Today as promised I visited Leamington Spa and Nuneaton, I think I've now got them out of my system and will revisit 2020, I thought I may create a look ahead list for places that don't really warrant yearly visits and these two certainly don't but I seem to forget in between and then a year on go ahead and get bored to death. Leamington was the better of the two and the weather was more constant cloud as expected although it was threatening to break through with sun and more mild than of late. Nothing new since my last visit, traffic despite leaving home before 5.30 am was still staggering, standstill through the Midlands as ever.

I was wrapped up there having a coffee by 1030 then the grind through Coventry to Nuneaton where the weather was edging between cloud, sun and rain, a bit of all three. I was ok in my usual spot opposite the exit from the bus station then a post van went through the rising bollards and the whole thing went up the creek, the bollards never rose again but the loud message saying bollards rising beep, beep,beep just went on for the rest of the afternoon so I had to move down to the roundabout and get my shots of them coming out past the car park. It's a dreadful place, a very few friendly drivers bless them, some very dubious characters about, not much English heard. The traffic back looked awful, I was a few minutes short of what I wanted but needed to get on the road as I have my course at Chester on a Monday evening and have dinner about 5-5.30.

Tomorrow is still up in the air. I did get some of the plastering done when I got back so the decorating could be said to be ongoing albeit slowly but weather looks worse as the week goes on so maybe a chance then meanwhile out filming when I can. Photos Leamington.

I really am completely shattered this evening, an early start although we didn't get back from Northampton until nearly 11pm last night, had a super meal at a new Thai restaurant in Northampton with my sister and brother in law and a good catch up on news. It was the first of our Messy Church sessions at St Oswalds, vicar Jane and myself, we got 23 people there which was probably outside our wildest expectations.  Here is a photo, next time we want the mums and dads more engaged in the activities plus some more helpers and some older people who can take part and help younger people with the craft activities. It was a lot of setting up and tidying for Jane but i think well worth it. Then it was a dash back from the school to church to help my oppo warden Keith although we work pretty well as a team and I will miss his companionship in April when he retires after his 6 year stint but I hope will be there to assist when it gets too hectic. 

We cleared the lounge today ready to start decorating. We have nobody coming to stay so no rush, we have the paint and all the brushes etc just need to gt some holes filled around the new wall lights but time went by so much this evening as I had a mountain of DVD and cine films to shift, I've left the last couple for Mandy just to pack up in the morning. I'm going to do the Leamington Spa and Nuneaton trip put off from last week.We have the plumber tomorrow servicing the boiler and gas fire. It's also my course at Chester tomorrow evening but well on top of that and some top tips to save time for the next round. I'm not sure how much the DVD rush will last into the week, as Buses mag just came out I gues it might now be the real start of the Christmas deluge, it's good that we only have one commitment this week at Clonter Opera for an afternoon of Joseph Locke. Here is a shot of the congregation for Messy Church this morning.

Now some shots from the bridge on Plumley Moor Road last Friday, about 4 mins drive from home and our latest truck DVD.

It gets a bit boring I know to say I've been busy as I am always thus so but we do have a lay in until we wake up if we aren't going filming or on trips. Today we did start to get the lounge cleared ready for decorating, we have already taken down pictures and paintings and all the ornaments and plants which like everything else which we can move will go into the dining room/library. I did nip out this morning well lunch time really to get some truck footage on the M6 as I've a lot of truck material which needed a top up to get it to the hour, in the event Id did a full DVD worth plus enough to finish the other so by tomorrow there should be two more truck DVDs made. We are going out to dinner this evening, probably to The Dog at Over Peover which always does us proud with food and drink having some top local craft beers.

I had my weekly meeting with vicar Jane and tied in for the Messy Church at St Oswald's well actually in the adjacent school, Jane has got all the craft materials but had got stuck when trying to get the Malteser towers made but I managed it with hot water I think it needs one to melt the chocolate but then to cool quickly to stick and remain solid. I think we know what we are doing and hope that we get enough to feel comfortable with our first attempt, something of a milestone for Lower Peover which tends to be very traditional in it's church services. I'm supposed to be searching out some films Chester Diocese has made about activities in the area, must start straight away or I'll forget. I've already submitted my course essay and read a short book one of my fellow students mum has written about being forced into having her baby adopted i the early 60's, most was familiar and unchanged to what happened to my birth mother Pat in the early 1950's.  Our evening slide show was I think up to York so time for Harrogate, don't forget both these new bus DVDs are on the shop pages. Tomorrow we travel down to Northampton and visit my half sister and husband and have a thai meal so probably a little late back for blogging, we'll see how it pans out.

