A very tiring day working from 8 to 5 but a lot of stuff taken care of, latest West Midlands DVDs are on the PMP shop, I've filed away this months photo files , I've put up shading netting on greenhouse/shed, weeding garden, cleaning cars. Tomorrow after church we will start putting up the Platinum Jubilee bunting, it should be ample to get all three houses linked with UK, Commonwealth and Ukraine flags. Tonight we are with our friends in Kelsall hearing how the farming sector has got on over the past two years. Tomorrow night we have guests for dinner, some time I want to update the Ebay shop with our recent releases as there are those who insist on using it. I've erected the shading netting over our greenhouse which is now our shed, looks ok, might using it for climbing plants. This time next week I'll be on my way to Cyprus. It is a while since we had any Ukraine photos keeping them very much to the front of our minds as things could get a lot worse should Russia go for tactical battlefield nuclear weapons. I'm going to dip into our commercial side of Ukraine shots tonight. My body is a tad weary, painting the wood work on the green house is challenging but I managed to get a long handled brush at B&Q which took some of the trauma out of reaching over all the glass. I've ordered a green shading net which should hide any defects and may be useful in getting a clematis to climb over it. I've got the Walsall and West Brom trailers ready to load on to Youtube. I got the DVD covers made for them but not loaded them to our shop yet. I want to get the photos filed before I start anything else. Tomorrow is now free so I can get some more jobs done, were are out but not until evening, perhaps we'll get the third guard box completed. I got some more paint as I think it might be tight and I usually need black gloss for drain pipes etc. I've been rooting through my Southdown photo sales boxes as a customer is perusing some large batches of B&W shots at home, these can go in the post on Tuesday. I've not forgotten our truck friends but I had done a lot when you take Mexico into consideration and Cyprus next week will be mainly lorries. I took the IQ into Halfords this morning and got the blades renewed, also picked up some cleaning materials which Mandy intends me to use tomorrow. We also picked up a nice leg of lamb as we have guests round Sunday evening. The bunting is going up across the three houses on Sunday afternoon, I picked up some cream eggs to assist with our efforts. Lets show that we are still looking after the lorry folk with a dip into the past, I know we are off to Cypr7us so why not a taster! This morning I got all the recent DVD productions covers filed away and the replacement discs for sales stock sold replaced. I touched base with Elton next door on the guards boxes, the second is now complete structurally and the third just needs a bit of off-cut to finish off in the morning, I'll need to go to Halfords and get a new wiper blade when they are open. The boxes will have to wait here all tarped up until Tuesday when the warehouse re-opens. Then I can start the painting. After the early morning jobs it was drop off post, over to Ellesmere Port, get hair cut, do shopping ( M&S have no ordinary Easter eggs, what's that about) then the British Polio Fellowship meeting just 5 of us. Then back to help Elton mover the box to our drive. So just a couple of DVD covers to make, a few thousand photo files to file away and get the Ebay shop updated. That's enough for tonight, oh I forgot it's pub night- well saved by the bell eh! Still catching up with shops, in pouring rain at Walsall yesterday morning. Far too much on my plate at present but it should die down later in June then ready for July in Brazil. Almost roll on autumn, but only joking. The weather didn't show nearly non stop rain in West Midlands but that's what there was. I did Walsall all rain, then a nice coffee and cake in the Victorian Arcade and drove on to West Brom. More rain, managed to get parked in my usual spot. Shots from today's trip, there must be a few more to go, did you see the latest trailer clips I've put on Youtube last night, all five from the Brooklands weekend. I've got work to do to get ready for the Polio Fellowship meeting tomorrow , get hair cut, do shopping etc. I got the quote on the new super computer it's around £6300 but should put me in a good place to enhance films with AI etc. A typically fraught and busy day, I made little progress with editing until this evening but everything has been downloaded and ready to edit. I did the repaint of the shed windows which had turned to dust then started on the paintwork on the wood sections. Meanwhile Elton had been hard at it with the sentry boxes, finally getting the construction of the first of three done late afternoon by which time the clouds had gathered. We realised that the boxes wouldn't fit the path way between our houses so it was up and over the fence. Then it started with hail stones but the tarps were at the ready and it is well wrapped. Roger Turner came round, he is masterminding the villages platinum jubilee celebrations, we'll be able to get the boxes on his trailer to Ged Coates' warehouse and when the three are ready we can paint them there under cover. I got the royal ciphers made ready to glue in place and the gold trimming tape is here to apply when finished. They boxes look huge, Elton knocked a foot off the real measurement as I don't