I got the remainder of the Maltese trip sorted, this is good as the new provider should be up and running by January although nothing on the island ever really operates as it should. I was pleased to find that I'll be there for the remembrance day ceremony which see the diversion of route to Valetta using some attractive back streets into the town. I've managed to get a small automatic car thank goodness and also got the hotel booked at St Julians which will be handy to walk down the hill to the Irish pub of an evening. We have an evening out tomorrow at the RNCM in Manchester, a rather modern opera but sometimes they are very engaging if slightly alarming , not cosy at all. I like it at the college although as its a dioeting evening I may have to forgo the real ale. I'm giving you a couple of links to the Youtube clips from Saturday, I'm really struggling to get the hits up much although they do now hold steady through the year, a big surge through the winter would be good although I seemed to lose the ability of sending messages out to subscribers which was once so easy. All the latest DVDs are on our shop and I suppose I'd better add them to the Amazon and EBay shops this weekend in time for Christmas, I've already completed the Buses and Vintage and Classic Commercial mag adverts for December issues.
Although nothing like 1987 hurricane in the South East it has been a miserable, wet windy old day and despite warnings that it would be at its worst in the morning its really bad this evening more so than this morning by far. Localised damage all around and lots of traffic chaos although it was pretty clear on both M56 and M6 coming home tonight. I did manage to get the clips loaded yesterday on the weekends london films and tonight I'm running off Staffordshire video archvis on to the edirting deck, already covering Uttoxeter, Stafford, Burton etc, an area which once had a lot going for it although Stafford itself seems to have declined in bus terms more than most places and especially since the buses were moved to the outskirts of the town, mind you I haven't been there for ages now and Burton on Trent is long overdue a visit. If the weather calms down for the weekend there will be the question of what to cover, certainly a lot in the North East, I had hoped to be able too tie something in with work but nothing materialised. I got the remainder of the Maltese trip sorted, this is good as the new provider should be up and running by January although nothing on the island ever really operates as it should. I was pleased to find that I'll be there for the remembrance day ceremony which see the diversion of route to Valetta using some attractive back streets into the town. I've managed to get a small automatic car thank goodness and also got the hotel booked at St Julians which will be handy to walk down the hill to the Irish pub of an evening. We have an evening out tomorrow at the RNCM in Manchester, a rather modern opera but sometimes they are very engaging if slightly alarming , not cosy at all. I like it at the college although as its a dioeting evening I may have to forgo the real ale. I'm giving you a couple of links to the Youtube clips from Saturday, I'm really struggling to get the hits up much although they do now hold steady through the year, a big surge through the winter would be good although I seemed to lose the ability of sending messages out to subscribers which was once so easy. All the latest DVDs are on our shop and I suppose I'd better add them to the Amazon and EBay shops this weekend in time for Christmas, I've already completed the Buses and Vintage and Classic Commercial mag adverts for December issues.
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A rarity this evening I've managed to get EBay to send out messages to the two customers whose orders were missed when they ordered multiple items on 2nd October, the glitch at EBay was on the printer 'friendly' copies we print off to process , it just listed one items - I thought that it would be great to get them to own up to causing a problem for a change and although their customer couldn't give a damn dept in India gave it the brush of I got through to the Dublin lads this evening and got a buy in, apologies on their way. Mandy had a three sackfuls of post to send out this morning, our new tactic of not going out in the cold and damp in the winter is paying off already as the post and internet are bringing the orders in whilst limiting our discomfort and overhead costs. We shall be at the fabulous Lincoln running day followed by the Manchester Christmas cracker events when you can treat yourself to some wonderful Christmas presents. I did get all the Sri Lanka bus photos loaded to our Smugmug still sales site, follow links page with an amazing quantity now representing our 1980 and 2014 visits. I've contacted the agents about the Bangladesh visit in 2015 and have paid the balance on our Christmas trip to Cuba. Another trip sorted today is my short break in Malta early November, I hope the weather stays as good as it