Its been a very long and busy day as I was supporting the Maritime college's apprentice evening out at Birkenhead this afternoon through to 7pm and then had to drive back home. It was fasting days, I must admit to a few biscuits supplementing the fruit kebabs at the college. Hopefully advice was well received and some very strong candidates emerged as potential recruits.
Our latest DVD on Trondheim Grakallbanen hit the PMP shop this evening and I'm now downloading the Bergen May 2000 material which will form the final Norway archive to DVD transfer leaving just Sweden and the video shots of Helsinki to complete the Scandinavian section. Its been a very long and busy day as I was supporting the Maritime college's apprentice evening out at Birkenhead this afternoon through to 7pm and then had to drive back home. It was fasting days, I must admit to a few biscuits supplementing the fruit kebabs at the college. Hopefully advice was well received and some very strong candidates emerged as potential recruits. I'm still working my way through the Norwegian archives, I'm just moving on to Trondheim, I seem to have a quite a lot really then I'll finish up with Bergen. Here are the covers for the recent releases on DVD
Roll On Norway is out today, I'll be preparing the DVD cover and adding to our own shop in the next few minutes. I've now started the process of getting our earlier video material from Norway on the DVD as well. I suppose i may as well finish off the process and get Sweden completed before moving on perhaps to the video era in Finland and that will be Scandinavia out of the way. The DVD for Bristol and Weston Super Mare is already on sale in our shop. Today is cold and damp and much different from the mild sunny spring day yesterday. We went to St Oswalds this morning and everyone was glad to see Mandy back from her travels to South Africa. I fixed the outside light by the garage first thing and we've been up to Waterstones in Manchester this afternoon to stock up on books. I had a bit of a rough night , the medication may be strong but so is the anxiety it combats and it's like a battle of wills drugs over emotions. The Youtube site is attracting more and more viewers but if everyone clicked just once each time they watched a clip we would be getting a splendid contribution to forthcoming trips, I think people reckon it's all for free, obviously the clips are trailers for the DVDs which are all on this shop and then thee are the still photos with a link from this site. Photos this afternoon come from our visit yesterday afternoon to Weston super Mare down on the North Somerset coast, amazing to think that Crosville has been reformed at the wrong end of the country. The information from the council about bus services on the net for Somerset is years out of date, really pathetic effort which no doubt relates to the savage Tory local government cut backs. The weather forecast was 100% wrong but in the event it didn't really matter and we enjoyed the latest 'hottest' day of the year so far and it certainly felt as if spring was here at last. The sunshine held out to sunset with a high of 16 down in the South west. We set off before 7 and were parked up in Briton before 9.30 and had our usual goodies at Marks & Spencers before getting to work. Lots of changes in Bristol, a whole load of variety there now, vastly improved bus scene for enthusiasts, no idea who half the odds and sods belong to, numerous park and ride buses all with different names and liveries perhaps serving different car parks. We then went down to Weston super Mare to have a loom at Crosville in it's latest incarnation at the other end of the country, amazing which a legacy can provide and for Weston it's a new bus operator with lots of activity in this modest North Somerset seaside town, a lot of cash has been poured onto the seafront renovation but whilst it looks good you can't change the habits of the people and as the sun blazed the chip shops did a roaring trade and the stage and hen parties got more and more pathetic. Once again lots to see and I think that Crosville reformed was a tad better than I'd been expecting, actually I think it was all a bit better really, at least we weren't in Scotland , lots of friendly drivers and no moaning East European migrant drivers to sour the day, hurrah for all the good things in life. We stopped off at the new Gloucester services on the M5 motorway these have been built in the style of Tebay in Cumbria and extend the art of high class local produce, landscaped buildings and great food at sensible prices although that won't extend to the fuel. Came away with all sorts from Gloucester old spot pork sausages to single Gloucester cheese oh and some Cotswolds ginger fudge, a bit to much sugar crystal and not enough goo but tasty. Some shots from Bristol to get the ball rolling, the DVD is burning and clips on Youtube this evening, remember please, please click adverts on each clip of ours you watch. Photos are that fresh the ink is hardly dry! The logo on the First Group buses is something to do with being green, guess the ride is making people sick? Well who says that men can't multi task although i suppose it could all end in tears, anyway I've finished all the images for the latest Roll on Norway film which has taken a bit of effort as to be honest I'm not really an expert having only been there a couple of times. I've got some great scenes though and I'm now downloading the video era shots so I can use clips from these films to get the sound track for the silent cine footage and at least it will be for the correct country, hopefully i'll also find some pretty compatable vehicles. It's been the hottest ( least cold) day of the year so far with 15 degrees coming home from work this afternoon I got out in the garden while the weather was warm and Mandy was out sorting the banking and bills and stocking up on the provisions. I got the hedge clippers out and used these to get the stalks trimmed off all around the back borders and hacked back the climbers which go wild, the birds will appreciate a bit of spare material for nest building, there were pairs mating last weekend. I did the awful deed and committed myself to a path I'll probably regret with the solicitor up in Scotland, hopefully we'll more or less be able to ignore the rest of it and get on with our lives. I've deleted the next paragraph but you can take it from us that Scotland won't be featuring so much in future. We abandoned our trip to the Orkneys and Outer Hebrides which we had sketched i and will instead spend the time going over to cover Northern Ireland, I really like the trucks in Belfast and I need to catch up on the buses as well. Hopefully we'll be at a couple of rallies around Ireland this year. Herewith some of the photos I took in Liverpool, nothing startling like Manchester last weekend but there are masses of bus fans in Merseyside and all those museums, whole countries cannot match