Struggling to keep going, the kitchen and bathroom are lined with every potion known to mankind, I did sleep better last nuight but only because I took a sleeping pill. We went to Boots the chemists in Knutsford but other than inhaler / chest rub vicks stuff they couldn't bring much to the solution. I have downloaded the next 10 16mm cine films only I've also lost two, the masters are still there but very annoying as to where they vanished transferring to the external memory to bring down to tyhe office. I'll get the EBay side done first and then 'worry' about Youtube afterwards, actually it's doing a lot better now. I suspect its the people on hioliday who are hitting the adverts and are catching up on my uploads. Tomorrow should be a truck film day, not sure where I'm going to head though, not up to anything too challenging and my heads full of fuzz so I don't want to drive far or in the dark. I can't see any redeeming fact about winter, colds, dark, miserable, damp yuc. I'd better phone up the ticket people and see if they got the form I sent down to Middx for the Indian rail tickets seeing as they haven't rung me yet, what a complete pain getting Indian railway tickets has turned out to be.
I stayed at home today and made a lot of headway with tasks in hands which included listing a lot more of the cine films for sale on Ebay, there were no orders at all on the phone or in the post for DVD so perhaps a quiet start for tomorrow morning but today was busy as usual and Mandy droppesd the popst off and went on errands such as banking and shopping and then to Cousin Trish at Sale near Manchester. With my cough and sore throat etc we thought it best for me to stay away as Trish hasn't been that well of late. I got a lot more photos trimmed up and filed plus loaded to our Smugmug still photo sales shop with direct links from this site. I've also loaded a lot more films and trailers to our Youtube site and n this site updated the DVD list. The years filming has almost finished for buses we did most things envisaged at the start except the Isle of Wight, Channel Isles and Orkneys so plenty there to carry forward. We are intending to spend some time at the major lorry events mainly Gaydon and Kelsall both in June. I'm not so bothered about the bus rallies, there are so many that we'll select perhaps 10 which should be ample coverage. Thankfully the heap of cine films to be gone through is now very small and the backlog of still images to be filed is smaller but a lot still to do some from 2015, it's really what takes my fancy but it seems daft filing 2016 when there are previous years to get done. We are on dietings days Tues/Weds this week which doesn't leave much socialising time, a few presents still to distribute. Our thanks for the many Christmas cards received, I need to collect them all up tomorrow morning so the cleaners can get around, there is still a pile of pine needles from Mandy's fall into the Christmas tree. Here are some of the latest DVD releases, all being well if it is dry and or bright on Thursday I'll be rounding off the years truck films. Well an early enough start without being silly, Mandy went off swimming as well. I was in Bangor by 8.45 this morning in time to catch the back end of the morning rush hour bus services with a few I might not of got later on. No hassles other than cars parking where they shouldn't and the weather although starting out an unwanted bright there wasn't enough height in the sun to be a problem and it soon clouded over. I got Mandy's Christmas card in M&S at half price then had coffee at Nero near Debenhams which hasn't got much of a cafe, Cafe Nero had hot fudge seasonal cake with cream and sensible small Latte cups. There was a fair mix of operators about as good as it gets these days. Next it was time to head west to Caernarfon where the light was spot on, the temperature hovered at 10/11 with no wind at all so it felt very pleasant certainly no need for hats, scarves etc but it is supposed to be going colder and then stormy by Christmas. I had no hassles filming and was so at ease I had a stroll around the castle walls and estuary etc, not a tourist in sight, languages, Welsh first, second Polish third and not much English and they sounded southern. Really Express rule the region now in this part and Arriva connect to the west. The long distance Welsh services Traws Cymru are I think now joint between Express and Lloyds although few services have had a history like this mish mash. I've got another batch of the 16mm films loaded on to EBay for auction and will attempt to upload via Chrome as Firefox crashed 4 times yesterday. reeting from Lower Peover after a very long busy day when I woke in the early hours with raging sore throat which has hovered there all day. I tried to get a whole tranche of copied 16mm films uploaded together with Rotherham and Doncaster clips on Youtube, this time it was Firefox which let me down, not just once but three times so had to give up as other things were more important. I have actually got the next 10 films lined up as well but there it is. Tomorrow looks as if it