21/12/07 I haven't updated this page for three weeks, not because nothing has been happening, but because I have been busy! Lots of things started and not completed, sadly, so it is hard to write about it. All the Christmas cards and calendars are done and now I shall begin the process of doing the year's accounts so I don't imagine I will be doing much to the website again for a while, it is a time of consolidation and back room stuff. Check out the blog . mostly my thoughts on this time of year and what a privileged person I am to be living this life.
01/12/07 Santa's plans have changed - see the blog for details...
29/11/07 Jo Bloggs? No, Jo's blog - it's her turn to get more than a word in edgewise. Jo is anything but a Jo Bloggs and it is great to see her becoming more and more a part of the business. Organic growth can be a faltering, frustrating thing, creeping along at nature's pace. Us humans have got drunk on the power we have to make change faster than nature intended but we end up paying the price. Obviously the time of year for opinion - see my contribution on composting toilets and local bus services. What have they in common? Well you will have to read it to see. The panorama is my latest attempt at animation, a bit rough in places but it is all good practice and it lets you see some of the things we have achieved over the last few weeks. We are down to details now, fitting loos, sinks, showers and paying attention to the consequences of those actions.
28/11/07 Robbed! Is it a robbery if you aren't there? Whatever, the competition harness has been stolen from the lorry - I am gutted, So are Steve and Sue. See the blog.
25/11/07 Another Sunday catching up with the website and the blog. Interesting to hear horsedrawn transport discussed in the news and on the radio. Check the blog for details if you are interested. I wonder what the next week will bring - Christmas bookings have begun to come in. Watch this space.
23/11/07 What a fantastic week! Sunday, won a JCB on ebay, Monday went to see a cabin, Tuesday the JCB arrived , Wednesday, we went an collected the cabin, Thursday, the new tractor and trailer arrived, today? Um, oh yes, that's right - nothing. There isn't anything else we need just now. Ironic and strange that I now at least part own two buses, a jcb and a mobile cabin and yet I don't drive! I haven't seen the tractor yet, that is tomorrow's treat. I have run out of pages on the website at the moment, so I need to do some more archiving - see the blog - so much going on. Here is a preview of the tractor photos and tomorrow I will do you a guided tour of the cabin - I am sooooo chuffed with it. Exactly what I wanted, worth waiting 6 months for! A new article to write and getting ready for Christmas. I love this picture of Sue on the tractor - do you think she is pleased with it?
16/11/07 Progress, lots of it all at once! See the blog - I am still working on the website - my latest effort isn't perfect but it shows what Sultan is up to right this minute, lol. The background isn't quite right - it might make you feel a bit seasick, I will work on that when I get a chance.
12/11/07 Lots of mending to do, one way and another, the ramp is done all bar the varnishing after a superhuman effort by Steve, the bearings on the circular saw went west and today the paddock cleaner lost a wheel. That was mended, but it is tiresome things breaking, We are still struggling to come up with a workable alternative to get the horses providing the horse power in managing their paddock. We are making progress with the scrub removal!!! Steve bought me a slasher and both Jo and I have had a go at the brambles, it is very effective, good exercise and very theraputic. Check out the blog to see Jo driving the tractor for the first time and our second attempt at a hitchcart/hay cart combination, not solved all the problems yet so we are still working on that.
03/11/07 Four new blog. and the beginnings of a new look to the website. I am doing a degree in Psychology and Computing and am back in my own particular harness now for my second year. One of my assignments is to build a website with particular bells and whistles to prove I can do it so I am using the opportunity to try and do a better job here. Feedback and comments would be welcome. We are using the boys to begin to do the work that is required to keep the pasture up together and today we had a lovely day taking out their first load of hay and the hayring and then clearing some of the scrub and undergrowth - we were going to have a bonfire of our own but the cuttings aren't dry enough yet. The grant search has begun again and it is hard work....
18/10/07 The work goes on, Steve is still making good the ramp, it is a big job, as is everything to do with heavy horses - he is a magician who can make fireworks without gunpowder, the picture doesn't do it justice! See the blog.
