Bills Posts

There are somethings that are really quite cathartic. For me it can be as simple as cutting the grass, shredding or organising a book shelf.

All of a sudden, I am to be given almost half of one of our bookshelves. I have more than enough books to fill it. It is though, more than just putting books in place on the shelf. They should be arranged, organised even. But how?

Should I employ the Dewey decimal method? I think that’s probably extreme, but certainly by subject. I don’t have enough space currently for my nature books. Also, my Dorset and Hampshire selections are growing. I will transfer books around to create some space. The new shelf space is a shelf higher do I want the newly placed books to be higher or lower? Now, there’s a question to be pondered.

It was a cold start to the day. I have to confess that I didn’t really want to get up. As usual though I’m glad I did. There was a northerly breeze with a real bite to it. Luckily my headphones cover my ears, so they don’t suffer.

The high street was even more quiet than usual, no window cleaner, no Holland & Barrrett replenishment lorry, and I haven’t seen Pepy for several days.

Arriving at teh wasterfront just in time to see the Mon St Michel come in through the harbour entrance, but because I couldn’t get to the very end of the Haslar Wave Guard as it is currently blocked off, due to maintenance being done underneath I missed the departure of the Dredger Barge, the Split Two. The Split Two uis an usual ship. It is incredibly noisy. I think it is a diesel engine. When the Mon St Michel comes in I can barely hear it. This morning, the Split Two completely drowned it.

I used to see a few people walking their dogs and say good Morning to them, Mike, I think has a bulldog and a lady with a spaniel called Billy (I don’t know her name). Billy carries a tennis ball which he drops at my feet and waits for me to kick it, he absolutely loves it. There’s a chap who drives a van, He stopped one morning to ask me what I was doing. We now give each other a wave although he’s not about every morning.

A normal mornings walk, if slightly chilly – but not frozen. This evening I went to put the car on charge. Looking at the sky, I had the impression it might snow. We shall have to wait and see.

It’s not that I have writers block, it’s just that I can’t make my mind what to write about. I don’t want to write about photography, I did that last night.

I could write about astronomy, the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights) are figuring in the news a lot at the moment. The sun’s main cycle lasts eleven years. We (people) started measuring the cycle in 1755, that was cycle 1. We are currently in cycle 25, and cycle 25 is more active (it appears a lot more active) than cycle 24 which ended in December 2019. This increased actiivity means that the aurora is being pushed further south. There are reports that it has been visible from as far south as Somerset. You’d think that was quite exceptional.

Reading Gilbert White’s journals, surprised me. On several occasions only within the first couple of chapters he reported seeing several aurora at Selborne. Cycles s1 & 2, which cover what there is of Gilberts journals that I have read so far seem to have been fairly average strength with an average daily sunspot count of 70 and 99 respectively, which when compared with cycle 24 which had 49 makes them relatively twice as active.

And there you go, that’s today’s post, which involved a little bit of research and reading, which I found quite interesting.

It is very unusual if I don’t take a photo when I go out for a walk. To be honest, I haven’t given much thought to the practice of taking a picture, or the tool that I use to do so.

As I was sorting out t somethings in the office, I found the cable supplied with the Nikon for down loading pictures. I put the cable in the camera bag. How long will it sit there before I use it again?

That got me to thinking about batteries for the camera. They are getting so little use, that I am sure they are degrading, and I will have to buy replacements. That got me thinking about the another camera I bought at the height of my “intent to vlog” phase. I think the batteries for that are shot.

I have some decisions to make. It disappoints me that I have such lovely kit that is going unused. What to do about it? That is what I need to think about/

We spent a couple of hours in the garden today. It’s the first time since towards the beginning of December, when we had the last brown bin collection of 2022.

Today’s exercise was mostly a tidy up and actually, I am generally happy with that on the understanding that I don’t actually have to get my hands dirty. I’m fine wearing gloves. Especially as it’s been obvious for a while that a fox has been using part of the lawn as a toilet.

I do like to see a good garden and Elayne is excellent with that.

Over the last few days I’ve had an idea of what I was going to write as much as a day ahead I enjoyed being in that position. Why can’t I be like that all the time?

Those last three or four posts were focussed on a particular topic, I was able to plot, to a limited degree what I was going to write. was that because I was focused on one topic?

The thing about this blog, is that I could potentially write about anything that takes my interest I very rarely know what I am going to write. Sometimes. Something I see or read will spark a post. It is a complete lack of planning.

Back in the covid days, I had and outline. One photography, another the waterfront, another a review of the weeks writings. And occasionally, I have looked at the list on occasion, but it is in the 2020 diary. I’ll copy it in to the journal, my hand writing book which I occasionally write in pen, because I feel like it.

