Never has the saying been so true that a British summer is two hot days and a thunderstorm which we've started today with a muggy hot one but quite cloudy then tomorrow the temperature soars as the sky clears with perhaps 90F in Yorkshire. I'll be up early heading over to the Europort at Wakefield for a day there revelling in the heat and trucks making as much of this superb day as I can. We've had a catch up today, I've got all three weekend film covers done which are Wilts, Hants and Alton with the Swindon film also including a nod towards the 175 years of transport town status being celebrated at the moment. I've got plenty of clips ready to put on our Youtube channel which by the way last week whizzed through the 23 million mark. Although it has never reached potential as so many idiots use ad blockers it does serve as a taster for our programmes, if you want to support PMP and our work look at the adverts click on them then if you don't see anything useful carry on viewing, the revenue from your click is what pays it's way and supports the labour of uploading the stuff. The future will still see the promised PMP subscription channel when we go over to television on demand status. We did catch up on many things which included cleaning up the drive after we seem to have suffered an air raid by an albatross judging by the mess, cleaned the window sills while I was at it and fixed a drawer in the bedroom the handle of which had come off. We went shopping in Knutsford, picked up 4 books for me, I get through then quite quickly mostly history and travel not much fiction. From Booths we got pudding and beer etc and Mandy is just cooking a half shoulder of lamb. I hope you enjoy your sunny day tomorrow if you are in these parts if not we hope that you will remember at least to visit the just giving page and sponsor the charity walk which for me starts Thursday when the weather should be pleasant but a lot cooler. Here are some shots from Winchester and Salisbury on Saturday. A busy day of all sorts. I got the DNA kit for myself and submitted it, talked to Pat Peacock the researcher and having another go at finding my father's date and place of birth, it's difficult as he and his wife are alive in Kent somewhere. I've subscribed to find my past against my better judgement, it does have some entries from the 1939 listing of British people although many are blocked on age and time of death. A few finds amongst these but nothing on the important ones and nothing in Ireland for my father's family as yet. I always thought Ancestry was better and I remain unconvinced at great cost on the FMP merits. Pat is going to try and track the death cert for my half brother who died last spring, that would give his residence address which should be the same as Jim my father who went missing after leaving the house in Margate which must have been quite run down, a developer bought to and sold on shortly afterwards for about £60K more. I've finished the Sheffield tram DVD and also finished near as damn it the film show for fund raising in September, lots of interesting local stuff with some adverts etc and general interest stuff all mainly either agriculture or local towns like Northwich. This has however sparked me off to get some of my building films on to DVD, these now include another one of the Forth Road Bridge, Employer federation, Cementation Piling, Thames Barrier, the top of the then new Shell Bdg in London and demolition of the steel works on Teesside. There must be many more around like these, I wonder if Wm Press or Faircloughs had some, I've never come across them in the archives I once went through at Llymm office. The weather outlook for Hampshire looks dry if not sunny, mainly cloudy but no rain thanks heavens. So 9am I'll be at Swindon then we'll see how I get on, must try and contact my sister again tonight and perhaps try and skype Tina and Max in New Zealand, its just been so busy. Here are clips of the trams in Sheffield yesterday As promised I've carried on my series of updates of British trams the latest being Sheffield which I covered today. the weather was OK other than on period of rain midday although I could have done with some more time in the afternoon and I didn't get to cover the full descent back into the city from the end of housing on the Halfway route. I did cover a great deal of the line stop by stop and thus got some walking practise in. Yesterday Ged Coates came round and we went through the route of the walk in some detail and at least I have an idea of the hardest and easiest sections and am looking forward to the challenge. I must say I feel very disappointed that there hasn't been more sponsorship for the effort involved but I must now put that behind me and face the challenge ahead. Thanks of course go to the tiny band of supporters. We are well on top of the DVD orders, the last batch will be sent out on Thursday ( tomorrow) anything then will have to wait until Monday on our return from Alton rally where we'll have the stand as usual. Fingers crossed that the weather is dry. On Friday morning I meet up with Stuart Curwen at Thamesdown depot then after filming the facility and anything housed there I'll get all operators done in the town and see the bus station without the old car park above. I'm hoping that we may get to Salisbury and Winchester in the afternoon and then on Saturday morning to Basingstoke, usually see some of the Bristol RE running day in operation there. Again weather is a big factor, all the new stock is in the van and if I get my finger out we'll even have the new Sheffield tram film. I've been busy editing the material for the charity film show in September, two weeks of the walk and a trip abroad in August doesn't leave that much time unless I get it sorted now, I've turned up some nice shots hopefully having variety but a theme as well. Anyone is welcome to get tickets for the event at Plumley village hall I'll be advertising it. Here are firstly the latest DVD releases all on the shop then some shots of the Sheffield trams, it's now pouring with rain again, any chance of mowing lawns out of the window once again, what a non summer this has been. Blog suspended no response received so why waste time!