15/10/07 The days grow shorter and while we are still going out at the weekend, the window of time during the day where the temperatures are comfortable for people on the bus is shortening - it looks like when the clocks go back we will have to limit ourselves to round town tours and Christmas activities. nonetheless we had a lovely day yesterday. Jo is taking her HGV test - check out the blog to find out why I think that is a brilliant step by our new partner. She sent us a picture of us waiting to be rescued last week - a good one of Steve and me!
07/10/07 The autumn has begun truly with some glorious weather and we were lucky enough both on Wednesday and yesterday to enjoy it taking the boys out. It was a learning experience too - see the blog - the picture is from Wednesday morning, mist on the field.
04/10/07 The first week of our second phase - and as usual we like to do it dramatically!!! Monday saw us at Ringwood School meeting a fantastically warm welcome. Tuesday a working day, getting things together with the lorry so we could take the older boys out for exercise on Wednesday. Wednesday - a good run with Jack and Sultan at Janesmoor Pond but then the rear ramp decided it had had enough and we had a two hour wait and a VERY big lorry come and lift it up and put it back in place, at least temporarily! Yesterday we spent a happy couple of hours talking to David Humphries of Kingston Maurward while Steve went and played dead for a while - he likes to keep us on our toes! So today, back to Uni for me, Fran and Mana and tomorrow our first cream tea. See the blog for some cool pics of the team.
28/09/07 Endings and beginnings - our first summer season came to a fitting end with the Red Hats - ladies of a certain age having fun - brilliant people and some I aspire to joining in the not too distant future. Planning begins now for the Autumn season, Christmas and the education - securing the future of heavy horse husbandry and road driving - bring it on and read the blog . Oh yes, and I began a journey I have been waiting to start for 35 years - we all had a go at driving Jack on Thursday and not one of us went sideways......
18/09/07 Square Wheels and round Boxes - we are down to three wheels again on the Omnibus for now! Teething troubles but ones I am glad to have now.
16/09/07 Celebrations & Carnivals - Steve's aunt and uncle celebrated their 80th birthdays (the same day!) with a trip on the bus, Steve's great uncle, Perce's dad, drove the trams in Southampton - may even have driven this one at some point - an amazing co-incidence the world is a very small place sometimes. Perce has lent us a book on the centenary of Southampton public transport - I will work on it over the next few days and we will know more of the history of the bus/tram.
07/09/07 Tram or Bus? More research and more opinions sought - new photographs.
31/08/07 Wheels repaired, lunches booked up until next Tuesday and good weather, Meridian TV and bank holidays - a good week, short but full and it has been extremely varied! Check out the blog and the in the news pages. I think Pruddi approves.
24/08/07 Another week, a busy one, things are moving on and gratifyingly things are working as we anticipated they should, which is good. We are missing Kat but are managing with the good offices of Jo and Fran standing in when they can. Mana and I are managing the rest. I am catching up on all the stuff that has to be done to get a new bus properly ready.
22/08/07 Quite a day one way and another - the wind was hugely challenging, Jack saw the vet and it is his turn for a month off, and we met Obadiah Elliott's four greats grandson - see the blog . This is a picture of little Toby Reve for whom it was all too much. All together now, aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!
20/08/07 The Rover's Maiden Voyage. Bisterne Scarecrow festival, Loose rims , lame Jack, who ever said life was quiet in the country? See the slideshow for the pics of the Maiden voyage.
