Bills Posts

We wanted to get out for a bit. We didn’t want to go too far, and we didn’t want to spend much. We quite like Hamble, so thought it would be quite pleasant to make that our destination of the day.

It’s a straightforward drive, except I made a mistake and turned off early. That meant that we ended up going along a couple of very narrow roads, which I really don’t like, but all ended well and we arrived at Hamble.

I did a little bit of reading, and there is definitely some history associated with Hamble. The ancient (stone age) hill fort, if there is anything left of it I couldn’t find it. Mind you, not that I looked very hard. It was a bit wet & muddy where I think the fort is located.

I think that at the same place as the hill fort is a defensive place built by Henry VIII called a Device Castle. Not that it contained some piece of secret technology, the device was a decree by the king that the place be built and there were quite a few of them built, especially along the south coast. Like the ancient hill fort, I don’t think there is anything left of it.

Coming to more recent times. Hamble played a vital role in the build up to, and during the second world war in the development of the spitfire and the Lancaster bomber. Both of which were flown from Hamble airfield. THe runways and infrastructure of the airfield are no more, but the site is still there.

It was a very pleasant couple of hours.

I haven’t been out enough this week. I’m beginning to wonder if I might suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and make sure that I get out in the daylight for a reasonable length of time every day.

That will help me as well with the photography, of which I have done very little. There is a very basic two mile loop that I can follow that with pauses can take me up to an hour to complete depending on whether I see people that I talk to regularly, or stopping to take a picture.

Now, it’s getting very close to midnight, so it’s going to be a short one I’m afraid.

I am slowly gathering a nice collection of reference books covering a range of topics, but with a bit of focus on Dorset. People might reasonably ask the question why do you need books? My answer is always not only are books useful, they are interesting, and above all; I like books.

If I have nothing on, I like picking up a book and having a browse. Most of the reference books I have only dipped in to, not read cover – cover. One book I am particularly looking forward to getting in to is Ancient Stones of Dorset. 

This feeds into my interest in maps. I’ve got a custom map on the wall, it’s of a part of the county I am particularly interested in. Like books, maps are useful and fascinating, and they will help me when it comes to exploring the ancient stones of Dorset.

I have in the past spoken a fair bit about Vlogging. I definitely have not given up on the idea of doing that. This is why I have included Jack Hargrgeaves’s Out of Town in this. A favourite of mine, Jacks calming voice, interesting subjects and the introduction music, so completely appropriate. This is how I would like my vlogs to be like.

I’m running out of reasons to not do it, everything is coming together, one day – I will start vlogging.

Bumblebees are one of my favourite insects. I can’t explain why. Perhaps it is their dedication to getting their pollen or possibly the perception of bumbling clumsiness, which in reality they are anything but bumbling or clumsy. They are incredibly industrious. 

On a summers day, if you want to relax go into the garden and just sit there and watch the bumblebees go about their trade. It is fascinating.

One thing that distresses me is finding a bumblebee that isn’t flying. I know that happens for perfectly legitimate reasons. My first assumption though is that the bee is exhausted and if it is on a pavement it is very likely to get trodden on.

In the garden if I find a grounded bumblebee I’ll try and give them some sugar water. i really do hope that helps them.

It’s a bit strange to have as a topic, something that I haven’t visited for a few days. But I guess it’s as valid to write about something you haven’t done as it is if you had.

During the day, if I’m out in the garden I will hear something, perhaps the horn of a boat or even a tannoy from the navy yard if the wind is in the right direction. Of course there is the permanent reminder of the Spinnaker which is visible from the garden.

The waterfront is often a goal for any of my walks. Whilst I don’t see something of major interest every time, it is quite often that something is happening usually it is something fairly straightforward, perhaps one of the channel ferries, the Normandie or Mon St Michel will be moving. There are even a couple of the Brittany ferries that I haven’t seen yet.

The bunkering ships; The Whitchampion, Jaynee W, might be coming in or going out, then there is the Bladerunner 2 bringing in one of the massive wind turbine blades.

Then there is just the sea. There have been some occasions when I have arrived at the waterfront and the sea, and the whole,e atmosphere of the water front can move between a feeling of desolation or exhilaration.

Whatever, visiting the water front is always a pleasure.

I left the house around 0650 I paused briefly to think about the route for a quick one mile, just get in some steps. Started off down the road that I don’t usually follow in the morning. I was heading for the cockle ponds.

It wasn’t much of a breeze, but what there was gave you a good feeling for what it would be like to be inside a fridge. Yes, it was that cold. The ponds looked a little choppy.

There is a point where if you go right, you carry on around the edge of the ponds. If, however you go left then you are heading towards Trinity Church, and then on to the waterfront. I was very tempted, briefly. But no, I went to the right. I was heading back towards home.

Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. I managed to get out for a few minutes this morning. It was very pleasant, if a bit chilly. That was a side issue. What I really wanted was to try out my gimbal mount for my iPhone to make sure it was working.

The poor performance came from my lack of preparation. Oh, I had made sure that there was some charge in the gimbal, so it was ok mechanically.

What I hadn’t checked was the app on the phone. There had been an update, and I hadn’t downloaded it, and I didn’t have a good enough connection to use mobile data. So I couldn’t test it. I’ll have another go in the week.

I lost track of time. It’s now nearly 10 to midnight and I am running out of time to write a post. In that case, I apologise for the brevity of this post.

I went for a walk this morning. I left the house around 0645, it was only just over a mile, but better than nothing.

The roadworks at the cross way are progressing. As I stood there looking at them one of the street cleaners was trying to pass me. I apologised for blocking him. We had an interesting chat about what was being done and what we hoped the outcome would be.

It was an interesting walk, and reminded me of how much I used to enjoy them. Let’s see how I get on next week.

Back to work on Tuesday, and up until 0630 this morning I haven’t left the house, except to put the bin out. No exercise.

I woke up this morning at 4AM. For the next two hours I knew that I needed to do some exercise. I’ve been thinking about when I could go for a walk. I could go at lunchtime but for some reason, I can’t bring my self to at the moment. I could go after work, but I can’t bring myself to for some reason. The only time when I should feel comfortable is in the morning. And that is where the anxiety is hitting.

Until a few months ago, I had absolutely no issue with getting up at half past five and walking three miles. At the moment I am barely managing 6,000 steps. I’m definitely not agoraphobic but I can’t get up at 5.30, I can barely get up at 6.30, actually 7.00am is no problem, but that is pretty much too late to go for a walk.

There’s a hurdle here I have to get over.

These last couple of days I’ve been thinking about vlogging and the need to practice outside. It increasingly looks like the morning is the most ideal time to do this. So, here we have two insurmountable issues that are mutually exclusive. Which one is going to win?