Bills Posts

Featured

Bill’s Locality Stories

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

Me and my occasional posts, mostly about the town of Gosport and occasionally my thoughts. So stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

2121 – Letter to Steve XXX – The fruit of the tree (or possibly bush).

Dear Steve,

I read Gilbert’s Letter XXX with a little bit of bemusement. It was, to put it simply, a bit all over the place.

In reality, there is no way I could produce a letter that was in line with his.

This week, then, we will talk about the passion fruit bush that sits between us and our neighbour in our front-of-house area. What I want to do with this.

Preparing the bird feeders for autumn and winter.r

When you look at it, the bush (actually, I think there are probably two or three of them) is in a pretty poor state. It looks like it is dying (I’ll be very sad if it is), but much more likely is that it is coming towards the end of the season.

I had hoped to be able to pick up a passion fruit that was in a healthy condition and had dropped naturally of its own accord. It really looks like it isn’t going to happen. From the looks of it, most, if not all, of the remaining passion fruit is rotting on the bush. None have, as far as I can tell, fallen of their own accord.

I wanted to get a fruit that had dropped naturally so that I could take it apart to see what was happening inside. If you remember, I have had a couple of healthy pods with the seeds at various stages of development, and dissecting them was fascinating. Taking it to a conclusion, of taking apart a pod that was about to open naturally, was the obvious thing to do.

I’m less inclined to take a pod that is actively rotting. I am a little bit concerned about breathing in some spores from the rotting fruit, so I’m probably not going to do that. Next year, I shall be looking out not just for passion fruit, but horse chestnut, if I can reach one, and beech nuts, and any other fruit that is developing, to follow their progress. Then, of course, I want to be able to photograph the results, so I need a space for that. This is why i am really trying to tidy my office – and at the moment, making such a hash of it.

In reading Gilbert’s letter XXX, I learnt a new word; Prolix – never heard of that one before. It. is the tendency to use too many words to explain something. I think that probably describes me to a T.

All the very Best

Bill

Link to previous letter

Link to Index of Letters to Steve

2120 – How casual can it get?

I was stood in the kitchen, and notoced some movement at the bottom of the garden. The fox had come ever the sheds and was quite calmly strolling down the garden path.

I was at the sink, and made no attempt to hide myself. It was coming towards me, not in the least bit bothered. I can’t believe it hadn’t seen me. I was curious as to how far down it would come.

I guess at trhis point, in the picture, it’s about six feet from the back door. It went up over the fence into next door. Iwanted to get a picture of it going over the fence, but it was just too quick.

Apart from a trip too the shops as I needed to get some dreamies treets for Misty, I’ve stayed in today. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I have had some quite strong cold symptoms all day. I’m assuming that it’s an after effect of Wednesday’s flue jab. I’m sure it will be fine.

2119 – An Astronomy Lecture

On the 2nd Friday of each month, the Hampshire Astronomy Group hosts a lecture in the Clanfield Memorial Hall. The lectures have an astronomy theme. I attended my first one tonight.

The topic for tonight was radio cosmology, as opposed to radio astronomy.looks at the nature of the universe using radio waves.

The lecture was very well supported, there was as technical team I think it was recorded, and was transmitted via zoom.

The subject is fascinating. Whilst there were a couple of times where I felt very drowsy, I pretty much did make it through.

Afterwards, there was a raffle. Of course,, I was the last ticket drawn and down a box of chocolates.

I have to publish this as it is close to midnight.

Because I didn’t have access to the car, last Monday, I asked if anybody on the course lived in Gosport and would be able to give me a lift. Luckily, Matt, very kindly stepped up to the plate.

He picked me up, and then went to Titchfield to pick up a friend, we then went to Clanfield via the back lanes. It seems that Matt & Louise do this deliberately. I kind of get it But, it’s not for me.

2118 – A Quick Look Out

I really must try and get a picture of another constellation.

I had to go out at about twenty past 10 as I had forgotten to put the car on charge.

I took the opportunity to take a quick loook at the sky. Bearing in mind that this is out the front of the house. Unfortunately, as soon as I stepped outside I could feel the few drops of rain.

