Conkers, it appears, are an-anti-arachnid device. Put one in each corner of the room – no spiders. It does seem to work. We’ve had no spiders in doors. Unless you don’t replace them each year. They dry out and you lose the effectiveness, over the last month or so we have had a couple of incursions. We now have a new batch of Conkers.
I think the last time I played Conkers was 50+ years ago. Gosh that’s a. Long time! But even now there’s a childish thrill when, as you are walking along you see an intact Conkers case. I’d guess the urge to gently ease the case apart to reveal the seed; the conker. What’s it going to be like? Big or small? Either way, the beautiful lustrous brown shell is a joy to behold. Of course if you could use it in a game that’s even better, but there is something about the smoothness of the case that is just so appealing.
Now, if you can identify a source of Conkers, you are well in. Finding a horse chestnut tree, or even better a bunch of them you are then, around September time assured of your supply of Conkers.
As far as the game is concerned, I can remember all sorts of antics to get a winner, baking and soaking in vinegar (I think) were amongst the favourites, and then would you have a fiver or a tenner? Until someone smashed your champion of course; the risks of the playground!
I was thinking about this post last night as I settled down to sleep. That was very pleasant.
For the first time in ten days, I did my usual morning walk. I hadn’t expected a lot of change, and to be honest there hasn’t been much. The flower beds opposite the railway station have been prepared for winter, I wonder if there is anything they can put in to bring some winter colour? Not being a gardner I have no idea.
Between the railway station and the high street there isn’t really that much to change. A few weeks ago, someone had presumably lost control of their car and had gone through the fence in towards the playing fields. The fence remained un-repaired for a while, and then one morning, there it was fixed.
No obvious changes on the high street, I didn’t even see Pepy, even though I was on the street around 0605. I didn’t see anything different, but I’m sure somethings small had changed. Perhaps I need to pay more attention to the detail?
I had known for several weeks that there would be dredging in Haslar Marina. The vessels have been in the area for a while now. I knew the lightship restaurant Mary Mouse 2 was due to be moved, and I was expecting it to have been taken away, but it was a shock nonetheless to see it gone this morning. Part of the boardwalk has been moved also. In Gosport terms, a big change. I’ll enjoy monitoring the dredging activities.
Over the course of the walk, I had three encounters with the urban foxes. I disturbed two which had been rummaging in bins , and the third across the car park decided to run away.
The cockle ponds were very quiet no signs of crabs or shrimps.
I had to pop in to Morrisons to pick up newspapers that were all about yesterday’s funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It was a very sad day, but one of those moments in history.
Super Car was made between 1961 & 1962. Fireball XL5 was first shown after 1962. Both of these series were (are) iconic to me, I can remember watching them as a young child. It’s worth noting that Thunderbirds wasn’t broadcast until September 1965, nine months after the header date, so what is significant about 30 January 1965?
The date of Winston Churchill’s Funeral. I was quite young at the time, as you might guess. The 30th of Jan 65 was a Saturday, which would account for my being able to watch the funeral rather than being at school. I have a distinct memory of a fuzzy black and white image showing the gun carriage and the riverboat. I can only guess that either my memory about the quality of the TV image is flawed or the TV (which obviously was in black and white) just wasn’t very good.
The memory remains very strong today, Monday 19 September 2022, 57 years later.
19 September 2022
Today was a bank holiday. Parliament pretty much had to make it so because of they hadn’t the country probably would have gone on strike. Today, we saw the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The 2nd Elizabethan era has been a part of my life, all of my life – until 8th of September 2022 – or was it the 9th, when the council of accession Formally declared Prince Charles to be King Charles III. How will his era be termed?
It turns out that King Charles era may be termed the third Carolean era. Carolus is the Latin version of Charles.
Differences between the funeral of Churchill and Queen Elizabeth II are stark in my eyes. The early digital era ( that is now – I think digital tech has a long, long way to go before it can be call mature – I hope so anyway) means small highly manoeuvrable high definition cameras, drones and mobile camera technology makes our involvement in the ceremony almost immersive, and of course whilst Churchill’s funeral was filmed in colour, it could only be broadcast in mono. Routine colour broadcasting would not start until 4 years later. Even the most most basic of today’s televisions can show vibrant colours in enchanting detail.
Elizabeths funeral was just lovely (in so far as funerals can be lovely). I have such admiration in particular for the pall bearers. They conducted themselves with the utmost professionalism. The ceremonials were lovely. I was so pleased that the public showed spectacular restraint, and the respect shown whilst the Queen was laying in state was moving in the extreme. It was a sad but most impressive day.
