Still working my way through destinations not too far from home and today it was Oldham and Rochdale.  Since last years Corona visit to Oldham they have invested in a huge stock of plastic barrier lumps strewn around the approach road to the bus station and even created one lane of the road as a pedestrian walk way, any pedestrians there are and there are not many studiously avoids this barmy army structure and like any sane citizen walk straight down in the middle of the road are cross at a slightly oblique angle giving the bus driver something to aim at. The buses then have to all make a tortuous turn where the Stagecoach buses turn only there is just room for one bus at a time to stop so add all the remaining services and it is another triumph in wasting time and money for no advantage.

The drivers as always a very friendly, Stotts have a much more modern fleet now even if too much white. The few Go North West buses there were all in fleet livery which suggested that the strike is over , wrong even though I saw only fleet liveried buses on my way to Rochdale it was then contracted buses with just two Blackpool buses giving any idea of a cohesive service. The strikers are keeping a log of non compliance of contracted non union companies and their buses. Of course the enthusiast in us all rather likes this state of anarchy, when the kids holiday for Easter will the school buses come back on route service like the first week of the strike.

Rochdale was much warmer and the sun held fast as the temperature topped 20 for most of the afternoon. The car park at the shopping centre accepted only cash, how weird as most in the whole country take tap and pay cards, shame they don't tell you this when you park. The shopping centre has lots of arrows and instructions which needless to say nobody ( probably wisely) takes any notice of them. The area of the old bus station is now Marks & Spencers new store, the rest of the shops will probably have gone bust before they are due to reopen. Primark will be the top young fashion outlet and M&S for us oldies, probably best skip and get tram to Trafford Centre.

Anyway here are some Oldham piccies from this morning.

A great night as friends and neighbours gathered popping in and out over the evening  in the good old PMP tent which we managed to get erected thanks to Elton next door. The remainder of the birthday cards came today and the haul is now quite impressive. I think everyone who came to our eased lock down birthday party had a great time despite our small numbers plenty of big hearts and lots of empty bottles this morning which we managed to get tidied away and the tent back in the van with the help of Sue. A bit jaded but not enough to spoil our first warm day and first sit in the sun. Thanks to everyone faor all the flowers, presents and kind birthday wishes.

Tomorrow the North West looks like being the sunniest and hottest region so I'll be out and about Greater Manchester with the camera, expect me at Rochdale, Oldham and wherever time permits. Rest of the week I'll make decisions when the weather reveals its likely outcome!

Here we are at last, Mandy cannot believe she is 70 and certainly doesn't feel or look it other than the aches and pains one gets with the passing years. The wind has been No1 enemy getting set up and it has been like waiting on a knife edge lest a gust blows everything to pieces. We have heating which may not be required, lighting , photos of Mandy over those 70 years, food galore, drinks enough to float that tanker stuck at Suez. We got flowers from my sister Yvonne and Graham, nearly didn't get them, a neighbour found them down the road and was going to put it in the rubbish but thankfully spotted it was unopened and brought it down to us, the menace of the Polish drop and run white van men. I had some daft bits and pieces to fetch Many up with her cards this morning and at lunch times my bouquet arrived. We've been on our feet for hours and Mandy is having a rest and I'm just going to finish this then have a shave and wash and put my party frock on. We were well pleased with the cake which we picked up from Northwich this morning. I got some fresh French sticks and daffs for food display from Sainsburys, Tesco had no daffs at all, they told me that every time they get them they sell out, daftest reason not to have them, reminds me of that's the hundredth customer today I've told we've no demand for daffs.

I'm not sure what filming we'll get done this week. Tomorrow will be clean up day and later have a rest in the sunshine on our sole hot day before it plunges back to single figures. There are lots of locations on the to do list. The DVD orders for sending off today kept mounting up, just one left of the table now for the morning plus anything arriving later which will not be looked at, food and booze are now in our thoughts.

 The west side of the diorama number two 80s to present day. I managed to get some good progress today as the planned erection of the PMP gazebo had to be put off until morning because of strong winds and sudden gusts. It should ease a little and I'm meeting up with Elton next door at 08.30 to see if we can get it up, it will be close to the house and I've plenty of weights. So with unexpected time to spare I got a wiggle on with the diorama and I was quite pleased with the results so far.  The 1980s job centre has closed, we were all in Thatcher heaven and it was no longer needed, chance would be a fine thing. Like the other older parts of town even post war buildings were empty and being demolished older parts derelict. I got these shop fronts from Stoke on Trent when I filmed there a few weeks back. Hopefully the road blending into Derb city background can be eased a bit with trees. I'm trying to match up the lines that are obvious.

