Mandy reports that situation remains the same in the shops with little on the shelves but plenty if you have diverse food tastes. Anyway we are eating and drinking well and will head off to the pub tonight as per normal on a Thursday. Had a lovely skype with Max and Tina in New Zealand last night, they are all well. I will try and get the latest DVD releases on the PMP shop but trying to keep coverage up as long as we can get about, thinking of North Wales tomorrow. We now take a flask and cake to avoid cafes which are getting scarc, all M&S cafes are now closed. Anyway here are some shots from Dove Holes, Derbyshire taken today.
Sorry time ran away yesterday but I did get all the outstanding films edited and all DVD orders sent off. Today I was in Derbyshire following up on a past recce at Dove Holes near Buxton. A fruitful and friendly visit even the passing police were all smiles and waves which was all in contrast to the situation in some places like Salisbury and Derby. I think people are trying to distance themselves but it goes against the grain when people like to stand and natter. I think Manchester transport goes restricted mode on 6th Feb, London has already put lots of cuts in place, I've decided that London is to be avoided as it really has most cases in UK of the Chinese virus. Mandy reports that situation remains the same in the shops with little on the shelves but plenty if you have diverse food tastes. Anyway we are eating and drinking well and will head off to the pub tonight as per normal on a Thursday. Had a lovely skype with Max and Tina in New Zealand last night, they are all well. I will try and get the latest DVD releases on the PMP shop but trying to keep coverage up as long as we can get about, thinking of North Wales tomorrow. We now take a flask and cake to avoid cafes which are getting scarc, all M&S cafes are now closed. Anyway here are some shots from Dove Holes, Derbyshire taken today. We caught up with all the DVD orders and Mandy got them away in the post this morning. There are still a lot of orders coming through and are being dealt with as normal. I've been out filming again this time to Derby. The roads in towns and cities appear busy and there were plenty of people heading into St Patricks day celebrations in the pubs. I tried to avoid contact with people, I checked in to the car park by tapping card and the pavement outside the bus station is very quiet regards people passing. The bus drivers were as friendly as ever, I saw a couple with face masks, the first time. There wasn't anything new other than a National Express Go North East coach 69 reg. After getting a very good tally I headed up to the roundabout to get shots of the Unibus and Notts and Derby services which don't touch the bus station. A very serious incident then took place with a woman driver taking exception to my photography, alarmingly this was Trent Barton not a second league Rotala. I would say that the local management were supportive, the driver was not Derby based. Management response has been very positive and reassuring and it is all totally out of the norm for a company which is usually regarded in the upper echelons of the industry but I do read of discontent and industrial action of late. Anyway enough of that for now, otherwise a great day and making the best of things as much as we can. I think London is hit a lot more than the provinces at this stage. With the ROI about to go in total lock down like France lets hope that the UK can keep functioning. The supermarket shelves in Northwich are still bare of all items previously in short supply, no sign of the supply chain working at all. dread to think of what would happen if we cant go out. We have volunteered to help our elderly neighbours. All church services are now abandoned, only CoE services allowed at weddings and funerals. Editing will go on hold tonight while we enjoy some TV catching up, the Youtube viewing is holding up well as is revenue. Lots more programmes to be released and put on the shop, talking of which please do use the PMP shop on this site not Ebay or Amazon which take a big bite of the income, remember we are a not for profit business supporting our extensive archive. We hope to get more truck film done on Thursday or Friday. Theatres are cancelling their spring programmes, Clonter as the latest and the Spring transport Festival at Boyle Street Manchester is off. We await decisions on Brooklands and Detling. Here are shots from the Basingstoke visit last week. We have only just started to catch up as there is so much going on and so many emails to sort. Amazon fired another silly rocket to us about an order that was from a business and thus it seems we needed to create an invoice but you can't actually load an invoice - spent ages trying to do this then gave up and issued a refund and a request they didn't order again. This just brings to mind that there are still people ordering from Amazon and EBay when we have to pay them a huge percentage instead of using the PMP shop. Why why why would people do that to us, at quiet times it cam mean that we end up supplying for nothing when Ebay have had all their monthly charges. Use the PMP shop, it has everything and includes digital downloads. Saw my first 20 reg bus among all the new 69 ones in Bristol. Tomorrow filming Derby in the morning then catching up with the orders etc in the afternoon. I'll try and catch up more tomorrow, just tired wading through all the cancellations and events abandoned etc, if this stupid Chinese bug is going to attack us all lets get it over with and then we can carry on with life as normal. Locking older people up for months is barmy. We had a very pleasant meal for Dave's sister Margaret's birthday, tomorrow it's Dave birthday and we'll be heading home from Hampshire. With reduced numbers of people about in towns and on the road it should work innour favour for filming at least in the short term. The weather outlook for Monday looks to be sunny so hoping to do as intended covering Salisbury and then Bristol. Tuesday similarly sunny in parts I may well cover the trucks at crick, rugby. The hotel in bpcyprus has refused to refund after Cyprus government has banned tourists which seems a very strange attitude which can be reflected on trip adviser. No word back from the London hotel, perhaps such attitudes should be named and shamed. Mandy's trip to Spain is off and it now looks as if most of Europe has gone into lock down. If Britain remains open perhaps we could clean up on tourism and industry. Personally I thought that the UK response was quite considered and now seems to be stampeded by media scaremongering. We shall continue to report on transport implications and the scene as long as we are able. We had a great day with yet more delicious food, we have done very well over our spring stay and with restaurants mostly well empty we never had to struggle for seats. We shall be home Monday teatime and will send out dvd orders Tuesday morning.
