Bills Posts

I managed to stir myself today, for the mornings walk. It wasn’t that difficult really, I felt guilty enough for having missed yesterday. Particularly frustrating as if I had done it then today, I would have walked my 1,000th recorded mile this year. As it happens, that will now be sometime around 0615ish, when I am down at the waterfront tomorrow. That’s OK, really I’m quite happy with that.

I checked the temperature as I got up, 15C reported by gosport weather.co.uk Yes, but this time of year, I’ve been caught like that, it won’t really be 15C, the windchill will take it down by at least a couple of degrees.

It turns out that the temperature didn’t really go down that much. I think the anemometer was showing around 14.8 at the waterfront, but once again there was a little bit of a chill to the air. This time though I was ready. I didn’t need a coat and a fleece, so I just wore the coat, and that was the right decision. I felt just right. Once again, I was pleased that I made the effort to get up and out.

Rowner church is No. 9 in my Gosport Project list, but because it’s one of the places I had never visited before. A combination of RAYNET and holiday events would trigger the gap between my first visit and what I want to do which is to make a brief video about the church.

I would like to include at least a still of the inside of the church, espetially of the oldest part, from the 12th century.

Certainly a part of the video will be to comment on the Victorian restoration, both in general, and in respect of St Mary the Virgin.

I only want the video to run for three to five minutes and not all of that will be me talking, some of which will be face to camera. One issue I have to address is microphone. I’m going to be using the Go Pro, and whilst I could use the on-board mic, which is pretty good, I really would like one of those reporters hand held mic, that’s going to cost a little bit, so I’m going to investigate that.

I have to do that and work on the script. Back to the plan.

The Admiral of the Fleet, The Lord Fieldhouse, Baron of Gosport died at the of 64, after picking up a post-operative infection. Sad that this man who achieved so much should die at such a young age.

You’ll note that I said in the lead para that he was Baron of Gosport, not mentioned on the plaque. I’m not sure why that should be not protocol? I thought I would do a small piece of historic research, looking to see how the social structure of a town or city. Where does a Baron sit in relation to a Mayor for example? I suppose it’s an example of class, with the Mayor being elected by the people, and appointed by the council, and a Baron appointed by the ruling monarch.

questions so far unanswered, I haven’t found that wiki page that’ll give me the answers I want – I’m assuming they are out there somewhere.

Anyhow, it was a very pleasant walk out. Slightly colder than what it has been, but that is only to be expected as we move into Autumn proper. I’m going to have a look out the back in a couple of minutes. When I looked earlier there were practically no clouds are in the sky. I’m willing to bet there are a few stars out. It’s getting toward that time when I want to sit in the garden for a bit with my binoculars. No good with a telescope – quicker and easier to find objects the simple way.

I miscalculated little bit. It was cooler than I thought it would be for this morunning’s walk. I suppose I could have turned back and picked up my coat, but it wasn’t really that bad so I decided not to. It was OK, but I will pay a bit more attention before I go out tomorrow morning.

It was very nice to get out for my usual morning walk. It’s surprising the difference a week makes. It was quite dark when I arrived at the waterfront;

The sun isn’t really up, but as I said the other day I need to see this as an opportunity to take other types of night shots. I was looking at shadow areas as I was walking along, but nothing really inspired me. It’s the case though isn’t it of taking a picture, thinking nothing of it and it turns out to be something interesting. I need to try that – just try different things.

I didn’t take the measuring devices with me, I thought I might not have enough light to read the instruments, especially the refractometer which needs a bright source to be readable. As it happens, I needn’t have worried. It’ll be a few days yet before it’s too dim.

There’s also a point where I will need to move from the monopod to the tripod as the gadget stick. Whilst it is a bit of nuisance to have to carry the tripod, it is very effective, it gives me nice steady images and as it is freestanding, it releases a hand for other duties.

Back then into the routine and yet changes are in the offing. We are moving in to the time of year when I have to re-think the way I have been doing somethings over the last few months. Let’s see what it brings.

The Butser Hill Challenge was the first I attended as a member of RAYNET in 2016. I’d wanted to go up the hill from the first time I’d seen it. Covering this event with RAYNET means that for the last four years, I’ve spent a couple of hours pretty much at the top of the hill. A real pleasure.

The point where the picture is taken, is “my point”. Who ever plans the positioning of RAYNET volunteers tends to keep you where you are, so most years, I know exactly where I am going to be. I am definitely not complaining. I watched a sparrow hawk taking a rest in a tree, and was able to watch a car carrier passing along the Solent on its way in to Southampton. Several groups of people (not runners) passed by, exchanging pleasantries, sometimes they ask what’s happening, or what you are doing.

This morning it was raining. Not heavily, but enough that to have to stand in it for two or three hours would be uncomfortable. Luckily, I was able to position the car so that I could watch the runners come over the brow of the hill, using the Bino’s I was able to get their numbers early, and note the time they pass and pass the numbers to control (the first three male and female runners and the tailender only). The rest of the time I’m there in case anyone has a problem, only to call for assistance though, not to render help – we aren’t insured for that.

Next week, I have a day on the New Forest Marathon, being run at Wimborne St Giles – we did it there last year. It was fine. I’m doing something different this year; the route bus. Should be interesting.

With astronomical Autumn only a few days away, there are signs in the garden that the growing season is coming to a close for some flowers at least.

Our wild patch which didn’t start off particularly well, probably because the birds kept eating the seeds boomed in to life and was a great attractor for insects, which was brilliant.

Elayne has done a superb job of cultivating a truly lovely garden colourful, and producing bumper crops of potatoes, tomatoes and only today, radishes. Have to admit though, the runner beans didn’t run.

