I've been busy writing a new training course again, blid leading the blind to some extent but nothing changes there theh although it's bloomin cold in my office at ground level it's baking with heating on boost above head height. I did however manage to get a bit of early work done on the 2016 trip to China and PDRNK. I also had a peek at some packages to Colombia for next year or even Christmas, far too touristy though so I'd have to find a local agent and get something put together for us. The net has been very quiet with only a small trickle of DVD orders although the phone has been busy. Tonight here are covers for the last few DVD release. I'm also trying to make head way with the Belgium tram material now on second attempt after returning to scratch on the first attempt although I do keep getting small clips which I can now identify as Austria and not edit out. We heard from Sue and her foot/ankle is still really sore after turning her ankle over on the road in Cuba.
still no movement on the tragic Bangladesh front with things going from back to worse at present with a 48 hour hartal now being called in Dhaka and Khulna provinces. With railways torn up already the reinstatement of services could take some time even if it all blew over tomorrow. I spoke with Martin today and we are talking again on Monday if things are no better we'll fly i and then get out again, there are 6 flights to Calcutta a day so we'll get out somehow. The back up plan will be India perhaps the narrow gauge railways. If the transport is running within Dhaka itself it may be possible to get a couple of days filming done, the army are escorting a lot of traffic to Chittagong although its getting between locations which would remain a sticking point. If we got a couple of days in Dhaka it would be something at least. I've written to our contact there and assured him that at present our plans are unchanged. Whatever happens it's certainly going to be a bit of an adventure one way or the other although we'd rather like to come out of it in one piece, talking of which I've put some of our Syria trip online on Youtube. I've been busy writing a new training course again, blid leading the blind to some extent but nothing changes there theh although it's bloomin cold in my office at ground level it's baking with heating on boost above head height. I did however manage to get a bit of early work done on the 2016 trip to China and PDRNK. I also had a peek at some packages to Colombia for next year or even Christmas, far too touristy though so I'd have to find a local agent and get something put together for us. The net has been very quiet with only a small trickle of DVD orders although the phone has been busy. Tonight here are covers for the last few DVD release. I'm also trying to make head way with the Belgium tram material now on second attempt after returning to scratch on the first attempt although I do keep getting small clips which I can now identify as Austria and not edit out. We heard from Sue and her foot/ankle is still really sore after turning her ankle over on the road in Cuba. With over 6K subscribers to our Youtube channel only another 4 K to go and we can then moneterise on that as well as the films. We are now approaching 7M hits on the channel since we started, certainly not a minority interest and inspiring memories and comments from over 50 countries worldwide. I've been putting on some of the harder to get either then or now countries with lots of clips. This has covered North Korea and Vietnam and indeed Pakistan. Next comes some more recent film by myself in Syria which I would venture is pretty much off even the most ardent travellers travel plans unless he's from Birmingham and has some weapon training in mind. I noted the first dislike note against the Wakefield clip from Saturday, expect nothing less, what is there to dislike about Wakefield other than the people, the place, the children, the air they breath etc, seriously though it really is what i expect and why I rate the county of Yorkshire so low way down for horrid people and a violent sick society and transport enthusiasts who in certain quarters bring the hobby a bad name. In fact almost down there with Scotland and Polish people but not quite, again only kidding ( a bit). Well not a lot more that I can add tonight, monitoring the situation in Bangladesh is frustrating as there is nothing one can do to change things, all that is left is to cross the old fingers and just wait although come this time next week alternative travel plans may need serious consideration. The agent in Mexico is looking up contacts for permissions to film and visit depots on our trip in April to Mexico City and Guadalajara, I worry I get too many a and l's in the name. Can't say the food does much for me there but I'm sure we'll survive. I've still got the balance problem and it gets worse as the day goes on but nothing else so I'll give it to midweek then contact the doctor. The weather was very cold overnight, -5 when I got up but a lot less chilly at work in Ellesmere