Bills Posts

I was out for my afternoon walk. In a busy part of town near Aldi’s I was walking along and I saw this little beauty ahead of me. Of course, I expected it to fly away as I got nearer. It didn’t.

As I came to a stop and just stood there, it was quite happy running around, trying things to see if it was edible, and having a drink. It was not in the least bit bothered by me, I think I could have picked it up, it was within inches (i.e. <6) of me. It wasn’t bothered by other people }(at least two) that walked past. I don’t think they even noticed it.

That was the wonderful thing, that it could do what it was doing without any fear of being attacked. It is so nice to see wild animals not being afraid of us. I have lost count of the number of times I have said that, and mean it.

The worrying thing is that where it had decided to settle was a busy place, and I was really surprised that the people who walked past did not stop and consider the wonder of an unworried wild animal in our midst, that was just doing what it was supposed to do. I found that surprising, and distressing, I don’t know of course whether they just did not see what I saw, thought that what I was seeing wasn’t wonderful or they just did not care. I really hope it wasn’t the last two.

At one point, the bird was in the road, and it was then it was that I thought this is not a safe area, and that it shouldn’t be doing it here, and that I wished that people cared as much as I did, and that it would go somewhere safe.

Am I mad to worry about such things?

I am once again stuck in the midst of a battle of wills. This is Rascal, our 18/19 year old cat. He is lovely, gentle, friendly, beautiful black cat. We absolutely love him to bits. But, he can be a persistent so-and-so.

For some reason (probably my smell). Rascal has decided that my office chair isn’t my chair at all. It’s his. Whenever he wants it. I get up for a comfort break, I come back, he’s in the chair I pick him up, to much grumbling and take him to his blanket. I get up and go for a cup of tea (blanket!), I come back, he’s in the chair. I go for a lunchtime stroll, I come back – you get the picture.

I hate disturbing him, but it’s my chair and it’s for work, and if I can’t sit there, I can’t work and he won’t get fed! Now, I do hate disturbing him, but I have to, and he has no hesitation in letting me know his displeasure.

It’s a guilt thing. He’ll come and sit at my feet, letting out the occasional pathetic sounding miaow and giving me those big black eyes (think Puss in boots from Shrek). I get up to take him downstairs to give him a treat, and before I can turn around to pick him up, he’s in the chair settling down to sleep.

Who do you think owns the chair?

The “Nearly There” refers to this being the 489th Post, nearly at 500. Five Hundred was a goal that I had set myself after reaching 366. Strangely, I haven’t felt the same exhilaration that was present as I approaching the end of 366. I am not saying that I am fed up with the blog, not one bit of it. Just that sometimes, I run out of things to write about. Tonight is not quite that, but the writing is a little bit waffly. Sorry about that.

That I am reaching towards 500, means that I now have to think about what to do next. Shall I set 750 or a 1,000 as my next goal? One is just under a year away, the other nearly two. That’s a bit ambitious. Also, I haven’t been very good at sticking to my posting topics at all, sometimes yes. Mostly no. Not to worry though, I was bound to dry up sometimes.

I’m going to keep going, and I will keep numbering. Until I stop. Which at the moment, I do not intend to do.

The What if? That relates to planning a fantasy holiday, which is my plan for the new year. The fantasy holiday is an exploration of the United Kingdom. I’m having difficulty planning it. When I did the US tour of the 48 mainland states, I had a book that I used as a basis for the trip. There is a book; I didn’t know that about England, but I need to be able to cover the other parts.

Sorting out a route is a bit of a problem, I’ve found starting in the south, in the area I know best, but not really that well is proving to be awkward. I’m tempted to start at the other end of the country. I’m going to do a bit of searching.

All of this talk of a fantasy holiday might seem a bit of a separation from reality. It’s a bit of fun, but I learned things. I’d heard of the Louisiana Purchase but not the Missouri compromise I had no idea what they were, I am more aware now.

