. I've got all the digital downloads up to date with latest releases, all DVD orders are in the post. We'll be sorting the next batches on Thursday morning and I'm looking for possible truck filming on Friday. Then its the Ribble celebrations at the weekend and more work on the office on Bank Holiday Monday. I'm compiling bus spot ultra on Morecambe and Lancaster , nearly got all the material on the timeline, need to prune it down to two hours though. The phone has hardly stopped ringing today, lots of people, no nuisance calls thank goodness just friends and customers. Next blog on Thursday as we won't be back until late Wednesday and doing it on the ipad seldom seems to work in the UK. Here are some shts from West Bromwich last week.
The carpet fitters were here reasonably early this morning, the new showroom looks much more room like than a garage especially with carpet, I did take a photo but I've put the camera away ready for packing in Mandys car very early tomorrow morning as we are heading down to Kent and Sussex for a couple of days and hopefully will get some more locations off our to do list and eliminate Kent for this years and ditto much of Sussex. We'll get down to IOW and Hampshire later probably mixing it in with a family visit. We have gone through a lot of material in the office and had a big clear out, anything we need to retain will go to the attic and a lot will go to the security shredders . I've got all the digital downloads up to date with latest releases, all DVD orders are in the post. We'll be sorting the next batches on Thursday morning and I'm looking for possible truck filming on Friday. Then its the Ribble celebrations at the weekend and more work on the office on Bank Holiday Monday. I'm compiling bus spot ultra on Morecambe and Lancaster , nearly got all the material on the timeline, need to prune it down to two hours though. The phone has hardly stopped ringing today, lots of people, no nuisance calls thank goodness just friends and customers. Next blog on Thursday as we won't be back until late Wednesday and doing it on the ipad seldom seems to work in the UK. Here are some shts from West Bromwich last week. Two days of hell updating the external shops, just got to get the rest of the digital uploads ready on Weebly shop. The Amazon ones took ages as they had changed the upload spreadsheet so much that it was a challenge even finding the new format which took two days, finally cracked it Sunday lunchtime and have just added the cover photos to complete. My left big toe is still very painful from arthritis and both Mandy and my own knees are similarly affected. The carpets for the new showroom get fitted tomorrow morning, we've been to B&Q to get more decorating supplies plus ant powder, there are zillions of the blighters in the garden. We were at Clonter Opera last night for their spring gala, a very good cast and the food was a great improvement on past efforts but how they would cope with greater numbers dining I don't know. All in all a great effort with many of the production team and cast from the RNCM in Manchester. With the shops mainly updated which was my target for the weekend we are now faced with making a decision on this weeks proposed London film trip with the Irish trip always on our minds as well Talk about weather dependent, I also like to get things done before the school holidays. The only thing hanging over us now is the Youtube decision if we get our funding back from advertising after they took exception to having the old archive films on our monitised channel. I think they still prefer terrorist, blood and gore to hobby material. As promised some more shots from the West Midlands trip starting with Dudley in the rain. Weebly just struck again the 'sign in' box popped up and wiped out all of todays blog as I was just finishing it. I can't go back now as time is too tight. I was in Dudley, nice Ensign driver told me about his Brexit bus round the corner which I'd spotted coming in to town, I got a good near side of it, shame about the cause it supports. Nigel Ferrari was due there later. I got the first I've seen of the WMPTE commemorative liveried buses at Dudley plus lots of their new deckers in service. Staying with that theme a really new one which hadn't entered service as yet was the last bus I snapped at West Brom Normal slide show tomorrow, Diamond who rate as the pits in the UK bus world show their new look no eyes exit from the West Brom bus station, wouldn't have noticed the driver if it hadn't been for the lunatic driving! Got the rest of my bedding plants in when I got home and received the chrome grab rail for the steps to the new showroom, will fit it tomorrow.
