The cine film scanner has arrived, I haven't had a chance to unpack it and certainly not to try it out. I won't fall for copying numerous films with making sure it is performing correctly this time. I have been putting the finishing touches to the display cabinet, this was the runners for the glazing, also filling in to give built in look to unit which will require a light sanding and exterior surfaces painted gloss white to match the finish of the first phase. The glazing will be about 7-10 working days, the price has risen horrendously  due to the demand for perspex worldwide in Corona precautions in shops etc. I've uploading quite a lot of films as digital download, still a few more but they seemed to load fast.

A big hurrah as I managed to get the refund from the parcel carrier MyHermes which actually came via Parcel2Go which is an offshoot of the same company but seems to have better access for customers. I also sorted out several domestic household account queries which had accumulated. The phone went quite a lot but thankfully none were scam calls. I am off filming in South Wales tomorrow, cloud forecast which suits me quite well in the autumn, no worry about unwanted shadows. My first bus film trip to Wales since the Pandemic started. The weather for our proposed trip to Northern Ireland next week seems to be reasonable with light cloud and rain just one afternoon , we will make a decision Wednesday night on booking the ferry and hotels. If this goes ahead  then our shops will be suspended on Amazon, holiday setting on EBay and out own shop open for receipt  of orders. I will be nice to be away 'overseas', it will also take us into Scotland en route and when we return we shall be looking at trips to Scotland later in September or more likely in October.

Photo selection this evening from the Bradford visit last week.

The shop now has these available for purchase and I'm trying to get more digital downloads on the shop. I'm now working on the display cabinet , it looks good after a second coat of paint. I'm now fitting the door runners. Hopefully ordering the perspex later today. I might well be in South Wales this week.

Really starting to look like something now, one more coat of paint then the glazing runners and we'll be done. A lot of surface to paint though. Today I updated the PMP Ebay shop for those who use that platform although of course it helps us more if you use the PMP site shop. Tonights slide show takes us to Bradford on Thursday. I've updated the DVD list on our website. After the painting of the display unit I mowed the lawns and removed the size 12 postman's footprints. He clambers through the building site next door then comes up the path on my lovely new shiny surface and across the house then back down the drive leaving a cement imprint of each step.

Certainly had better days, bought postage for sending the faulty scanner back to China as post office want about £80. Used Hermes and got to point of downloading label then it came up fault contact them. Earliest they had phone manned 8.30 am only it wasn't manned other than an automated robot which ignored all their references and ditto their online robot helper. 2 1/4 hours wasted before I could get another carrier, when I printed their label it turns out to be part of Hermes group anyway but a lot cheaper and it actually worked. Now battling through Paypal to get a refund as Hermes are just blanking me, I recommend people never go near that outfit, nothing more than a bunch of scammers.

I had a note back from our new vicar that the reading I'm doing at church Sunday wasn't the one Rodney ( leave it with me ) Fowler have given me, another thing to change. The day just went on like that, Neff had their German lady engineer here to fix the broken dish washer. The phone never seemed to stop. I managed to get the new display cabinet finished to near primer paint stage, a couple little bits to rub down in the morning then a thorough wipe with wet cloth around all the room, vaccing carpet everything few minutes. Queries from people over package not received but they had sent incomplete address, then it was bank holiday, don't other people get these public holidays?

Worst thing today is the constant pain and discomfort, worse day yet with the old nerve pain which kicked off about 15 years or so back and we eventually easily treated by one small tablet a day, obviously my crumbling spine is getting worse and now it is back with me just when communicating with doctor is at its worse. Hopefully I'll get more jobs done at weekend, garden crying out to be tidies, vehicles need cleaning, EBay shop needs updating, display cabinet to finish, recent film trips to Halifax and Bradford need editing. Herewith slide show from Halifax visit yesterday.

A busy day, the weather was certainly not 100% as forecast but when is it ever so. I wanted to get Halifax covered as the present bus station will close while the new on is built on the same site. In the interim the stops will all be roadside which should be interesting. The first visit without Walsh's minibuses, what shame they have finished. The drivers were all very friendly. Halifax has invested in plastic pollution with a sea of red plastic barriers and lots of pavement and lamp post badges. Social distancing not particularly a problem with Asian community, those I saw ( majority) were white. Nobody bothered and stupid lines and arrows just confuse the situation and make people scared and not visit the towns.

Meanwhile I saw nothing other than the Porton Down lookalike place by the city hall that would put anyone off visiting. A lot of towns and cities seem to have a death wish on business. Bradford was much quieter than Halifax though. Buses seemed a tad under normal but not too bad, some scruffy ones from First, nothing new there then. Anyway tonight's slide show takes us back to Tuesday and Scarborough. Back to Halifax tomorrow night. Tomorrow I have to chase BT for new phone/net contract, get label from  Hermes which won't print and speak to health centre about upping my nerve pain blockers. I want to get the sanding and rubbing down under way on the display cabinet. We are looking to travel to Northern Ireland week after next, circa 12th Sept , we will check the weather mid next week and then decide. It is possible I will be covering South Wales locations next Monday/Tuesday again depends on weather.

