We've just got home and had something to eat plus fixed a glass pane in the greenhouse which had slipped, fixed a pot which had broken, fed the birds which had eaten all the food and we have a lot of feeders some enormous. The DVD orders have been downloaded and matched up with those from Friday ready to all go out on Monday. The Gaydon weekend was on Saturday, wet then more wet then less wet again. Sunday started Sunday and remained largely the same but a couple of light showers, I think the weather must have moved north as it looks very wet everywhere in Cheshire. The Inn where we stayed was slightly eccentric as befits attending a vintage lorry do, the room seemed about 1950 Folkestone gone wonky. When we enquired about puddings to follow dinner the chap said no but we can do some icecream, vanilla, strawberry or chocolate - we had indeed entered a time warp.

The show produced few customers and failed to cover costs by a wide margin but having a stand was more about having a warm dry spot for Mandy and given the weather it was a good call and the price isn't a lot more than entry for two over two days. I'm not sure how much film I took, I would think at least 3 DVDs worth! Anyway too much to catch up on to linger , here are some shots from the weekend.

Inspiring afternoon concert and reception at the RNCM  in Manchester , we met up at the reception with several of the artists one of whom had been at Amanda Roocroft's masterclass a few weeks back. More people to watch out for as stars of the future, really good afternoon, heart warming and satisfying to know we are making a difference to musical careers and particularly people who have not come from a privileged background.  The promised bad weather started as we arrived in Manchester, for anyone who thinks it always rains in Manchester they should note there are breaks between the rain showers and sometimes it also snows!

Made good progress this morning, erected the second new shelf unit and cleared the space to allow the transfer of the existing three units to join the two new ones on the outer wall. My computer space is cramped at present but we ordered the new corner desk this morning. We got the DVD orders away first thing, the next batch ( we had several orders today) will go out on Monday as we leave early tomorrow for Gaydon weekend and are staying over Saturday night , back Sunday evening which will then be our next blog. We had a really jolly night at The Crown last night, the fullest it has been for many a long year, great to see it being a success.  We are now watching the weather forecasts for next week and a day in Belfast and a week later for ROI. There might be other opportunities next week lots of destinations including some more local on my 'list'. I hesitate to publish them these days lest we not get to them but as one of them will be Bolton lets look back before the new bus station opened.

It was so bright and sunny with a clear sky this morning that I decided I go to Trafford Park and test out the r3evuded roundabout that I'd already sussed out over the winter and knew exactly the right place to park. As I drove that short distance the clouds started to gather and even as I started filming I knew it wouldn't last as sun then cloud makes for poor truck filming. Its ok at an event when they are static or still I can let the video run on automatic but hopeless if you are setting exposure to match a speed. So that was that and this weekend we really will get stuck in to our first Gaydon for a while.

The new shelving units arrived, horrid job getting them together, not like the desk that went together like a dream, still they look good when finished, the second one needs finishing tomorrow. The whole lot should fit neatly in with the new desk which I tried to order this evening but xcouldn't find on the website I used a couple of weeks back so I'll try ordering direct with the manufacturer, at least it cuts out the middle man! As there was a lot of mess after putting one together we had a clean up, used the old Sebo cleaner which I'd got new bags for off the net, the whole thing exploded and the dust went everywhere, all that glistens on Amazon isn't gold, certainly not for vacuum bags and I'd bought 10! Anyway tomorrow we'll be getting to griips with the second unit and the three existing ones which will need to be emptied and the whole lot reinstalled on the exterior side of the room.

I got the PMP van, Mandy's car and my car cleaned and then loaded the van with DVD truck stock ready for Gaydon, what a bargain stock reduction it will be, any 5 DVDs for £20- perhaps a never to be repeated chance to catch up with some of our range at rock bottom prices.  Lets have a look at a previous Garydon lorry event

My uncle Sam

Samuel Osborne, Serjeant Number1091335

Parachute Regiment (South Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales' Volunteers))
Wounded in decent over France finally died at Caen on 23rd June where he is buried at the CWG.

The 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion was formed from the 2nd/4th Battalion The South Lancashire Regiment in May 1943 and belonged to the 5th Parachute Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division. ( The 6th Airborne was the only such division numbered such as to cause the Germans to think there were four more divisions.

It jumped into Normandy on D-Day 6th June 1944 remaining in the line until the final break-out to the Seine in August.

