Good evening folks, well a bit of a shock to the system as we returned to more normal February weather. As I'd planned I got up to Preston to catch the whole of the morning rush hour buses and see how the refurbished bus station was looking. They are now on the apron and it can't be far off finishing but at present all buses come out the same exit and per last visit but there have been changes to the onward route with buses turning down to the Guildhall being more or less as previous but anything else routed down a road straight to the market. There has been a lot of lane restricting but on the whole most things work out well for photography and tonights slide show reviews my sightings as of this morning, I did notice as I left the car park that there were several enthusiasts gathered at the back entrance to the bus station.

As per the weather outlook there was light cloud which was ideal and then just as I left the rain started and soon spread down to Cheshire and is still coming down now but after quite a long dry spell the ground did need a water. I got some domestic diy jobs done, tightening toilet roll holder, touching up the hall, stars and landing pain especially where I'd repaired the window decoration a few weeks back, we had to get a match pot as the paint we used had dried up. I've got a lot of the recent truck DVDs on to the shop with both DVD and digital versions but a few more to go yet. I do need to get five more DVD covers made but I've most of tomorrow but I'd like to try and get Amazon and EBay shops updated with recent clutch of DVDs. We've two weeks to get to about 8 destinations to keep to my schedule but of course weather dependent but if it is suitable for buses they will get the attention. We got the Irish tax sorted for our house in Cahir and also sorted out the latest flutter of card bills, head still above water thankfully.

Yes it's all happening at once but it is probably a good idea to keep up the momentum as we have now placed the order with the shed builders at Cuddington, an 18' shed to taken what is presently stored in the garage which itself will become the new display room and computer centre for the PMP Archive and my model vehicle collection. The shed comes a couple of days before I leave for Asia ( yes my birthday) and then mid April they start the garage conversion. All of it is pretty much a Rolls Royce job with no shortcuts so the shed is treated wood, heavy duty roofing felt, superior quality framework and door facing to the drive with a couple of paving slabs for access, the present small flower border can by concreted over. The installers take away the old shed and put down a proper slab base for the new one. Then the builders will complete the new room right through to access ramp, track lighting, joining up radiators to our central heating etc. We just need to sort the shelving and how we protect the shelves, the easiest and perhaps cheapest would be perspex sheets.

Today I was out filming lorries at Crick and down the road towards Rugby. The weather was ideal for it and I got yet another four hours of film with masses of Stobarts and Malcolms among it. I'll be getting the films edited and tomorrow if the weather hasn't changed in outlook I'll take advantage of the light cloud to film at Preston. Hopefully there will be weather more suited to bus filming next week althogh my list of objectives isn't that great. I then need to get my adverts done two weeks early before I leave on the Asian trip to avoid missing the deadlines. Here are shots from Crick this morning.

Mandy got back home last night so it has been a day of catch up which as well as shopping and washing etc includes editing the four programmes emerging from the trip to Immingham docks. Study of the footage shows how the lorry, van and lamp post incident occurred the lorry drive was eyeing up a slow heavy load ahead past the roundabout and started to change lanes to the outer not seeing the van on his outside in the second lane. The van is then struck -forced off his intended route , off the road and into the lamp. It was strange seeing them split seconds before not knowing their day was going to go downhill very shortly. So take care when changing lanes, how many of us have had a shock when we realise we've pulled straight out on somebody on our offside.

I've edited three out of the four Immingham volumes and clips are already on Youtube for the first two. Covers to follow plus I need to put on digital downloads for this and Penrith. Tomorrow looks like being the last hot sunny day, it topped 20 at home today, I managed to get several jobs done in the garden putting on fertilisers, bug spraying and tidying the lawn edges. The chap from the garage conversion firm came round as scheduled and had submitted his quote by tea time, we are looking to start soonest after getting a new shed in situ and emptying the garage - I already finished loading the PMP van today ready for Detling and Brooklands in April. I'll get the shed ordered this week and then I've got to pack up all my models, I've already got quite a few boxes but it will take a while. Not sure yet on eventual 'finish' to the room but will try to get that and the office to match and get all heavy things down to waist height and on secure racking shelves unlike my bowing shelf effort. The metal racking is cheap and flexible and works well. We need to do a scale drawing and design the new layout. All the archive tapes will probably move into the new room as they are quite low and neat and will form the base for a lot of the shelving which should have two 14ft runs of say  7 shelves perhaps shallow one side and deeper to allow dioramas the other. Anyway a lot to be getting on with, photos tonight carry on with our Immingham coverage, I've started editing them ready for filing.

