Bills Posts

We went to Claires for Breakfast. I thouroughly enjoyed that, but then, when we got home, and after a 10 minute sit down to allow the food to go down, we got on with clearing the growth out the front. This is a once or twice a year job, and very satisfying when done.

I walked in to town to take a parcel to the Post Office. I think thaat what was left of the market, indicated that it was one of the towns “Special” Markets, when there are a bunch extra stalls and various activites, like a go-kart track. But the thing that caught my attention was a traditional Punch and Judy. It really was nice to see a bunch of kids in front of the stall, shouting at Mr. Punch.

I carried on walking to the waterfront, just in time to see the Mon St Michell sail out, which was nice. A slow, casual walk back up the highstreet, a quick pop into Morissons to pick up some bits and pieces for tea and then home.

A busy day, yes. But a pleasant one.

Elayne told me about a Galleon that was moored in Portsmouth. It was only here for a couple of days. We hadn’t been out together on photographic trip for quite a while. It seemed like quite a sensible thing to do.

We went to the waterfront to see if we could get a view of it, but it didn’t really stand out, so we got the ferry across and walked around. Gunwharf was quite busy. We were able to get close to what we found out was The Galleon Andalusia, a replica a Spanish Galleon from the 1600s. There are some exceptions, this one has a diesel engine, a radar and probably a whole bunch of other modern safety equipment.

It cost £12 each to get on board for a look around, and whilst where we could go was a bit limited (KI would have like to have been able to hold the Ships Wheel, pay a visit to the Poop Deck, and stand at the bow, as in Titanic, we did get to see how the crew lived, the Captain’s & Officers quarters gun deck & cargo hold and learn about life on board in those days. The tour was very well laid out, so I thought it was well worth it.

There was a street food fair on in one part of Gunwharf so we had a burger and chips, which was slightly unusual – the chips were drizzled with cheese and had chunks of steak on top. They’d run out of forks, so it was a very messy eat, but it was very nice, and as I had missed lunch, very welcome.

I’ve had an interesting couple of days. The problem here, is that I’ve only done one Facebook post this week, and one of the interesting events is an ideal subject for another, I’ll mention it here once I’ve done a post there.

We had a thunderstorm here. It was brief and the rain was very intense. I came downstairs to make a cup of tea, and stood watching two of the wettest pigeons I can remember seeing in a very long time. I felt really sorry for them, but at the some time one of them was looking at me, and I could tell it was thinking “You B*****d”.

The only comment I will make is that our grand daughter, being 10 months old, could teach a whirling dervish a thing or two about chaos.

No Friday could go either way, I wake and feel like going for a walk. Or I don’t. Of course it could be raining. It has been throwing it down this evening.

Somehow, I’m not quite sure how, I’ve managed to do what I thought would be three of the four most difficult day of the week with relative ease. They were the days when I’d have to get up and go for a walk. Surprisingly, I’ve had no problems at all in getting up and out.

One of the chaps I watch on YouTube is Rob The Mariner. He lives in Nova Scotia. I like his style of video and I get the impression that he does his videos in one go, with basic editing. I thought I could do that.

I have some video clips that I need to edit together, a weekend job I think, but hopefully it should be ok.

I know that I’m not going to be walking in the morning (grand daughter duties) but that is ok. So that leaves Friday as the remaining day of walking. At the moment, only rain will stop me, and I don’t think that is on the cards.

Today’s picture is worth mentioning. It was a leaf floating in the air, actual hanging in single strand of spiders web. I took loads of pictures in the forlorn hope that at least one would come out sharp. Very difficult in the natural breeze, let alone when a car went past, it would bounce around like nobody’s business. A testament to the strength of spiders webs.

OK, I’ve played with the colours a little bit, but it is brighter than the original.

I did a facebook post this morning. The frustrating thing is that I always enjoy doing them, I think they are a little bit more personal than these posts, yet in many respects they aren’t. It seems right that I do a post in the morning after the walk, a round the day up with a follow up post in the evening. Having said that, the two posts aren’t really related although the two posts do occasionally cross-refer.

I’ve been doing these posts for over 4 years now. I had been doing the facebook posts for quite a while before that, but these posts here became a commitment to write. Rather than what the facebook posts are, kind of fun (but I do not wish to disparage them in anyway, more people . Yet, they both filled a need in me to write something.

It gets a bit frustrating when I sit here and can’t think of anything to write, or when I get tired and have to ‘bin-out’ (which I hate doing, but I feel I have to sometimes).

Sometimes, these posts can get a bit frustrating, as they require a bit more effort that the FB posts, but I enjoy them at least as much, especially when they flow, like this one has (well, I think it has).

