Bills Posts

Perhaps a subtitle should be; “For a Plan”, with a sub-subtitle of “to plan for a plan” for a blog. I’m not sure I can do that, it kind of changes the purpose of the blog, but on the other hand haven’t I been doing that? For many weeks now, I have been working reasonably close to this list;

• Monday – Book of the Day
• Tuesday – The Waterfront
• Wednesday – Photography
• Thursday – The Weather
• Friday – Writing
• Saturday – The Vlog
• Sunday – Walking

I made it sure that I could also cover random topics. In defining a blog strategy there are two suggestions; to be clear as to the purpose of the blog, to know what it is you want to write about. I’ve now watched quite a few videos on you tube on the topic of blogging. Many of these have been very focussed on blogs relating to running a business. I absolutely am not dong this. The purpose of this blog remains to satisfy my need to write, which it appears has not diminished. As to what to write about, I won’t change the above list. Clearly though the one that is causing me an issue os Vlogging. I have all the tools needed, I lack the material (that’s an excuse – the material is there) and the commitment – I definitely lack that. Time is the major one. Could I create time?

One thing I can do is add some topics; Amateur Radio I really should be covering, Art a bit more often, I’ve enjoyed learning about that, history explicitly, Geology, Microscopy, hunting for micometeorites, and others. I can’t help it, this is what my brain is filled with. It is important s to say that I am a Tyro in all of these topics, and I indulge out of interest.

It appears that Friday, which is writing about writing is turning into a review of the weeks writings. After last weeks review, I found that it was a bit of a pain to go in to each blog, re-read it, make a note that I can write about.

I bought an A5 diary towards the beginng of the year, I haven’t been using it as much as I could, partly because I’ve been writing on Facebook and here. Before I made the 366 commitment I had a paper journal, an A5 moleskin notebook, the diary was supposed to be a gap filler. I now need to use it for that purpose. I’ve been making one sentence notes on what I wrote about over the last week, lets see if it works.

There are then, two ways of looking at this. I can comment on each piece individually which would be OK. But you can look at each piece yourselves, any time, so what good would my re-hashing / re-visiting those posts do? It might be a bit entertaining, and might bring back a few memories but that’s about it. Nothing to carry forward. Having done it, I can forget about it.

What I need to do is look at what I wrote, what went well, what went badly, can I learn anything from the exercise that I can take in to next week. Part of the problem with that is that I can’t be entirely sure as to what next week will bring, so will it be a separate set of problems? In some respects, I wish I had been doing this since the beginning of 366, not towards the end, because by now, I would have worked things out. Unfortunately, my brain can sometimes be a bit slow on the uptake.

I need to identify more sources for my inspiration, the two main activities that have inspired me this week are walking and photography, and both of those have been limited to my standard walk. Variety is, as they say, the spice of life.

Last night I spoke about photographic opportunities. Tonight I’m supposed to write about the weather, according to my self imposed schedule. I think today provided me with an opportunity for a photo that I like and a topic that I’m interested in.

When I left the house for my morning walk, there was a distinct chill in the air, it was padded weather jacket time. I appreciated it. As the mornings progressed it developed into a classic summers day, bright and warm.

I went for a walk down Weevil Lane to Priddys Hard, that involves going over the bridge at Forton Lake. As you can see from the picture there were blue sky and clouds, it was middayish, hot. As I was on the return leg I stopped just after passing under the bridge lifting mechanism and thought I might get a reasonable picture out of it, and it doesn’t look too bad. Here’s the colour version, which do you prefer?

I think I know which one I prefer.

What I wanted to do was to get the boat sat on top of the pole, I couldn’t go back any further without going over the side of the bridge, and I couldn’t move in the right direction to get the boat to line up. As it happens, I still like the picture, very much.

I was trying to create what I thought would possibly be a good opportunity for a picture, but circumstances prevented me from getting the image I wanted, but the compromise above still pleases me.

Whilst unrelated directly to this picture, I’m guessing street photography is a bit like that you need to have the opportunity, or you have to contribute to its creation. As much as I like the idea of street photography, it seems difficult to encounter people at 0600 in situations where taking their picture would result in a good street shot.

