Bills Posts

I like books. Fiction and non-fiction. I guess if there is a genre that I tend to gravitate towards it’s science fiction. In particular, I like;

Larry Niven, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, E E Doc Smith, James Blish, Ian M Banks, Gordon R. Dickson.

Larry Nivens tales of known spaces are brilliant, including novles like Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers, and outside that universe, I’m currently re-reading Footfall and will probably line up a re-read of another classic Lucifers Hammer.

I love Asimov’s Robots short stories and the foundation series, although I have tried reading Greg Bears extension to that, and I just can’t get in to it – I keep forcing myself to pick the book up, but I’m reaching the stage now, where I really don’t want to.

E E Doc Smiths Space Operas The Lensman, Skylark, D’Alembert series were all absorbed as quickly as I could, and have been re-read.

I think my love of SF probably began when I read a book that my sister had in her book case. I’ve been trying to find it ever since, trouble is I can describe the story, but I can’t remember the title or the author – I think I must have been about 10 when I read it. In Swanage one day, I walked in to a book shop (again, I must have been about 10) and found a Tom Swift Book by Victor Appleton, it was a hardback – I never saw them in paperback. I think there were a series of about 18 of them, they were all listed on the back of each book. I had them all. Then one day at school, I found a Tom Swift Book in the library at school that wasn’t on the list, and on the back had a list of books none of which I recognised.

I m afraid I still hark back to the old books mostly. The Culture series by Ian M. Banks are all an excellent read. A lot of the books nowadays seem to be fantasy, and that doesn’t grab me I’m afraid, although I did like the Dragons of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. They did though have a basis in science.

James Blish’s Cities in Flight is brilliant, a really good read. Arthur C. Clarke is of course remembered for 2001 A Space Odyssey, but Childhoods End and the Rama series along with his short stories are brilliant.

With Dickson, it’s the Dorsai series. Especially Tactics of Mistake and Soldier Ask Not that I thoroughly enjoyed.

For non-SF, I’m quiter happy to admit that I like Jeffrey Archer, His Kane & Abel, and the Prodigal Daughter are excellent books.

As far as non-fiction is concerned, I’ll leave that for another post.

Here are some random picture s of London, the last two are taken from the Observation Deck at the Shard.

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You may have noticed (or perhaps not, seeing as I don’t have quite as many blog readers as somebody who’s famous) that I have been trying to do a post a day asince starting this work. Yesterday was one of a couple of times when I have clearly failed in this endeavour. I sat at the computer for probably about 20 minutes just before retiring for the night desperate to think about something to write. You saw the result. Nothing came.

This is not acceptable. I should be able to find something, anything to write a few words about, look at how easily the words flow from on this, one of the most frightening experiences a writer could have. I think that is the first question; am I a writer. I want to be. I want be a good one. Am I? No. Can I be? I don’t know, but I am happy trying.

Anyhow, writers block; in my case last night, I did try to start a post a couple of times, but the words would just not come, and when they did, I caught myself thinking “I don’t want to read this, why on earth would you?” So I binned the very feeble attempts.

Now, when it comes to writing, I like to have a clear thought in my head as to the topic. Hence tonights article was relatively easy. But, I need a strategy, what to do when I get a case of the block. Well, I think I have one . When the output arrives, you might think the topic or order is a bit weird, but really that’s my problem, not yours.

I set no word limit, I set no particular sequence, I merely wish at the end of the event to have article for which I am happy to press the publish button, and I need to be happy doing that. As is the case with this article. Good evening.

Some random pictures for you.

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I think of things to do. I have three photography projects in mind, I’ll write about two of them as I can mostly do those without a lot of external help, the third I need a fair bit of help from a couple of sources, so I’ll keep that one under wraps for the time being.

I used to live in St Neots in Cambridgeshire. Whilst there, I became involved in the Cambridge Community Archive Network (CCAN). It involved charting the community. No involvement for a number of years now, so I expect it has moved on a fair bit by now.

I know there is one chap in Gosport who is trying to do something similar, and I’d said I’d help, and I feel very guilty that I have done nothing about it. My baseline for the project was established in 2017, when I took a walk along Stokes Road here in Gosport, and photographed all the shop frontages (not houses or flats, but did include pubs). The idea is that having established the baseline, I would note if a shop changes role, or redecorates or even closes down and photograph that, this way you would build up a picture of the evolution of the road.

So, the next project, which I will probably be even worse at was conceived when I bought a book of life in 18th & early 19th century Dorset. Just as photography was becoming a practical medium. Pictures of shopkeepers with the hat typical face on pose, hand on hips. I’d quite like to recreate that here.

