Dismal, wet and dark all day which confirms my intention not to go out filming, the final weather was even worse than anticipated. The weather tomorrow is a bit too much sun and cloud but Thursday looks feasible in many parts of the country so fingers crossed. I haven't even look as far ahead as Friday, if sunny then it will be a lorry day. So thats the filming side of things. First job though this morning was to get the kitchen covered up for ceiling painting which bar a couple of bits I seem to have missed, hard to spot in a lit roon, natural light usually shows the gaps better. I also fixed the only remaining  job in the kitchen post water leak and that was a bit of trim above the cupboards. Then I finally got all the kit away and had a shower and got dressed and glad to be out of my by then messy overalls.

The cine film scanning continues each day at present, this time I was at Aldenham works open day, Wombwell scrap yard and lots of other London hot spots for buses. It seems to have moved on to tram preservation but still London. I'm well into the Bus Spot Ultra Wrexham, these really are mammoth exploits with rakes of film going back almost annually and a few archive shots taking us back a little bit more from my own first 1988 video there. So much has changed of course, one November I even got the carnival parade. I'm up to the turn of the decade, thats into the 2000's, plenty to go remember that still leaves twenty visits. I've gone back to the original tapes until I get to the digital era then I'll use the DVDs. Buses magazine was out today so hopefully a flurry of DVD orders to come. Well I've already done a bus slide show for Wrexham so lets go back in trucking shots today. We certainly cover some ground , all at random though, can anyone place them all - I can't and I took them!

Not too early a start today as I needed the cloud to gather at Stoke but also to get filming asap before the heavy rain and strong winds arrived. This all went mostly to plan, the video played up a bit with the focus and then the battery went of the mike but there is plenty of material for our usual hour as I took a bit to spare just in case. Then it was swiftly back home and after getting deliveries stacked away such as DVD covers and disc blanks I started up the cine scanner and then pressed on with filling and blending the kitchen ceiling to hide any damage done with the pre Christmas leak. With plaster its always a mess but then got some paint on the worst bits and new plaster and it took us both a good while cleaning up, the wind and rain by this stage was in full force.

The London collection I've been scanning it seems forever is now getting more modern except for the 1979 celebrations of the Shillabeer Omnibus 150 and a whole reel taken that day. I'm now recording a visit to Wombwell scrap yeard. So lots to do, started editing together the Wrexham Bus Spot Ultra which I'll have to get ready before I can move to edit Stoke. Tomorrow is looking a challenge but perhaps my promised return to Tamworth and Lichfield. Here are shots at Hanley this morning.

The day just seemed to rocket by, we had a family service at St Oswalds which was a relief after mattins last non communion service, we seemed to do quite well for families attending after a nudge on the school and nursery parents. The vacancy for the priest at Lower Peover has now gone on to the Church of England website. Then it was a quick cuppa and a couple of biscuits and then out again still on the hunt of a sofa, by now we are also minded to get a quote on repairing the present piece which has already been recovered twice. The springs seem to be gone under guess who's seat! Well we went to Furniture Village at Sealand Rd Ind Estate at Chester, horrendous traffic like Jan sales all over again.

I've had a day of twisted spools of film, overloading is a nightmare and causes no end of problems when it comes to using the film to project or copy and twice we have had to deal with enormous tangles where it has come off the reel. It is yet more superb footage now well into the late 1970's and with the London Country NBC era vehicle shortages which saw hires from Eastboune, Maidstone and Bournemouth among others. I'm looking at the weather for tomorrow, Stoke on Trent seems favourite at present , rain and wind expected midday onwards so must get done in the morning. I'm also looking at Tursday as a possible morning, same routine, wet and windy later. Must also get some truck locations limned up and will have to get the kitchen ceiling painting started tomorrow afternoon. Todays slide show from Potteries.

I've decided that the next bus spot ultra production will be on Wrexham , I've a few archive sections on the town and i started my own video there as early as 1988 with almost annual visit thereon to today. We had a busy day which included first of all with scanning some old family letters which are so fragile I really hate handling them. Anyway another job done, then moved on to getting ready for redecorating the kitchen ceiling , we went to look at new sofas in Warrington, tried the names always advertised such as SCS and DHL or something, really not to our taste though so popped in for lunch at Plumleys and got a few spring flowers to brighten up the tubs. Planted these up back at home and then had a look online for sofas, I think the Furniture Village at Nantwich will be worth going to, we've spotted a Parker Knoll sofa which will fit well and they offer a range of fablics.  In between I've been scanning away with the London bus cine collection and making good progress. Time is now overtaking me. For filming early this week it may be possible Monday and Tuesday morning before the rain arrives. We also managed to list events we want to visit and concerts to book. Anyway it took all day and now to sit down for a few minutes! Slides from North Wales it is..

