MORE FROM NORFOLK

Anglian seems to be a much bigger player on the Norwich scene these days
some surpring now vehcles for the smaller operators
afterwards some family history, just browsing the cemeteries of families associated with my Vincents, the Andrews, Mayes and Bush families had grave stones marked, some super locations near east Dereham, we visited East Tuddenham, Mattishall, Yaxham, Scarning and West Bradenham all around tea time before we set off and then stopped off in Leicestershire at the village of Hallaton for a pub dinner, very nice to.

Today I've edited two DVDs , ready now is Merseyside, just yesterdays to follow then the covers to make, orders already coming in. Don't forget the book is now in stock, I'm sending out flyers with all orders.

We had a rehash in garage this morning, much tidier now, all the DVD stock is in new boxes, slightly smaller but easier to stack, the old ones were no longer available. We'll use the best of the old ones to establish our Trucking stock, ready for trick rallies next season, we are still looking for someone who wants to establish themselves helping us on this side.



The weather was wet again, as usual, over the road the new tenants in the rented house take off their car wheels and mess with them all day, Malcolm in the bungalow does it as well, I must be missing something, is it a vital maintenance thing, I've never seen anyone else playing with wheels all day?

LATE BACK FROM NORFOLK

a bit of a mixture from the last couple of days, back very late from Norfolk last night, its a hell of a trip, easier to get to Australia than Norwich but first view in Liverpool Thursday
lots of open toppers around Liverpool
lots of new buses in Norwich, the sun did eventually appear.
open toppers inn Norwich as well still happy hunting ground for smaller operators, the best visit there for a few years I thought

EASTBOURNE DAVE IN ACTION REAR VIEWS

The Thamesdown / Swindon visit a week ago, remember Sunshine, what a treat

rare shots of Dave in action by Rob Gibbs of Sheerness.
another bust day, very humid, dull. I finally got the Syrian transfer done and rattled off the Brighton DVD, tonight hope to have Eastbourne and Malta done but out in the garden in a minute while its dry. Last night I was at Three greyhounds, bikers night but outside, thousands of bikes in car park, they took the disabled car spaces which rankled Mandy. George round the Mere, Richard Guinea Pig man and Alec Jock moan a lot in attendance! Landlord looked happy with taking from bikers do.

ANOTHER GLOOMY DAY BUT ITS LIVERPOOL

Salisbury last Friday, almost sunny, wow!

Swindon is done and Eastbourne and Brighton will follow in quick succession then I'll do Malta and Liverpool before starting on John Bishops trip to the Netherlands. I'll pop a copy of my book on EBay then those who want can order from yet another route, signed copies are of course available, let me know any particular dedication you want.

Hi folks out in Kyoto, Japan, not sure who it is but they are sure regular readers. I'll try and put a few more clips on YouTube, tonight I usually get dragged off to the three greyhounds about 9pm which puts paid to any editing late on, life's a bitch eh.Most sites still say book not out till 1st Sept but I've oodles of copies fort you.

Nearly time to start thinking about Christmas adverts for magazines, still no sign of summer, given up on days off this weekend, forecast best to east so may do East Anglia or Peterborough, who knows. We have attempted to book for Sheffield Meadow hall rally but its proving difficult. In Liverpool got stopped by Arriva Safety officer who asked why I was filming buses, although he certainly had no right, authority etc he was pleasant so I didn't mind, I suppose I could have wound him up by saying I was from the government and we were banning their fleet of old bangers, well bit past their sell by dates, still the others don't look that sparkling, not one 08 reg bus seen.

Hassles getting part payment through to travel agency in Syria for Octobers trip, wouldn't bother again, even if its good what a lot of hassle. Our friends in Guangzhou are going to meet us whilst on our China trip next Easter.

NO TIME TO STAND AND STARE

Another busy week with awful gloomy weather, looks doubtful if we'll get away as planned next weekend if the sky doesn't improve, another chance the back end of the next week before Heaton park rally. A wonderful loan of some amazingly rare 1946 footage received this week from a contact at Lathalmond, Manchester Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Liverpool, an Auckland transport authority trip to the UK, although what they expected to see goodness only knows, just 15 minutes from 16mm originals, amazing transport footage, my favourite was Manchester Piccadilly and Hyde Rd bus depot.

Another kind gesture, a friend from Kent spotted me at Eastbourne, Robert Gibbs took some rather splendid shorts of me camera and buses in a nice composition hopefully reproduced with this blog.( file too big)

We also met friends at Brighton earlier in the day. At the FOT at Hellingly a Maltese camera crew were making a documentary ( in the rain). This has provided a possible contact for more developments in Maltese material.

Last night I put the 1946 material unedited onto DVD for the owner, that took up a lot of the night, also finished plotting on some ancestors on Mandy's family tree. Caught up with some television and cut the lawns, stacked my book stock into the study and had a snooze.

Tonight I hope to get stick into some material from the weekend. John Bishop has kindly let us use his latest video from trips to Netherlands, Malta and Switzerland plus updates on Sussex which we can combine with our own material to give extended editions, John has captured many locations around Eastbourne plus Lewes and Uckfield.He was on the intra Express tour of Netherlands a couple of weeks ago and they saw numerous museum trams and the new Randstadrail lines plus all the usual street scenes and behind the doors depot views.

The Maltese coverage includes Gozo which I haven't done for quite a while.

