Four hours worth of cine film copied today, still suffering with my back and it's travelled to my neck due to posture I suppose - yes I'm still well bent over. I've had a look at trips for February as Mandy feels that we'll need some sunshine by then, I could do with some now it's been miserable other than a few short periods of sun today. The weather forecast for tomorrow for Gtr Manchester looks fair so I might risk my back on an outing somewhere. Talking of which the Bolton/Leigh DVD is ready and on our shop, not a lot of DVD orders today so it won't take long to get them cleared. I'm tying in with a customer in USA regarding the Pan Am films for several I might not have to bother with putting them on the EBay shop.

Most of the films but not all were from the Pan Am collection which came from Philo at Cleethorpes, possibly the world's only home cinema shop.  I did get the projector out and linked it to Mandys laptop and all seems well with it so just need to link to speakers for the film night a week tomorrow, I'm going to Plumley village hall Friday morning to check the facilities. I hope we get a few punters in to watch it and make some money for the St Oswalds toilet appeal. It's strange in the summer spending a whole day inside not that I haven't dozens of jobs to do although somewhere along the line we renewed the household insurance. I still need to finish paining the interior of the greenhouse, might get a bit done after filming tomorrow. We've already used it as an overflow for the garage as we attempt to start clearing it ready for painting and floor coating, I think there may be a little pointing as well.

So what can I bring you, there was some amazing German film from the Pan Am collection, some nice trams also one on Yugoslavia with deckers in Split and Sarajevo I think. So lets go back to out recent DVD releases and have a look at the covers then if I don't get out tomorrow I can pop something on to do with the cine film.

Whilst my back is still aching and I'm bent over with a couple of pain killers to kick start the day I can still get most jobs done although three days on my own around Belgium would have been optomistic. We loaded Mandy's car with piles of boxes and the old printer to go to the tip and then got the refill DVD stock in the van ready to slot in place at Heaton Park, everything will be there bang up to date, We got a bit more clutter sorted and I had a brainwave when I remembered that I have a projector for the computer and I needn't worry about how to operate the one at Plumley village hall so that's the pressure off that. I've topped up the water supply in the van for brews as well, Showbus isn't that far away, my sister Yvonne and Graham are coming up just after the Donington event.

The kitchen people finally rolled up with the missing shelves finally arrived from Germany and came round to measure them for cutting to size-yes still not finished. I decided that I needed to do a bit of filminmg to get my back used to it, can't let these things take control so I went up to Bolton, very friendly drivers and some interesting bits and pieces including Vision of Horwich formally UK Coachways, I think it's an ex Diamond route. All second hand deckers I saw three together in Bolton. Then I decided to go to Leigh which is a nightmare of a journey, I just needed 15 minutes to make up an hour of film with the Bolton footage. The place is so hard to get in to with thousands of traffic lights which are red for 10 minutes at a time. The bus station, well I've had problems there but none this time although it's not the easiest to get decent shots at but with Jim Stone and the bus way and new Stagecoach buses plus Warrington , Arriva et al it's quite a good spot for variety. By the time i got back it was nearly the back end of the afternoon, mowed lawns, fed plants in borders, fed birds, downloaded today's film and now I'm coming up ready for a rest, dripping it's so humid this afternoon. Phortos from Bolton/Leigh

At more or less the last minute we decided that my health was more important than getting to Belgium, I hurt it carrying concrete and pebble bags for the greenhouse a few days back and although its not in the spine the muscles are very sore and I have difficulty standing straight. The big problem would be walking with my camera bag. As the flights weren't too expensive I've just let it go. Despite all this I cleaned off the plant pots and trays from the greenhouse and got them all back tidily before Mandy demanded I stop because I couldn't stand up. This just leaves the final bits of interior painting to do which of course i can do whatever the weather.

We were at Buxton Opera House this bank holiday Monday afternoon but first stopped off at the bank and got mushrooms to make a risotto with left over chicken from yesterday. It was Merrie England a little produced operetta these day but a dismal caste of way over the hill pros some of whom must have been alive when it was written. The weather was brilliant and we had a drink sitting outside opposite the theatre at the pub which has a good range of real ales, most Greene King, I had  ** London, can't remember exactly bit of a play on Fullers London Pride. I got the Dutch DVDs loading on our shop and the clips are on Youtube. All the weekend DVD orders are ready to put covers on and post. Over the next week back and weather permitting I'll make some close to home excursions to Greater Manchester area bus stations as a year has already gone by from the visits I put in before my knee replacement. Anyway we seem to have a pile of things to get on with so playing it all by ear for a few days now. Next weekend is Heaton park, at least i've a little more time now to get prepared. A week Thursday is my film night at Plumley, getting worried about how many tickets or how few have been sold so far.  Anyway still with the Netherlands and o to Amsterdam.

