First thing it was the dentist, Mandy had an extraction, hopefully although it doesn't really show she'll get a 'bridge' later which will fill the gap. On tenterhooks for the PIP interview tomorrow, I think we'll just be glad to get it over with. Did some shopping on the way back from dentists took the back road to Altrincham haven't been that way for many years. The M6 was shut for several hours last night and into the morning rush etc, typical situation for this area. We managed to have a sit in the garden in the warm sunshine later in the afternoon, taking advantage of the weather before the cold gets downs to England, it was bad enough in Scotland. Still not sure what we'll be doing on my film days Thursday and Friday or next week, several options are open. I did a lot of work on the DVD orders, the Youtube revenue is down this week, needs a boost, could it be kids going back to school. Lots of new uploads now on. I've got all the DVD covers done for last weeks releases, I'll try and get them on our shop now. Here are the covers. I'll get them loaded on the shop early tomorrow, the clock beat me tonight! A busy day of domestic jobs from washing through to collecting prescriptions at surgery but day too early, Mandy is feeling rough, made appointment to see doctor Wednesday but she is also having a tooth out at the dentists in Partington tomorrow morning. We visited Screwfix and Northwich glass to study option ref shelving and glass screens in the new 'shed' cum model display hut. We also surveyed the route to Mandy's PIP interview on Wednesday, given most people who undergo this are severely disabled in some way it is the most difficult spot to negotiate, deliberately chosen to deter people as per this whole campaign against disabled peoples by the sordid Tory elite. The garden is recovering from the drought and high temperatures albeit the climate here is still many degrees higher than the cold, damp weather in Scotland, our digs had the central heating on at the weekend. I haven't had a moment to pursue the complaints against National Express , mind you the clip on Youtube when it comes will say it all!. Some more shots from our travels this time moving on to Lathalmond on Sunday A lot of catching up to do today , had the electrician round to fix the rear security lamp, we also need a new door bell. We stopped at the Plough at Lupton near Kirkby Lonsdale on our way south and it was well up to its usual standard but so full we'll just have beans on toast today. Fed the garden birds, the flowers and lawns are now making growth spurts with water and slightly cooler conditions but nothing near as cold as Scotland this past weekend. I'm busy downloading the video and preparing to edit the Lancashire and Scottish material. Meanwhile a few shots from Falkirk with the last weekday services at the now 'old' bus station which closed yesterday. Also Fairbrothers at Warrington ceased trading just after we filmed there a week back. More tonight! The lathalmknd bus museum weekend seems to be lick continuing it's downward spiral, I think we'll have one more last try next year and then have a sale of Scottish material advertised on our monthly buses may advert to help get rid of the hundreds of Scottish dvds we have created for lathalmknd and then bridgeton. We abandoned the Glasgow event after a huge hike in stand prices and doubling of overheads .When it went to two days and sales collapsed. We are thinking hard about Boyle street museum for the Christmas vevent, it's very cold in the museum, stand prices went up again last year and the last time we attebded we had a poor pitch, if others can make the events pay great for them but we can sustain the PMP archive better by YouTube adverts and online sales which saves travel and costs. What we do with the van remains undecided, we'll probably hang on for a few more years, I'd intended to keep it until it was old enough to rally. Mandy didn't have anybody to chat to while I was out filming, being stony dead the day dragged like mad for her. I got film in Dundee lots new the national express fleet is nearly all green, it looks pretty awful in my mind. I had abuse from one derived of vehicle 1777,he stopped his bus full of passengers in the middle of the road to threaten me as he didn't want his picture taken, which until he stopped and opened his door he would never have been reconisedr. I met with a local councillor who will take up the case with the bus operator. After breezy but sunny Dundee I went down to Glenrothes where it was bright and not so windy, got a very rude sign from a mortar and Williamson driver, stagecoach all very friendly again as the were also in Kirkcaldy. Then back to the museum for a brew and cake we are back at the hideaway to eat this evening.