I had my first opportunity to do that this morning, the owner of a convenience store was stood in his doorway as I walked past at about 0615. It was too good an opportunity to miss, so I asked if I could take his photograph. So, the only question now is, do I try to recreate the atmosphere with a bit of sepia, some noise or just the normal. Colour? Just a bit of fun.

I live on the edge of a major shipping lane.  I take advantage of that.  I like watching the ships. We have;CruiseContainerCargoCar carriersFerriesOil tankersBunkerSailingWarHovercraftLifeboatsPleasure craft (Lots)I enjoy watching them all. So much so, that I registered and act as a node for marine traffic. In particular, in the nice weather, I like to cycle across to the sea wall at the back  of Haslar Hospital with my radio, camera and spotter scope for a couple of hours to watch them. I guess it’s a bit like fishing but without the rods, and my catch is to see a ship.  
On my morning walks it’s normal to see at least one of the Brittany Ferries, usually either the Normandie or the Mon St Michell, very occasionally the Bae De Sein. Then there is the Commodore Clipper, I’m lucky if I see her once a month.  Every so often I’ll see one of the Bunker ships, either the Whitchampion or the JaneyW. Occaisionally, a cruise ship comes in to Portsmouth Harbour, more recently because the channel has been deepened for the carriers, the cruise ships can get a bit bigger. The Reefers are always a favourite to see, this morning for example, there was The Arrow – Reefers? Refrigeration ships.  The containers they carry are chilled because they carry fruit. This makes Portsmouth one the main harbours for importing this. The pilot vessels are hosted at Fort Blockhouse, it’s nice to see them moving. There are of course the Wightlink Ferries and the fast cat over to Ryde. I also see the hovercraft moving out of the Southsea hoverport.  Finally, I mustn’t forget the Gosport Ferries plying their trade  over to Portsmouth.  I never cease to be amazed at the skill the captains have in lining them up. I should also mention the tugs, I follow @TugmasterLloyd on Twitter, he produces some lovely pictures. See, there’s always something interesting to see. 

It’s quite nice to be able to fit an exercise regime into normal activity. I like to get up during the week and go for a walk first thing. It’s a good little bit of exercise, and I can go on the #Breakfastclub without disturbing the family. The #Breakfastclub? It’s a radio net, run by 2E1PHW Pete, who’s at home in his bed (very sensible chap). There are normally up to five people on the net, myself 2E0WGK, Pete, G7EPE Dave, M3OHN Pete and M0IMA Phil. We just have a good old chinwag (ragchew in radio speak) about whatever takes our fancy, usually, but not always radio related. The mechanism we use to talk to each other is a repeater on the Isle Of Wight, The Repeater Keeper, G4IKI, Paul does a magnificent job in keeping the repeater, GB3IW on top of the game so it includes a facility called echolink. This is a way that licensed radio operators can access the repeater from their home computer, tablet or mobile phone. Naturally it depends upon s link to the internet, but this really does open conversations to the rest of the world. We have had people from New York (on several nights, a vet tending a poorly cat), Hawaii, Australia joining us for a very tasty virtual breakfast (one of our frequent discussions is food, specifically a full english). I’m there if it isn’t raining, and one of the things I like to do is give a weather report from the waterfront in Gosport. It’s not a forecast, but includes; tide state, sea state (in the harbour so not really accurate), temperature, humidity, wind speed & direction, atmospheric pressure, cloud cover, and general walking conditions. It is only a bit of fun, but I have had people comment when I don’t do it . (people who don’t normally take part in the net, lurkers and listeners as we refer to them, all in friendliness, G0JHQ Adrian, is known as the Chief Lurker, we can usually entice him to come out of hiding with mention of some virtual black pudding. It all makes for a very enjoyable 45 minutes.

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In a previous post I said that I’d explain what RAYNET is all about. Whilst I was becoming licensed as a Radio Amateur and then when I joined the Horndean & District Amateur Radio Club I became aware of a group who talked about events outside of the club. I heard the name RAYNET mentioned. Of course I asked; “what is RAYNET?” It was then that I found about the organisation.

Beginning in the 1953 during the north floods, the authorities were having difficulties communicating. The local Radio amateurs offered to help even though their activities were against the law. RAEN was born.

Today, RAYNET as is continues to operate and offer its capabilities to the emergency services and local authorities. We become involved in local events. In many cases these serve as a good exercise in procedures, team work and verifying that equipment is working.