It's a public holiday weekend here in the UK but probably not in Scotland where they have extra holidays at New Year etc. Of course it doesn't make that much difference when you are retired but it does disrupt travel plans with the excess traffic out on the roads especially Monday which makes the August bank holiday such a wretched experience for many people. I just keep my head down these days and avoid going out and concentrate on getting jobs done.  I've now got up to the Arnhem DVD cover which only leaves me Amsterdam to do, all the DVD masters from the Dutch trip are made and I will be loading clips on Youtube this evening.

I've been out all afternoon carrying on with my renovation of our greenhouse. The interior has now been partially painted and the windows cleaned. I was hoping to get all the plant pots back in cleaned but that's going to be tomorrow. My back has been playing up after carrying the concrete and stone chipping but at least the green house door now slides across with no problem even if the whole structure is a bit on the wonky side with subsidence taking it's toll, its the spot where i used to have a bonfire back in the day. I can't type too much as it sets my back off too much but here are some more photos this time with Rotterdam trams which are just the new ones and a couple of museum cars with all over adverts breaking the monotony.

​ The tram station outside the railway station has been altered yet again, it was being rebuilt on my last visit and the one before that etc - money to burn. I met a nice chap there who drives the museum trams, I think they had a running day at one of the museums this weekend. I've downloaded maps for all the Belgium destinations. The Rotterdam drivers are always the most friendly of the transport folk in Holland, they always have been. I had a spell working there once, out in the suburbs, some nice restaurants.

I've had a busy time since Mandy and Sue picked me up at Manchester airport after my two day whiz around the Netherlands. Today I've been clearing out the inside of the greenhouse whose exterior I restored last week. The door wouldn't close this turned out to be a huge job and i ended up at B&Q getting concrete and stone chippings to top up the drainage areas. Now the door works but although the inside is largely cleaned out it also needs painting, all the flower pots and trays , matting need cleaning and storing.  It didn't seem such a big undertaking when I started, it makes me nervous of getting on with the garage renovation and clean up, clean out etc. We still have three rooms to decorate this year, lounge, dining room/ library and office. Over winter I hope to get my new hobby room installed alongside the house although perhaps not the length I'd hoped for. I'd like to get most of the gardening items in the green house which other wise stands empty now I don't grow my own plants so much.

I've downloaded all the Dutch tram material ready to edit, the DVD for Den Haag ins nearly ready but I think I need to do the cover for Birmingham trams I filmed last week. The weather here is a typical bank holiday , best to keep off the roads which typically have seen one of the main routes to the continent shut by a damaged bridge hit be two lorries. I'm looking in detail at the potential Japanese tram tour next year, I had a chat with a Japanese chap I took a picture for, he was on business in Amsterdam. He recommended not going at the height of their summer due to high humidity. I'm still looking at something after Christmas to suit Mandy as well as me.  I'm looking out for cheap air fares through the autumn so I can keep up with my foreign travel especially places I haven't filmed is for quite a while. in the Netherlands the trams and trolleys are now pretty boring with modern types and little variety.

The Belgium trip next week should take in all the tram locations, there being no trolleys left. I'm on with the Dutch film editing and working my way through the newpapers plus resting a bit after the heavy work in the greenhouse lugging sacks od concrete and stones about. Lets have a look back then starting with Den Haag. I carried on from Rotterdam to Arnhem and had a good night at the Irish pub with a local who sat and had a few beers with me, it was hot and I could watch the trolleys going by
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It is a bit late now and my pudding awaits, story and photos from Netherlands to follow tomorrow. Next week I am going to Belgium.

The sort of weather I normally only dream about but hanging on to the last minute to book trips may make flights more elusive but it does bring great rewards and as I get up at 4.30 tomorrow morning I'll be down to Manchester for the Amsterdam flight. I'll get a rail ticket to Amsterdam, Den Haag and Rotterdam then at the end of the day over to Arnhem where I spend Friday which will be hotter than the coastal cities. I won't bother with the ipad as I never can seem to blog with Weebly and I know my way around most places with ease. I've covered the tram systems quite regularly but haven't been to Arnhem for a few years and of course the trolley fleet has much renewed. The trams in Amsterdam, Den Haag and Rotterdam I can find my way around as per my normal little circuits which give a good sample. Rotterdam now has it's third tram station in a decade.