A delightfully educational, informative and enjoyable perk at the RNCM for the Principle's Circle members was another of the masterclass sessions opened to us. After the fairly lengthy sessions we had tea and biscuits in Brodskys restaurant. We are still waiting to see how the weather turns out for June as to whether we can get to the end of term concert at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, they have kindly reserved a place just in case. When we got home there were several jobs to catch up with and then it was off to the school for St Oswalds pcc session. Jane Lloyd the vicar is leaving soon and there will be an interregnum, it seems likely that our parish will be wrapped up with some of the other 7 local parishes which have no priest at present. One of the only good things is that our parish share would be likely to fall considerably, that's the cash we have to turn over to the dioceses to cover the incumbents salary, alas this is still payable until a replacement or alternative arrangement is made. It has been as hectic as ever, the car didn't get finished until this afternoon as it needed a few things sorting from brake pads and fluid through to a new tyre, tracking etc, thankfully there was some spare cash floating around as we made arrangements to take up this years ISA allocation, no wonder not 'everyone' gets the benefit of all the financial options as even with the money getting the different accounts and through the security can be very daunting especially as you get older and you forget passwords and the like. I did all the gloss painting in the new office, not a lot to see on a picture but in reality it looks much more a 'finished' room and the carpet will be fitted next Monday. I'm looking at the weather and film options for tomorrow so still not sure what if anything will get done. I'd like to have a special DVD ready for the Ribble 100 events the next weekend. Lots of things depend on the weather, a possibility is a couple of days filming in London next week. Meanwhile some shots from Glasgow. An exhausting day out productive and we met a friend at Glasgow and had a meal at a favoutite pub near Kirkby Lonsdale on the way home. We had to take my IQ in for its 70k service , well pick it up first thing tomorrow. We've now vacced out the new showroom and washed the floor in readiness for me to start the gloss paintwork and we can then get the carpet delivered and fitted. Next will be moving in the media cabinets which the large display cabinets will sit on. I'm hoping to reuse the old cabinets to a large extent with the shelving resized and glass fronts as shelves. I need to get a new drill with cutting and rebate facility for all the work I'll have to do. Along the line we'll bring in the models from the dining room still boxed and then empty the original office put in extra shelf units and redecorate as well as fitting the units from the editing suite which is really the third bedroom and will in turn be redecorated as such. We need to buy the two new racking/shelf units and two new computer corner desks. The trip to Scotland was nearly delayed by the M6 closure but thankful we were off and back on quite quickly unlike the south bound which had a few miles of backed up traffic trapped and a 20 mile diversion route through small villages. It took ages to get into Edinburgh but I was soon filming, time was really rushing by and the light perfect and temperature as warm as it gets in those parts, a lot easier and faster trip over to Glasgow, masses more new buses and liveries, really amazing session at the bus station could have stayed there for hours, there is always something different popping up every few minutes and bus action almost continuous. We'll get the DVD orders ready to post on our way out, attending masterclasses at the RNCM this afternoon then back in time to go to the church pcc this evening. Not sure what will happen tomorrow perhaps do the gloss painting and try for filming somewhere Friday, next week was put aside for Scotland, perhaps if weather fair we could have a couple of days filming in London. Pictures from Ediburgh yesterday morning. Covers for the latest DVD releases I managed to get the two ends of the new showroom painted in a rather attractive light grey which we may well use for the bedroom, the old office will certainly be the same colour. The rest of the showroom will mainly be showcases so left white for the present. This all took a good few hours but I managed to get digital uploads done while I was working in my overalls. I've now put in the request for the Youtube monetisation once more, lets see if they are looking at buses and trucks any more favourably, I'm not counting on it at all though. We are going to to Scotland tomorrow just for the day and covering Glasgow and Edinburgh , stopping off on the way back at the Plough inn where they do the most delightful desserts, near Kirby Lonsdale. I will be making more transport film trips later in the week, destinations to be decided when the weather becomes clear. I need to update the shops on Amazon and Ebay but you can get everything you want on this site so why use them. Last set of photo selections from the Co Durham trip with Durham itself. I've put off the next round of painting in the new room until Monday as it was such a beautiful day I thought I'd get the outside jobs done so after church we went to Fryers garden centre and got enough bedding to fill the side path which still has some very nice looking violas left from last autumn. Then a round of weeding, feeding, watering etc and up on the ladder to the flat roofs and sprinkling with a mix of washing up liquid and bleach to kill the possible bloom of algae and out of the small front bedroom over the porch roof which has moss, the only moss on the house other than the garden wall. The DVD orders are all ready to go off in the post, still waiting for the Youtube ok to reapply for monetisation it is due today but there is a substantial time lag, it then requires a human review ( are there such things in Youtube) if they don't have a hang up about trucks and buses perhaps well get back on in a month and that then mean two months before any revenue. It has been very quiet and PMP is ticking over at quite a loss at present having said that our resources are good and all planned trips will go ahead and that includes Jordan and Indonesia if we have the time and if friend Sue is recovered enough after back surgery to take on Indonesia. The