GLEDALOUGH ST KEVINS

St Kevins busesd at Glendalough on our last trip to Ireland with Mandy'sd mother, Berta.
Glendalough is famed for its beautiful scenery and historic monuments, but has also been a centre for pilgrims and visitors from the time of St. Kevin, (from whom the bus service took its name).
This is where St. Kevin,descendent of one of the ruling families in Leinster, founded his monastry in the sixth century. As a boy he studied while in the care of three holy men. During this time he went to Glendalough and lived, we are told, "in the hollow of a tree". He left the valley, only to return later with his small group of monks to found the monastry where, as the earliest versions of his life tell us, "the two clear rivers form a confluence". His fame as a holy man spread and he attracted numerous followers.
Glendalough flourished and many references in the Irish annals describe the activities of successive Abbots and visitors to the area. The monastry was the subject of frequent plundering, burning and rebuilding in its lifetime.The present remains in Glendalough tell only a small part of the monastic storey.
The monastry in its heyday would have included numerous dwellings, workshops, areas for manuscript writing and copying. The buildings which survive probably date from between the 8th and 12th centuries. The valley of Glendalough contains a series of carved and plain stones and crosses, some of which have marked stations on the pilgrim's route.
It was a happy hunting ground at this time for ex Southdown Leylanmd Leopards like these




























Mandy and her mum, by the way my mother Marion was born 11th 11th, 1920, sadly like Berta she is no longer with us. I did tidy the family graves at Southern Cemertary this week

I was in Ellesmere Port this morning at 11, pulled into B&Q forecourt for the two minutes silence at 11am, life was otherwise carrying on as normal, the motorway was roaring and customers loading cars, pity they couldn't spend just 2 minutes of their time contemplating all those past and present paying the ultimate sacrifice for their country and us. At the local cenotaph about 3 hundred had gathered and were dispersing when I passed a few minutes later. Got another large batch of digitised images to tweak.

It was busier on the net with orders but not that busy. Clicks on Youtube ads have gone up a bit and Chester clip seems to be taking a quick lead in recent uploads, all now at higher resolutuion.

ALLEGRETTA LEICESTER AND MEMORIES OF MARION

Mandy with our longest lived horse Allegretta, sadly missed member of our 'family'












Mandy with Marion my mother whose birthday was 11th November, remembrance day, so I never forgot it once.















me whale watching in Quebec, captain Pugwash?




















even Ireland has icecream days, Mandy with best friend Hilary












long time ago, not very photogenic that day were we










Mandy had one of her little falls today, grabbed at DVD copier on way down, it's now in for repair but Mandy is in one piece thank goodness.

More photo sorting, family and bus, then editing Leicester collection. EBay orders picking up at last.

LEICESTER ON THE PRODUCTION LINE

yes as promised my next set of UK retro releases will cover Leicester, I've had a couple of requests so lets see if anyone puts their hand in their pocket. Tonight I was helping Mandy sort out family photos, severe pruning required due to shortage of space. I also popped down to Southern Cemetery today and tidied up and planted bulbs at Hardy / Hastings family graves, all in good order I'm glad to say.

TRUCKING THROUGH TO TURKEY

no, not that Turkey, it's not Christmas yet. Today I managed to get quite a lot done including a spell in the garden before the Cenotaph service , after that I went up to the attic and rooted out a few thousand more photos of Kent and Sussex bus operators to bolster the stock ready for LOTS in a fortnight's time. I've got the covers done for the 3 Turkish tram and bus DVDs plus the truck film. Next on the agenda I'm rattling off the Chester film from last week. Next comes the Leicester collection, all my film of the city taken prior to 2003 when it was first released on DVD .Then its back to trams, Scandinavia and Netherlands look favourite. Then some preserved trucks and the start of a series on bus rallies past. Its still very quiet on the net, thought the post strike being off things would pick up, rather grim really, especially with yesterdays art outlay, still something will turn up I expect. Remember when you look at the you Tube trailers, click on a few ads, costs you nowt but helps keeps us going.

TURKEY TO CHESTER BY SEA

The latest addition to our little gallery and our Christmas present to ourselves, looks superb in the newly decorated lounge and really suits the position. Got it from Bron Gallery in Chester this afternoon. A few details about the artist:-

WILLIAM THORNLEY, R.B.A.British (Exh. 1858-1898)
William Thornley was born in England in the 1800’s. He was a painter of marines. He was a prolific painter of consistently high standards whose attractive views of shipping off the English, French and Dutch Coasts were exhibited widely during his lifetime.
The first question usually raised about William Thornley is the profusion of names which surround this most popular of English 19th Century Marine Painters. The artist's signatures also include Charles Thornley, Hubert Thornley, William Anslow Thornley and variations of Thornberry, his actual family name.
William Thornley exhibited at all of the major London venues including fifty paintings at The Royal Academy and fifty-four paintings at The Royal Society of British Artists. He was given the honor of being named a R.B.A. (Royal Society of British Artists).