Tomorrow, we will awaken to the Third Carolean Era – as will King Charles III.
A brief comment on yesterdays post a little bit about proof reading, here’s the link; https://localitystories.com/2022/09/18/763-proof-reading-by-the-seaside/. I still can’t get it right can I? For example, in the third paragraph, I talk about the resilience of the plan – what I meant was the resilience of the plant! As Homer Simpson would say “D’Oh!” I am now going to read this one through – I bet there will still be something wrong with it.
A seaside stall selling the equipment necessary for some extensive sandcastle construction. Trouble is, the beach in the area is not sandy. Full of shingle. Now, I don’t know a lot about shingle, but with a little bit of digging (pun probably intended) I found out that there is a difference between shingle and gravel; gravel is small fragments of rock. Shingle is a collection of small stones that are generally close to teardrop shaped. Who would have thought that?
I have a bad habit of thinking that what I write is good enough for publication and go ahead with it. It’s only when I go back to read it that it doesn’t always say what I intended. This could be partly because my brain is working ahead of my fingers and I think what I want to say but then don’t write it down. Take yesterdays post No. 763 – Grass, here’s a link; https://localitystories.com/2022/09/17/762-grass/ In that post what I wanted to really talk about was how impressed I was with the resilience of the plan. How rapidly and apparently completely it turned from the parched brown to its normal green. But I didn’t say that, I left it out.
It’s like a lot of things I do, I tend to rush, and don’t always Finnish things properly. If only I could bother to take those few extra seconds or minutes to read through what I’ve written; does it say what I want it to? Luckily, I don’t have to worry too much about spelling and some punctuation, it’s just mostly content.
I did wonder if there was a protocol or an ethics associated with the editing of blogging. It appears not. It appears that there little or no compunction against going back to an earlier post and changing it. So, I could have gone back to yesterday’s post and changed it so that it says what I intended.
For some reason, i find that a bit worrying. I am reminded off Orwell’s 1984 and the continual re-writhing of history. It is so much easier when everything is digital. My feeling is that my mistakes should remain as they were made. How else do I learn?
No, No, not the stuff, oh dear, nor being one, just the normal garden variety that gets cut every weekend.
We’ve been through a fairly long session of dry weather, not long enough to be officially be classed as a drought, but long enough to seriously parch the grass. Our lawn was looking a hay coloured brown. Not in a very healthy state.
Not sure exactly how much, but we have had a fair bit of rain over the last week. Today, I went over our grass – twice, I had to raise the blade because the grass had got so long in places.
The reason I’m writing about this is because I don’t recall seeing such a clear demonstration of the durability of grass. It was fascinating.
One of the things I am interested in is microscopy. I thought I would have a look at some grass under the microscope, the only one I am able to use at the moment is a digital one that connects wirelessly to my phone. Now I’m not going to blame my tools, but I can’t quite get it to work very well – the pictures aren’t very good. Given that it’s my first real time use I’m going to say it is definitely me not knowing how to properly use the device.
We went for a short, 90 minute cruise along the Chichester Ship Canal, constructed in the 1800s as a spur to the canal that ran from Portsmouth to London, to allow the transport of materials for the navy. The spur was paid for by a business man to allow him to bring merchandise to Chichester. The spur canal isn’t fully navigable, but not far from it, and is entirely self funded, receiving no additional finance.
For quite a long time now, I have been having an internal battle with myself as to the purpose of this blog. I can honestly say that over several hundred posts I have written on various topics, but the blog has no single purpose other than to feed my desire to write. Writing blog posts with no specific purpose other than for that might I guess be viewed as being, to a degree narcissistic? I think that may be a bit too strong.
One of the reasons I started the blog, was to allow me to use the technology to. Write about things in which I am interested. Fair enough, but what I am not really doing is exploring anything in any great depth. I have bunch of interests that I want to explore. What I am not doing is exploring them. Asking questions, identifying where I want to go.
What is it about each topic that I’m interested in that attracts me? Clearly then, there are a series articles here where I am not looking at the topic, but what I get out of it.
I read a piece in a paper saying that people were getting upset that our members of parliament were being given priority passes that would allow them to jump the queue, along with four guests. I almost feel sorry for them, it not quite. Surely some better system could have been devised, say for example at the end of the laying in state, workers who have been involved and who won’t have had a chance to pay their respects. I’m not saying that’s the solution but surely something less contentious could have been devised? Just saying, that’s all.
