Bills Posts

OK, so I messed up. I started drafting last night’s article and then got distracted, so I ended up not posting the article. For the first time in 250 nights, I didn’t post. I am so angry with myself.

Anyhow, I took this picture this morning. I thought it would be interesting to look in to what this is. It’s a Moon Jellyfish. You can tell this from moon shaped patterns at the top of the body. It turns out that this is the “Medusa” phase. The little girl beasties will be producing eggs like nobodies business, and the boy beasties will doing their stuff to make sure that the baby jelly fish which at the moment will be little more than larvae burrowing into the bottom of the Cockle Pond, and then in about 6 months they pass away, but the cycle starts again. Apparently they live longer if they are in captivity. This is due to a cleaner environment and less stress.

I quite like this picture, the colouring and the water. It’s nice to see the waterfront when it’s like this. It was a fresh morning, but it was beautiful morning.

So, here’s the thing. Having messed up last night (and forgive being a bleating bleeding heart) my brain has gone in to lockdown, and is refusing to give me sensible words to write. Writers block. Yup, I have it! And so I am deploying my strategy for dealing with it and that is to write about the fact that I have writers block.

Having only just a week ago reach a milestone of two thirds of the way through the 366 project, I do not want to give up now. So, unless I have something to seriously distract me I am. Back on the weekly cycle. Tonight’s post should have been about the waterfront. So, here’s what happens most mornings; I usually arrive at the waterfront not far off 0610. This means that the #Breakfastclub, my Amateur Radio friends and I run every weekday morning is about 5 minutes away from starting. I take my radio off scanning mode, and make sure that it is tuned to my channel for GB3IW, the Isle of Wight Repeater. The Brittany Ferry completing the crossing from Ouistreham (Caen) to Portsmouth, this is more likely to be either the Normandie or the Mon St Michel although there are others at different times of the year, and also a new ferry that I haven’t seen yet, The Galicia I take a few pictures of them usually as they are coming in through the harbour entrance or as they are passing the spinnaker. You might think this is boring. Well, I know it’s a set subject but it’s the background, the weather that makes every picture different.

By now, the #Breakfastclub is well underway and when it gets to my go, my “over” I give a report on the weather conditions in Gosport. This is not a forecast you must understand. I do not forecast the weather. I start with what the tide is doing; up or down, when is low tide and high tide, how much of a slope there is of the ramp leading down to the loading pontoon for the Gosport Ferry, what the sea state is in the harbour (how big are the waves) – which is usually not very. I have a handheld anemmometer, apart from windspeed it gives me temperature (ambient, dew point and windchill) and atmospheric pressure in either HectoPascals, but I prefer millibars – the measure is the same 1mb = 1hpa and inches of mercury, and I then report on cloud state (in 8ths) and if misty or hazy, whether or not I can see Portsdown Hill.

I then move on to carry on with my walk, which is about three miles in length.

There was one particular story in this month’s issue (No. 251) Tish’s True north is a story of her life. It’s story of poverty and deprivation and the kids that were growing up in that life.

There was another story, Home Truths by Jesse Lenz writing about a carefree childhood in Ohio. This was the story I wrote about a bit last night I think it was. In this, the Ohio story , I wrote that I couldn’t associate the pictures with the story. True North is the complete opposite. The pictures so clearly make the story. Here are the pictures by Trish Martha.

http://www.tishmurtha.co.uk/photograph-gallery.html

And these are the photos by Jesse Lenz

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/jesse-lenz-the-locusts

I have been positively smug about posting daily and keeping that up for 250 days. Well I have been truly strung up by my own petard. I didn’t post last night. I can’t tell you how truly angry I am with myself and disappointed. There is nothing I can do to correct this, I can’t wind the clock back, and go back in time. So the only thing to do is accept that it happened, not let it happen again, and post again tonight. Tonight’s story will be about Jelly Fish!

I really should have gone for a walk today. Once again, the weather has been perfect. I confess we spent a lot of time in the garden. Once again, not gardening, just enjoying the setting, and of course the birds.

I had every intention of going out, and did go and get the papers. But as things stand, I’ve managed to do 4330 steps. Isn’t that just perfectly pathetic? I think so. Once again we have been delighted by the birds. The sparrows in particular have been delightful, having a problem making up their minds; bird table or ground? Bush or fence? Our garden or somebody elses’s (in this last case , mostly ours). The Goldfinch has been letting rip.

I had a zoom meeting this afternoon, which went well. Otherwise, it has mostly been a lazy day.

Definitely a European Goldfinch. We’ve spent a lot of time out in the garden today, not gardening, just enjoying being outside. The weather has been magnificent. I really should have gone for a walk, but we had things on, and I didn’t have time. Tomorrow.

