BIRMINGHAM THE NEW POLISH SUBURB?

Whilst in Birmingham last weekend filming you couldn't fail to notice the extensive Nat West bank adverts to attract new custom all in Polish, meanwhile near the main centre bus stops Orbis travel coaches were loading for trips to Poland.

Mandy has to go to hospital again next month fort an MRI scan although it's a bit nearer this time around.

Last night I finished all outstanding covers for DVDs and made a start on putting recent releases on E bay. All orders are being sent out by return of post at present, a good time to order if you were thinking about it and we could do with the money to pay for the trips!

I also did some work on the forthcoming overseas trips including Sardinia, Switzerland, Burma etc.

COVER STORY- MOODY BLUES

Well it was a long hard slog last night but before retiring rather late to bed I'd printed off the masters for most of the Australian trip DVD covers , still a couple to do and those for half a dozen other releases in Dec / Jan. In between Corrie etc I also got the DVD for Birmingham finished. I hope to get everything on e bay as well this evening.

Where do we start next, perhaps the tracking scene beckons, lots of hits on You Tube, I'm also musing on attending a truck event with the sales if I can get enough truck DVDs together.

I've been listening to a couple of Moody Blues CDs in the car, weren't they good although Tom my mate Big Dave's dad used to cringe whenever they came on telly or when we started singing along!

The trip to Islay / Jura is now all booked likewise Ireland so that confirms
Belfast
Dubvlin
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Ayrshire Coast

THIS YEARS EVENTS AT PMP

This weekend has been very busy, at last I finished all the Australian DVDs, tonight I will finish most of the covers and start sending out the orders for them. Close behind will be our Birmingham visit. I need to get all this lot on e bay as well.

We then spent time looking through the rally calendar and trips. At Easter we'll have our now traditional trip to Scotland which will cover Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ayrshire Coast etc. Then we travel on to Islay and Jura, no so much a transport trip but we rather like exploring islands.

Other trips confirmed take us to France ( twice), Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg.
Trying for Sardinia new tramway and the trolleybuses. Also hoping to get to Porto.

UK visits with long weekend trips to East Anglia and South East plus London, S West, Isle of Wight, Midlands, North East, Essex, Shropshire to name but a few.

Next December we intend to visit Calcutta, Dhaka Bangladesh and Myanmar ( Burma).

After clearing the present backlog we'll again start on redoing videos to DVD.

BIRMINGHAM SO FRIENDLY

Well its been a busy couple of days, Hil is out of hospital and back home in Ireland so that's good news. Mandy needs to have an MRI scan on her knee which she injured last December, otherwise nothing came out of the St Thomas' visit.

Today we had our first UK bus outing of 2007 which took us to Birmingham, must say to the last person everyone was so friendly on the buses and no hassle filming. On the word of customers we headed to Solihull, great bus content but a nightmare for filming, probably better in the spring with higher sunlight.

When we got home I went out and refelted the garden shed roof which had come off in the gales the week before. Another skill I've now added. Must commend Bridgewater Hall booking office in Manchester, they just get better all the time unlike most other booking operations, friendly, efficient and quick. Also worthy of commendation was Nat West, unlike me to praise a bank but they've come far over the years in service.

Editing the Australian programmes continues apace, just Sydney to do, the first orders are rolling in. We are working on the years itinerary and rallies, trips etc.

FREE FREE EVERYTHING IS FREE, OFFER CLOSES 22nd JANUARY 2007.

http://www.skylineaviation.co.uk/buses/events.html
This is a link to my favourite transport rally event calender, most of the 2007 events are now listed including the new location for Cobham. Everything will be in one location this year as the museum premises are closed for relocation.

If there are two things I hate in life, they are B&Q hardware stores and Paypal who are as useless as E Bay! I think E Bay should take over B&Q it would be a marriage made in heaven.

Mandy should be back home from hospital tonight, as usual I was inundated with orders while she was away, still good for business. It's bitterly cold in Cheshire today and Mandy had snow in London this morning.

I've got a few of the Australian films finished and am now pasting extracts onto You Tube for all new productions so you can have a free preview of whats new.

WOLLONGONG BUSES AUSTRALIA NSW

Although Mandy is away for a couple of days down in hospital at St Thomas's in London, its always good for business as I was swamped with orders today! I suppose we'd better start putting Australia behind us and looking at the present but some Wollongong sights to keep us warm, our favourite steel town in NSW ( next to Newcastle).

SHEFFIELD ON SEA

The Australian Sheffield or Scunthorpe, Wollongong, not back eh! Afternoon on the surf beach, I'm at the bus station behind.
The Pakistan decorated Melbourne tram, Mandy got it, I missed it while in Hobart, yet another black mark for Tassie
The Rocks Sat market at Sydney
The Bondi Explorer of STA at Circular Quay.

The fence panels have been replaced but no roof felt for miles so that will have to wait.
Mandy will be at St Thomas's hospital for a couple of days now.

PUNCHBOWL HURSTVILLE BUSES NSW SYDNEY

Geelong for such a large town ( trams long gone) has very few buses, two main operators operate a spartan city service with no bus station to speak of. Of course Melbourne with its trams mean that buses there play second fiddle and even the Victoria line coaches have vanished underneath the new railway station.
Getting buses in Melbourne is quite hard, I tried the suburbs but timetables at weekends and over holiday period are useless. No timetable information to speak off, most drivers speak little English, no enquiry offices although at least the public transport map shows all operators unlike Sydney where there is just a void after the STA bus area!
Parramatta, around 100 degrees, what a arsehole of a place, we got held up by the lone Ranger and Tonto, some kind of home guard outfit, 'are we tourists?' Yes, ok so what are you filming? Buses, ok then. Then a driver wanted to know what we were doing although turned out friendly, said STA didn't like people taking pictures of their buses. Then we nearly got mugged, police nearby didn't want to know, Oz cops worse than even Brits. Got the hell out of the place, amazing how poor many parts of NSW are, dossers in every shop door overnight, people picking butts out of bins, soup kitchens, not the paradise a lot of Brits imagine!
A side trip to Vietnam, namely Hurstville out in the southern suburbs with Punchbbowl, at least the Asians usually like having photos taken, a few darker skinned guys but they also warmed to our waves and smiles then a car had a smash with a 'Securicor ' van, actually other way around, the van shot off without exchanging details, typical.