On my lunchtime walk today, as I walked to the waterfront I saw a chap whom I’ve seen before. He puts a lot of food down, and gets absolutely hoards of birds, mostly pigeons and starlings. But that is fine. It’s the trust that the birds display in him that is (apart from the food) most endearing. There was a row of about 10 starlings that were just there, waiting for food.

Whilst the pigeons were just a mass, there was loads of food. It was lovely to see. This is one of the reasons I like walking during the day, as well as first thing in the morning. The Bird Feeder is a classic example of this. It’s just nice to see different things going on.

With the Christmas break coming up, I am hoping to do more daytime walks, of different areas. I may ease off the early morning walks for a while, but they will be back for the start of the new year.

Having had breakfast, I had a couple of things to do on the computer. Of course I got on with what I had to do, but had a YouTube video or two on the go in the background. When I’d finished doing what I’d needed, I was stuck there watching videos for probably another 30 minutes or so, it was a complete waste of time, entertaining, but that’s about it. Mind you, I couldn’t really be bothered to move, I felt shattered. No particular reason to do so. We’d been North yesterday, only just inside the M25, and I didn’t even drive (for most of the journey) and we had a lovely time. On getting home, I had a really good sleep until around 4AM, after which it was on-off snoozing until we got up. I just felt drained (all tested, all negative).

I didn’t want to spend all day sat at the computer, and the Station Manager wanted to get the Christmas decorations up so we got all of that out, and she has been pottering about doing that all day (it’s one of the few friction points we have – I offer the bare minimum assistance, doing everything asked – that sounds really bad doesn’t it, but we are used to it).

Anyhow, the station manager was happy pottering around and I decided to go for a walk. Nothing special, just a couple of miles, and a large chunk on a normal route that I follow, with just a little bit of variation. I thought I would take a picture of some of the historic areas of town, hence the railway station, a Victorian building opening in 1842. It is only a matter of yards from the outside of the ramparts forming one of the key defences of Gosport. I learned that it was built as a low laying building in order to not obstruct the field of fire for soldiers on the top of the ramparts.

There was a drizzly rain for much of the walk, but that was OK, I had on my raincoat. It was very pleasant walk.

Taken on one of my morning walks, this is one of those occasions where the header picture relates to the details the post of the day. I’ve had a fairly long, but extremely pleasant day, so I will apologise in advance should this post turn out to be a bit short.

As the title says, and the picture portrays this is the part of Gosport Hight street that I generally walk along on my morning walk. Admittedly, there is a couple of hundred metres of high street that I tend not to walk on whilst out on my morning walk. I don’t walk it now, as my goal is to get to the waterfront as quickly as possible

I walk ahead along the street toward the ferry. I’m always looking to see if anything inspires me photographically, sometimes, something catches my attention. I also tend to see the same people. There’s an elderly looking gentleman whom I pass, and always say good morning to, he always acknowledges. the occasional cyclist, and person who pass me, or I Pass them. I haven’t seen the smoking lady for quite a while now, I hope she is OK.

In 2019 I wrote about RAYNET, the Radio Amateurs Emergency Network, it was before the era of the 366. I didn’t go for a walk this morning, I overslept. I was trawling through my pictures looking for one that I could use for tonight’s post.

One of the events that the South East Hampshire Group has regularly been involved in is the Butser Hill Challenge. https://racebest.com/races/h7ue2. Members of RAYNET are stationed at various points along the course.

Butser Hill is both a site of special scientific interest, a nature reserve (understandably in the context of the SSSI), part of the South Downs National Park and part of the South Downs Way. The hill is 271m or 889 feet high.

As you drive along the A3, in any direction, the hill is very prominent. I can remember the first time I saw it. I thought to myself “I want to be on that hill, right at the top”. It was one of those things that you always intend to do, but never get round to (like visiting the home of the hellfire club which I lived very near to for two years, and drove past a fair bit after that – but that’s another story). Anyhow, I joined RAYNET.