A sudden change in the weather outlook seen on the BBC at 11.30pm last night meant that I abandoned plans to film Leamington Spa and Nuneaton today. This had a good side as I managed to get a number of jobs done including getting all the weeks film on DVd and covers made. They are all on the shop right now ready for Christmas presents, I know the York and Harrogate DVDs are particularly awaited by several people. I managed to get my course essay checked through and submitted it online this morning. I completed the minutes for the Polio Fellowship meeting last week.

We went and purchased the pain for the lounge at B&Q at Northwich, got a match for the Farrel and Ball colour we selected. While we were there we looked for grout repair stuff as the bathroom and downstairs toilet have bits which need touching up, looking at a box on a top shelf half a packet came down with grout dust everywhere including over my new coat and hands but it brushed off. I warned the assistant and he despite what i told him crabbed the same box with the same broken packet and became immersed in it just like me.

I've a course meeting with vicar Jane tomorrow afternoon earlier we plan to get the lounge dressed for decorating. Lots of china to move and furniture to shift, then holed to fill where new wall lights were fitted, we were going to do this in 2015 but Mandy had a fall and it has languished for two years, can't believe we are tackling it at last. The blasted black cat which we keep getting in the garden grabbed a ground feeding bird this morning, radical solutions on cat elimination are required. I'm still having awful problems loading material to Youtube, their crawler keeps zapping my bus stuff as not advertiser friendly, I just reload and see what happens. Photos from York yesterday

All set for my trip to the West Midlands tomorrow taking in at least Walsall and Wolverhampton, Walsall being the easiest of the two to cover with it's two bus stations which aren't connected and reminds me of Belfast in the troubles when the republican area buses were in one side street along with their many black cabs. We had the highest hits ever in one day over the weekend well over 70,000 on Youtube and the revenue rose to suit but falls as the week progresses. I've changed over to my winter coat so hopefully I'll survive these arctic temperatures but hopefully Wednesday and Thursday are looking good as well so progress on the bus DVD front, lots of goodies for Christmas. I think about 20 orders went out this morning as the rush builds.

I had my IQ serviced today, no problems well they listed about 20 but not surprisingly none were urgent or effected safety or performance just a good way of trebling the bill. I'm at college at Chester this evening, our group is doing the catering tonight, honey cake and milk being my contribution. I've spent the majority of the day other than car service and DVD packing doing my course essay which is the first fully marked piece of work to go in. I'll try and get some more clips on Youtube as I edit the forthcoming bus material and bring in some archive truck stuff for a balance. The boiler service hasn't happened again, rubbish no service at all. The police helicopter is thrashing through the sky above us yet again the joys of being near the M6 motorway. Photos I'm trying to file we had West Midlands and we had York, what can I dip into then tonight, why not Vietnam!

So I'm right up to date now it's taken most of the day although I did manage to get my new coach trip archive done as well and then moved on to getting the DVD orders ready and then got Amazon updated which was fun as they have messed around with the bulk loaders yet again and then finally EBay which is just a hard slog one item at a time. We are out at Clonter Opera this evening so not a lot of time to write, I want to try and have a half hour read of the papers before I get changed. It's a big day at church tomorrow, I'm laying the wreath for Remembrance Sunday although I'm also at the morning 8am service and we are having a visiting choir for Evensong so thats another I'm going to do so I'll have the treble up.

I had a long session going through my course work with vicar Jane yesterday and I hope tomorrow afternoon to get some more done on the essay and perhaps share with our Reader Ann on the theological reflections I need to write up, the more the merrier as they say. On Monday it's car service so need to get that dropped at Altrincham, then the course in the evening. I'm keeping an eye on the weather and hoping to get buses filmed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with York, Harrogate, Walsall, Wolverhampton,West Brom plus Oldham, Bury and Ashton. maybe Rochdale all bobbing around in my sights. Here at the covers for the latest DVD releases, remember vall on all the shops right now.

Everything turned out all right on the night as they say and using the projector and screen fixtures at Plumley village hall we had an audience of over forty people and I think they enjoyed this look back at the Swinging Sixties. Such was the ease of showing that I would be happy to mount another show there anytime. We were fortunate in having our friend Felicity on hand who explained that the time bar could be dismissed by moving the courser away from its proximity, lo sand behold that worked, such a tiny piece of info which she advised was via her children, as it is so often I gather. Today has been damp, windy, cold and gloomy and that's looking on the bright side.

We waited all day for the chap to come and service the boiler, nobody tuned up or returned our calls to find him, we'll be looking for an alternative but registered plumbers are hard to find and I certainly don't want to go down the Polish route.  I had my course meeting with vicar Jane this afternoon and before we knew it it was teatime, we have now switched on the central heating having given up on any service happening today. The gas fore also needed attention, new batteries to the flicker. Not a lot by way of DVD orders today although there was a bagful to go off this morning. I'm not sure what the sum raised from the film night was but it should be around the £400 mark in benefit of St Oswald's pew removal for access. At ice cream interval last night George bravely fended off the hungry audience and the bar also did good business, in fact as the photo shows stocks got low but nobody was turned away.