is now, I'll have all day Sat,Sun,Mon and Tuesday as I get there Friday evening and leave Tuesday evening. That should give me time to cover all the buses and have plenty of attention on the trucks, I may even have time for a trip to Gozo. I need to get a car sorted plus a hotel where I can easily park, not always that simple in Malta, I've no desire to be in the 'action' and or by the sea either. St Julians is handy as I can get to the Irish pub for dinner at night. I'm just finishing taking off the clips for Youtube from the Saturday trip to London, the EBay problems last night took up all my time and thus it was bedtime and I'd not done anything that I'd intended for late evening. I must leave editing the West Midlands section of the archives until last, I've only a couple of p[laces left other than that namely Wiltshire excluding Swindon and Staffordshire excluding Stoke, a few other very small sections and then I can look out the W Midlands video I had borrowed from others which might look better after some manipulation on the computer. I think Staff is next for the treatment, some time before Manchester Cracker do I'll try and get The Yorkshire West Riding archive feature done. I've the covers for London DVDs to make between the soaps on telly. I managed to get the Wigan and London stills tidied up ready to file so no lack of things to be getting on with. Some samples from these below. A much needed rest after an exhausting day in London but we've already got two of the three London DVDs mastered, just need to get the covers done and the new lists are already uploaded on our shop and news pages plus I've deleted expired rally dates for this year which astute readers will know just leaves the Lincoln running day and Manchester Boyle St Christmas cracker to come. We had a very good sackful of orders whilst we were in London including several on the net as well so it looks like Mandy is going to have a busy Monday. As I've already said the list is v updated and its really time for the magazine adverts for the December Christmas editions, I noted that yet another hotel Christmas tree had sprung up near Holmes Chapel, far too early but then you can't blame people for doing anything to gain a few bobs trading. I've been adding to my orders on the net for the Atlas European and East European collections of 1/72 scale buses, I'm waiting to see if the price drops on the Peruvian models as the cost with the postage is quite high, its a shame they don't offer all their collections worldwide to collectors likewise all around the world, there are so many wonderful items if they were to be offered more widely, the other trick they pull is not to announce the full series when they start, I guess this leaves them the choice of pulling the plug if it doesn't take off. I've been well pleased with all the models I've got this way and it certainly makes a change from the normal EFE Corgi etc round of offerings particularly if your transport interests are world wide, wouldn't it be good if they did a double deckers of the world series thinking of the amazing buses which once ran in Portugal, India, Pakistan, Persia, Indonesia , Spain etc . etc. There is a lovely aroma of roast lamb wafting through the house from the kitchen, we've already had an aperitif and a nice bottle of wine to look forward to as well. I've been out to the farm shop nearby and got 20 trays of winter flowering pansies, belladonna daisies and primulas plus some more bulbs, I must admit a couple of hours out in the garden with the clearing, planting, weeding etc really was more than enough for me. Anyway I'm not going to spend too much time hunched over the computer, tomorrow I'll see if I can get my seats for Malta early November as I still want to get the government bus services on film before the new contract is put in place I'll also try and get some more trucks shots while out there, its a two flight split if I can get it between Ryanair and a charter airline Thompsons, the latter being more tight than Ryanair offering just 5 kilos of hand lugguage so I'll have to book a case in. Lets have some more shots from the trip to London yesterday. Clips are going on the net this evening. A very long day really starting way back at 4am when we woke up and left home at 4.30 with a very mild but windy and wet early morning drive to London where we were parked up at the rear of Marks & Spencers on Oxford Street just after 7.30 and as soon as they opened at 8 we were straight into the cafe for a Bakewell tart and cappocino. Then I left Mandy and set off along Oxford St recording the buses which actually seemed rather thin on the ground although all routes appeared to be running. Actually it helped get nice clear shots and I soon was ticking off the new RMs with special liveries and noting just how common they have become. As I headed down towards Oxford Circus I saw some notices about services today and that there was a big demo and march and lots of service alterations and cancellations but we'd heard nothing and I suppose nobody unless in London or