I was up quite early for no other reason than I just woke up gone7am, not sure Mandy was that thrilled but I had a lot to do. Mandy got the post sorted, 3 bags full this morning which pretty well grid locked the village shop for half the morning. We continued to get a trickle through to today but it's eased off a lot. The auctions of the cine films seem to be gathering momentum, I think having full details of duration and content of a film and some objective resume does help shift them, at least people don't go away feeling they have been sold a pup.

It was the day for creating the sub titles for the Atlas edition trams for Scandinavia, besides getting a sore throat which usually means a cold to follow I spent a solid 8 hours working on the films. They seemed a bit muddles but i got through it in the end. After all that effort i hate to tell them that there were a couple of very weak sections where their choice in clips was far from the best going instead of my 1st generation images but for some borrowed amateur scenes. However I'm in no mind to do anything again although I suppose I could pick out some shots to replace them.

I've just been out and picked off the cine films to post and whilst in the garage had a few minutes on the exercise bike for my knee which is coming along fine and seems to have crossed another rubicon in recovery with the knee cap settling done. My listings on Youtube are still coming from the cine films, the latest from Malta on Standard 8 film was taken in 1968, a pity there weren't more vehicles visible even when at Triton fountain he avoided all the buses which I would have thought almost impossible. Anyway other than that we've booked the hotel for the visit to relations in Hampshire over New Year. I've checked all the hotels for Colombia already, friend Sue due here Friday prior to RNCM Kurt Weill Street Scene, we can go through it all together to check my work. Hope cold isn't too evident at the theatre.

I was listening to a programme about China where a city is full of internet retailers and this one place had a funny little noise which went off each time an order was placed, well that's what it felt like at PMP today, easily the busiest of the year with the DVD sales supplemented by the cine films I'm selling on with a fair proportion already under bids or sold. I've cut through the DVD ortders and got virtually everything ready for the post just the larger orders and the cine reels for Mandy to parcel up and post in the morning. I've been worjking my way through the cine films to upload on Youtube and then put on EBsay. I've nearly reached the end of the 16mm films, I think another 2 hours worth or thereabouts. The weather has been very lively with stiff blustery winds albeit mild temperatures interspersed with heavt rain showers.

It doesn't really look like I'll be doing any filming before mid week at best but we'll carefully monitor the situation for any possible breaks which would enable us to get out and about. The EBay cine listings are now quite extensive with hundreds more to go on in the weeks between now and Christmas. The tree at up at St Oswalds in Lower Peover, it reaches the ceiling in fact and lit up where it proved possible to put lights up safely. Mandy thinks we are going to have a real tree indoors as well as out at the front, in the spirit of traditional Christmas I hope the food offerings are equally as forthcoming. We had a bottle of the Priorat wine tonight, the first of the Aldi specials and label of Albert's village in the Pyrenees in Catalonia, Spain. I don't think it measured up that well with no complexity and little aftertaste to relish. Not bad at all but for the money a bit of a non starter.

I got the film for the Atlas promotional DVD edited in Amsterdam, it needs many changes and I will be in the editing suite from early until the job is finished, I can see plenty of errors and I had hoperd that all I would be doing was adding the sub titles to go with it, still they are paying well enough - if I did it again I'd do all the editing myself. Some of the many films we have uploaded from the social history side of the PMP Archive include:-

masses more out there and more added almost daily especially in bad weather! Please remember click on an advert or two each visit to help pay for our archive.

It was pretty hectic on Friday, we had a pile of DVD orders etc to nget shifted and I must admit after the Yorkshire film trip Thursday we did have a bit of a lay in. The day then just seemed to rush by. Its now nearly Saturday lunch time and just returned from the post office and yet another two bags of post gone. We've made a start on Christmas cards and the first batch of those are away as well. I've uploaded more of the 16mm films on the eBay shop plus clips on Youtube. I got the next batch of tapes to record on , hopefully the next session with the 16mm projector will be the last for a while and I can get on with copying the smaller standard 8 films of which there are hundreds to go at.

