Sue arrived yesterday afternoon, I was round at St Oswalds putting the finishing touches to the disabled access ramps there making the top covering from a lamination or sandwich of rubber. It took a bit of doing and even the extreme double sides tape seemed to struggle to hold it together so I phoned home and Sue brought my Gorilla glue which isn't renowned for sticking rubber but worth a try. I'll go round this morning and check the results, I can always put some duck tape on the bottom which will probably do the job and finish it off as it won't ever be seen. I tidied the collection envelopes which kids had screwed up and drawn on a regular event. Then it was time to make tracks home and get ready to go to Manchester where we had dinner at Brodsky's and then enjoyed the performance of Handel's  Theodora, I think this was Sue's first early opera, lovely pure voice work. As usual a superb production and music, we met Annita and Issy from Clonter as well as Robin Humphreys whose parents we'd seen again at the tea concert last week.

I'm starting to load on to the new PMP Archive subscription channel, a technical hitch meant I've had to delete and restart but should be getting regular additions on soon and will take the opportunity to upgrade the film, sharpen and adjust colour etc and also take off clips for our ordinary Youtube channel. Subs can be made from almost all European countries through to Japan, USA, Australia, Canada, NZ, Russia etc. It starts at around the price of just one DVD a month and you'll get continual additions. Saving of course for annual subs. Very much a work in progress, I am trying to add some of Google graphics to beginning and end as I've eliminated the titles and menu. The girls are sorting out Sue's phone which went down the pan so to speak, it's drying out in a bowl of rice ( uncooked). We have another concert at RNCM this evening then it's a very early start tomorrow driving almost through the night to Detling for the South East Bus Festival at the Kent Showground. This will be our only rally in Kent this year as Herne Bay isn't on. We'll have our amazing selection of South East bus photos as well as all DVDs from the last couple of years and some selected Kent productions. We'll try and blog from Maidstone on Saturday evening. Sunday we will travel down to Eastbourne and meet up with John and Maureen Bishop and hand over the Windmill films we have copied. Monday we plan to film at Tunbridge Wells and Bromley. Fingers crossed, last time we headed there the van broke down. Here are links to some recent DVD trailers.

As long promised I have now created the PMP Archive subscription channel on Youtube. It will be available in nearly all countries served by Google which includes a majority of European countries plus the USA, Japan, Russia , Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Poland to name but a few. As of this moment there is just one film uploaded and I'm doing the second one right now. My aim will be to put the very low numbered DVDs on first as I don't want to set off a negative sales reaction for new releases. It will hopefully one day include many years of output and make it available to download worldwide without any need to be able to operate in English as a primary language. To get an idea of cost it will be around £15 for a month or £150 for a year, thus equates to one DVD purchase a month and opens up a whole heap of material. If it does impact on UK sales then I'll probably keep it for overseas viewers, lets see how it goes. I'm once again operating at the extremes of my technical knowledge but this may assist this furtherance of the archive and pay for more film trips. I may also add a selection from the old cine films or transfer them all to sub only who knows. In the Youtube top 10 on my channel just one non lorry/truck film survives that being Mansfield bus station. This may well reflect in the subscription channel and encourage lorry uploads.

Today we had what counts as a lay in, past 8am, well it is Mandy's birthday today. We got all the DVD orders done plus changing the bed and getting tidied up before the cleaners came. We have got a new shelf to put up in the office as we are in a bit of a mess with the files of covers etc. While at the hardware shop they also had sheet rubber which I've got a metre of which cut into strategic strips will sit on the church doorstep and bridge nicely between the two ramps installed yesterday. We had a few other jobs to do and time eventually ran out.  I did get covers done for Reading and Bristol buses which are already added to the shop on this site. The backlog of photos to file is growing again but as few orders are ever placed I shouldn't worry. This coming weekend we shall be at Detling on Saturday at Maidstone and then staying in south we will be filming at Tunbridge Wells and Bromley on the Monday all being well. Here are some of our recent DVDs.

