Bills Posts

An unusual day, we didn’t do very much. Last night I wanted to read a couple of pages of A History of Hampshire and I started looking for the book but couldn’t find it. Most frustrating but I found it this morning languishing a place where it had fallen. I’ve now managed to read the first chapter.

I enjoyed reading that chapter, it was an “easy read”, that means for me good writing. Naturally it covered the introduction of people onto what we now know as Hampshire, but of course I don’t think the county boundaries or what ever boundaries they had 1,000 BCE. Many of the people from then interacted with different parts of the country, apparently commonalities have been found between people living in Hampshire and those from Dorset. I hope the book explores that a bit more.

The book mentions many place names such as Portsdown and Butser, even this early in the book. There are quite a few so I think I need to compile a list of place names as they may be well worth a visit.

The book mentions old tracks, I wonder if there is a printed map showing all barrows and hill forts. I’d really like to get that and find out if there are ley lines to be drawn. I bet there are.

I have to go back to the street photography book now. They are both a draw, plus I have the Lee Miller story to read as well.

The header picture isn’t Southampton. We were there, but not for long. I had eggs Benedict in a restaurant in West Quay, which was very nice. We did what we needed to in West Quay, including a good browse around Waterstones, once again not buying anything. Then we went out on to the high street.

My wife wanted to go in to a clothes shop, which to be quite honest with you is usually anbsolutely the. last thing I want to do. So, I was quite happy to sit and people watch. The question going through my mind was “Why would I take a photo of you?” and of the hundreds of people who walked past me (ignoring some rather good looking women) the answer was I wouldn’t. Everybody, apart from one or two people with strange hair styles, looked what I would class as normal.

Anyhow, as I was sat there I was joined by another gentleman and as you might expect, we started talking. And it was quite interesting , we found that we shared similar views on a number of issues. We both felt entirely comfortable discussing as we did, and it was quite pleasant. A succesful day.

When I came up with the idea of Locality, getting to know the local area, I was really only looking at the coastline between Hurst Castle and Hayling Island. I now acknowledge that was too limiting. What I really should have done was include Hampshire from the outset. Whilst it is probably a bit late I am taking steps to rectify that.

It’s not that there isn’t much history in the area I defined, it is absolutely stacked with it. But I have to confess to a curiosity about the rest of Hampshire. Hence I’ve bought yet another book; A history of Hampshire by Barbara Carpenter Turner. Now, it only arrived yesterday, so I haven’t had a chance to look at anything more than the table of contents. Now, it is a reference book, but I do intend to have a read through.

Now, the problem is that I have a notional reading list. At the moment that includes The photography workshop and the Lives of Lee Miller, the photographer and the History of the photograph. I’m going to change the list and put the winchester book in early, indeed I am soo keen to have a good look at it that I may start the odd page here and there perhaps as my breakfast book.

I’m reading the street photography workshop. Chapter three is quite intriguing. It deals with projects. Professional Street photographers prefer projects because it means they have a subject and are more likely to take successful pictures that people who just shoot randomly.

I must admit, I found this to be something of a revelation, it seems obvious but why has this never occurred to me? I have I think always thought that a street photographer relied upon getting that lucky picture. really, frustrating, I have taken what I class as a quite a good street photo, taken in London, probably 15 or more years ago. That’s a stunningly good success rate isn’t it? What’s even more frustrating is I can’t find it. When I do find it, I’ll come back to this post and include it.

I go for my morning walk and there are very few people about until I get to the ferry terminal, I often so no people. But, I can still look for shapes, shadow and lighting. What is prone to change?

I went for a lunchtime walk. I didn’t take any pictures down the high street, but, I did pay a lot of attention to the people on the street. The workshop book doesn’t say that all pictures of “normal” people are bad street photography, but it’s really worth looking for some element that tells a story or makes it special.

I have to confess that I were of a mind to take pictures of a stranger I found nothing to inspire me. Oh Dear, that’s not good is it? The observation exercise is something I think I will repeat. You never know how that will develop.

I’m not in anyway disparaging Hampshire (you are now thinking that’s exactly what I am about to do) but any attempt to compare two locations will always in some way be doomed to failure.

In the 70’s I visited Guildford quite a few times, but I never got to visit the cathedral, I have visited Winchester’s grand cathedral and of course Portsmouth’s. I could never recall ever having seen a cathedral anywhere in Dorset.

Sherborne has a church, which it appears is nominally a cathedral (I don’t really know what nominally means in this context). Why is it that Dorset doesn’t have a clearly designated cathedral (in reality, I’m not bothered by this, but am curious as to why that should be.