John Bishop and I have out flights to Hong Kong confirmed and I'm now going to look at a hotel for the nights before we join the main group, somewhere along the line I'll need to get the visa sorted. I'm also going to check the hotel reservations for Colombia at the end of January. Today a selection of pictures from Rotherham taken Thursday afternoon. The DVDs are now listed on our shop.

It really is all on a wing and a prayer at this time of year, you can check the main tv weather and then check locations on the computer but at the end of the day its down to what happens and sometimes its wide of the mark. I was up at 6am which these days seems very early indeed no matter that i was up for work only shortly after that every working day. Anyway the traffic getting to the m62 over to Yorkshire was very heavy and it was raining then it all cleared, a spot of mist on the tops then into Yorkshire and it was as if a veil had lifted and it was bright sunshine. This doesn't matter that much in Barnsley and from the town side or station side if you prefer its ok most of the year for video albeit not that brilliant for stills. There were building around the market being demolished a lot of locals were out with their cameras. Perhaps the proliferation of cameras in general mitigated against the bus station security making a pest of themselves and it was really a hassle free visit with extra bonus points for the Yorkshire Traction heritage bus.

I wrapped up quite soon and it had died off a lot later in the morning so I returned to the car park where like Leicester the list didn't work, crumbling England and as I set off to Rotherham indeed it was crumbling roads. I seem to recall noting this before, it really is a dire area and when I arrived at Rotherham I found a nice little pay and display nnear the interchange which I'd used before. There isn't much demand for parking as the poor use taxis and that is the majority, it was like Open Christmas for the dossers on a wider scale. It was nice to bump into fellow photographer Phil and there were several other enthusiasts around as the new First buses were being delivered in batches each week plus there were a couple of demonstrators about. All enough to summon a few photographers, are they all retired like me some didn't look old enough- had a chap with one nice chap who recognised me, fame indeed at Rotherham. Lots of orders to sort, cine films to purt on eBay and films to load on Youtube etc etc. Thanks goodness its pub night!!

York is now going to be sunny in the morning that means that filming would be very difficult so it's gone back until Friday or Saturday or even next week. Mansfield remains on my list along with Rotherham, Barnsley, Keighley and West Brom along with many others further south. The morning are the only safe time to film as soon as afternoon gets cracking the light starts to go and dusk is about 3pm. Sunshine is the killer now through to March. I've sorted through the photos I picked up from ASDA the other day. There are thousands of them all from around Manchester area. I've brought them in and sorted them into boxes along with existing stock and have a box on First, Stagecoach, Other operators along with a very full box of Lancashire and Cheshire. I'm taking the other northern area boxes as far down as the Midlands but with an ever increasing number of DVD boxes space is very much at a premium.

So who knows what I'll get up to tomorrow, so much to choose from. It's been a hectic day as we had a lot to get posted this morning plus I managed to get the fence panel in the back garden fixed plus tied up the roses at the back of the kitchen which had come down in the high winds last week. I need to do some signs for the Manchester photos but the Manchester Christmas Cracker even isn't until the weekend after this coming one. I managed to get the majority of 16mm films copied, there were some super reels and I will be putting the clips on Youtube and selling them on EBay along with hundreds of other items listed plus all our DVD selections although its only at Amazon or our own shop on this site that you'll find the full range. Sales seem pretty buoyant for Christmas although it seems that every man and his dog advertises DVDs in Buses mag in the December issue.

I need to book a hotel for Hong Kong in May before we set off on our tour of Chinese tram and trolley systems filling in some gaps in our coverage.The weather isn't too bad now the rain has stopped but I couldn't even contemplate mowing the front lawn which could do with a trim its too wet. The knee is still a bit up and down each day and I 'll be glad when its latest spurt of improvement has settled as the swelling reduces it feels uncomfortable unless I cycle or go for a brisk walk that usually sorts it. Christmas is looming around the corner, our diary dates seem very full until January. I'm looking forward to spring and summer next year free of the restraints of work other than PMP! I can't think what to give you tonight by way of photos so I thought I'd cheer myself up with memories of our stopover in Raratonga.