Clive bending down on left was the observant prize winner for my cunningly dastardly question of the evening spotting that the air hostess in the opening film worked for Hunting Clan Airline. To end a slide show from my day atop the Peaks outside Buxton.

At last progress with updating my bus coverage, Halifax was first, needless to say the weather forecast was a bit wrong, the rain came three hours early mixed with sunshine, some nice rainbow effects. It took me nearly four hours to get finished then I had a pile of hassle getting the car park paid, there looked to be constant queues at the car park by M&S as they had put in new pay machines which just weren't up to the job in hand. Eventually after getting the manager and threatening to call the police they just raised the barrier and let people out. The route to Bradford with the Sat Nav was much better than any timing I'd ever managed, about 15 mins, it took an hour on the bus once.

Although it was a bit damp it was more like a light drizzle at Bradford and up opposite the bus station entrance it was easy pickings to get a good start to the coverage which I finished off down by the town. It took just two hours to get enough for a programme which was magic as it left time for a brew and got home in time to get all the DVD orders cleared. Although there weren't that many orders all were for multiples discs but we got them all away. A lot of church related emails buzzing around and found I am a trustee of an ancient charity for the parish poor by virtue of being church warden. I'm just running off the days film ready to start editing, I need to get the clips off the truck materials I did yesterday on the A57 Woodhead route, if its still looking very sunny tomorrow I might head off and do trucks yet again. Looking at Friday or Saturday for York/Harrogate or Keighley. Photos from Halifax this morning.

Normally the truckers are brilliant but I encountered one of the very tiny band of nasty devils today while filming at the roundabout by Tescos at the start of the A57 Woodhead route. That aside it was a difficult start to the day as the roads to cross the M6 were all gridlocked, traffic going north was at a standstill and the phasing of the Jnct 19 lights has gone out of sync yet again. I was thinking about buses at Oldham but ended up just going as far as the A57 as it was so sunny and I needed to get back in good time as its my college night at Chester and we have dinner early.

We've managed to free up a weekend to go and stay with Ian and Miguel for three nights, my only Sunday off this side of Christmas. We booked a few concerts so all booked up through to year end now. Just about to get the IQ car booked in for a service. The weather tomorrow still difficult so I'm going to do Bradford first thing with light cloud I hope and then Halifax which has a bit of brightness but mostly cloud and a little light rain in store. The post office service this past week has been shocking, it's years since so many things have gone adrift but at least they seem to be catching up even if we have had to send again perhaps an early Christmas rush. The slide show today from the A57!

Below are shots of the uninspiring vehicle I got a mouthful of abuse from

After a very busy day I had just settled down tonight for a glass of wine after dinner then the phone goes, can I have a list of your DVDs, its on the net, haven't got a computer, what is it you are looking for,old lorries, name,Fred,address, postcode, wrong, check net,get postcode send print outs, oh happy day. Now where is that glass of wine. Fireworks on a Sunday night, never in my day, how times change. After officiating at two services and getting the toilet door sorted and failing to get lights fixed eventually got home only to tackle the rewrite of section 2 of my first written marked assignment for my university course at Chester. Completed at 6pm, word count spot on first time and just needs a read through. Then a couple of weeks to complete the next sections before submitting, fingers crossed then. No time for transport, no energy for it.  I've also been given a sheet to compose, write and print on our fund raising Christmas Showstopper Weekend for December. This Thursday I do a film show at Ellesmere Port for the Polio Fellowship then in the evening the whole film show  'The swinging sixties' shown as a fund raiser for St Oswalds.. I think we about 35 tickets already sold or booked. I'm expecting about 45 but hoping for 50 and no magnifying glass logos appearing.

This week I am still hoping for York and Harrogate on Tuesday, tomorrow Monday possibly Oldham, Bury, Rochdale whatever. Then Friday who knows even Halifax and Bradford. A truck day Wednesday Wakefield or Lincs somewhere along those lines, I hope the BBC get it better forecast than last week. Mandy went for her flu jab yesterday, I gave it a miss. The car needs a clean, so does the PMP van. Still getting hassle with Google on Youtube, they even withdrew advertising on a Immingham clip which they'd picked off , then took down entered metadata whatever that is and reloaded to no avail, its on for the third time in case you think I'm going even more barmy keep uploading the same things. A few more hits last two days and revenue is heading up again, perhaps its been a holiday week somewhere anyway school half term is now finished so buses should be normal again. What on earth can I bring you tonight, something different perhaps, oh band thanks for the super comments coming through on Youtube shows what an active viewership we have and always happy to help if I can. I've got a vintage coach DVD planned so lets go on a coach trip