I've spent a hard day grafting with the greenhouse which is now resplendent in green, what else! On Saturday I'll probably get it cleaned out inside and get rid of rubbish. I also got the van loaded up for Heaton Park yesterday and my camera bag is already packed for the Dutch trip tomorrow. I'll give you some shots from Holland to whet your appetites. It's a bank holiday weekend in the UK so best keep away from the roads, it can be the busiest day of the year. Next blog either Friday night late or Saturday!

Actually there is no except for Birmingham, I went down after the morning rush on this very hot sunny day and parked up at Wednesdbury Parkway only it was full and actually hard to locate but managed to park free nearby as did many other people. There are no ticket machines as the area is that bad they are immediately vandalised but there are conductors with proper leather satchels selling tickets on board, we seem to have come full circle on tickets then. They only accept travel passes for their own area unlike Sheffield and Nottingham. There was zero hassle filming around and on board and everyone was super friendly and lots of locals say hello as you pass them.  There is still only the stretch near Wolverhampton which is true road running the rest until Birmingham is old railway lines, the tram does about 40mph, tidy and comfortable and quite smooth driving.  In the city the last stop is where Ian Allan old bookshop was, a bit of a dark hole for the end but often these locations are even worse and found underground. The other traffic is supposed to be excluded but plenty of other vehicles seen on the lines around the terminus, usual suspects taxis and security vans, pedestrians wandering aimlessly amongst the trams oblivious to them. 

I had hassle on the way down the M6 with a bully lorry driver, I was only in my little Toyota IQ which is a very short car although normal width and goes a fair speed when asked. He actually hit me as I went past, I didn't really want to pass it as it was wandering about the lanes, I got him to pull over to look at the damage but when he stopped he leapt down on the hard shoulder and knocked me flying nearly into the motorway, then a van stopped and joined him in the attack. Obviously I reported it but being really scared and upset I didn't get any details like reg or company, there was nothing obvious on the lorry or van yes just white but truck had a fork lift on the back.  It seems he didn't think i had a right to be in front of him, weird but that's life in Britain, weird and he was white British lest anyone think he was a foreigner. Really puts you off your stride and ruins much of a day out.  I must learn to be a better observer of things but its hard in the midst of it.

The ink for the new printer arrived from Amazon, wouldn't work in the printer at all, thats nearly £40 to chase back from Amazon, quick enough to take it but slow to refund when it goes wrong, I've eventually found an Epson supplier who will send the genuine thing, most of the Amazon ink not original despuite coming up in Epson searches. Tonights photos needless to say are from the nice visit to sunny Birmingham

There was not wi fi connection at the B&B unlike previous years and an attempt at the pub on Friday night met with failure so here I am with lots to catch up on and little time to do it. We went up to Scotland on Friday early setting off to try and avoid the bad weather which we knew would hit about mid afternoon. We had a good enough journey up, we now refuel at ASDA at North Carlisle turn off near Stobarts it usually has the cheapest fuel anywhere in nthe UK. We then carried on up to Fife stopping for a drink just before the Forth road crossing, it was fascinating to see how far work had progresses on the new bridge. We covered Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes and then back to Dunfermline, my luck ran out about 3pm when it started to rain quite heavily. Dunfermline had lots of new buses and I got a good selection before I had to retreat from the weather. We them headed up to Lathalmond museum and got the PMP stand set up. The nice clean and polished van didn't look quite so striking by this time, I'd also touched up all the blemishes on the wheel hubs, getting ready to keep it for the long haul as hopefully the fuel injector problems are well sorted.

We then headed on to our digs with Pat and Norman at Loch Fitty near Kelty and then got a taxi down to The Ship at Lime Kilns near Dunfermline for our evening meal. The waitress gave me the wrong wif fi code only we had already given up when the manager told me the correct one and it wouldn't then accept anything else so we didn't even get to try a blog or check the weather which we knew was going to be very wet in central Scotland so i decided that on Saturday after dropping Mandy off at Lathalmonmd museum I'd carry on up to Inverness. It is a long slow trip north but the weather did come through for me and after a slow start I battled on to get the required hour of film before i needed to set off returning by 2.30 in order to get back before the hangar was locked up with Mandy left sitting on the doorstep. It took some doing but there is usually something interesting happening at the Inverness bus station and this time it was a festival of some sort with a local independent bus operator doing a shuttle service, a couple of fire engines also showed up and Stagecoach has a half hearted display of 'green' credentials around their local electric bus services.