Well it's all a bit of a come down back to my humble efforts, still quiet on EBay, with our sale and post strike off I thought it would be busy. I've now done all three long running Turkish transport DVDs from our 1998 visit, I'll update the list shortly plus Fraser our webmaster is updating the site generally and soon I'll be able to change things often myself.

PLONKERS AT YOUTUBE STILL DRAGGING HEELS

I hope this extra portion of Crosville hits the right spot with views. Tonight I'm finishing off Istanbul 1998, then through rest of Turkish trip, really wanting to extract the truck stuff from it.


The plonkers at Youtube still haven't sorted the problem out with the ratings which appear as just half of one star at my end, goodness knows what you see. They really don't care a damn about service just like Amazon whose site keeps crashing left right and centre as you try to register sales, ended up with a Filipino who couldn't speak English, what use was that!

I've put a sale on EBay so why not get a bargain Xmas present tonight.

WHAT A BUNCH OF RUBBISH AT YOUTUBE

some delights from Crosville BBC era from my digitised negs

tonight my Youtube ratings have yet to be restored, it is impossible to contact the bastards at Youtube, typical American ignorance, just like all the other sites EBay for instance which hide behind a labyrinth of websites. Anyway I've got all my Turkish material on the computer, mainly to get the truck stuff off but I'll do the trams and buses while I'm at it then move on to Scandinavia and then back to buses. Possible I'll tackle all pre DVD Birmingham DVDs.

BLESSED DIGITAL TELLY

some scenes from our visit to Vietnam some years ago, well our TV might as well be Vietnamese, anyone who has now suffered from the digital swith over has probably suffered from this stupid ill considered mess which has thrown televisions all over our region out of tune. After forking out for a digital television you would have thought it would have come ready for the changeover, we have just had to re tune for the third time today.

LIVERPOOL TO MANCHESTER

typical cover of Liverpool series, now on sale, see Amazon etc

some stills from last of the Liverpool archive series taking us to 2001 , then onwards all releases were on DVD

a last one from Saturday at the sports city stadium in Manchester for SELNEC 40.

Fraser our webmaster is going to update the site, clearing out some irrelevant material. Note that videos have been dropped now. We are working on all older material as per the Liverpool series. Next a couple of truck releases then some European trams and then our next series feature going back over? ( suggestions welcome).

Thinking of giving up 'Buses' advert, not very cost effective these days, could get full page in B&C Preservation for less than half in Buses. A lot of postal business today but net really is dead, if you want to order for Christmas do it now while it's quiet.

MORE FROM SELNEC 40

yes it was nearly orange with everything on Saturday in Manchester. Tonight I got nearly all Amazon listings up to date with new DVD releases from past couple of months.

SELNEC MANCHESTER GMPTE

by way of a change some PTE era shots from my own camera, I'll bring you the rest of SELNEC 40 tomorrow. Really glad we went to see the event on Saturday as on Sunday the weather was foul, well at least it was in Lower Peover. We finally managed to get the majority of the lounge decorating done and today the plumber is fitting the new gas fire. Should be completely finished tonight with steam cleaners coming to do carpets and settees on Thursday, then we can get everything back in place. Heard from my half sister Susan on dads side last night, hope to see them around Christmas time in Northampton.

I also got the remainder of the Liverpool DVD covers done and edited both Wrexham and SELNEC 40 celebration right through to DVDs. Some listing on E Bay and Amazon required. orders are still at very low ebb due to post strikes.

SELNEC ANNIVERSARY IN MANCHESTER

what a glorious day it was yesterday especially first thing in the sunshine at the Sports Stadium car park, today it's hammering down with rain, so glad I went when I did. A mixture of shots to portray a flavour of the proceedings at the stadium and Boyle St museum. A lot of effort on the organisers part at both venues so big well done all round. May even have YouTube clip on by end of day, still busy decorating.

A BOMB AROUND CHESTER YESTERDAY LUNCHTIME

some of the variety of operators in Chester although just the 1A decker operated plus schools duties. Took Alan Mortimer to Three Greyhounds last night, pleasant evening catching up. Today I was at the spire Murrayfield hospital all morning with blood tests and steroid injection in my knee to combat the continued heat and swelling. They had fun trying to get the blood out, trust my luck with me hating needles so much.