Port. I received my new camcorder battery which I only ordered yesterday on Amazon how amazing is that! I'm going to do battle with the Austrian film once more, getting a bit frustrated with it now, I've still got to download some film for the soundtrack, get some sort of Germanish voices in with the tram rattles etc. I identified the unknown trolleybus as Austrian, plus some of the steam by looking up the stations, pity the trolley destination didn't come out sharp enough. We had a tidy up in the garage yesterday, sorted all the stock out ready for the new season, we are going to go through all the boxes replacing bleached / torn covers and taking out duplicates, filling gaps etc before Manchester in March. Tonight Youtube links from the last uploads. The sort of dizzy feeling that i had yesterday seems to have worn off a little but is still there, I certainly slept like a log but when I opened my eyes I needed to get up to see what the situation was, I looked on the net but nothing really obvious other than maybe it's a virus. If it doesn't go within a week I'll go to the doctors. After a day working pretty well straight through it gets worse, still I've now got a nice glass of pastis at my side and Mandy is settled with a G&T. We are having beef from our local butcher who has changed his supply to an Aberdeen Angus herd so we'll see what that's like, Harrods sell a lot from this herd it seems but at three times the price. Not a lot of info on the Bangladesh situation other than the opposition are trying to make the blockade even more effective and hartals continue around the country although the death rate is slowing down, amazing that his doesn't hit the new though back in the UK. I'm musing over alternatives although i think I'll pretty well leave it to the last minute with fingers crossed that they will all have had enough soon. The net DVD orders are trickling through still, fairly steady over the weekend. I got the new Yorkshire DVDS completed and loaded on to our shop. Last night I got the latest releases uploaded on to EBay so everything is pretty well up to date. There was a light covering of snow and when we went out this morning Mandy used her chair as it would be too risky for her to fall on the ice. It snowed again later, been around 1 degree all day and grey sky until late afternoon, the sky cleared and guess temperature will plummet. Editing the Austrian films, it's getting to be a bit of a chew as I'm not really that competent with Austria especially in the olden days, there are all sort of trolleys and minor railways a lot of which must be Austrian but there aren't even matching photos on the net and what there is is very limited, certainly not covered very well on the net but then there are huge gaps in all sorts of subjects. I topped the birds food up to get around the ice and snow, pity it isn't RSPB bird count weekend there were stacks but nothing out of the ordinary yet. The photos are yesterday at Huddersfield bus station. Quite a diverse range of subjects to cover this even, I awoke feeling very, well I can only describe it as light headed, it wasn't jetlag and I've never had it before, I was a little uncertain as to whether it was wise to carry on with my schedule but then when did I ever do wise things, I'm still a bit like it this evening but its ok if I sit down although typing sn't helping. I didn't go until gone 8.30 I was there before 10 in a very quiet Huddersfield. There was a little snow on the hills and the outside lane of the motorway was pretty grim but there was no snow in town and what came done erred more to being sleet than proper snow. I used my hand and feet warmers I had left over from last winter, they still work. Huddersfield has changed quite a bit since my last visit which was well worthwhile covering again even without lots of snow although a liberal sprinkling would hide the worst of it. The car park was still pretty empty when I left then drove to Wakefield. The town is now really hard to get around as they have blocked many roads to traffic although it was hard really to pick up on what they actually wanted you to do, piss off and go somewhere else would of course be a good idea if you had never visited, it's as foul as other Yorkshire towns and occupied by some species which died out elsewhere and just survives in this backwater, they will have a language soon instead of behaving like chimps and yobs, another 1000 years should have it sorted. Anyway it was worthwhile seeing the new buses, so much had changed here again and although the conditions weren't ideal I think you will find the resulting film atmospheric at least. There is still a good sprinkling of operators, with one heritage livery and a demonstrator Enviro 400 it kept me from thinking too much about the cold. I stumbled my way back to the car, the car park ticket expired ten minutes short of the actual time purchased so given that they were already ripping you off I didn't want an encounter with the ticket ape. I did have a brush with a CSO that's chimps social order or support thingeys or