Another day of decorating with the walls and ceiling complete in the guest bedroom with just the paintwork to do tomorrow. The weather forecast didn't offer much hope for the London trip so we've put it back until we get sight of a settled spell of slightly cloudy weather. I'm monitoring Thursday with a trip to Bristol and Bath a possibility. I'm also looking for a morning or afternoon at Crew bus station to catch Routemaster's golden oldies in action.

We had a heap of things to post off this morning with a bag full of DVDs and another full of cine films, I've now relisted those unsold and despite an interested party ( nosy parker perhaps) suggesting we donate them all to the North West Film Archive who we know charge out their film at £40 a second. Hopefully we'll clear another batch this week and free up some space in the garage. When I get a chance I'll make a start of the much more interesting 16mm documentary films which are piled up in the office and stuffed in the cupboards in the editing suite.

I've also done a little bit on the family history side and completed my run through of stills for Colombia but the non transport scenic stuff. Mindful that i need to get some bus locations done but also watching out for a chance to go back and finish off the job I started down past Oswestry on the A50 last week. Back to dieting days tomorrow. Nothing line up for this weekend so Saturday is also a possible for filming.

I'm working my way through the last of the Super8 cine film, there will be more clips from these going on Youtube, a very random selection but the last of these - I'll certainly never gather such a mass of such  a mess of cine with gems so rare and transport almost invisible. We have had some helpful tips on locations when we do get to London. How about this clip from St Albans when Queen Elizabeth the First rocked into town! It shows the amount of useful topographical material which emerges.

.There are no quick fixes in decorating and preparation is about half the battle, we are very pleased with the work on our bedroom but by this afternoon we both had little energy left after restoring good order to start on the next bedroom other than to cover everything and to put filler in cracks and clean those pesky little bit in upvc window surrounds which can gather an unsightly little lines of black dirt and mould. Now its time to step back and anyway the white paint we were going to use has gone off after storage in the garden shed but B&Q opens at 7am so we'll both get up early as Mandy has a blood test first thing at Holmes Chapel and hopefully I can get in and out of Northwich before the rush hour gets too bad.

We haven't done bad on the cine film sales this week with about 20 reels getting sold so far although that still leaves quite a number to go. There have been very few listings of interest to me this week and nothing much at all really so we are probably the best on EBay for choice at present. I'll get around to copy the next batch of 16mm film in the spring before we get too commited to rallies and travel. We had a chap today wrote and thought i should give all the cine film to the North West Film archive for nothing,. they who charge £40 a second if you use their film, nice idea I suggested he should buy it and then donate it. We'll have a lot of films and DVDs to post.

Out contact with relations descending from Gustavus Hardy has already started to bear fruit with pictures of grand parents' siblings and children. Although not a lot has transpired of late the family trees do linger awaiting attention but then so do the photos which need filing away. The London trip this coming week looks like being put off as the weather forecast looks poor but we'll monitor carefully and there are plenty of other destinations in the queue. I've put the latest family photos on the Hardy website but here is Gustavus Hardy in all his wiskered glory. Then his two boys John ( known as Jack) and Wilfred Hardy

nother hard slog of a day with a touch up on the main walls in our bedroom and then the paintwork which always seems to taker forever although not as bad as the days when you had to do wooden window frames. Tomorrow we finish cleaning everything before putting it all back in place, dreading putting up the window blinds and curtains.

Relaxation came this afternoon and evening, after cleaning up we went up to Manchester to the RNCM and had dinner at the Brodsky and then enjoyed a fairly lengthy St Davids day concert which featured the Cor y  Brythoniaid Male Voice Choir is the largest of two Male Voice Choirs in Blaenau Ffestiniog