will be the best bus filming weather so I'm doing the North Wales coastal locations possibly Bangor and Caernarfon as Llandudno always seems to eat up a lot of time for little reward. I'll give you Youtube links to the trailers for latest releases but these are low quality on purpose to try and get everyone to order the full DVDs which it is all about and even then if just viewing the clips please refrain from using ad blocker apps, the revenue on the channel has gone up this month but is still less than three years ago despite a dramatic increase in viewers all down to these wretched app things. I did start to trim up the Doncaster photos ready for filing as well as editing the 16mm film clips which are now queuing. Then it was time to go round to St Oswald's for the 11 o'clock family communion service when I'd be reliant on others as I had been given no keys, none turned up so a quick dash to the vicarage and got the vestry key, the bell ringers were rumbling by this time, anyway we thought hardly anyone would be there as it was the 9 lessons and carols tonight but there was a good turn out. So did all that I needed including setting up for a christening which wasn't in Jane's diary. Then more of the film and aborted loading and time for a quick dinner and back for the big one at St Oswald's when I was very thankful to retired church warden Rodney who is the gent with the very early motorcar so we have a few interests in common. I did the first reading, did the procession in etc and collection etc etc, then after counting the money went to join the rest of the gang at the Bells pub for David Tredwells 80th birthday do although he doesn't look 60 never mind 80.. Mandy is going to get up at same time and go swimming while I head off to Wales. The DVD orders are all done for her to drop at post office. Welcome to tonights blog from the verdant green fields of Cheshire in North West England we greet our viewers, customers, friends and relations from across the world. Well done friends the hits on our Youtube channel are increasing and may we remind you please don't use advert blockers as its the adverts which pay for these types of channel without which you'd just have commercial stuff and none of the exotica that you are expecting. Thus tonight we take you to the wild lands of South Yorkshire, away over the Pennines where the sun never rises and people scratch a poor living from the filth and squalor of this outlandish and little know territory of Yorkshire called Rotherham. Marvel at the sullen faces, the people of many races, the poor standards of well being, the e cigarettes and real ones as well, the pock marked faces, the excruciating hell this is it, cinema verite with PMP. A trip to the bus station in Rotherham makes Syria and Yemen seem like an afternoon in Heaton Park( mind you thats not saying much!). Also today we started to edit ( and finished) the two South Yorkshire bus DVDs although I must do the Rotherham cover and list on our shop. We filled in the forms to get our trin tickets from Mumbai down to Kochi, a difficult task it has proven and then started to list more of the 16mm film for sale on EBay plus put more clips (overnight) on Youtube. A few more orders came in later today after the last of the weekend post had gone, they'll go out first thing Monday. On this subject we shall be closed from Christmas Day through to the Thursday, no material will be sent out at all in this period as we have a family funeral in Sussex after Christmas, we'll be back in the PMP office on the Friday before New Year. Up until next Friday all orders will still go out the first available post. We have a trip planned to film buses in North Wales and perhaps some trucks along the line next week. The 2017 'hit' list will be up soon, lots of important locations coming up in the new year including Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds etc. Lets start tonights pictorial section with shots in Rotherham ( you have been warned). Yes the cunning plan came together today although we stayed up and watched through the news to catch the weather before bed which meant it was about 1.30 before we got to sleep and the alarm was set for 6am. The satnav took me over the M62 which is usually horrific especially leaving it as late as this with a 7am departure but in the event it was a very straightforward free flowing run and although the M60 section around Manchester is still all roadworks there are now 4 lanes opened just awaiting signage I suppose anyway that was enough to sort the traffic out and i was in Doncaster just before 9am. There are still a few First buses in the old livery, not so many sightings of that these days and they didn't seem to get an overnight wash so alongside Stagecoach First looked particularly tatty, nothing new there then you may say. It was perfect light, cloudy but not too dark and plenty of buses about although the choice of locations isn't always brilliant but in cloud you can pretty well point the camera in any direction. After finishing off in Doncaster I rang home to see if we had the date for the funeral in Eastbourne