Demand for the book looks like being steady, many of our customers have expressed interest, remember its not a bus book at all but my life story ( so far!) , warts and all.

A SMUDGE ON MY LENS AVAILABLE NOW

Eastbourne Saturday afternoon

A very busy weekend, we finally arrived home after midnight on Monday hence the lateness of the blog which PI prepares at work this morning. We travelled down to Wiltshire on Thursday and despite terrible weather en route it cleared up nicely as we arrived in Swindon and were treated royally by the Thamesdown management and entertained by Stuart Curwen our usual contact who ensures everyone possible is in a suitable party mood. Not only Thamesdown but also Stagecoach drivers seemed on top form and with lots of changes since out last visit the resulting programme should be of interest to many viewers.
It was lunchtime and we were due to collect sample stock of my book from rye Cromwell press at Trowbridge, it was too late to go to Bath as we had originally considered so we got to the print works around 2 pm. Horror, they had dispatched all the stock to the distribution agent, thankfully it had only gone 10 miles away to the carriers Frome depot and was recalled back with 30 minutes and we extracted the required stick. We stopped off in Salisbury on our way east and left there about 5 pm arriving down near Brighton before 8pm. We were up sharp and started filming in Brighton Saturday morning first thing in clear blue skies albeit a bit chilly, this was followed by Eastbourne, Mandy sat on the seafront, blustery but still sunny. There weren't many Cavendish buses around at the weekend but a good selection of Eastbourne's fleet, remember its all up for sale at present. Almost ghostly thinking about the years I'd stood there camera in hand and even back to childhood, hard to think that the worlds first municipal operator had ended up with a sad looking fleet mainly second-hand or more and up for the highest bidder. But also salutary to think that in 1903 someone was seeing his last bus and recalling the horse transport and the infernal combustion engines which scared the horses so. Saturday night was spent with John and Maureen Bishop and family at the Hellingly Festival Of Transport, in the beer tent no less. The next morning it was grim weather for the book launch, with dire weather and small attendance we made a start but only slow, still wee had got there at last and with good company the day passed, Tracey entered the lady and vehicle competition with her mini and 80s dress, the sun came out finally this late afternoon although there were few onlookers left. A meal out ion Sunday at Ardingly and then an early start Monday morning ( bank holiday) over to visit my sisters near Fareham in Hampshire where an over indulgence in cake and food in general has left my a little more rotund and aspiring to diet like mad.

SUNDAYS POST IF YOU CANT WAIT

Inverness last Saturday

a rare one for fire fans, rest at Lathalmond last Sunday

SATURDAYS BLOG NO PEEPING BEFORE THEN

all Inverness last Saturday

FRIDAYS BLOG EARLY

Aviemore
the rest are Inverness, all last Saturday

GOOD OLD SUSSEX BY THE SEA

Nowt so important this weekend as the BOOK!!

Berwick last Friday afternoon on way to Lathalmond



Aviemore depot, experimental ticket machine bus? Outside old Highland / Rapsons depot, last Saturday

I thought I'd better focus on getting our Syrian Visas sorted out this week, the form was a bit vague and it asked for a letter from employer, difficult for Mandy, I hesitate to put PMP ! I phoned them, very nice lady who said it is just a formality and they are very flexible and not to worry too much! Still its another thing to get sorted.

Well I hope you are all going to try and make the effort to come and see me at the book launch at the Festival Of Transport at Hellingly in Sussex this Sunday 24th August. We'll be under cover in the marquee so no matter what the weather throws at us, possibility of doing a live reading but I'm not sure if I'll have an audience. Its taken a few years sweat and blood to get to this stage, I've also got some flyers to send out which people can either order direct from or request gifted copies to friends and loved ones ( enemies perhaps if they don't like it). The actual publication date remains 1st September but you could be amongst the first to get a copy, I'll be doing the bus devotees launch at Heaton Park in September and Showbus for the southern counties, late September, remember though it isn't a transport book, just one bus photo, well another does have buses in it, well what did you expect. Then there's me as a bonny baby and innocent school child, so cute, wonder where it all went wrong, yes buy the book find out for yourselves.

Perhaps you'll get a double dose of blogs from Scotland which will keep you going until I get back next Tuesday with tales from the weekend. It was late last night when I finally found a batch of cine films I'd borrowed from John Bishop then tucked away for safety as I'd forgotten to give them to him at Cobham in the spring. It's been such a long time, I'd better remember to go and tidy Marion's grave at the cemetery in Old Town, she would have been proud of the book and waylaid everyone with it produced with a flourish from her handbag.

I'll have Lathalmond's cover ready tonight, I've already had a flurry of orders for Inverness. There are enormous changes about to happen on EBay which is a pain I could do without but we are going to upgrade to a higher level shop and should have more visibility on the searches although shop inventory is going to vanish, just sell it now status. Multiple item listing may save relisting every time I sell, its at no extra cost, in fact the more I list the cheaper it will be relative to the present position on EBay but there is bound to be all sorts of traumas.

We are travelling south in Mandy's car and whilst with John and Maureen I hope to cover a large quantity from John's video output this season including recent Netherlands visits with heaps of museum tram and trolleys plus current scene. Don't forget I welcome comments and feedback ,
our e mail as ever dave@pmpvideo.fsnet.co.uk

The web site http://www.pmpvideo.com/