Their History, In June 1964 a local Blaenau Ffestiniog man, Meirion Jones formed a male voice choir which was to become one of the most successful choirs in Wales. The choir was formed to compete in a small local eisteddfod in Hyfrydfa Chapel in manod and following this it was suggested that the choir perform in the local Carnival some weeks later. At this stage there were some fifteen members but due to the encouragement they received, the choir was officially formed and work commenced to attract new members.From the outset, competing was an integral part of the Choirs activities and, made it’s first appearance in competition at the Llan Ffestiniog jubilee Eisteddfod in 1965. Following success at this Eisteddfod it was decided to make 1966 the starting point for a sustained period of competition which indeed continues to the present day. More members were required however and the Choirs conductor, Meirion Jones, ably assisted by another Choir member, Wyn Morris, began travelling the area visiting possible Choir members and it was through their efforts that the numbers expanded rapidly.With the increase in numbers followed an increase in the Choir’s success. Between 1966 and 1974 for example the Choirs success could be compared to that of a modern day football team with the following statistics: 26 competitions, 19 first prizes, 3 second prizes. A record to be proud of.In 1969 the Choir decided to compete in ‘ The big one ’ for the first time and entered the National Eisteddfod in Flint. The Choir sang ' The 23rd psalm' and secured their first major success with the words of the adjudicator a glowing testament to the quality of the performance, as follows: “ We were amazed by the superb singing and cannot find words to express our feelings. The whole programme a circle of pure artistry”.Further successes followed in 1971 at Bangor which was a unique year in the history of Blaenau Ffestiniog with the Moelwyn Male Voice choir also winning their section at the same Eisteddfod. A unique double for the town. In 1972 the Choir won first prize at the Butlins Eisteddfod which was a major competition at the time with choirs from all over England and Wales competing. This was the fifth time the Choir had won this particular competition, again a feat which will never be repeated.But it hasn’t all been competition. In 1975 the Choir made an historic trip behind the ‘ Iron Curtain’ and visited Hungary where they appeared before a panel of Hungary’s most eminent musicians and were awarded a Diploma from the Academy of Culture for their performance. Since this first historic trip the Choir has toured far and wide, which have included two tours of America, two tours of Belgium. Two visits to the Interceltique Festival in Lorient and several tours to Ireland and Scotland. Further National Eisteddfod successes occurred in 1977, 2002 and 2005.Over the years the Choir have been indebted to many people who have had an influence in many ways on the Choir’s success, Meirion Jones M.B.E., Katie Pleming, Jennie May Ellis, Gareth Jones the Choirs deputy conductor for many years, Elfyn Pugh the Choir President, Elisabeth Ellis who became the Choirs accompanist in 1986 and is still providing invaluable support for the present ‘ boss ’ John Eifion Jones.To those who have heard the Brythoniaid Male Voice choir singing will agree that it has an unique sound which has given enjoyment to a huge number of people over the years and long may this continue.

Straight into the tasks in hand, cleared bedroom, took rubbish to tip, painted ceiling. Painted walls. Somewhere along the line we picked up the paint from B&Q had to get another small tij ready for any bit which need touching up in daylight tomorrow morning. Then Saturday's task is to do the gloss woodwork and then leave overnight to mover back in on Sunday. If we manage this we'll go ahead and pain the second bedroom ceiling and walls which is nowhere as big a job as the main bedroom. The bathroom is also on the list just refreshing the walls and ceiling and restoring the ceiling where roofers disturbed the bathroom when they put on the new roof. We are dealing with DVDs normally over the weekend and the last batch will go out on Monday thereafter they will be held and sent out the following Saturday as we shall be in London for most of next week. I'll put a note on the Ebay shop and probably suspend Amazon shop.

We put up several clips on Youtube yesterday and there are lots of new truck films available, all on our list and the PMP store other than the new Wrexham bus DVD which I need to get a cover done for.

or as Donovan had it, first there is a mountain then there's not which alludes to watching the landscape under the influence of certain substances etc. Anyway I digress and starting with this morning it was a misty but otherwise clear sky. I cleared the DVD orders for Many and as its the return to normal eating after our two weekly fasting days I made sure I had a couple of pieces of tasty Irish fruit loaf toasted before I left. I went to try the roundabout down on the road to Oswestry with the various truck stops and cafes but the clouds came over. I explored south to nearly Shrewbury but it was getting as bad down there so I turned around and headed back towards home with fingers crossed that it would be cloudy in Wrexham. It was so it turned into a bus day at Wrexham bus station which produced a DVD featuring buses which may be stating the obvious and I do reiterate it on the EBay shop but it doesn't stop the occasional silly comments when it doesn't have what they expected which was ????

Anyway enough of venting my frustration as we head towards the decorating days. I'm trying to get Wrexham DVD out of the way and list the remaining Super 8 cine films on EBay but haven't made much progress what with one thing and another. I did stop off at Ellesmere Port on the return leg to get my hair cut, suitably scalped it should see me through until the back of March. This Saturday we have the St Davids day concert at RNCM but other than that from Friday morning until Monday night we are devoted to decorating the bedrooms and I've just dropped a bombshell by objecting to the chosen colour for our bedroom which I think was a wishy washy dark rusty pipe colour and I don't think I could live with it so we are reverting to one of the b&Q colours which should hopefully go over in one coat so that's win win as far as I'm concerned.  We'll use the Farrow & Ball colours for the loung but again as they are very similar to what is there we should get away with one coat even with the flat matt finish. The spare bedroom colour was also agreed and is a pale blue. Woodwork is going to be gloss white rather than insipid satin.