I did manage to get back in time and recued Mandy, we had dinner at a pub in the country we'd neeb eyeing up for some time, the food was ok but it was very crowded. We went back to Pat & Normans and after fuelling up a bit at outrageous price we watched a bit of the Olympics before the news,. Sunday was a much better weather day and I spent it at the museum. Numbers of visitors and visiting buses plus Lothian collection on view were all well down but there was a great selection of interedting buses on the free services around the museum site and this made up for it. Lorries were down to just 2 which is another facet of Sunday at Lathamond which has just about vanished now. All very friendly but not so many people that knew us and 'old' faces getting thinner on the ground but with the PMP vest on I made contact with several of our customers or net viewers which was pleasant. We also caught up with some of our friends and regulars although I'd missed some being up north on Saturday. On the way back we stopped at the Plough pub near Kirkby Lonsdale, superb food and service again top class establishment I must do a review.

The new printer arrived this morning, a bit ofiddly to set up on wifi but i got there in the end and caught up with DVD covers which needed printing. A huge number of DVD orders received while we were away, all cleared plus I've got the replacement stock ready save for covers. The new prints look very sharp and it is much quicker printing. I've nearly finished creating the DVDs from the weekend and have about 5 covers to create before I can list Norfolk and Scotland. I'm in the Netherlands Thursday and Friday this week covering Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag and Arhem. I must dig out the models I picked up at Lathalmond, there is a stack awaiting building of the new shed, I also got the book from MDS courtesy Mark Senior on Japanese trams which will help planning next years scheduled trip although not 100% yet. The new kitchen blind has just been fitted, I've also stacked up all the 16mm cine film waiting to be copied and made some space getting rid of all the packaging, only went to the tip last week there is another pile of boxes to go already. A few jobs still to be done but a lot achieved today. Photos from Fife last Friday. Lathalmond was our best rally regards sales in last couple of years most of this years events have been up a bit although as we go to fewer this makes sense.

Hmmm, the best laid plans etc to quote that famous Albanian. Well I had a whole list of jobs to complete today and did indeed get some done but the printer blocked nozzles just wouldn't shift and I was still trying mid afternoon when Mandy got back from having whatever that ladys have done, well done.  It was another warm sunny day and as my list included an afternoon in the garden that was well out of the window. I went to the Hidden Nursery looking for some bright flowers for the front trough, they had nowt but B&Q did when I went to get the exterior wood paint to brighten up the greenhouse ( another job now on the to do list but I did get the pain and put in the plants. Northwich is still a mess with the most enormous roundabout being created. 

​I managed to get all the covers done up to the Avonmouth truck film and they are all on the PMP shop. I may try and get Norwich and Kings Lynn done as well but with no printer taey won't be going out anywhere until Monday. I did pop into Halfords which make b&Q a paragon of service, what a miserable dump and load of numpties they employ, still can't all be super brilliant and cheerfull like me. I washed the shampooed the vehicles with some super technical new foaming spray stuff, the drive ended up like a skating rink. I'm about to load the Youtube clips for the latest releases, one big hit hopefully while I'm having dinner. I know that the UK have done well at the olympic lark and all power to their elbows etc but when well it ever end, I swear it's been on since March and all the regular stuff has been pushed aside, with countless weird and wonderful sports channels available why have it on BB1 and 2.

Early tomorrow we don our thermals and wellies and head up to enemy territory with the weather closing in on us which I hope happens here as we need the garden watered a bit. The forecast makes it hard to call but at present I's say we are filming Fife tomorrow , cloudy but dry then Saturday while Mandy minds the stand I'm thinking of Kilmarnock and port Glasgow but that might change as its sunshine and showers on the menu. Then on Sunday I'll cover the museum at Lathalmond. We'll have the complete stock of Scottish region DVDs with us on Saturday and Sunday we'll stick it out until boredom sets in unless a few non regulars make the trek. The PMP van is nice and shiny, hopefully the muck will come off all the easier. Hard to blog on the road with this hopeless Weebly outfit but I'll have a go, at our lovely digs  at Loch Fitty once more, they don't do B&B these days other for old friends, and we are both old and friends with Pat and Norman. Photos to get us up to date from Norfolk yesterday