I'm going to start looking for a cheapish hotel for the latest Essex and East Anglian trip which I'm doing in the hope of improving weather through to Friday which will culminate with the trucks near Kings Lynn picking up where I left off when the weather went downhill last year on what was promised as a cloudless sky, yes it actually rained, how wrong can they get it. I've caught up with covers for the DVDs I've made this past week. I've also got all the discs together for the replacement Scottish DVD stock ready for Lathalmond and the replacement of regular stock sold at Alton, I need to run off the disc stock and get covers out. All the orders bar one received after Mandy went to the post were off this afternoon.

This morning we had to go to the hospital at Leighton near Crewe for Mandy's pre op checks prior to their second attempt at the tear duct operation on Tuesday. I've got the follow up to the MRI scan etc when I got the double vision which is nearly 100% corrected now.  We don't seem to have stopped at all today. I had a rough night with my shoulder waking me up through the night, I've go over to Naproxen but I've also seem to have picked up a chesty cough this weekend that I could do without. Saturday we are having a reunion with the lovely people I did my ministry course with. I managed to get the latest DVDs all listed on our shop as I'd not put on the bus films. I'm trying to load more stuff to Youtube from now on getting it back on track after the hot weather and school holidays. Here are the covers for the latest DVDs which I finished today. I'll try and blog on my ipad Wed and Thursday.

We came back to Cheshire today stopping to record in Winchester on the way back up. Then after a look around shops and a brew we giot stuck on the A34/M40, grid locked in all directions, eventually I went back to the old atlas and brain method, satnavs are useless at getting people out of hold ups. I've already downloaded all the outstanding DVD orders which will be in the post tomorrow after we've been for Mandy's Leighton hospital pre op at 9.30 so an early start as it puts us in the middle of the morning rush hour. I've also got all the telephone and post orders sorted. I've heard that there are going to be dramatic increases in the cost of the DVD blanks, as wee have absorbed several post increases we need to review pricing. I'm downloading the Guildford, Basingstoke and Winchester film and should have the two resulting DVDs ready tomorrow. Covers still to do from the Oswestry lorry films. Amazon have been messing with the shop controls yet again, they never do anything to make less work or make it easier just more junk to wade through.

We had a splendid weekend with the family in Hampshire and of course at Jake and Hayley's wedding on Saturday. Photos in two section then tonight with scenes from Guildford first from Thursday and then wedding shots from Saturday. Hopefully I'll get more buses and trucks done this week with Wednesday and Friday the available days which is a bit of a downer as Thursday was the best weather bet but we have the polio fellowship meeting at Ellesmere Port and need to get hair cut and buy bird food in EP. So I'll check out the remaining days and see what we can come up with. I think I'll have three days free next week Wed/Thurs/Fri still looking towards Ireland, S West, Kent, East Anglia etc.

Tomorrow we head back to cheshite after our staying Hampshire. We checked out of the wedding venue hotel after breakfast and stopped. Off at marks and Spencers at hedge end then back to Yvonne and Graham's lovely new home. I'm not sure exactly what we,ll do tomoroto it depends on the weather. I got about a half hour in Basingstoke Friday so could possibly add Winchester to it. I'm looking towards the end of the week with an eye to king's Lynn for trucks. Thursday but again weather dependent. I'll bring you photos from this latest round of bus coverage tomorrow night when we get home and will clear dvd orders. Not it's ioolerpleasevisit he YouTube channel and hit those adverts as turnover was dire di the best wave!

I wentwout with my brither in law grakam for breakfast this morning, the girls are at the hair dressers. TheTweather is bright but aalot cokler and quite windy. Ive beeb looking at weathe for the week ahead hopefully we will be abke to film on the way hime monday plus im looking  heat thursday and friday but too esrly to be sure. Graham is ironing his wedding shirt, well be gojng to the hitel in two cars as we all seem to have a lot to take with us, I'm sure thetcooler weather will be well received by everykne there this afternoon. IIstill cant get over easyjet providing the bus services in srexham, i saw them again when iiwas truck filming on Wednesday last. I wonder if east Yorkshire will look the same under go ahead, ooosibly the better of the group's if it had to go. Hopefully in cooler conditions more of you will be visiting our YouTube channel which has languished in the heatwaveh. Planning a quiet Sunday and leaving the hotel late morning, rain forecasted here in Hythe. h here to edit.