August Ukraine trip is 100% certain. Ireland is just waiting for a week with no commitments and good weather, a couple of options penciled in already. I've filed away all the remaining Truckfest photo files plus the North East trip from last week I must get some on Smugmug. Shots from Middlesbrough on Friday The busyness goes on , we started this morning with decorating in the new showroom, this involved a second coat on one wall, second coat on ceiling and first coat on the exterior wall which was last to be plastered, We are now ready to put a finishing light grey on the end walls the rest will almost entirely be display cabinets in white. While doing this editing films and burning discs and loading to digital download on the shop. Then to Heswall for the Polio Fellowship collection and called at B&Q on the way back for a couple of decorating requisites then at home got latest DVD orders ready, another DVD burnt ( up to Middlesbrough now) and another upload to the shop. Mandy getting dinner ready but I popped out to garden and put on insect and disease controls, feed and pinned up roses as well as binning the overflow from the recycle bin that wouldn't fit this week. Tomorrow after church we'll put the top grey coat of paint on the new office/showroom and may be start the gloss paint on the doors, skirting board and windowsill. When that is done we can get the carpet delivered and fitted allowing time for it all to set. Here is a shot of the latest situation! This old office on the right will be changed quite a lot mostly because it isn't user friendly, too crowded and no room for my models. Ok, so far so good, decided to copy to Facebook as it seems a lot of folk have now lost touch, work continues as ever but I'll give it one more whirl and try not to look at anything on it. Getting the Youtube comments deleted took a bit and of course I no longer allow comments on more recent uploads. To suit Youtube we now have to have less shots of a place and feature ME! Tomorrow we should be able to resubmit for monetization ,I'm not holding my breathe they seem to hate anything that isn't noisy, violent, sick or stupid . They hate with a passion hobbies, archives , transport etc. Shots from Darlington on Friday next. ps we may be at Glasgow and Edinburgh this week A very busy day with a 5am start but all worked out very well until the trip home. I was at Stockton by 07.30 and the light was spot on a more buses than usual, so good that I was on my way to Darlington before 9am, again Darlo was quite busy for buses and once again a successful visit and then on my way to Middlesbrough. Some cloud which was useful as the sun is never quite in the best position for photography, then it became full sun and almost warm for a few minutes, it had sleeted on the M62 on my way over earlier in the day. Last it was a dash back up the A1 to Durham and mostly sunny there. Three films from one day is easy with trucks but hard going for busy but then I headed over the A66 and down the M6 but heard on the traffic news than further down two lanes were shut due to the appearance of a pothole which they were fixing. I ended up going down the M61 then M62 back to the M6 which was a bit of a roundabout way but avoided a two hour wait in traffic. Had dinner, watched soaps, got DVD orders ready and downloaded the material from today. We've had a Quail in the garden, a first on our extensive all time bird watch at No17. Tomorrow I'll be putting another coat of paint on the showroom, we are collecting at Heswall in the afternoon for the Polio Fellowship, I managed to get the poster ready yesterday which fits in the plastic stand I bought them, it worked well as it gave people some prompts on what polio is / was re UK survivors. Photos start at Stockton. A very busy and generally productive day. The only thing which fell behind is the skip pick up which didn't happen, we want to get the drive cleaned and the cars back off the road, will chase up builders to get a grip of the skip people. I managed to get a rake of covers done, by the end of this evening all the Truckfest will be ready , I already updated the DVD list to reflect the weekend films. When covers are finished I'll get them on the shop and send off pre ordered DVDs. While the carpet cleaner was here I went out and had a session tidying up the gardens, the front lawn is slowly coming back after the drought last year and the back lawn has been taken over by some course grass ij places but generally has good cover and looks well after mowing in the rain, the borders are now much better trimmed.
The carpets look superb after their spring clean, the chap did a really good job and was very pleasant. I want to get the second coat of pain on the new showroom / office as soon as possible, it may be the weekend as we have the Polio Fellowship tomorrow, a film trip I'm planning on Friday . Saturday collection for Polio Fellowship on the Wirral. As soon as the decorating is finished we'll get the carpet delivered and fitted and then move the tape media cabinets in as these will be the foundation for the larger display cases. We will use the small bedroom fitted cupboards etc for the packing table area, wall cupboards above and with a much larger top the base unit from the bedroom will give needed cupboard space and a drawer as well allowing us tio keep it more tidy. The new showcases will probably be constructed as individual units then installed as the plaster board walls won't really stand a lot of weight. Just one more Truckfest DVD to make and the last covers and that is me up to date for once, its been hard catching up after the Asia trip. We will be looking at possibilities for trips to Ireland, Scotland and London for bus and trucks, exclude trucks from London mention though! DVD orders remain slack, a rare month which saw us running at a much greater loss than normal I've not booked a stand at Kelsall as they are far too expensive for the small volume of trade and offers little as we can get there readily from home and normal admission offers better value in this case. We shall have an indoor stand at Gaydon vintage truck event this year with lots of our commercial DVD range. We have booked Alton rally stand and will be booking Heaton Park in Manchester for September. Rapidly approaching is the Morecambe Ribble event, we have a stand booked for the Sunday, I never had any reply from Stagecoach re the open day. |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
Categories |