The heat and sunshine finally arrived back in Lower Peover this afternoon, the catch is that it all ends on Friday and temperature plummets and more thunder and lightening to endure. At least if we get another good spell we shall be able to spread our wings a bit more and hit the road again with lots of English destinations outstanding, I won't be able to withstand too many yomps like East Anglia tomorrow. Looking forwards to getting to London, Kent, Sussex all points west to Cornwall. Here are some more lorry shots from yesterday in South Lincs. The new DVDs need covers I'll try and catch up but DVD themselves are ready and clips are on Youtube plus some net only clips.

I'll keep it brief as we still have guests and it has been a long day, great weather, great trucks and nice people what more could we ask and of course with the generally reduced traffic at rush hours getting anywhere is a lot more straight forward at present. I got up at 5am and was filming by 8 am this morning near Fossdyke. Afterwards I went back via Boston, Sleaford and then to Newark where I paused for the last shots of the day. A few DVD orders to process the downloads are now almost up to date. I'll start editing tomorrow and the next trip will be buses in Wednesday, I'll need to check weather but probably East Anglia and Essex one Wednesday and the other Friday. Selection of trucks shots early on this morning

It looks like a super week regards weather and only another week after that the hotels and pubs etc should be open although I wonder if the fine hot weather will continue that long. We heard yesterday that Lathalmond weekend in August is now cancelled. As soon as travel restrictions are lifted and the weather is suitable we shall visit N Ireland, ROI, Scotland, Wales , SW England, South Central England and South East. This week we are going to cover that super truck location at Fosdyke on the road to Kings Lynn and perhaps revisit that glorious spot I think it was in Boston on the huge roundabout. Buses will probably be Ipswich and Norwich and perhaps Essex although the precise details could change. London train prices are still astronomic but it is on the to do list including surrounding satellite locations such as Romford.

The weather has stayed dry after a very dull start, all in all the warmth and occasional sunshine won through and we eventually had most of the afternoon in the garden diving back and forward to upload material to Youtube and our shop. The digital download side of the archive has been doing really well and although the chronic time taking to put them on hasn't improved I shall persevere. I'm also entering up the latest round of data I have on my royal connections on my family tree sparked off by a friend who is more interested in royalty who knows the 'entry' names which crop up in trees and have proven links backwards to interesting persons of historic note, to get dates that for back this really means royalty but there were a lot of them way back even before the Norman conquest and yes William Ist of England is among them otherwise known as the conqueror who had Harolds eye out!

We got a call from the chap who makes bird tables almost locally and ours was ready, a family business in Swettenham a really nic3e young couple who like us have been very busy as more people spent time tinkering in their gardens. I managed to get it installed all square and rigid and some photos of it in situ and the lawn which looks really good at the moment and the flowers which look like giving a stupendous July show. Then we have slides from Wolverhampton and the hilarious wasting of ratepayers money on social distancing and of all things cycle lanes instead of buses, in Wolverhampton, dream on as bad as Manchester where there is chaos and Knutsford our nearest town where they have banned the disabled motorists from all our local facilities which we are in the process of challenging through law. I think scraggy head is going to put the 6ft down to a yard which is really neither here nor there and thus the whole issue should wither away.

What a dreadful run of weather we have had this week, we had three days with thunder and lightening which is more than I can ever recall, today lacked the dramatic stuff but still very wet drizzle and some heavier but not torrential rain, mind you the garden looks very lush and I haven't had to go out watering. Today despite the weather equipped with shorts and sandals which was over optimistic I visited Walsall and Wolverhampton which were within two months of due coverage. It rained and the wind blew, is the wind going to be there for ever it seems like it, but wind and rain are double trouble filming especially trying to handle a brolly, the video and a still camera juggling exposures etc. Very friendly everywhere, Walsall was a delight, road works meant that all buses were coming round the long way past the bus station and in, with exits as well lots of double takes, superb other than weather. The last bus and the one in backdrop to end with was the Walsall Corp heritage bus, 100% better than the awful grey or red of National Express what chump came up with that they have certainly never handled a camera in anger. Not a trace of Corona propaganda in the town square which was delightful.

