Bills Posts

This is from a few years ago I wanted to watch the cruise ships come in to Southampton. Of course I can watch them from Stokes bay, or Lee-on-the-Solent or I could get reasonably close to their course at Gilkicker, I just wanted to see them from a different angle.

Calshot is good because it is very near the Bramble bank, a huge sand bank in the middle of the Solent. Large ships have to take a proper dog leg course to avoid the hazard. Some ships don’t make it. 28 January 2015 the Hoegh Osaka, a car carrier became stuck on the bank. Strangely, although we went to see the ship several times I don’t have any photographs, which is frustrating.

Calshott Tower, in the picture, is one of the main observation stations for the National Coast watch Institute. A charity that, using volunteers, keeps a watch on coastal waters. There’s quite a long and intensive training course to become a part of nci. As usual, I would quite like to have done that.

I got my pictures, and I am very pleased with them. But, I’d quite like to have another go. But this time, I would go somewhere different, not quite so far; Warsash. I’ll need to identify when a good number of cruise ships are coming in, now that cruises have started again.

The wall in the picture is called a ha-ha. I didn’t know that this was the name for this kind of feature. What is the point of a ha-ha? I got this from google;  to give the viewer of the garden the illusion of an unbroken, continuous rolling lawn, whilst providing boundaries for grazing livestock. Seems straightforward enough.

I’m really annoyed with myself for not taking more pictures at Gilbert’s house, but I was, as they say; “very in the moment”. Now that is one of those classsic phrases that ordinarily I would say “what the heck does that mean”? Well, apart from rather pathetic pictures I took I didn’t even think about it until towards the end. It somewhat gives me an excuse to go back again. I’m OK with that.

I haven’t started Gilberts book yet, I have two other books (three if I’m honest), but I’m not sure. It’s a bit of a recurring dilemma for me, a book I really want to read gets bumped down the reading order, because another book I really want to read pops up. Now, the issue is Lee Miller, I didn’t know about her until I read about her in B&W photography and then went to her exhibition where I bought the book.

I’m going to continue with the street photography and the history of Hampshire. I think Lee Miller will move down the list. I feel more commited to those two, and definitiely Gilberts book than Lee’s. Sorry about that.

It has been more than a week since I last went on my morning walk. The really quite nasty cough that I’ve had is fading. I’ve secretly enjoyed not having to get up at 0535 and follow the same route that I have followed for what feels like five or six years.

The deep frustration is that I am bored with the walk. I am not bored with the #Breakfastclub which coincides with the walk. But, I can’t participate in that radio net at home because I have a tendency to talk too loud and it would disturb my wife.

I have to confess that in particular over the last week, i have been lucky to avoid the stress that these two positions were causing me. How silly is that? Why on earth was i getting stressed over getting up to go for a walk and having a chat with friends at the same time?

I think it is absolutely OK for me to not get up and go for a walk if I don’t want to (after all, it’s not as if I need to add miles to the #Walk1000 project, that’s done and delivered). It’s also OK, even, if I don’t take my radio with me. I’d lay their usually waking up anywhere between three and Five AM, and then streesing about getting up for the walk. Most of the time once I’m up and even just getting ready, I’m OK, the stress goes. I don’t know why I let myself get like that, but sadly I did. I am fully aware that I do stress over some of the daftest things. If I don’t want to go, I don’t have to.

There were two articles in this month’s B&W photography that grabbed my attention. But it was more of a relationship between where I live and the two pieces.

The first B&W article by Jim Bailey has some really quite lovely pictures of snow covered mountain regions. I can appreciate the beauty the pictures show, but to be honest, they don’t really do an lot for me.

The second piece is entitle Silent Coast by Rob Ball. Rob visits many UK coastal towns. He looks at the attractions and the communities. I get the impression that Robs images are almost intended to convey a feeling of dilapidation.

People talk of the heart of a town. What is that? How do you depict it? Every town has its good and its bad bits. The window frame may be up for restoration. It’d dilapidation May even be used as a symbol of the chequered history of the town.

Is it a good thing to want to picture the heart of a town, even if that heart isn’t in a good state? To what end? How do I do that? Just wondering.

I’ve written about Gilbert White a bit in the past. I’m prepared to accept that he has been a minor scale obsession for me for the best part of nearly eight years now. Just to recall, the best way for us to get to the north, having moved to Gosport was to travel up the A3. Just to the north of Petersfield is the Ham Barn Roundabout. The first time we travelled that route, I recall seeing the brown sign saying “Gilbert White’s House” – Of course, my thought was “Who’s Gilbert White?”

Gilbert White lived in Selborne, he lived from 1720 – 1793. During his time he kept a journal which he published as “The Antiquities and Natural History of Selborne.” The book records observations that “laid the foundations for modern day study of ecology”.