What does that have to do with being out for a walk? Not a lot, but it does relate to my thoughts about the purpose4 for the existence of this blog. I think that first paragraph is one of the very few overtly politically related entries I’ve made. I stay away from things like that because I’m not really that confident about getting involved in really contentious issues. Usually that’s because I feel I don’t have enough knowledge & information to form a cogent argument around my view.
Gilbert White was a naturalist who lived in Selborne in the 18th century. He is famous for his book The Natural History of Selborne. Gilbert white lived about 30 miles from us. The house is open to the public, and I am putting off buying his book until we are able to visit his house. What does that have to do with me writing about controversies or being out for a walk?
Actually, for me there is a link; Gilbert white was a naturalist, and I like nature, that could be more of a focus for me; no, no I don’t think I’m going to be a naturalist. But the link between Gilbert White and political controversies is research.
Research is my biggest area of weakness, I do not by far do enough of it, for everything I am interested in. There are a number of areas in which I am interested So, Research then? I need to think about that.
In summary, Lee Miller was found by Vogue, and became a famous model in the 1920’s It’s worth reading her full story, she had a talent for photography, and became a wartime photographer. And so to the exhibition.
The exhibition was housed in Newman’s Gallery, Petworth. Only about 20 miles from us. It was quite a pleasant trip driving to Petworth, across the South downs, lovely rolling countryside.
New lands Gallery is an 18th century town house in the middle of Petworth. Each room contained a brief explanatory narrative and a number of picture, ten or so, and in a couple of rooms prints of Picasso’s pictures with whom she had a strong relationship over many years.
Who am I to comment on the quality of pictures taken by a world famous photographer? But, I had the distinct feeling of “anybody could have taken these pictures”. I didn’t think there was anything spectacular about exposure, other than it was of course correct and she was there and nobody else took them.
Lee Miller became famous as a war photographer, it was her pictures that brought home the horrors of the Nazi’s acts at Dachau. There were just a few of these, only three or four in the exhibition. They were upsetting.
I gained impression of a bohemian life style that I associate with artists from the early 20th century. whether it was like that in reality, I don’t know. I did buy a book; the lives of Lee Miller which I will add to my reading list.
This is the first professional photographic exhibition that I have been to. I put it amongst my artistic experiences as one that I very much wish to repeat.
After the exhibition, we went to a local pub for lunch, which was very nice. We stopped on the way back at a viewing point which was lovely, and do you know? I didn’t take any pictures. Really?
I thought it surprising that an essay by George Orwell would be freely available. There’s quite a lot on the foundation website. This contrasts with the first book recommendation Style: lessons in clarity and grace by Joseph M Williams and Joseph Bizup, here’s a link to the Google search, the cheapest I can find is £25.00: style: lessons in clarity and grace” the first search came with £66. I was a bit surprised. Orwell would probably have viewed that as bad writing , rephrased as: I was surprised.
I’m reading a kindle book at the moment; Writing to be understood by Anne Janzer. It’s a pretty good read, it’s making me think.
We drove in to Bognor Regis. I must admit that I have been wondering when the accolade Regis was granted. The term Regis means “of the King” a Latin term. In simplistic terms, the Monarch can choose to award the status of “Regis” because the town does something that supports the crown.
Bognor gained the honour in 1929 when Bognor was used by King George V for several months to convalesce. Some parts of the town has a calmness to it. Of course Bognor Regis today is not the town of 1929. I wonder what it was really like then. I suspect that like today, it had its good parts and its bad parts. Perhaps it isn’t that different.
Central Bognor in shopping terms isn’t really that grand, but I don’t get an impression of it being run down I don’t recall any closed units. Also, there were plenty of people around and the cafes were being well used.
To me, a big draw is the 2nd hand bookshop at the railway station. It is neat and well managed and very well stocked, especially with Science fiction, railway, photography and astronomy books. The proprietor has an “ology” section, he could do with a bigger philosophy section. I always enjoy visiting.
Hi! my name is Sebastian (You can call me Seb!) ...welcome to my Blog. I'm a photographer from Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Thanks for dropping by! I hope you enjoy my work.
I'm here to work on fiction. Occasionally I'll blog but that's certainly not my focus. You have a specific fiction genre or format you can't find enough of? Ask me. Maybe I got it. I migh share it with you. Otherwise, leave me alone; I'm toiling away at my workbench.
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