A LITTLE QUIETER TODAY BUT BUS SPOT ULTRA TUNBRIDGE IS READY

 A day of torrential rain , non stop damp, cold and gusty, not the sort of day to go out filming mid winter but we do have our eyes on next week for either Kent or Tyneside or just maybe both. It didn't seem a big ask having just two locations to fit in before Christmas but the weather is either sunny, wet or both. Anyway we will get to both eventually and will soon be starting on our 2019 destination list, yes it all starts again the PMP annual merry- go-round. I decided to do what I thought would be a quick edit for a bus Spot Ultra, Tunbridge Wells, I haven't really got much old archive only a few seconds but I do have early 1988 shots of a Sunday when Southdown had got tendered routes there, taken on an old two part system of camera and recorder, really heavy kit, bought it for about £100 , the stuff cost a fortune at this time, you can get state of the art HD cameras for the price of an early video 8 or VHS camcorder back in those days. The scenes are probably unique for the location and then are followed up through the 1990s and to the present day with frequent visits to what is one of my favourite places for variety of operators, liveries and vehicles. Without boring you it all got a bit involved when you need to cut bits out and try to get to a specified length etc, one of the visits was taken when the camcorder didn't like Arriva livery and got it bright green, I keep trying to tweak it but it looks quite awful, I had to get shot of the camera well before it was due for replacement as it was wasting time and money.

The post seems to be drying up this week, most of the DVD orders are now on the net and it has gone quiet but I expect the magazines will be out next week, the Jan issues are always really early before Christmas. We have been busy getting Christmas cards ready to post out, the overseas ones will go in the morning. This evening we will be at the Macclesfield hospital for Mandys repeated CT scan of her lung with the growth on it, we are hoping the infection which blurred the image last time will have abated enough to get a clear understanding of what it is, the original thinking was that as it showed on an xray it was probably an old calcified growth, fingers crossed on that. I can't believe that the week is racing by so quickly, I've not lifted the cameras in anger for ages, I'll be getting withdrawal symptoms. I've about 50 locations on my Bus Spot Ultra list to cover so any rainy days will be well used. I always try and get a few hours at Lymm services for lorries around Christmas. We are down in Hampshire for the holiday, leaving on the Saturday morning, the last post will go out 21st in the morning, that's the Friday. We have a couple of concerts at the RNCM coming up, end of term Christmas opera is Friday, friend Sue will join us then another the following Saturday. Lets go to Lymm for some lorry shots as we haven't had many recently, taken December 2014