cops on minimum wages, he tried to be pleasant and being of such low esteem I thought I should be nice for a change and not remind it that they cannot stop you just because you are taking pictures or filming, I don't suppose Wakefield is in the EU so the ruling wouldn't apply perhaps, keep up the good work and they'll let you have a banana son. The drive back was OK , most of the snow on the motorway had melted, on the radio they were still making a mole hill out of a mountain so to speak, it wasn't bad at all other than spray against low sun. I had an email from Hasan in Bangladesh this morning, he hopes that the Hartal cum blockade will be over soon before we travel and he also alluded to the burnt double deck buses, I hope a good number have survived they are always a target. Hattons who sent the Southdown coach a coupe of days back, now sent a new Landrover model under seperate cover and charged £4 postage they need to get real their attitude to customer service stinks and they have no business sense at all. I got about 35 recent releases loaded on to Amazon last night, they loaded up first attempt, its all too good to last. I may try EBay tonight, not so many there to upload though. I did put more clips on Youtube to try and get hits up, remember when you look at our clips hit an advert at least once every visit, it is what helps pay for the DVDs and films many of you enjoy watching. good evening friends worldwide, a moderate fall of snow today at work so I left after lunch to beat the motorway traffic before it came to a standstill, it continued to be edging on snow for the rest of the day although we aren't supposed to get much in Cheshire unless you are on high ground. Tomorrow I'm going to Huddersfield where heavy snow is forecast around 10am although what transpires could be nothing at all but plenty of changes there which need recording, if time permits I'll either hit Wakefield or Leeds and that really depends on the cloud cover which is required at this low light time of year....I just broke off to catch the evening weather forecast, no snow at all now and lots of sunshine but Huddersfield bus station exit stands up well to the sun and for the rest I'll play it by ear. I've filled up all the bird feeders, quite a swarm descended before the sun dropped. I got the new Oxford diecast Southdown model today, at last they have got the Southdown green the correct shade or at least a damn sight nearer than it was on their last two models. It adds an interesting member to our SD model bus / coach flet, not a widespread vehicle but seems to measure up pretty well they usually manage to capture the correct shape at Oxford and when you consider these are getting knocked out at as little as £12 I expect there are those who will have a mini fleet in stock. I hope that their M&D PD2/12 comes out earlier than the third quarter when I think it has been promised, there appears nothing 'new' on their site by way of buses and I think they must be trying to clear the back log of promised models which got rather lengthy. The situation in Bangladesh seems a trifle less awful, lets hope that the whole protest collapses but putting the opposition leader in jail isn't usually a good move for democracy, I can see the army ending up in charge yet again, that is usually the most peaceful situation in the country, freedom is too much for them to handle and ffod stocks are running low now with farmers unable to get produce to markets they are giving stuff away to peasants in the countryside rather than just throw it away. Obviously if it is in full swing when we go we'll have to have a rethink but still got my fingers crossed for now. I've started editing the Austrian films as really the response on the net save for one kind gent has been nearly zero and I want to get it finished and off my computer I've so much material downloaded for it. There will be one of Innsbruck, Graz,Linz etc and another on Vienna. I downloaded some photos from net a while back for id purposes, I've printed them out and will try to edit with them by my side, then discard them as they aren't all copyright free so don't do downloading and printing all over the place just enjoy their classic timeless beauty . I've done enough for tonight though and am going to relax. Feet and hand warmer sachets are ready for the morning, come and say hello if you are in Huddersfield fist thing. Take a look at the Bangladesh newspapers for today, 9th day of total transport blockade with many deaths and bombings nothing quite taking a trip to the wild side of life, this explains the caution that our local agent has been showing about where we stay no wonder with all this going on, if you look up their e newspaper online you'll see the rest of the country, Dhaka is virtually isolated from the rest of the country at present. Now what is it we are going to film, oh yes transport, nothing likely to be controversial there then. Actually they do blow hot and cold and I really can't see this lasting two more weeks and hopefully before they gain the appetite for mor mayhem