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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.

1936 – Out & About in Gosport

I managed to select and get printed my three photos for the next competition. The header picture isn’t one of them.

I thought that it was time that I tried to get back to a normal post about Gosport, and that includes The Cockle Ponds. I had noted that the ponds were being emptied. I think it is fair to say that the ponds won’t get any emptier than this. I presume that unless some maintenance is due the ponds will start filling soon. Having said that, I noticed that along the edge there is a fair bot of crumbling. To the point that I could imagine somebody standing on the edge, it giving way and the person falling in. Luckily, it isn’t very deep.

I would like to think that when the ponds refill, it will bring in some jellyfish, I am pretty sure that they annoy the model yachters, but they are nice to see.

The work on the People’s Park continues. There’s a lot of groundwork going on. I’m not sure what they are looking at, but they are digging trenches that appear fairly random. I don’t know why, but I will try and find out.

I didn’t go into the Craft Cafe today, I did seriously consider it, and felt a bit guilty for not going in. Instead, I got Sausage & chips and sat on the waterfront. There was some small boat movements, a warship went out, escorted by three tugs and a Border Force cutter came in. So that was interesting and pleasant. Especially when the Mon St Michelle came in. Haven’t seen her for a while, so that was lovely.

I walked home, picking up my competition prints on the way.

1935 – Letter to Steve IV (Gilbert’s IV)

Hi Steve,

The header photo really is a Grabshot, taken from the car as we went past.

I’ve been looking forward to writing the letter this week. After I read Gilbert’s Letter IV, in which he talked about a local industry that focused on a local stone that is worked in the Selborne area. I immediately thought of a parallel and embarked upon a small adventure of discovery.

I’ve seen one site (Heidelberg Materials) where there are stockpiles of what I assume are aggregates of different grades for different purposes. Where did those aggregates come from? Some of it may be the result of dredging, but the dredgers don’t discharge at Fareham, as it is too small.

Also, Gosport isn’t an extraction site in its own right, so it must be a distribution centre, which does make sense. I think most towns will have facilities like this as they will be needed for construction work. In this case, the aggregates will mostly be gravel, crushed stone and possibly sand.

What Fareham Port is used for is to load small coaster cargo vessels, one in particular, The Goole Star, which was, for a period of time, captained by a friend of mine (met through Amateur Radio), we’d quite often chat whilst he was moving material to Newport on the Isle of White – for their distribution point.

I thought it was good that an imprecise parallel existed between Selborne and Gosport. I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed spending a bit of time researching this topic, and it puts me in a good frame of mind for Letter V.

On an entirely different note, I found out that having used the contacts page on the Gosport Museum website to ask about fossils found in the local area, that message would have gone to the headquarters of The Hampshire Cultural Trust, where it would have been completely ignored. That there was n acknowledgement at all was a bit disappointing, but having followed my post from that contacts page with a chat with the Museum staff, I have now used what I hope is the correct email address to have another go. Let’s see what happens with this attempt.

I shall be reading Letter V tomorrow (Monday 16th). I hope it sparks another interesting week of discovery.

All The Best.

1934 – A sunny Day

Most of the time, I really don’t mind if a day is gray. But, we have had so many gray days since the beginning of the year, that even I am pleased when the sun comes out as it did today.

I didn’t even mind that there was a slight chill in the air.

As you can see from the photograph of the Gosport Tower Blocks, I did manage to get out for a walk, and very pleasant it was too. There were quite a few people about, which is always nice to see.

I have to confess that I avoided the cockleponds today, I have been meaning to take a walk past them, but whoever controls them had opened the sluice and they were being emptied. I think they probably would smell a little bit,, so just stayed away from them.

There was a bit of a market going on in town, but only half a dozen stalls – it barely seemed worth the effort.

I did go for a bite to eat and a cup of tea in the Craft Cafe. These last couple of days it has been quite busy, which is nice to see, but once again it meant that I didn’t get my favourite table. Not to worry, though.

I went outside around 8PM just a very quick look. The sky was clear, promises some good observation opportunities. It’s just coming up to 2300, so I’m going to have another go.

1933 – Facebook & Blog Cadence

I think I got a bit too enthusiastic with my FaceBook post today. When it came time to do this blog, I realised that most of the pictures I’d taken earlier today had already be used and it would be the case that you would be seeing a duplicate. This header picture is one of those, but it is slightly different as it has been quite heavily cropped.

I voiced some frustration about my FB posts earlier. It’s because I’d like to do one every day, but haven’t, as I’ve felt that I had nothing to write about. Well, I will try something a little different. If it works, perhaps I will produce more than one every couple of weeks as seems to be so at the moment.

Writing about the ordinary is quite acceptable, and I need to develop that a bit more.

1932 – Charity Shops & Books

Looking back through my posts, I was surprised to see that it is nearly two years ago that I commented on the closure of the British Heart Foundation Charity Shop in town. That closure continues to be a sad loss to the community in terms of books. Not only did they have a good selection, it was well organised.

Fareham has a dedicated Oxfam Bookshop, which is pretty good. Generally, though, I am disappointed with bookshops, to which the standard reponse would be well, volunteer and do something about it. That would be interesting.

I wonder what the attitude is towards books on the part of the charity shops? I have toyed with the idea of doing that, but don’t want to commit to anything like that at the moment.

1931 – I’m having a bit of a problem

I haven’t done any vlogging for a while, which I think is a pity, and not a situation that I want to be in. Part of the problem is that can’t think of topics on which to vlog. I have to admit, that I was a bit stuck on what my blog entry might be about tonight, and then this topic occurred to me.