The problems forwarding via the web site have been overcome by Fraser our trusty Webmaster!

Hilary Cavanagh is in hospital in Ireland, everyone is sending get well messages and phoning, as the next ward has MRSA its difficult for even Sean to visit!

AUSTRALIAN PMP TRIP BUSES GALORE

I suppose this was about as good as it got in Tasmania, the day trip to Hobart was dogged by poor weather, the driver of the tour bus was friendly as was the lass in the internet cafe, otherwidse other than a wave from a lady driver they were the most unfriendly bunch of Australians south of Parramatta. Livery was a bit uninspiring as well but most Oz bus liveries are a bit on the all white side
A day in Tasmania was more than enough. Two bus companies run out of town services , one is part of the municipal operation the other also runs the airport shuttle. No public transport proper to the airport though.
back in Melbourne at the Irish pub near our Saville apartment hotel which was pretty good.
One of many independent operators buses on Saturday rail replacement services in Sydney, quite a variety of vehicles and close to our hotel on George Sr, another Saville, small but not too noisy. We saw an Atlantean on the last day, I presume from Tempe museum.

BEAUTY FROM AUSTRALIA

A few Melbourne tram shots, early Jan 07.

Today I had a bit of a clear up in the garden we've lost felt off the shed roof, another job to do but got the lawns mowed, not the first time I've done it in January though. Also tidied up, gave up with the fencing repairs still too windy.

Today I finished the West Midlands bus archive, programme 1445.

Friend Hil Cavanagh in hospital in Ireland.

SYDNEY NOT A BUS IN SIGHT

Sue took these Sydney views while Mandy had a rest and Dave was out on the buses

MORE AUSTRALIAN BEAUTIES

A rolling road across the Murray River


The progress from Victor harbour, holiday crowds on the causeway horse tram then east where we stayed at Merton Manor at Warrnambool, a friendly place with a hospitable local bus company then onwards east to Geelong before hitting Melbourne. Lots of Great Ocean Road pics to come!

YABTREE BEST PLACE TO STAY IN AUSTRALIA

Well Barbara Streisand must have liked it although she made her own omelet, we didn't need to do that, Fiona and Wolf looked after us so well. The Horsley family have lived on the station since the 1850s, now dad has retired Fi and hubby Wolf are in charge of guests. Fi owns the local chemists and works there three days a week while Wolf tends the cattle, mends the fences, cooks the meals etc. This hard working couple have a superb place that they enjoy sharing with guests. We had candle lit dinner down by the river under a sky of a million stars what a memorable evening. The quality of the rooms, furnishings, linen , not to mention wine and food is top notch and highly recommended. Near Wagga Wagga just off the main road between Sydney and Melbourne, we have vowed a return visit!

COLONIAL TRAMCAR RESTAURANT MELBOURNE

Always a favourite night out, we had to book nearly a year in advance though, this was the full evening meal, our 4th trip with them and we were actually dining on the most recently restored car.
Today we had the sad journey to attend Mandy's auntie Kaths funeral down in Coventry, the last of her mothers siblings and a great gathering of the Hardy clan from Manchester, Anglesey and Manchester.

KANGAROO ISLAND THE LAST SHOTS

next we'll move on to Victor Harbour after these scenes on Kangaroo Island

ELECTRIC OUT STORMS NOW GONE

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CensusInfoFreed/
this is a link to petition UK government to release the census info within 70 years rather than the present 100 which would greatly help genealogists amongst us.

We were battered by the storms yesterday and lost electricity for many hours, it came back on about 11pm, just a few fence panels gone so we got off lightly!

HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING THE AUSTRALIAN UPDATES

Meanwhile I thought I'd better let everyone know whats happening right now. Well at present we are getting battered by strong gales and a friend is stuck in snow near Glasgow. After getting over the worst of the jet lag I'm back on the West Midlands archive feature with just the Midland Red scenes to add and then by the weekend I hope to have finished the sound as well. Then I will start on the Australian material, hopefully sometyhing like Darwin/Adelaide buses, Trucks incl road trains, a couple on Melbourne Trams, another on Adelaide, Sydney, Victor Harbour trams, one on country area buses, one on Sydney buses and another on Liverpool/Paramatta etc, there may be more, oh yes one on Hobart, Tasmania.

We have one trip booked this year covering France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Belgium, another will cover other French systems. A possible to southern Poland.

Other work ongoing with family history, my autobiography etc, phew!

ALL OZ PHOTOS NOW ON DISC AND READY TO POST

after leaving Adelaide we took the ferry to Kangaroo Island, about 115 miles long, third largest island after Tasmania. Full of wildlife and spectacular coastal scenery. We stayed at Kangaroo Lodge Hotel at American River where we spent New Year.

Koalas have pea sized brain, and spend most time sleeping, one fell asleep half way across the Great Ocean Road and motorists had stopped and were trying to coax it awake and to move aside from the highway!

Glenelg probably justifies its own little section here, what a delightful spot if a bit hectic with traffic at times
The Glenelg terminus looks very different with the new generation trams

We now have literally thousands of photos from the Australian tour, I promise I won't bore you with them all.