We had a relaxed day with my sister at Hythe plus a visit to bealieu and sat by the water then on to Lyndhurst for brunch. I only saw a couple of buses plus the Hythe pier tramway which we'll be overlooking at dinner tonight. There was thunder and lightning over the estuary and heavy rain for a while at Hythe where we had tried to have a sit on the prom such as it is while Yvonne was having treatments at beatyb salon in advance of the wedding tomorrow. As transmission in shiftable won't be able to get back until .later this evening. It will be great to have the majority of the family together tomorrow as Jake and Hayley .get spliced. Let's hope the weather is dry but not too hot. We'll try and get some filming done on the way back on Monday, home later that day. There may well be a chance of more filming later in the week after various hospital and doctors visits. There are still a lot of truck locations to tick off the to do list. I bought a railway modeller may when it rained, almost another language since I last looked at one with all the modern electronics.. I'm thinking ahead on my new models forage display shed for the side of the house which will give some more space in the office, especially if I can get all non PMP stuff relocated outside. Cost is the main restricting factor as strength of build and security come at a price. Then there is the cost of all the shelving and I want mostnof the displays to have lighting and scenic backdrops. I've still got a lot of bits and pieces from my old layout in the attic. I hope to get back to regular uploads of archive material from the only collection as the hit rate on the YouTube  channel has filled a lot with the hot weather. Perhaps no post tomorrow with the wedding catch up on photos next week.

We didn't set off too earlyethismorning and it was about ten thirty when we arrived in guildford where the temperature was already touching thirty. It climbed kater in the day to around thirty six. There are still plenty of operators in guildford and a goid variety of buses even aabuses ecetera decker,. We then moved on to basingstoke which was like watching paint dry after the exotica of surrey. IIgave up after a while and we headed on down to my sister's and had lots to eat, the temp should start talking off tomorrow and perhaps more comfortable for those adverse to heat. We are back home on Monday evening. arl  here to edit.

Having bid farewell to Albert and Roser on Tuesday today I went down the dual carriageway to Oswestry and shot three hours of film at my favourite spot by the garage which is also convenient as a body fueling stop as well as for the car. The drivers of the trucks were all so friendly as ever, had a chat with a few great lads who were filling up at the petrol station which was behind me. The weather was top twenties and tomorrow looking to be well into the 30's down in Guildford where we start our southern bus coverage for this week on our way to a family wedding in Hampshire on Saturday. Thunder storms seem to be around the corner but next week it warms up yet again and after docs and hospital appointments at the back of the week weather permitting more transport filming hopefully a bit further away from home. Meanwhile we will try and blog 'on the road' back with you Monday night.

The last full day of Albert and Rosers stay with us, visiting from Barcelona. We continued the transport theme with trains ini Wales. The first thing was to post the DVD order then Albert went with Mandy to exchange money in Knutsford where they found it wasn't very simple to do. After this we set off for Welshpool and very much enjoyed the depot at the other end of the line from where Mandy set off to collect us after having filmed an arrival and had something to eat. After this we went to Llangollen, the traffic was terrible. There was some cloud but also sunshine, nowhere near as hot as it is in the south of the country. A very different atmosphere on the Llangollen standard gauge, children must have been on board there was a lot of mess and chewing gum all over the floor. Albert and Roser depart this afternoon to Derbyshire and they will visit Crich and Sandtoft museums. We called in at Wrexham bus station on our way home and discovered the new Easycoach operation there which started at the end of June. The drivers ignored our waves unlike all the others who are well used to seeing me around and most always wave back.

We greeted Albert and Roser on Saturday evening and we had a very busy day on Sunday. We first visited the city centre in Manchester for the trams and buses, even Sundays the trams are so bury. It has been 10 years since their last visit. We then had lunch at Heaton Park before making our way to the tramway, we were very fortunate that our visit tied in with their Tramtastic day with all available trams out for view including the recently restored Stockport decker making its first public appearance for two years albeit no seats so not passenger carrying at this time. There was also an historic reenactment of the suffragette blockade of the tram in Heaton Park a century ago. So we had a very interesting day and met some lovely people. Then we had a quick evening meal at Chorlton, we were trying for the Horse and Jockey but all roads were closed for some sort of festival. Then it was to the RNCM for the gala concert opening the season of London Masterclasses, held in Manchester due to the restoration of their London venue. A long day but lots of memories. Today we are off to Wales for two preserved railways, here are photos from yesterday.

We are looking forwards to welcoming Albert and Roser to No17 , it's been a few years now since we last hosted them and have paid several visits to them over recent years. We are hopinbg to look at Heaton Park tramway tomorrow and perhaps Welsh steam on Monday. It is a very hectic period for us as we have a family wedding in Hampshire next week and after that a trail of hospital visits and Mandy's second tear duct operation at Leighton. I got all the DVD s up to date with covers and clips on Youtube. The last two UK bus films are Milton Keynes and Luton. Its strage how people fixate on the random clips which are on Youtube as trailers for the full DVD usually over an hour and comment on the absence of particular vehicles which will probably found in the full DVD - they are all on the PMP shop on this site. Mandy has got the DVD orders up to Saturday afternoon ready to post Monday although they are still coming in as the adverts have just appeared on the monthly magazines. Here are the latest UK bus film

Some photos from our Milton Keynes trip