I think it must have given me a bit more focus during last years lockdown, I have done a couple of Big Butterfly Counts, but just haven’t kept up with it. That by no means says that I have lost interest, there was a degree of uncertainty about whether the count was being run this year. I have absolutely loved watching what has been going on with butterflies.

Without doubt though, the stars of the year have been the birds. It really took off with the wagtails which were simply delightful. We haven’t seen them now for several months now. I do hope they are ok and return to us.

I will keep feeding the birds through the winter. This time of year it is a matter of survival that they have access to an assured supply of food. I certainly intend to give them that.

No, this is only the site of the palace. I’ve been wanting to visit here ever since I heard of it. I have to admit I had no idea how big it was.

To visit the site is to be exposed to the artefacts and building skills of 2000 years ago, and to begin to appreciate why the Roman Empire dominated as it did. The skills of the people who built the palace, and laid the mosaics that decorated the floor. To see the central heating system – which I knew they did but to see it is amazing.

The palace was built very close to what was then the waters edge of the harbour. Speaking to the staff running palace, there is a big question as to why the palace was built at this location. Apparently, they had install wooden piles to hold up part of it.

It really was a fascinating end to a lovely week.

We had a couple of lovely walks today. We went for breakfast in a local cafe, which was nice and then went for a walk around the lagoon. I don’t know how long the lagoon has been there, but from the way the harbour has silted up, it’s been quite a while. Anyhow, it makes for a lovely walk.

As you might expect we weren’t the only people out walking. In places, the paths are relatively narrow, so you can’t avoid being relatively close to people, not to worry about, but certainly to exchange pleasantries. Hence the Morning or hello title.

I have to say that we have had some really nice chats with people, nothing spectacular, just pleasant. In the afternoon, we did the other part of the harbour the North Sea wall that forms part of the sea defences for Chichester. I’ve been having a bit of an issue with my tripod, the one that I use for both photography, and for my spotter scope. I stopped to talk to another birder, to ask him about his tripod, he was more than happy to show me how he had jury rigged his spotter scope/tripod pairing.

Most people were delightful. Just occasionally we would say Hello or Good Morning to somebody only for them to completely ignore us. One elderly couple were coming toward us, and just as they were passing, we both said hello. They were both head down, one after the other, did not even look at us as they marched past. We both looked at each other and laughed. It certainly did not take away from the pleasure of the walk.

We have decided that it is a delightful area, and would be more than happy to return here for another holiday.

As is mostly normally the case, the picture has no relation to the subject of today’s post. This is a picture of the river at Littlehampton, which it turns out is actually, quite a nice place.

I had quite a conversation yesterday with my Father-in-Law, about a love of his life, which it’s probably not unreasonable to say, he turned into a second career after his retirement. That is Philately, or Stamp collecting.

One of the questions I asked was what impact has the Internet had on the hobby. His response aligned with my much briefer experience in one of my main hobbies (amateur radio) in that the internet has had both positive and negative impacts.

The most obvious impact has been that it is much more difficult to get young blood interested. It does happen, but on nowhere near the scale that existed in the past. This is because the internet offers services which appear to be a much more attractive offer. There are also some social attitude changes that make it more difficult for young people to become involved.

Those two factors alone have served to almost kill these and other hobbies. But, not quite. Because we can now talk about the positive impact; not least of which is the global reach. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching programmes like Downton Abbey, it brought out how people would communicate using small notes sent through the post. We have our own version of this, the key exception is that ours is global and pretty much instantaneous. Being able to communicate with text, voice and video with anyone almost anywhere in the world, has served to really bring about the global village.

Then of course, there is the capacity of the Internet as a research and information repository tool, which really is superb. Of course, sometimes you might have to filter out a bit of guff, but undoubtedly, the internet has done wonders for research.

It’s like anything, the Internet is a tool for both good and bad. It’s down to people like to ensure that the good side prevails. I wonder how many other hobbies have been impacted both positively and negatively by this wonderful tool that we have been given?

This is Thomas A Becket Church in Pagham. Totally unrelated to today’s post, but I think quite a nice picture nonetheless.

Ah yes, 2nd hand bookshops. Now sadly, I don’t really class charity shops to be any good in this field, unless they are dedicated. Oxfam seems to be quite good at this, they have two dedicated book shops that I am aware of one in Cambridge and the other in Fareham.

No, I mean the proper dedicated 2nd hand books shops that are run by people who just love books. Now, I am sure there will be hundreds of these all over the country, but there are three that I particularly want to mention as they are accessible (now, I had three in mind as I started typing this paragraph, and of course one of them has decided it doesn’t want to play and has, without permission gone out. Hopefully, I will find the little so and so, otherwise it won’t get mentioned, Ah there it is you see; Chichester, you blighter, come here, where have you been these last few clauses?

OK, before any more of them become a nuisance, lets list them, not in order of preference, rather proximity (but not necessarily ease of access);

• The Ryde Books shop, the Isle of Wight
• Kims Bookshop, Chichester
• The Petersfield Bookshop

I can easily spend a couple of hours in any one of these. For pure browsing pleasure they are all on a par. Whether all on the same level (Petersfield) or spread over multiple floors, they are all rabbit Warrens of sheer delight. It is extremely rare for me to walk out of any of them not having bought something.

It’s always a pleasure to find a “new” shop on the scale of these. I have to admit I wasn’t aware of the Petersfield shop until it came up on the news as being in difficulty – a social media campaign rescued it. I made a point of visiting and buying several books. I am looking forward to going back sometime in the future.

If you live near any of these bookshops, or if you live near a similar shop, pay them a visit, have a browse, buy a book to support them, but most of all, enjoy the time you spend there. It is most assuredly, time not wasted.