I put the car on charge, and grabbed a quick look at the sky. I knew straight away, that there would be no observing tonight.

I haven’t given any more thought to the telescope situation. Everytime I think about it, I can only think of problems with what I want to do. That obviously isn’t good. What would help me is to get some experience from an experienced observer. Now, the problem there is finding one in Gosport. I have no doubt that they exist, it is just a case of finding them.

I know sommeone, who know someone who is apparently, a very experienced observer. I’ll have to contact them (the first someone) to see if there is any chance of getting intouch with the second someone.

In case that falls through, my next preferred option would be membership of The Hampshire Astronomy Group. The Website doesn’t make it clear how to do that. I’m beginning to think that membership is by invitation only.

The final option will be to resort to social media. I’m not sure how that can go. Occasionally it goes well.

I have a bit of a plan. Let’s see how it goes.

2117 – u3a Wednesday

In the header picture I was trying to capture a small fish, and the phone was on the selfie stick, I wanted to get it as close to the water as i could. Of course, I didn’t mean to get me, or the phone. But the picture is interesting to me because it looks sightly abstract andd the two haves of the picture capture the sky and the floor of the cockle pond. Interesting. I didn’t intend for it to come out like this, obviously. But i find it strangely pleasing.

On the first Wednesday of the month, u3a hosts an all members meeting at Thorngate Halls, which has a brief rundow from the committee, usually delivered by the Chair, and a presentation of some kind. This months talk was the story of the sinking of the Bismark. The talk was interesting. But, what was more interesting was the presentation of the talk.

Right at the very beginning of the talk, I got the distinct impression that the presenter was delivering his talk without the aid of notes and nor did he look at the projector screen. It was almost disconcerting that the slide display was completely synchcronised with the talk. But then I realised that he was able to see the laptop screen, so the illusion of the delivery was slightly dented. Nonetheless, the presentation was very professionally delivered.

I became slightly distracted during the talk. I became enthused about the idea of getting my office tidied. And, when I got home, I did spend 10 minutes starting to organise things. I’ve started, but there is a way to go.

2116 – Camera Club Night

Tonight was the first competition of the camera club’s season. It was Projected Digitial Images (PDI’s), with an open subject. Because we are still getting our act together after the holiday, neither of us had prepared any images. We were disappointed, but just felt that on top of everything else, we weren’t going to rush to get back into the club’s routine. Especially, as we have now taken on the clubs NewsLetter.

As we sat in the club room this eveninng, I had been thinking about some possible topics for photograph. In order to implement some of those ideas, I really do need to get my office sorted. There’s an expression I’ve used in the past, that i am reluctant to repeat here, but I will. It is a Sh*t-Tip.

In the past (it seems a bit contrary) I used to get quite exercised about getting myself organised. It seems that in a lot of things, I have failed in achieving that, and failed miserably. I am less stressed about it now, but I am still determined to do something about. There. Now that I have told you, I have to get it sorted don’t I?

One approach I am going to try is Getting Things Done. All I have to do there, is sort out the Inbox!

2115 – Astronomy

Tonight’s header picture is relevant in the sense that it was taken at the Hampshire Astronomy Group’s observation site.

Tonights session was all about telescopes, from the early days, to today, and tomorrows devices, the largest currently under construction have a 39 metre mirror.

But the part that I was most interested in was the sedction that dealt with telescopes for amateurs. I think the group went out of its way to not promote or push a particular type, of which there a limited number of basic models including, but by no means limited to Reflectors, Refractors and smart scopes.

Whilst it is not 100% certain, it is very likely that I am in the market for a telescope. But what type?

Oh Wow! I have just realised that it is 00:30. I sat here at about 2230 to start and I have wasted two hours, and have caused the counter to reset, all without realising.

Time for bed.

2114 – Letter to Steve XXIX – Conkers & Beech nuts

Dear Steve,

The first thing that I noticed about Letter XXIX was its date. May. Given that it is now October, there’s a bit of difference in the context. The beginning and the end of the summer (kind of). I don’t think that is too much of a problem. When I first started looking at Gilbert’s letters and considered doing the Letters to Steve, I was aware that the first real letter was dated August and I would be writing a responding letter dated February, so I would be out of sync.