Sam had a very gallant war recod, volunteered to join up and then volunteered for paras, trained at Ringway Manchester, they used to land at Tatton Park near our village and then bus back to the airfield now Manchester Airport. He fractured his back on a landing but carried on with the days training. His promotion from joining as a private to serjeant was within months. He took off just before midnight and was shot by the Germans as he descended, he was carried with casualties as they advanced and then faltered at Caen where he died and is buried close to the parish church in the CWG section.

Today we decided to have a break from 'work' and after getting the DVDs posted off we headed down to Attingham Park in Shropshire ( National Trust). There you go a change from bus photos. Actually looking for a decent truck filming day and trying to pin down a week for Ireland. Also planning to fly to Aberdeen and Jersey if opportunities present themselves.

andy had an early appointment out so it was up with well not the lark but 7am, still trying to have a lay in and rest my knees but not a chance yet. A very wet day, Green Thumb came to put down the summer feed on the lawns but with all this water they are growing fast like everything else, desperately need some new stocks of bird feed, all the youngsters are getting through Ilbs of the stuff each day. Well it was decorating after I'd done some film editing and loading on to the PMP shop. It is hard once you have finished to see what has been done but two thirds of the original office is complete, next move is erecting the new shelving units when they arrive and moving the old ones all to the opposite wall. Once installed we can repair and paint the other side prior to moving the old third bedroom / editing suite units down to become the foundation for the packing area. Here are shots with the gloss paint jobs done other than a second coat on the radiator and doors and some repairs to the light grey area that I've spotted. I've put the old desk back and out of the way, it does show the extra room we have gained. I had to trim the carpet where new skirting board was installed and move the broadband cable so it didn't cross the carpet.

I'm just burning the master DVD for the Go North West film which is the last of the five I've worked on the last few days. Among the films we have another batch of matching photos for your benefit these were at Trafalgar Square on Saturday morning.

The PMP van was finished today so we picked it up this afternoon from Northwich, we are going to make a short DVD of the horror story that has been Volkswagen Caddy!

Possibly I should have got to Boyle St a little earlier as quite a lot of buses had already left Queens Rd depot but no matter, I still got a large proportion of the fleet,  nearly all with Co Ahead stickers, did spot one in the depot without. Everyone looking very obvious in their new Go Ahead attire and sparkling yellow vests. All very friendly, great waves and banter from the drivers. Waited until school buses had left and then got a few shots on Cheetham Hill Road then left and headed off to Rochdale Road where I finished, place around there I was taking pictures in the 1970s. Anyway another in the annals of British bus company history, perhaps Aberdeen may be a future target for a First Group sell off, there are rumours it seems and then there is the whole Arriva bus fleet countrywide up for grabs. No doubt there will be much to record over the coming year. I'm now catching up with DVD editing, five to make, first which was Trafalgar Square on Saturday morning is burning the master already. Then I need to get the covers done and load them on the PMP shop.

I went out with Mandy and did some banking in Knutsford then to the garden center and got stuff to decorate the 'gate', which we have painted up for the initiative for Lower Peover to commemorate 750 years of St Oswalds church, got a growbag and climbers plus two patio roses. We can plant them out in the garden later in the year. I also got a couple of plants for 'gaps' in the back borders and tidied the roses and cleaned away any black spot leaves then sprayed everywhere as bugs on the lupins, yet again. The garden does look well when it rains but dries out so very quickly. I'll do the next round of painting in the PMP office tomorrow morning. I need to get some lorry film done if we get a reasonable day, even Trafford park would be fine as it recovers from the tram line construction. Anyway early start at 5am, filming from 6am, here we go Go Ahead North West.

It was like the years had been rolled back and friends from the past 40 years were there at the NWVRT running day in Kirkby. So many people I knew and chatted with and an amazing variety of buses on display and taking part in the running day. The lack of hi vis vests and red tape or indeed any tape puts this into perspective and I hope it doesn't get ruined through an accident but the low key and friendly running is really a one off in this day of exaggerated  safety.

We have a rake of DVD orders that I need to get ready for Mandy to pack in the morning, I'm hoping to go up to Manchester early tomorrow to record the first weekday turnout at Go Ahead Manchester which was formally transferred at midnight on Saturday. The livery seems a bit mundane, perhaps it will grow on me but of course good to have another operator in the city. With First Group and Arriva up for grabs it is amazing anyone wants to expand in the bus industry. Anyway we've just had a superb Sunday meal accompanied by Gin, Beer and wine and I must say we have some wonderful things around us to eat and drink.

