What a day that was, the payment that I started out on the road with on Tuesday finally hit my account this evening after the stock exchange closed due to a combination of inept service and systems split between TD Investing who took over the investment side of Nat West and Nat West at Knutsford who attempted to do the CHAP transfer for the grand sum of £21 to sen the money from Knutsford Nat West to Manchester Nat West, it would have been quicker and easier to have just taken the cash and deposited it there. To cap it all the Nat West complaints system sends you on a long way round in circles, and I'm sure you can imagine where you end up, yes just where you started at with the general enquiry number. One thing that is certain to annoy people is to treat them like imbeciles when they already have a problem.

The cash is safely ensconced doing nothing until we return from holiday. Thankfully we fly out tomorrow so can forget about all this for a few days. I got all the last minute orders away in the post this afternoon, thats the difference when it's your own business. We also had nothing but hassle with Chelford Fram Supplies and my sunflower hearts we paid for which were found to be out of stock and told they were coming Friday, I phoned lunch time and they said they would phone when they arrived, Mandy got back from Chester I was still messing about with NAT West etc and she went down to collect some smaller bags as it had turned out the phone call wouldn't be received as the delivery wasn't even coming this week at all, how do they stay in business and is Britain really fit enough to stand on it's own feet and take on the world in trade, I don't think the average business could swap jelly babies among themselves.

I've added another DVD to our Youtube subscription channel and there will be yet another going on this evening with associated trailers other than that it will be blogs from Cyprus if we can get a good enough signal! I managed to get one Youtube clip to load on this Weebly site before it went wrong yet again, giving up now and off to do battle with the mice in my garden shed.

The count down to Cyprus has started. Weebly however is up to it's old tricks and there was no way i could get it to type a title to the blog. If I say it was a hectic day you will think what's new but it always is. I got up early as there were several things pressing on my mind as hangovers from last nights standing committee meeting for St Oswalds and I didn't want to let the time slip by as I had so much to do and our departure to Cyprus creeping up on us. To put it in context when we return Mandy is in hospital for an operation with this trip designed to be a rest before it. Then we shall be trying to fit in visits to the South West, East Anglia, the Borders and South / West Wales plus Aberdeen and the Channel Islands. I have a trip to Ukraine in August and hope to do some truck film in Ireland. Other truck destinations include new places for us such. as Kings Lynn and Mansfield where previously I've only filmed buses.

I had to go to the church to go over cover with one of our former officials who has been unwell for some time and hopefully get her back in the loop, I then had to dash back to the Nat West in Knutsford to complete the cash transaction which had gone up the creek yesterday, I understand it has slowly worked it's way the 9 miles from Knutsford to Manchester and will pop up in the correct account tomorrow, the wonders of the internet, stage carriage was as fast. I have a funeral of Lady Haworth to officiate at tomorrow , thankfully my foot appointment has been rescheduled but there are still things I need to do like pick up a sack of bird food that was out of stock the other day at Chelford farm supplies, mind you the little blighters will have to go hungry when it runs out next week. The mice have made a fifth hole in a row in the shed floor, very hard to stop them as not a lot of floor left at this rate.

We had dinner at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester this evening prior to the RNCM end of term concert, a great evening and thankfully we were heading in when the great jam was the opposite direction, our first trip in to the city since the latest bombing, regulars will know I was there the morning of the IRA bomb.They had obviously been set up for a strict search routine at the hall but perhaps we were considered unlikely targets at a classical concert and it was business as usual. Meanwhile a look at past shots of lorries in Syria which isn't that far from Cyprus!

A lot to do and it was frustration all the way starting with trying to establish who the car hire was with in Cyprus and then if it was ok to take it into the north, it wasn't , it also took ages to sort out the process and gave up eventually after speaking to a very rude bloke at Alamo Thrifty car hire there. I spent a couple of minutes on trip adviser and found a local car hire who let you take them into the Turkish occupied areas which I booked very easily. If I started the process again I would have used them for the whole trip booking the car with Monarch flight proved a very bad move must make note never to do so again. 

The same frustrations set in after we returned from getting the DVD orders away and some banking with the purchase of new investments to replace those recently cashed in, it was a nightmare mainly down to the Nat West bank who had the clever idea of introducing a security check which required them sending a code by text to a number I hadn't given them to a house which has no mobile signal, after 90 minutes they suggested they send me a TEXT!!!!! with the code again, after another 30 mins they said they would send it visa the land line, after 10 mins I gave up phoned the company I was buying from who then said they could take my card details over the phone.

That was only the start, there were two transaction which required transfers in person via the bank, went to Nat West in Knutsford after 20 mins answering random questions the screen went blank and they lost the plot, another 45 mins later at home they rang to say it had never left my account they would have to do it all, again tomorrow, first time it had happened to her in 23 years in the Nat West, why me???

I've got accomodation booked for two nights in Famagusta in Northern Cyprus, I've got three days in the north gricing to see what transport gems I can find. I'll cross in the west of the region and make my way to Famagusta for tea time then next day do local area trucks around docks and buses then last day in North Kyrenia area perhaps and back to west to cross perhaps back through Troodos to Limassol or back to Nicosia.  Amazon site now suspended for hols until 12th July, EBay just states we are away from Saturday back 12th July, the shop on this site open as ever order sent out 12th July. Lets see if I've any taster piccies from Cyprus. Don't expect it to look like this these days.