involved would have known. I hopped on a bus down to Piccadilly circus and it was obvious that there was limited bus activity, at Trafalgar square I met the first person I knew, one of several during the day, how random is that either London is just a small village or I know people on every street in the country. The bus routes through Trafalgar square were limited and I thought it was best just to give up for the morning and head down to Elephant & Caste surely south of the river services must be a bit more normal. Getting there wasn't easy, no services were running to any sort of order and I asked on Whitehall of the driver of a Go Ahead 24 if he was going anywhere where i could connect to get to the Elephant, he just grunted no, I think he might have been polish, anyway the nest one along was a really nice black chap who dropped me off at Waterloo and instruction which direction to go in and then I met the second person I knew and got the tip off thast the latest new RM route was running and there were several new buses out on it and that it crossed at Elephant & Castle. I caught another bus from Waterloo there and had a scout around, the far end has been rebuilt with new islands and the mound I used to film from has vanished but eventually I settled on the approach from the city end and then was interupted when workers arrived with a road work warning sign with van and trailer so had to move yet again. Eventuall after meeting yet more bus friends I settled down and got some really great shots of the new buses and the drivers who had been very helpful were real stars, stopping even to pose until I'd got still shots as well. Then I headed back up to the city and ended upo around Aldwych where there was really chaos, Mandy meanwhile had been stranded by a bus who dumped the passengers when it got to the march and then she was really stuck as she hadn't taken the wheelchair with her. The police were reallyt supportive and tried to sort something, they got her a seat at the cafe on Marble Arch and then the parade stopped while she crossed but had to struggle all the way back to her car as there was no transport, it was really a bit much, he was surpprised we hadn't heard about itm but I'd not heard a dickey bird either. Anyway I struggled to make some sense of what was going on there were certainly lots of new RMs about amidst the chaos and then I settled on route 38 and got lots more shots as the sky darkened ready to rain. I eventually tried shots back to Piccadilly circus and then Trafalgar Square and Pall Mall etc before hopping on a bus back to Oxford Street and eventually met up with Mandy with my knee pretty well shot and Mandy with her legs finished, but still she'd managed a bit of shopping! The police had told her that the helicopter crew reckoned there was a quarter of a million people on the march which took hours to pass but on the new its diminished to 90K countrywide, strange manipulation no doubt at goverment request, free press what free press only free stuff they give is from hacked phone calls but as GCHQ listens in to them all whats new, we are the only country to be so highly monitored outside North Korea, even the cops though Cameroons and his cronies should be locked up.. we actually found a few minutes to sit down and have a look at the weekends through to Christmas as time hurtles by these final months of 2014. We haven't even got the 2015 calendar on the wall yet but I've masses of dates coming up which need to be entered. I really does look like being a trip to London tomorrow with over 300 new Routemasters and lots in special or all over adverts it's just too much to miss, throughout early 2015 we'll be paying special attention and catching up on all the surrounding routes north, east, south and west. We are going to check once again with the weather but it looks like light cloud and a little rain which really just suits my purpose. I'll cover some of the perennial favourites after we park up at the back of Marks & S on Oxford St then move down to Regent St and T Square and then head over to the city as well as taking in the Elephant and Castle, hows that for a busy day then. A lay in bed on Sunday morning will be well in order I think. We've had a look at flights to Malta and I've worked out a cunning plan but i just need to check with my work diary so I'll do the booking on Monday when i also settle up the trip to Cuba at Christmas when Sue will join us on our road trip across the island from west to east and see what other gems are hidden away in this unique country, a pity North Korea wasn't the same form of open socialism isn't it, see the young dictator has hobbled back into the media , his gout must be under control now. I spoke to my pal Martin today, I'm progressing the trip to Bangladesh in February although holding on tickets until we know if he will be fit for the trip, if not I will go ahead on my own as it's such a wonderful country and I really want to have a trip on the Rocket paddle steamers that I filmed last time and then catch up with the new deckers