Month: August 2023

Jon I Empathise


https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/full_page_image/page-12-1863/content.html

Jon Cole, I empathise with you and your experience. I, too, live in an area plagued by these motoring miscreants.

And also, wish the police and local authorities would focus more time on these “law breakers.” For law breakers, they are, with their modified engines and exhaust systems which are exceeding the noise limits of the original manufacturers specifications.

As to their manner of driving, be it excess acceleration or drifting local roundabouts and motorway slip roads to the point their tyres are screeching, they must be breaking numerous laws. Just by ear, I can tell that they are probably speeding and driving in an unsafe manner.

The police know the popular routes and would only need to make their presence known regularly to make an impression.

So come on, let’s see some action.

Welborne Preparations Get Underway


https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/full_page_image/page-11-1865/content.html

Preparatory works are getting underway to provide the necessary road junctions to support Welborne Garden Village.

And so begin the many months of road chaos that these works are guaranteed bring. The reference article details dates and times of road closures and diversions.

We have only just seen the end of the M27 “Smart Motorway” conversion work, which in itself created months of holdups, especially at peak times.

I am so glad that being retired means I no longer have the daily commute, which would have been impacted by this new round of works.

Perfect Power


https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/full_page_image/page-11-1858/content.html

It wasn’t so long ago that the UK government was floating the idea of taxing businesses for the parking spaces provided for their employees. This would also have been applied to supermarkets and other commercial premises.

This seems to be a much better use of the land. Being beneficial to all and taking some of the load of our energy producers.

Seems to me a close look should be taken at the “Havant Hypermarket” site, aka ASDA Supercentre. Another prime contender for power generation.

Too Little, Too Late


I am pleased to see that finally the council is doing something positive about the dire state of Waterlooville centre. But, I fear it is too little, too late.

I also believe the council is being, somewhat, disingenuous, blaming the pandemic for the current state of Waterlooville Town centre.

Waterlooville has been slowly decomposing since the main road was diverted, and the centre was pedestrianised.

Yes, the pandemic has not helped, and yes, the current economic difficulties are compounding the issues. Long before the pandemic, traders were complaining about the cost of leasing the shop units. Costs that due to falling footfall they could not afford to renew.

I would like to know what the council is doing to mitigate the high tenancy costs.

The Havant Borough Council planning authorities have been gung ho on taking business away from the town centre. Following the out-off town shopping model that they have also applied to Havant itself. Both Havant and Waterlooville have been subdivided. Large stores on one side of the highway whilst the smaller shops left in town struggle to keep going.

Making monies available to assist potential businesses to get a foothold will be a fruitless exercise without custom.

The recent change of car parking charges will help, but again, I fear it is too late. Especially now that Wilkos has gone bust.

Yes, you can now park for up to three hours but Wilkos was prime reason for many folks to park there.

Havant Borough Council, you need to do more.

Red


A collander full of homegrown tomatoes and chilli peppers.

The tomatoes are a mix of four varieties, and we are very pleased with the crop quantity and flavour.

Home Grown

I have yet to give the peppers the taste test. Honestly, I’m a little scared. I have no idea of the variety, so I don’t know where they sit on the Scoville Scale. The last time I bit into a fresh chilli, the juice raced over my tongue and down the back of my throat before the tip of my tongue could sound the alarm.

That experience has taught me to be a little more circumspect, to treat all chillies with a modicum of respect.

Having said that, I am a fan of chillies and curries. I like them to be punchy.

We are having a BBQ this weekend, I think I’ll concoct a chilli jam and set it on the table for as an experiment.

Commences evil laughter…..

Home Invasion


Angle Shades Moth (Phlogophora meticulosa)

Tis the season ….

We seem to be getting loads of these little fellas invading our house and I keep finding them lurking in all sorts of places.

This one was just chillin’ on a kitchen roll, but I have found them on door frames, kettle handles, or playing dead on the floor. It takes something to get them to fly away.

If you touch them, they just seem to roll over and stay still. If you persist, they will just move a few inches and lay still again.

Some Of My Favourite Films


What are your top ten favorite movies?

Choose your top ten movies ! An almost impossible task. Like music, your enjoyment of a film is affected by your mood at the time. So here goes, here are my “current” favourites ….

  • Gunga Din
  • Dirty Harry
  • Arsenic and Old Lace
  • Zulu
  • North by North West
  • Bullitt
  • The Man Who Would Be King
  • The French Connection
  • True Grit (John Wayne version)
  • The Italian Job (Michael Caine version)

My list is not definitive. Nor is it in any particular order. Ask me again tomorrow, and I’ll probably choose some different films. Even as I look back I’m thinking I should have included more recent releases.

Where are the Star Wars and Pink Panther series !!! I missed out Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles and many more that have given me great pleasure over the years.

Note that I have selected the original versions of True Grit and The Italian Job. These are in my eyes classic movies, and the remakes don’t do them justice. They are not a shadow of the originals.

What Is The Point ?


BBC News – William Gladstone’s family to apologise for slavery links https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66558156

I don’t get it, I really don’t understand the need for apologies.

What good does it do ?

Apologising will not undo the inhumanity, the indignities, and the stress endured in the past. The same is also true of the tearing down of statues.

Slavery, by any measure, is wrong. It was wrong then, and it is wrong now. However, it was a different time then. People were educated differently, living by different standards.

Apologies by those that were not involved, made to those who were also not involved.

All we can hope to do is learn from our past. Make sure that such things never happen again.

Just as a footnote, you don’t hear much of an outcry about the Barbary Pirates that used to raid many countries, including the British Isles and as far north as Iceland. Many folks were taken along the Cornish, Devonish and Dorset coastlines, taking people to be sold in the Barbary slave markets. Are their ancestors going to apologise ?

View From The Conservatory


Our tomatoes are in full fruit. We’ve already cropped a couple of dozen so far and many more to come.

They have so much more flavour than the supermarket offerings.