What a superb day for weather, up at 4.45 and on the road just after 5am and a nice straight run to Immingham and tea and cheesecake at the truck stop as the sun was rising. I hadn't been filming that long, swapping position for as good as I could get so early on that I'd come back from the inbound section which was getting lots of shadow cast over from outbound lorries so went to the usual spot on the small traffic island. After two years they still had a redundant traffic sign on a tripod up, wonder it stood the gales so I kindly laid it flat and got rid of more excess shadows and got my hands thoroughly dirty, It wasn't long then that I witnessed the strange sight of a small van ( white) going round with a street light apparently following it, then I noticed the foreign wagon across the carriageway right on the roundabout. I didn't really see what had happened to course it but certainly a few minutes earlier I'd almost have been stood in that spot.  Thee was then a huge tail back of lorries which took twenty minutes to clear all in one shot! I got 4 hours of film, just downloading it now. I've got all the bus DVD stock in the van ready for Detling and Brooklands we can add anything we do between now and the events. If anyone wants truck DVDs ring or email and I'll put them in with the reserved stock. It got up to 20 degrees in Yorkshire even across the top of the M62 and right down into Manchester, home it was just 17. Here are some shots from thousands I took.

A monstrously busy day, I got all the DVD orders ready, quite a pile, I'll have to take them out with me tomorrow and then try to be back in time to process them at the village shop / post office. I got the bulk of the 8mm cine film copies, just half a dozen small 200' reels to go then I can start putting them through the computer and digitise plus load to shop and Youtube plus an external drive for those to OTA. I got the DVD stock boxes sorted so that I've extracted the truck films, there is little point in taking them to the bus rallies and they sell slowly if at all at truck events, most seem to like them by post, That means I can take more of the bus, tram and trolley DVDs. We shall still be at some truck events though with stands at Gaydon and Kelsall at least. I've down loaded the Gaydon form, risk assessments etc so I'd better do it before I leave for Asia.

I've been emailing with China John and he realises time is short so we are skipping the Chinese banquet for McDonalds or such like, I can have a coffee and ice cream, even their cakes aren't too bad. I usually have coffee at Starbucks near Admiralty on the island.  I just want to get the prep for my return done then I'll start printing out maps, too old for all this telephone messing. I've cleared out the old shed although no sign of builders ever coming back to me on the garage conversion but we still have one who specialises coming next week. Mandy will be home tomorrow evening, just got my dinner in the oven then I can resume copying the cine and then pack everything away before Mandy's back. Getting the DVDs to fill stock in for the sales is another job, the work getting the truck ones just cleared space and freed up boxes but at least I don't have to do the lorry films now. Actually we've a lot of 'sale' stock which could be integrated. Here are the covers for all the recent releases all on the shop as DVDs last three need to be put up as digital downloads.

Amazing how it has suddenly picked up this week with the appearance of the monthly hobby magazines and it shows just how buoyant the market remains for DVDs with the digital downloads still trying hard to make an impact in our transport hobby. I've had a super busy day all round including outside jobs around the garden and house exterior as well as the DVD orders, all are now ready to go out in the post on Monday, a few singles received earlier today went out before the midday post deadline. I've been copying more archive film to DVD ready for deposit in the OTA premises in April and in exchange I'll be borrowing some of their unseen bus material plus having a general nosy to see what lays in their vaults. I've also just finished trimming up this weeks photos for filing but we can have a dip into Maidstone buses and trucks at Penrith before we get them loaded on to the Smugmug still photo sales site link direct from shop front page. Mandy is still in Ireland, she gets home on Monday evening. I'm already looking at what film excursions I can fit into the coming week. The bus targets are getting fewer so we look about right to be uptodate before the big Asian adventure which will add three countries I've not visited before.

Where do we begin, its usually with a messed up weather forecast and why should today be any different, I've heard that the Met offices own although the basis for the BBC effort does have maps and you can make your own judgement call on what it looks like doing. I was up at 4.45 and by 5am had checked the situation at Immingham where it was going to be foggy until lunch time then clearing while penrith was sunny from sunrise so I changed my plan and headed straight up the M6 motorway to Penrith and then had breakfast at the truck stop and then decided that although cold and cloudy I'd better make the most of it, actually it was quite even lighting and none of the glaring white from the majority of lorries so that was a saving grace but it certainly wasn't the above average temperature just a typical day in the Lakes midwinter but as the morning progressed it did clear to a warm and pleasantly hazy sunshine which again was good for photography.

There were certainly lots of lorries about, it is always a good spot on the A66 a route I've now filmed for about thirty years.  By early afternoon I was all filmed out and needed a break so with three hours already achieved I headed home but not before being driven off the Plumley Moor Road by a big sloane ranger machine overtaking a removal van on her side, she saw me go off and on to the grass but didn't even stop to make sure everything was ok shame in the panic I didn't get her reg no. At home the DVD orders were something of an avalanche but I'd still got two hours until the post is collected and I managed to clear the whole lot and got a few stamps I can use for any more small numbers, also note that the post goes up yet again mid March. The top temps I passed through were 18 in south lakes and 19 around Blackpool North Lancs area then back down to a chilly Cheshire at 17. Photos from Bracknell and the first of todays samples. All the DVDs up to yesterday are ready but I need to upload on our shop and get digital versions on.