It has been very wet all day with just a brief respite at breakfast time when a flock of long tailed tits came to feed. I braved the elements to top up the feeders and while i was out had a go on the exercise bike in the garage when I was sorting out films to post sold on EBay auctions. Mandy was out in Chester having her hair done this morning while I ploughed on copying the 16mm cine film although not until I had finished putting the last batch finished on Youtube and EBay to sell on. The films I picked up at the cinima fair at the Hilton Blackpool turned out to be a bargain batch. The best for me was an educational short in colour which looks pre war which feature a downland village in Surrey near Dorking where the camera arrives by London Country bus and looks at village trades, shops and even the pub. When finished we board the same bus back passing one of the rare concrete telephone boxes.One of my all time favourite films.
Other films i picked up included another educational film with school children watching a fire crew in action and explaining the engine and tools and equipment. Its a ladder pimp from City of Birmingham . Another film  includes a cruise around Africa and other commonwealth countries returning via Egypt where we note trolleybuses and trams and then on to Venice. Other material from the same source covers Austria and South Africa. I've also copied 1951 film on the Dales and lakes plus the festival of Britain ship. There is also yet another educational feature made with Intourist on the USSR. A captivating reel was a 1930 travelogue on Cuba, most of which is very recognisable other than the trams seen.

Its been very busy for DVD orders that also took up a big chunk of the morning but everything was in the post early afternoon. Mandy went off to change the over coat from M&S which had a zip break, not used it much but typical shoddy goods from Marks which really should concentrate on the food which it does well. Mandy also had fun at the post office where confusion reigned and then to the Holmes Chapel health centre to pick up routine prescriptions. Busy all round with next bus trip planned for York on Thursday. Tomorrow morning hope to fix fence panel and tie up roses which blew down. We have a concert at Clonter in the afternoon. Some clips from films loaded on Youtube last night.

Another cold day, I'd decided that the promise of a bright morning would see me head down to Stobarts inland multi modal port at Widnes, this also gave me a chance of looking at the latest progress on the Mersey second crossing works at Runcorn/M56 junction. It was very busy at Stobarts, obviously no hassle, never is at this the heart of Stobart fan land. With scenes taken early in the day something I couldn't usually manage whilst still in paid employment i can catch the busiest times and there is frantic Stobart trucking action most of the time with about 80% of the vehicles appearing in our new film all from the Stobart fleet. Now there are plenty of 15 reg lorries about although there isn't a huge variety really not like up at Carlisle. There is so much left for me to cover, so many places I didn't get to in 2015 that 2016 is surely going to see a bumper harvest of PMP truck films. The New Year will see our first overseas visit of 2016 to Colombia which is bound to produce an amazing haul of trucking delights.

Whilst out this morning I picked up the fresh Manchester bus prints from ADS, there are thousands of pictures all at 50p each and will be on sale at the Boyle St Christmas Cracker event the weekend after next. This is usually one of our biggest and best events of the bus year so please try and get along to say hello. With each passing year the rally calendar for PMP shrinks in the UK as we take on events further afield anmd lots of the venues are falling off in sales terms as the internet comes to dominate the business. Today is certainly no excfepting and already the work desk in the studio at Birchwood Drive isd awash with DVD order. It saw a couple of full mail sack leave this morning and today I've been getting DVD stock replaced so we've everything bang up to date once more in readiness for the Manchester Boyle St event. Lets have a look at some of the lorries we saw at Widnes this morning.