17/08/07 A significant day, a significant week. Steve and I went to get The Rover today, her back is pictured here, there are other pictures in the blog and on the front page. Gorley Road is shut next week, Kat passed her exams for uni (hooray and well done Kat, we knew you would do it!!!) She is off for a rest now and to prepare for her new life. Steve was told by someone who knew that his equitation skills (driving) were impeccable. That was an amazing boost. Huge thanks to Fran who proved to be our damsel in shining armour this week. Mana off sick and Kat getting her results, Jo due to stand in and we get a call at 8.00am, Jo has been burgled! Fran has been away and works for Jo on Thursdays so even if she had been there she would have been needed, so Fran texts "do you need rescuing?" Never more so. Jo too was a star, even though it was such a shocking experience she appeared in time for the tours and she was brilliant. So we are blessed with fantastic staff, fabulous in a crisis and we have had a lot of those. Oh yes, Rupe managed to get one of his new shoes off, so Sue (Steve's wife) saw the farrier in to sort that particular hiccough. Between the passengers and the staff Steve and I feel very privileged to be able to have such support to keep the horses in the work they need and we aspire to achieve. We took Sultan out on Wednesday with the bus, it was too windy for passengers and he is out of practice, but he went well and is improving.
12/08/07 It has been a weekend focussed on Sultan , his field rest is completed and now we need to focus on both seeing if he is really fit and bringing him back into work slowly and carefully. Steve has had no break this weekend at all, all three days he has taken Sultan out, first on his own on Friday and then with me yesterday and today he paired Sultan with Jack and we went into the forest with Jo & Simon. He is improving, still stiff but not obviously in pain and the stiffness dissipates with work.
10/08/07 Another week done, our fifth, and most successful so far in every respect. The wheelchair guests gave us a far more precious return that mere money and a full lunch tour introduced me to a bigger idea of what it is we offer - I feel very privileged and lucky. the picture is as we turn off Northfield Road into Broadshards lane, taken from a car behind us, I haven't seen our rear view before. Did you know, "turn off" is one of the commands Steve uses to turn the horses? "Come round" is the other - I can never remember which is which, which is why he is driving and I am the conductor!
07/08/07 Better weather, bookings, hay , sorting out the shoes and Fran ! I have stayed over at the yard for the last couple of nights while Mana was away, easier for me than trying to get from Canford Heath to Ringwood by 8.15am. Living a car free life is not an easy choice and Canford Heath is far less well provided for by buses early morning than the centre of Poole was. An unconsidered issue when I moved. Check out the Salisbury Journal this week, the photographer took our picture today. The picture was from this morning - the horses in the mist, lovely.
04/08/07 Our first month completed, considering we started five weeks late things are going well. People are responding well to the leaflets, the routes and timings are starting to work well. Flexibility is the word that we have had to learn. Not for us so much although the horses and minor injuries have meant we have to adjust many things, but flexibility in relation to weather and traffic. A lot of things learnt for implementation next year. I have introduced a newsletter and subscription will be available for it shortly, updated the blogs. We haven't had a whole lot of pictures, the weather has been pretty awful, but I have added some.
24/07/07 Tuesday of a second week, Monday, the weather was foul but the response encouraging. The advertisers who had encouraged us all along have all fallen along the wayside, which is discouraging. They were to be our bread and butter and the passengers our jam. Ah well. A huge learning experience. I really enjoyed yesterday, lovely people being the best they can be even despite the rain. Today the New Forest Show started and I think that is where everyone was. I need to write a blog about "Flogging a dead horse". My to do list is rather long at the moment so I will get to it as soon as I can. We still had passengers today, we haven't yet had a day with no one and we are trying to incorporate Liberty's Raptor & Reptile Centre back into our route with three horses. Logistics require a fresh mind, as does marketing. I thought when we got on the road, we had reached the top, but as usual, it was just one hill not the summit.
19/07/07 There, a second week completed and although we are all still exhausted we have done far better than before. The tours work well being 40 minutes long and the horses have done well working a three cornered swap, two whole days on, one day off. Feeding at the Alice Lisle worked well too, so all in all, it has been a good week. Less passengers than last week but that is OK. no bookings this week, that is OK too. Lots of walk ons, which is rewarding, it seems we are beginning to get the details in the right place. We will see. We bumped into the mayor today as well. We took pictures. Check out the blog for a fascinating day .
16/07/07 An encouraging day, the first day of our second week. Newly revamped routes and timetables, only two passengers but a fantastic and exciting day in lots of other ways, read the blog. The Alice Lisle were most welcoming and the route a success with the horses, driver and grooms.