What a day, I think Buses magazine hit the news stands and the phone was ringing all day in contrast to the more usual internet based orders although we did have plenty of them in the backlog through my trip to Kent and Sussex earlier in the week. I did get some more mundane household jobs out of the way, Mandy was going out with Hil, Dean and Jane tonight but Sean seems to have got a caffeinated coffee by mistake out and about yesterday and has had a reaction which puts his heart rate all over, its sorted now bit it leaves him feeling rough so they are going out early tomorrow. I got all the covers for the latest releases done , the new Epson printer is messing about and I've yet to get a top class print today although the pattern check I've just done looks more hopeful. I've ordered some real Epson cassetes in the hope that they'll settle it down, first I was getting too little yellow now its everywhere. Here are the latest covers, I'll get them on the shop later, clips for all on Youtube. I can't seem to upload the Canterbury Bus Spot Ultra but it is ready.

Photos from my trip to Slough on Tuesday

Hardly worth noting, the BBC weather was wrong for the umpteenth time this year, instead of light cloud it was sunny at Maidstone throughout and just a few fluffy clouds passing by at Chatham but not to worry I got both recorded and am downloading the films now. I left Chatham at 2pm and got home at 7pm, major hold ups at Heathrow and getting on the M42 from M40 not helped by being rush hour. Catching up with DVD orders which will go out tomorrow.

I really would like to let the PMP shops on EBay and Amazon go and get everyone ordering on our own shop on this website but then all the people that kept asking for copies of our photos vanished the moment we put everything on the Smugmug site which has very few visitors which I find most puzzling. Our shop is doing a lot better on Weebly now we have the digital downloads up and running with several 'regulars' who seem to enjoy this method of instant access. I'll have all this weeks material listed by tomorrow which will be Guildford with electric P&R buses, Slough and Bracknell plus Maidstone and Chatham. On Friday after my catch up day I hope to be chasing trucks in the fine weather we are expecting. Meanwhile we start our slide shows at Guildford on Monday morning.

I'm now in Kent in a very comfortable and good value boutique hotel cum pub about four miles from Maidstone. I managed to get an hour of film today at slough and  Bracknell whichwboth offer an interesting diversion from much of the normal offerjngs where reading in its many guises along with independents provide the backbone of services and allbthe drivers were very friendly and in bracknell i had aaplessant chat with a Burmese refugee who was surprised to meet someone with much knowledge and  familiarity with his birth country.bit was sunny until afternoon then that evril sunshine and clouds. I was staying on here are it was supposed to be cloudy tomorrow although that is no longer certain. IllI get Maidstone finished first thing and catch the morning rush hour and hope that it holds out against the sun and then head to Chatham which can stand a degree of sunshine, it will be another month or more and the clocks changing before sunshine is a benefit filming rather than a hazard. The family funeral saw me up at a quarter to four am and straight down to Guildford where I took advantage of the light cloud and got the busy morning rush hour services then across  Surrey and west susseS down to Littlehampton which I haven't visited for several decades. We had a family lunch although I stuck to ice cream albeit it turned out to be a shake whatever that is like runny ice cream with bits or lumps in it. Then north of Worthing through heavy traffic to get to the crematorium for uncle Roy's. Funeral and back to east Preston later for some lovely sandwiches and cakes to which my sister Yvonne served up in the absence of Mandy who is in ireland. I'm not really that helpless but usually I'll drop something and make a mess. Then I headed east to hailsham north of Eastbourne to see john and Maureen bishop swapping films, magazines etc and a welcome brew to keep me going and then back across to Brighton and up the aa23 and then some bumpy pot holes roads worse than Cheshire cat which I thought impossible to the country house hotel in the middle of nowhere. TThereading lamp didn't work and I was too tired to tell anyone but it was absolutely quiet and comfortable and I was straight to sleep waking before the alarm to be ready for breakfast at seven and I had a susages sandwich plus pastries juice and fruit. Then the hunt for somewhere to film, I tried Uxbridge twice , useless this time of year so that's how I ended up in nearby Slough. The hotel I'm in now has a noisy road outside even though it's rural but is a lot bigger and stylish than last night so much so that fasting day or not I'll try alight supper and pudding just to check it out for the future as well need somewhere for the detling rally in April. Home after filming tomorrow hopefully getting clear of London before the pm rush hour it seems to be holidays again for the children they never seem to be at school these days.