some bus filming. Some more shots from Carlisle.

Even taking yesterday nights weather forecast from the BBC proved too early as despite the promise of clear sky for most of the day it turned out to be very much cloud and sun the hardest mix for exposure levels when filming other than 'auto' which is fine for static or very slow moving things but for speeding lorries you need to go to manual or speed sports settings which again are fine if everything stays roughly the same brightness. Anyway I battled on and there were some good periods of sun, on the way home north Lancs and Sth Lakes looked to have the best weather with diffused cloud but warm and bright, back in Cheshire at last a dry mild day but cloudy as ever. The bird seeds arrived and the feeders have all been topped up. The second computer corner table has arrived I'll assemble some time tomorrow but as we've got friend Sue arriving Friday we need to get the small bedroom painted and back to normal as upstairs is full of furniture and the contents of the great old family wardrobe.

As previously indicated I intend very shortly to delete the PMP Amazon shop, please use the PMP facuility on this site, UK buyers pay no postage at all and at present this extends to overseas although we may have to ammend that to a contribution. Amazon charge a fortune for postage and dictate the rates we should charge plus they charge us monthly for the shop, other than at Christmas we are lucky to break even even after the small numbers of orders. Most folk are happy to use our shop, the money goes straight to the PMP Film Archive a not for profit company. If you really want to go elsewhere there is also a PMP shop on Ebay but not everything is on it, I may try filling in the gaps although time is always at a premium.

We are going to start decorating the spare bedroom first thing tomorrow starting with the ceiling, then to spec savers to pick up Mandys new reading and driving glasses and get mine fixed, I've got three pairs but fell asleep on one lot on the plane coming back from asia in February and bent them! Then home to put on the darker wall paint and then the lighter asap before topping off with the glossing. Then we need to measure the old carpet against the new one sitting in the new showroom and using the old one as a template on the drive cut the new one to somewhere near the right size before I fit it. Somewhere along the line I'd like to get the new computer table assembled and put in place but that takes the best part of an hour to assemble and then sorting all the cables and the two computers out will be fun. This leaves us still with a lot of odds and ends seeking a home. Photos from this morning at Carlisle.

The weather outlook for Belfast has put it on hold yet again and the Ireland trip next week is a definate no go as the weather there is looking as grim as ever. I'll have a look for alternatives but we are already booked in for a RNCM at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on Friday but need to get booked in at the Halle restaurant. Although a slight trend to better conditions over the weekend it is set to go to the wall again next week, the days will be drawing in with no summer at all. We were going to try for the Cheshire show tomorrow Mandy would have likes to see the Arab horse classes, its ages since we've been but the mobility scooter hire was all sold out  and with the constant rain it may be a bit of a mud bath.

We got the DVD orders away then paid some mills via the Nat West in Knutsford and went on to Northwich, bought a carpet for the small bedroom, former editing suite and then called at B&Q for some pain, we had enough of one colour but Mandy wanted another. I've now fixed the ceiling paper which was hanging down, found when I dismantled the units, must date to when we had plumbing problems. This and all the holes and damage due to the units installation and removal have been made good as well plus while I had the caulk out I filled in the holes in the refitted cabinets in the office. I also looked at wood for the first shelf unit I'm going to construct. I'll get one done at a time, finished and filled then do the next as long as drilling etc doesn't send the models askew.

The rocking horse from the landing is now in our bathroom and the wardrobe which breaks into sections, an old family pierce is partly on the landing and partly in the bath which is never used, shower preferred. I'm going to seek alternative film locations for this week, the weather is proving frustrating as well as cold and wet. Next door have removed several fence panels to renew  but just left huge holes and don't seem to have the new ones to put in, frustrating all this at peak flowering season. I got a few more digital downloads added to the PMP shop and had a go at sorting photo files before we went out, never got much done though. I'm considering scrapping the PMP Amazon shop as it doesn't pay for 11 months of the year albeit is very busy in December but with the PMP shop and Ebay there are two other alternatives and neither charges for UK postage. Just waiting now for the office corner computer table and then nearly two weeks before we get the B&Q worktop for the packing table. With Ireland on hold yet again lets travel back in time and enjoy what I did do back in the day!

Carlisle for trucks tomorrow ( Tuesday)

I've just managed to get the weeks DVD production covers done and updated the PMP shop on this site plus our Amazon shop I just need to look at EBay some time. The other thing is I need to upload the latest digital versions. We had a trip to B&Q and ordered up the work surface for the office, it will be two weeks but at least it comes to home and I don't need to transport it at 3M it would be a bit of a handful even for the PMP van. We had a trip to the tip, the old freezer from the garage went together with the Meile vacuum which had exploded. I also took the opportunity of getting shot of the old drill which went bezerk with the saw attachment in full pelt. There were several bags of refuse from the great clear outs. We also purchased the support to go with the work surface and some caulk  to tidy up the wall units we put up yesterday and also ready for decorating the small bedroom which has now reverted to its traditional role albeit a bed is required.

Things are looking more tidy each day and at last I'm grabbing a little time to catch up with PMP. The weather outlook for Ireland is still pretty grim reading but we are watching and ready to go when it clears. Having got all the latest DVD covers done I need to file the master and the copies and there are many files which need their contents labels making at present with just biro annotations which doesn't look that professional. I think I'll get a cutting list done for my first cabinet in the new showroom, I want to source what I can from the recycles wood which is outside under cover and came from the old display cabinets. Even when everything is done we'll still have our own bedroom desperate for redecorating.. I've not even looked at English weather this coming week, any good weather and I'll take advantage for both bus and lorry filming. Here are the covers for the latest releases.

I think it has been about 9 hours work but we have moved much nearer to completion of the existing office to its new format with the units built into the small guest bedroom which had been used as the editing suite dismantled, moved downstairs and reinstalled in the office. This involved some very heavy units and it was a pain getting them apart, worse getting them downstairs and to the office and putting the heavy wall cupboards up a nightmare. Still its done now, still a bit messy as we haven't had time to go to Wickes for the 3M work top , rubbish sacks and surplus material together with the old garage freezer, old vacuum etc need to go to the tip and temporary paste board packing table can go to the shed or in the van.

We need to get some builders caulk  and a new skeleton gun from B&Q tomorrow which fits in well with going to the tip. We've a spare cupboard and the two units which have masses of negatives and CDs in , a root through these and a bit emptier they could fit under the editing suite desk in the new room, perhaps the other cupboard will go to the tip tomorrow, served us well for many years as has Mandy's mum's old dining table, only a few more days to last but I might retain for a while to use when building the display cases over the coming month. We received the two new office clock with date display but haven't even unpacked so quite a lot on tomorrows to do list. The birds have almost polished off all the sunflower hearts, I've ordered new stock online half the price of Jollyes where we usually get it which itself was a fraction of most pet shops and garden centres. We are both pretty shattered, Mandys getting dinner ready, I've got the latest film downloaded and will get Northampton and Bedford edited just leaving seven DVD covers and various things to list on the shops and digital copies for download option plus masses of photos to file and update to our Smugmug photo file site!

Photos this evening of the office as of 6pm and shots from Northampton.