Bills Posts

There was a fog in the Solent. It either hadn’t reached here, or was receding. The low cloud was causing the lights on the spinnaker to become diffuse. I didn’t notice it when I took the picture. But I like it.

I have set myself a goal of writing about photography every Wednesday night. I’ve given you a bit of history, and waffled about it a bit, been pretty indistinct really. Now is the time to get serious.

I am not a good photographer. I take pictures, if I am lucky one them, every so often might possibly come out reasonably good. Here I am been playing with cameras for more than 40 years, and probably once every five years, I produce, entirely be accident a slightly more than reasonable picture. And yet, and yet, why can’t I bring myself to read and follow a photography book? We have quite a few of them. Firstly, let me distinguish between a book about photography (e.g. Photographers eye, worked through here not so long ago) or a book about how to do photography, e.g. photography masterclass. I’m happy to read the former, but have real problems with the latter.

I can’t really tell why you why I have such a problem with that type of book, It certainly isn’t the case that I think I know everything – I definitely don’t. It might be because the photographs are always perfect, of places that I know I am very unlikely to visit. I would like to see a photography book that features pictures of a run down British town on a cold, grey, not sunny morning, that demonstrates the “rules” of photography. Any suggestions?

Then of course, there are the rules. It seems that most of the time, to get a good photo, it’s best to break those rules. Perhaps I need to commit to something. Somewhere in the house there’s a book on photography with your phone. Perhaps I should get that out and start working my way through it. I might then get a good picture more frequently than once in five years.

In Gosport, there isn’t just this waterfront, there is a stretch to the North, just the other side of the Explosion Museum (well worth a visit) and along Stokes Bay by Alverstoke is the Golden Mile. A very pleasant and popular walk. You will find people on these walks in just about any weather.

Stokes Bay is especially interesting if like me, you enjoy watching ships. It’s the main channel in to Southampton. A variety of ships; car, cargo & crude oil carriers, dredgers, ferries, and cruise ships. Merchant and military vessels of all types including the occasional US Navy Aircraft Carrier. I really miss the cruise ships, especially the ones we have been on. They do still come in to Southampton, even in these Covid times. But they are now a forlorn sight, barren of partying passengers. I am guessing, but I think they come in to replenish supplies, because there are still crews on board, and to make sure that the engines and all systems are working correctly in preparation for when they resume their proper role.

Stokes Bay, like many places in Gosport is absolutely stuffed with History. I’m not going to go into too much detail because there are opportunities here for future posts. To give you a taster though at each end of the bay is a Palmerston Fort; Eastern End Fort Gilkicker, at the Western end are two of the batteries installed to defend the Gosport Line. The water front at Stokes bay played a major part in the preparations for, and embarkation on D-Day, and the Alverbank Hotel just off the waterfront has a famous link with the RAF. I hope to explore all of these in future posts.

Between Stokes Bay and Portsmouth Harbour, is one of my favourite ship watching spots – the Haslar Hospital Sea Wall. Many a happy hour spent here watching ships glide by.

I’m not suggesting that HMS Warrior is of the same class as a clipper, but I did think it was appropriate to have a picture of a ship from the era of the clipper ships, and having been built in 1859, she is definitely of that time.

I am now about halfway through the book, which I admit I didn’t expect to finish, but every so often a little gem pops up that keeps me going. Today, I am going to be jumping around a bit.

To go back to an earlier chapter, the book talks about “Crimping”. It turns out that Press ganging was not just an activity of the Navy. Crimping was the equivalent for the clipper ships. Mostly though by the sounds of it, it wasn’t a gang of navy men bopping you on the head, it would be somebody like Maria Lee leading you astray in a drinking den, and you’d wake up on board, out at sea. Maria had a habit of dressing all in black, and whilst I don’t think the term is used today, this is where the expressions Black Maria came from – the old police wagons would come along to take the criminal away. The term “Shanghaid” came From a similar source. You were as likely to wake up on a ship heading for that exotic city, as you were anywhere else.

In last weeks piece on Clippers I implied that there weren’t many accidents involving clipper ships. How wrong I was. A lot were damaged and lost both on the high seas and on the reefs and rocks close to land. When the iron hulled ships were introduced, there were losses because it wasn’t always recognised that the iron in hull was affecting the compass. Hence the need to swing the compass arose to make sure it was set correctly.

I’m going to end this week’s piece with the Cutty Sark. She and her competing ship the Thermopylae were involved in many great races. They were big competitors. The story of their time as sea going ships is a story in it’s own right. Changes of owners and changes of names, and of fortunes. The Cutty Sark ends up gloriously portrayed in a Dry dock in Greenwich giving memories of a time past to future generations. The Thermopylae? She was sunk after being used for target practice by the Portugese Navy, A sad end to a magnificent machine. The story continues.