Another early start although Mandy decided to stay at home and pass on the 5am start. It wasn't too bad a journey down, some of the M5 roadworks seem to be coming to an end , it had been shut through the night and had only just reopened. It was murky on the way down but the sky cleared as I arrived in Bristol in the rush hour but a little too much sun as it was low in the sky still after BST had started last weekend. I had a shock as the whole of the city centre was one giant building site with all the roads being worked on especially around the areas where I normally film , this wasn't helped by the sharp lighting. Eventually however it did mist over again and I did manage to get a film out of it although to start with i had considered abandoning the visit and moving on elsewhere. I had a bit of bother early on with a drug addict but other than that it was peaceful and friendly bus drivers.

Someone had suggested that I try and get buses on other routes on the 'other' side of town, I walked for ages trying to get all roads in and out but I'd looked last night and there is no map of city centre stops on the websites, no wonder with all the work going on. I had breakfast in M&S and then drove home, it had been about 16 degrees in Bristol, 12 at home, a very clear run back up. The access ramps had arrived so after getting sorted and had a brew we swapped the cars around again and went round to St Oswalds with the new rubber ramps which seemed to fit spot on and Mandy was able to get in and out on her own in the manual wheelchair, a bit of a rubber bridge across the top of the step and it will be job done. They weighed quite a bit and certainly won't move in action! Photos needless to say from Bristol this morning.

Shots of Dave and Mandy trying out the new access ramps at St Oswalds and the toilet floor goes in

Today we had an early start heading down to Reading. We got there about 10am and I finished filming around 1.30pm. It started misty then full sunshine and quite warm, a real taste of spring as we drove back up north. It was a good drive south but returning there was a bad accident at the south end of the M6 toll road and then grid lock near home on the M6 although we made it back in time to get the post away. We are hoping to cover Bristol tomorrow. It's Mandy's birthday on Wednesday so we shall have a lay in bed and rest although she has some chores lined up. We are on our dieting days Mon/Tues although we did have coffee and cake in John Lewes's in Reading. Lots of buses there, plenty of changes as ever and of course that's where tonight's slide show comes from . Looking ahead the weather for Detling could be heavy rain showers but after that light cloud Sun-Tues.

Today was the changeover of St Oswalds lamps to LED, the Mothering Sunday service had a very poor turnout, I think the weather summoned more than church so there was quite a surplus of polyanthas to distribute. Afterwards it was straight into overalls and Keith and I joined by Rodney were soon shimming up the ladders and getting the bulbs changed over. It was mid afternoon before we were home finished and not a lot of the day left so I've got all the DVD and cine orders ready to go out and also packed the PMP van with the stock for Detling next Saturday. We will be setting off very early Saturday morning and hope we'll enjoy better weather than is being predicted at this early stage. Staying with the weather it looks good tomorrow so the plan at present is to head south to Reading and Bristol but we will have a look at the TV forecasts this evening to double check. I'm getting a few more of the India trip photos trimmed up ready to file, quite a back log once more, no surprise there then. We are still a bit stunned at the poor trading at Manchester yesterday but very thankful that we hadn't booked Sunday. Here is the interior of St Oswalds church with it's new LED lighting.

It was a hard blow to have two consecutive sales at Boyle St being loss makers after nearly 40 years having started the event when I was area sec of the model bus federation in the 70's. Well nothing seems to go on forever and there were a few things which probably kept people away, one being the superb weather, the warmest day and sunniest of the year so far in Manchester and it was mothers day today. I'd only booked in for the Saturday so I was spared the agony of the Sunday there which has always been very quiet, I think just once we did more Sunday when it snowed on Saturday and kept people at home. There were some interesting buses outside, Goodwins stole the show and reminds me I should go and film at Altrincham which was once a popular spot for us while Mandys mother was living nearby.  The good weather has survived the change in clocks to BST and its another clear sky. When I got back yesterday after battling through Manchester with the Mancunian way shut we went to Clonter to See Flossie again, it was their first cabaret style show and was superb albeit their loss maker, what a shame it was a fantastic night.