Does anyone read this or just download the photos, I think I'll kick it into touch! Writing the title made me think I'd just better check so as to have the correct clothing, it should be mostly sunny but a very small chance of a shower in the evening by which time I'll be on my way home. I should get there about 9.30 and a bus to Douglas should see me filming by 10am, high light in the after noon should be the mid pm school bus rush which if I remember correctly from my last trip saw quite a lot of movement but the weather then was pretty awful but it was in the days of my day job when holidays were booked in advance, now they are spur of the moment weather dependent and thus my trip to Essex has yet to be booked, just the one night required but I'm hanging on until tomorrow evening and then a quick scan of the usual round of motels. Mandy left for Ireland at 5am, I got cracking with errands, still no toner cartridges and had to muddle through until they arrive tomorrow, exhausted all usual suppliers. Picked up prescriptions from health centre, got new washing up bowl isn't life exciting! The airport parking cost an arm and a leg but of course with the three legs on Man that leaves me back with the requisite pair which is more than I had last time when I got the most awful pain from the cyst in my left foot that went on to develop along with the one in my knee which resulted in the de-nerving of the foot and a total knee replacement. No wonder that its been some time before I could face another trip there. I hope the Suffolk/East Anglia bit does go ahead as I've always had a soft spot for Ipswich and Colchester and the container terminal at Felixstowe has many admirers amongst the trucking fraternity although I usually get buzzed by the police which I'll attempt to forestall with a call to there local non emergency line and a reassurance that I'm a harmless old git. It was walking practise this morning only a few miles but it always feels further especially with the grass and wheat so high in the fields and a good bit of rain which churns into ruts and booby traps for the hiker. I had a very pleasant chat on the phone with a gent who looks after the Ivo Peters rail archive and we exchanged experiences, both having a bit of a downer on British TV companies, the BBC in particular. There may be some swapping of films in the future as he is well into cine as well. Anyway lets get in the mood for the IOM with some shots on previous trips. ICome on folks I'm sure you could do better than total silence for the sponsorship on my long distance walk now only a couple of weeks away after the Alton Rally weekend. It's been a much better day today with mostly sunshine although dark clouds have gathered nothing has happened by way of rain as yet. We had quite a few jobs to complete, most kitchen things that don't involve the delayed shelving from Germany have now been given a home and it's looking a lot tidier. The new rug matches well. I ran out of magenta toner, tried PC World at Northwich who had none and we wanted a washing up bowl for the new sink to avoid scratching it, tried B&Q no luck, both showed them providing items on their websites, no wonder people give up going to stores in person. I've ordered some and will hopefully get the toner from the large specialist outlet in Northwich who has now taken up a whole unit for their business. I've had a session in the garden this afternoon, tomorrow it's walking practise, Mandy will have left for Ireland at 5am and I must remember to go to Holmes chapel to pick up oir prescriptions which Mandy forgot about. I'm still planning to be out in Essex plus perhaps Suffolk on Tuesday / Wednesday, I need to check the weather outlook and get a hotel booked. Not too many orders, I'll get them cleared after I've got the ink and posted Monday afternoon. Here are some truck clips from Malta on Youtube, all the Malta DVDs are now on our own shop plus EBay and Amazon. I'll update the list in this site as well. I've downloaded all the Malta photos which join 80K other shots waiting to be filed and put on the Smugmug site! |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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