I had to reach for the defriend button when I looked in to welcome some new 'friends' , the last wave of this sort of behaviour was on the back of Brexit, as you may well know I was 100% for staying in the EU integrating more into a federal system and with the pound at near parity we could have made the change to the Euro. Democracy and the voice our objection to following the luny right wing messrs Johnson and Farage was followed by the crazy decision to put a good socialist aside with Jeremy Corbyn being deserted by class traitors by the million. Now the right wing had it all with the Corona situation it was all scraggy heads birthdays come at once and with emergency laws he was in unparalleled power. Anybody remember a few weeks back his 'experts' advised something called herd immunity, this was his secret weapon and would see us laugh at the poor old Asians as the wallowed in ever increasing death counts, secret photos showed bodies dead stacked in corridors, then it was the Italians and Spanish, what could we expect from them, funny how things played out then not so good was it. Scraggy head had turned down the ppe order share with the EU, we hadn't any ppe and test kits where still a pipe dream. The supermarkets couldn't cope, the shelves were empty and scraggy head blamed the public, anybody seen a bag of flour, no it wasn't the 'public', it wasn't us buying too much it was the terror of the unknown. Scraggy head has taken people like children to be pushed, shoved, coerced and threatened. This was at the same time as Hungary was turning into a dictatorship, China was looking up pro democracy activists, in Myanmar nice Mrs An San was, as I warned many years ago, backing her fathers army which she worships and trying to see off the remainder of the minority Muslim population. Distraction from home issues under the cover of war or disaster is a common tactic, the worst bitch in history Thatcher latched on to that. Scraggy head voted against pay increases for nurses, care workers suffered on minimum wages and had to face the ' austerity' cuts - funny I wonder who caused that financial crash, oh the bankers, and how many of them were punished for their misdeeds, given knighthoods by beloved right wing sycophants. Now there are often different narratives and perspectives, sometimes it is a little chilling being a minority voice, I think we are lucky it isn't Mao Tse Tung, Stalin or Hitler we are up against or perhaps just as scar Trump. Sounds like something Hitler would have suggested getting people to drink disinfectant to cleanse them. With what we have left of democracy in this lunacy today we need debate and a dialogue. When this results in diatribes of f**********ing etc all over the net I call it time to draw the curtains and withdraw, I'm sure transport enthusiasts are only a microcosm of the general population but it shows how bad social media can be, the mobile phone would certainly be something I would un-invent if I could. Today I went shopping at M&S at Handforth Dean, all very civilised and friendly but no flour. Then I spent time getting the final touched done in the garden and put in more plants we'd this time got at Marks. The rest of the morning flew by and seeking a diversion after the sickening sights on Facebook I did some work on my family tree only later getting on with the editing I'd intended and I'm now well into the Ticket-Boo production on the latter days of British trolleybuses which will run to two volumes. These should both be ready by the end of the weekend. Tomorrow if the weather is suitable I'll be having a session at M6 Junction 19 which is being rebuilt, progress is fast as they can take advantage of the quiet traffic. Another very local target is Middlewich distribution centre traffic. No I don't stand clapping on the doorstep, we can save that until they pay people sensible salaries for tough jobs. I recoil from anything which smacks of propaganda and always will, I've seen plenty of it around the world. Tonights slide show well lets have some nice shots from that super interesting country Myanmar/Burma, you see I can visit and enjoy the transport and still have my own opinions on regimes. Latest PMP lorry releases whos been a busy boy then, yes it is out now on the PMP shop both as DVD and download. I'm now working on the 2 M6 films for lock down week six taken on the Plumley overbridge. The next archive film will be about the later days of British trolleybuses and will be in the Tickety-boo series which means sharp scanned images for the ultimate quality of archives. I might start that tomorrow. It just depends on the weather and any domestic jobs to be done. There will be another on the early days of our museums such as Crich, Carlton Colville etc again in the Tickety-boo series, not sure when I'll look at that. I want to get to Junction 19 of the M6 to film, it was going to get filmed