We had a superb meal last night at the Dog Inn at Over Peover which puts our more local pubs to shame, nice staff, great food very ambient surrounding other than posh feral children with other diners. This morning we rose sharpish to get up to Blackpool for the Cine Fayre at the Hilton. It was hard to locate within the hotel and getting in past the toast munching woman wasn't much of a welcome. The general look of the event was of a rough jumble sale and made all our bus events look very smart and well organised. I understand that there are very few such events and not that surprised from the indifference, poor service and general malaise among vendors, it was almost too much hard work to bother to but anything from them. I did in fact purchase 7 films which were really a bit heavy to heave around and upset my back.

The knee was playing up today and still bad this evening. John and Maureen got underway on the long journey back down to Sussex which is no mean feat consideri8ng the M6 was already grinding to a halt in our area. The credit card machine is playing up yet again, 123 the supplier are never on hand to support us and we have struggled with it for far too long now. We have quite a haul of DVD and film orders to get packed. In fact all the DVDs are actually ready, Mandy will pack up the films first thing and get them to the post office. I've been looking at the weather and may shoot down to Runcorn Stobrts depot at Runcorn for a catch up. The weather looks bearable this week with plenty of light cloud days, York is still on the cars with perhaps Barnsley and Keithley also in the running. Lots more cine to work on, I did some copying for a frend of John , John left me his sounmd super8 machine. We had hoped to get a 9.5 at the Blackpool event but I wouldn't have risked a penny on anything technical from these chaps.

Life is hectic at Birchwood Towers as John and Maureen Bishop are staying and frankly a few drinks had passed our lips last night and worse still before our evening bedtime Horlicks Amazon had thrown yet another broadside at us on documents required and how they were going to chuck us off their site. Amazingly my reply was tempered by the ale and wine and I not to politely told them to get stuffed, this morning I was equally amazed to get an unreserved apologies from them which I'm considering getting framed.

It's been winter here with snow over nfght and we went up into Derbyshire this morning and getting out of the car to take pictures in the High Peak region was an experience to be gotten over quickly. We went on to Bakewell but the light was against John taking photos but we did stop off at an euqally snow Buxton then pottered back to do some cine cotying work on the new sound projector which does Super 8 film. Most of what we had to copy at hand was standard  so we swapped back to my little basic Eumig machine. We had some RAF film s from the 1970s which were interesting then Malta in 1968, it was very well shot and in superb condition but the chap whilst a great photographer obviously preferred antiquities to buses worse luck. I'll blog Sunday night, stay warm everyone.

Good evening friends, customers, readers world wide and its a dismal autumnal day here in the north of England but at least the strong wind has eased and now we just have the wet. It was a struggle getting back with the usual chaos on the A500 and M6 and the only consolation trying to get back north was that it looked a lot worse heading south this evening. I was over in Leicester parked up not much past 9 this morning. The infrastructure in the wretched place continue to fall apart, the lifts in the car park no longer worked but they didn't tell you that until you were in and at the 3rd level trying to get down to the exit. The knee was quite stiff perhaps after the four sessions on the bike in the garage yesterday.

The new bus station is well underway and the roundabout by the small bus station has gone and as a photo spot has vanished but thankfully with it being quieter on a working day the city shopping centre was less populated and less people to walk in front when you are filming the buses. This worked well and I even tracked down the new deckers which have a little rabbit run of roads up towards the shopping mall place, if I hadn't have seen them on the way in I would have missed them altogether. It started to rain as I left the city and headed up to Loughborough , I didn't want to wreck yet another video camera so I found a derelict shop doorway that faced some of the bus stops and operated from there. Actually for a small town it has an interesting and fairly busy bus scene and I thought I'd kick off with that tonight for the slide show.

Looking at my post I lost out on several EBay bids , annoying was letting the Manchester at work 59/60 slip through my fingers but it made quite big money which Mandy wouldn't have appreciated. There were another couple of films that went as well. still I've got heaps to shift myself and the first ones I listed are coming up to end tomorrow. I've bids on just 4 so far. I'll try and get some more on tonight. John and Maureen Bishop arrive tomorrow afternoon, the weather looks bleak , I was contemplating a truck film but perhaps that will have to wait until Monday.