Bills Posts

Sometimes I get the urge to write with a pen. I do my best to make sure that the lovely cartridge pen that Alex gave me at his and Sian’s wedding, I love using it. I had to cliean nib the other day. I was changing from blue to black cartridges. I was surprised how much ink was flushed out. Anyhow, I have box of black to work through, then I may go back to blue.

I have an A5 type journal, I try and write in it every day, even if it is only a sentence or two. I did about two thirds of a page earlier today. Not about anything particularly interesting, but there you go. I have also decided to have another go at learning to touch type. I’m reasonably proficient at about 15 words a minute (pathetic I know against a real touch typist), but I my worry is that I have such a bad habit in the way I type that it will be difficult to unlearn. The system I am using says in about two weeks I should be able to do it, but it will take me about six months to become anywhere near proficient. That’s a bit daunting, but I’ll give it a go.

The NHW for the road where we live is something I set up several years ago now. I think it has pretty much fallen by the wayside. I don’t interact with the neighbours in the capacity of NHW Coordinator. It started going down hill as the move away became a prospect.

For some reason I was reluctant to knock on peoples doors, but I made myself do it, very much with Elayne’s support. There was one instance where I wrote down the email addresss of one family who was interested, but I obviously did it wrong, because the address never worked, it was always knocked back by the broadband supplier.

I was talking to someone who lives on the road adjacent to ours. He was telling me that he used to be the coordinator for that street, but had to stop doing it when he became heavily involved in another aspect of the town.

I would like to revive the fortunes of our NHW scheme, but I have plans, much bigger plans. I’m not going to talk about them now, but I am working out a strategy to achieve what I want. I did ask the chap if he would become involved again. Sadly, he said no, but I understand why.

Tonight we went to HEDCA, one of the local community centres. It’s where the Gosport Camera Club meets. It was the first night of the 24/25 season. We are both going to join. Here is an outside activity that we can both share and enjoy.

GCC seems to be an active club with a membership somewhere between 30 – 50, I’m not at all sure of the figure. One of the things that strikes me about the club is its very full programme of activities. Some of which are quite inspiring. I definitely want to have a go.

Now here is one thing that I haven’t done much of and that is to write about my sadly neglected friends in the amateur radio community. For neglected they have been over the last year or so. It was just something that went badly wrong within me that took me away from one the proudest activities that I have ever done – becoming a licensed amateur, and yet I didn’t think I have touched a radio for over a year. Why? I really can’t answer that question, but I do know that I regret being in this position. Yet I am now almost afraid to thumb the PTT. I am sorry that I’ve got myself in this state. I need to do something about it.

Do the two hobbies conflict? I don’t think so, if anything they can complement the other.

This is the back of the bus station or the side that faces on to the waterfront. I read today that the bus station was built in 1972. I was a bit surprised by that, I would have said the mid ‘60’s.

I have to say that wearing the spectacles of 2024, this is souless. Mind you, I don’t know what the waterfront looked like back then. I can imagine that it wasn’t as sociable as it is now, but I really don’t know without some research.

Anyhow, I think that the new bus station will come in to service by the end of September. Which, according to what I read, means that by the end of November, the 1972 carbuncle will be a pile of rubble.

What comes next? I’ve seen some conjecture as to what that will be and it will be quite acceptable. Including cafe, and band stand (possibly a bit old hat) and what else? We’ll have to wait and find out.

But, this will be an interesting project to follow.

Same machine, different view – unrelated to today’s post.

We went to two car boot sales today, starting with Titchfield, a bit smaller than the last time. I think people may have been put off as there was a yellow thunderstorm warning. Think people come from quite far afield.

I didn’t buy anything except a very nice bacon and egg roll for breakfast.

We then moved on to Bridgemary. A lot bigger, but by the time I’d walked half the stalls, I’d had enough. I found a seat, and then met up with Elayne when she was ready.

We had an ice-cream, I made a bit of a mess. It was a 99, it was melting fast, all over my hand, which became sticky and yucky, so I needed to find somewhere to wash my hands. Luckily it was nearby.

We have been very busy all day. Rushing around moving things. As a result we are very tired. Sorry for the very short post.

The new bus station is I reckon not much more than a month away from coming in to service. There is still work to be done to the actual bus shelter, the apron is ready, and groundwork is being done.

I thought when I went for my walk this morning that I don’t have any pictures of the old station which, I think as soon as the new bust stop comes in to service, will be demolished.

I don’t think the town will show too much disappointment at that. Aesthetically the building really isn’t anything more than functional. I recall the days I spent in Poole bus station, even though it was attached to the Arndale (as it was then) centre, it always struck me as being very impersonal. I had a similar feeling here.

I think it worth mentioning my ability to get and go for a walk this morning, without difficulty. I again woke up at 4AM, but this morning I told myself that I hadn’t made a decision as to whether I was going for a walk, so not to stress over it. And I didn’t. Admittedly, I did get back to sleep, and awoke again at 6AM, so I was quite late getting out once I’d fed the cat, but I had a bit of a project in mind, so I went.

Slightly colder this morning, but put my cardy on, and that worked OK. I reckon it will soon be fleece weather.

It is getting silly. I woke up around 4AM, and couldn’t get back to sleep. There’s no point in reading the new.. I would if there were a good news newspaper,

As time marched on, I became increasingly stressed at the thought of getting up to go for a walk. Ridiculous I know, especially as going for the morning walk is becoiming central to my desire to resume my facebook posts. And yet, as soon as I decided that I wouldn’t get up and go for a walk, the stress faded like the densest fog before a glaring sun. Only to be replaced by feelings of guilt at not going for a walk, and relishing in that fact. The trouble was, the guilty feelings were definitely not as bad as the stress.

So I didn’t go for a walk, and I didn’t do a facebook post. And I am still fat! Indeed, my brain and my body are not in a good place. Perhaps chocolate will help. I am of course joking.

I didn’t want to get up this morning, but I managed it. Still shorts weather, although I did put on a cardigan to keep out the slight breeze. I’ve been walking past this block of flats for quite a while now. This morning, there was a quality of light that really brought these to life.

I must admit that I wouldn’t like to live in them whilst it’s like this.

There was a bit of a cat convention as I walked along North street, one bolted, the other two looked at me probably wondering what I was doing there. At the same time, the seagulls were really letting rip. I’ve said before that I’m slightly thankful that we don’t live that close to the waterfront.

Yet another trolly thrown in the cockle ponds, it really is utterly mindless and so annoying. I had a look in Richard Martins’ gallery. No books of interest, he’s had a nice globe in the shop for quite a while, I’d get it, but it’s a bit smaller than what I want.

Today, Elayne and I cycled down to Stokes Bay to visit the classic car show. I don’t count myself as a massive car buff, but there’s no denying that there were some lovely cars there. Particularly cars that had been imported from the USA, one a classic Buick, it was huge, and in immaculate condition.

For me, an enjoyable part of the day was the show that was put on by the Gosport Samba Band. They are always entertaining and I managed to take this picture of their master of ceremonies.

I took the picture with my Nikon, I like the way the background is partially blurred, and I’ve caught his hair flying. It would have been more difficult I think to get this with my mobile. We deliberately took our big cameras with us to get used to using them.

We had a nice lunch of Texan pulled beef on a brioche bun, which actually lasted us for the rest of the day. It was a very pleasant couple of hours, and we enjoyed the cycle ride.