15/07/07 Roop's birthday . The boys are having a party on their own, according to Steve, he is doing his stuff, cleared the gates for the Alice Lisle so we are off for lunch there tomorrow, which will be fun if nothing else, maybe we will find some people who want to come with us. Steve has been playing Rupe Dutch music from the CD which came with the bus, it has all mod cons! See the blog . I have been mocking up some advertising stuff - I have added it here, my task this week. Get the advertisers on board, literally!!!!
11/07/07 Day Three, and What a Team! See the blog . Day two was good too, our first walk on passengers, only three, the weather wasn't great, but so far the reaction has been absolutely brilliant!
09/07/07 Launch Day, a successful one, not the carnival we originally planned but a quiet opportunity to put into practice all the training we have done. 1blog passengers. half of what we need each day to cover our running costs. Pretty good.
05/07/07 a bus, a bus, my kingdom for a bus (Ok, I know it was supposed to be a horse, but we have them!) Our wish has been granted and after a horrendous 38 hour journey the bus has arrived. We went out in it today, see the blog
02/07/07 July is upon us and as you can see big changes are afoot. We have regrouped and a new vehicle is being delivered late Wednesday ( a week later than we hoped) so all our efforts have been invested in getting everything together. The blog pages still need converting to the new design, this will happen in time and I have some fantastic pictures of the Omnibus in bits which I will post as soon as I get a moment. This will remain news headlines and the meat will go into the blog in due course.
22/06/07 It has been a week of changes. Hope, despair and big decisions. After the visit to Gerald last Thursday it became clear our original bus would not be ready this summer. Crisis talks were held and a second bus has been bought. As it stands this afternoon, it is due to be delivered on Wednesday. See the blog for pictures. I am in the process of moving the website too, and updating it to reflect this news, so please bear with me as this works through. Hopefully we will be back to more regular updates too.
14/06/07 As with everything so far this year, it has taken longer to get things sorted computer wise than I had hoped. We went to visit Gerald today, there will be photos tomorrow. The progress is not as swift as we would like and with all the delays around the paint. His next job is now running late too. I hope tomorrow to tie him down to a prospective delivery date, watch this space and we will let you know. Blogs from our time of absence, harrowing with four, school visits and a quick trip to Chichester will bring you a little more up to date. Tomorrow I will take photos too of the ramp, it has been this week's project, along with the ramp and out practicing with the dray, so as you can see we are not idle while we are away.
05/06/07 There, back again, the bus is delayed, the blog has more detail. Unfortunately now there will be another break in service until Saturday 11th June as I am moving and I wont be able to upload the site until NTL reconnect me. Apart from the paint problems with the bus other things are going well. We continue to practice with the horses when circumstances allow, the exams were stressful and tiring, but done now. Kat has almost finished too, so soon we will be able to focus fully on the bus, bring on the bus for us to focus on please!!!!!
12/05/07 More upgrades and revamps adding links and all the boring things doing a website means. I think the homepage is finished and now I am spending Saturday tidying it up so I can do revision tomorrow! The exams are only a week away. I have added a blog or two - a timeless moment, a fantastic picture of Robert Shoeing the horses, and another I will do in a minute of us working the horses as a team. They have nearly got their summer coat so they look fabulous. Check the blog page for more details - onwards to work. I have just put in a pic of pru and jay on the carriage. It is gratuitous but I liked it and we haven't found a reason to use it and it is my website, lol.
07/05/07 Everything really. The Online Booking is up and running at least for the main part - I still have to add Wednesday. Rewritten the main pages and added all the excursions and partner information. There is still more to do of course but we have nearly a month and so I am tired but pleased to have got this far. No blog. at the moment even though we are training and things - we did four in hand around the field last week and Stephen broke his whip.