I could very easily have not got up this morning, but I did, I find it hard to describe my thinking around my reluctance to get up, or get out. I guess it doesn’t help that bed is so comfortable, and it is a degree of I can’t be bothered.

But then the other side of the argument kicks in; this morning it was an opportunity to have a chat on the radio. Next it was what is happening in the high street. It has been a few days since I last walked down the street.

It looks like a couple of holes have been dug in the floor of No. 8, what used to be poundstretchers . What could they be looking for? I am still of the view that the unit will have to be pulled down and a brew build for the shop units and flats to be built. Almost opposite at, I think it is 135 – 138. A previous planning application was required to get an archeological exploration carried out. I don’t know if that happened. I wonder if the same requirement has been placed upon No. 8. I should have a look. (I did, couldn’t find it – doesn’t mean it’s not there)

There was a new place For Bakes Sake – I can’t remember when I saw it first, I think it opened on the 25th. They do cakes and things. I really do need to get my High Street data base sorted, so that I can register that as a change.

A very pleasant walk along the waterfront. The Commodore Clipper came in, and the Heron was on the tidal line.

I only saw one jelly fish in the Cockle Ponds. Where have they all gone?

Looking at the weather app, tomorrow morning (Monday) promises to be bright and sunny. The radio is on charge, so apart from me feeling stressed about getting up (which I don’t at the moment) there’s nothing to keep me from going for a walk in the morning.

Tuesday could be different though. There is an almost even chance of rain. Beyond that, the only morning that I know for certain that I am unlikely to go for a walk is Thursday.

What with the radio planned for Monday & Tuesday, vlogging on Wednesday, Thursday otherwise occupied and Friday available for other things. There is the prospect of a good week. How much I will achieve is a different thing.

It’s a bit like vlogging in that there will probably be quite few posts on the matter until it actually happens, and then possibly beyond.

I was determined that I wasn’t going to retire until my 70th birthday, in about 18 months time, I felt entirely comfortable with that until fairly recently, when some kind of switch obviously got thrown in my brain, because I’ve brought the date forward by a year, which means I’ve got about 6 months to go, and if I were totally honest I could imagine a situation where that date could move again – Christmas time?

Let’s leave that for the time being. Instead we’ll return to the topic of what am I going to do when I retire. Firstly, I am going to help around the house more than I do. I do some housework, I know it isn’t enough so that’ll be a good thing. I’m also going to do more cooking. Whilst Elayne is an excellent cook, she has often said she doesn’t enjoy it. I’m sure that I can turn out the odd spaghetti Bol, or bangers & mash.

Then of course there are my interests to feed. One of which is to go for my full amateur radio licence. I’ve got the book, I’m sure I could give an hour a day for a few weeks.

Following on from that is the University of the Third Age, U3A. It seems that Gosport has a lively branch with several groups that might be interesting. I might even suggest a new group – more on that one on a later.

The men’s shed is also in prospect. Now, I’m not sure what I’m going to do there. Apparently a friend has suggested that I could join the Ukulele band. Well, unless there is some kind of admin role I could take on, I can confidently say nope to that.

I will explore more on all of these topics later.

Tonight, it bending Friday, we went to the chippy. Elayne had Fish & Chips & I had jumbo battered sausage Y& chips.

We took our food to Lee-on-the-Solent and parked up in the big car park. Because it was past 1900, parking was free which was good.

We really enjoyed our meal, we watched a couple of cruise ships go out, The Queen Mary 2, heading for Stavanger and Independence of The Seas, which have had a cruise on that we thoroughly enjoyed. It was nice to see her again.

After we finished our food, we just sat there for a while, just people watching. Because it was a very pleasant evening, there were a lot about – as you might expect.

I really should have gone for a walk this morning. If I am truthful, there was no excuse. I was awake in time, I just fancied a cup of tea, so I didn’t go. I really can’t complain about not having recording any video if I don’’t make the opportunity.

It obviously isn’t a blank page, but I have just spent the last 15 or so minutes staring at the web page that had only the number 1708 at the top – at least I knew that.

I was really stuck for something to write about this evening, quite simply, I really couldn’t think of anything to write about. Well, that’s not strictly true. I could always write about my vlogging and retirement plans, my intention to go for a full amateur radio licence, my studies on Future Learn, so there is stuff there, but I am very aware that I have a bit of a tendency to go on about it.

The vlogging side of things iss a bit frustrating, I haven’t done anything for a few weeks, and I really should get out with the phone, gimbal and microphone. There are things that I could be videoing.

Part of the problem is that I can’t get away from the limited time that I have available in my early morning walks. I think what I need to do is to be much more focused on what I want to record and why, and what I want to say on the video, and very importantly, am I going to include any talking to the camera, rather than just the microphone.

I only want to record a couple of minutes of video on a couple of locations. I should perhaps have a go.