when this Corona lark started and work is really well under way, I wanted to get shots with the scene as it was, its always the same with stuff on your doorstep. Anyway I hope you are all safe and well as we are here in our delightful Cheshire village in the North West of England. The weather has been wet for a second day, the garden really needed it but the temperature has also plummeted which isn't much fun. We got some classic shots at our Plumley visit here are some of the more interesting views, clips for the Trafalgar Square production will be on Youtube this evening. A few very light spots of rain in the morning which didn't prevent my usual weekly coverage of the M6 motorway from the Plumley over bridge, quite a good session, a couple of pain jobs and no less than 4 classic wagons the best tally during the lock down which is now in week six. The call for an end to this madness is getting wider and stronger for those who dodge the propaganda, the UK government acting in an authoritarian non democratic style is even trying to silence voices of dissent. I bet scraggy head wishes he had taken up the EU offer to participate in their bulk ppe order weeks ago, he is so anti Europe that he puts lives of carers and NHS workers at risk rather than join in with an EU initiative which would have overcome the shortage. I have started and with the rain now well in to editing on the Bus Spot Ultra Trafalgar Square, London, I anticipate having it finished tomorrow and clips starting to go on to Youtube. The DVD orders are still coming in fairly fast although perhaps a tad less than last week. The photos tonight from my session on the M6 this morning, with bright cloud it was a more even light today but quite cold and I nearly went back to the car for my gloves. Some arthritic pain at the moment in my left knuckle joints forefinger but I've put some gel on which seems to be helping. As we enter week six of the lock down or interment for the over 70s it is time this madness ended and life returned to normal, the overall numbers seem unlikely to greatly exceed the number of deaths from the 2000 flu outbreak the last comparable event and certainly the world didn't stop then. It has had its attractions certainly but I think enough is enough. We went to B&Q the only outlet with garden supplies, got some half decent plants to fill gaps in the recent reordering of the garden and felt shattered after the afternoon gardening, my back was still bad after the marathon lumberjack session yesterday. I'm just getting the last of the cine scans from weeks back filed then I can start afresh. About 30 reels to go and then I'll need to catch up with John Bishop in Sussex and of course also Peter Waller at Shrewsbury for some more of the old online cine collections for scanning. I'm just about to start editing Bus Spot Ultra Trafalgar Square which may possibly stretch to Pall Mall and Charing Cross both very close. It will be mainly really old material and more modern as I wasn't that interested in London while it was all red and we have had a clutch of RT releases of late so covering the less featured eras. I was quite chuffed to find one of the plants featured on our walk yesterday near Great Budworth was identified as Purple Fumitory, the lack of a common name is often a clue to its rarity, while not endangered it is fairly scarce and the North West one of its main concentrations. I goty a few letters and emails away early today while Mandy gott the DVD post away. A lighter post bag today but that happened last Monday then took off again. Numbers hitting our Youtube channel have at last started to climb again I would think the downturn in weather has something to do with this, here it ended up bright and mild , actually quite hot while working in the garden. How about some shots of my garden when I wasn't as troubled by my back and age! How did a lorry creep in though? As businesses begin to reopen the end of lock down is now the No1 subject in Britain and it can't come soon enough as the madness starts to wind down. B&Q reopened last week in Northwich, the queues have been enormous, on the back of this the other trade building supplies outlets have re-opened. Most of the mail order or click and collect plant outlets are virtually out of stock. The traffic generally other than a quiet Sunday has increased each day. The lycra clad cycle racers were out in force today, I hear from the West Midlands today that most ethnics have ignored the shut down anyway and cyclists have been out all day on round Britain tours. It was harden to time 30 seconds without a gaggle of roaring cyclists racing past in Cheshire. The weather held out despite some threatening cloud and a few rain drops after lunch. We were up earl;y getting the latest DVDs finished, all the lorry ones are ready although I need to put them on the shop later. I've managed to files away photos