Bills Posts

What is it I like about going down to the waterfront in Portsmouth? It’s not as if you’ll see hundreds of different ships coming in or going out. Little boats and big boats come and go, without any particular frequency, except perhaps the ferries; the gosport ferry going from side to side, the Brittany ferries. They (the Brittany Ferries) do change, Instead of the Normandie at the moment, it looks like the Barfleur has taken on that route.

We do get to see the occasional HMS vessel, and the Queens Harbour Master can be a very useful source of information, QHM publishes a daily ship movements list and also provides details about occurrences in the harbour such as failed lights on on hazard warnings.

There are other ships that come and go, such as Split Two, which is a small cargo ship and there’s also a ship (the Bladerunner) that every so often brings a blade for a wind turbine. I don’t know where it takes the blades, presumably to a berth where they are collected ready to go out to an installation.

There are some strange little ships small almost flat tops with cranes or diggers on that all appear to rush around doing maintenance tasks in the harbour. Interesting to watch. It’s fair to say that usually there is usually something going on in the harbour, which always makes the waterfront an interesting place to visit.

This is the old British Telecom Telephone Exchange building. It is the last building on the southern side at the western end of Stokes Road. That is its only significance in the incomplete project.

Around 2010 I became involved in a project in Cambridgeshire called the Cambridge Community Archive Network (CCAN). The project is intended to capture the history and the current activities around the county. I made it my role in the project to catalogue the changes to the shop fronts along the high street, so I baselined the project by photographing the shop fronts along the high street, and then when either I had noticed that a shop was changing role or ownership I would take a picture and upload it. The project is still running, and my pictures from 2010 are still there, here’s a link; https://www.ccan.co.uk We moved to Gosport.

I had enjoyed working with CCAN, and when I arrived at Gosport I wanted to do the same thing, except Hampshire doesn’t appear to have the equivalent project, or the same software. Not to worry I thought, I’ll go ahead and do something. So, I went out and took pictures of all of the shop fronts on both the north and south side. So, I have a set of street front pictures from 2017, but I haven’t followed up on monitoring changes. What’s brought all this up?

It’s the book of the moment, The Book of Gosport. The section I was reading dealt with Gosport High Street and Stokes Road, I quite like the pictures in the book and the details that they give. The book was published in 2005, I thought it would be quite interesting to do a set of pictures of all of the shops and buildings they mention in the book. I know this is another project to add to many that I have discussed on this blog, but I could actually do this. I will put some time aside for this.

This building went up in the 1880’s. The shop owner at the bottom was a taylor, he asked for these frontages (I don’t know what the proper name for these are). They were mentioned in the book of Gosport. Or, how about this one;

This one was also mentioned, with no explanation available as to why it has the separated lintel – perhaps there was a shop sign there in the past?

We went out and had a very nice lunch, but I still hadn’t been for a sunday walk. I kind of bit the bullet and decided that I was going to use the Vlogging thing and walk down the high street filming myself and talking in to the camera – I did several clips and one long one, I’m not going to post any of them because they aren’t good.

It was a lovely afternoon, a bit of blue sky and the sun was very bright, admittedly a bit of a chill to the air, but a fleece dealt with that. When I got home I found that I had only done just over two miles. So I decided that I would go out again.

This time though, I took my tripod and my reporters microphone and went back to the waterfront. I got things set up, and just sat on a seat with the mic, recording myself talking to the camera. This was something that I had never done so casually before. It was something I just needed to do. I saw a person I meet regularly on the #breakfastclub and explained what I was doing and why. The whole experience was really quite pleasant, and has definitely put me in a calmer frame of mind when it comes to filming the bits I want to do about the history of Gosport.

Today was a major step forward for me. I am very pleased about it.

This building is located at the western end of Stokes Road. It took me a while to find out that until 2017 it was one of Gosport’s two United Reform Church (URC), like any history it’s not straightforward.

Every so often over the last few years, my interest in the building would be re-kindled, and I would spend a bit of time trying to find out about it. I had opportunity today to add to the investigation, by walking home from one of the local shopping centres, I could take this to route me past the current URC and the old one. The thing is though that I had no awareness of the history of what had been going on. Today, I have been a bit more persistent in my digging, and that has borne fruit.