I very much enjoy the events, I get to meet members of the public, I use my radio in a way that is helping a local community, I get to go to parts of the countryside that I often think I’d like to go there, but never actually do. I’ll write a bit about a couple of the individual events later.

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Given that this is a new blog, I feel at liberty to delve back in time to previous experiences. In this case another bagged castle. This time, Arundel. I think one of the most spectacular views you can have of castle, is to drive westwards past the town of Arundel on the A27.

Now, I admit I haven’t done the train journey past the town, so I can’t comment on that. Built around the 11th century, the castle was damaged during the civil war and then refurbished during the 18th & 19th centuries. As you might expect, the grounds are magnificent. Whilst we were visiting, there was a medieval fayre underway, which included amongst other things a jousting contest. I fully expected this to be nothing more than a show, but apparently it’s a global competition which is taken very seriously. The suits of armour cost £25,000. They hit each other with proper lances, they might only be made of balsa wood, but they certainly shatter on impact. The rooms in the castle reflect the populace of the wealth and style of the owners. It only goes to reinforce my incomprehension at how somebody can live like that, of course it matches the lifestyle of the times for people of wealth. The castle itself is even more magnificent close up. It is like the cathedrals, the amount of effort to construct places like this, given that people power was the most widely available resource. We were staying in the Norfolk Hotel, appropriate given that the castle still today is the residence of the Duke of Norfolk. I had wanted to go and see the castle after seeing it for the first time not that long ago, so I’m very happy to have achieved that goal.

We Developed the concept of Castle Bagging a few years ago whilst visiting friends. We had booked a week in a villa just outside Carcassonne in the south of France. The walled city is in the area of the Cathar region, which I still know very little about, but we did know there some Cathar castles, so two of my friends and I decided to see how many we could visit in one day. As it happen, we visited three and a bit. The bit was Montsegur, the most spectacular of them, a bit because we only saw it, not actually visiting it. EWe ran out of time.

So in my terms, to bag a castle is to visit it. Not long back, we bagged Arundel Castle, quite spectacular and well worth a visit. But today is about Lewes Castle. Nowhere near as big as Arundel, but very interesting. Built by William De Warrene in the 11th century.

As we left Brighton this morning, we decided we would bag it, and a very educational visit it was as well.
We are starting to get very near where William the Conquerer had his initial engagements with the English, and the Norman influence on the area is huge.

Had a couple of days exploring Brighton. After quite a big breakfast, we made our way across to the I360, the British Airways tower for a flight up to 130m, about 450 feet.

On the way to the tower, we walked past an op3n air exhibition by the Brighton & Hove Camera Club. I have to say that the quality of the photos was outstanding, and if I had lived in the area I would definitively be exploring joining the club. What got me though was the nature of the exhibition, the mounts were weatherproof cages of rocks, what an absolutely brilliant idea. There was another smaller selection of pictures in a billboard area. A few of these had been damaged by a graffiti vandal.

The “flight” was excellent, if a bit expensive. It’s one of those things though, that you have to do if you go to Brighton. Very smooth and although 450 feet doesn’t sound very high, it really is.

From. The tower, we took a stroll through the shopping centre, I spent the usual 30 minutes in Waterstones, coming out with the usual frustrations (I’ll have to do a post about those).  We then made our way down to the pavilion. 

The Brighton Pavillion was not what I expected. It’s a lot older than I thought. It was a very interesting walk through. The thing about places like this, is that I can’t imagine people living there. Of course it’s a different time.

We for a walk along Brighton Pier, and spent a bit of time, and of course money in the amusements!

All in, it was a day where we did everything we planned, and the result was a really good day..

Last nights post was about photography, specifically still photography. Tonight, I like to write about moving pictures.
Very briefly, I’m going to return to the 1970s. If you thought still photography was expensive, then 50ft of super 8 giving about three minutes of moving pictures cost I reckon about £5 that is I admit a bit of a guess, but that did include processing (it was the same with 24 or 36 Kodachrome slides).
I had a super 8 camera, it was silent that is no sound. I did flirt briefly with a sound setup but that was even more expensive, and if you wanted to do anything with the sound track, well… to be honest that was beyond me.
Back to the digital age, why am I persisting with this? Again all of my efforts were, shall we say (and this is being kind) not very artistic. I just feel the need to do it.
Will you see me on a YouTube channel? It’s quite probable. Will you want to watch it? That’s debatable. It’s a bit like this blog really. I’m doing because I want to. I acknowledge that’s probably the entirely wrong reason.
Pictures of the seafront at Brighton. The chandelier? It appeared as I was taking pictures through a window. It’s a bit wired and I like it.