String winds have continued through the night and day but we managed to fix Mandy wheelchair wheel. We had a drive to the sea and witnessed the strong wind on the coast and followed up with afternoon tea in a favourite cafe in Lyndhurst. We still hope to cover Portsmouth and Fareham on Monday. Meanwhile it settles down to family time for the rest of the weekend. Which will be a welcome break from the busy one with DVDs over the past Corona dominated months.
The threatened highthigh winds neverenever happened and it was warm and full sunshine both in Bournemouth and Southampton. Tomorrow may well be very different with strong winds again being forcaste. We did have hassle in Bournemouth with druggies who seem to be running the town, how it survives as a holiday destination is unknown. Mandy while chair shed a bolt, bridges wheelchair shop helped fix it for free and around four police cars came to Dave's rescue when attacked by rabid druggies,, very nice police it seems that the people I had trouble with had already been pulled for another offence earlier that day, it seems to take up many police and is a constant battle, nice controllers ar go ahead and Bournemouth yellow bus had chats with both. Southampton was much more sedate, the wharf shops white empty but buses weren't that much below normal and with great weather I soon got my tally of shots. We may head towards Fareham and Portsmouth or save them until Monday. Back at home Monday night, dvd orders sent our Tuesday on our return.
The weather looks to be set against us for the filming side of what is after all mainly a family visit but no doubt I'll get a few shots done somewhere along the line. We will set off early tomorrow as intended and I'm thinking of covering Bournemouth at a minimum as I can easily tuck myself away at the pinch point on the main road where buses are single file, it worked for me last year in rain perhaps it will deliver with wind reduction. Fingers crossed for that then. I managed to get all my recent cine scans filed away both on the external drive for PMP and that for OTA, shame it can't do the two together, perhaps it can but beyond my IT knowledge. It takes a few hours as moving image MPEG4 files take up a lot of storage space. I've also been getting myself refreshed for the second part of my editing suite/showroom - now its coming towards autumn I'm getting a cutting list ready for the timber merchant, it will give me something to be concentrating on days when filming isn't possible. I've got my remainder of the year film destinations sketched out already. I've had to order up another scanning machine, I think that will be actually the fourth or maybe fifth I've had, a couple were exchanged. They are just too delicately engineered to deal with yesteryears non digital mechanics. Thankfully we had quite a lot sitting in Paypal that has covered it, the prices have soared over the past few months reflecting the shortage in supply. Tickles me how government get inflation at 1% when many things aren't even available. We are still waiting for a date for fixing our new house fascia boards. Most of the population seem to be on extended holidays or just hanging around, the kids have had month after month annoying everyone themselves included. It has been a quiet evening for DVD orders which is just as well, Amazon shop on holiday setting, EBay on out of office and our own shop well its always there ready for you. Any orders sent now will go out next Tuesday. Looking at Hampshire and Dorset then for past visits and fingers crossed! Dave Graham took a selfie with me when I was filming at Stockport recently and kindly sent the image along which I'm sharing with you tonight. I've been catching up on several fronts with more cine film scanned and some more digital downloads on the shop plus I edited made covers and listed the two latest truck DVDs see below I've compiled a to do list for bus film destinations in the British Isles, hoping that we'll be able to get to all of them some time. I managed to chat to our doctor Claire Taylor at Holmes Chapel and a couple of things including my right knee to discuss, I got through as 2nd in queue this morning a rare placing on the get through league. Mandy's cousin Trish at Sale has had her pace maker op and seems to be recovering very well shame that Sale comes under Greater Manchester and the increased lock down. We got out and did some shopping this morning at Waitrose in Northwich, very quiet there, we have had torrential showers of rain through the day followed by sunny breaks. We have cleaned inside Mandy's car in advance of our family trip to Hampshire this weekend. Amazon driver left new copy paper box in torrential rain outside the house when we have a sign saying leave stuff in the greenhouse. OK so I said I'd get the Essex releases on the shop last night but it just didn't happen. Today I filmed at the Mg Walsall junction and at Bridgtown near Cannock that visit provides screen shots via the video as I forgot to take my still camera with me. I'm still battling with a couple of the cine film scans, I've redone one and then need to edit and save and then have a go at the next. Once I'm on top of that I can start again in earnest. We shall be going to Northern Ireland early in September before then we hope to have a couple of days in South Wales. Hopefully come the autumn Scotland will be have visitors and running full bus services once again. I note that the increased Corona testing produces more positive results no surprise but as they get in the youngr cohort there are few who have severe if any symptoms at all, we should be seeing zero daily deaths from it soon then we need to start thinking of the next steps. Weather has been very mixed, quite humid, temperatures in low 20s but much cooler at night. Here are some photos from the video today