The end of October and the temperature still in the 60s can't be bad even had the air conditioning on to cool me down although I did have my coat on, really just things I needed in the pockets. I left Mandy sorting out her things for Ireland next week and getting a stock of dinners in the freezer for me. I got my two trolleybus models from China today, the Shanghai older articulated vehicle is like those I saw back in Guangzou in 1990, superb model the other slightly more modern garish mauve livery but no doubt 100% authentic they do garish quite well in China.

I went straight up to Leyland after I'd got all the DVDs for orders ready for Mandy to pack up and post. It was a bit too bright but very soon clouded over and it was spot on for photography. I like the crossroads by the church and bus station some good shots from that position but a twit in a van parked on the corner over the yellow lines etc so I shuffled back to the bus station exit. I'm still trying to judge the new camera consumption of memory hopefully I've got at least an hour of film.

After that I moved back down to Chorley, I'd got 3 hours free parking at Lancaster station and Chorley is free after 1pm on a Saturday so that was working out well. There must have been football on in Chorley, police everywhere, mounted, video etc. The last stiop was at Leyland. Mostly Stagecoach running the old Fishwicks services, one Abelio and one from Tyrer Tours - nothing outlandish some route branded obviously on a different route etc but a shame really that the old independent which survived so many upheavals finally bit the dust. Photos from the day, we've just loaded the last bits in the van for the Lincoln running day tomorrow.

We celebrated my retirement in many low key ways on a very busy but relaxed day. After getting the orders away at the post office, I now use the lower Peover shop once more, I couldn't retaliate for rudeness forever then we headed in to Knutsford for a quick bit of bank business mainly to ensure there were funds to pay for the painting we rashly ( or not) purchased in Cornwall the other week. Then we went to the Whitworth gallery in Manchester which was basking i9n the strangely warm autumnal sunshine. The cafe amongst the trees was great and of course the collection of water colours especially Turner's were lovely to see again.

This left us with a lot of time so next we went to the gallery of costume just further past the university, it is only open a couple of days a week, it looked better inside than my last visit circa 38 years ago. Mandy purchased another scarf only their card machine was playing up so we paid for a scarf two packets of crisp and a pint of bitter to add up to the total, yes it's true (ish). Sitting outside waiting for them to open was a joy watching the leaves fall in tet more sunshine.

Then we went to the Spire Manchester for Mandy's discharge consultation with Prof Jari, the steroid injection on her knee has worked very well. The next phase was a visit to the centre of Manchester and some of the best shops, I stocked up on shampoo at Occitane, the bits we couldn't get at the outlet centre at Cheshire Oaks that is. Then Mandy bought a dress for the December wedding in Beaumaris at White Stuff. Then we went to the Body shop only it said Boy Shop as the d had vanished, town full of big issue sellers and dossers, Manchester is an awful place these days needs a good sluicing down.

A huge batch of orders have come through on the internet , hopefully we can get a few sorted before I go out in the morning, aiming at buses in Lancashire, Lancaster, Chorley and Accrington perhaps, may be Leyland to see what has happened to the ex Fishwick services, very little on it on the web so far just the ceasing of trade and the Stagecoach on the Preston Leyland run. Some more shots from yester day. This evening we had tea at Brodski restaurant at the RNCM , a leisurely retirement dinner before the concert, well attended , nice variety from La Mer through Ravel; piano concerto to Debussy tone poem and the finale Scriabin's Wagner inspired Poem de l'extase - very very full on orchestra and organ rattling the roof. Bravo.

'I think I'll give up bidding on EBay for the cine films, someone always seems to get what I really want with an extra 50p on top at the very last minute and it seems impossible to get in front unless you sit with your finger on the button, I just seem to get the ones nobody else is interested in, with a couple of hundred reels I hope to be relisting them soon after copying has commenced next week. The weather was awful, nothing at all like the forecast which said the rain would be cleared from the west by late morning, it was still raining late afternoon but i did go as intended down to Walsall for yet another attempt at the new truck film venue. I was using the new camera which seems to consume less memory or I've got it on a different setting. Anyway I got nearly 90 minutes as a nice long running programme for our truck fans. The camera performed quite well but as its the same just brand new it jolly well should. I got stuck in the M6 traffic coming back up the motorway and didn't get indoors until gone 5pm.
We are at the local village hall in Plumley for a comedy musical tonight and then out tomorrow all day and evening at the RNCM, we'll have dinner at the college before the performance. I've put today's footage on the computer but times run out so here are some photos from Walsall earlier

....later..great show at Plumley, Jane, Tom and the children are staying at Tatton Park while the vicarage gets a new bathroom, Tom is going to give me a shout one night while Mandy is away to go for a pint, he will pick me up, shame I wanted to ring the bell at Tatton Park!