Wolverhampton was the opposite, they have blocked off masses of road and turned the main bus route into a one way road and then put in a huge bus lane, how many bikes did I see, none of course, I doubt if it has ever been used, what a bunch of demented wallies and a waste of thousands in time and materials ruining one of the small stretches of Wolverhampton that remains elegant and attractive, well they sorted that out ok haven't they. Walsall must be pleased, about time they had their time over Wolverhampton, I think Walsall had a lot more buses and was a more pleasant and relaxed place, both of course are places from the depths but like Walsall when you are at the bottom the only way is up and Wolverhampton have hopped on the slide down, booby prize of the month for them , the biggest over reaction to Corona outside Doncaster or Nightingale hospitals. Tonights slide show is from Walsall, I'll treat you to the crazy world of Wolverhampton tomorrow.

Dramatic weather conditions in Cheshire are hampering our plans, we have never had thunder for so many days in a row and seldom experience sheet lightening as we have experienced this last few days, you can also say that we have little need to water the garden.

The reopening of St Oswalds for private prayer has gone around the PCC for comment and approval, it is good to see that nothing has changed and the same pedantic old guard comes up with the same old rubbish, do I really ever want to worship there again, goodness knows what our new vicar will make of it all, the last one lived in fear of them but like Judas went over to the enemy at the last moment only later expressing her regret third hand.

I've been looking at bus locations which are credible with this atrocious weather, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Burton on Trent all seem doable. Burton fits in well with the recent release of a bus spot ultra on the towns buses and it falls on the to do list within two months so perhaps that is tomorrow mapped out, who knows I may even extend to Stafford, perseverance is required, even National Express has given up serving it.

Next week the east of England looks fine and sunny, a yomp to do trucks in another of my middle of nowhere spots towards Norfolk seems on the cards plus buses in either Essex or Norwich and Ipswich. I see Nottingham is now back to university holiday but otherwise full service per pre pandemic schedules. I've updated the list on the web site and added the latest two releases to our shop. I've been loading the scanned images of more films ready for OTA deposit.

I think I chose well going to Leicester for the grand shop reopening day and with heritage liveried buses and Centrebus deckers drafted in there was plenty to see and the morning mist lingered which made photography all the more easy. I managed to get our dose of film in quite quickly and really should have headed back home but thought I make a couple of stops en route with Tamworth and Lichfield. Tamworth as I experienced last time I tried has little to offer spread over two location in a small town with not a lot of services. Lichfield has a lot more of interest with Nat Express from Birmingham, and the independents such as super Midland Classic but for photography it is just hopeless on a sunny day , really you need a well cloudy one to get results.

The rush of orders has dried up now, a rest really as we were so busy for three months and with advertising getting moving the Youtube revenue is climbing to take up any slack. We have got the form to fill in for the civil rights solicitors to see if they can back a case for judicial review on the Knutsford blocking up of roads denying Mandy access to all our local facilities. We are also considering a case of discrimination against the Knutsford councilor of Cheshire West and Chester council who spoke to Mandy.

The slide show tonight is of course this mornings trip to Leicester, a lot seems to have happened since our last visit as I seemed to forget about the city last year, what a faux pas eh. Hope to get to some more distant bus locations on day trips , now shopping centres are open Mandy can come and share the driving and will be able to at least access loos when required. We just need a bit more settled weather, also at least one day covering lorry locations.

We had our first pandemic trip to Northwich tip, as usual over the top and pathetic response from Cheshire West and Chester but everyone puts up with British grit and humour.

Imagine if government banned people of colour from their local shops tomorrow!

So we went to Knutsford to take photos of the roads which will be blocked to disabled people from tomorrow, mirroring a similar situation throughout England. Reading from some of the dribble on Facebook, I've un-followed many more now, there must be many with some sort of diasbility in their family who voted Scraggy Head in, as we hurtle towards a no deal Brexit and a depression which could last decades isn't surprising that the dark forces which are the truth behind Scraggy's merry face and careless disheveled appearance are appearing. It seems the storm troopers first test against the police was a relative failure, unless the police and army side 100% with these dark forces they need a mass of thugs to implement their totalitarian regime. This is the warm up. 