The birds have been hungrier than ever, with mild wet weather the broods have survived better than ever and we enjoyed watching ourt own Springwatch as the fledgling blue titis were fed by their parents on the bird feeder outside the kitchen window. The garden has never looked better this early in the season. So here are some pictures of almost a perfect day, ... so what wasn't perfect you may ask. Well the Windows XP computer which has served us so well and is the means to use a lot of our archives ( stored on external drives) just wouldn't start up since we decorated. After much changing of leads and repeated attempts to start I gave it a good wallop, and hey bingo it started, guess dust was the culprit which I dislodges, a happy ending to a great day. Lets have a look at the elements we've mentioned.

Oxford street is now almost pedestrianised and reminds me of Bucarest, I've never seen a place go downhill so quickly, the Elephant & Castle almost looks tidy compared to the mess they have made of Oxford St. The buses mostly no longer stop outside the shops but in back allies but no directions to the stops. The bus services there are a complete shambles albeit the buses are pleasant once on board but with no customer information at stops you can end up waiting for buses that will never arrive and asking drivers provided a 50% failure rate, not that they didn't know but gave 100% erroneous  information. Anyway the M6 was shut coming home, we stopped near Jnct 6 on M40 and had dinner at a village pub near the motorway, the joys of Trip Adviser. Anyway the day pretty well broke down into Trafalgar Sq, met friends there, then Victoria Coach Station, lots of enthusiasts there as well, then Elephant & Castle, just one other photographer. Lets kick off with some pictures at Victoria. Supposed to be at Kirkby running day tomorrow if the weather isn't too awful, 28 degrees in London today.

Hello to you all world wide, we have about 1500 regular readers and about 15k hits a week on the blog, somewhat below the figures for Youtube although since we lost our funding there I don't look very often but usually about 50-70k hits a day. Since going back in Facebook but not really active other than posting copies of my blog please remember I do not use Messenger so if you want to contact me use the regular email per the PMP site. I've spent the morning painting, two thirds of the office is complete other than the wood work, I ordered the additional two shelving units yesterday evening before we went to the pub.

We are getting up at 4am tomorrow and straight down to London and I hope to cover at least three locations, I hope there are no disruptive demos or sports events, the neighbours yesterday decided to share the sport on tv or radio so loud I thought it was a loud speaker van, mind you I haven't seen one of them for many years. We are still waiting for a sign of good weather in Ireland for our much waited tour. I'm also waiting for good weather to get some more truck films done. If I remember rightly it is Gaydon vintage trucks the weekend after this, possibly filming at Kirkby on Sunday but the weather outlook seems grim. Looking forwards to 27 degrees in London tomorrow, wear my shorts and sandals for the first time since Asia.

As we are think8ing of London lets have a dip in my archives for the capital

Forgot to mention the weasel we saw opposite The Crown on our way back from Sale yesterday. We cleared quite a big batch of DVD orders this morning and dropped off everything at the post before starting decorating. Getting everything covered up was quite a task. The light blueish grey colour looks really good, it's nearly dry at tea time and then then small brush work to join to ceiling and around windows and the like. I've uncovered all the equipment and shelving, tables and what have you so normal operations are resumed. I was hoping to get out to do some truck filming tomorrow but the weather outlook in the north is not brilliant but we will be down in London filming on Saturday so say hello if you are in the usual haunts and spot me.

We'll be up 4am and park in the disabled spot at the back of M&S on Oxford St. It will be shots weather I hope. I'm looking out for the sun in Ireland but nothing on the horizon. Sunday we shall be filming at Kirkby but not with the stand, it never made a profit the first few times we tried and ties Mandy to a cold gloomy shed all day. Plenty of bus action and a great running day though but annoyed last year when I had my mini stroke and double vision that when directed to sit at a card table at the cafe to drink and eat it all went on the floor and I didn't even get offered a replacement. The Ribble 100 DVDs have been available for some time on the shop both DVD and as digital download, no one DVD has been bought by anyone other than subscription clients who buy all UK bus DVDs we make. I only mention this as people were asking if I would be selling them at KIrkby running day. Perhaps I'll have to put a few in the boot! No word yet on the PMP van. Chap coming to service and extend the alarm system tomorrow but I'll carry on with the painting as filming looks iffy. Next week also looks grim but I keep checking, Ireland is now a top priority.

A couple of shots of work earlier in the day in the office, it looks much brighter with a lighter colour and clean windows! While I'm talking about sales and offices etc I must remind people that in slack times Amazon costs us more to host than revenue taken, EBay is better but to help us directly maintain the PMP Archive use the PMP shop , no postage, world wide and digital downloads for past year.