I could have bought the booking at anytime, but I was determined to wait until I had visited the house. I thoroughly enjoyed looking around the house and was very surprised to see an exhibition on Captain Lawrence Oates. He was the member of Capt Scott’s Fatally flawed Antarctic exhibition who as the expedition was reaching its deadly conclusion said, as he leaves the tent; “I’m going for a walk, I may be gone for a while”. Captain Oates’ cousin Robert was an enthusiast of Whites journal, and when Robert found out that Gilbert’s house was on the market, and people were trying to establish a museum, provided the finance and made sure there was space for The Oates collection.

We had afternoon tea in the cafe, it was delicious. They even boxed up the fourth meal when a member of our party couldn’t come.

It goes without saying that I have a copy of the book.

The latest edition of B&W photography turned up yesterday. I’m sure that Country Walking will turn up next week. I very much enjoy reading both magazines, but it is mildly frustrating that it interrupts my reading of the two books I have on the go; the history of Hampshire and the street photography workshop. But I do enjoy reading the mags.

Now, what gets really frustrating is that tomorrow, we are due to visit Gilbert White’s house, we’ve booked afternoon tea. Ever since I worked out who Gilbert White was and why I would be interested in him I have been waiting for tomorrow. I have promised my self that I would only by his book, the Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne at his house.

Over Saturday and Sunday I started developing a sore throat, that had gone by Monday and I started coughing and sneezing. I’ve been doing that all week now. I went out for a short walk at lunchtime. It was OK. But I’m still coughing. Will we get to Gilbert White? It’s going to be difficult to express my frustration if we don’t.

The rotunda in the picture isn’t Roman, but you could almost think it is. The more I read about the history of the county. The more significant the influence of Rome becomes apparent.

I’d quite like to pay a visit to Silchester. It appears that there is a lot of Roman history there. On our trips to Pagham we visited the Fishborne Roman Palace The Bignor Villa it was amazing to see the quality of the mosaics and the technology of the underfloor heating. A most fascinating insight in to the lifestyle of the very wealthy.

Up near Butser hill there is a series of 5 barrows called the Devils Humps. I am curious to go and see them. I don’t think I am obsessed with artefacts from Neolithic or in this case Bronze ages, I feel just a little bit drawn to visit them for some reason.

I go back to previous posts where I’ve written about my visit to Knowlton. Haunted Britain describes this as one of the most atmospheric places in Dorset.

When I visited Knowlton, I probably spent about half an hour there, but whilst I knew that it was old I didn’t really feel anything. What should I feel? How do I find that out, and why do I have this sense of curiosity about these things? I think these are questions I would like to explore.

I keep on writing these posts where I keep beating myself up over one thing or another. This time it’s about my morning walk. I have been doing it for several years now. I must have done the same walk several hundred times.

I have become a little bit bored with it. I think it’s partly because of the time of year it’s always dark for the most interesting part of the walk; down the high street and along the water front. You can only take so many pictures of the Normandie or the Mon St Michell or the occasional different Cruise ship. Even with a sometimes spectacular sky.

I have had lots of intentions to do various walks but I could only do them at weekends, but come the weekend I either have something else to do, can’t be bothered, or just feel to tired.

Perhaps if I could just get to somewhere different at the weekend, that might help alleviate my morning boredom. I feel quite sad at that.

Almost a couple of years ago, when I started doing this numbered blog I can remember several occasions when I was conflicted about which book to read, and couldn’t make up my mind. I am sure that there have been several such occasions during my journey to bloggendum.

Once again, I am in that position of having to books on the go, with others knocking at the door. But, the two of the moment are A history of Hampshire and Street Photography Workshop. Two completely different yet equally engrossing books.

I have just finished Chapter Two of Hampshire which was about the Roman occupation of the south of England around 43AD. And yet it covers battles at Maiden Castle of Dorchester, and the establishment of Bath. The Isle of White also appears to be equally as important. I am assuming that this is because of easy access to the coast by Roman ships. I can’t wondering what I would do if I were in those times with a modern camera (that still had access to unlimited storage and never ran down its battery (yes, I know). It would be fascinating.

Applying the principles of Street Photography to the citizens of that time would probably have not been received very well.

The chapter of street photography workshop that I am reading at present deals with equipment, specifically (at present) lenses. Now, a prime lens is one of fixed focal length whereas a zoom lens has variable focal lengths. Which do you thing street photographers prefer? I thought it strange that they prefer prime lenses. But this is the case, and it is for two reasons; Prime lenses are of better quality than zooms and also (perhaps more importantly, although this might be slightly contentious) because, if you are looking at a potential phot, and have to worry ab out which setting to use, you are very likely to lose the picture. That does make sense to me.

Now, I can feel the urge to go our and buy a decent compact, but this is just turning me into a gadget freak, when why do I need to bother? I have one one of the best street photography tools nearly always available in my pocket.

I am of course talking about my phone. Not only is it convenient, but every has one, and being seen holding the phone rather than a big camera with a big lens is much less likely to influence a picture.

I’m being a bit naughty. I am doing this post way too late. I am too tired for a longer session and I don’t want to lose the counter by not doing a post. I will do better tomorrow.