AS you can see the structure for the display units is substantially complete other than some filling and sanding then the pain undercoat finally I can for the glazing retainers and order up the perspex. Tomorrow we are covering York and Scarborough for buses. A tiring day on the units though, back aching a bit. Weather cool but bright and dry hoping similar tomorrow.

A very hard work type of day with some photos filed before church then back for lunch and then on with the display case, progress as of 5.30 today. It is now as solid as a climbing frame but fingers crossed tomorrow I can find some 60mm cross head screws there are none in our area.

A full day on the display cases tomorrow and perhaps a trip out if I can locate correct screw. We have still heard nothing about the fascia board renewal. I've been saying that scraggy head should be kicking some of the Tory right to get industry moving again, too many people have been luxuriating on paid leave and it is about time everyone was back at their place of work not just children.

Church today was another venture in the world of Serbo Croat, we really can't go on like this it will be more catholic than Roman soon, we need to discuss the way forward, they seem to have recruited someone better suited to being a 14th C monk.

I managed to battle through the grumpy non functional Amazon shop updates and finished off this morning when their site was working a bit better and got the photo of the cover one and that is the last stage, there were quite a lot to add. By the way Amazon have put up their fees yet again, talk about taking advantage of the Corona situation.

Not one order received on the net although there are quite a few ready for posting out Tuesday. I managed to re-scan the films which were jumpy with the new scanner. No word back yet from China 9on what they want me to do, at present £318 out of pocket. Typical Chinese product under powered, poorly engineered. Mind you Britain has turned out some of the worst rubbish in history so we can't talk. Hey ho can't even find a 60mm screw, what are we like.

I was do8ing quite well with work on the new showcase which is the second part of the display room converted from our garage. I always intended to start this second part in the autumn and it seems the season is with us before August is out. I have put a picture up of progress so far, fingers crossed I can get more done Sunday afternoon and Monday. By then I will probably be putting it to bed until we have completed our trips to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. I have identified possible day in September although the weather outlook is very sketchy at this early stage. We also have to find a suitable hotel and one which is accessible for Mandy and does food. We are thinking of a full  week i Northern Ireland including trucks and three days in Scotland covering trucks plus buses in Edinburgh and Glasgow plus Aberdeen. It will be just two days in South Wales. If circumstances change a lot we will try and get to ROI in the later autumn. I'll try and update the Amazon shop tonight and get the covers done for the recent DVDs at Liverpool docks. I'm still chasing up the vendor in China re the faulty cine scanner received last week, I paid via Paypal so should be covered if it gets chewy!

Our slide show this evening brings you the final selection from the Liverpool trip. We have a few jobs on this coming week after Bank Holiday Monday and the weather looks poor but if we get a chance we will get some filming done, plenty of locations on the list. Now I'm back to one working cine scanner I'm redoing slowly the films I processed with the new but faulty machine, I just assumed as it was new it might work properly, some chance!

Stage2 of the display room is now really under way, I went to the builders merchants in Northwich and managed to get the main pieces cut to size which will save some work along the line. I'm scanning the last of the batch of films from OTA and have completed John Bishops material. When this is done the scanners can be packed away in their boxes and remarkably little needs moving into the main office and we have plenty of shelf space at the moment. The DVD orders came in thick and fast yesterday but they are now all in the post. It is heaving down with rain yet again , no surprise there then. I hope we get dry spells over the next few days so I can quickly make progress with the display cabinet, there will be enough off cuts for some mezzanine levels with the shelves.

I am still hoping to update the EBay and Amazon shops this week and also if time permits make a start on one of our new features in a new series called Down Your Way, this will feature old film of many types of transport from a particular area from tram, trolleys and buses to train , canals and small boats picking up traction engines and more. This will all be new film to the range. The first ones will include Scotland, Kent and Lancashire.

Meanwhile todays slide show is more from Liverpool docks, reminds me I need to make the covers and add them to the shop

I went to Liverpool docks and got two hours of film, the sky was light cloud as promised in forcast and a little rain earlier than expected but the cheap Chinese umbrella save the day yet again. Some very smart lorries and of course todays slide show features many of them. The ground conditions there were quite poor and the smell doesn't improve but as they say where there is muck there is money and in Cargills case a million rats as well.

