MANDY WOUNDED BUT IN COMMAND OF THE BUNKER

Well Mandy certainly is feeling sore today, ice packs and heat trying to reduce the swelling in her knees and this our busiest period of the year, hopefully all will be well for our visit to Ireland next weekend. I've made a start ticking off my model buses in a stock book I bought at Boyle St, so hopefully I can add to the collection without duplication in future. Lots of goodies to put away on the shelves! ( Shhh don't tell Mandy). Playing around tonight with my new software and deck to copy vinyl records to CD via computer. Back to business tomorrow night, starting to edit first days of Manchester, Sheffield, Croydon, Birmingham new generation trams,

A GREAT WEEKEND AT MANCHESTER BUS MUSEUM UNTIL...

Dave Packer our stand neighbour and Boyle St , purveyor of vintage transport views and countless anecdotes, or was it anecdotes told countless times?

We had a really superb weekend at Boyle St, great atmosphere, good two days trading, masses of friends, the time flew by. We got home Sunday evening and the wind swept Mandy off her feet on the path, twisting both knees, hurting her ankle etc, just praying that it hasn't done any lasting damage. Last night it was a real pain getting the photos on the blog but all seems well, some more photos taken this morning.

BOYLE ST BUS MUSEUM MANCHESTER

This weekend its been the Manchester Boyle St Christmas Cracker at the bus museum, on the way up to unload Friday afternoon it was kicking out time at Whalley Range, the girls in school uniform were vandalising the bus stop outside, other passengers stood by seemingly unphased.
At the museum a good day, lots of friends met, great days trading, outlook wet and windy tomorrow so come along and help keep the place warm, some photos from todays event

WARRINGTON MEMORY LANE AGAIN BUSES

Someone remind me what my fourth picture was all about, a strip from an early trip to Warrington, I also did my first video there. The others are a bit more obvious, it really was a good spot in those days. I finished the LT trolley bus film after tea, car loaded for Boyle St, rendering some images before copying, perhaps I'll be able to put a clip on You Tube tomorrow night. Also sent out news letter re direction to blog etc.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING AND SOME MEMORIES

This blog shows that I've now cracked the issue of scanning and printing / archiving on disc my original negatives and at random a couple of views in Rawtenstall , Lancashire in the 1970s, it was reel No36 so one of my first attempts at bus photography. As promised an old PMP Christmas card this time showing an golden oldie Sheffield scene. Last night I finished the views on the Bus Marque LT Trolleys, doing the soundtrack tonight after I've packed the car up ready for Boyle St. The You Tube posting seems to be getting quite a few hits, hopefully I'll get the trolleys on it at the weekend then I'll start on Birmingham, Manchester, Croydon and Sheffield tram launches which are oft demanded on DVD.

YOU TUBE UPLOAD SUCCESS

As you will have already read we played host to our webmaster Fraser last night. He successfully overcame the problems I'd faced uploading on You Tube and you can now find a 10 minute except on my You Tube site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL8ZnTNnUf4

My editing equipment is 3 years old and this is a lifetime in computing, thus it didn't have MPEG 3 and 4 which is a requirement. I have to export the completed film then encode it and finally load onto YouTube, all worthwhuile when you see the quality achieved. Even my rubbish attempt with grotty Leicester shots on poor quality image scored over 500 viewings and the very brief Truckfest clip got rated 5 stars. Fraser also helped set up a bulk loading system for e bay which should save time and blood.
Talking of which I could have strangled the daft so and so's who have blocked off our motorway access at night, taking Fraser back to Preston we ended up on the M60 then to M61, only prob was the M60 was down to 1 lane at Trafford centre, a frustrating late night run, but the trweacle puidding was scrumptious last night.

GREATER MANCHESTER ARCHIVE COMPLETE

Great news, I managed to get the film on Greater Manchester area buses finished last night, an hour of nostalgia from circa 64 - 81 including municipals, L United SELNEC and GMPTE eras. I await the rest of John Bishops archive film to complete the outstanding London Country production and intend to do a few easy films covering Sheffield, Croydon and Birmingham tram launches in the next week before embarking on a WMPTE area archive feature which will have lots of previously unused footage. With the latest editing software and DVD the archive material real does loom many times better than when first released. Putting realistic sound tracks on could last forever so there is usually a compromise somewhere along the line.
Tonight Fraser is looking at the You Tube downloads an our web site design. A rough night with more rain, still mild. Christmas cards on the go, some photos asap I promise.