This week I’ve managed to clock up just over 20 miles. For some people, that isn’t much, but for me it’s a reasonable distance. For the month that’s about 70 miles, which keeps me on target for the Walk 1000 project.

Out for my walk this morning, I covered the route I normally take. The little beastie at the top of the post was performing at the back of Trinity church. There were three or four squirrels in the area, they are always a pleasure to watch – even if they are pests. I keep on meaning to take some seed with me on my weekend walks. I have managed to remember once! Not impressive.

There’s been only one morning where I haven’t gone out for a walk this week, that was Wednesday, it was because it was absolutely tipping it down. The rain lasted all day, so I didn’t go out at all. That was a bit frustrating, but there you go.

The morning sky has been quite variable as you might expect, with some clear skies, heavy clouds, threatening rain and on a couple of occasions delivering the same, whilst out walking. One of the more interesting mornings had streaks in the sky that were visible from the moment I arrived, and developed in intensity over the short period of time I was at the waterfront. Here’s a picture of that sky;

I walk a loop of about three miles Monday to Friday part of which is along the waterfront. There are usually only three occasions when I don’t walk, if I’m poorly, if I oversleep (but even that has changed, and I have become less rigid about when leave the house) and if it is raining.

We are a little bit paranoid about encounters with strangers at the moment, and I do my utmost to avoid them as much as possible. I’m probably adding several hundred steps to my normal walk where I keep crossing the road to avoid people. It’s frustrating to have to be this careful but we do think it’s worth it.

I’ve just been watching the weather forecast for the week ahead on Countryfile, whilst it looks quite variable and there are definite patches of rain, especially on Wednesday, the forecast doesn’t specify time so I don’t know if It will affect me in the morning.

What I’ve also noticed is that my notes for each walk are inadequate, so I need to focus on that a little more.

Why do I want to do a Video Blog (Vlog)? The thing is, I have nothing to sell; I have no particular message; my audience is anybody who wants to watch me; I enjoy using the technology, although editing is not easy, and thinking of what I want to say is a not easy either. It would appear that everything is against me. All of the pundits say just start doing it. I am almost ready to go, the last time I wrote about Vlogging (and not a lot has changed in between then and now) is that I haven’t sorted out what i want my back drop to be.

A lady, who produces a lot of vlogs on startling And running a YouTube channel is Gillian Perkins. Now, although she has some extremely good information, and I subscribe to her you tube channel, and I want my productions to be as professional as hers (a long way to go there);

I really want them to be more like:

Jack Hargreaves and

Dr. Magnus Pyke (the first guest to speak), whom I remember from the days of How? and who always impressed me both by his knowledge and his eccentricity. Is a person whom I would see myself modelling, in mannerisms and the like, he just struck me as entertaining.

I think I aspire, in my Vlogging to be like them.

The thing that is missing at the moment, is where do I want my “To the camera” bit. Technically, I’m set up for outside filming (although, I could probably do with a radio mic, but I can more than get along with what I have). I don’t think a garden shed type studio al la Jack is quite right, but I do want something that reflects me. i haven’t found it yet.

Also, I need a piece of royalty free music that I can use in my title sequence, which I don’t want to pay much for (I’m certainly not signing up to any of the sites for royalty free music – can’t afford that) so if there are any aspiring musicians out there, who are prepared to write & perform a 30 second piece along the lines of the Out of town piece and are prepared to let me have it on the understanding that if I ever start getting paid enough to live off for my vlogs, I will compensate them (under conditions to be agreed of course).

Tonight’s task for my blog, is to write about writing. It’s all very well to put in place a plan that says on Fridays, you will write about writing, but then every week, you have to think up new aspects of writing to discuss. How am I going to do this? one thing for definite, is I have to put in place some tools.

A few months ago, I reached a massive frustration point; I was having a work related problem. I use a day book in which to keep my notes. It has always been difficult to refer back to previous notes, to keep a track of things. I was browsing the internet, looking for ways to become organised. This is when I found bullet journaling. There are many different flavours of this method. I’ve gone for my own variation, which is very simple. So far though, it appears to be working.

Applying the bullet journal method is necessary for me to keep a coherent set of notes that I can use. When I make a note, I apply the method. I used it today; I’d had a thought about what to write and made a note of it. It was very quick and easy for to go back and find the thought that I had earlier.

This is the thing, to try and think of something that I can write about in two or three weeks time, and make it easy to find the memory, when I need it. Let’s find out if it works.

With today being Thursday, I have managed to get out three out of the four days this week. I have no idea what the weather is going to be doing in the morning, but if it it even raining only just a little bit, I am likely to go for a walk.