Everything more or less went to schedule today, wewleft home st 6am and good run north stolping for fuel and food toilet etc at asda in carlisle, brilliant stop just off the m6 north junction. Then strsight on to falkirk, weather mainly dry, got my final shots atathe bus ststikn which closes for good sunday thereafter the buses all stopsin the road where the local buses congregste. Hsd the first whinging svot about taking his photo within seconds of stsrting, wouldnt have wanted him in my shot anyway! Other thantthat the firdt group drivers were very friendly which made up for it a bit. The first midland bluebird buses looked very rough, awful in fact which was a contrast to the young fleet at Dunfermline where I rattled off another programme. That done i must recall the superb cafe at dunferDunfe museum cum library, we had superb parsnip, honey and orange cake, best cake I've ever had this year. Got set up quite early, by six pm we were back at the bus&b with Norman and pat, Norman had also had a bad year having pneumonia earlier this year. We had dinner at the hideaway near the digs but with the Draconian svottish drink drive laws I just had alcohol free beer, Mandy had wine. The weather tomorrow looked pretty grim even worse for Sunday but illI see what I can get filmed.
I didnt get up too early, we had breakfast and when the rush hour traffic had died off I headed up to Burnley, it was mainly sunny, mixed sun and clouds but more sun than cloud and quite warm. I met up with one of our driver/ customer friends - we've followed the ups and downs of Burnleys bus scene over the years and always enjoy a catch up. As friendly as ever, some of the nicest drivers of such diverse ethnic backgrounds, perhaps a shared adversity in dealing with traffic and passengers! A nice photo of myself, Christopher and our three sisters on Facebook this evening, not sure who took this shot, I've similar that my brother in law Graham took with my camera, we'll get one of them framed up and can sit alongside the previous version which is now a few years old. After filming at Burnley I headed down to Accrington where I fell for the trick of paying the day rate in the car park near the bus station which in small print says you get 3 hours free, same rip off as in Scunthorpe, a nice earner from visitors who don't know the score but news for the council it pisses people off and probably deters some from returning but then who goes to Accrington or Scunthorpe unless they have to? Next after it started to rain I went back to the car park and eventually located the car which was the first space as you entered but on foot it was about three floors adrift. So Blackburn sans Thwaites brewery although its signs still dominate the skyline, I like the Salvation Army citidal which sits at the rear of the brewery. The lighting was a real mix of sun and cloud with several light showers, I got my first glimpse of the Merc minibuses of Rotala from Preston working the Ribble Valley routes. Eventually got done, headed back down quickly and avoided the rush, a bit of a queue before Skem turn off but the blockage down our way had cleared which was handy. Putting last bits and pieces in the van ready for the early departure north to Fife and hopefully some stops on the way, I must try and catch the weather on tv, I'll check that with Accu weather forecast. If I can I'll blog while we are up north otherwise back late Sunday blog Monday. We have electrician coming to replace rear garden lamp, broken for the tenth time, then Mandy has a tooth out Tuesday and on Wednesday at Warrington the dreaded PIP interview, better getting it out of the way as quick as we can, like an interrogation with the Gestapo. We are still hoping for a trip to Ireland and to the South West plus West and South Wales. Photos from today's trip, still got the cough, three weeks now, Mandy has similar plus we've developed sore throats. A bit like buses then two come along together but on the positive side I see that they have restored the link with the blog to Facebook for those who peruse such things. Still if that was the only mess up so far with the new computer I'm not doing too badly. There isn't a thing on this Windows 7 lark that isn't done more simply and quickly using XP, really perverse everyone ganging up to see that stately old warhorse bit the dust. I've also had to fight to get sites back to their normal view without betas whatever they are, children with OCD nearest I can think, I'd be glad of better things to do, anyway restored Youtube and EBay to normal now. At least Amazon didnt change but a big minus is that the PMP DVD covers won't work properly on Windows 7 so I've carried on making them on the old computer. I'm putting the PMP photo archive and cover jpegs on an external drive so I can just plug them in to wherever I want them. This morning first thing I was off to the dentists at Partington, I lost part of a tooth yesterday so the timing was very good. We can home and had a brew then off to the Alexander in Manchester where I tied in with Tracy the ophthalmic expert and got the all clear from the private side of treatment on my double vision, just