Hi everyone it was an early start this morning up at four thirty am and I the arrow cars taxi was late as usual, gone really downhill since it started. The airport was very busy but we got through fine, good job Mandy I had her own wheelchair as assistance was forty minutes for those wiyhour. We got delayed due to fog Cli for an hour and then landed at a different terminal in Barcelona which confused Albert when collecting us at the airport. We met up with Gemma at the market care for lunch then when out to the small museum for a local operator we had last encountered on the bus rally a few years back. Now they have a really nice little museum but it only shows the oldest of their machines and they have dozens more in their depots. We got some modern shots to go with it and then back to the city, just waiting to out for dinner with Albert and roser. It's so good to see them we haven't caught up for years and somuch has happened in-between. Tomorrow we go to Zaragoza to see their trams, it should be partly sunny and reasonably warm, certainly a better temp than six in Cheshire this morning. Just waiting to go out for dinner, it's all been a bit of a rush as I didn't get back from the Chester university course until ten thirty PM and managed to leave Mandy's cake carrier bending but it's safely stored I believe. We picked up the news that Yvonne and Graham have got into their new home safely and look forwards to seeing it soon.dit.
Greeting friends, relations, customers worldwide and we are very really serving a worldwide audience. Everyday we are watched by many thousands 50-60K per day in hundreds of countries and each week our DVDs go out to locations mainly in the UK and Europe but often further afield. You can also download some full DVDs or subscribe to our subscription channel which has new material added weekly. We are off to see our friend Albert in Barcelona next week, we leave Tuesday and are back Saturday should you be wanting to contact us, the shop will be behind in this period please make allowances. We have a trip to Ireland for the Dublin Rally at the end of October and a short visit to France but nothing then until spring so we can concentrate on updating all our UK coverage. It was my induction day for the course leading to becoming a licensed CofE reader, quite a full first day, pleasant to find myself in a small group with another church warden taking on the extra role.I'm burning the DVD master for the 1998 Classic Automotion rally at the road research centre in Bracknell , Berkshire which I think was held for three years, an interesting concept especially after the first event when they opened up the small road system in the centre which gave some very interesting mixes of vehicles, there was everything from Buses to cycles. The centre wooded section also was home to deer and adders. I did actually manage to get a deer in shot on the third event. I'll be loading this on Youtube soon. Tonight we are at the Friends evening at Clonter opera, leaving soon with picnic dinner. Tomorrow it's Showbus at Donington near East Midlands airport, we of course look forward to seeing many of you there, somewhat of a dying breed of event but still attracts a good mix of buses and is a lot more central than Duxford down south near France!. I have got more photos filed away but not all on to the Smugmug site although there are many thousands of views which can be ordered as prints from just 50p each. Here are our latest DVD covers, all on the PMP Shop page Here we are at last, I bet you thought I'd forgotten to blog altogether but it's just been so busy and its nearly midnight and I haven't stopped. This morning was wrapped up getting my left foot bog toe sorted out, I'm off to see the podiatrist on Monday but he wanted me to get a course of antibiotics from the doctor started before then. I was in agony yesterday when we had the Polio Fellowship meeting at Ellesmere Port. I n the end I ignored their advice on cutting and profiling the new nail growth, it was one of those I lost after last years epic charity walk and of course its all come on again with this years venture. I got rid of the nail which was causing pressure and an irritant and it is a lot better but the doctors at Holmes Chapel in Cheshire where we go is so under pressure that it is near melt down every day. It took me the whole morning from 7.30 to 11.45 to get some antibiotic cream to put on. Had lunch at home then headed over to the county showground, only 10 mins or less away for the lorries arriving at Truckfest North West. It was a slow sad little dribble in the afternoon but picked up in the evening as the light started to fade. It's the induction day for my course tomorrow at Church House at Daresbury near Warrington, it doesn't finish until 3pm and that wouldn't be worth doing as I've also got a lot of editing lined up here from our archives which I've already listed. On Sunday it's Showbus at Donington Park near East Midlands Airport. Tuesday we fly out to Barcelona and come back late Saturday. Anyway after my appeal for more hits on our Youtube channel we had a fall in actual hits but the advertising revenue turned in yet another all time high which bodes well for both this years targets and those I'm setting for 2018 which includes for a dramatic increase in our new subscription channel and videos for