I follow a Canadian chap who is running a YouTube channel, that supports and encourages people in their adventure on YouTube. His “niche” in that respect is straightforward. His episodes are both interesting and educational to watch, and I’d encourage you to look at his channel. He Rob The Maritimer and his channel is;
https://www.youtube.com/@RobtheMaritimer

I’m not saying that I am disorganised with respect to this blog, but on most occasions, when I wake up in the morning, I don’t have any idea as to what I am likely to be blogging about. There are the odd differences, for example, the Camera Club and U3A are both likely to trigger ideas for a blog entry, and of course, there are the Letters to Steve, which are really a bit of fun, but becoming interesting to me

.The thing about vlogging is that it requires quite a bit (actually, a lot) more effort than doing a blog (I should stress that there are people out there who put a LOT more effort into their blog, so please don’t think that I am accusing other bloggers of being lazy. I categorically am not.

I know that what I am lacking is the common thread for vlogging. What can I vlog about? Now, a while ago, I did have some thoughts in mind. I would do a vlog comprising three parts: an issue around town, a face-to-the-camera piece about some topic, and finally an unusual object.

Whilst i haven’t necessarily given up on this idea, I am having difficulty comming up with ideas, and topics. And of course, as I write this, I get an idea.

Let’s see what happens.

1930 – The Letters to Steve

I’m not really going to talk about Steve, who he was, and why he was a special friend (no, not in that way). You might also think it a little macabre that I’m writing to someone who’s been gone these 23 years. In reality he is just a mechanism. But I think he would have enjoyed the letters.

But i wanted to give a little background to the next letter, No. IV due next Sunday.

I’m really quite surprised at how much research effort this one has triggered. A lot of digging (you’ll find out just how appropriate that is when it’s published). But I’ve learnt a fair bit about what is going on, and I hope it will make for an interesting read.

On an entirely different note, I’m pleased to say that I am actually beginning to enjoy using my Nikon. It’s sad really, it has been sat, mostly unused for the last ten years, mainly because I didn’t have the right lens on it. Now, it’s getting to the point where it is with me quite a bit. Not quite as much as the phone, but if I’m out and I have my bag with me, then the camera is there,, and I proved on Monday that I can take a picture with it that I prefer to the equivalent picture that I took with the phone/. I’m eager to have another go.

1929 – An unusual situation

The header picture was taken with my iphone 17,the picture information is 88mm, f1.78, 1/2577 of a second ISO64. It is unedited and deliberately so. Compare that with;

This picture was taken with my Nikon, 52mm*, 0.3ev,f8, 1/640s

*Actually, the lens is 35mm, but the Nikon reports it as a 52mm, because the D5300 has an APS-C sensor that is smaller than a 35mm frame for which the lens is designed, so it’s kind of “in camera cropping”.

Anyhow, I think for the first time, I find myself in the position of preferring the Nikon image to the iphone image, there’s just something about it.

1928 – Gilbert White Letter 3

Gilbert Whites Letter No. 3 deals a lot with fossils that were found in the area of Selborne. I thought I would write about foossils this week.

Hi Steve,

Time for another of my weekly letters to you, where I try to explain what the position is in Gosport. I stress that in no way do I compare myself to Gilbert. He was an amateur scientist par excellence. I am just an observer (and not a very good one at that), subject matter of Gilbert White’s letters from his book The Antiquities and Natural History of Selborne. The topic of his letter No. 3 was fossils found in the local area around Selborne.

I have to be honest and say that I didn’t expect Gosport and the local area to be very interesting from the point of view of fossils. But apparently it is. A walk along the base of the Hill Head cliffs is quite likely to reveal some fossils. I’ll try and do the safest part at some time. I haven’t had a chance this week.

I asked ChatGPT about fossils in this area. There are some rich beds. The chat revealed that it was likely that the Gosport Museum may have some fossils in storage. I emailed the museum to ask if they had any, and if so could I have a look and possibly take some photos. Sadly, I’ve not had a reply.

My plan is to talk to the Museum staff on Tuesday to confirm that they received my email. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Unfortunately, an inconclusive week, but I’ll carry on.

1927 – Sorry – Stargazing with Heath Robinson

I really don’t know how I managed to get a slightly out-of-focus picture with the Nikon, obviously a bad shutter / aperture combination.

Anyhow, this is where Heath Robinson paid a visit today. The picture shows my attempt to get a kind of Head-up Display. On the phone, the plan is to have Stellarium running, and held in such a position that I can glimpse at the phone to see what we are pointing at and then raise my eyes to see the sky.

Of course, it hasn’t worked. Even with a fairly solid tripod like mine, the use of the articulating arm to hold the phone over the chair throws the centre of gravity of the arrangement way off so that even with only a gentle touch, it topples.

I’ve been having a fairly extensive discussion with ChatGPT about various options, which right at the end comes up with a suggestion which, the more I think about it seems to be the most practical. I am now eager to try it out, and of course at the moment, we are having another run of cloudy nights (I’ve only been able to observe 4 out of the last 14 nights, including tonight).

Part of the problem is that I have decided that it would be quite nice to have access to a pair of binoculars as well as Stellarium. Well, I can get over that one easily – if I look at the picture, the horizontal bar that is attached to the tripod can take up to four attachments.

All I have to do is move the bar to the monopod, and that’s it. the monopod will give me support and all I have to do is lifft it when I swivel. So obvious, why didn’t I see it?

Anyhow, the first clear night, I shall be out with the monopod. Not tonight, 8/8 cover here in Gosport.