Bills Posts

I don’t really hate pigeons. But I am now engaged in a battle with them. I had put one band of re-useable cable ties around the bird table quite a while ago, and for a time it did flummox the pigeons – didn’t stop the squirrels or the smaller birds. The pigeons are now completely used to it, and although they have to flap around a bit, it appeared to be well within their abilities.

Hah! I though, I’ll get them – I’ll put another band around. That’ll stop them. Well, it did – for about an hour and a half. When I came down mid morning to make a cup of tea, there were two of them chomping away. Well we will just have to try something else.

Do you have favourite pens? I do. Are you sorry when they run out? I am. When you drop the pen in to the bin (with reluctance I add – I have kept empty pens safe, not wanting to throw them away) do you say “Thank you for your service”? I do. I know it is utterly ridiculous but I can’t help it.

Strangely, just thinking about it, I don’t think I feel the same way about other inanimate objects, except perhaps all my computers. Probably, it is through writing I have a special relationship with pens? They are after all, one of the prime means of expression. Plus of course this blog.

If you were visiting Gosport how would you arrive? Even if you were to fly in to Daedalus at Lee-on-the-Solent, you would still have to come to the Gosport town centre either on foot, or along the road. But you could also arrive by ferry from Portsmouth. So, once here what should you visit?

Well, we have the obvious and very good sites;

• The Esplanade
• The Submarine Museum
• The Explosion Museum (It’s worth walking here from the town centre)
• The Diving Museum
• Stokes Bay, see where Mulberry Harbour was built, and where the D-Day embarkation was managed (the sailing club)
• Take tea in the Alver Bank Hotel, one of the first homes of the Royal Air Force
• Visit the Palmerston Forts (OK, entrance is a bit restricted, so check first!)
• Clarence Yard, take in some excellent food on the site of one of the Royal Navy’s biggest victualling yards (from 1828 to around 1995)

The list above is not definitive.

Like many high streets, if you visit on a Tuesday or a Saturday, you will find a small but bustling market, and there are several cafes that offer street seating, to just sit and have a snack and a drink, watching life go by.

Take a walk up to the Victorian railway station at the end of Spring Garden Lane, and see the track along which Queen Victoria’s body was carried in 1901 after she died in Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

Whilst the Falkland Gardens commemorate a recent war, the site was also a key location in the English civil war of 1642. From here the Roundheads (Parliamentarians) used cannons to bombard the Cavaliers of Portsmouth.

It is well worth just sitting on the Esplanade, preferably with a bag of chips from the excellent Frydays chippy and watch the small boats come and go, along with the occasional channel ferry, perhaps even a tall ship or modern military vessel.

Is it any surprise that I really enjoy this place?

Gosport is flat, very flat. It makes it good for cycling. It’s also good for walking – as you well know if you read me on a regular basis I walk the local area.

As I walk around Gosport, I find things that interest me. Perhaps one of the biggest is history. Everywhere has its own history, and I am sure that every where is interesting. Gosport’s history isn’t perhaps as ancient as some places, but in Gosport’s short history, it has managed to cram a fair bit in.

I have been quite taken of late by the architecture. It appears that there are so many varieties in the high street alone. I’m actively looking for a book that gives a simple look at architecture across the ages (say from the 1800’s).

We spent a couple of hours working on the front of the house. It involved lopping some branched off a tree, and clearing up some bits growing out of the wall. In the past, I’ve talked about the kind of jobs I’m happy doing in the garden. Having finished that we had a bit of a break and then I decided that I wanted to go for a walk.

There’s always a decision to be made when I’m walking – where to go. A few weeks ago, I wanted to pay a visit to Gilkicker to see if anything was happening. I also wanted to walk down a footpath along Green Lane.

The GAFIRS Lifeboat was out, and the coastguard helicopter flew overhead, out towards Bembridge. I wonder they were responding to a call? If they were, I hope it went OK. I have to say though, that the view from the beach was just lovely.

I went along to Gilkicker – no change. So I continued my walk up to one of my favourite viewing spots – The Haslar Sea Wall. There was one of the big CMA CGM container ships coming in.

From there I went along Haslar Road. As usual, it was a hot and dry road to walk along.

but the walk along the Esplanade made up for it. Not that anything in particular happened to make it good. I made my way home from there. It was a very pleasant 6 miles. An enjoyable walk.

The header picture once again has nothing to do with the topic. This is a picture taken at low tide from the Haslar Marina Pier Wall. The rails and blocks you can see are the remains of the old chain ferries. It’s just an interesting picture.

We had a day in London today. We drove up to Croydon, taking a brief diversion to visit a sister-in-law. By the time we arrived in South London, we had 36% and 60 miles on the battery. Not enough to get home. That’s OK, we’ll plug in and see what we’ve got when we are ready to leave.