Today it's Mothering Sunday, when servants were given the day to visit home - not quite like that these days of course. It will be the busiest day at St Oswalds so far this year especially with the weather being so good again. I wouldn't be wanting to try and get a meal out or buy flowers today. I'm keeping an eye on the weather outlook for film location this week, next Saturday we'll be at Detling, fingers crossed we do better there. I need to transfer stock around for the van but it won't take long although today after morning service Keith and I are changing the remaining lamps over to LED and adjusting them to get much better lighting. The photos are outside Boyle St museum yesterday.

The usual social whirl you know, we started with the Polio Fellowship collection which wasn't on the Wirral this time , it was at Sealand Ind Est Tesco at Chester, the traffic was very light, strange for a morning rush hour. We did 9 through till 11am when we were relieved, it wasn't a bad start with about 60% of people giving something and even a couple of notes going in the tins. We also had some interesting conversations. Then we headed off to Waitrose in Chester, shopped then coffee and cake, a much much better cafe than at Northwich branch, must say something next time, we had a delicious fresh juicy Apfelstrudel.Then we headed home and called in at the post office to offload the orders, we were quite busy yesterday and again today. Perhaps it's the end of month syndrome! Here is a shot of Mandy tin in hand at Tesco's this morning.

Next we called around to St Oswalds to see if anyone had showed to fit the lamps and had a look at progress on the toilet block. They are just finishing off the base so next week or so the actual structure should be going up, in other words the brickwork so far is below floor level- it's all on a steep slope. The church looked good in the bright sunshine, a change to have it dry. The north looks like being cloudy again on Mon/Tues but it looks much better for the south so perhaps back on the Bristol or Reading option. Photo progress at St Oswalds, there was too much shadow for a decent image of the works. I got all today's DVD and cine orders ready in Mandys car for tomorrow as I'll be out early heading up to Manchester for the Boyle St museum spring sale., remember we are there just the Saturday this year. Now I've moved on to copying 16mm cine film, I've got a large reel on which is about a Finnish motorcyclist with Stuart Hall ( boo hiss)  narrating, but dubbed into French. I've a few reels to copy but nothing like the heap I had last time.

Greetings folks, familiy,friends, customers wherever you may be. Our Dear Leader May Blossom Blessings be upon her,  is in a tissy today with the London attack yesterday. Bodes not well for transport photographers as the back lash from the bus bombing was a clamp down on ordinary life, years of hassle. They say everything should go on as normal but it never gets back to where it started. Next they'll be wanting to give all the police guns, I don't think all the guns in the world would have stopped the killer stabbing the cop yesterday , at close range and a sudden action I doubt if he could have drawn a weapon. Anyway lets return to what passes for ordinary in my mad world, Mandy actually managed to shower this morning without my help and I went off down to Coventry, I took the toll road as the M6 was blocked by accidents, what's new there then.

On the way home the M6 was blocked by accidents, what's new there then - yes it's ground hog day but true. Coming back up I swapped over to the A50, usual black hole territory in road work areas and hows not having a hard shoulder for safety going to help matters. It was partly sunny, nothing interesting in the bus fleets but with one exception very friendly drivers, must have been a Pole. Certainly most of the West Midlands ethnic communities are hard at work driving national Express buses although there were still a lot of MBO's kicking around Coventry, I think they are that isolated from Britain that they don't even realise what an insult it is to the Brits, especially after yesterday.

The interesting bit was an extended look at a Stagecoach breakdown recovery which happened towards the end of my visit and made for some good shots. This evening photos from of course Coventry. A landslide of orders today, DVDs and films, I'm going to be busy this evening and tomorrow we are at the Polio Fellowship collection on the Wirral. The lamps for St Oswalds arrived and I took them round to the church. Saturday we'll be at Boyle St Museum in Manchester.

