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.

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.

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.

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.

Before we moved to Gosport, over 10 years ago, Gosport High Street was pedestrianised along it’s entire length. It was around October 24, when buses started using the Cross Streets to get themselves positioned for a smooth entry into the new interchange.

I was stood at the roadside for the bus-only route across The High Street, just waiting for the bus to go pass, when I accidentally took some pictures.

Looking at one of the pictures later, I thought I’d try it in Black & White, and personally I’m not saying it’s a good picture, but it is interesting for the different textures, and for that reason I like it I may even use it at the club, but as aPDI or print? Not sure Yet.

I had quite a good day today, I got up to the Shed for almost a couple of hours, didn’t really do anything, just sat there, had a cup of tea, a couple of biscuits and chatted with a couple of people. By the time I was due to leave, it had started raining.

I decided I was going to walk home regardless, and then after about 5 minutes, I remembered that I had a letter in my bag that I needed to post for Elayne, and then I remembered that I needed to go to th pharmacist anyway, to pick up a presrciption. I changed direction, and headed for the bus stop.

I put the letter into the post office (it needed postage), had a cup of tea, and a snack in the Craft Cafe – they are getting used to me there, good.

I walked home via the pharmacy. It hadn’t stopped raining, but it wasn’t heavy.

The header picture is really not very good, heavily cropped, and if you enlarge it, it will be pixelated. But, as it stands, it is not too bad a picture of Orion. The belt is quite clear. This was about a quarter to 10 (21:45) on the 25th of Feb, over our neighbour’s house.

I took it about a week ago, just after starting my diary. I’m planning to only keep the diary for a month, after committing to do that at the U3A Stargazing group on 23 Feb.

Actually, keeping the log has, even after only 10 days, been quite enlightening. It has at least got me outside each evening, even if only to find that it is cloudy, and therefore observation has not been possible. That has been the case on at least three of the 10 nights. I say at least because there were two nights where I didn’t even check, so I don’t know if I could have observed.

Those nights where I have observed have been a little bit frustrating, as the moon has been very bright, and light pollution has also not helped.

Being able to observe, under admittedly non-ideal conditions, has at least enabled me to work on my setup. I’ll post a picture of that in the next couple of days. I had a couple of variations, and even now I’m still experimenting, and I suspect some limitations will remain, but it’s fun investigating.

The workmen on the People’s Park. Taken yesterday. I have taken some pictures with the Nikon, but I haven’t transferred them across yet.

This morning was the monthly meeting of all Gosport U3A. There was a talk Richard Osgood about “Rat Island”. This is a slightly repelling, but facinating place in Portsmouth harbour. At high tide, it is an isolated island, at low tide you can walk out to it.

The Island is MOD property, and there are large signs declaring it as such with instructions to keep off. I must admit that after today’s presentation, I am wondering why anybody other than specialists would want to go there.

Ther island was used as a burial site during the 18th & 19th Centuries. The way that the island is stuctured, makes it vulnerable to coastal erosion. This exposes the bodies, which are then eaten by rats. Sorry about that, my stomach is churning now.

Anyhow, it was fascinating to hear about the place, and the lecture was very expertly presented.

At the top of the members received a gentle berating from the Gosport U3A chair for not using the tea & coffee facilities that were being made available for U3A by the Thorngate Hall Team, and that there was a danger of our losing the facility. Of course, after the meeting I went and had a brew.

As it happens, it was quite pleasant, I’m going to be honest. I was surprised to be sat with a fairly large group of mature people and for it to not be a mass discussion of ailments, but instead an interesting discussion on Stargazing, the Voyager missions and Earth Mysteries in general. I’m tempted to repeat the experience next month if I can.

I didn’t get out for a walk today, nor did I get any ironing done. It’s surprising how quickly the family can interfere with plans, as happened today. Luckily, it has turned out OK. Also, after my run to Portsmouth ended, I got home, sat at the computer, and promptly fells asleep. Another bit of the day gone.

Before this evening’s Camera Club, Elayne had been given an honour. She was asked to put a display of her pictures on the notice board in HEDCA. I’m not sure how long they will be up. It could be a month. I really can’t put in to words just how proud of her that I am.

I really should (another prematurely published letter – I think I have just messed up, I hadn’t noticed the time, it’s midnight. My 67 day streak has been messed up because of me. Aaaagh! It’ll be back to 0 for the Wednesday post). Anyhow, back to the post. I really should have written something about stargazing in last nights post.

I spent a good thirty to forty minutes in the garden, using my hunter’s chair. It worked really well. What didn’t work so well was a mechanism to hold my phone in front of my face, so that I could use Stellarium. I want an arrangement whereby I can have something like a heads-up display. I can swivel, look at the sky, and briefly glance at the phone for it to tell me what i am looking at. It worked after a fashion, but not as well as I wanted it to. I have an alternative plan, a compromise. Not good in most respects, but very good in a couple of others. I think I might have to start producing a series of pictures illustrating my failure, and hopefully, ultimately, my success.

The actual stargazing itself was successful; it always is when you look at a clear night sky. Even if you are not seeing as much as you wanted to because of; 1. A really bright Gibous Moon, and 2. light pollution. Most frustrating. But as my eyes became accustomed over the first 20 minutes or so, I could definitely see a few more bright stars.

Tomorrow is the 1st wednesday of the month, so its U3A in the morniing.. This month’s talk is about Rat Island. I’ll fill you in, hopefully tomorrow (well, today really as it is Midnight 14, 0014). Time for bed, I think.