and before I put these away some shots we took on our walk today outside Great Budworth. It was spring in all its glory, wild flowers, birds were prolific, a couple of foot from, a Blackcap, long tailed tits, nuthatch, Herons, geese, ducks, moorhen, it just goes on and on, a lovely walk. Little pollution, great visibility, no aircraft, sounds and smell of spring in the countryside. Almost a shame that we shall soon be back to normal although this has been interesting and taught us some lessons about the things we have lost. Later this afternoon I was out on the lumberjack trail on the fir trees at the bottom of the garden. One about 30ft tall actually reduced the overall height as we thin out the monsters, families looked on aghast from the houses. I'm now putting together the Bus Spot Ultra Trafalgar Square DVD, early stages but all planned films will hopefully get done before the madness ends. Anyway here are random shots taken as we walked this morning. I also cleaned the cars and van ready to start work again. Yes as promised not only is the new Bus Spot Ultra on the PMP shop it is also on Amazon where I've updated to include recent releases since the lock down. The photos are stills taken as screen shots from the Ayrshire film. It was a pleasure putting together and there are already a couple of trailers on Youtube. I've now edited both of the M6 lorry features for Wk5 of the lock down taken at Plumley on Tuesday. I've been at the old lumberjack bit again with the giant Leylandii in the garden at the rear of us. It has been a sparkling sunny day and the warmest yet without the cool breeze, here on in it just gets colder again. It has been a pleasure today, up at 7am and went through a sackful of DVD orders , all those which go as singles were dropped off at our post office, those abroad or as packages go on Monday when Dawn is back, little good happens in the post section in her absence. We did go to B&Q to see if they had any plants, the queue was several miles long so we didn't bother but tried the farm shop, more huge queues as it wasn't essential we gave up. Masses of cars on the road but zero aircraft today. I think the lock down is fizzling out, patience has now been exceeded , there are not enough government operatives police, informers etc to exceed the will of the people. Lets end this mindless stupidity now and get the economy moving, mind you I suppose it would be bad to have those football crowds, how about a 20 year ban, the thing I've hated most through this lunacy is the multitude of lycra clad ton up Tonys on push bikes. We have never been so busy, its like pre Christmas orders every day. Our next Bus Spot Ultra as promised is based on Trafalgar Square in London. I might start putting it together tomorrow. I've got the other two truck programmes to sort first though. Lower Peover on Thursday LD Wk5. Hope you are all well and looking forward to getting back to normal, I've got my to do list by my side ready! A hot sunny day, the first and probably last for Cheshire. We had a hectic day with another huge bag of post for DVDs, I'd got them ready by 7.30am then off to M&S at Handforth Dean, no queue at all and now around half the store can be reached on your way to the food hall. Today most of the large B&Q stores opened to ordinary customers and our local farm shop has their normal bedding plants on sale. There was a definate increase in cars on the M6 yesterday when I had the camera set up on the lower Peover overpass. After getting back home I finished painting the greenhouse and after lunch did another bout of tree felling. It is very intricate as there are two greenhouse next to the 40' Leylandii hedge gone mad in the neighbouring garden to next door, we both get the overhang. Then a rest with a beer, then I came in and downloaded another heap of DVD orders and Mandy is making a spag bog for tea. With the lack of pollution the light here is very intense, tomorrow the temperature starts to head down and more cloud and by May perhaps some rain, oh I also mowed the lawns, strimmed the edges, swept up, after dinner I'll water as has become usual, the driest April on record perhaps. It has certainly had a knock on the Youtube channel as both hits and revenue are down after an initial upward spurt, I think many people have had better weather and have been in the garden and not on Youtube. Hopefully as things get back to normal it will improve as advertising rates are miserable, who would want to advertise at present although we have to put in our copy for the transport mags each month whatever, they are already done now for June. I finally got the Bus Spot Ultra DVD finished this afternoon, next I need to make the four M6 truck DVDs I've filmed this week after that Bus Spot Ultra Trafalgar Square, London, other archives coming include Iberian Peninsular in the 1960-70's with plenty of British made buses and ex