AUTUMN CLEANING

A busy day on Sunday getting the GMPTE archive sound sorted, still at leas one more evenings work required but broke off yesterday for some food and wine with friends. Today I popped to Southern Cemetery at lunch time and did an Autumn clean up on Mandy's family graves. Tomorrow our web master Fraser is coming down from Preston and hopefully will sort out the problems posting on You Tube and update the web site. Mild but windy weather kept us awake last night. In to work at 6am, very busy at present.

PHIL AND HIS HARMONICS

ok you have to be of a certain age to get the title, anyway with John off sick we had plenty of room to spread ourselves out at the Bridgewater Hall last night for the BBC Philharmonic concert which was being recoded for BBC radio 3. An evening of French 20th music some of which was amazing and some hard going, the orchestra under the ever enthusiast almost bouncing. leaping command of Yan Pascal Tortelier.

What about jam and Jerusalem last week on telly, what a load of wasted comic talent, xceratinly no latter day Dads Army.

Anyway today I hope to make a start on the sound track for the GMPTE area archive, visit the garden centre, have friends for lunch, finish adding to e bay from yesterday and be up early tomorrow as I've a very busy week in my 'proper' job. Phew

WORKING HARD FOR MANCHESTER ARCHIVE

anyone remeber the old Trans Lancs rallies in the 70s / 80s which ran in Bury, still going but now ends at Heaton Park

Well folks poor old John Bishop didn't make it to Cheshire, laid low by a bug, so I've been busy getting on with the new film Bus Bus Archive Greater Manchester, the pictures are complete with just the sound to add, to get you in the mood I enclose some suitable pictures from the eras covered and a hint as to the next archive

GEOFFREY MORANT SAD NEWS

Message received yesterday

On behalf of Richard Morant, it is with the deepest sorrow that I have to tell you all of the death of his brother Geoffrey Morant at 0900 today, 23rd November 2006. As I know he was in contact with many other people, would you please inform as many mutual friends as possible to make sure the word is spread as far and wide as possible.

As soon as I know, I shall send a further e-mail announcing the date of the funeral.

Mike Davis

Geoff was one of the founders of Buses Worldwide and as a tribute I have entered details as per the BWW website, the magazine is very professional and the quarterly Maltese mag is proving very popular
Dave Spencer

Latest update: 10 October 2006 Click on date for recent changes
Buses Worldwide is an international association of people interested in bus operations and manufacturers in all parts of the world. We are semi-professional in that our membership includes people who work in the transport industry for operators and vehicle manufacturers, in government, consumer or interest groups, are journalists or consultants, or are simply interested lay persons.
We publish a full-colour bi-monthly illustrated magazine which covers news and features about buses from countries in all continents, which is now in full colour.
We organise meetings and international visits, for example recent trips have included Cuba, India and Italy.
Members can join our exclusive eGroup to share news and discuss issues of international interest.
Also available from Buses Worldwide:
Maltese Transport News
Quarterly magazine featuring the latest news and historical coverage of all aspects of transport on Malta and Gozo, including operators of scheduled and unscheduled bus services, ferries and other transport past and present on the islands.
Bus Services In France
Regularly updated Cd-Rom covering régional, départemental and urban buses, with details of each network, routes, fares, photos, maps and fleet information where available. There are background notes on how bus services are organised in France and details of the principal operating groups.
Interested in what we do? Please explore these pages and if you want to find out more, please email us. If you would like to join, go to the membership page for details of our subscriptions and a membership application form.

PMP Work in hand
I was very busy last night working on the new regional bus archive programme with about a third of images trimmed and the whole hour on the computer. A lot to go so fingers crossed that I make it for Boyle St. John Bishop was due this weekend but has been taken ill, this might mean a delay on the London Trolleybus film also the Best Ever London Country. Hope you are fit again soon John. Looks as if I'll be writing Christmas cards instead of sinking Guinness