Our usual whirlwind of a day, it was open mic night at The Crown last night, an eclectic mix, why is it that so many British performers sing American songs - have we none of our own out there. We had to go to get our blood test samples taken at Holmes Chapel, great Phlebotomist who is one of the few that I trust near a shape pointed things and my arm!  I've carried on scanning and storing the old London film collection I've been working on, just another 10 left to do, the scanner is working like a dream and not a murmur of breaking down again. I got the PMP Ebay shop updated, there were quite a few to add. The got the covers done for latest three DVD releases. I have to hunt out some important archive family documents which were stored in the wrong archive box, found them safe and sound though, will scan them tomorrow. Any family members are reminded that all the archive family material we have or have copied are on our Smugmug still photo site, you'll need to get a link from me to access. The day has generally soared by as ever, more of the same tomorrow, perhaps getting some dates sorted for concerts, trips and the like.

A splendid family day yesterday with Gill and Nigel's wedding at a hotel just outside the tiny city of St Asaph in North Wales - great as ever to have an excuse for a family get together and a reminder from cousin Mark that I need to get some of the old Hardy family docs scanned, another one on the to do list then. We had a leisurely breakfast then drove to Ellesmere Port and had my haircut, then to M&S for a brew and some food shopping, also found a pair of gloves which might suit photography and warmth, always trying new ones in search of the holy grail, warmth and workability. Then it was the Polio Fellowship meeting, I'll have to do the minutes as our sec couldn't get there, we did get some dates settled for events and some more things on that lengthening to do list.

I'm now well over the half way mark with the Online cine film and it has been very enjoyable with some remarkable footage in Spain and Portugal as well as the main subjects in this batch London 1960s to 70s. I'll probably catch up with Peter at the archive in Shrewsbury later this month. I've also got a wealth of PMP films degitised and can continue with their scanning as time permits. I'll wait and see the weather outlook for next week and decide possible film locations. I'm trying to push back some of the early year plum spots such as Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool etc until there is better light. Tomorrow we have blood letting at Holmes Chapel Health centre all part of the annual MOT process for us oldies. I'm loading the clip on Youtube tonight for the second part of the Birmingham bus and tram coverage. Here are a few shots of family at the wedding yesterday

My last early start for the week, up at 6am and off down the M6 to Birmingham. It is still mostly roadworks all the way, the only section clear is from ourselves to the D road at Stoke. Then it is painful, even the traffic in the 50mph section crawls much more slowly, then outskirts of Birmingham it grinds to a halt over the same section that ever were so. The millions spent on messing around with so called Smart motorways haven't worked at all and the misery is still there. Arrived at the car park near tony Hancock memorial  about 8.45. The rush hour traffic was so so, the weather breezy and mostly overcast, wind though was the problem.

Then by 10 am it started raining and got heavier plus strong winds. I did however manage to make a lot of progress and eventually before I left mid afternoon I had enough for a two parter which will include the new Tramway extension through to the library. The road works and building around it are ongoing, it was the lady in the second cup cafe who showed me how to get to the end of the tram line by foot, it isn't obvious and involves a lengthy section of corridors between building works .

I did find yet more spots useful to film buses. The end of the line for the trams was by some sort of amusement park and supposedly I library, I saw a museum, it had some original series tram track. I decided just to battle on, it stopped raining, dark but atmospheric and I got around spots I don't normally see like the Digbeth coach station, there I saw my one and only 69 reg, nothing new at all with National Express.

Tonight two slide shows, one on Birmingham and the other some stills from the Spain and Portugal cine I have scanned. Amazon blocked the link to the film I sent to China ref the defunct scanner which amazingly did actually copy one of the George Roberts 200' reels when I tested it after a days rest. I may well purchase a second machine and copy them in 200' sections in tandem speeding up the process and not over straining these relatively weak and under powered and under engineered gadgets, good conception poor execution. We are at a family wedding tomorrow staying over night in Wales, then on way home Thursday stopping off at Ellesmere Port for the Polio Fellowship meeting at the Whitby club. We have doctors appointments on Friday.

