Greetings one and all.

I was thinking about life the other day and where all the years have gone. September popped into my mind as it is quite a significant month in my timeline and that of Transport Topics. September 1st 2024 marks the Ruby Wedding anniversary for Teresa and myself, yes forty years. Also September is the month of my mums death in the same year as the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.

However if we are thinking Transport Topics, September 1988 was the month that we issued our first ever duplicate slide list, which was born out of the minor encouragement of Ron Smith at Colour-Rail. Ron had accepted 14 of my slides for use in the Colour-Rail catalogue which was an honour. However it was only a small proportion of the slides I had sent for viewing, so if I remember rightly, Teresa said "Why don't you do your own catalogue?" instead of selling through Colour-Rail. Well 36 years later we are still at it, same owner, same name and without a break, and still trying to make a penny or two.

I couldn't quantify how many prints and slides we have sold over the years, but suffice to say as a small concern we have peaks and troughs depending on how much time and effort I can put in around full time employment. I have taken early retirement twice (First when I was 55) and used the time to push forward, but my services have been needed elsewhere with invitations to return to old employment. But the aim is to retire early for the third time late next year and then concentrate more on Transport Topics, until my state pension finally arrives, ready to probably sell the business or at least a vast proportion of the master slides and negs, probably over 100,000 images by then at a date yet to be determined.

With collections often coming in, or at least being offered to us, running Transport Topics is never dull. Sometimes a little tedious looking at the stacks of slide boxes and negative sleeves still to wade through. But once sections are scanned the results always encourages me to do more. But I am always behind schedule.

Since 1988 we have been fortunate to have made some very good friends and acquaintances, many of whom have sold me whole collections, part collections or rented me images. Names like Marsden, Ford, Canning, Hill etc etc etc. Probably over 100 people all told, who we are eternally grateful to. Even though I will be scanning until I am 168 years old at this rate, I still welcome the chance to take on collections so that they are not just "Disposed" of. But I have to be more fussy as we try to aim for rare, interesting, old and of course good quality.

When I do finally retire from the Zoo that I have worked at for (On and off) 8 years I will miss the place. The animals are a lot more chilled that a lot of humans, even the Carnivores. They are all characters who brighten the day even when you have been dealing with blocked toilets, first aid calls, staff concerns and weather. The Zoo is a far cry from my previous life in Sales and Marketing both at Manager and Director level. A lot more rewarding and not quite so stressful.

So what was the purpose of this blog?.....I honestly haven't got a clue. Probably just started rambling to break up the time between completing orders, scanning for publications, and scanning for the catalogue. Sometimes you just need a Vanilla Latte and a half hour break to stoke up the engine and get going again.

So I wish you a good day, and please keep buying the shots, my retirement is relying on it!

Bye for now.

Martin