either Manchester or Merseyside's collections of vehicles. Anyway I'll be back up and ediing in a minute and probably get some clips on Youtube for this evening, please click on an advert or two each time you visit which helps us keep up the momentum on our travels talking of which I did quite a lot more on the 2016 trip to China and North Korea. Mandy got home from South Africa today which is great although with the Scottish business ongoing it rather overshadows everything. Unless i suddenly want to be a martyr and spend many months waiting for a court date it looks like the only way forward is to swallow my pride and any sense of justice in that wretched place up north and let it go next Tuesday. With the medication I'm just about holding it all together, Mandy really had a trip spoilt by worry, she'll have to dip into my medication. Still I suppose it will be novel being the first in history to get done for filming a bus driver without his permission, I guess that this spells the end for bus photography and the hobby in general outside of museums. I'm not really sure if Mandy and I will ever feel comfortable up there again albeit there are obviously lots of lovely people and a great many of our friends there. I suppose you have to put your health first and there are lots more places to visit, certainly if we do go it will be brief without undue overnights. I hear they have slashed the drink driving limit up there so another aspect is going out to eat which is difficult as Mandy can't exactly walk to the pub or restaurant wherever we go. South Africa was a fine trip other than the worry, I think Mandy had been looking at possibilities for me, certainly there were some very busy truck routes and the biggest truck stop in the southern hemosphere. Generally Mandy thought it unsafe and would hate living there behind electrified fences and barbed wire, talking of which several days even a week into our new neighbours and despite up to three cars not one sighting of anyone there, about normal for Cheshire then. Last night I cracked on with the Norway film and got all the clips adjusted for composition, brightness, colour etc and just need to joggle them into a rough date order and perhaps by location, the best shots I suppose are the single pole trolleys of Drammen which must be pretty rare, I had to search for the name, of course there are also shots of trolleys in Bergen and then the lovely silver Oslo vehicles. Other treats will include the trolleys of Stockholm when I move on to Sweden. I did get over to Liverpool at lunch time, certainly a city still on the up and much smarter and cleaner than Manchester. All the drivers were in fine form and lots of thumbs up and waves, I guess they don't have many people from other places there to get all upset about a camera, lots of super shots on the main drag near the Cavern club, not that many tourists about, I parked at Lime St above the station, expensive but handy. Weather bright but overcast, spot on really for filming. There weren't any March reg buses out in fact I've not even seen a car yet with a 15 reg. I don't think we'll be late to bed tonight Mandy must be shattered. I'd put out summer trousers by mistake and I noted some things getting rearranged but otherwise it seems I did ok on my own. Nearly tine to pop a pill to get some sleep, work is very busy so at least the days roll by quickly. Lots of development work on the 2016 China and North Korea trip probably second half of May 16, we have 6 spaces available at present if you are interested let me know should have a rough estimate of cost soon. Nice mix of trams and trolleys, includes industrial trolley lines. I got up at usual time for work and went straight down to Holmes Chapel health centre so I could catch an early appointment with my doctor, only on the day appointments to be had otherwise taking booking for 2016. Anyway I was a queue of one and Clare Taylor turned up in disguise without her land rover, anyway I said I'd got rid of the rest of the queue, told them she'd phoned in sick, she knows me quite well. Anyway they opened up at 8 prompt, it was freezing hanging around outside. I was lucky they could give me 9am so I said I'd have a read and wait, they didn't say i needed to go outside, come back in and register, yes strange eh. So I sat and sat, nearly 10am I asked if Clare was running very late, then the revelation that I hadn't left so hadn't come back in and registered, I was still there, the bizarre world continues. They then pushed me in the next slot and Clare was her usual kind self, I would see nobody else under the circumstance and she helped me out with some medication to see me through the ongoing situation. At least it feels better when you've got something to fall back on and also to give a nights sleep although I collapsed into bed last night after only getting two hours sleep on Monday. I've been hectic, more so than usual at work and through the week days there have usually been 10 DVDs or more to go out. Mandy phoned from Cape Town airport they were on the first leg of the journey home via Jo'burg, lets hope no robberies from the cases this time. I've got a table full of DVDs to get away, I'm also busy editing or at least downloading the Norwegian material and the cleaners have been, the dish washer is flapping away and all looks well with the bed changed etc, hopefully passing muster when the boss arrives back tomorrow. At least all the models are in cupboards and all the Northern Irish photos are on digital and that reminds me I must pop out to ASDA and get them to print copies up. I haven't loaded them on the Smugmug site yet that's another job for tonight. Lets have a look at a few then, doesn't seem like 35 years ago! Tonight I'm starting to download all our Norwegian material, trams, buses, trolleys, rail etc, yes even an etc just wait! It's been a good while since we last visited Scandinavia. Progress is already underway with 2016 for a PMP tour China and North Korea and for a trip with Mandy to Colombia also 2016. I've cleared all the orders yet again and Mandy gets home Thursday, good job she texted as i thought it was Wednesday. Lets stick with a Scandinavian theme tonight. Roll on Denmark is now ready and I've got around 400 Northern Ireland B&W photos all trimmed up, I'll get sales stocks copies done and load them on to our Smugmug site Youtube clips loading now for the Danish films.
busy getting things done rather than writing. I've got nearly 400 fresh Northern Irish bus photos transfered to digital, about 90% are useable, I've just got to trim them up, square off etc. The pictures today from Leeds yesterday morning The next DVD archive feature will be Roll On Denmark. In a similar format to our previous roll on features with buses, trams and trains, never a lot of Danish film about but some nice tram sequences, lots of railway and Alan Mortimer tackles the buses. |
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