While I'm working I've become a bit addicted to Absolute 60s radio indoors and then on my travels radio 3, a balanced diet as they say. Anyway Mandy's big day tomorrow, her 70th birthday. Please make an effort friends, family she would love to hear from you. We shall be small in number but there is a lot of food and plenty of booze, both are neighbours are coming and other friends may drop by in the day. just as long as we maintain our rule of 6 we will be fine within the new Covid regulations. I haven't even thought about where I'm filming this week or indeed is it buses or lorries or a mixture, fingers crossed once more that the weather is on our side eventually. We have all the DVD orders ready to post, needless to say anything arriving tomorrow may well wait until we sober up on Tuesday.

The garage blocks had already been added but since my last published photos, the old buildings are just temporarily placed and really owe their existence to the SMS corrugated fence.

All the PMP DVD stock for rallies has now been transferred to our shed where the bulk of old stock resides.This clears the way for a swift unload of the gazebo tomorrow and erection when the wind finally drops, fingers crossed on that aspect ditto the rain. We haven't put it up for nearly two years and we are two years older, Mandy is now unable to help so next door is coming over tomorrow to help me set up. Thankfully the change in rules on meeting up has not been rescinded as the Corona levels seem to relentlessly fall and as predicted even if infections remain high there won't be the mass hospital cases and severity to death will be rare unless the disease mutates again in a bad way.

I got the boxes of DVDs in order alongside all the others, this will form part of our bulk surplus stock clearance at low prices with any 6 for £20 at rallies and shows. The amount of venues coming up has decreased a lot and many have been further pushed back so on available days there will be a lot of clashes as already is the case. I've kept on top of the DVD orders in case we get a rush on Sunday, there are a lot but mostly for single films.  The external drive that I have been waiting for finally washed up in Lower Peover today and after giving up using the normal office computer to load from one drive to another I've moved it all to the editing suite and for the first time its speed and power has become evident as it grinds through gigabytes like butter.

I've done some more work on the modern era bus diorama and really now it is a matter of weathering, detailing and tying everything together on the west side and marrying it up to the bus station modeled on the new Derby facility. This morning while I had my overalls on I did some more work in the garden plus filled up the bird feeders. The day before yesterday I think I neglected to mention the latest arrival on the feeder near the kitchen window when a lone Chiff Chaff paid us a brief visit. It must be spring. At least with the PMP van emptied I'll be able to clean it inside once the tent is out and I'll probably swap back to my Toyota IQ for visits under the new freedom to roam on Monday. I haven't yet looked ahead but the destination list is long and varied. It won't be too long then until the remainder of the shops re-open, in two weeeks we can start travelling freely in Wales again.

Mandy did a phone around our POlio Fellowship members regarding our AGMs etc, most seemed fine but just like the two bus drivers last week I encountered there are people in this vulnerable group of polio survivors who think the whole Corona thing is a scam.  What Can't figure is what purpose it would serve although I would admit that China seems to be keeping its cards close to its chest and I expect the intelligence services are desperate trying to find our the truth. Thinking of China we have however had some very pleasant trips there and that gives me the subject for tonight with a sprinkling of shots from our adventures there.

We had emails from Alan Millar and the lovely young lady who looks after the advertising with Key publishing, both very supportive following the foul obscene threatening phone call from Lancashire yesterday. I am using a private investigator the supply details and consider our legal options. It emerges that Buses has had postings about people taking pictures outside Covid rules. I think it boils down to people having nothing to do and oblivious to what people CAN do and be on the right side of both the rules and the spirit of them. Why is it these people always emerge from the bus side of the hobby. It is like the bus drivers who come from far to the east of Clacton, this constant nagging around what is effectively low level terrorism trying to change UK laws by threats and intimidation. Now if we turn to lorries those drivers who also hail from areas far to the east of Clacton who are well aware of Stobart spotters etc and take great pleasure in working in the UK, obeying our laws and enjoying our hobbies.