the slightest of peripheral double but that will also clear up eventually and you would never notice it in normal life. This evening I'm filming the bell ringers at St Oswalds for a special event on the 100th anniversary of the 1918 armistice. I'm also getting the DVDs and covers done for the four films I shot yesterday around Lymm and Appleton. Tomorrow is allocated to bus filming, need to study the weather forecasts to decide where. Friday heading up to Scotland still looks like rain, fingers crossed the situation changes. Pictures tonight from Appleton near the Stobart land transport HQ. It took a lot of time yesterday afternoon to get the new computer set up, I've had it quite a while but never bit the bullet to use it fully. I've a bit of tinkering to do but it's almost as I want it which means it isnt that much different to how it was before although most programmes work more easily and I get less annoying pop up boxes warning of dire events. I even managed to get eBay back to the classic view thank goodness. So all our shops are easily accessed to download orders, the blog as you can see is fine as is the rest of the weebly site. I've put my photo archive on an external drive as the memory was overloaded a bit. I need to removed a temporary file from the old machine which was there to facilitate the file transfers. Today I was out filming, weather a bit grotty, light rain, clouds generally mild though, a bit clammy if anything. I filmed around Lymm including the Appleton side of the motorway and near Stobarts land transport HQ, a new spot on the roundabout there and should be usefull in the future. Tomorrow I have the dentist which is good as part of a filling dropped out today, then lunch time the Alex hospital in Manchester to get the all clear on my eyesight on the private side. Then in the evening some film work in connection with St Oswalds commemeration of the end of WWI, we are the site of one of the national beacons to be lit. I took masses of pictures and I still have a lot to file away. I really need to address this issue and get them on to my Smugmug site as well which also doubles as cloud storage. I'm hoping to do some bus film Thursday and then also in Scotland on the way to Fife on Friday plus sneaking out from Lathalmond to cover Fife Saturday. Mark our it bod waswhere mostbof the afternoon networkjng between mynold computer abd the newer one that ive had for somevtime pending this dsy when finally virus support fir xp earlier service packs was withdrawn so ive had to makevthe jump. It is taking a long time to prepsre the files to transfer asandvthen I'll need to network them between machines. I did get both the Astle park dvds finished plus cicer for Warrington buses? Waiting weather forecast to decide on target for tomorrow's filming. Cl here to edit.
The day seems to have flown by very quickly, last night we had a series of power cuts which were eventually resolved but not for all the village, on the way to church this morning we spotted a series of generators which had been installed for properties still without power. I understand it has now all been fixed, SP Energy were on the ball and let everyone know what was happening and phoned to check that those on the at risk register were ok. Today was kind of busy in a slow way, we got the van ready for Lathalmond which took a bit of sorting as we had to unload the tent but we'll need it back ready for Heaton Park in September. Peter at Yardley Wood Club advises that there are lots of new models for me to collect at Lathalmond. Mandy had a tumble getting into St Oswalds this morning but survived intact thank goodness. I'm going to do some film work for the Nov 11 end of WW1 commemoration events, we shall actually be in Madagascar by that time so we'll get the shots done nice and early. I've edited the first of the Astle Park films, lasts 90 minutes starts with a survey of on site commercials and some military then on to Series 1 Landrovers and finally extracts from the first Steamer arena display. So a very liberal spread of commercials there. The second will sweep up the commercials in the arena and dispersing plus tractors and possibly more. There will be net only extracts from the likes of motorbikes and cars which don't really fit into our mainstream coverage. Clips for all should go on our Youtube channel soon. I'm still intending to put more clips on shortly from a wide spread of interesting countries. I'm also working in the background on the next two bus spot Ultras on Dundee and Hull. This weeks filming will take place on Tuesday and Thursday at destination weather dependent, then on Friday on our way to Fife for Lathalmond weekend and on the Saturday while Mandy holds the fort at the show. Fingers crossed the weather is kind on some of these days. The other main destinations for early coverage at S West England, South/West Wales and Ireland.May well still have a sunny break in the autumn, it would be somewhere of transport interest perhaps back to Malta. More shots today from Astle Park, the grass will have been wet this morning, we had a deluge last night. |
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