purchased downloads. All very innovative but it really has been quiet in the post, it was very quiet at the Golden Pheasant this evening, we have Clonter opera Friends evening tomorrow with picnic supper purchased yesterday at Cheshire Oaks M&S. Sunday a quick quiche after getting back from Showbus then Tuesday it's Catalonia all the way. Herewith shots this afternoon at Truckfest North West. The weather looks set to be spot on for bus filming this week and I've a schedule roughly drawn up which could change but her goes, Tuesday Walsall, West Brom, Wolverhampton - Wed York and Harrogate, then on Thursday perhaps Leamington Spa and Nuneaton. Hopefully all those days of dry light cloud not too much wind days will occur and carry on through the winter months. It was an early start as I attended the 8am service at St Oswalds and then got the place in readiness for the Remembrance day services at 10.50. I had the honour of placing the wreath at the memorial, certainly a milestone in my life and bringing together several threads as I remembered those from all sides who have fallen including the Argentinians, the republican groups in Ireland etc as so often my feet have straddled both sides of a line. This afternoon I spent a few hours working my way through my course essay which needs submitting by early next week. My little car is in for service tomorrow so when I get back I'll continue with my work on the course and Monday evening its the usual course session at Chester but this time with visiting clergy volunteers sitting with us as groups reflecting on some possibly contentious issues. I've put a few more clips on our Youtube channel which after a week or two in the doldrums once again gushed forward and climbed to a new one day high so my plans are back on track but what shall we look at today,. OK if I'm off to the West Midlands on Tuesday what did that have to offer on years past. Will blog tomorrow, day busy with Polio Fellowship meeting and Standing Committee meeting for St Oswalds plus toe infection, doctors first thing then may try and catch trucks headfing to Truckfest NorthWest
Complacency is the vain of our life and after boasting how wonderful Youtube is doing comes at 10K loss in views over the past two days, perhaps the weather is the cause or something good on TV, who knows. We do know that the UK viewers account for less than a quarter of the viewers on our Youtube channel and that we are watched in hundreds of countries and territories each month. Anyway please keep viewing, I'm adding more truck film clips tonight taken at Bridgtown near Cannock. I've got DVD covers done for several of the new releases and on with more. Mid afternoon I needed to make myself scarce as it was time for the cleaners to come, I went around to the plantation garden centre near home and got grass seed, slug pellets and a climbing Hydrangea. I was kitted up with overalls and boots and went round to St Oswalds to start getting the area around the new toilet block reinstated with grass. I'd only been there a few minutes when Tom the vicar's husband turned up with more of the same so we worked together. I've a few more DVD to get done and numerous more places to film once the terrible weather subsides, it's been really heavy rain showers all day long, a year ago Britain was getting record high temperatures in the south, this year its more like a record low. The central heating is now back on for evenings. I got the DVD of the pilgrimage walk completed and copied and our friend and fellow walker Roger from Plumley popped round to pick up a copy and hand some images over to be copied which have a few more of myself. Having an interest in a wide range of subjects Roger was delighted to get his first viewing of the bus collection and the PMP operations centre. Here are some of the new DVD covers Although the weather is very mixed I'm loathe not to get any new filming done and have been waiting for a chance to cover the distribution centre traffic around Cannock after discovering the volume while traveling to Birmingham airport on our way to Cyprus. Getting anything filmed is turning into a nightmare with the foul weather we've had through August and September so far albeit not on the same level as that in the Caribbean. Anyway Cannock isn't too far away if it didn't work out, it certainly started out with blue sky and smaller amounts of cloud but it did bubble up eventually with sunny periods. Notwithstanding that after I'd had a scout around I settled on the roundabout at Bridgton near Cannock which has a heavy volume of trucks on several roads. You can't get everything from one position and as the sun moves round I'm sure new possibilities emerge. I think less was more as they say and picking one road with the sun nicely placed was better than lots of snatched poorer shots even if they were in greater quantity. I was using on of my old Cannon cameras for the still shots, the replacement for the G16 was at home when I got back but not a lot of shots as the oldie doesn't really process them quick enough at high speeds, the latest small efforts which I returned for yet another G16 are even faster but with touch screens a nightmare to use with old fingers but the G12 was a reminder of how much they have progressed. Even at the rate I consume cameras I'd never had to throw one away after just four