Bills Posts

Where do I begin with this? Gardening is not my favourite activity. What job I am doing in the garden depends whether or not I am, well, I’m not going to say enjoy it, or actively dislike it. For example, I don’t mind cutting the grass but don’t ask me to handle dirt. Sounds pathetic doesn’t it? It is.

Today, Elayne had me loping branches off the plumb tree. It had gone a bit wild and this year it looks like it’s putting more effort into growing itself, than growing fruit, of which we have seen no sign. I have to confess that I was surprised at how much needed to be chopped off, and I confess that I was also surprised to find it quite a relaxing activity. I’ll never be a tree surgeon, but I can certainly reduce a small tree to a bare skeleton.

Then our neighbour asked if we could do a bit of reduction to her Buddleia, resulting in another sheet full of bits of bush.

Luckily, I had been able to get a slot at the recycling centre, left with just enough time to cut the grass after which it was off with a good carload of garden waste.

At the end of it all, the garden really does look lovely – but Elayne is not satisfied, there is still much to do.

I have to say that I quite enjoyed the day. We had a good result, I felt I contributed to the day, and I quite enjoyed it.

On the day I found a trolley in the cockle ponds there were two. This second one was a bit further out, it must have taken a bit of effort to throw it out there, I’d say more than one person to throw it in.

Sorry about today’s brief post. I’ve sat for a good thirty minutes staring at a blank screen, trying to think of something to write about, and then I remembered the 2nd trolley, so at least that gave me something.,

I decided that I had to look up what the transport plan was for Gosport. I haven’t finished reading yet, so I’m not fully aware of transport plan, but there were several options for the new bus shelter, I haven’t reached the point in the document where the decision is made as to which one will be used.

The picture shows the pole-mounted no entry sign, and I read that the road is a bus-only route. What then for the rest of the traffic? I’m not sure if the new bus station will allow buses to reverse out in such a way that then allows them to join the traffic, or will they reverse into the traffic?

I’m wondering also about what will happen to the existing bus station, it is I think due for demolition, but it is more than the bus station; Will the Gosport Ferry get a new ticket office? What will happen to the Tourist Information Office? And then there is the bike shop, which I think is run by a charity. They give an excellent service and I really hope they are allowed to continue business.

It’s a situation that I will continue to write about and keep you updated.

Streetscene is a Gosport Council department. As the title suggests they look after the streets. To be fair, I think they do a pretty good job, I often see them whilst out on my walks, and will often stop to have a chat.

They are though, facing an uphill challenge and keeping the town clean and tidy is a bit of a painting the Forth Bridge job.

The situation I found this morning is a good/bad example of position streetscene are in. I will be sending a variation of this scene to them. The bit missing from this one is the actual location, I have another picture that gives you a good idea.

I would very much like to understand the mentality of the people who do this, because it confuses the heck out of me.

This is the second trolly, possibly about two yards out looks quite forlorn.

I do have a couple of other pictures, from a different angle, but that are not as sharp as this (not that, by any means, do I claim this picture is pin sharp). Anyhow, these two little beasties were on top of or recycle bin, so I thought I’d grab a picture.

The thing is, with snails, they are fascinating creatures, I remember reading a story from Gerald Durrell’s My Family and other animals where he watched a couple of snails mate and how they did it makes you realise that there are very few things in nature which aren’t quite wonderful really.

I have a problem with snails, that Elayne doesn’t have, I can’t pick them up, horrible slimy things – sorry, but they are. But fascinating nonetheless.

I thought pipes and the light caused an interesting shadow.. Once again, nothing to do with the top[c of this post.

It’s strange isn’t it? How things work, that is. Within only a couple of minutes after publishing last night’s post, I went on line and did a search and it was on a site that I have visited before, I found a map of Hampshire.of the size that I have been looking for, even if it isn’t exactly the content that I’m after, and at a reasonable price.

I believe that it will be a basic road map with not much, if any historic detail. What’s I would like is that, a map of the county with historic detail. At least this map might give me some ideas of interesting places to visit.

I’m looking forward to getting the map on the wall.

The picture (if you’ll excuse me stating the obvious) is nothing to do with the topic for today’s post, but in away symbolises my problem. The picture is nothing to do with maps. If I had a picture of the map I want, I could have posted it, but I don’t.

I don’t have a picture of the map I want because I can’t find it. I would assume that my need isn’t particularly onerous. To put it simply, I’m looking for a good sized map of Hampshire. I’ve tried Ordnance Survey, and I can only assume that I’m doing something wrong, I just can’t get it to work.

I know there have been some major historical events and places in the county. You would have thought they would have been readily charted. My search thus far has been fruitless. I shall continue.

We went over together to Portsmouth for a birthday celebration we were going to a restaurant for a nice meal and then a visit to the cinema.

We caught the ferry across the water in the harbour was quite choppy. Whilst it was a little bit breezy there was a continuous stream of small boats moving along their channel I did wonder how much of the choppiness was down to bow wave & wakes.

We had a bit of time before meeting up for the birthday celebration, so we sat at the waterfront, under the spinnaker. We noticed a couple of people abseiling down the tower. Not something I’d be inclined to do.

It was a lovely afternoon, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It’s worth noting that the crossing back to Gosport was much calmer, and there was no traffic in the small boat channel

Jane Austen, Gilbert White and Charles Dickens are all famous or well known and were people with connections to Hampshire.

There are also places that are of interest, a lot of them associated with the run up to D-Day, Winchester, which has a significant History, and of course places like Highclere which is famous for a variety of reasons.

I’ve been looking on the web for people & places that relate to the history of Hampshire. There are just a very few of course, but something tells me that there is a bubbling story, which I am missing out on. I can see a trip to the Portsmouth Municipal Library to try and identify a book, because I am sure there is more history here, and historical people, hidden here.

This is The Manor House at Longleat. I wanted a picture of a really nice old house.

I went on a trip today, it involved travelling on the A34. As I was driving along, quite near to Newbury, I went past a sign saying Highclere.

Now, you will either know, or not know the significance of Highclere to an awful lot of people. That’s.because Highclere is the home of Downton Abbey. Ordinarily, I stay away from programmes about “olden times”, but during Covid times, we were binge watching and one series that came up was this one.

With a high degree of scepticism we (I) sat down to watch the first episode, it was OK, so we watched another. We ended up buying the DVD’s because for some reason they weren’t being streamed. They are now of course.

We were so frustrated when the series came to an end, and were delighted when two films were made, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I believe there may even be talk of a new series. Times will have moved on, cast will change, but if they stay true to the series, I can see lots of potential for that. It would be really nice if it were to happen.

I would very much like to visit Highclere, it will always Downton Abbey in my mind.