A DUEWAG TRAM DAY

it's a sort of Duewag day at PMP today, no particular reason, just kicking my heels at home first thing pending a pensions meeting for work at our Knutsford office

it still remains deadly quiet on EBay and Amazon, is no-one doing Christmas shoppig, anyway we have lots of capacity to say the least. Youtube is also very quiet. I've now completed Rotterdam 1999 tram DVD, just 2001 and a full set taking me through to releases already on DVD.

MERSEYSIDE MEMORIES

Today some Merseyside memories from the batch which are being printed up ready for sale at Boyle St Christmas Cracker event in December, otherwise busy at meetings today. My friend Fraser our web site contact has provided some software which should enable me to make my own regular updates to all sections of the site, not just the lists.

Scathing criticism from Czech truck customer over poor quality of my filming, first timer I've have that levelled at me. Still you can't please everyone, generally feeling pissed off any this evening, wish it was Thursday when we'd be down the pub. Oh well I just plod on.

A TARDIS IN EASTBOURNE

yes we travel back in time to my home town of Eastbourne where competition post deregulation left a plethora of liveries and buses such that things weren't always what they seemed, a green bus could be Eastbourne's but indeed a red one for that matter could be Southdown's, Brighton & Hove's or Hastings and Dist But those of the latter could be pretty well anything really.

Eastbourne Borough Council days, the rot though had set in by then and standards were falling.

Today I shall have the first of three programmes on Rotterdam trams ready as promised, the rest done by the end of the week, it introduces some material never released by Ken Harris.

I heard from my friend Li in China, he's having a hard time at work.

Tomorrow I'm up at Preston for a meeting. More negs to digital picked up at ASDA and I've dropped off the first of the archives ready to get printed.

STAYING WITH LANCASHIRE

some old others not so, dipping into the archive at Rawtenstall and then of course Blackpool

well another busy day at work although I did find time to identify hotels for my German trip next year. Other trips include Italy for new systems and equipment and Portugal plus Albania and then Myanmar ( Burma) once more , my favourite, particularly seeking out old trucks. Tonight starting on Dutch trams and then some old running day / rally material. Then Scandinavian trams and also hopefully more truck material. That's a few weeks work though. LOTS sale in London next weekend.

A TOUCH OF RIBBLE

a dip into my own archive with shots transferred to digital format, these should be on sale at Boyle St Christmas Cracker event

I've now completed all the Leicester DVDs, just doing the Wigan and Bolton film from yesterday. We had a lovely evening at Clonter opera Gala last night. This morning I did a lot in the garden, clearing rampant grasses from the border and planting bulbs. Cleaned all the window and door frames etc and then put down path clear stuff to get rid of the green moss and mold on the paths. Well earned rest followed a bath and then we went to fetch Mandy's cousin Trish home from hospital after her operation.

BOLTON WIGAN BUSES

my first location this morning was Wigan, the weather was a bit of a challenge thus i didn't want to travel far. The light soon turned from bright to dark thundery clouds

after Wigan, I finished my filming in Bolton before it turned really wet and windy

now working on last couple of Leicester conversions to DVD , while I'm doing this blog in fact. More abusive comments on Youtube, why would someone ever watch a film of buses if they had no interest in the subject, must have a health problem up top I suppose, then waste the time writing about it. Quite busy on EBay but yet another weird message from EBAy about pictures and no reply to all my emails to them, looked on forum, seems it's rampant as a problem. I do so hate EBAy but then I hate a lot of things American I suppose, thank goodness they are thousands of miles distant.

Thomas Fischers latest tours are no online, Italy, Australia and Poland as predicted, nothing surprising and nothing I'd want as Italy misses out purely trolleybus towns.

Clonter Opera Gala tonight, looking forward to that but means eating very late.

IN DUBLINS FAIR CITY

typical of the digitised negatives are these mid 90s shots in Dublin when the old Bombardiers were still in abundance. They we started to be built while I was working in Ireland ( 1979-83) , the factory was by Shannon Airport. They made really weird noises and were the last of a long line of types trying to avoid buying British, after this relations seemed to be better and lessons had been learnt, cutting nose off to save face comes to mind

There are now several thousand views on Digital format and available for use in books or articles, no list though. Photo sales stock, no postal service but stocks are usually at rallies. We'll have our Kent and Sussex boxes ( enhanced by lots of new additions) at LOTS in a couple of weeks. Then it's Manchester when we'll have the first outing for our 70/80s Crosville and Manchester material, not been on sale for 30 years.