Winchester is a critical city. Whilst I haven’t researched Winchester I know the place is loaded with history, of which the round table is only one part. There are many places in the county where the history spans the centuries.

Dorsets history is different from the Jurassic coast it’s history doesn’t span centuries but eons.

Two entirely different but in many ways equally fascinating stories.

I’ve taken a few pictures of the dredgers that have been working in Haslar Marinna, but it has nearly all been very early in the morning or at the weekend. today, I went for my lunchtime walk, and did the usual thing walking down the high street and carried on to the Haslar Marina Wave Guard.

I was glad I did because this time the dredger was working. The excavator at the front of the Doreen Dorward is a “self-propelled Spud Leg Pontoon Utility Vessel”. A spud – is a long steel leg that is passed down to the sea bed to provide stability to the ship. Here’s a picture of the ship in daylight. The two spuds are the two columns halfway down the ships;

The whole of September and what we’ve had of October has been a little bit fractured in terms of my walking. Since the beginning of the year I’ve been recording my miles for the walk1000 project. I am proud to say that I reached my target during early September.

It’s halfway through October and I’m about 20 miles down on my usual monthly goal. Now some of the days I’ve missed have been because of the weather – I won’t walk if it’s raining. I have to confess that there have been a couple of times where I’ve not gone, simply because I didn’t feel like it.

So with two and a half months left in the year, I could potentially achieve a couple of hundred miles by years end. So, I just have to try and do my best.

Usually at the weekends I do a little bit longer walk than my normal three miles, I’ve not done those for a few weekends because there have been other things going on, so I have really been slacking. I will crack down on that and try to do better.

Sorry, this is another rubbish post.

Today was one of those occasional trips across the water to Portsmouth. My goal once again was to pay a visit to Waterstones, the closest big bookshop. As usual, I started by browsing the latest non-fiction section just inside the front door. I have to say that there wasn’t anything that really grabbed my attention, so I moved upstairs only glancing in the direction of the fiction section as I ascended the escalator.

Today, I spent a fair bit of time looking at the British History section, something I don’t normally do. It was quite interesting. One in particular being a book about the Civil war. I also realised that whilst I know a very little bit about the tudors, I know nothing at all about the Plantagenets, that be worth a bit of reading. I think one thing I was looking for was some kind of time line, or books which mentioned hampshire I didn’t find either, but there again I didn’t look in every book.

From the history section I moved across to the religious section, I wanted to see if there was anything on spirituality, there probably was but I didn’t see it, so I moved on to the self help section. I really don’t know why I bother with this area as I never find the book that is going answer all my questions (which I know doesn’t exist anyway).

From the self help section, I move across to the writing about writing area. I did take a look at creative writing for dummies. It had a section on non-fiction, but I have a number of books covering that so I didn’t linger long.

Finally a quick look at the travel writing section some interesting books there, but nothing that really interested me. I would have spent a bit of time looking at the art and photography sections but I needed to catch the 1500 ferry, so I shall go there first on my next visit.

I didn’t buy anything, except being a bit naughty and having a Burger King for lunch.

I like maps. I always have. Maps tell you lots of things about a place. If I had enough wall space, I would have a very big map. I’ve said in the past that I don’t like marking books, I have a different view of maps. Places of interest need to be highlighted.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time this week looking for books about the history of Hampshire. They’re are quite a few web sites about the county, but I can’t find a book about Hampshire. Actually, thinking about it I haven’t looked for the same book about Dorset. I suppose I should.

I know that Winchester has a lot of history that goes back a long way. The south coast has a much more recent history. I’m willing to bet there is a lot of history in between. I wonder about places or areas in between. Take for example East Meon The area has history going back to 2,000 BC. Even if there isn’t a book, places like Wikipedia can be a useful resource. I must admit I didn’t know about Meon, although I knew there was history.

I’ve just had a look at West Meon, that’s another place that looks interesting. I think both villages are worth a visit. I think the way to do this is to draw a name from random and look it up. Just those two villages alone seem to have a history that covers centuries. Most interesting.

This is Knowlton near Wimborne St Giles. Parts of the church are 12th century. There are also parts of the church from the 15th and 18th century. The church sits in the middle of a Neolithic Henge monument.

A couple of years ago, I drove past this site. I didn’t have time to stop but I did come back came back the following year. This time I was able to stop and have a good look around I walked through and around the church.

I had a good walk around the henge, it was very interesting. But, beyond curiosity about the site I didn’t feel anything, no energies. I would say that I feel no resonance with the people who built these sites, but I am very curious about who they were and why they built these things. It’s all really fascinating stuff.