When the building was built in 1957, it was the Congregational church, merging with the Presbyterian church in 1972 to become the United Reform Church. I’m not sure what triggered the merger – that’s another avenue that I could explore if I were of a mind to – but really it’s what happened to the building and why, that I am interested.

In 2017 the building was closed, the congregation merged with the URC St Columba at Elson, here’s a picture of that church;

I managed to get that today on my walk. I was able to find all this out because I persisted with my search today and I found this, which explains nearly everything; https://gosporthistoryclub.org.uk/gosport-history-archive-index/urc-high-st-urc-bury-rd-gosport-history Now, I’m a member of the Gosport Society, and I had never heard of the Gosport History club. Clearly, there’s some exploration to be done. I am assuming that the Bury road URC merged with the Elson church because of the respective congregation sizes. I’d like to get the answer to that question.

I have to confess that I am a little addicted to YouTube. The videos are usually short, of qite high quality video and cover almost every subject under the sun. I have been using it to look at a variety of subject over the last few weeks from Philosophy to how to use a piece of software called EasyPal, used to send images to computers at each end of a radio link. I can’t think of an instance yet where I hav e searched for something and not found it. Well, that’s not strictly true, gernerally that is the case, but just very occasionally, some specific thing may not come up quite as you are expecting.

Naturally, all aspects of Vlogging are covered, only natural since this is where a vloggers output ends up. Not only used for edcuation and informing, but entertainment. You get to see material from all ver the world, made by the people who live there, not reporters sent to a location with a goal in mind. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Of course there is material producced by professional organisatons as well, but it is relatively easy to avoid that, should you wish to do so. Although like everything it has its place. The platform is very easy to search. If you’ve never. tried it, go on, its useful, fun and can be entertaining.

This morning’s picture is one of those reasons why my morning walk around the same circuit is never boring. I had been stood at the end of the Haslar Marina Pier Wall doing my weather report to the #Breakfastclub and I could see what was coming. You never know of course which way it’s going to go. It may peter out, or fit may turn in to something spectacular.

I hope you will forgive me for returning to an old topic. You know when you have one of those “Hang on a second” moments, well I’ve just had one. A problem that I have had (I don’t know why) is that I have been reluctant to get out and do outside videos. Once again it’s because I have been worrying about what people will think when they see me talking to the camera. Haven’t we been here before? Me taking photos in ways that might be thought a bit weird if seen – I’m not even sure if that’s an issue.

Then of course, there is the amateur radio. I often see people when I’m talking. Sometimes, they will stop and ask what I am doing and I love that – I mean it, I love that. I really enjoy talking about that hobby. Then this afternoon, I watched a YouTube clip about how acclimatise yourself to Vlogging in public – just treat it like making a phone call. Whereas in 1991 when I was in Berlin with my voice recorder and I was the only person on the street talking to myself, which I just could not do because I thought it was weird, let alone what everybody else thought. Today this is perfectly normal.

Why shouldn’t I enjoy doing this in the same way I enjoy being seen with my radio, I like talking to people about it. People that see me doing this might come and talk, and want to be involved. You never know. I’ll let you know how I get on.

I have to say that in general, the council does a reasonable job of keeping Gosport looking OK. Their gardeners are clearly dedicated to the cause, and over the last few years, when the hanging baskets go up I have seen the same two chaps tending them during my morning walks. Nice to see.

I don’t have much interaction with the council I have been to one meeting which I found interesting, and I would like to go to more, but I have been lacking the motivation to do so. I suppose it’s a case of focussing on an area of interest and following up on that, An example of this was a recent meeting of a committee that would be involved with the installation of Electric Vehicle Charging Points across Gosport.

I did have my first attempt at submitting a question to the council, but I didn’t follow the absolutely correct protocol, and I have to admit I didn’t ask the right type of question. In retrospect, and not unreasonably, my question was rebuffed. I could have had another go, but I felt that my fingers were a little bit burnt and I would have been too embarrassed to attend.

The matter of the EVCPs was presented to the Community Board, and I guess it makes more sense to focus on that that any other committee, except perhaps the full council. The next full council meeting is the 30th, and it looks like the calendar has not been populated after April so I don’t know when the next community board is due to take place.