London Q1 trolleybuses. Another with the later days of British trolleybuses in the Tickety-boo series and one on the death of industrial railways in the UK and yet another on the early days of our transport museums and preserved railways. So plenty in the pipe line. As the momentum increases to return to normal I think people will just start to ignore all the lock down stuff, we have had it long enough, I think that there will be many relaxations when reviewed in 2 weeks time at the latest. I haven't watched the TV news for a long time just pick up the computer headlines, I can't stick all the propoganda messages. Here are some shots from the M6 motorway yesterday at Lower Peover, Cheshire. After a very frustrating time with the internet Tuesday all was well yesterday and I was able to make a lot of progress getting up into the 2000's in the Bus Spot Ultra Ayrshire, I'm hoping to have it finished this evening. We had another very sunny mild but windy day yesterday and I managed to get the white out covering on the greenhouse glass. Today I'm hoping to get the wood paintwork done and thats another job complete. The watering of the garden goes on with the current drought following a winter of nothing but rain, it has not been the best time to have put turf down but mostly it is looking fine but still no sign of delivery on the garden seats to finish it all off. Flowers emerging each day in the sunshine which perks everyone up. We are trying to establish a plant supplier , we won't need so much with the bords much reduced. DVD orders slackened off after the weekend but seem to have picked up again, in reponse to the increasing digital downloads I nearly caught up yesterday and nearly up to date on that as well as DVD. I've done the CVC and Buses mag adverts for the June issue, lets hope we are more back to normal by then, still not sure what to do about Brazil trip early July, really depends on travel restrictions either end and the one ordinary hotel which we are due to pay balance for by the end of May perhaps things will be clearer then. I'm doing my remote camera work just around the corner, about 4 minute walk to the M6 motorway flyover, this is week five of our coverage and provides some new photos for the blog at least, hopefully the exercise will become of great interest in retrospect after normality is returned, very little to get in the way of the lorry shots.We seem to be getting more and more Facebook friend requests which is pleasant at least. The comments on Facebook remain blocked although I realise that many of you have good things to say and helpful information but the tiny percentage of bad stuff, well it is really evil. I'm putting a lot of the Ayrshire material on to Youtube as trailers perhaps an extra lot of the bit that aren't used in the Bus Spot Ultra production. There are plenty of archive features coming along behind it but they do take quite some time to make. Photos this morning from the Plumley overbridge on Tuesday, the videos are in line after the Ayr archive which holds everything up! Good morning everyone, after labouring away for an hour or so last night I left the blog and watched TV with Mandy from around 8pm, I'd also been very busy on the new Bus Spot Ultra Ayrshire and what a treat it is going to be. I can't claim annual coverage on video far from it but between Ayr , Irvine, Ardrossan and Kilmarnock I have some champion scenes and some gorgeous material from the 1960's to 70's covering the change over from red to white livery for Western and the amazing variety of vehicles found in the co-operatives AA A1 and Clyde Coast Services. It really has boosted our early coverage, I'll bring you some screen shots in the next blog. It was also a bright sunny day but there was a cruel wind blowing so I left the greenhouse painting and tree felling and hopefully today it is going to be less windy and warmer all round. I did complete my weekly motorway shots on the M6 from the Plumley over bridge in the sunshine. This morning I bring you shots from that outing. I went for a walk with Mandy and we again ventured to the far side of our village grouping of Peovers and were near Peover Heath. Some very nice quiet roads. So a few shots I took along the way to give those in more distant parts a taste of our surroundings. DVD orders were a lot more quiet but the downloads are picking up which is good. When I've edited the new truck material and the Bus Spot Ultra I'll have a lot more to put on Youtube. Don't forget the new London DVDs are ready I'll get them on the shop now it is running again , I think late morning it all goes wrong when the USA comes alive. Future DVDs may well include a Tickety Boo production on the final years of UK trolleybuses, the end of British industrial railways and of course the promised Bus Spot Ultra Trafalgar Square London. |
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