NEXT BUS SPOT ULTRA WILL BE OXFORD

Apologies that once again I skipped a day but time rather overtook me and we didn't sit down until nearly 8pm after catching up on jobs. We did the difficult task of covering the bits of ceiling which I'd missed. white on white in winter isn't easy and it took Mandy looking and directing the brush aka me to the correct patch. We've got some orange in a match pot from B&Q to try in the kitchen just a small section f wall around the back door which needs a brighten up anyway as the kitchen installation didn't reach my standards of acceptable finish especially on edges and areas easily viewed. We also went to the garden centre at High Leigh for afternoon tea and got some azaleas for the bottom of the back garden which will be behind the new spot for a bench. Today I put all the plants in and also fed the borders with plants growing. It is starting to look almost spring like despite a frost and freezing fog with plenty of bulbs up including crocus, snowdrops and the first of the daffodils as well as the primroses of varying hues.

I did some tidying up on the film clips I hold on file, now I've got so many films scanned and digitised I need to get them included on the archive database. I have redone half the Oxfiord material as there was an errant hair on the scans, the same or similar has happened with George Roberts Brighton views and the machine is buy on these at the moment. I'll go on to copy his Bristol ( with Blackpool) scenes later on. I've discarded some of the material gathered from all over if it isn't suitable for reproduction, only the very earliest shots now get included when the quality is very low. I've plenty of Oxford but not from my earliest video days so these ones I've now scanned from 1980 and 1985 will be useful bridging the gap to the 90's. I also need to get these archives on the shop as downloads. Indeed I've a few recent DVDs which need to be uploaded as digital versions. These are starting to take off slowly. The hits on Youtube are holding up, at minimum 50k a day, advertising plummets after Christmas as it is auctioned by Google depending on demand as to price it attracts, thus January is usually the lowest of the year which is a blow after bumper returns for December, paid in January.

I have just completed the minutes for the Polio Fellowship meeting and also this morning we had our non paid vicar from Knutsford supporting us at St Oswalds. I'm now looking ahead at the weather for the coming week as we decide on feasible destinations, Oxford may well feature in view of te next Bus Spot Extra from Oxford. I've a few others in mind such as material on London. I will ask my pal John if I can have a go at his film for a third time as we have transferred it to first Video 8, then Hi8 and Mini Dv and now scanning to digitise which is now far superior to previous efforts. For today I look at Oxford.