With RAYNET, you become involved in public events, like the Butser Hill Challenge. This it turned out was to be the first event that I was to be involved in as a member. In fact whilst I wasn’t right at the top, we had to go past the wireless station at the top to reach our point slightly below the peak on the northern side, with a truly amazing view.

The cows? I was on my own at the 2018 event, by then I had done several RAYNET events, and was a bit of a “veteran”. We had come through the gates at the top, I drove to my observation point and was promptly surrounded by these beasties. The spent some time nosing around and licking the salt off the car and then wandered away just in time for me to get set up for the event. I always smile when I see this picture.

Gosport Station was opened in 1841, and the last train before closure left in 1969. During the illustrious period of it’s life Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert saw an extension of the line from the station punching a hole through the defensive ramparts of the town, to take the track across to Clarence Yard, for the queen to be carried to the waterfront for her trip over to Clarence House on the Isle of Wight. In 1901 the station saw Queen Victoria’s body being conveyed back to London.

Although the historic aspects are very interesting, and the building is a Grade II Listed structure, that hasn’t stopped it from being converted into a combination of offices and flats. Quite tastefully done.

I wrote on facebook that I had been having difficulty motivating myself to get up in the morning, especially now that I’ve finished the Walk1000 for this year, I was going to try to reach 1500 miles, but I’ve blown it I’ve lost out on a few miles over the last couple of weeks and I am currently at roughly 1380, I can’t think that I’m going to do 120 between now and the end of the month. But I have found that by giving myself a small goal, I can motivate myself to get up. This morning, I wanted to take a picture of the railway station. Actually, tomorrow, I might see if, in the morning I can get a picture through the tunnel in the ramparts. I haven’t been there at night before.

Once again, the header picture is nothing to do with the topic. I took this one this morning, and I just happen to like the subdued colours. The main topic tonight is my dilemma and frustration. I found out about two books, and have now bought them and they arrived today. They are;

And;

Which one to read first isn’t a dilemma. Obviously, I’m going to read the Wareham book first. The latest issue of Country walking turned up today, so I am going to read that first, my objective is to get through it as fast as possible so that I can start. I’m abandoning reading any other books for the time being.

I looked at a picture in the wareham, it looked old. Then I read from the caption that the picture was taken in 1970! If you know me, you’ll understand.

I’m really looking forward to reading these two books. I’ll make sure I write some posts about them.

I know, the picture is nothing at all to do with the waterfront, with the exception that I took it on the way to it. I promised myself that I would take a photo of something that I wouldn’t normally grab. I find myself strangely drawn to it, perhaps its the detail in the basket?

When I take a picture like this (by which I mean in quite tight to the subject) I’m reminded that I don’t always have to take a long shot, and that getting in close so that I don’t have to use the digital zoom, giving high quality.

These last couple of mornings I’ve tried to take a picture of the Christmas tree on the mast of HMS Warrior. They have been very noisy;

I won’t criticise Apple, I was operating at the extreme end of the cameras range. I should probably take my main camera.

There quite a contrast between yesterday, I commented on how quiet the roads were; practically no cars, and no ship movements. Whereas, this morning there were cars on the road, there were pilot cutters moving around, the Whitonia, one of the bunkering ships came in not long after the Baltic spirit went out and just as I was leaving the waterfront, the Mon St Michell was coming in. That’s in addition to the normal ferry movements.

The rest of this mornings walk was uneventful.

I want to talk a little bit about Fantasy Holidays. I have written about them in the past. Only one post though, 60/365 (probably should have been 366) was entirely about fantasy holiday’s I keep it on facebook, no particular reason. I have friends and family who are only on FB, and I wouldn’t want to deprive them of my writings, assuming they enjoy them.

The Fantasy Holiday that has just finished, was for the most part fairly straightforward, there are fifty states, and we visited forty eight of them, that fitted nicely in to the year. It’s proving to be not quite so easy to organise the next Fantasy Holiday – a tour of the UK.