When people wake up and find that there is no bright end of a rainbow how will they then resist. Just like another generation saw coloured people, left wingers, gypsies and the diasabled taken to the slaughter houses the underpinning disdain for the disabled here  is becoming obvious. We were taking little pictures to substantiate a judicial review against the governments emergency powers to waive discrimination laws and allow localities to stop up roads and prevent disabled people's access. As the councillor for Knutsford told Mandy, their mind was made up and there are volunteers who can shop for them. Why would fit or even unfit people able to shop for themselves or with their family want some Tory do- gooder  salving their social conscious doing their shopping. I remember the young militant disabled activists at Cardiff chaining themselves to inaccessable buses, the police were bewildered. Where is the support for the millions who have disabilities who's lives have been blighted since Cameron led the onslaught, yes there are lots of people who's lives matter but as old George wrote all of us are equal its just that there are some who are more equal than others.

My work on the Glasgow Bus Spot Ultra goes on in full steam with only a few years to add then the great balloon job as I try to prune it to two hours duration. Hoping to cover Leicester this week, depends on the weather, I also have an eye on Northampton and Bedford. The slideshow is of the roads in knutsford which Mandy won't be able to access after tomorrow, butchers, ban,chemist, bookshop, it goes on.

Another hectic day, I started rather early as I woke about 5am and was 100% awake, no chance of turning over, well always plenty to do, creeping out quietly but it never works Mandy knew what time I had got up but she did get back to sleep. I got stuck into the old cine derived archive period of the latest Bus Spot Ultra Glasgow and this saw time fly by, I also picked up on the scanning of cine onging from yesterday. No orders to post today, we lost our Saturday service although perhaps it is getting back to normal as we had a delivery. The weather has been kind, enough to go out and sit on our garden benches. I felled the expired bird table and got that and other rubbish ready to go to the tip on Sunday. A bit of gardening and sitting in the sun, my new shears sharpener arrived, great gadget at £7. Thus tidied the lawn edges. We had to dispose of a bird carcass which seemed to had got under the chair cover and was several days old, stank a bit and maggots, urghhh. Anyway all cleaned up now.

So I've made progress on more digital download uploads if that isn't too tortuous. The Glasgow film has progress to 1996 with perhaps a few more years to add, I'll end up with about 20 hours which I'll need to whittle down to 2! In the post I got a parking fine for my Oldham session, thankfully I still had the ticket in the car, I think its a bit of a scam as the online 'appeal' didn't work, nor did the form to post, as neither option worked I've copied it all and sent it off, very annoying and upsetting these sort of things in advancing years. Talking of which the Youtube channel is doing very well, I have explained before why I had to stop comments, you can't do it to old uploads so they still produce feed back, as always 99.9% is very pleasant but I try not to look as when you spot something awful it throws you of kilter for a while, I did get one  it was a UK  loony with no content at all to his channel, usually they have skulls and England flags and watch video games and listen to boom boom music.

The family tree looks like taking a royal turn, a contact I'm helping with some shared ancestry has sent me a note that I have a royal 'entry' ancestor, this means they have documented lineage and through vert ancient links to the 900's! Well you don't all have to bow, well Mandy would probably go for that. Anyway hope you are all well and I'm keeping an eye on next week's weather for augmented enhanced skeleton bus services which should soon start to look like pre pandemic days. Tonights slide show from Middlesbrough at the busy but closed bus station.

Actually a few mammoth tasks today but the big one this morning was getting all the photos loaded to our Smugmug still photo sales site with around 350,000 photos which you can order as prints or download the files. This of course includes all our recent Corona Lock Down Key Worker services. I also get some more digital downloads on the shop and another four cine films scanned. I have started work on Bus Spot Ultra Glasgow, another huge undertaking.

We have done battle with Cheshire East council who are losing off the two main streets to vehicles and banning disabled from accessing the usual facilities which for us is the bank, Mandys hairdresser, Waterstones, Woods butchers and Boots the chemist. We have had legal advice which says that the action is discriminatory and illegal and should be subject to legal review. This has taken what was left of Mandy and my time although I did have a quick stint in the garden weeding. Weather warmer but still wet and windy, we had a nice skype with Tina and Max in New Zealnad last night.

I thought I would catch up on the photos a bit for tonights slide show which is from Durham. Don't forget the still photo site though a much underused resource compared with the DVD side of PMP.