Partly, this does all speak to an aspiration I had to attempt to become a Town Councillor, however I think I have had a change of heart as the whole thing strikes me as being way too much hassle. Instead I think I would like to be a reporter on council activities – yes that seems much more interesting. I’ve been searching for a local paper that reports on activities that take place in Gosport involving the councils. We used to have a very good online free paper. Sadly that closed, and I am having difficulty finding anything. Perhaps not a lot worth reporting in the town happens – except some crime?

I shall keep looking. Now I couldn’t think what I was going to write about, hence the title of this piece. Then I published it, when I should have changed it to something like The Council, but I think I will leave it as it is – much more interesting.

There is no denying, that there is at least one part of Gosport that has a bad reputation that has been there for many years. The reputation remains even though the appearance of that part of town has mostly changed beyond all recognition. Just occasionally, somebody will let side down and do something stupid which stirs a backlash on social media, or a one-off report in a local paper (I’ll comment on local papers later). There is also no denying that actually there are some really nice parts to the town, interesting places to visit and as I have said on several occasions absolutely stuffed with history.

We have three rather good museums, two art galleries at least two excellent libraries and the reference section of the main library – THe Discovery Centre is very well populated with material, particularly on the military history that has played such an important part of this time pretty much since Gosport became a place (around the 1600’s arguably, 942 if you talk about Rowner & Alverstoke).

To walk the town is to walk the history of the area. If you are in the least bit interested in history, it can’t help but draw you in.

It truly befuddles me. Who, in their right mind could derive pleasure from throwing a shopping trolley over the barrier on the Haslar Marina Pier Wall in to the harbour? Just unbelievable. I texted Gosport Street scene, but they won’t be able to do anything until the tide is low.

I was thinking back, and I couldn’t remember the last time I read a fiction book, and I make the distinction between read and listen to as I have been slowly working my way through the Expanse Books by James S. A. Corey (not a real person, a composite of two authors). I did the unusual thing of watching the TV series first and then reading the books. This was good because it really put the pictures and the technology in to my mind. The problem is that the series ends at around book six of a 9 book series, so I have been reading the books since the beginning and now I am on book 9. It is one of the best set of books I have ever read (listened to), and I put it on a par with Star Trek.

That really. Is saying something. But, when it comes to actually reading, I think I haven’t read a fiction book since the start of the lockdown. All of my reading material has been non-fiction. Am I obsessed with things? Perhaps I am, but I don’t feel like it. I think I will have a look around and if the right book comes along and I may pick it up and read it.

I went across to Portsmouth today. I had two reasons for going;

I wanted to go to the London Camera Exchange to see if they had the Sigma f2.8 105mm macro lens in stock. They had two; one brand new, one second hand. They gave the quality of the second hand lens as good, so I had a look at it. To be honest, I could see no difference between it and the brand new lens, I tried it on my camera, and everything worked fine. Given that I could detect no difference and that it was nearly £120 cheaper, I took the option for the 2nd hand lens, which does come with a 6 month warranty. I’m very pleased with the purchase. I did make one silly mistake, any lens that I buy, I automatically buy a UV skylight filter; not just to cut out UV. (which can introduce a distinct blue cast in pictures on a really sunny day especially) but it also acts as a protector of the front element – to which the chemicals in fingerprints are lethal to the quality of pictures. I didn’t buy one, which is why you aren’t seeing any pictures from the lens tonight, and won’t until the filter turns up from Amazon (hopefully tomorrow).

The second reason for going was for me to have a decent browse in a bookshop. This is why I love Cambridge, they have some superb bookshops there. The Waterstones in Portsmouth is pretty good, not as big I think as the one in cambridge but not bad. I had no particular books in mind, but i do have a bit of a routine. looking at the selection of books near the door, I avoided the Science Fiction section, I just don’t knowwaht to readd, although I have now got a copy of Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space on my Kindle, which is apparently a bit of a Space Opera, which is a genre I do like (think E.E Doc Smith, or Larry Niven’s Known Space series – brilliant). I looked with curiosty at the Self Help Section, but didn’t linger long there. There sev eral sections, including travel writing, science, photography, particularly looking for any books on videoing. There was one, but it was far more technical than I needed so I didn’t buy it. As much as I enjoy having a good browse, I generally leave feeling a bit frustrated that I didn’t find the perfect book that would answer all my questions. I’m beginning to think that the only way to find that book is to write it myself!