think our guard scarecrows will be that tall even in a bearskin. Meanwhile I can carry on with the editing first thing as we have a zoom meeting at 10am for the polio fellowship. I am still busy scanning the 1950s cine between other tasks. Meanwhile here are some shots I took while filming at High Wycombe last Friday We had a good run back up to home this evening back by 8pm even with n ice cream stop. As usual a busy week in front of us with a catch up with film editing and getting DVD orders sent out Monday, Tuesday we have a Polio Fellowship zoom meeting then hopefully subject to weather a filming day Wednesday then Thursday its our monthly Ellesmere Port day with hair cut, shopping and Polio Fellowship meeting. We need to get our branch newsletter out before Thursday. Then I've got Jubilee concert tickets to try and sell to our neighbours, the sentry boxes for the tableaux , get the lawns mowed, try and finish the present round of cine scanning from the 1950's, file away still images and get myself ready for the Cyprus potato harvest film trip followed quickly by the Romania trip. Great atmosphere at Brooklands today, nice catering of special note the Coffee Can. Lots of lovely friends and customers to catch up with and meeting some of our net viewers. Must have late supper now, I'll get some shops loaded before bed time! The car is now packed as we head down to Surrey for Brooklands rally on Sunday, setting up Saturday afternoon. The weather is looking good for filming tomorrow and we have a few places in mind for Saturday which looks to be sunny. The outlook for the Sunday event at the bus museum is pretty good so looking forward to seeing many of you then. I've saved the films I've scanned over the past few days covering Belgium and Germany in 1957, similar tour appears on Youtube but why don't people add a name to their posts, I find this habit creates a smokescreen for those who have innocent intent but hides the malicious or illegal posts. I think it should be a legal requirement to do so. We had the village Platinum anniversary committee meeting this afternoon, I have now ordered up the timber for the guards sentry boxes which Elton next door is helping to build, its a bit of a dash as I head off to Cyprus and then Romania soon. Some more pictures from Detling South East Bus Festival from last weekend. Next blog possibly on the road if my new ( 2ndhand) mobile works for me, I've progressed beyond switch on ( what's that Dave you can switch off as well). I've got all the stock ready to load in Mandy's car tomorrow for Brooklands. We got an email from the hotel telling us that the restaurant was closed Saturday due to a wedding and that they would direct us to restaurants nearby. As the package included a meal one night and we had booked to dine the other at our own account it was really annoying so we though we would cancel and rebook elsewhere, when I phoned them it turned out that it only meant the restaurant room was unavailable so they would open up another dining room for regular guests staying over . I also did a couple of tweaks to the Romania trip to make it easier getting to and from the airport and hired car pick up. I managed to get the DVD covers made for the recent Yorkshire visit, these are now on the PMP shop. I've also scanned some more 1950's cine which needs editing ready to save the masters. This has a mix of Germany plus Isle of Man. Looking forward to seeing what it comes out like and if I can identify the German tram and trolley systems. Tomorrow we both have busy days, the alarm service is happening somewhere along the line and I've got the Platinum Jubilee committee meeting in the afternoon. If you want me to take anything specific to Brooklands it's your last chance to ask tomorrow. Here are a few shots from Huddersfield yesterday An early start and over the Pennines before the rush hour motorway traffic came to a complete halt. I got parked up easily in Wakefield, last year it was a nightmare as the main car parks were closed in Corona Pandemic lockdown. I managed to get about as near as I could to the bus station although the escalator was out of action and I actually had to walk up a flight of stairs but I survived. It was pretty well timed and I think I got the best of the morning rush hour at the bus station. It was a bit windy but when I got to Huddersfield it was nearly a gale and using the brolly as a windbreak only helped so much as it kept blowing inside out and nearly taking me off my feet, a real Many Poppins moment. Pleant to see by way of ex Yorkshire Tiger repaints and upgrades. I got a message on the answerphone from my pal Dave Forrest, he'd watched our new Lancashire archive 1956-57 and said it was the best DVD he had ever watched in his life! I'll have copies with me at Brooklands and at the NWVRT Kirkby running day plus lots of other archive features. Anything particular you want to pick up please advise Thursday at latest as we head south early Friday. I've just scanned film of some of the very first Duewags to run in Germany taken in 1957 in their first year. Needless to say there is plenty more of interest as most German trams were quite elderly and lots had been repaired after damage in the war. Strange to think that we may be looking at Ukraine footage in the future at vehicles repaired after the Russian attempted invasion. |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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