STAGECOACH MUST SELL PRESTON BUS

Looks like we shall all be out with our camera again in Preston,

Stagecoach has been ordered to sell Preston Bus

Stagecoach has been ordered to sell Preston Bus, a decision which the company describes as “perverse and irrational”. The Competition Commission says that the sale of the business will be the most effective way of restoring competition in the city and safeguarding passenger interests. The CC will approve the successful buyer to ensure that it is capable of operating as an effective competitor to Stagecoach. The sale will include the depot, other assets and a network of routes, including services formerly run by Preston Bus. Stagecoach purchased the loss-making Preston Bus business in January 2009, at which time it employed 300 people and ran 120 buses.A Stagecoach spokesman says: "We fundamentally disagree with the Competition Commission's decision. It is a perverse and irrational contradiction of competition law and common sense. The Commission decision is to restore a failed monopoly provider of local bus services and reverse the results of legitimate competition, which it is supposed to uphold. This decision risks setting a dangerous precedent for all sectors of the economy.”The CC had been considering what action to take after provisionally concluding in September that Stagecoach’s purchase of Preston Bus would reduce competition and potentially harm the interests of passengers. Its decision is not a surprise, but reinforces the belief that the organisation is more interested in competition theory than in the economic realities of bus operation. It also appears to ignore the fact that it was in a competitive environment that the independent Preston Bus struggled to survive.CC deputy chairman Peter Davis says: “We found that this merger resulted in a substantial reduction in competition that would, in our view, have an adverse impact on passengers in Preston, leading to a worsening in fares and other factors such as service levels. Without the merger, the competition each company would have faced would have ensured that it maintained or improved its services to attract passengers. “To find the most suitable remedy to the problems generated by the merger we had to carefully consider the lost competition and also important issues such as the role of the bus network in generating customer benefits. Having done so, we came to the conclusion that the most effective remedy will be for Stagecoach to sell Preston Bus to a company capable of competing with it.”Stagecoach’s spokesman concludes: "What bus passengers, employees and local authorities want is a stable, comprehensive network of services and tickets, which Stagecoach has sought to provide. The Commission decision will ensure a further period of instability and uncertainty against the public interest. We shall consider the decision in detail before deciding on our next course of action." ?

Do You Remember

remember when buses popped up all over the place on hire or loan or sold with the most confusing out of area liveries


















or when Routemasters flooded out of London to regional operators like Reading Mainline

remember the Classic Automotion rallies at the road research labs at Bracknell Berkshire

and what about real Soviet trolleybuses which looked the same from Riga to Murmansk











each day now I get weird e-mails from EBay about gallery photo problems, not sure if it's a hoax or just EBay incompetence, really hate EBay as much as B&Q . Still not much on the order front but Youtube hits mounting daily, blog levels in the doldrums and still waiting for Fraser to get the web updated. Leicester Bus DVd, first volume out 1990-93 second vol also nearly ready 1995-7

GLEDALOUGH ST KEVINS

St Kevins busesd at Glendalough on our last trip to Ireland with Mandy'sd mother, Berta.
Glendalough is famed for its beautiful scenery and historic monuments, but has also been a centre for pilgrims and visitors from the time of St. Kevin, (from whom the bus service took its name).
This is where St. Kevin,descendent of one of the ruling families in Leinster, founded his monastry in the sixth century. As a boy he studied while in the care of three holy men. During this time he went to Glendalough and lived, we are told, "in the hollow of a tree". He left the valley, only to return later with his small group of monks to found the monastry where, as the earliest versions of his life tell us, "the two clear rivers form a confluence". His fame as a holy man spread and he attracted numerous followers.
Glendalough flourished and many references in the Irish annals describe the activities of successive Abbots and visitors to the area. The monastry was the subject of frequent plundering, burning and rebuilding in its lifetime.The present remains in Glendalough tell only a small part of the monastic storey.
The monastry in its heyday would have included numerous dwellings, workshops, areas for manuscript writing and copying. The buildings which survive probably date from between the 8th and 12th centuries. The valley of Glendalough contains a series of carved and plain stones and crosses, some of which have marked stations on the pilgrim's route.
It was a happy hunting ground at this time for ex Southdown Leylanmd Leopards like these




























Mandy and her mum, by the way my mother Marion was born 11th 11th, 1920, sadly like Berta she is no longer with us. I did tidy the family graves at Southern Cemertary this week

I was in Ellesmere Port this morning at 11, pulled into B&Q forecourt for the two minutes silence at 11am, life was otherwise carrying on as normal, the motorway was roaring and customers loading cars, pity they couldn't spend just 2 minutes of their time contemplating all those past and present paying the ultimate sacrifice for their country and us. At the local cenotaph about 3 hundred had gathered and were dispersing when I passed a few minutes later. Got another large batch of digitised images to tweak.

It was busier on the net with orders but not that busy. Clicks on Youtube ads have gone up a bit and Chester clip seems to be taking a quick lead in recent uploads, all now at higher resolutuion.

ALLEGRETTA LEICESTER AND MEMORIES OF MARION

Mandy with our longest lived horse Allegretta, sadly missed member of our 'family'












Mandy with Marion my mother whose birthday was 11th November, remembrance day, so I never forgot it once.















me whale watching in Quebec, captain Pugwash?




















even Ireland has icecream days, Mandy with best friend Hilary












long time ago, not very photogenic that day were we










Mandy had one of her little falls today, grabbed at DVD copier on way down, it's now in for repair but Mandy is in one piece thank goodness.

More photo sorting, family and bus, then editing Leicester collection. EBay orders picking up at last.