MORE MANCHESTER MEMORIES

here are some shots from untouched negs on digital in Manchester , early GMPTE era, typical of material which should be with our rally photo sales section in coming months.

all of which brings us to the SELNEC 40th anniversary celebrations this weekend at Boyle St and football stadium car park in Manchester , held over 2 days with lots of free services.

Last night i edited the last Liverpool DVD to bring us up to DVD released material, thus archive series in 6 volumes covers 1989-2001 ( 2002 to 2009 already on DVD), I do need to do covers for last 4 though. We have Alan Mortimer from Australia with us tonight. Friday night we start decorating the lounge, hopefully with gaps to go up to Manchester for the SELNEC running days.

Next I hope to get a couple more archive truck DVDs releases, after that I'm starting on Dutch videos following a request from viewers.

Still more material on Youtube, nearly all new releases now have trailers on site, I may go back and put some more truck stuff on as this is most popular, still not getting the hits from North America, how do we get them to look in more.

Cheshire schools either ban conkers or kids have to wear safety specs, safety mad Britain.

MERSEYSIDE MEMORIES

a taster from the first of the Liverpool archive series, these are actual stills from the DVD

not bad for 20 year old shots eh!

LILLE A WHILE BACK

one of the joys of having your negs on digital is the ability to share memories, these views in Lille were taken on our first long weekend away on the continent when the old street trams still ran

your truly posing in Lille

I've got a few hundred more photos on digital including a lot of Malta mid 1980s and Gozo. Last night i was on the penultimate Liverpool DVD, last one tonight brings us up to 2001, the following year 2002 was released on DVD.

THE RARE DOUBLE DECK BUS

some Manchester views taken last year really illustrating the proportion of deckers to saloons which remains quite good, in South Wales the decker has almost vanished , that situation applies in the Potteries and almost so in Wrexham where the double deck bus is a very rare animal.

last night I finished the Fourth volume of Liverpool archives and should have the whole collection up to our first DVD releases done this week. The coming weekend sees the 40th anniversary of the formation of SELNEC at Boyle St Museum in Manchester and also the SELNEC group display at Manchester City ground's car park.

We have rearranged all the lounge furniture to preview post decoration look, we were well pleased with our efforts, just the pointing to fit in with the SELNEC do at the weekend. We have Alan Mortimer ( Australia) staying Thursday night, then decorating can begin. I also got the cover for the recent Barcelona 1994 release on DVD done, just need to do the Liverpool ones.

IS WINTER COMING YET

with all the talk of Christmas it would seem that we were in the depths of winter although the mild temperature indicates that we have some time to go, from a year ago last April a reminder that even spring is unreliable with these shots at the Cobham bus rally at Wisley.

I made a lot of progress last night before watching Doc Martin and taking a few glasses of wine. The Liverpool bus archive is now up to 3 volumes and next I enter the digital film era which really speeds the download of material with it going straight into the computer. The Wrexham material from Saturday can wait until I've finished this Merseyside project so I have continuity of DVD numbers. I've got all the South Wales covers done so can carry out orders as received. Remember to visit everything on Youtube and if you do, click on an advert or 2 please, costs you nothing but revenue helps pay for the time and trouble loading it up.

REMEMBERING SOUTHSEA RALLY

if the weather was fine the old Southsea rally could be delightful, one of the earliest and longest lasting rallies which is sadly no more although the Stokes Bay event nearby should really take over the mantel as its in a similar situation. Buses once came from far and near, the promenade gave a really useful photo setting

today we've been very busy with gardening, tidying, pruning out rubbish, sorting through drawers, putting stuff in loft. Also I've just finished the third volume of Liverpool archives taking us up to 1995, the 2nd vol will shortly have a clip on Youtube

THE DAY I WENT TO WREXHAM

This morning i went over to Wrexham, being relatively close it was a suitable target on a grotty wet and windy autumnal day. Not a lot had changed since my 2008 visit, there was plenty of activity and very friendly drivers. Only chew i got was from a car driver, given that the road leads nowhere for cars I can't see what the arrogant sod was on about, he certainly wasn't Welsh that's fort sure, 'just what do you think your doing 'he asked, wonder how often he gets on up the bracket with such polite manners. Told him to piss off, anyway always someone to rain on the parade.

very busy at home , still trying colours out on the lounge walls ready for decorating part 3. I've finished the first part of the Liverpool bus archive, working on second volume now, clip loaded on to Youtube already. Cleaned the cars and tidied inside mine which was looking a but grubby after a whole line of rallies. First Sunday at home for ages, great to think no more setting up the stand until Cobham. The others at Lots and Boyle St are just table jobs.