Perhaps I need to spend a bit of time thinking ahead.

The thing about Thursday nights, is that I do the Thursday night net, on the Isle of Wight Radio Society repeater, GB3IW. Sometimes I manage to do the 365 Project and this blog entry before the net, which starts at 8PM.

Most of the time though for one reason or another, I end up doing the entries after the net. Now, the 365 Project is fairly easy, it’s just a few comments and a picture. It is this post that causes me problems.

Usually, I end up doing a really rubbish post, and I really do hate that.

These last few nights I have enjoyed writing about Gosport, because I knew what I was going to write for the most part even as far as the day before I wrote the post. I’m not say those posts were good, but they were easier.

Stokes Road would appear to be a bit of an oddity. There are some shops which cause me to wonder how they survive. But, they make for a fascinating hours window shopping.

There’s the shop which has a 28 inch television in a globe case, I’m not sure if that isn’t from the 1970’s along with a smaller portable TV and a video camera that I think may take vhs tapes.

On the other side of the road is the model shop. There used to be two model shops on Stokes Road, this one has a dingy dusty appearance to it, and the models have that look about them the if Toy Story were true, they would be saying “please rescue us” but the look is deceiving, for inside is a veritable cornucopia that would satisfy almost any modellers curiosity. Sadly the other model shop closed down a few years ago.

There’s an art gallery that used to be a shop, not big, but they often have some interesting exhibitions of, quite often local work. I always make a point of pausing to have a look to see what is on display.

The emporium is fascinating, a really diverse collection of “stuff” it is always worth a look you will never know what you might find. Then there is Richard Martins gallery, I have bought several books about Gosport from there.

I usually make a point of pausing to read the sign outside one particular hairdresser. They often have a funny quote that causes a chuckle.

Stokes Road is an unusual collection of stores. Well worth a browse when you have the chance. I have but no means mentioned all of the interesting shops here.

When I stand at the waterfront that are the Falklands Gardens, it is strange to think that if I had been stood there three hundred and seventy odd years before, I would have in the middle of the civil war.

With the Parliamentarians building a platform from which to bombard Royalist Portsmouth, and other nefarious deeds, it would have been a violent time.

move forward In time to the 1850’s and further threats of violence and invasion sees the building of Palmerstons Follies. A series of forts stretching from Gilkicker Point, around past Gosport up onto the hills to the north of Portsmouth ending with For Purbrook, designed to protect against the threat of a French invasion that never materialised

The late 19th century saw a more civilised battle between to areas of the peninsula was it to be Alverstoke & Gosport or Gosport & Alverstoke? So heated became the discussion. That it provoked a House of Lords inquiry, resulting in (actually by agreement, rather than imposition) it becoming Gosport, although the outer areas retain their local names.

We move forward to the 1940’s and the whole area becomes suffused with military personnel and hardware as it plays a critical role in the build up to D-Day. Some streets in Gosport were especially widened to accommodate the hardware. Jericho Avenue is one of the best examples of this.

All around Gosport there are signs of the infrastructure that were constructed in preparation for that day, from the ramp at Priddy’s. Hard to allow the embarkation of vehicles and men around to stokes bay, where the Caissons for the Mulberry Harbour were built and the remains of the concrete “chocolate blocks” that gave a firm surface for heavy vehicles to cross the beach to their landing craft.

I stand at the edge of the Falklands Gardens, dedicated to the memory of a more recent conflict and ponder at the immensity of the history that surrounds me.

The header picture is todays Gosporrt High Street, taken from just north of North Cross Street looking toward the ferry. There have been many times when I’ve walked down the street wondering what it would have been like in previous years.

Gosport was a new town in the 1600’s There wouldn’t have been much outside the defensive perimenter, and life inside the boundary was probably quite unpleasant.

As time goes by, society improves, in that, generally life becomes more pleasant, especially for the wealthy, and so Gosport expands to encompass the areas of Alverstoke and Rowner, although these weren’t necessarily smooth events.

And so Gosports streets become increasingly more akin to what we know today. Some things have been lost, and others gained. Buildings re-purposed from theatres to banks. Bars and pubs become nightclubs.

The reduction / removal of the Navy had a significant negative impact on the town only to be expected. People adapt though. Whilst not having the same vibrancy today as it did twenty and more years ago.

As I walked down the high street this morning, I was wondering what it would have been like to walk down the high street !00 or 150 years ago. Things are different today. As I walked toward the ferry terminal, I counted the closed shops – eight of them, I didn’t count how many were open.

No high street should have this level of closures. But what can be done about it? When I have a work problem, I always try to come up with a solution.

This time – I have no idea.