and artics from India plus a stop of in Dubai for the new trams and then catch the tram in Calcutta before i return. I'd hope to insert some trucks into this amble through the middle east to asia. I never did load any stills last night, we shot off to the pub which was quiet and the John Lees MPA was in fine fettle I'm glad to say. That reminds me that the Plumley Moor Rd is now nearly finished at Plumley, road marking seem to have gone on today but no sign of the holes in the road nearer home being finished, it all says its for road improvements, Cheshire council rubbish talk it will be more bumpy than ever, scrap the politicians how many do we need Euro, county,village, district,parliament, remember it was the North West of England which had a referendum on local elections which was drowned by such a resounding not on your nelly mate! Whats for tonight, well all that Asian talk lets look back at Bangladesh and see what all the fuss is about. Hi folks wherever you are watching fro the four corners of our little globe that's spinning precariously in space and so fast we should all be flying off, actually the big question and not so big were all being posed by Alan Turing junior whilat at school, I'm wading my way through his enormous biography which is in tiny print and really screwing up my eyes. I was up slightly later than usual whilst Mandy was up and away without breakfast so she took some cake, she was taking our little Volkswagon Caddy for it's MOT test which needless to say it flew through with only just over 20K on the clock, I think we've got it in mind to keep it pristine and then we'll be able to rally it into our dotage when it becomes a classic, mind you i suppose I'm past classic now and heading into vintage. The reason for my tardy rising was the doctors, a nice young chap standing in whilst our 'own' doc is on long term sick, physician heal thyself etc. Anyway he has a rather unfortunate surname Bongo Bongo or something like that which is probably like Smith in whatever country but just didn't sound very inspiring for a doctor in Cheshire. We had a look together on the internet to explore the problem with my right hand and made all sorts of discoveries including they have no idea why it happens or what triggers it, it's in my genes or at least it's genetic but it would need a referral to a consultant to decide on the best course of action. Nice fancy name as usual and one I can't pronounce but only affects the ring finger not like the hand that all ends up clawed. Anyway the weather has apparently been mild but damp not that I saw a lot of it as I've been busy catching up with yesterdays work whilst i was at the conference and doctors first thing plus an avalanche of outstanding documents from my trainer. A couple of hours on the phone working through trading figures for the traning business with our 'new' financial bod in Darlington. I've now completed the cover for the DVD of Oldham and Wigan from this month and listed on our shop. I thought I'd best bring you a few shots from Wigan and really whilst we are out at the pub I'll try and get some prints loaded on to the Smugmug site, remember all from just 50p a print, tens of thousands there mainly by myself plus a couple of friends. Here are some of the DVDs from this month which are all on our shop. I also received another couple of packages from China and Poland of some Atlas European buses covering both west and east european editions, amazing that you can get brand new castings in a near UK scale and all for under £20 each including postage. I've started getting some of the trams and French railcars, just can't resist them although in that wretched HO scale. A very busy day really although we did get a lay in bed this morning and we must have needed it as we didn't wake up until 8am. I was up ast a conference north of Wigan today which was fine and even cheated a tiny bit on day two of weekly fasting days had two tiny pieces of cheese sandwich with pickle that repeated all afternoon courtesy Wrightington Country Club hotel. I did manage to stop off as hoped in Wigan on my return although I was on the mobile half the time it was that busy in my absence from the office. The slog into Wigan was just about worth it and eventually i managed to picked one of the many parking spots which actually offered over an hours parking, they all seem to be different and it's frustrating in a place which should pay you for visiting. Anyway I must be fair and to all drivers from Stagecoach, Arriva, SLT, Wigan Buses/Coaches and anyone else I've missed they were all super with plenty of waves and smiles and zero hassle although I was very circumspect around the bus statio entrance as even with a permit letter the PTE people at Wigan has proven to be unaware of bus enthusiasts and the existance of cameras, yes it's a bit of a backwater really, electricity only came in around 1996. I just managed to get the lawns mowed when I got back this evening, I wanted to get it done as the recycle bin is collected tomorrow, just made it before it lashed