in West Midland/Staffs Working hard to get up to date with some more digital downloads put on early before the net got too busy, ditto loadings on Youtube. I've got a lot of recent cine scans filed and labelled up. We had our first communion post lock down at St Oswalds this morning, quite a good attendance considering but I am worried about the continued lurch to the right of the 'party', something more like 14th C at present! Getting the DVD covers made and copied is always a chore. I've a few photos to file and nearly clear. Just looking for one truck film day Mon-Wed, I'll be down around the Midlands. Then it is our Hampshire/Dorset trip leaving here early Thursday, usual routine Amazon shop off, EBay holiday setting and PMP shop well we are always open!! I've still got clips to put on Youtube but gave up after two tries and then it just seemed to grind to a halt. I've edited the recent Essex films, just covers now to be made for the DVDs. I was going to try and get more on the shop as digital downloads but the slow speeds make that impossible, I wonder if the internet speed issue is widespread it seems to have got worse this week. I've scanned some more of the old cine films, a very mixed bag, I need to get them in something like good shape and save them and then there are several batches which need filing and putting on the database spreadsheet. I'm trying to get enough old lorry film to do another on of these classics which always seem to appeal to a wide range of enthusiasts. The driveway is now populated with all our vehicles again after getting the concrete resealed and very nice it all looks. Next door the bungalow extension is starting to crack on with the brickies getting the first section of new wall built, of course when they start to cut out into old concrete or brick there is a stream of dust which they take no heed of but another try and we'll be on the war path especially if they think they are starting at 8am on Sunday morning. It has been the quietest since March for DVD orders the last two days but I guess everyone is making the most of the weather. We popped to Waitrose after finding the Dunham Massey brewery closed, got some Portuguese custards and some ales etc. We then tried the beer and gin shop in Knutsford who now only stock cans, weird but i guess they had to throw all their stock away at some stage in the lock down. Well anyway I'll be trying to get some more archive films done and hope to get some lorry shots before we leave for Hampshire on Thursday, meanwhile here are some old lorry photos. Hot and sticky for manual work I was dripping so much I was worried about the water falling on the applied sealant. Anyway we battled through and other than the vehicles which can go back on tomorrow the job is complete except for a few splashes on the kitchen door exterior which need removing. We ended up mid afternoon exhausted and had a sit on our bench and enjoyed the bright hot sunshine which although only 24 seemed much hotter. I managed to get the DVD for Colchester completed and a clip on Youtube. That leaves Grays and Romford which I hope to have done tomorrow. I also finished a very difficult cine scan , I hadn't noticed it was wound incorrectly and made the situation worse but got there in the end, it looks like they were the gentlemans last films and perhaps just compiled together and never even watched but although quite late at 1987 they are in some ways as interesting as those of 1958 I was copying last week. Anyway other jobs were shopping at M&S near Manchester airport and then trying to reinvest a matured ISA which I did in 2 minutes last time just weeks ago and today with a misery at the other end trying to get Mandy's identical account transferred. I guess they like it just sitting in an account that they have the benefit of holding. Tonights slide show is at Romford this week. Next week I hope to find somewhere to film lorries Monday or Tuesday, then we go down to Hampshire Thursday and return Monday evening. Objectives along the way Portsmouth, Fareham,Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole perhaps even Weymouth. A few of you might be aware of coach operator protest Honk for Hope, I saw that Hams of Flimwell were on local radio this morning, I wonder if they told everyone about the driver who gave me a thousand one finger gestures and speculation as to what is is that Hams are doing. If that's what they do to an elderly smiling waving bystander perhaps they will be lucky if they do ever get coach work again The last time I had a reaction like that in Tunbridge Wells was about 20 years ago when my pal John was still a serving detective. I heard later that there were people running around delivering drugs via a small deregulation era bus company. I managed to get the drives and paths sealed as the sealant arrived this morning after being on a roam around Lancashire for the past week. It was a bit of a gamble but it is all touch dry now and so even rainfall tonight won't damage anything. If it stays dry into tomorrow morning I'll get the last patch of paths finished. The vehicles can go back on in 24 hours which means tomorrow evening. I did get one Essex film edited and a clip on Youtube. There should be more tomorrow but depends on how the chores go. I also got stuck back into the cine scanning, the material from OTS now goes from 1950s to 1980's but it has never been shown and is all back to front but now I'm aware I can try to load through the scanner to take account of this, as it was I ended up with a complete fiasco trying to get the reels into the correct orientation. Tonight a look back at grays Essex for EnsignBus, such friendly staff and really like a southern version of Midland Classic. |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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