but Suer was still here and the girls were busy packing up the DVD orders. I then carried on to Rotherham which saw me caught in traffic on some motorway I was unfamiliar with then the sign posts were different to the satnav in what direction Rotherham was, I tried the signs but it turned out to be the opposite direction, weird but it is Yorkshire after all. So eventually I rocked up in the town and after ditching the first car park as extortionate charges I used the multi story which was half the price and empty above the bus station, strange as the car park at Doncaster was also empty. The bus station is a lot less hassle these days since they sacked some of the jobsworths and other than a grumpy old devil at departure I thought all the drivers at both locations had been friendly. The composition of Stagecoach and First is pretty well the same at each with a small dollop of other smaller operators especially in Doncaster but nothing like the old days. Rotherham is by far the worst of the two, it would be interesting to compare this duo with Wolverhampton and Walsall as to which pairing is the worst, I think overall it is the South Yorkshire ones which are worst but not a lot in it. The satnav bought me back over Woodhead which being a Friday afternoon was a crawl for miles until I hit the M60 then it was OK for rush hour. The new A556 road is getting very near completion, you could see the link to the new section almost as a continuation, I guess a week ends work and road closure will see it completed. I'll start with shots from Doncaster, there was a chap with a camera dangling over the railway bridge, I know it's a bit of a railway centre perhaps the trains are more interesting or cleaner than the buses! Having probs with pictures, given up! A quick post tonight as it is getting late. I copied some of the 16mm films to the EBay shop and will post clips on Youtube over night. A great night out, friend Sue joined us and we dined at the theatre, it was the usual December opera this time La Vie Parisienne Offenbach operetta - great fun , splendid production at the RNCM, Manchester. I'm just going to check out the weather for tomorrow to see if my Yorkshire film trip is on go or not.
Even Santa would have struggled with this sack, the huge pile of presents presented by the children and congregation of St Oswalds, Lower Peover was transferred to the Salvation Army at Northwich this afternoon. A builders pallet sack full and we hope that everyone remembered to mark them with age and gender as we heard tales of tiny peeks to ensure a good match between presents and children. A salutary reminder that not everyone in our area will be comfortable this Christmas was the queue of those awaiting hot meals from the Salvation Army. The top photo shows the gifts being unpacked after hauling them up to the store room which was well filled with gifts and food from the caring community. The sad news was that my Auntie Thelma passed away yesterday, the last of the four 'Shove' girls from Old Town in Eastbourne. Here is a picture of Thelma at my mother's wedding by her side taken at St Mary's church, Old Town. She had enjoyed good health other than hearing difficulties but was beginning to struggle despite her desire for independent living. Into her nineties she enjoyed her family and had good neighbours, a fall last week preceeded a short stay at Eastbourne DGHl where at first she responded well to rehydration but sadly she died with her daughter, my cousin Ellie close at hand. I was cheered that I'd spoken to her only a couple of weeks back. She lost her first husland seen below left due to injuries sustained in the war and later married Des. Sandy her other daughter very sadly died of cancer far too young, a loss that Thelma was never really reconciled with. I am starting to edit the 16mm cine films, the last of which I copied yesterday. I'm going to finish 10 at a time.
Two events today, firstly after working late last night to clear the DVD orders I was able to join the Advent walk from St Oswald's Lower Peover to St Lawrence's Over Peover, a bit sticky under foot and slippery in places but on this very mild sunny day and with good company it was a very pleasant stroll and certainly focused the mind back on walking and perhaps my next trip will be in Derbyshire, possibly a recce for next summers walk from St Oswalds. It was a quick dash home or rather walk home then cleaned up and hosed down my boots then getting ready for the St Oswald's lunch at the Golden Pheasant at Plumley which now boasts a porch in addition to all it's other rebuild improvements. Great to see some of the 'old' bar team in action and great company washed down by a bottle of Merlot and a glass of J Lees Christmas ale which is better than most such ales being not too sickly or heavy. I'm now back editing the copied 16mm cine films, the first batch of 10 will be uploaded to Youtube and put up for sale on EBay, they include amazing gems like colour in Dublin 1940's, Hong Kong colour pre war, 1956 English mobil fuel economy run colour etc. |
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