down. Looking ahead to the weekend I've my eye on the London area and considering going down if it is cloudy but dry, its really not worth going with autumn sunshine which makes photography so difficult. I can't believe another week is flying by so quickly, we are going to review these last few weeks of 2014 and see what is possible including trips south and to Ireland. On television the news about politics is gaining momentum as the 2015 election draws nearer, prepare for several months of whimpering lies, the nasty parties which are UKIP and the Tories are flying the flag for a step back into the black shirts and other fascists and being run by Eton toffs. Labour is but a poor imitation of its former self and the Liverals worthy of Quisling. I'm just downloading the last of the Northants video archives and should have the DVD done this evening. I can reveal that Warwickshire is the next county due for the video archive treatment but not until after I've compiled the latest Manchester offering of Oldham and Wigan. Treats for you tonight are links to our Youtube clips from GVVT last Sunday. pretty darn miserable out therte although the actual temperature is holding up, after 62 years I've decioded I really do hate winter, cold weather, rain,wind etc and so why the hell are we living in Cheshire. Anyway lets get to business, I finished both of the Scottish DVDs from the weekend with one on Dumfries, Ayr and Irvine and the other of course from the GVVT running day in Glasgow lasting over 80 minutes, superb value and on our own shop on the very web site where everything can be purchased from the full range all post free worldwide, no point it paying bucks to EBay or Amazon, what you spend with us is reinvested in our future travels and helps support vehicle restoration and preservation through our sponsorships. The year is slipping by very fast now and the calendar hasn't many gaps, I noted that London is very under represented this year so I'll try to start putting matters right. Just need some cloudy but still and dry weather in the capital and we'll be there, all those new routemasters in different liveries not seen a single one in action yet, I wonder if Victoria bus station has been finished yet and those awful hoardings removed. I will be starting on the next round of video archives as we get towards a huge undertaking which has taken years, to get all our UK bus archive on to DVD, there are still pieces of older material from cine to put on and before Manchester in December I have promised to get the West Yorkshire regional bus archive completed, much requested and long in the gestation I'm afraid. It's been tight for time so far this week especially as the evenings get darker, I had to trim the roses which were activating the rear security lights and also filled up all the bird feeders. I got the covers done for the Scottish DVDs, I loaded clips on for the first volume last night and these are now linked to the blog see below. I haven't had time to dismantle the packing on the latest releases from Oxford, I must find time to look at any new listings in the offing. I've a few bids in for Atlas models, the Chilean trolley is now fetching silly money. The French railcars collection looks very cute as do the trams, I may well be tempted as these are more sensibly priced so far. So time to bid you farewell for the evening, I'll pull out the next set of archives for downloading on the computer, I'm not sure what I should do the giant one left is the west midlands but I'm just going to work my way through the pile of data sheet print outs from my archive and first to the copier will be Northampton, not that much but starts in 1990, what a different world it was then, an awful place but who cares, thats sometimes the challenge I face. Clips from the GVVT running day going on Youtube this evening autumn seems to have given way directly to winter this year and we haven't even puts the clocks back yet so in a couple of weeks we'll be in the dark in the daily commute both ways. Oh you lucky people who have already retired, a glance out of the windows at the freezing rain coming down or the icy blast of the wind and its back under the duvet you go. I'm just burning the master DVD for the video taken Saturday at Dumfries, Ayr and Irvine, it actually looks better than I thought battling as I was between tropical rainstorms, col and then sunshine. A little clutch of new Oxford releases seem to have emerged, I must have a look on their web site and see what else has been added as forthcoming especially on the buses side, I've heard no rumours at all. The EFE models are mainly just reliveried versions of models released ages back although there are some which find a notch in my collection still. These days I've taken another direction in their display with bespoke displays of the models on a theme, say a country like Ireland and include buses, trucks and emergency services etc. My little row of 00 scale fire engines is starting to grow, I was once in the FBS and had quite a collection of models mainly larger