27/04/07 Take two - understanding dawns! This is what happens when you just don't have enough time to communicate properly - Stephen said something about something being out of place on the website. It comes apart at the seams and you can see the workings of the machine - a blog page escaped into the wider world, tut. tut. It has been replaced and now you can read " tis quiet ". We are all back to being university and school students and it is very strange after so much time together. I am missing it and them, I don't mind telling you! I have added fares and terms and conditions to the maps and timetables, all accessed via pdf from the Timetables page. You see, I have been busy, I just haven't stitched it all together properly, something to do with having three assignments to submit in two days - mmm, timetabling. An interesting subject! It is all done now so normal service will be resumed.
27/04/07 Technology! Apparently some people haven't been able to see the updates! Apologies, all that work and no audience! How frustrating. Hopefully you will see them all now and things will work better. The horses were shod yesterday and lots of photos which I hope I will be able to upload one or two from our latest collaboration, Captivelight . Miles, a photographer, primarily, but he also produces merchandise. I hope he will let us use some of the really atmospheric photos of Robert putting the hot shoes to the boys hooves. Obie's feet look a bit better and his shoes are tight, we are looking into what use we can make too of the 104 horseshoes we will get through over the season! Off to Dorking tomorrow for another competition and my first camping trip of the season - hooray! I hope the weather will be as good as it was for Harbridge - I am taking the computer as I have whizzy geek things that let me do blog. and post although somewhat more slowly than broadband!
23/04/07 Birthdays, Sultan and Stephen yesterday and a busy time getting things together so no blog. for a day or two. We have done the pricing which I will upload later . I have to get the birthdays right - Sultan was 15 and I need to make sure I get that right after all this time it just wont stick in my brain! Back to Uni tomorrow - and we are getting more publicity - another piece to add to the in the news page when I get a moment later.
19/04/07 Fanfare please! The Timetable and routes are published! We hope to start online booking next week. It is still subject to change and the start date is dependent on the arrival of the refurbished bus and time for us to train on it! We hope to add another route or two but they are dependent on being able to get the trees managed where we want to go. We can move forward now though and publish fares and begin to detail the excursions we hope to offer with our partners .
18/04/07 Photos from Sunday and a blog - Keeping Up with the Joneses . I have added photos to the In Competition photo album and a photo of us using the dray on the In Work photo album/Slideshow. Here, my favourite photo of the day - Kat on Jack - this photo really shows the strength of the heavies and it was a first in Jack's 15 years for him to be ridden and separated from the other three at a show - Kat was absolutely brilliant and Jack did everything asked of him.
17/04/07 Captionary! Never heard of it? A weekly competition. It is your chance to win tickets for the bus - look at the photos and send us an email with a suggested caption of what the horses (or people, occasionally) are saying to each other, the best one will win a family ticket for the bus - we introduced this piece of whimsy on Sunday and are pleased to announce the winner - Mr R. C. Deacon of Linwood. A family ticket for the bus will be on the way to him (once they are printed!) See the Captionary page for his winning wit.
15/04/07 A good, good day - the first Southern Counties Heavy Horse Event as a team. Yesterday was pretty fantastic too, taking the dray from Ringwood to Harbridge . A nice end to a good week. We met with Ringwood Brewery on Friday and helped setting up the SCHHA Spring Event on Thursday. Wednesday we entertained Romana's nieces and Tuesday we did more singles work and started on pairs. A good week.
09/04/07 Bank holidays - not my favourite time and not a good time to be out on the roads with the horses so we have been working in the yard. Sue showed me how to braid the horses manes and tails and Steve and Kat worked all four horses as singles. So a busy day in the sunshine - I have added a slide show of the braiding techniques and a blog. Kat is off now to exercise one of her other talents - she plays double bass for the Dorset Youth Orchestra so she is going to a residential week. A talented girl, our Kat, she drove Rupert too today and that was good to see.
07/04/07 More busyness, but not the anticipated four in hand - instead we went back to basics . Sultan is a little lame but getting better and we don't want to put him in any danger of further harm before next weekend, everyone except Sultan has been getting individual attention, a really good exercise for both the horses and us.
