Bills Posts

I haven’t been for a walk today, in fact over the last two days I haven’t left the house. Once again I stress that I am not agoraphobic, even just thinking about going outside doesn’t bring me out in a cold sweat. 

In fact the first sentence of this post isn’t strictly accurate I have been outside, I just haven’t left the confines of our plot. I’ve put the bin out and I go out every morning to record the weather and feed the birds (and the squirrels – but they are not the intention). I still can’t get up in the mornings, perhaps it is SAD (seasonally adjusted syndrome) who knows.

I promised a while back that I would write about the current book. Ali Abdaal is a YouTuber, here’s his channel; https://www.youtube.com/@aliabdaal He’s a doctor who turned to YouTube because he was driven to. Anyhow, his videos are mostly about productivity and other aspects such as procrastination. I enjoy watching them and would definitely recommend them.

He’s written a book, “Feel Good Productivity”. I am presently on page 212. The book is an easy, informative, and entertaining read and I would recommend that. One area he commented on, which I found interesting were goals, particularly NICE goals. I have to admit that I found the idea fascinating. NICE goals are different to SMART goals. For example; you might have a goal of losing 20 pounds over the next three months, that would be a SMART goal. Its NICE equivalent would be to exercise for 30 minutes daily, focussing on activities you enjoy and are manageable. I know which goal I prefer.

The book is peppered with other useful hints and tips, and the experiment cases he provides make very interesting reading. I’d recommend the book.

I don’t like them. I never have. Don’t ever ask me to do the “face your fear” thing which involves handling a really big one (I can’t even bring myself to write the word tarant…..). So I’m usually a bit nervous when I encounter one of the beasties.

Luckily, I managed quite a few years ago, to cure myself of the inclination to squash them as soon as I have seen them. I would now much rather capture it and release it in the garden, so that it can find a new home (just hopefully, not back in doors).

You can imagine my mild distress when I heard the call last Night; ”Bill, There’s a spider in the kitchen” luckily, Elayne had caught it and was bunched up under the glass. As usually, I found a thin but fairly firm piece of card that I could use to slide under the glass which I can then turn upright. I’ll only uncover it if I am confident that the spider can’t climb out of the glass – I’ve never found one that can.

I can’t resist looking in the glass with an expected feeling of revulsion which is when the other characteristic of my phobia kicks in. I’m not that bothered by small spiders, only big ones. This one is really quite small. I’m almost sorry for it and inclined to just let it go, but Elayne won’t have it, put it out is the command.

Also, the spider is of a species that I don’t ever recall seeing before. It’s all black! That sets alarm bells off. I know it’s not a black widow (shudder) as they have red markings on them, but this could be a false widow (I have no idea what they look like, or at least I didn’t) so I took a picture, and then let it out in the garden.

Today, I looked it up. It was a black lace weaver. Apparently quite common in the UK. Why have I never seen one of these before?  Not afraid of it now.

The view across to Fawley from Hamble

Sorry, just keeping the count going. Really late tonight.

I think this is a facility for showing people what it is like to be in a lifeboat being dropped into the water. The facility is in Warsash the opposite side of the river Hamble, from where I took this.

I almost missed doing a post tonight. I was thinking about thing and reading the latest book. I think I may post about that tomorrow.

In the meantime, it is nearing midnight again and to make sure I keep the count going here is another brief post.

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.