At breakneck speed we have bolted through another week although it seems there are still several days to go. This morning started up ok although a few phone calls took longer than anticipated particularly around the disabled access rubber ramps for St Oswalds. We dropped off the post, shot down in to Knutsford so i could get Mandy's birthday card but tried Smiths and a stationers, both had cards suited for 1917 rather than this century, I'll try Marks & Spencer somewhere when I'm out tomorrow. Then met with Keith my fellow church warden and did the lighting survey, we've funded it among a small group. Then we played with the access step in the bell tower, Mandy did the guinea pig stuff in her manual wheel chair, just a couple of pieces of old carpet almost did te job so the rubber wedges and some rubber mat should make a good result and at low cost. I returned home with Mandy and ordered the required lamps.

Then I had but a brief time to sort the recent DVDs out and created and put covers on those I'd copied for the Sussex windmill group and our friend in Wales for the Cambridge 1961 cuppers finals film. The day was now sailing past us , time for a wash no change in clothes, no time it was the Flossie Piaf/Brel concert at Clonter, she has varied the act with some more general material, Saturday is pure Piaf/Brel though in the cabaret format although there are masses of spaces to fill.I found my broken finger prevents me clapping properly! Then home, DVD orders on the machines and I'm editing the two truck films at Crick from yesterday.

The Bristol or Reading bus trip is back to next Tuesday when forecast is much better. Tomorrow I'll possibly do Coventry plus perhaps Northampton. The Youtube channel is doing very well at present , some interesting data, out of top 10 eight are truck films. The Mansfield bus clips two of which are the only bus films in said top ten, one of which now has will over a million hits. Country wise for viewer stats the top place after UK is Vietnam which must now have attracted some good advertising as it's drawing in a steady income. Perhaps I should load more from Vietnam, it's nice to be 'big' the other side of the world. Friday we are doing the British Polio Fellowship collection first shift at Tescos on the Wirral. The van is almost ready for Boyle St, Manchester sale on Saturday but a few more bits to pop in Friday afternoon. The church lamps should arrive tomorrow I'll drop then off and angels in size 9's may well get them up or at least make a start so it looks good on Mothering Sunday as well as being in place for Easter. It will be a very busy morning Sunday my first in an 'almost' official position. Photos from Chester le Street earlier this week.

Life seems so much more busy and on a freezing cold day even my hobby can seem a bit of a chore, spring get your backside into gear and lets have some warmth please. The left hand with the broken bits resulting from the St Pauls / Fleet St filming before India is proving a nightmare in cold windy weather, it hurts like hell. Anyway a little later start today and then down through the grid lock which is SMART motorways, what a waste of money and hazard to motorists that all is. Anyway it was nearly 10am when I got parked up and walked through to my preferred spot near Crick for the DRIFT distribution centres and railhead. It was then clouding over a bit after clear blue sky but I stuck it out and got an hour then went to Stobarts cafe for a coffee and bread & butter pudding and custard.

I then headed up a bit to the roundabout I'd used over the border in Leicestershire , I also tried the back road which cuts across to the M1 or A14 , a good spot but cloud and cold put paid to that. I managed to get a second programme but be then it was hurtling through the day and I wanted to get back before the afternoon rush, anyway it was yet another nightmare, M6 past Coventry v slow, then car crash on M6 heading north near Cannock, then XPO Logistics tanker broken down in roadworks section ( more SMART motorway), then a car broken down, then at Holmes Chapel turn off another car broken down, just managed to get in before 5pm.

Then the DVD orders to sort plus general messages etc, adverts to proof read. Need to have a site meeting at St Oswalds in the morning with Keith the other church warden reference the lighting or lack of it, getting anything done can be a bit of a crawl through treacle so going to sort it between us. Phew, only the cine films I copied for Windmills at Oxford to sort out and somewhere a bit of telly and a brew. Slide show from this morning at Crick.