Wednesday, August 25, 2010

BLACKPOOLTRAMS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN

remember the classic tram Sundays at Fleetwood, well these scenes won't be repeated even if the event does take place again in 2011. Anyway an inconic few years coming up with the anniversary and then the new light rail cars and depot. I forgot about the blog last night as it was so hectic gettting all the DVD orders out of the way and packing, checking in online etc ready for my departure today to Tirana. Martin Rickitt and I will then travel on to Kosovo, perhaps the very first transport enthusiasts to cover this the newest country in Europe. I did as promised get the New South Wales archive done and a clip on Youtube. So thats it unless I can get on the net on the trip , so have a super August bank holiday if you are in the UK and I'll be back probably Wednesday next week. Remember the new website is very up to date
http://www.pmpfilms.com/

Monday, August 23, 2010

TALES OF OLD AUSTRALIA REGENTS TO TITANS ETC

these are all stills from the new PMP film covering buses in NSW Australia in the early 70s which in bus terms for the UK equivalent read early 60s. There are some fantastic shots and tonight I aim to have the sound completed and a clip on Youtube, bit all those down under are sitting at the edge of their chairs, it won't be just bus enthusiasts that this will appeal to, historians and transport fans of descriptions will admire these quality long shots by Alan Mortimer of Perth Western Australia who has a life time in the bus industry . Other things , well no new on the fate of the Three Greyhounds yet, Mandy leaves early tomorrow morning, I leave Wednesday morning. Orders will have to hang on till we returnn but everything received tonight will be in the post ok.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

MEMORIES OF HONG KONG BUT WELL ON WITH NSW

out of the archive hat today some Hong Kong shots, the link being that our good pal John Bishop will soon be calling by there on his way to Oz and NZ with Intra Express group, lets hope he has better weather than we had on the way back from our China trip last year. So whats the news on NSW, yes I'm dipping my foot in the archives again, this will be the first on my new editing suite so wish me luck. Alan Mortimers film of Sydney and around NSW starts early 70s onwards, some very classic shots of the iconic Sydney decker and in their after life with contractors in Newcastle industrial area. I don't think it will be before I go to the Balkans. Listening to Gold on the radio, playing hits of 59, I know because I was there as the Welsh bard once used to say. WE had a huge record number of hits on the new website last night 178, really taking off lets hope we get orders coming through to match. I did some weeding first thing after a brief lay in and read of the Times, sunny to start but clouding over, strange to be at home at a weekend. pulled muscles in my back doing the Sainsbury's Polio Fellowship collection yesterday but I hope no serious damage. My packing is all done ready for departure on Tuesday

Saturday, August 21, 2010

LONDON BUS ARCHIVE PHOTOS AND LATEST EVENTS

a random dip into my London files of scanned negatives for today. Its now gone really dull, the birds are clearing the seeds rapidly, ready to restock every few hours, they'll have to fend for them selves after Tuesday when I fly out to Albania. Anyway this morning I went with Mandy collecting on behalf of the British Polio Fellowship at Sainsburys at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, really generous people there who gave readily and by the time my two hour stint was dine the tin weighed heavy in my outstretched hand, don't tell anyone though as I don't think all this fits my image. We are taking it a bit easy this weekend after the hectic couple of months although I'm not sitting still and PMP orders have been flooding in. The new website http://www.pmpfilms.com/ is getting an incredible amount of hits, 146 yesterday alone, three time our old average. Hope some of it translates into oders. We are approaching 2M hits on YouTube. There is another PMP sale on EBay . I've got lots more items on links to the PMP shop from the list on our website, you pay with Paypal just like EBay, all our latest issues are up. The bag is packed for my travel, got it all in a small hand baggage sized roll along to save my back strain. Last night we were down at the Crown again in Lower Peover with more regulars from the closed The Greyhounds of Allostock.

Friday, August 20, 2010

AN IRISH BUS MEDLEY TONIGHT

think of a link, oh yes Mandy is off to Ireland next Tuesday when I head off to the Balkans, anyway a random dip into my own Irish bus archive for today and think of Ireland we may think of drink which takes us to the Crown at lower Peover where the refugees, customers and staff were bedded down for the evening last night. The Three Greyhounds closed on Tuesday night and is now shut up pending the brewery deciding what to do with it, once a farm it has been a public house for a good many years now and is pretty ancient really. Now owned by Heineken the S&N houses don't have managers just tenants. The Crown was it's usual frosty self where customers battle past family to get to the bar, come to think of it neither Simon at the Greyhound or the landlady at the Crown did / do much to encourage punters. Alex from Goostrey piped up last night that he never did like the beer at the Greyhound, so why did he go there for so many years. Bernie the bar manager's birthday tonight so Dianne has got a cake and we'll pop round to the Crown to see them this evening. Our friend Sue is with us and we'll have a nice roast lamb dinner before settling down to Corrie. Eh its nice being British sometimes.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

RECENT PMP RELEASES AND SAD NEWS ON THREE GREYHOUNDS

first off some unashamedly advertising snaps of recent releases, by tonight I will be up to date with all current filming onto DVD. Today I went with Mandy to the Alexandra hospital in Cheadle about her continuing Tennis Elbow which the consultant said was best left a while longer to see if it cleared itself before going for an injection.
The bad news came yesterday evening when George Crompton phoned to say that our regular pub the three Greyhounds at Allostock had shut without notice. This has of course thrown the staff including Dianne George's daughter out of work and our regular Tuesday night haunt has gone at present. A temporary arrangement for regulars to meet at the Crown in Lower Peover tonight which is just around the corner. Can't say we were that surprised as the Greyhound landlord had little interest in the place, its not the first time it has had sudden upheavals. The Crown in turn has a landlady who is a little too much in view. The birds have nearly emptied all the feeders in just 24 hours, refill tonight dependent on the heavy rain stopping for a few minutes. I hope to get some material uploaded onto our website shop.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

SCOTLAND LAST WEEKEND

some sunny shots at Dundee Saturday afternoon or lunch time and then the new bus station approach at Dunfermline on Saturday morning. Today I popped down to the Southern Cemetery in Manchester to see if work had started on the family headstone refurbishment but nothing had happened as yet. I was fairly busy at wortk and when home got the Fife DVD ready, cover to do and then I should also have Dundee wrapped up which brings me up to date with current material. I need to get all the new stuff on my website
http://www.pmpfilms.com/
the number of hits is up in the hundreds, I've asked our webmaster of past Fraser to see if he can put an auto divert on from the old site. I've got a whole raft of bird seed our tonght, they've never had so much to eat, tried varying the diet to attract different birds. The release of the wills registers on Aincestry has allowed quite a lot of detail to be added to most of our family trees, Mandy's were millionaires of their day, wish there was a bit left now. I booked a few events at theatres through the autumn season, adverts all in place, next thing will be thinking about Christmas, in fact our annual French trip ( ex Booze cruise) is now in October.