LATEST PMP DVD RELEASES

Mandy and Sue in France last weekend, back to work now

Here are our Oct / Nov 2006 releases

1433 Totally Blackpool. UK. Trams.Buses. 2006. The Totally Transport rally with mainly trams in the summer plus illumination trams and a look at buses in Oct.
1434. Wirral Bus & Tram Show. Oct 2006. UK. Bus. Tram. The usual mix of bus rally, bus running day and street tram running, also scenes of 2003 &2004.
1435. GVVT. Glasgow Running Day. UK. Buses. Oct 2006. A superb turn out of buses in service plus the huge array of buses resident at the Bridgeton depot.
1436. Preston & Lancaster. UK. Buses. October 2006. reston city centre, unbroken sunshine updating coverage , new buses / livery then Lancaster ex LT Titans.
1437. Leicester. UK. Buses. October 2006. A bright sunny autumnal day with large quantities of new buses in service, both Arriva and First much modernised.
1438. Reading. Berkshire.UK. Buses. October 2006. A bright but diffused sun to illuminate the much modernised Readinhg fleet, one of only 2 municipals in SE.
1439. Best ever Bournemouth Trolleybuses. UK. Trolleys. A look at Bournemouths trolleys, in service, tours and closing ceremony , the choicest archive bits .
1440. Bus Marque London Transport trolleybuses. UK. London / Spain etc Trolleybuses. Buses. Archive sequences in London plus Spain then in preservation.
1441. Walsall & Wolverhampton. UK. Buses. Feb – Nov 2006. A look Walsall in February 2006 then Wolverhampton plus Wolverhampton in November 2006.
1442. Potteries Connection Running Day. Oct 2006.UK.Buses. Includes plenty of cab rides with an emphasis on Potteries buses plus Aston Manor running day.

1443. Bus Marque Merlins & Swifts. UK. Buses. 1960s – 80s In service in London plus Australia then other UK operators and long service in Malta.

last night I was busy finishing off the new covers, dealing with Christmas post, downloading from digital camera and posting the new stuff on e bay. After that and a bit of tele I made a start on the regigional bus archive covering the greater Manchester area, I'd say about 15 minutes will be brand 'new' to PMP and for all will be first time on DVD .New shots of GMPTE Oldham, Stockport and Piccadilly.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING THE CARDS HAVE ARRIVED

It must be nearing Christmas as our cards have arrived, the PMP series have become something of a collectors piece, I know that several people have them framed. I hope to post some of the more memorable over coming days as a sort of advent calender from myself and Mandy. This years card features something close to my heart, I'll say no more, if anyone misses out on a personal copy I'll post that as well before the holidays.

The Christmas rush for PMP orders at last seems to be gathering momentum, it seems impossible to get people to order early.

The Merlin / Swift London Transport film is now ready to send out, I finished the sound track and cover last night. I'll put it on e bay with a couple of other outstanding. There are aso a few old Lonsdon re-releases to go on.

Next in the pipeline is the first of our new regional bus arhcive series featuring 1960s-80s around the Greater Manchester area which I hope to have ready for Boyle St Christmas cracker sale in December.

FANCY A DATE, HERE ARE THE LOCATIONS ANYWAY

Hi Folks, here are our outline plans for the next year for transport film trips

2006 Overseas trips
Christmas/New Year 06/07 Australia Darwin,Adelaide,Melbourne,Sydney.

2007 Overseas Trips
Southern Poland and Eastern Ukraine
North Switzerland
France Mulhouse / Valencienne etc
Luxembourg
Charleroi
France Clermont Ferand, Le Mans, Lyons etc
Calcutta, India Dhaka, Bangla Desh and Burma.

2007 UK
Isle of Wight
Doncaster
Leeds
Norfolk
Suffolk
Essex
Sussex
Kent
Glasgow
Ayrshire Coast
Edinburgh
South Wales
West Wales
West Midlands
North West
Belfast

YUMMY PUDDING

Well as promised the great dinner at Le Macassar at the weekend courtesy of Miguel, the upside down pear pudding with home made ice cream and the venison with mash/carrots plus cabbage, all preceded by chunky salmon steak.
What of the bus, well another of my early Manchester photos, Foden attempted a come back into the bus market and I chased this one around Chorlton in my old Ford Cortina Estate which used to leak petrol everywhere.
Last night I got all the images ion the Bus Marque Merlin /Swifts finished , tonight I start on the sound track. Fraser our webmaster is updating the web site, we are simplifying it , removing the variations on the listings to just the one overall list. Getting rid of the various language options several of which get translated incorrectly. We also hope to simplify price detail / payment method instructions. Fraser is coming round next week to resolve my problems posting on YouTube.

FRENCH VISITATION, DREAM OF PUDDINGS

Le Macassar is probably the best hotel in the world for its size, friendly welcome and food thanks of course to Miquel and Ian who are the owner managers of it, situated in the small town of Corbie outside Amiens in Picardie Northern France about 1 .5 hours south west of Calais, the pics should speak for themselves, the pudding you'll have to wait until tomorrow for. The web site is www.lemacassar.com a home which is a homage to Art Deco in a real Art Deco finished house. I'll say no more or we'll never get in again, if you want more info I'll personally vouch for every detail also see trip adviser for the opinion of other travellers. My cold was still upon me, French pharmacists don't stock anything other than Sudafed type decongestants which made me feel really awful but did clear my head which was then muddled again by the ample wine.