We have booked the hotel at Putney for neext weeks London bus filming, I'm considering stooping off en route Tuesday and looking at option might do similar for the return on Friday. Photos from Oswestry and Wrexham today.

ell a very successful visit this morning as I set off in the bright sunshine with virtually cloudless blue sky over Staffordshire. I had already sussed out the location on a previous but aborted visit due to sudden change in the weather this time there were no such problems. The lorry traffic was virtually continuous especially in the early part of the morning as I caught the back of the am rush. There was a great variety of trucks and I was newly introduced to the JCB fleet of impressive classic lorries which are immaculate in presentation. It was so good that I got an hour of trucks east bound and then moved to the other side as the sun swung around and got another programme out of the west bound traffic then it was lunch time. Lots of pictures as well, filing of photos is falling behind and I've uploaded nothing to the Smugmug site for a bit but I'll try and do better.

The decorating at No17 is about to commence with preliminary sorting out of bedding and deciding what we can discard etc. Friday we'll tackle it full time straight through the weekend and Monday , hopefully we may get both bedrooms finished but it will be hard work, talking of which I had my first session out tidying the garden in several weeks mainly due to dry weather and a little warmth from the sun.

We have booked the hotel for next weeks bus filming trip to London . Long promised it's happening at last with light cloud and a tiny bit of rain forecast at present. We shall be staying at the Premier Inn at Putney which has several bus routes straight in to the city which will be fine for Mandy as she cannot tackle the tube , it has little wheel chair access at all and is really a waste of time as you can't see anything and can easily miss locations it would be worth hopping off and exploring. We go down early Tuesday may be taking in suburban locations such as Kingston and Putney itself although this is just early days for we have only booked it this evening. We come back up home on Friday so really we have four days there.

I've been following up family history contacts with Mandy's distant cousins in NZ and Australia. There are people we contacted years ago and never progressed but others in their family are now interested so it  looks as if this line is picking up again although of course we have weekly contact with Tina and Max in Wangarei. Pictures tonight from the A50, I'll have to see the weather forecast before I commit to filming possibly Crewe but may be too sunny.

Yet another hectic day, no wonder the blood pressure check isn't looking that brilliant. Clear blue sky and a frost greeted us this morning. We swapped around cars so that I could get away to Manchester, got there at tail end of the rush hour but thankfully most of the meters were empty and a got a parking spot just a few yards from the Chinese visa office which has been split off from the main consulate building just off curry mile. The doors weren't open to the office block, finally managed to get through on the intercom and got in only to have similar problems with the lift which jammed up, worried looks between passengers then it jolted into action. I was first in queue but being a gentleman let lady through door first who then became No1 to collect only she had problems, no more Mr nice guy next time, anyway shared the incident with nice young lady at counter who very gently lifted £151 off me as China now issues everyone like it or not with multi entry 3 year visa which costs nearly three times a single entry which was all that I required, also gives a prompt to people who want to get value for money going back again, hmm perhaps not. Well That was stage one of the morning done.

Next it was to Trafford park Europort which I had promised for the truck fans out there, no hassles other than whinging prat from Maritime yard, always get one everywhere and more often in fact always not a driver who of course wavem flash and toot their greetings. Lots of pain jobs, classic trucks in regular use and a real good mix of operators including a few Stobbies of course. The sun shone almost continually and as it slowed down at lunch time I finished off the last few minutes at the roundabout off the Trafford Centre road which is entry point for a lot of the lorries. Just another couple of sectors to sniff around in future but handy enough. Got home just as Mandy came back, chased up bookings for meals at Brodsky restaurant at RNCM, we are there Saturday night for the st Davids Day concert which is actually a couple of days early. I've got todays film edited and the DVD orders ready to post tomorrow morning. It looks like being yet another ultra clear sunny day and thinking of heading down to the bottom of the A483 to the truck stop roundabout and see how I get on there, it will be two new truck locations in one week. I'm keeping an eye on next weeks weather as we prepare for our London bus filming trip. Meanwhile shots earlier today at Manchester Europort.

Another busy day, we had a heavy post bag of DVD and cine orders yesterday which carried on this morning so we decided after we'd had our trip to the dentist ( family outing) then to catch up with shopping at Altrincham Waitrose and home to add todays orders and get the whole lot away by which time the kids were coming out of school ad at village shop on the sweet round. I've uploaded more cine film to the PMP Ebay shop and loaded clips on Youtube although I've deleted a couple which had copyright claims on music. We firmed up a few more concert dates and have set aside 3 days for filming in London before Easter subject to a suitable hotel and suitable weather.