Good to meet up with two of our young viewers this afternoon in Bradford, they had visited Leeds airport to record the new bus services to the facility.

A lot going on, first we had the remainder of the DVD orders to send out, all the singles had gone at Scarborough but we had an overseas and a parcel these were eclipsed by three large orders that also went this afternoon. The tick tack with the Chinese supplier went on with their 'engineer' saying the juddering wasn't too bad, like getting a new TV that judders and the supplier says its not too bad a judder! Anyway after threatening to open a Paypal case they agreed to send a new one and we need to get that away tomorrow, it would have been later this afternoon but for the monsoon weather.


The trip to York went well although it took a long time to get the shots as the autumn sun is lower in the sky and often means unwanted shadows. Lots of new buses around with electrics on park & rode and the East Yorks buses from Hull which I thought looked good in the new livery. We then crawled across to Scarborough which meant contending with a thousand or more caravans in either direction plus road works and small roads. I remembered why I don't go there very often its a pig to get shots with buses not all meeting at any one point albeit 'near' the station and the road have chronic congestion. We then decided ( Mandy actually) that it would be better to avoid the motorway traffic and come back across country, Wensleydale was really scenic and gorgeous little villages and towns so well kept. This was a marathon drive and meant we were back very late.

First things after DVD orders was to pop out and get the next lot of material for the display cabinet. I got screws for fastening down the shelves and various fillers. The electric screwdriver made short work of the screwing and the filler always makes a mess, this was for the bigger gaps, I'd also put in cut offs to help so it wasn't all filler. I've now vaccumed up and ready for the finer filler and smoothing the timber. Next comes the undercoat. I've got all the photos on the memory card in my still camera ready to file. I need to add recent releases to our Ebay shop, the site was down a lot today but then started up again, their site claimed all was normal but on the 'whats down' site about 600 people had entered EBay problems. Little be way of internet orders for a second day but with the large phone orders and post it is still busy. I've started editing the York trip. Its Skype night with Tina and Max in New Zealand. Tonights slide show York yesterday

ack late as we came home across country via Wensleydale, tortuous roads with the sun low in the sky, beautiful country though and every village seemed to be sitting outside the pub enjoying what may have been the end of summer and a corner turned back to some normality. More on the buses tomorrow.

AS you can see the structure for the display units is substantially complete other than some filling and sanding then the pain undercoat finally I can for the glazing retainers and order up the perspex. Tomorrow we are covering York and Scarborough for buses. A tiring day on the units though, back aching a bit. Weather cool but bright and dry hoping similar tomorrow.

A very hard work type of day with some photos filed before church then back for lunch and then on with the display case, progress as of 5.30 today. It is now as solid as a climbing frame but fingers crossed tomorrow I can find some 60mm cross head screws there are none in our area.

A full day on the display cases tomorrow and perhaps a trip out if I can locate correct screw. We have still heard nothing about the fascia board renewal. I've been saying that scraggy head should be kicking some of the Tory right to get industry moving again, too many people have been luxuriating on paid leave and it is about time everyone was back at their place of work not just children.

Church today was another venture in the world of Serbo Croat, we really can't go on like this it will be more catholic than Roman soon, we need to discuss the way forward, they seem to have recruited someone better suited to being a 14th C monk.

I managed to battle through the grumpy non functional Amazon shop updates and finished off this morning when their site was working a bit better and got the photo of the cover one and that is the last stage, there were quite a lot to add. By the way Amazon have put up their fees yet again, talk about taking advantage of the Corona situation.

Not one order received on the net although there are quite a few ready for posting out Tuesday. I managed to re-scan the films which were jumpy with the new scanner. No word back yet from China 9on what they want me to do, at present £318 out of pocket. Typical Chinese product under powered, poorly engineered. Mind you Britain has turned out some of the worst rubbish in history so we can't talk. Hey ho can't even find a 60mm screw, what are we like.

I was do8ing quite well with work on the new showcase which is the second part of the display room converted from our garage. I always intended to start this second part in the autumn and it seems the season is with us before August is out. I have put a picture up of progress so far, fingers crossed I can get more done Sunday afternoon and Monday. By then I will probably be putting it to bed until we have completed our trips to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. I have identified possible day in September although the weather outlook is very sketchy at this early stage. We also have to find a suitable hotel and one which is accessible for Mandy and does food. We are thinking of a full  week i Northern Ireland including trucks and three days in Scotland covering trucks plus buses in Edinburgh and Glasgow plus Aberdeen. It will be just two days in South Wales. If circumstances change a lot we will try and get to ROI in the later autumn. I'll try and update the Amazon shop tonight and get the covers done for the recent DVDs at Liverpool docks. I'm still chasing up the vendor in China re the faulty cine scanner received last week, I paid via Paypal so should be covered if it gets chewy!

Our slide show this evening brings you the final selection from the Liverpool trip. We have a few jobs on this coming week after Bank Holiday Monday and the weather looks poor but if we get a chance we will get some filming done, plenty of locations on the list. Now I'm back to one working cine scanner I'm redoing slowly the films I processed with the new but faulty machine, I just assumed as it was new it might work properly, some chance!