personal blog – Page 2

1988 – A u3a Project

Only 5 days ago, I did a u3a review. The Geology interest group was one where I had recorded “No Task – Yet”. Well, I think I have found one. We go to the beach fairly regularly, say a couple of times a month, even if it is only for fish and chips. Recently, IContinue reading “1988 – A u3a Project”

1987 – The Cockle Ponds

The Model Yacht club was active today, racing. There was one yacht which was well out of it. I couldn’t help wondering if a prospective new member was controlling the yacht and was doing the same as I did when I was thinking about joining the club, I was able to watch the pond clearerContinue reading “1987 – The Cockle Ponds”

1986 – How did they Know?

A while before I joined u3a, I started reading some history books. Briefly, I became interested in the English Civil War, and bought a book about it. The problem with the book was that it didn’t tell me what led up to the start of the war. I temporarily gave up on the book (OK,Continue reading “1986 – How did they Know?”

1985 – Macro & Stacking

Tonight was camera club night. It was a member’s night, when we get to choose what we are going to do, well, almost. I think it might have been Tim, the club chairman, who decided the topic for the evening. Some members brought in setups; Jon was showing how to do photo-stacking, Mike was doingContinue reading “1985 – Macro & Stacking”

1984 – A u3a Review

I joined the u3a in early January. That’s nearly five months ago, I can hardly believe it. I thought this would be a good time to sit back and look at how things are going. I wrote a quick list of the groups I’m involved in. Where there’s an opportunity in a group, I likeContinue reading “1984 – A u3a Review”

1983 – Letter to Steve XI

Dear Steve, I read through Letter XI, and I confess, I was more than a bit surprised by the first paragraph. Gilbert had acquired a dead falcon. Taking it into his home, he took measurements of it, and looked at its characteristics. That kind of floored me a bit. What could I do that wasContinue reading “1983 – Letter to Steve XI”

1982 – A Trip Out

For several weeks now, I’ve had a thought in my head, that lead to today. I went to London, for a very specific purpose. My first port of call was the British Museum. I’ve walked past this grand establishment before, but I have never been in. It almost didn’t happen. It’s best to book aContinue reading “1982 – A Trip Out”

1981 – Asterisms

At the u3a Stargazing session on Monday, we started talking about Asterisms. Beyond knowing they were something to do with stellar arrangements, and didn’t fully understand what an Asterism was. I didn’t know that I had been looking at them most of my life. There are constellations that I have known for a very longContinue reading “1981 – Asterisms”

1980 – A day with our Granddaughter

I didn’t make these. Aurora helped Elayne make them. Not long after this, they were topped off with icing and the little hexagonal disk you can see in the top right corner of the picture – they are edible. The cakes were very nice, light and tasty. They were nice and soft, you can’t evenContinue reading “1980 – A day with our Granddaughter”

1979 – The Great Western Railway (GWR) Museum Swindon

Today, I was on the monthly Shed Trip. The April trip was to the GWR Museum in Swindon. Unlike last month, the coach driver took us to the motorway via junction 9. It was a much quicker exit from Gosport. The trip to Swindon took about an hour and a half. I was a bitContinue reading “1979 – The Great Western Railway (GWR) Museum Swindon”