One of my activities which can be affected by the weather. During normal times I would have done a couple of RAYNET events over the last month. One that happens between Christmas and the New Year is the Purbrook Ladies 5 mile run. I’ve been on several Marshall points for this race, providing radio comms for the marshalls. I can’t remember many RAYNET activities which have been affected by the weather.

The interest in the weather for specific weather is obvious. But my interest in weather extends beyond that. My first attempt to measure rainfall was probably when I was about 9-10 years old. I’d brought a small empty jar in to school, and the rain funnel, was actually a toy rocket I had. Totally inadequate, but it did tie in with a project we had at going at the time. And, it did work, it caught rain, I can remember it as clear as a bell. I won’t of course attest as to its accuracy!

The interest in weather has never left me, I of course have a weather station, a Davis Vantage Vue, which earlier today I noticed had been blown so that it is facing in the wrong direction – not sure how that has happened, so I need to check that. The weather station itself is at least 8 years old so it is due for an upgrade. The next one I want to be able to feed to the Internet, so I can look at it whenever I want. Not sure when that will happen though.

I’ve just checked the forecast for tomorrow morning, cold and dry, so it looks like the morning walk is on. Which is good.

Once again, I find myself apologising for last nights rushed post. I don’t like doing that. I’m determined not to break the sequence.

I have to admit, I only decided to do this, as I went to write this. Then, having decided on a “Photo of the week” I don’t think I will do this every week. It seems to be a bit of a cop out to me. Like I can’t think of anything original to write about a much loved hobby that I have participated in for the better part of 40 years.

I like this picture because of the detail and the colour, the quality of light on the water, the sharpness. It’s one of those pictures where I won’t look at it in black and white.

In my early days, I did a lot of B&W, partly because it was cheaper, and partly because I could process the film myself. I remember using the Patterson tanks and the chemicals, and what a nightmare it was transferring the film from the can to the roll. More than once I took the can out of the bag to find that I hadn’t put the lid on correctly. I have to say, not an easy thing to do, putting the lid on wrong. The tanks were very good for that. I will happily confess that I so much prefer the ease of digital. Being able to look at my pictures on any of my devices as soon as I get home.

The waterfront is one of the highlights of the town. It’s always be a pleasure to walk along the promenade. There are things to see. Memories to be invoked. Memories such the monument in the foreground of the picture. This is the monument to HMS Affray a submarine that was lost in 1951, with 75 men on board. The men are listed on the monument. Every time I walk past the monument, I pause to think of them.

One of the pleasures of walking along the path is the opportunity to say hello to people. Of course the opportunity for doing that has decreased of late. It’s sad, but there you go. In the past, I would be walking along using my radio and people would stop me and ask me what I am doing. I’m always pleased to explain about being a licensed radio ham, and being on the #Breakfastclub. (I’ll need to explain that eventually). I also have what has been referred to as my “Gadget Stick”. Which, depending on the time of year, many be either a photography monopod or a tripod. I’m sure I’ve talked of this before.

It’s good to talk to people, I enjoy doing it.

OK, so these aren’t Clipper ships. Not even close to the spectacular, stylish and fast ships that plied the waves during the 19th Century. The last time I wrote about the Book Clippers – the ships that shaped the world by Daniel J Nolan which I am still reading, I indicated that I was on chapter one, and wondering if I would read Chapter 2. Well, I did. Indeed, I am on Chapter 4. Almost a quarter of the way through the book, so it looks like I’m giving it a go. What’s kept me on board?

It becomes clear that America is dominating the world in the production of Clipper ships. The Californian Gold Rush is in full flight by 1850. The race is on to get from New York to San Francisco as quickly as possible, and to do it in relative comfort and style, taking a Clipper seems the way to do it. These ships were built to look sleek and stylish but primarily for speed. Surprisingly, they relished the winds of the south, around Cape Horn. Facing gales, ice and mountainous seas were no deterrent to the captains and crew of these magnificent ships. Chapter two of the book focuses on the race from New York or Boston to California, with many ships being timed and betted upon. Though nothing of losing sail or masts, the drive always was for speed. They were masters of repair. There really was a ship called the Flying Dutchman.

Hong Kong to San Francisco was another popular route. Ships faced Typhoons and sliced through the waves. What surprises me from the story told, is how few of these ships appear to have been lost to the sea. Obviously, some were. But I have been surprised to hear about the way they approached the weather.

In 1959, eighty five clippers set off for California. The goal was to reach the other side in less than 110 days. Only six ships achieved that target. I know there are the tall ships these days. They aren’t run in the same way. I can’t imagine the lifestyle of those days.