A very busy day it was dark when I woke up and dark when we stopped all that without leaving the house. Such a lot of things to do and it gets busier as the week goes on. I've no idea what has happened at work as I've not seen a pay slip yet, I sent my latest sick note in which covered me through to the end of November but as I retire this Friday I have it well covered, perhaps I'll stop off at a bank on the way out tomorrow. I'm just running off covers of the second part of the Dutch transport archives as when I edited the remainder of the trams in Rotterdam, Den Haag and Utrecht I only had 40 minutes the the remnants of 'others' mainly preserved weren't that inspiring so I went back and re-edited the whole lot on to one film. I felt much better today, I did end up with a sleeping pill last night and pain killer but my knee is much better today. It's been day two of the weekly diet, in the winter we just take soup, in summer a salad or fruit.

I've got a whole shed load of items loaded on to our EBay shop from maps to books, painting to models and a whole lot more, I've gone for a fixed price mainly because its free and so often you just get the one bid anyway. A few items slipped through my fingers on EBay by way of cine, I was annoyed to miss the Bitterne traffic Management scheme film of 1975 which was mainly roadside but a lot of other interesting items are in the pipeline. After the Lincoln rally we'll unload the van and stack everything in the garage. I've already had a sort out for space and I'll put up a table and stash the EBay sales items there. Then I ned to segregate the types of film I've got for coypying into types of film, 16mm, 8mm etc.3206. Netherlands Transport Archive Volume 2. This second DVD contains film of trams in Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam and Utrecht 1960's-80's. Hopefully John Bishop will be up in November and we'll perhaps pick up a decent 9.5mm projecter at the home cinema show in Blackpool.


I didn't have time for any gardening today although there was already a fair ammount of compost for the dustbinmen tomorrow. I'm hoping to try yet again for my lorry film at the Walsall M6 junction and the nerarby flyover opposite the M54 turn off. If the weather is suitable we may go to York on Saturday to film the buses. We are probably going to the local amateur dramatics musical tomorrow night, a lot of people we know are in it. On Friday we are going out to have a look at the nearly restored Whitworth art gallery in Manchester, then we go for Mandys followup on her knee injection then to have supper at RNCM followed by a concert. Mandy goes off to Ireland Tuesday next week. I'm on go mode for the D'agosini video, I need to do sub titles after the Dutch lab have made a rough edit. I've put items on Yourtube from the Dutch collection.

We were back really late on Monday night and needed to get straight to bed, I seem to have picked up a stomach bug on my travels and have never been away from the loo today. Last night I just could settle with cramp in my leg so took a sleeping pill but i was half asleep all day albeit I did try and get on with some jobs. As it was a family weekend no film to edit but I'm still on with the Netherland archives, I managed to complete the DVD of Amsterdam and tomorrow will have a go at Den Haag and Rotterdam There will also probably be some work to do on the D'Agostini tram  DVD for Scandinavian releases. There haven't been a tremendous amount of DVD orders so we got caught up this morning. The paperwork for my pension came through, unexpected good news is that it's paid in advance so two pay days in the next week plus some minor adjustments which will pay for the new video camera I got last week. I've heard nothing from work so assume all my final payments will go through tomorrow.

Although not feeling too brilliant I did manage to get the van sorted ready for the running day at Lincoln on Sunday next, I've all the DVDs from box 30 upwards, if anyone wants anything special bringing best giving us a shout beforehand. I think the lads from Yardley Wood will have a few models for me. There seems to be a bit of a lull in model bus announcements at the moment. I'm waiting for my trolleybuses to arrive from China. I've a really huge amount of items to get on EBay for auction, this was partly due to starting on the clear out of the garage. When my leg is up to it I'll have another shufty around in the attic. I'm going to put on some grouping of Southdown photos for auction and see how that goes down. I might get some Manchester area prints done for Boyle St in December, I need to go to Ellesmere Port sometime to get my hair cut, haven't found an alternative yet, silly prices around Knutsford.

I've just taken the clips for Youtube off the Amsterdam DVD and have got the cover pictures ready. Another few jobs lining up then, I missed a couple of  EBay cine film purchases I wanted but unless you can be awake all hours it's just impossible to keep on top of it all.No transport photos from France so its a family slide show tonight. We also went to hospital at Leighton in Crewe for Mandy's follow up on her tear duct blockage, they are going to do an external procedure under sedation to put in a stent which will later be removed, a small scar on the nose but the oil I've been using on my knee gets on top of the healing process.

greetings from France weebly lost all the text yet again it really is a rubbish app for use when travelling home Monday night and dvdvorderscwillbgonout Tuesday morning

hello everyone we were up this morning at five am a slightly restless night we hsdvmsndys cousin Trish and Derek with us ready for an early departure for France. no problems with English motorways or French port and we had a leisurely drive through piccardy countryside to Corbie near Amiens where we are staying with that lovely couple ian and Miguel. Miguel has just lost his mother this week  so all tinged with some sadness but no other guests so everyone can relax and be themselves and not worry about the occasional year. it's lovely to be with family and friends once week out from my official retirement  aka redundancy. the weather this side is not sonbad I can't imagine an early start Sunday or Monday and relaxing will do us good. I managed to efit the first volume of Amsterdam trams yesterday and will conclude Netherlands next week. I hope to have newukbus and truck DVDs coming off the production line next week. the Amazon account is still suspended should be OK as soon as UK government registration number received and supplied to them, we did this nearly 30 years back but I even the tax people have lost all trace. best wishes and take care everyone Dave and Mandy