Well the title has the lot really although how it all added up to a days work I'm not sure but I did get 4 DVDs edited and am just about to get the covers done for the DVDs covering Kelsall Rally, four really long running discs and an amazing finale with the round up of hundreds of ERF lorries.  Mandy had a hospital appointment at Macclesfield which ran late that took up a chunk of the morning, had to order a map of Cyprus ours has gone astray. We got some fruit in Waitrose in Knutsford, back to dieting days. Then we went to get the requisites for the toilet and store cum kitchen at St Oswalds at ASDA in Northwich and I also dived into Waitrose there to get a few loves of the Irish fruit bread which we love at breakfast ( on none dieting days of course).

Then it was straight to the church and quite a task getting the builders mess off the surfaces, pipes, window sills etc and then putting the toilet rolls, towels etc in place, cleaning the floor the builders have left tile cement over many, really untidy workmen and nothing cleaned at all on completion. The boiler worked fine so at least we had hot water to work with. We found an old purse i the bell tower, it had a small amount of cash and a bus pass, we tracked the owner down at tea time who decided that she didn't use the bus pass and it was too far to travel back for the money so donated it to the church. With nearly a 1000 photos loaded to our Smugmug site we must get the covers done for the DVDs, plenty of choice for pictures. Our Youtube subscription site is up and running, full length DVDs with no adverts and even archive material on widescreen. Lets take in a few more pictures from Kelsall to end that run.

It was us celebrating our wedding anniversary a couple of days early as the weather was probably the best we'd get this week and it was the only day free. We had to get the DVD orders packaged and sent off plus pay the milk, put up a poster at St Oswalds then a few emails to do and it was off for the rest of the day in Derbyshire. We had tried to visit Calke Abbey again on a bank holiday which was a huge mistake, we turned around and came home at Easter it was that busy. Today it was at it's more relaxed elf although for a Monday the NT staff told us it was unusually busy. About 90% of the visitors were pensioners like us and we had a very traditional day there with house, garden, cake, drinks, chocolate, purchases from the shop including our usual NT calendar so we are up and running on 2018.

The staff were even more helpful and informative than would be expected and the buggy assistance for Mandy in the wheelchair was spot on. We got around most of the house with a bit of effort. The gardens were splendid and with the porous limestone a lot of plants they grow are similar to ours on the sandy Cheshire plain. I've taken a few photos there, it was taken over by the NT in about 1989 and we visited very early on when everything was still in boxes, I understand the collections have now been listed but generally it is displayed in an as discovered condition with just a few rooms restored the rest merely repaired. Mandy has a hospital appointment tomorrow, I want to get the garden tidied and make a start on the DVDs from Kelsall, 6 hours film possibly on 4 or 5 long running DVDs. We have also prepared a list of items we need to get the toilet at St Oswalds up and running.

after those relaxed scenes at Calke Abbey lets take a look at some more Sunday shots at Kelsall rally

I think it was the biggest turn out of lorries yet for the Kelsall rally this weekend which is fast getting a reputation as the alternative to Gaydon where all lorries are welcome whatever thair age and thus a fantastic spread across the industry with the cream of the show going to the REVS display of around 250 ERF vehicles or so I've been told as I lost count at about 6! We never thought that it would be worthwhile for sales as we had tried there before but for footage of the vehicles we got oodles, I'm downloading it at present, several volumes to follow early this week. It's our wedding anniversary on Wednesday but tomorrow is the only really free day we have so are going to Calke Abbey National Trust in Derbyshire for a day out. I'll get the DVDs edited from, Kelsall and listed well before we vanish off to Cyprus. I'll put the holiday settings on EBay and Amazon has to be suspended as there is no actual holiday setting.

The weather was very cloudy, sometimes windy and much cooler than yesterday which wasn't that warm to start with. It looks like being more of the same all this week. Just to think that 43 years ago we were just get ready for our wedding at Manchester Reg office and both had hair down to our waists. Thankfully mine is still there albeit white instead of black although Mandy says I'm thinning a bit, evidenced but plug hole stands found, I demand a recount though.

We are having a quick tea then catching the evening service at St Oswald's, I'm not there for three Sundays in a row but will have time to catch up with my opposite number Keith at the standing committee meeting at our house on Wednesday. Not a lot of order for DVDs so it won't take long to get them sorted before we go out tomorrow, I may give some of the plants a water as the rain hasn't developed into much and in sheltered places they probably need a drink. We fly out to Cyprus Saturday and I hope to have a few transport outings over the 10 days we are there. Several should be up to the north so I can hunt down the older types still in service there. Ex UK buses continu to flow to Cyprus with a lot of ex London bendy Mercs there, I hear some of the old ones in Malta are now burnt out. Here we go with the slide show all shots taken a few hours back at the ERF display.