When we first moved in to this house, we were disappointed by the complete absence of birds. Nothing, no one would come near us. Even when I bought a birdtable and put food out – in the winter, nobody came. Until last year. We are now at the stage where wherever we sit in the garden, the starlings will visit the other bird table. The Sparrows are voracious eaters, i have to top our feeders up most days. Today, the blackbird was about 6 feet away from me, it’s beak stuffed with worms and still making a mess of what we are trying to turn into our wild patch. It’s likely we will have to re-seed and put some netting over. Once it’s established, it can do what it wants.

The last few days we have seen the wagtails (I thought they were yellow, but it looks like they are Grey). They have both been with us through much of the winter. How we have laughed at their bobbing, worried when they don’t show up, and said with relief “The Wagtails are back.”

The Goldfinch in the picture has been with us for a couple of days now. I’m told it does come down for food. I’ve been watching it this afternoon. It would come from one direction, sit in the tree for five minutes or so, making an extremely loud but very musical racket, and then fly off pretty much at 90 degrees to it’s arrival path. A few minutes later it would be back again.

I must admit that I thought that it was announcing and defending it’s territory. But it appears that Goldfinches are not Territorial, which is, presumably why they were both content to sit in the tree, close to each other (at least, I think they are both males). They are welcome to come down, there’s plenty of food.

Last night on Facebook, I jokingly commented that watching the bird table is more entertaining than what’s on television. Actually, it’s watching the birds – the tables are incidental. i notice though, that they need topping up. They’ve certainly had their fill today, and we have definitely had the pleasure of their company. Quite simply beautiful.

What comes first? The chicken or the egg? The photo or the story? In the latter case it depends upon the context. This has just come about as I was reading an article in the latest issue (No. 251) of Black+White Photography. Is it unreasonable of me to say that the article was borderline heart rending, but I couldn’t relate to the pictures? The pictures had no context for me. For some reason, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that it isn’t just the photographs. The photo’s can be of anything. What drives the photos are the people and the story. If you have a story, the photos almost don’t matter, but if they are good then they obviously massively add to the story. I wrote most of that paragraph about an hour ago. Is it stating the obvious? Probably.

These two pictures of the same Alleyway; Beamister’s Lane. I’ve written about this lane before. The lane in the pictures are as they are today, but with the weird narrow picture is a rather feeble attempt to cut off signs of the 20th Century. I wanted to do that to attempt to give you a view of what the lane may have looked like in the 1850’s. This is the time the Press Gangs were very active in the town, and it was quite likely that, if you walked down this alley at the wrong time, you might feel the tap on the back of your head, and wake up on board a Naval ship, with a headache, indeed more than one headache, because you would now be part of a very brutal regime, and there would be only one thing you could do about it. Why would you risk it?

I think what I am trying to do is put my self into a position to do some creative writing, but of non-fiction. I’ve also written before about the creative writing classes I’ve attended at St Vincents. I said to the tutor the first time I attended that I wanted to creatively write non-fiction, which although that sounds counterintuitive, is apparently a thing.

Last night I said I would be focussing on Fences this morning. These two are the fence line for the sports grounds at Spring Garden Lane the second is one of the gates in to the St Georges Barracks complex. I took a few other pictures of fences, but for fences, these were the most interesting.

Now, here’s a thing; I try not look at a screen an hour before I settle down to. Sleep. Tonight it hasn’t worked. This is why I like to try and get my blog done around 7pm. So that I don’t have this last minute panic. Ever y Thursday (most Thursdays) I chair the Isle of Wight Radio Society Thursday Night Net (TNN) from 8 until around 9PM. We have also started having zoom sessions as well that carry on after the net closes. I tend to get wrapped up in those, and then almost forget to do my blog – unless I have done it before.

I am not going to say I will leave it until tomorrow at this stage. So whilst tonight’s post might be short, at least I’ve done something.

Today, the latest edition of B&W photography turned up. It doesn’t seem that long ago that the last issue arrived, and well actually it isn’t that long as the last issue was published later than normal. But that’s OK, I love reading the magazine and looking at the pictures, so happy with that.

What isn’t a dilemma is that Bede’s An Ecclesiastical History of the English People arrived today, so as you can imagine I am quite keen to start that. But, it can wait. It’ll still be here in a couple of days.

I’ve already reported that I’ve had my Nikon out over the weekend, planning with it. I haven’t taken it out on my morning walks. It’s almost a case of too much to carry, but also too many hands needed, but that’s OK, I think what I can do is for the time being limit it to weekends, that way I can concentrate on it, and not have to think about other things. What I do need to do is expand my horizons in terms of photography, so for example tomorrow I will focus upon…fencelines, singularly unexciting you might think. Actually I’d agree with you, but you never know, I may turn up some interesting (I’m not going to say exciting)) pictures.