I finished off the re-grouting of our shower / wet room and it looks well for it although rolling around on the floor working at strange angles for an oldie has caused some aches in strange regions of my body. We went to M&S and stocked up on the nibbles and booze ready for Mandy's birthday soiree on Monday evening in the PMP tent in our back garden. It was great to see friends who have been dropping off cards and presents for Mandy's 70th on Monday. Tomorrow I'll start sorting out the PMP van to extract the tent, weights etc.  I noted that Gaydon ( lorries) has been pushed back now. Really there is little bus or lorry event activity until July so no rush but we have decided to support whatever events we can. Another event put back is the Kirby Merseyside running day. We will be taking out DVDs from the past 12 months only plus our surplus stock clearance bargains, 6 for £20 , rallies only. Similar will apply to both bus and truck events. As several events are attended only to film I guess we won't be out that often but catching up in the regions of the UK will take a lot of time up anyway. Another two weeks and Wales will be open for us.

The latest DVDs are now on the shop, here are the covers for them. I will be updating Amazon shop but please use the PMP shop and I have added  more digital downloads but it is proving difficult to stay ahead of this.

I suppose a hazard of having an office at home is that 'work' leaks into the family life. Today at 15.15 I received a very abusive threatening phone call , anonymous of course. He purported to be a 'Buses' mag reader and was very angry about our adverts in that magazine. I think he sounded Lancashire and hid behind a mobile number, his rant was about our film trips in lock down, I think he was from the 'hobby' side of  the the industry and failed to recognise that those who work can do so, working from home when they can and taking precautions when they can't which is true of PMP. It is shocking to received such abuse in your own home environment, here we are building up to Mandy's 70th birthday on Monday and it is distressing for us both to be treated in such a way. The person who called from 077190379** may of course have an  intellectual disability but I fear not, just a very irate and  sad person alone in his home with nothing to do. As a Christian I suppose we have to feel sorry for him but it stretches one's faith!

On a brighter side of which there are many things I got stuck into the grouting in the shower area of the bathroom, getting out the old stuff and sealants at the edges took a lot of the  time and effort, finally got wrapped up in time for lunch and a clear up. We are both fairly shattered and also today learnt that we have lost our cleaners, to be fair we only saw them once in last 12 months but we'll keep our eye out for new ones. The weather has been bright and mild if a bit breezy. Tomorrow as well as normal shopping we'll get the spread in for Monday's party, albeit limited to our neighbours, thank goodness they change the rules for meeting in gardens and the clocks go back or is it forward, I wish they would leave them alone. They did one year and the world kept turning. The Sickens  returned to our bird feeders this week plus a welcome flock of long tailed tits, all the usual types and our now large Reed Bunting population.

With one thing and another going on I only got a couple of digital downloads on to the shop today and managed nothing at all on the dioramas but I did send out a couple of catch up emails to keep in touch with our friends. MAndy has been phoning around our Polio Fellowship members and I'll have to try and draw together something for a newsletter which is hard as they haven't been able to do much of note of late and many have no computer or social media. I think we just plough on with it all until we get the basics and Google the rest.

So tonight for a film show, well I had one of our customers seeking out an old film of Swindon and be chance I knew it and had owned the original cine and then sold it one. So lets go with Swindon for our slides tonight.

I actually typed out my blog then as I went to do the slideshow it vanished back to a logging in page, annoying or what. I'm not typing out the whole thing again but the essence is the the old bed shop has almost been leveled, the temporary bus station will go there and then they'll flatten the old bus station and rebuild. Here are some shots from Crewe.

A day out around Cheshire, Chester was first, had to pay £8 to park the van, horrific but the city has a loathing of any cars, I would have been able to park the little IQ and will be back using it next week once all this stay at home stuff has petered out. I can also ditch the vest with film crew etc. Chester bus station was quiet ish but a lot more lively than Widnes. The days since the municipal undertaking have not been good for public transport there. Runcorn did seem to have a variety of buses and operators. The Toon link from Newcastle was interesting! Actully this shots fits well with runcorn on the mural above the cab.

I'll try and edit the two Widnes truck films, the old bridge is now open and I coughed up my £2 online, is it really worth it, hardly any traffic using it. Here is a slide show from earlier today at Chester. I need about 15mins more in Cheshire to get the second programme finished, it waas just so very slow at Widnes.

A bit of a dash this evening as I need to get Mandy set up on the zoom for the Deanery synod this evening, our vicar has reported sick, hoping it is nothing serious. Anyway not that early a start today and pottered down to Widnes via the M62, its not that I'm too tight to pay for the bridge(s) but I can easily forget, the old bridge now seems to be in service complete with toll. The weather was cloudy to start as promised but then the sun burst through which is great if it doesn't keep changing one to the other. Tomorrow its buses again , at Chester then Widnes and Runcorn.