At the end of the day at Kelsall rally the sun made an appearance which I'm sure will be welcome as it's a firework display and live music night on the site. Although be no means full there is a huge lorry attendance and possibly matches Gaydon although Kelsall have no date line to restrict it. The field of ERFs is quite full, I think there were about 100 plus last year, I've not counted. I filmed the steamers in the rings the only bit I did of the arena, I also caught the tractors heading off for their ring circuit and got a 16min sequence non stop tractors. We met up with out friend Keith and his grandson Sam who enjoys all the big boys toys on his dad and mum's farm and equestrian centre just down the road, he seemed to be having a good time as did everyone.

We were expecting any sales as it is a bit like Llandudno , we take the van so Mandy has somewhere to sit if the weather isn't brilliant but thankfully the rain held off and we sold enough to cover our costs. No surprise then that tonight's offering is from Kelsall, once again hot off the press. There will be fairly mammoth coverage of the event on DVD which will be edited and listed before we head off to Cyprus next weekend. I met Glen Bubb his wife Caroline and Tim his dad and Pauline his mum. Karl was also there and ready for yet another trip to Malta, they gave me some top tips for bus and truck hunting in Cyprus. I think the weather tomorrow is going to be brighter, there is tacks to see and a great atmosphere so why not come along, it is really a major lorry event.

You don't get stuff more up to date than this and fresh from the rally site are tonight's pictures taken within last few hours and a good taste of what will be on display this weekend Kelsall is one of the largest lorry events and hosts both the Foden and ERF register event within it's grounds plus there are masses of other lorries and commercials plus steam and tractors and a sprinkling of buses, no cars. We have located our spot, open to one side Autoglym at the other, I hope they give us a bit of circulation space tomorrow as their wing mirror was hanging over our space this afternoon. Nice chaps with ride on lawnmowers the other way. We will have a large selection of trucking DVDs on clearance at just £10 each.

 The PMP Youtube subscription channel is now live with full length programmes from the archive brought to a wide screen format and digitally enhanced where required. Intended for a wide international audience featuring many modes of transport from just £15 a month the price of one DVD. There are already 20 to download, more added regularly. I got the church key fobs sorted, the builders were doing the finishing touches today. We had jobs in Knutsford to do and Mandy got some shopping while I got a load more photos loaded to our still photo sales site at Smugmug, I'm now working on the London ones from March but most other recent stuff is already on including our Kent, Sussex, Hants trip plus all the DVDs from that and our s West truck trip are ready. Anyway dinner is nearly ready, the Youtube site went through another million barrier over 31M hits now, lets see if we can achieve success with the subscription service.

We launched the PMP subscription channel last night although there are only 19 films they are full length, widescreen and digitally enhanced to give a quality not seen even on the DVD version. This comes from just £15 a month in the UK and is available in many countries world wide. I shall be adding more material as we go along to keep the interest up based on our earlier material from the PMP back list. Designed more for the international viewer who wouldn't normally purchase DVDs although of course you are all welcome to join right now and support PMP in the work we do to cover and celebrate transport around the world. Here are the covers for the latest truck releases that means everything is now available. Tomorrow we start coverage of the Kelsall event near our base in Cheshire..

It was a hectic morning mainly based around business at St Oswalds which didn't get wrapped up until lunch time, not helped by the road being closed i both directions although I made sure that they let through church bound traffic. We had a rep to look at projectors and a lady from Holmes Chapel History Society. I've spent the afternoon making inroads in filing the thousands of images which keep piling up in my files, I hope to have many of them added to our Smugmug still photo site this evening. I've changed the 'button' for the links to the still photos to match the subscription channel .

It took some doing but I'm now up to date with the recent plethora of bus films having just finished the last cover, it leaves me three lorry films to create covers for then I can turn my attention to getting the Youtube PMP Subscription channel up and running. The weather has started to change with hot and sticky temperatures and thunder rolling around, perhaps it will rain in the night and save me watering the garden. I got the PMP van sparkling for Kelsall rally , we'll be setting up ( actually an excuse to film arrivals) on Friday afteroon and be there through Saturday and Sunday. I've got a replacement broom for St Oswald's and swept up the side porch which was annoying me. I got a set of keys cut in Knutsford for the new toilet, I need to find a couple of fobs, can't believe I didn't ask for them at Timpson's.

Well there was a whole bundle of household catching up with Mandy home, we got the post away and shopping done. Its been a semi dieting day, bananas for breakfast and dinner then a pudding! I spent a lot of time trying to get the holiday cover at church sorted for a week tomorrow, at least that's a week away surely someone will volunteer as both vicar Jane and ourselves are away the week after next. I understand it's in the 40s in Cyprus, that will do me, I might ask the car hire people about the car we have booked and make sure its OK i the north, if I can I'd like to get me side trip to the Turkish occupied sector booked, the girls are happy to sit be the pool for two days and there is a restaurant on site albeit we'll self cater most of the time. I fixed the clothes line, a branch had broken off where I'd fixed it after cutting with the hedge clippers.We had fun jobs like changing the bedding and hanging out washing, it just gets better and better. Anyway here are the covers for the latest releases they'll be on our shop in a few minutes.