Naturally, if I see anything else interesting, I shall try and grab that also. As I am sat here though, I am running through fences that I shall encounter on my walk, some I know well, I don’t doubt that there will be some that have never occurred to me to think of. So, lets see how it goes.

Two thirds of a year, 8 months, 244 days. I don’t know whether to be surprised that I am still here doing this. I must have had the intention to try at the outset, I probably am a little surprised. I’m definitely not going to say it has been easy. The seven day strategy has certainly helped, but also the ability to ignore it when I want to. I think I’m probably formulaic in my writing, by that I mean boring, and probably repetitive.

I wrote a piece in my facebook post this morning. I tried to put some meaning in to it. Only for the sake of demonstration, I reproduce it here;

I heard on the radio that the bunkering ship the Whitonia was flitting between linkspans, keeping her charges well fed. The Mon St Michell slid gracefully in to the harbour, disturbing only a little the still waters within, and a solitary tug meandered out, perhaps for a stroll or perhaps to shepherd a bigger ship in to the harbour. For the first time this year, the sun has crept above the horizon. End of sample

When I re-read it, it’s not that good.

I am between books. I have a book due from Amazon. By the Venerable Bede, An Ecclesiastical History of England written around AD731. Is it Religion’s Domesday book? Mixed with Britains Pilgrimages I’m going to see if it fits as ,y book of the moment. From an historical perspective, it should be an interesting read.

I may comment, assuming it’s still going at 300, otherwise we are on the way to 366, and I am seriously wondering what comes next.

OK, so I know the picture has nothing to do with railways. I can’t even make a link with Portsmouth Railway Station as it is just out of view.

A couple of days ago, I finished reading The Gosport Historic Records and Museum Society’s leaflet, Gosport’s Railway Era published in 1975. It’s taken me quite a. While to read it. And, in doing so along with reading the Gosport Journal has made me wonder if I shouldn’t reread Leonard White’s The Story of Gosport. It’s likely to put things in to a slightly different context to the first time I read it, probably a couple of years ago now.

Gosport’s railway era spans a relatively short period of time, and was not without its tribulations. Competition amongst railways companies, and towns especially Portsmouth meant that the railway in Gosport would be commercially vulnerable from its inception. What (or who) kept it going in the early days was Queen Victoria, using intialy Gosport Station as her jumping off point for travel to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Then later, with that short extension in to Clarence yard, punching a hole through the ramparts that were Gosport’s defences. That extensions last duty was to carry Victorias body when she died in 1901. The line was never the same after that.

It’s surprising to read that there were not more accidents on the Clarence extension. It appears that goods wagons were transferred form Gosport station to the yard by gravity, being started on their way, personnel had to run beside them to apply the brakes before they flew off the end of the pier. Must have been interesting in winter.

The era cam to an end in June 1953, when the last commercial passengers service ran. It’s a pity that it did end. It always saddens me when a railway line closes. The only saving grace is the legacy that the railway leaves; the excellent bus route & cycle track, the remains of the historic station, and the fascinating story of the extension in to Clarence Yard.

Just in case you didn’t know; a very little bit of the extension with tracks remains, just a few 10s of yards, along with the tunnel through the ramparts, which sadly, we can’t walk through, but it is clear.

A fascinating read of yet another feature of the interesting history of Gosport.

It was suggested that we get away from the house for a walk and a picnic. I must admit that I was a bit doubtful that I would enjoy it. We went to West Walk Forest of Bere
https://goo.gl/maps/zXkUozpQRvvZGddw9

A walk through a managed forest, so good tracks. As I suspected, it was busy. But, not so busy that we didn’t feel safe and not able to enjoy ourselves. We walked just over three miles, and it was a slow one, but that’s OK. We didn’t quite get lost, but we did turn right, when we should have turned left. That mistake might have added half a mile to the walk, but not to worry, it was worth it.

After all that, it was very nice to sit down to a small but very adequate picnic – we made sure we took our rubbish home with us. It really was a very pleasant interlude, and we will definitely go back.

I have to confess that I have been seduced by the iphone camera. It’s easier, and the pictures are of an excellent quality. But, they are not as good as my Nikon, with my Tamron 18-400mm lens it is an effective camera, and whilst the sensor size is only slightly bigger than the iphone, the quality of the glass is significant and there is a quality to a Nikon picture that I don’t get with the iphone. I shall continue though, to use both cameras, but whereas I have been neglecting the Nikon, I am bringing it back in to use more frequently now.