I didn’t know if I would be able to keep up with my intention to publish the Letters to Steve, but here we are, twenty-nine letters on, and even with a four-week break, it seems that the habit has not been broken.

Letter XXIX has two main areas of focus: birds, mainly those migrating, and cats (yes, the domestic type). I am slightly ashamed that even though we have been back two weeks, I haven’t yet got the bird feeders set up. Apart from some very persistent pigeons, we have been visited by very few birds. I’m intending to correct that over the week.

The lack of birds means that I’m not really able to parallel Gilbert’s letter. Instead, I can write about conkers and Beech Nuts.

During the week, we went with our granddaughter to one of the parks in town, where we knew there were several horsechestnut trees. After lunch, at the Rugby Club (which was most acceptable), we embarked upon a hunt for conkers. We were not entirely successful. Actually, it was a dismal failure; I think we found three. Aurora, though, had an excellent session on the play area.

Yet another thing that I have never considered: I discovered that beech trees produce nuts. I was walking alongside Walpole Park this morning when I walked over an area of path that was covered in brown husks. With a little investigation, I made the discovery about beech trees. Today’s picture shows an open pod, luckily with the nuts in place.

As regards Cats, Gilbert commented on their appreciation of fish, contrasted with their rather intense dislike of water. I am sure that there will be more on these beasties in future letters.

All The Very Best

Bill

Link to previoust – Letter XXVIII The Big Holiday & an Elk

Link to Index of Letters to Steve

Link to Letter XXX – The Fruit of the tree (or possibly bush)

2113 – Crossing the Atlantic

I asked my assistant what would be the next major geological feature that The Queen Mary 2 would sail over after the Georges Bank. Her response varied between the Sohm Abyssal Plain which is 4 – 5. KM beneath the ship, and The New England Seamounts, apparently extinct volcanoes that are 2,500mm above the plain.

That figure, 5KM, is almost quite frightening. Sixteen thousand feet. I know that the ocean is deep, but there is a difference between knowing, and actually being above it.

It’s strange how the ocean was calm on the surface as we sailed above tis plain, and to think of the what the ocean floor might look like.

Obviously, thoughts of the Titanic were in my mind and I know that we were hundreds of miles away from her resting place, but I also couldn’t help wondering about what ships that may have been sunk during the world wars may lay beneath us.

It was a moment of sobering thought during a period of intense, delightful relaxation.

2112 – Friday

As it was Friday, this afternoon I would be working in the Charity shop where I volunteer. It’s only the afternoon, 1300-1630, 3.5 hours so it’s not overly onerous, indeed, I really enjoy interacting with the customers. The problem today was there weren’t many of them. Strangely though, it didn’t seem like that. Perhaps next week, I’ll take my counter in to see how many people come into the shop – really though, I should have two; those who come in and those who make a purchase. I might try and do a check sheet for that number.

A big frustration for me in the shop is the books. I had an ambition to turn the shop’s book section into one comparable to the one which used to be in the British Heart Foundation shop – that was definitely my role model. Unfortunately, i found that I wouldn’t be able to do that because I couldn’t manage the books, only going into the shop once a week, and not controlling which books were put out when. Even it if it was only an example. Could I arrange to go in every day? Probably not. How about spending thirty minutes every time I’m in town? That’s a bit more random, and perhaps do-able, I’ll have to ask my assistant if she thinks it’s reasonable.

It must be at least two months since we had fish and chips from our favourite chippy. So, that is what we had tonight. As usual, it was lovely. Because it has been a few weeks since we had Cod, I was surprised at how “fishy” it tasted. I know you’ll say; “Well, it is fish after all”. The fish was just a stronger flavour that what I remembered.

We had the fish and chips down at Stokes Bay. It was later than usual, so if there were any cruise ships in, we’d missed them. What we didn’t miss though, was the really rather nice sunset.