I quite like other styles of photography; landscapes both country and city but generally they don’t involve people. How can I like the idea of street, but not even try at being good at it? Opportunity – that’s my excuse. Ooh, that’s pretty pathetic isn’t it.

It’s been a strange day. Mostly I got everything done that I planned. The only trouble was whenever I sat down, I wanted to go to sleep. I sat down at about 2PM, and decided to just give in. I slipped in and out, and finally surfaced at about 4. Even at the weekend, I haven’t done this for a long time. Actually, I view them (afternoon naps ) as a waste of time, but when you can’t help it you just have to indulge.

Apart from that there really hasn’t been very much happening today. I was planning to go for a longer walk, time and napping went against that. I did manage to get to the end of the Haslar Marina Pier Wall . I’ve started taking regular pictures of the Cumbrian Fisher;

The Cumbrian Fisher is the tanker in the background. She’s a bunkering ship, which means that she is there to refuel other vessels. I don’t know if it is Navy or the boats from the Marina’s. Every so often she sails out, presumably to re-stock, I’ve been watching her to see if her plimsole level is rising, I’ve been trying to get her every day. I have no idea why. I just do.

These last couple of days have been so nice that getting out for a walk, even if a short one, it has been very nice. I didn’t manage to get to the cockle pond. That was disappointing and frustrating, but I have every intention of going for my morning walk tomorrow (back to normal so to speak).

OK, I’m going to leave this blog entry as is. I’m not that happy with it, because it is more like a diary entry than what I perceive to be a blog entry. Now, that begs the question what is a normal blog entry? even now, I’m not sure I can answer that question. Certainly, it should inform, entertain, educate in different proportions. I guess sometimes it’s ok to deviate from that path, just ever so slightly. Whatever it is, this is not about me. Well, obviously, this one is. But not normally. Or perhaps it’s all about me – who knows? I’m not even sure I do.

On my walk around Gosport today, I went to a part where I don’t normally go. No particular reason, it’s just not on my route. It’s along the waterfront at Gosport Marina, not Haslar Marina, the other one.

It has been a gloriously sunny day, it was far too nice to stay in. I decided to go along this route because I wanted to see how close I could get to the Cumbrian Fisher

I was walking towards the tower block in one of the earlier pictures, I looked up to see several people out sunning on the balcony For a very brief few seconds, I could have been in any one of a number of ports that I have visited in the past. Wherever you are are in the world, people are getting on with life, and that includes relaxing in the sun on your balcony. And that’s why I asked the question, because for those few seconds I could have been in Puerto Rico, Cannes, Florida, somewhere, even Gosport.

I’ve just finished reading this months issue of country walking. There was an article about pieces of art placed in naturally beautiful locations. I acknowledge that I haven’t visited any of them.

If I haven’t visited any of them, how can I possibly comment on them? Can I even ask the question is it appropriate for that piece to be there? I wonder how much research whoever commissioned the piece did to confirm that it would be acceptable for the piece to go there? In fairness, it may not even have been anything to do with the artist, who was merely commissioned to deliver the piece. So, this isn’t aimed at the artist so much, as who commissioned the piece for that location?

Why would you put a piece of art in a place with so much natural beauty? I have to admit to feeling a mild irritation that those pieces described in the article were put there, but I have no context for them being in those locations. Now, if they are temporary, then it may be OK, but if they are permanent is that a different story?

I suppose features that come to mind are The angel of the North and Anthony Gormley’s statues on the Liverpool beach. The Angel of the North I kind of get, firstly, I’m not sure about the natural beauty of the site, which makes that location functional. I haven’t seen Gormley’s statues, are the appropriately positioned? I really don’t know. Are they acceptable merely because the artist is famous? I don’t know. As you can imagine, the piece raised a bit of grumpiness in me. Most unlike me.

I caught this picture behind Trinity Church out on my afternoon walk. I’d had a good morning, clearing the birdseed out that the messy so and so’s chuck everywhere, but they are such a joy to watch that I don’t really mind.

I had a bit of a stint on the microscopes, they are all working very well. I got a sample of water from a static pool that we have. It’s quite green. When I looked at it through the microscope, I could see pollen (I don’t know which ones) and there were some very small critters moving around. Can’t quite make out what they are, but they are small.