Great news in the village the local pub the Crown is up for sale, it's been a long haul waiting for this and hopefully we'll have a pleasant village local with cleanliness, no snarling dogs and landlady or of course it could join the list of restaurant cum public houses. Oh to have something like the Union Inn at Mortownhampstead on Dartmoor. I couldn't sleep last night, my knee was having just one of those nights so in the end to keep our sanity I took another of the sleeping pills which I've been very sparing with as they are of course addictive and the doc doesn't like dishing them out. Thus it was that we finally emerged at nearly 10am and I tried to get an appointment with my own doctor who has been off ill herself, hopefully she will ring Tuesday if not this evening. I also need a sick note to take me through to the end of next week which will then meet up with my retirement.

I did get the first volume of the Dutch archives completed last night and the cover made today. I then started on the Amsterdam archives which include a few in the old blue livery then it is through the grey and then yellow periods both history now. I whittled it down as much was taken in poor winter weather so I've got Amsterdam down to the one volume of an hour. That will leave me with Den Haag, Rotterdam and Utrecht. Last night I gave some links to Netherlands past, tonight my own versions from the first volume which is now on our shop. We leave early tomorrow so the next post date for orders will be Tuesday. I did a little bit of tidying up in the garden. I failed on a couple of EBay bids for films particularly Malta / Aden in the 1930's but it went over £40 and that's more than I would want to risk. I've several hundred reels awaiting copying now and that is my main winter task. We'll see what the weather has in store for us next week. Hopefully a nice spread between filming buses and trucks.

Meanwhile my uploads on Youtube last night for The Netherlands

Next blogs on the road from France.

The first of my Dutch cine archive derived DVD's is now ready, looking up information on the net reveals that hardly any English language material exists although Google translate gives a rough and often amusing translation from native material although enthusiasts can probably pull out all they need easily from the original. There are also films on Youtube but not many, the trolleybuses which were my first object of interest are filmed in Nijmegen and Arnhem - Groningen the first to go has at one colour sequence posted by a Dutch gent with not one comment other than mine, other sources on Youtube include the Nazi occupation era which does provide footage of the trolleys and trams. Thus endowed with some small degree of knowledge I do know that what we have courtesy the PMP archive and our very own John Bishop makes up for a lack of resource and adds up to 30 mintues. I need to get stills for the cover and clips from my production for Youtube however I though as a change I'd embed some of the clips I did find which shows you what an undervalued resource Youtube is , get rid of the electronic sparsely clad young people making noises and what you have just past silly pets and children is a pot og gold.The first is the 1964 trolleyfilm in colour then if you wade past the Nazi invaders you'll find the ancient trolleys and trams at use early in the war, for those with enough interest see towards the end what a state the town was in after liberation.

Something I certainly haven't got is Nijmeen trams, this film from 1950 is wonderful. Now I've found the sharpen tool when editing scenes likes these can be improved upon no end, take a look when I post the clips from our latest DVD tomorrow. We are now preparing for our family trip to Picardy in France to our friends Ian and Miguel with their wonderful Art Deco hotel in Corbie, always a pleasure and relaxing in the lap of luxury although the stairs are going to be a challenge with my knee. I'm off all medication since beginning of this week just a little discomfort, I'm still using the iced water cuffs to take away the heat and swelling. Next week it will be back to filming trucks and buses in the UK and the following week if the weather is suitable I hope to get to London for a few days. Other Dutch tramways appear such as the traditional Utrecht trams during the way

I got my new video camera today, it is all set up ready for its first run out next week. I shall also be continuing with the Dutch archives and then I'm going to make a start on the huge cine collection I've gathered and then dispose of unwanted items plus a number of additional things to list on our EBay shop particularly from South East England.

I've just finished the last cover for the DVDs covering our trip to the South West of England last week. It's been a dismal winter day and my knee is throbbing away now at the end of the day. Mandy did some serious damage to her left foot big toe which is now multi colour black and blue but knows better than to wear slippers vacuuming cars on the road. I've made a start editing the Dutch tram, bus and trolley archive- Amsterdam rather overlords the other destinations but there is 30 minutes of trolleys and quite a bit on buses which I might put with it some quite remote locations thanks to our friend Roger De Boer. I'm not sure how many volumes there will be but expect around four at least. A big clean up around the house and the van went for it's MOT this morning and got a free valet - which is weird as it had the biggest clean inside and out of it's life yesterday , I hope they haven't messed up my good work we are keeping it pristine with a thought of eventually rallying it.
We are keeping our eye on the channel tunnel situation as we are due to go through this Saturday lunch time, the weather may well be better there than in the north of England. Our Amazon shop is suspended at present awaiting verification codes number for our tax registration, we got it in around 1983 but the HMRC have lost all record as there's doesn't go back that far, it's as bad as being at work, hey ho. Here are the covers for the latest batch of releases all on our shop. The upload photo widgit isn't working - I'll try and add them later.