LONDON TO CHINA VIA RUSSIA

yes lots of influences at work on today's blog but first my dip into the archive takes us to London in the RM era. I've uncovered my oldest Irish photos with half cabs in Dublin around 1979 - 80, these will form just part of a huge archive of stills covering the majority of the CIE fleet at the time plus some N Ireland plus railways.

We are hoping to have three days in London giving it a good old bash in the spring. Meanwhile I'm editing the last of my Russian trip this evening which brings me up to date with latest film work and work which was underway when my equipment crashed. I'm looking at the Four Oaks catalogue this evening with a view to ordering up my spring seedlings for the greenhouse.

Over in China my friend Li has a lot going on in his life which I can't publish here but some general observations on the New Year festival from his email last night

Li wrote 'It is the third day of the Spring Festival in China today. It is going into the fourth day in some minutes later now.
I had very good time during these days. On the New Year's eve after we had dumplings we watched the Spring Festival Gala till 1:00 o'clock the next morning on which day it is also the first day of the Spring Festival. Of course as a traditional custom people began to ignite the plaited cannon from zero o'clock till morning continuously. Even some family couldn't wait the New Year they began igniting the plaited cannon on the Eve.
We had about four and a half hours rest then we got up early in the morning as a tradition. After we had some dumplings and some soup we went out to visit neighbours, friends and each others on the road we met to say :"Happy New Year!" with a smile or a salute with their hands on their chest but not a hug like western.If we were in our hometown we had a very big extended family and we should visit elders. My some younger fellow apprentices and I haven't forgot visiting our master Mr.Fu together. Of course we also went to see our master with some gifts several days before the Festival.
On the streets shops are all shut and everywhere the crowds are flowing. Their clothes especially the youth's and children's are new. Occasionally we might see one or two balloon vendors. But it was different from the first day more small stalls appeared in the streets in the second day and days later. We'll finish the Spring Festival after we'll have spent the Lantern Festival. So I think Chinese Spring Festival is the longest festival in the world. '

Well I'm off to Bills funeral tomorrow morning, its still cold and miserable here, got a lovely brochure on exotic luxurious cruises which would have been nice if we had scooped the £56M lottery win.

SORRY TO SEE HERNE BAY GO MEANWHILE NIAGARA

A trip rom many years back to Niagara Falls, honeymoon destination and all round tourist draw for Americans and Canadians alike. Routemasters provided transport, also seen is Mandy with our friends Margaret and John Bromley.

It was sad news to hear yesterday that Herne Bay Bus Rally for 2010 was off, hopefully it will return next year, it was one of the best small events we attended and has left a void in mid August. Last night I filed away master video tapes after entering on the database, this went back to last autumn. I've almost caught up with editing, just Wakefield to finish tonight and the Russian film which was almost complete when the old system collapsed. Next target is the Southampton collection of all pre DVD releases . I'm going to start looking at HD video camera today, also weather eye open in case we get any 'scenic' snow as forecast, probably means dry and sunny. A very quiet day with not one order whether post, phone or Internet, at least Mandy got a rest. I also got the latest round of adverts submitted to magazines, remember we ditched Light Rail as uneconomic, it's all on the net anyway. I've pretty well finalised the Balkan trip in late August to Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, waiting for confirmation from Net Flights.

The path people are coming to look at pricing up fort a refurb on the drive etc and looking for someone to put fascia on a grotty piece of plastering below front window. House still technically on sale but no takers in three years so getting on with jobs which have accumulated, wish we'd picked up the £56M on Eurolottery.

LEICESTER WELL RECEIVED

it seems that the Leicester youtube clip was well received don't forget there folks to click on an advert or two each time you visit to makes all the effort worth while, it won't cost you a penny. Here are some shots from the uncropped digitised negs from a visit quite a while back.

Tonight I'll have Barnsley edited through to DVD, may even get as far as Wakefield. Need to update the Amazon listings to suit, not really bothered about EBay as it costs me a fortune putting stuff on there. At least Amazon pays for postage. Then I've got the rest of the old Russian trip to get finished. I also need to log all the piled up master tapes onto my database. Work not too busy now, it's Bills funeral Thurday so that's an afternoon out of the week. My father's mouth pieces are on the way back, going to get them together with his medals mounted.Getting path people to quote on recoating drive and paths around the house, all looking a bit jaded.

BARNSLEY PHOTOS YESTERDAY

a few shots of Barnsley from yesterday, the town has some mitigating features such as the toilets in the bus station, life save and no-one to shout at you for having a camera these days, what a change. Then the arcade of shops and all the cafes and a nice art gallery in one of the clothes shops.

Wakefield has a farmers market alongside the bus stops outside the market near the bus station. Really you may as well go on a day trip to Uzbekistan it's so different there, the language is hard to make out, worse still on the buses but that's just Polish.