05/04/07 It has been a very busy week, I have just caught up with the blogs. we went out Monday & Tuesday and Wednesday we had visitors to the yard which was good practice! Today was the grant panel and we got the grant! It means lots of work but that is OK. Fantastic that all the work we put in paid off in the end. I have added a slide show of Stephen lunging Sultan, he is a little lame. Tomorrow will be singles carriage work and Saturday competition preparation at Janesmoor Pond! Sunday I will have to turn my mind to things of training and publicity and Monday we start again.
01/04/07 Happy official Birthday to the boys! Next week is going to be busy and significant - we are working six days as it is Easter holidays for all the grooms. I added our first picture of the coaching arch - it doesn't really give you the impression we are looking for but that will come.
30/03/07 Our first attempt through the coaching arch and onto the Market Place . It went well - and people are talking about us! We did the Burley Route too. We sowed the field which was an experience for me!
29/03/07 Lots of blog. and the beginnings of an archive for March. My favourite picture of the week - one taken by Kat - Rupert at his most beautiful! Or maybe Jack and Sultan's bums - I will post both! Still trying to get a good picture of Jo. Maybe time to crop one out of what we have and add her to our friends. She is our number one supporter after all.
25/03/07 Would you employ this group of reprobates! I have said it before, taking team photos is laughable. Honestly I am not that wide I had cameras and stuff in my pockets and my hair! What can I say? I think it was the hi-vis vests - made it go all staticky! I have added Simon Windsor to our list of friends, he is Jo's younger son and this is the magic of the horses at work.
24/03/07 Spring has sprung and we had a great day the grass isn't ris yet - not even sown - that may well be Monday's job. We did our first trip around Ringwood and drew a lot of attention! When I get them I will upload the photos. We were raising the roof yesterday and we have planned our month ahead so we should be getting lots more work in over the Easter holidays. Watch this space!
16/03/07 Shoeing Mark 3. Four horses with four shoes. We should be able to progress now. Do watch out if it snows, Kat has promised to eat her hat!
15/03/07 The verderers verdict (unofficially) was that they will take a watching brief this year. See how the project pans out and then if we decide we want to pursue off road routes next year to come back to them and they will consider the application in the light of the success of the project. That is my take on what I was told, the letter will spell it out. It is no loss at this point and a far more favourable response than the one we were initially expecting. A positive note. It has been a positive week. Kat is being a star and rode both Sultan and Rupert . Great learning lessons for me and a deeper understanding of the process. I have added a little picture of Pruddi when it all got too much for her. Just for fun!
12/03/07 A second outing for the team - just around the field this time both on horseback with Jack and with Rupert and the singles carriage. Great fun and a day to remember.
09/03/07 It has been a time of reflection and readjustment. Nothing has changed essentially but my view of it has. We started out with this as an experiment and then everyone has been so enthusiastic I had lost sight a little that there are a lot of unknowns and this is at bottom an opportunity for me to invest my capital and keep it safe until I can do what I want to do with the bus and in the meantime we can learn about what it takes to do this as a job. I feel much more relaxed about it from that point of view. I hope we all have fun and those who join us enjoy it too. I have added a basic photo album of the buses I have found so far and talked a little in the blog of this week. It is slow going just now.
06/03/07 Although it's quiet work still continues - I have done the February Archive for the blog and am researching more about the bus. Lots of Back Room Stuff . Tomorrow Romana and I will go and do what needs to be done. This evening I will continue to explore knifeboard omnibuses and try and find out more about the bus.
02/03/2007 Where does the time go? We took the wheel to Liphook today - it was exciting to see the work Gerald achieves, I am excited to imagine the bus looking like that. I have added some pictures to the bus photos, the renovation hasn't really begun but it is interesting to see the preparation.
29/11/07
18/10/07
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22/08/07
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son and this is the magic of the horses at work.
When I get them I will upload the photos. We were raising the roof yesterday and we have planned our month ahead so we should be getting lots more work in over the Easter holidays. Watch this space!
he letter will spell it out. It is no loss at this point and a far more favourable response than the one we were initially expecting. A positive note. It has been a positive week. 
for fun! 