I've put the new table up in the office which will be my temporary work surface and modelling work top. I intend to pick up the materials tomorrow and when the weather is ok to work inside and out I'll start o the new showcases. I've nearly finished the present batch of cine film scanning and will arrange another swap asap down in Shropshire perhaps getting a trip to tie in. I'll move all the scanners and equipment out while I'm working and put dust sheets down. I don't think the job will be anything like as hard as it was with the numerous small shelf units. For one thing I will only use new materials.

I got my first batch of 4mm shop kits for my town diorama, just to encourage me and remind myself what I'm supposed to be creating. I need to reserve space for the scenes and I really need to decide what I'm going to have so I've a target. There are lots of bits upstairs in the attic that I saved when dismantling the model railway when PMP really took off and we needed the office space. Thankfully we've a few empty shelf sections so storing the stuff from the display room for a couple of weeks won't cause any disruption or mess.

Slide show from Seaforth docks today, I'm getting the DVDs edited straight away.

Got my biannual eye test all well and an extra scan of the back of the eye which it seems gains Specsavers a tenner as normally old gits don't have to cough up. Mandys car is services, we had lunch at M&S, got some top up bird feed and hair cut. A productive day which combined the several elements which we get sorted at Ellesmere Port where my office was in day job times. Weather continued abysmal then cleared in the afternoon and I managed to get lawns mowed and borders straightened after getting back from EP. The storm has caused a bit of damage but it all needs an autumn clear out in the garden anyway. Loads of orders sent out from yesterdays manic post and net sales, other than snail mail and phone the net is quiet today. Tomorrow look feasible for filming, no idea where or what yet. Tonights slide show is from Southampton last Thursday and I really will try and get the latest DVD releases on the PMP shop and perhaps over the weekend get the Amazon and EBay updated.

We have quite a bundle of DVD orders, they will go out when we get back from the Port tomorrow, I guess the avalanche of phone calls is due to Buses mag coming out this week. I also got the copy done for the magazine adverts for October editions.

The replacement cine scanner arrived yesterday from China via Dex Express only they left it out in the weather , it came while we were in Hampshire, thankfully sender put it in water proof packing. The delivery rascals are getting worse by the day.

The slide show for tonight is from Bournemouth last Thursday

We are back home and just printing off the DVD orders, Amazon for those who insist is now switched back on. We stopped off at the new bus station at Newbury which is on the same site as the previous but one which was one of the first film location I ever recorded after the depot fire and replacements came from far and wide. The tally from the long weekend wasn't that great but we were lucky to get Bournemouth and Reading in Sunshine on the Thursday. I'm sorting through all our luggage and getting the essentials stashed away. We need a few moments to get ourselves refocused but all DVD orders will be in the post tomorrow morning. The promised light cloud in Reading turned out to be unwanted sunshine but I managed to get the required duration. So just three films from the trip. I'll resume scanning the old cine tomorrow as the weather is looking dire. Wednesday I've got domestic chores and that leaves Thursday/Friday to look at. I am not minded to travel to Truckfest at Peterborough as holding the event seems reckless and foolhardy given the number of people attending. We are going to start editing the films from Hampshire and Dorset tomorrow. Slide show is from today though at Newbury and Reading.

Our restfulCrestful family weekend continueshcontinues and thismorningtothis morning we managed ourdour latest rising this year at 9.30am. we were going to the French market at Hythe but it was cancelled but we had glorious views of the pier tramway and had morning brew at the harbour village which produced surly waitress of the year. In he afternoon we visited Gilbert's dahlia farm near broad lands. We are eating at seashells which looks immediately down on the pier tramway which featured in the 1950s film I scanned recently. The weather outlook for Monday at Portsmouth has taken a tumble so it is beginning to look like Bournemouth and Southampton wil be it for the film front but we have a reasonable crop of orders to tackle on our return . The weather today remained windy but much brighter. We have our long list of objectives this year, I think foreign travel is off the agenda which will be a first in over forty years. The new scanner should be with us in the next couple of weeks, yet another overhead we thought would not re-emerge but to get he job done it remains great value compared with the 100k pro job. Not sure what we are getting up to tomorrow but another late start  seems a good prospect.