As well as the wine and food we went to Compiegne for a drive through the colourful autumn forest, here Mandy found both new boots and shoes . The nearby Chateaux was shut but we visited the armistice site and museum which is in a forest clearing, hence the WWI French Char tank photo. The weather was glorious on Saturday / Sunday hence a few minutes bus filming at Compiegne and thus the bus photos, friendly crews all the way. A rotten drive down though on the Friday awful heavy rain, traffic and dark, it took nearly 11 hours from my office to the hotel. Le Macassar also houses 2 cats and a very friendly dog.

We made our wine purchsases at Calais onthe way back going fior quality rather than quanity on this occasion. The chexck in on Eurotunnel these days is all automaric and rubbish. A good vdrive back up Sunday evening which made up for Friday and now to catch up on e bay sales, work etc. More of the puddings tomorrow.

MERLIN THE PHOTOS PLEASE

There is a connection to these photos of course, last night I got all the AEC SWift / Merlin film on the computer for the new DVD, about 27 minutes into the images art present but halted for weekend to France. The Merlin was part of London Transport restructuring programme , it was actually really the Leyland Panther chassis, AEC had joined B Leyland at that stage, then LT decided to call its first design the Merlin and as if by magic a dud was born although around 200 went to Australia and seemed to run ok whilst others soldier on in Malta as seen in the 2006 view I took eralier this year. This has nothing to do with the Stockport GMPTE otheer than I also took that one and shows just how long I've been taking pics in the north of England, it was still SELNEC when I arrived here , half cabs were still very common. Was that orange actually as bad as some of todays liveries?
The last of the decorative chippings went on the borders yesterday evening and the car cleaned for the trip this weekend.

MERLIN & SWIFT BUT NO MAGIC?

Well I'm on the mend at last, still a ticklish cough. Got the copy away last night for Ian Allan mags for Jan07. Also finished the DVD of Potteries Connection running day. Then I downloaded the material for the Bus Marque Merlins & Swifts. This is reasonably hard particularly looking through all the Australian archive material as it really isn't obvious which tapes its on despite the database I have. It was mainly small local independent there which had them. As well as LT and LC there is video of Hants and Sussex in the 80s and I have a bus driver training film done on board on LT Merlin. Just need to pluck off some Malta scenes , string it together and hey presto it really is magic, more like hard slog.

The autobiography makes slow but sure progress as well.

The Intra Express , Berlin tours programme has just been launched for 2007. It was pretty much as expected, a week and a half touring the UK and Ireland plus a weekend in Milan and a week in Hungary, otherwise trains including Trans Siberian. There is also a coast to coast USA trip, all still in German pending release of English version. We of course recommend the trips although there was nothing to tickle our fancy on this occasion. We have several dates for next years rallies and locations for visits which I'll post over the next few days

GETTING THERE SLOWLY

the dreaded lurg has still got its hold on me but I'm struggling on, last night I did some work on Hilary Cavanaghs Dooley family tree before dinner then after some television I got the Potteries Connection Running Day filmed wrapped up this also includes the Aston Manor running day which keeps the midlands theme and recalls yet again our happy visit to Wolverhampton last Saturday. Again on family history along with the rocking chair in the hallway of No17 ( not usually at the bottom of the stairs) is this nursing chair which spent the war time and thereafter in the cellar at Edge Lane and was black with tar from the fire. We cleaned it up and had it recovered a few years back.

We have also had yet another session loading up on e bay and this Birkenhead Guy Arab is just one of the many bargains there from PMP

NEW SUPER SLOW GOOGLE BLOG

Its taken all day to get this post on with the super new Google Beta blocker or whatever, why can't people leave things alone for a while, its as bad as Marks & Spencer who drop all your favourite clothes and food as soon as you get to like them or shops like Tesco who rearrange just after you know where your favourites are - still I only go in about every 6 months so it isn't surprising. Still full of the dreaded bug which is doing the rounds. I'll publish latest new releases this week before our French trip at the weekend.

I said how friendly Wolverhampton was but when we came out of the Hippodrome on Saturday evening it was hell, what awful creatures we have spurned in Britain who occupy our streets after dark, little wonder people want to live elsewhere.

Last night despite illness I finished the Walsall DVD and copied the London Country cine again alowing me to start the archive Bus Marque Merlins and Swifts. Tonight I hope to rattle off the running days at last. Then perhaps over the next couple of weeks some oldish Manchester area stuff ready for Boyle St.

Lots of great bargains on Ebay now as well as most DVDs, just a few London areas oldies to add on. Hopefully time for some photos tomorrow.