As Cyprus has banned travel our trip to see the old vehicles used in the potato harvest has been abandoned although I don't know where we stand with the flight and hotels plus car hire all of which is down to Cyprus government's decision. Mandy and Sue,s trip to the canariesis also off. The government has left us all dangling on whether events I. General will occur and if there are bans how wide will they be and is there a size dependent decision to be made and how would it be measured. There must be many thousands of events up and down the country left in limbo. This morning we had a good lay in and then went off to Lyndhurst for breakfast, Yvonne was working this morning but we all met up at Lymington. So both breakfast and lunch and then tonight a meal out for my sister Margaret's birthday. While there is traffic and people about the restaurants and cafes are nearly empty. We shall continue our UK visits as long as possible and there is always the back up of getting on with archive productions.
A quick run Clickdown to Hampshire this morning, very little traffic on any of the motorways. Stagecoach have lots of new buses, on the way Swamy first 20 reg coach. Met some PMP fans on my travels and lots of lovely people. We also had time to stop in Winchester and got about thirty minutes there. On Monday theplan is Salisbury then Bristol should the weather be suitable. here to edit.
Last night the film show went ok but was a nightmare to get the sound stuff connected, I think it would be a pre condition in future for them to provide the means to show the film, it already takes me hours to get it edited to a bespoke one off show, all that and although £40 welcome for the Polio fellowship as a donation it would be easier to just give the Fellowship a cheque from us. I need to say no more often! We leave tomorrow morning, thinking perhaps of stopping off at Basingstoke which I failed to get decent film of last year, misery guts at shopping centre mitigate against getting good shots at the bus station. I've got the covers made for the recent Lymm truck films, just leaves the two visits to Worcester and Kidderminster/Stourbridge to sort when we get back home on Monday night. I'll try and blog over the weekend but it doesn't always work on the ipad. Off to the pub now for our Thursday night session, may be open mic night some good singers last month. My birthday on Monday, nothing special planned, another year flown by. A lovely visit to the RNCM archive and musical instrument collection where archivist Heather showed such enthusiasm and allowed us such freedom with the material They have many gems which although restricted to material having a connection with the college and its two direct predecessors this leaves open an amazing roll call to music over the last two centuries. We were able to read and handle carefully a selection of letters from Tchaikovsky to Brodsky in Russian and German, some even retaining their envelopes and stamps. There was so much you could have looked at in great detail, when we discover how to get pictures off Mandy's phone I'll give you examples but I'd forgotten to replace the memory stick in my camera, nothing was out of bounds though and we had a demo of the very old violins from a student. In the afternoon we were at Clonter opera in Cheshire for another of their afternoon teas with music with two very talented young singers , a little crowded as it gets ever more popular. Tonight we are at Antrobus Gold Club about twenty minutes away, I'm doing a film show for the Jaguar club, wish me luck. Tomorrow we are getting the recovered and repaired settee back so we can live in comfort again and stretch out a bit more, then we have the branch polio fellowship agm meeting at Ellesmere port and beforehand errands in the Port run such as haircut and shopping. Friday we are off down to my sisters in Hampshire and have a family birthday meal Saturday night. It is my birthday on Monday. We hope to get a little filming done on the way back and forth. Meanwhile some shots from my trip to Worcestershire yesterday featuring Kidderminster and then on to Bridgnorth. Masses of new electric Stagecoach buses on routes 43 and 111 in Manchester, spotted this morning on way to RNCM, I will try and get a day to film them plus film the roundabout at M6 Junction 19 at Knutsford before it becomes a huge building site. The weather turned out to be quite suitable for my visits to Worcester, Kidderminster and Stourbridge. Three quite close locations but all very different in their bus content. It has been a long day, just now we are running through the film for the Jaguar club show tomorrow in a neighbouring village called Antrobus, sounds like something out of The Archers doesn't it but living in Lower Peover who are we to comment! Anyway with time limited and a very filled day tomorrow a quick slide show of worcester filmed this morning. Cold and unsettled so I didn't venture too far and just went to Lymm poplar services a few minutes up the motorway. It was a little more sunny than expected to start with but eventually settled down. I gorgot to take my still camera so the shots are taken while filming on the video camera, they all came out quite well considering. I'm busy editing them now. I was hoping to be out on a bus photo trip tomorrow but the weather outlook is grim so I'll check again later the evening , if I don't go anywhere I'll make a start on the next Bus Spot Ultra on St Helens. My right knee is still very sore after the tree felling activities yesterday. The stock market has crashed much further than I'd ever expected, much of our life savings has vanished, its easy to see how people felt in the wall St crash, things like stocks can rebound swiftly, it depends how long this Corona virus lark hangs about, I think the idea to look at the existing diseases it combines with to turn lethal is the best chance for a quick fix to reduce mortality rates. I hope nobody thinks my decade long cough and sniffle is anything to be worried about, the more I would try to not cough the worse it would be! |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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