I was fairly late going out for a walk, about 5PM. If I vary my normal route slightly, I walk past an antiques shop that sells some miscellany at a reasonable price. I’ve bought a couple of books from there. I take the opportunity to have a look when I can. Nothing worth buying at the moment, although I do quite like the birds eye view of Portsmouth Harbour probably from the 18th Century, but at £169 it’s too expensive.

I then headed towards the cockle ponds to see what was going on there. Now I know we shouldn’t anthropomorphise, but it certainly looked as though two crabs rushed toward each other to give a hug, they weren’t locked claw to claw, in both respects it was claw over the carapace, they lingered for a couple of seconds and then rushed off at right angles to each other. It really did look like two old friends giving each other a big hug. No jelly fish today.

Not much going on the harbour today, the usual ferries, and some small boat movement. There were quite a lot of people about, mostly in groups though.

Only just over two miles walked. Not much I know, but better than nothing.

I think I’ve realised the mistake I have been making with this photo. I’ve tried it several times, and although the reflection is excellent, it’s not as true as I can make it, because of the buildings in the upper part. I need to try it from a slightly different perspective.

Learning something about a thing, changes your perspective of a thing. In this case, it’s the cockle ponds. If you have been following me on facebook, or here earlier this week you would have found me getting quite excited about the fact that I had a very nice response from Gosport Borough Council about what is happening to the Cockle Ponds the picture above is across one of the ponds. A radio amateur friend told me, not long after I had clicked send on the email to the council, that the ponds were being drained to clear the weeds because the boating lakes were on the UK National Model Boating Lake Register. Only for the council to come back and say that the lakes were a Site Of Special Scientific Interest, because a rare brine shrimp lived in them, and the draining was to allow an influx of fresh water to re-balance the salinity of the lakes. Whilst I haven’t been able to identify a national register of model boating lakes, it has been very easy to identify the ponds as part of an SSSI that pretty much encompasses the whole of Portsmouth Harbour.

I confess, after I received the email from the council, I was very excited as I thought the lakes themselves were the SSSI. I was slightly defused when I did that little bit of research to find the scope of the site was as wide as it is. But then I found that there are 3 SSI’s in Gosport alone. I was even more surprised to find that there are 118 in Hampshire of which; 107 are of biological interest, 5 for geology and 6 for both. Of course, that set my mind racing – an interesting project would be to visit as many of them as I can.

Even better, is that there are 139 SSSI’s in Dorset. I must admit I was quite pleased about that (that there were more in Dorset than Hampshire). Petty I know, but there you go.

Having found out that the filling of the Cockle Ponds is a tidal thing, and having seen the water pouring out when they lowered the sluice gates, I’ve been waiting to see the water coming in. I won’t now of course, as the pond side of the feed pipe is underwater, but I haven’t seen the creek side under water, because every time I have been for a walk this week, the tide has been at a low point. Frustrating! But looking at my tidal app appears to show high tides at 0600 for next week, so I only have to wait a few days.

It isn’t something that I’ve given any thought about. But I am excited to find that Gosport has several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. It’s quite likely that in the past, I’ve been near one. But, I’ve never thought of it before. It’s another positive thing for which Gosport should be known.

I had a very nice email from the council explaining that the Cockle Ponds are an SSSI, because they are the home of a Brine Shrimp, one of the few locations in the UK where they live. The ponds get emptied because the salinity levels need to be balanced, they open the sluice gates to drain and then the ponds re-fill on the tide. It was good to have confirmation of that. Of course, that conflicts with the story that the ponds are registered as model yacthing site, and the ponds are drained to clear the weeds. But if the SSSI version is correct clearing the weeds would potentially damage the habitat.

Strangely enough, I’ve been looking at SSSI’s of which there are quite a few in Hampshire and supposedly four in Gosport, but actually, I can only find three, and the Cockle Ponds aren’t one of them. Now, I shall make an effort to visit all of them (the ones in Gosport that is) and indeed, see how many of the Hampshire ones I can get in. That would bee quite an interesting project. One to consider.