weeks. Shows how much rain we had on the walk this year, I'm just about to edit the shots for public consumption and fund raising. I've got clips on Youtube for Heart of the Pennines and Chatham rallies from 1998, then I've done Cobham at Brooklands in 1998 and still to load the copy for the subscription channel and for downloading on our regular channel although trailers are on there already. The next retro Rally Round 1998 feature will be Barry Island near Cardiff 1998. Following that North Weald, Crowthorne, and Warminster running day. Somewhere in between I'll edit the two new truck films taken today at Cannock. Here are some shots I took with the old camera, lucky the battery had juice as I'd have to had searched for the charger. I've still got the transport cine film to list on Ebay, never stops. Still no quote on the Lych gate roof repair, I knew it would be difficult roofers are in high demand, always. Fans of older traditional buses will be delighted to hear that we have picked up where we left off in our Rally Round series which reached 1997, so we take a look back at 1998 which will include bus rallies starting with Heart of the Pennines plus the Chatham Rally. The next releases will contain scenes from Cobham, Barry Island, North Weald, Crowthorne and Warminster running day. The first DVD will be ready this evening with clips on Youtube. Talking of which our revenue from August has been confirmed and is a dramatic increase on previous figures, this month we are set to sail past that to new heights which will help secure the future of forthcoming film trips which next year will include a return to Ukraine which produced such wonderful footage this summer. Please keep watching the adverts and abandon ad blocker apps which were ruining the industry and threatening the future of Youtube and similar channels. If we could crack the Chinese market we would be really going places, I wonder if the authorities there will ever take that giant leap to free expression although there remain idiots who think abusive comments will get published. Of course they are flagged up for review and those responsible marked as creating abuse or as appropriate spam, do neither it's not worth it, these actions could be unlawful. The awful time we had a few years back with the nutters in South Yorkshire was resolved by Youtube/Google at that time it was a civil offence, done now it would have brought an immediate criminal prosecution. I say all this as it's amazingly young people reared in the world of gaming who think such remarks are OK and don't realise what they could be lining themselves up for. I don't follow much of the internet rubbish which floats around, regulars will know that my blog comments and films uploaded are copied to Facebook and Twitter by pressing a button, seldom do I see anything on the sites and I'm not even subscribed to their latest messaging service as I have an email for that purpose not an open forum for all to see. The weather continues to be chronic and I'm not at all sure what we shall get done by way of filming this week. I've edited the A50 truck film and loaded trailers. I've put as many free clips on as ever but some people seem to think that even full length programmes should be free, would they work all week for nothing. I've also sorted out all the photos from the 6 days of walking I've done over the past month, it all finished last night at Eyam in Derbyshire. Meanwhile I've uploaded still photos of the trucks in Norfolk to our Smugmug site where you can purchase them from just 50p each. Lets have a look at some of the A50 lorry shots from last week It was a weekend I could have well done without nearly three days of cold, mud and rain and along the way I scratched my glasses lens and the water wrecked the still camera which was about four weeks old, you may remember it arrived the day before my Ukraine trip. Ready for a shower and bed and hoping for a long sleep and warmth. While we were away our Youtube site hit another one day all time high and the cumulative average is riding a high. Encouraging as i had to spend nearly £500 today ordering up a replacement still camera ready for the next film trips although if the weather carries on like this they will be far and few between, what a rotten end to a dismal summer one of the worst we've ever experienced in Cheshire although I'm thankful for the trips I did to the south which gave me a sun boast and plenty of warmth which yet again exposed the gap in climate between the north and south. Thankfully I've got photos from two of the days walking, the guide to the Peak Pilgrimage proved to be something of a mixed blessing as between directions the author plummeted into rambling Fred rumpole status and you tended to get confused, not something you want with a dozen people following your every step. A few DVD orders awaiting which we'll sort out in the morning. Perhaps we'll get a few minutes tv in with the soaps before bed tonight. We've got a Polio Fellowship meeting Thursday which means with catch up tomorrow I'll need to find a weather window Tues, Wed or Friday. Anyway here are some pictures of the sunny intervals we enjoyed between showers on Friday's walking in the Peak district, I have managed to consume a good number of cakes so something good came of it. |
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