we'll be gone. I'm loading some Vietnam material on Youtube the country is now second for viewing our site after the UK and obviously well regarded as a source of past scenes. We shall also follow up with more difficult to access places like Syria for instance. Anyway tonight some scenes from my last visit to Bangladesh. How sare The Cameroons ignore the Monster raving loony party, if he wants a proper debate to include minority interests like the Liberals and Limes then he should have 'em all there. Anyway safter all the hassle we had in Scotland the last year we are all Mc Charlie now or being sent to Antarctic. Couldn't possibly hint at who we'd rather have sent there of course. I hope everyone who can does buy the UK edition of the magazine as it rather reminds me of the days with Catonsville Roadrunner and we weren't afraid of offending anyone, yes happy days, all that free speech and free love, its a wonder there's any of us left to tell the tale. Anyway back to Cuba, well they've got a nice little Bay becoming available... ooops no we've moved on back to the transport. I've just burnt the master for the last of the Cuba releases, twelve in total and updated the list on the shop and news pages plus added the remaining items to our shop. I'll try and get all the recent releases on EBay and Amazon come the weekend. Really not sure if we'll get out and about as the weather forecast is pretty dire at present. I should be getting back to the Austrian archives next, we have had a lot of info through and should be able to start final editing, I also noted that there is material left to use from one of my past trips to Austria so still plenty to go at for the Tyrol etc. If you aren't familiar with Austrian transport you'll be amazed at the ancient stock in Vienna and the American cars, all so very different. Goodness knows what I'll do when I get to Germany I've lost track of much of the early info, I'll have to start again there as well. A busy day coming up at work tomorrow, we've just had the second of our weekly dieting days, first time we've been on a diet for a few weeks with the Christmas hols and Cuba. I'm looking forward to a pint at the Golden Pheasant tomorrow evening, lets hope they haven't got a Thursday quiz night on, just a roaring log fire will do us fine. I did a bit of looking up for the next trip, I see that all the existing Calcutta tramway system is now back up and running with about 120 trams a day required in service, with luck I'll see some of the new ones. The Dubai tram and metro is all running fine. I've studied Google Earth maps for info on Chittagong etc, looks as if the trucks come straight out from the restricted dock area to the Dhaka road in the centre of things, no doubt diesel particulates will not be quite as bad there as the capital Dhaka where its almost like China for pollution. I'm going to file away the images for Cuba as they are taking up a lot of memory on the editing deck , then I'll get back on to Austria so mean time keep warm if you are in the UK, keep cool if you are somewhere nice and warm and stay there if you are thinking of wrecking our lives remember it gets very cold, South Georgia reported to be getting hundreds of portacabins with little one bar heaters ready, you have be told! Lets look at Austria all that snow and stuff , really cool yeah man. I managed to get my still camera a Cannon back to the settings that I normally use, it went haywire after the screen picture vanished like it had done in Istanbul, messing around trying to get it back I reset all the settings to factory and then the camera took huge size files which quickly gobbled up the remaining space on the memory chip and really had it's chips and eat them as it wouldn't take any other. Anyway all is well. Progress continues with the Bangladesh trip, Martin has now received his visa, it's a scary process as it only remains valid for 2 months after issue including your travel and time there so it cannot be obtained early. Hasan our local agent checks back every jot of the way which includes the 'tip' for officials to get the Rocket paddle steamer ticket which believe it or not also cannot be purchased more than two weeks in advance ijn case the schedule changes. This is not so daft though as silting up of the river is constantly reducing the journey to Khulna which is now 90 minutes drive away from present landing spot, that is one reason we are doing the trip it cannot be long before they vanish, mind you they haven't been steam powered since the 1980s but the last river paddle steamers providing ordinary services non tourist related. It was the launch of the working at height training course which went quite well for a first go and it was really freezing outside so we followed the course to the letter on the practical outdoors bit but got back in the warm asap, the main training rig has been dismantled and is now sitting awaiting transporting up to our Darlington yard where the is already a training facility . Getting home to the warm house all I want to do is nod off. I've just been