Anyway today it's been a case of yet more catching up on the editing, rapidly getting right up to date and most of the Youtube postings done as well. I've been decorating today in the bathroom and lo9, fin indeed you say. Then it was outside to clean the cars and finally fill up the recycle bin with dead vegetation. Nearly time for the annual seedlings and must get the greenhouse washed inside and out ready for that. Anyway ready for a soak in the bath now and then some nice roast beef from the meat with picked up in Ludlow last week.

IT WAS YORKSHIRE DAY

yes we got to Yorkshire and caught up with the bus scene in Barnsley and Wakefield. Although the camcorder battery didn't appear to have charged which looked like bringing proceedings to an early halt it did actually last until I'd captured both locations. No hassles at all and met some enthusiast friends opposite the bus station in Barnsley. All the drivers without exception were very friendly. The weather was freezing cold, I learnt my lesson at Barnsley and for Wakefield wrapped up warm with hat, gloves and scarf, much better. Plenty of activity at both place.

I'm presently still working my way through the backlog of DVDs which needed editing, each is having a clip on Youtube as usual although the length seems to jump as I extract it from Premiere editing timeline. The Ross on Wye truck clip is on Youtube now. I've also updated the list but this is changing every day. When the list is cleared I'll start on the Southampton collection pre DVD , all on to DVD. Studying HD cameras with a view to upgrading now I have the editing capability.

SANDTOFT ROUND IN CIRCLES

some shots of Sandtoft trolleybus museum near Doncaster where the beautifully preserved trolleybuses from Reading to Glasgow go around a short circuit then fir an extra bit of excitement are turned around to go the other way. In fact the ever decreasing circles amply illustrates the thought processes of this self absorbed outfit whose insular and negative attitude has done little to encourage interest in what many of us find to be an inspiring and exciting hobby taking us to many distant corners of the world

anyway onwards and upwards and I'm gradually getting through the backlog of DVDs needing compilation , although no expert I'm on top of the editing and getting to grips with Encore in Adobe. Work has finally settled down a bit and it looks like being a much more relaxed weekend for me. I'm not sure of tomorrows film destination, await the BBC weather guess after the news before I attempt a sensible option, if it's anything like last week the promise of cloud will be bright sunshine or vice versa. Jobs looming include decorating in the bathroom and loo on Sunday, that will be exciting won't it. Still no sign of particularly bad weather, it'd just been so cold in Cheshire.

FRANTIC WITH MELBOURNE MEMORIES

here are a few more shots from the archive put on digital, all I've had time to do

its been really hectic at work again today, I was out on site at Stanlow most of the day and barely had time to breather, the knee has started swelling again. I've got to see the foot chap for inserts at Chester tomorrow. Heard friend Li in China today , looks like he hasn't received my New Year present yet, still at least it was good to break the silence. Still awaiting a funeral sate for Billy from the three Greyhounds, its pub night tonight so should hear something, looking forward to a drink. I've got the Adobe manuals printed out and bound. Had success last night with developing DVDs on Encore and now Birmingham DVD is ready, I'll try for another before pub time. Lots of catching up to do, it took 3 reloads to get Youtube at correct settings.

I LIKE A GOOD TRUCK IN MELBOURNE

Melbourne truck memories a few years back now when they went straight through the city parks

At last I made some progress last night with DVD system, Manchester disc now done, includes new trams, hope to get Youtube uplift done tonight then move on. Still chaotic at work but days go quick. A bit of snow fell near home but nothing serious. Still bitterly cold in the wind. Mandy is out tonight with ladies who 'swim'.

DUBLIN CIE 1980 MEMORIES

another dip into my CIE files from around 1980 , digitised from original film negatives, those Saturday afternoons on St Stephens Green sleeping off a bottle of plonk after shopping at Marks in Dublin before the train journey home. Hardly a druggie around then, just IRA rioters!!

Well the computer problems go on, tonight we are running system restore not so good when I've hardly done anything on it, I couldn't get the DVD authoring software to stay on, it kept locking up, grumpy Simon at Siren males you feel guilty for ringing them up, Nigel is really helpful though. Anyway I'd steer clear of Premiere pro and Encore if i was starting over again, surely it should work better than this.

Still hectic at work, booked hotel for Devon trip end of February, will catch up on Plymouth after it's sale.

STUFF ADOBE ENCORE

Some more shots from Shropshire, this time taken at Telford last Saturday

I've overcome a couple of problems with Adobe, at least I now have the output monitor in colour instead of black and white, that took a bit of doing. Next I need to be able to do DVDs, after several very frustrating days I'm ready to put the lot in the bin, stuff Adobe and Encore for editing. So far its been nothing but hassle and I wished I'd looked elsewhere. This is the second time I've used Siren and had problems getting to grips with DVD authoring. If I don't get somewhere tomorrow they can have it all back, for £2,500 you expect better than this.

Still very hectic at work, it's been a really crap weekends one way and another and this week has just started as bad.