When we were ready to leave, we had 60% and 104 on the battery. Now, this might be enough to get us how just – but I’m not comfortable with the “just”. We used Zap-Maps to find a charging station nearby that looks OK, if only we can find it. Actually, finding it wasn’t a problem at all. A BP garage, only a couple of hundred yards off our route had a bank of four charging points. All four points were occupied as we approached but then a car pulled out – perfect timing.

Hooking up to the charger, paying and starting were both very simple. The charging worked fine. After only a very few minutes, we had more than enough to get home, so we were able to comfortably set off.

This is where the moan starts. As we were driving through even the outskirts of london, the satnav was showings us the number of charging points nearby. There were quite a few. It is very easy to gain the impression that the EV charging infrastructure in London is being very well looked after. Can the same be said of the rest of the country?

Recent reports indicate that there are a significant number of EV charging Points across the country that are out of service for one reason or another. Apparently, the figure is sufficient to act as a deterrent against buying an electric vehicle. Using ZapMaps and cat sites we have visited, we have encountered unserviceable EVCP’s. Really, for a CP to be out of service for any length of time (let’s say, more than 4 hours – my criteria) is really unacceptable. It’s all very well installing lots of points, but it’s no good if they aren’t being maintained.

It might get to the point where I would say that the government must be prepared to impose requirements for maintenance and ensure that standards are defined and maintained.

There, that’s what I think.

The picture has nothing to do with the topic, as is sometimes the case.

Today, we celebrated a birthday. We did so by going into an escape room. I have done one of these before. I have to say that I was not enthused by the prospect. But, with hindsight as is usually the case I thoroughly enjoyed it. The room that we did is one of a series of increasing complexity. We have agreed that we will do the next one some time in the future.

We went for a very nice meal afterwards. It was a very nice day.

This is an area behind Trinity church which looks like it should be a stage, but I’m not aware of this place ever having been used as such. I’ll have to put something on Facebook to find out if it has. Having said that I don’t really do theatre.

I find it difficult to explain why I don’t like the theatre, it’s a combination of the seating always being too cramped regardless of where you sit, through to the whole atmosphere of the play being “false” I can’t explain that, there is something about the atmosphere of a play that I just don’t like. Now, I’ve been to a few musicals. The Queen show, Bombay Dreams, both of which I thought were brilliant sadly in the same theatre, so there it is conditions.

Now, whilst I am quite happy to admit I don’t fully understand it but I don’t mind a bit shakespeare – somehow, that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is. If they were to put Shakespeare on at that little stage, we could take our own chairs and a picnic. that would be alright.

The town at about ten past six in the morning. There was one person walking to work, and a couple of staff working in Greggs. There were also a few people waiting at the ferry. It was very quiet.

I went for a walk at lunchtime. I wanted to have a look at the footfall on the street at lunchtime on a non-market day. I didn’t count. I do have one of those click-counters, perhaps I should do a very unscientific survey? Why would I want to? What use would the information be? What would I do with it? I’m just curious really.

Having said all of that, there were quite a few people moving around the high street but once again, it was a very nice day. I was quite comfortable without a coat.

I have a chart app on my phone that gives the tide for all around the country. Obviously I have it set to the tide in Portsmouth. Up until yesterday, the charts have shown an even frequency wave, sometimes sinusoidal.

Yesterday, I noticed that the flood (incoming) tide has a step – the rate changes and then resumes its normal rate of increase. You can see it in the picture below.

This morning, on the #Brerakfastclub I asked G6RTE Jo what could be causing it. Jo is a former ships captain and knows the waters of the Solent very well. He explained that there is a collision between the dual flood and ebb tides of the solent.

What I hadn’t noticed is the little plateau on the ebb tide. This is also part of the tidal system that I hadn’t known. Jo told me that Chimet (Chichester Meteorology) https://www.chimet.co.uk/(S(jrduwlrkmad4gs55qooano45))/Default.aspx showed the updated waveform as well, and had only just done so. Chimet is a very interesting resource. Well worth having a look at. What an interesting morning that turned out to be.

When you pay a little more attention to a buildings facade, you start to wonder a bit about why it looks the way it does. Take this on me for example; what is it? 1920’s or 30’s art-deco? Thing is I don’t have an idea, but am now curious. I’ll have to do a bit of searching and will probably end up buying a book on British architectural styles through the ages. I am sure somebody will have written one like that.

Without becoming too boring (am I already? – boring that is) I think I will look at some of the buildings there are a few that have a very interesting shape & style. Something else to think about.

This evening we met up with dear friends whom we hadn’t seen since before the lockdown. We met up for a meal before their return to France. It was lovely to see them, and talk about good times. We will see them again soon, I’m sure.