ones. I got some great shots in the stations in Ireland both north and south back i the early 80s, they were always very helpful and friendly even when they were having to defend themselves from missiles being hurled when they were out on a shout. We';ve had a nice warming curry from 'stock' this evening, Mandy is also doing a home made rice pudding, thats double rice tonight but I'd better not say anything. We are only picking at the delicious fudge we got at the Bridgeton open day and it will be the end of the week before we can dip in again vas our two weekly dieting days are almost upon us. Talking of upon us the adverts for the December editions of the magazines will be due by next week, the television is already filling up with Christmas adverts, it should all be banned until December at least. I've managed to get all the outstanding photographs right up to date and filed, just need to get them loaded on to our Smugmug still photo site from where you can buy copies from just 50p a time. The Sri Lankan views will supplement my 1980 trip, at that rate of return I'll probably be pushing up daisies before I go back unless they get trolleybuses or start with double deckers once more. I'm at a meeting on Wednesday, doctors Thursday morning, teleconference Thursday pm, yes it's all go in training. I thought I'd quickly dip in to the Sri Lankan truck photos before i file them, I checked on the internet and they are in the most part fairly unique in content compared with what is already out there. It's such a shame that outfits like Classic and Vintage Commercial are so narrow minded and just want their pals material, wouldn't ever want to hear them appealing for material as I'd tell them where to stick it. I'm thinking of having a look at what else is about for 2015, I've got a lot of regulars now and it would probably pay to spread the word elsewhere. A reminder please click on an advert or two each time you view my Youtube clips, I can't find anyway of sending messages out to viewers now, they make it so damn difficult and add all sorts of rubbish which I can never understand. This Weebly site pulls the same sort of tricks on you, you log in and its all changed. EBay damn them did the same with the 'printer friendly' version of order forms which are needless to say all jumbled up when printed and as much use as a chocolate fireguard! Although we again suffered the now seemingly inevitable decline in sales the Glasgow running day was still one of our best outings in this tough trading year and offered some amazing examples of buses to ride and photograph. The collection of Glasgow buses assembled for this the latest in a great line of such events at the museum seemed to hit all the right buttons. The usual city destination of George Square seemed to be taken over by a rally of the Scottish bad loser party and the museum were advised to relocate the stops, actually it was a good move as outside Buchanon bus station was a great photo spot and the only minus was that this was only the city services using mostly the green and orange corporation buses whilst those to the other riverside museum went somewhere else alas I know not where, actually a question seemingly asked several time. It was nice to be amongst friendly faces in Scotland and all the rhetoric of the past year was nearly behind us and the bad events of the nasty policing during the commonwealth games was already passing from memory. The museum seems to go from strength to strength each year and I hear that there are many more projects associated with the museum being renovated outside and that future events will see several vehicles launched on to the rally circuit, we look forward to this very much. When the fun of the day was over the movements around the museum seemed easier than usual and we were ready to load up and make our way south, we had a good clear run but decided to stop at Tebay services with the great home cooking and have dinner so we wouldn't be eating too late in the evening. The road south from the lakes continued to be clear and for a Sunday night it must have been the quietest traffic this year. There was a pile of post waiting for us at home amongst which was a solicitors letter reference out house in Ireland , the house next door is being sold and there was a query over the bounderies of the property against the actual fences erected by the builder, a typically Irish mess which has no obvious or easy resolution as the original surveyors and solicitors are no more. I've downloaded all the internet orders and opened up the post, there looks to be a parcel of models come through but I've not had the time to open the last lot. I've ordered up and bid etc on a few more of the Atlas models, there is a chap in Italy who has a lot I'd like but its impossible to purchase and he doesn't seem to care, all tied up with not stating postage plus EBay being it usual rubbish self. The order pile is high and Mandy will be busy, anyway some shots from a super running day at Glasgow. |
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