Corby rather denies an adequate description, I think its woes and the steel plant closure were once a cause celebre among sociologists and urban planners. It remains as something akin to a 1970s Soviet development in Siberia and would be a good place to use if Johnson starts internal exile, the sort of stunt most dictators do to be one stop less than butchery. It was freezing cold albeit the absolute temperature was about 8 with the wind chill it was minus.

I started at Kettering which was remarkably quiet at 9.30, things looked as if they were picking up by 10am but by then boredom had set in and I was dubious if Corby would have anything of interest. I arrived as a Whippet whipped out and changed a battery at the car park and watched a Centre bus fly by, I thought they had pulled out, anyway it was 100% Stagecoach and ditto other than Diamond Coach decker at Kettering. I did stop at Nuneaton but the battery I had died, I've cancelled the replacement on Amazon as it is still out of stock and ordered a much cheaper Chinese look alike ( never learn) and hope it works, I dread to think what a Panasonic battery would cost. I think a bit of memory effect has started on all three I use at present, I've had them for some years and they get a hammering.

I'll probably go back to tele cine copying of the films I've got to assess at the moment so I don't keep hold of them too long, unless the supplier which is I think manufacturer can suggest anything I can mend such as the slipping drive belt then I'm happy to have a go. it is so frustrating. I wish there were alternatives to the one I got, a stronger more robust dare I say non Chinese one would be favourite , they do turn out some junk, all those who rush for Chinese buses will regret it very quickly. As my visit to Nuneaton was halted so quickly the clips I took will go to Youtube as internet viewing only. The advertising revenue plummets in the new year, its about 50% now of pre Christmas level so please support in all ways, order downloads or DVDs or watch the adverts on the clips.

The Chinese seem to make some of the worst engineered machines in the world, perfect in concept then manufactured with rubbish components. The faulty drive chain has bee advised to them in reviews but obviously nothing has been done, they must rely on people doing a very small amount of copying and getting fed up with it as it is so slow before it goes wrong anyway. I've spent ages messing around with these two machines if it doesn't get better I will have to revert to the old tele cine method which gives fair enough results with good original material.

I've done a lot of other jobs such as getting the DVD covers done for recent releases. Tomorrow I hope to go filming, perhaps in Kettering, Corby, Nuneaton then Tuesday Birmingham and Stoke but iof course the weather can change any moment. Here are the covers for the new DVD releases

Here are some screen shots from the films I managed to scan before it broke down yet again

Amazing journey through time and space as I continue with the high grade cine film scanning, it takes such a long time to get through a reel but the quality is way beyond anything we have achieved previously. The collection I'm digitising and identifying is from the 1960s and there are trips to Spain and Portugal taking in most of the trams and trolleybuses and any British make of bus which is particularly fascinating as there were some real gems on the Iberian peninsula in those days. For a bit of a break and fresh air we had a drive out to Derbyshire , we stopped in Bakewell only to find our favourite cafe at Thorntons has been sold, it was obvious from the moment we walked in, the atmosphere had changed, the produce meagre and poor and the attitude stank. Walked out!. As that was the main reason we visit I was actually glad that I'd gone into my favourite shoe shop as I did get a superb pair of light grey suede shoes , I usually manage to find something I like there, nice wide fitting, so comfy. It was a pass on the jewelers, they'd had a bumper Christmas and sold a lot of stock, can't be bad.

The scanning continues most of the time, I'm nearly half way through the loaned material and any time then left I will use to have a go at my own 400' reels, I haven't the energy to go back and start all over again on the reels I already copied in tele cine mode. It does however make so many things useable, I may even still have a go at the Llandudno Bus Spot Ultra , I'm toying with the idea also perhaps Wrexham. I've edited Chester, clip on Youtube. I've updated the PMP DVD list on our shop page. I've three covers to make for the latest DVDs. The planned trip to Cyprus for the potato harvest may just be a solo by myself as flights in May are mega expensive, I can get a good deal in late April and do an Easyjet for a short period and hire the cheapest small car. Talking of Cyprus lets have a look back to previous trips.