We also called in at b&Q and got another batch of sample pots and colour cards, slow progress but I think we have identified some period paints for the lounge with a slightly deeper blue and yellow ( In knew I'd get it Eastbourne Corp bus colours eventually!!). The bedrooms are more of a challenge but needs resolving as we start with them, really ready to kick off as soon as we've stripped out our room, we can move to the guest bedroom while we complete. Here are the covers of recent DVD releases all on our shops both here, Amazon and eBay. Tomorrow I pick up the Chinese visa and hope to film at the Trafford park Container terminal or nearby at the roundabout which we sussed out midwinter, sunshine should help though. As soon as I get suitable days I'll crack on with more bus films.

.A dull wet, windy day which although not a low temperature feels miserable so best keeping to jobs indoors. We've been to B&Q and got some paint match pots and card colour samples which we've applied to the front and back bedrooms and tried then in the lounge. The colour cards probably match the lounge better and a shade lighter will suit the second bedroom. So the jobs for the week are lining up and paintbrush in hand the next few weeks won't be dull. I loaded a lot of clips on our Youtube channel which has ever diminishing returns, persons using apps to eliminate adverts are not welcome on our site in fact if it falls much more I'll just put an end to listing any more clips as the produce few DVD sales. We have already got tomorrow mornings post ready, two bags full of films and DVDs with some more likly to go before morning. I'm bidding on a lot of cine films which expire this evening I must remember to keep an eye on them. I've got a lot more Super 8 to list on Ebay and am taking the clips off ready to load on Youtube while it lasts then selling the films on EBay.

The garden bird feeders have all been topped up and birds a plenty all day. The weather looks like turning colder again later in the week which may make for sunny days suitable for truck films. Nearby destinations possible include the A50 in Derbyshire and the road past Oswestry further down where there is a truck stop, there was building work going on no idea if its finished. As soon as we get a hint of nice light cloud over London we'll get a few days down there. The earlier rallies such as Detling will give us a chance to catch up on Kent. I've made some more progress on the Ukraine trip for August and on Tuesday I pick up the China visa, latest weather indicates my original plan to do Trafford park container port is possible with sunshine forecaste, I'd get a bus in and back parking my car there, must look up services as I haven't the foggiest idea what there is. Might be easier just to go in get the visa and then back out, Manchester is a nightmare at present to drive around. Both Mandy and I have dentist appointments adjoining tomorrow morning so we may go via B&Q and firm up the paints required.

A nice roast chicken tonight and the remainder as risotto tomorrow then our two fasting days. We have now got a few concerts booked through the spring months including receptions at opening night of RNCM spring opera and afternoon tea the following week with lecture on the presentation of the operas and future plans for the college. Students from the RNCM are performing songs from the shows at Clonter opera on my birthday with afternoon tea and some fizz. Mandy's birthday falls on the Tuesday after Easter, normally a time we went up to Scotland but not this year. Some covers of recent DVD releases all on the shop pages OOps not working at present.

Things went as planned we got up about 7 am and were in Worcester filming by 9am. The run down was a pleasure as far as Birmingham, the first time for several years that it has been clear of road works with the latest having finished and created a permanent 4 lane stretch before the M6 toll road. There was one set of works on the M5, got into Worcester found our usual parking spot and got cracking. There were plenty of new buses since my last visit, a good variety of operators, First in its various livery stages. Well presented considering the foul weather. Actually it was just light cloud and by the time the first rain drops appeared we were heading to the rather nice coffee shop which is in the shopping centre behind the bus station. Mandy ordered me up a bacon buttie and we both had enormous eclairs, haven't had one of these for ages.

The drive back up wasn't bad, everyone had been friendly today, spoken to some very nice people, it makes up for the rubbish visits we have had there in the past. I've listed all the recent DVD releases on Ebay this afternoon, plus I've created a sale and on top of that I've cleared out all the DVDs which haven't sold in 16 months otherwise EBay charges a punitive rate for them. I've created the Worcester DVD and its on our shop. I've got some more cine film listed under Super8 on EBay. I've ticked tacked with friend Martin over our August Ukraine trip to get a final version agreed, must get the Colombia tickets to Martin before I lose them. We got invites to RNCM Opera opening night and reception plus cream tea on the Friday when we were going anyway. We also managed to get tickets for the St Davids night concert which used to be very hard to get hold of, changing times I think.

Photos needless to say from this morning at Worcester. Next week we may well start decorating at No17 and filming trips depend on the weather, I had hoped to get something done at trafford Park on Tuesday when I pick up the China visa but look ahead is awful. Hope to tackle Bristol and Reading plus of course London , Cumbria, South Wales all getting high on the visit list.