rendering the images for the second Cuban bus film which takes us down to Santiago.The first volume didn't save on the time line so I'll have to download back to the computer from the DVD so I can take clips for Youtube. Then I've the last of the car films to put together which might all leave one general traffic volume on Havana from the end of the journey, great to get them done as it will be time to place adverts later this week. I've trimmed up a lot of shots ready to load on to the Smugmug photo sales site, here is a sample of what there will be available. After renewing our blog at the end of last year and starting again we suffered quite a knock on readership but thankfully we are now ranging from 400-1300 a day, I suppose it depends whats on telly that night. Anyway here we are once again full of fun to be back at work and didn't the day just fly past as I finally managed to focus on all the tasks in hand and in addition one of our apprentices had had a slight accident Friday and that was like the Spanish inquisition all over again. I'm still bashing away at the DVDs covering Cuba but also managed to get focused on Bangladesh and finally our man in Dhaka as opposed to Havana has got the ball rolling to get the Rocket paddle steamer tickets booked. Martin has still to receive his visa back but as it went in just before Christmas it might have been at the back of a Christmas build up. Anyway I'm going to start printing out schedules and maps ready for the next trip plus I want to get the operator addresses sent off to Mexico to get permissions for the trolleybus depot visit in April. Hopefully Hasan has already sorted such things in the sub continent for us, lets hope for political calm in that powder keg of a country which can ignite at the drop[ of a match. I'm coming to the end of editing the truck films in Bangladesh,loads of clips already on Youtube here are a couple of links and then some of the DVDs which are already loaded on our shop pages of this site. We will also be turning back our attention to the Austrian tram archives and have had a lot of useful id's from kind souls in the Tyrol on Innsbruck and associated railways etc, there are some real gems from the early 1960s. Our trips might seem to come fast and furious but few seem to escape the endless trail of booking problems and the Bangladesh trip at the end of Jan 15 is proving well up to the maximum hassle factor even with a tried and tested agent at the other end, the problem hinges around the paddle steamer trip, I think Hasan our fixer wanted to know for certain that we both had our visas in place as he has to pay out the money for the boat cabins whereas the hotels etc we pay when we are there ditto drivers, cars and trains etc. He still hasn't done it even though my visa is in place, Martin and I have had to get a little demonstrative with him, kick up the backside stuff really. Fingers crossed that he will have sorted it finally. We are still going through the Cuban films, the 4th of the truck DVDs is burning as I type and why I decided to get it out of the way. We watched the first episode of Last tango in Halifax new series before bed but as it hadn't recorded the second we watched that on the ipad in bed this morning. A rough night with more storms which woke me several times, we had one tree down yesterday on the road to Knutsford. I've been getting the DVD covers done as I go along and likewise listing all the DVDS on our shop , see store page of this site. Hopefully I'll get a few more photos trimmed up during the week. Work is requiring some fundemental shifting around as the traning facility at Ellesmere Port has all but been dismantled but we can use our mobile training rig and have the opportunity at rehousing in the North East which may not be a bad thing as we have a lot of supervision in that region. Next door has been tidying up their garden as the owners want a further inspection next week albeit the bungalow is being charged out at a bomb and has rotting joists, the youngsters are doing their best. I've been volunteered to help with the funding appeals for the new toilet block at St Oswald's church in the village, there are around 15 requests going out, I'll see if my employer has any spare cash with it being New Year and funds usually available although we usually try and get something for the British Polio Fellowship. There is a short sale on our EBay shop to kick off the new years trading and if the weather is kind it won't be long before we have the first UK bus DVDs for 2015 coming through- Huddersfield is a likely candidate and possibly Wakefield fitting in the same day. We've had a small flock of long tailed tits on the feeders and the Nuthatch still visiting. Last night I had a long eye to eye stare out with a fresh young fox who was just outside the kitchen window, he has bright white marking behind his eyes. Carrying on with the shots from Cuba for a while I'll start linking to Youtube this week if you haven't already seen any of the material. |
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