I love wild animals when they are in their own environment or failing that, in a well run zoo especially when they are working to protect endangered species.
What I don’t understand is why private individuals feel the need to keep dangerous animals as pets !!
And I find the stats published in my local paper somewhat troubling.
Among the creatures kept in the Portsmouth area are Suphan Cobras, White Lipped Vipers, and a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.
In Havant, there are, apparently, 37 Chinese Alligators !!!
And these are only the ones that are being kept legally with the proper Dangerous Wild Animal licenses.
Portsmouth City Council purchases houses that are already occupied. In so doing, they become responsible for the management and maintenance of 747 properties.
Has anyone asked why Clarion was getting rid of these properties?
Equally puzzling, to me, is why Portsmouth City Council wants to responsible for housing and tenants spread throughout Hampshire.
The majority of the new buildings are in Portsmouth, with others situated in Gosport, Havant, Fareham and Winchester.
How does this help with the existing shortfall of available properties to house those who are already on the local waiting list for social housing ?
Wouldn’t the money have been better spent on new build properties, which would be empty and could, therefore, have a direct impact on the waiting lists.
We are the Wrinklies. A small group of friends and their partners, who, at one time or another, worked together and are all retirees.
Today was the first of, I hope, many social lunches in 2024. It was certainly our first gathering since before Christmas due to most, if not all, of us contracting some kind of flu, which basically knocked us out of commission, in some cases for weeks.
The selected venue for our inaugural gathering was The Ferryboat Inn, situated on the easterly tip of Hayling Island.
I have been visiting this pub for over fifty years. My first visit was while I was an apprentice in Portsmouth Dockyard. Many subsequent visits were made on my return from boat fishing trips, disembarking at the nearby jetty. And then there are these purely social gatherings.
So it was not our first time at this pub, but it has been a while, certainly pre-covid.
There were seven of us in our group and all enjoyed their meals with the exception of me.
My wife had the Hunters Chicken, while Eric had Steak and Venison Pie, Mary had Scampi while the remaining four had Fish n Chips.
As I said earlier, all the others enjoyed their meals, with at least one declaring “best fish n chips ever”.
Unfortunately, my meal was sub standard. The batter was ultra crisp, just shattering when I cut into my fillet, the batter would not stay with the fish. And the fish, instead of being flaky and moist was dry.
So, I drew the short straw.
I didn’t complain as I didn’t want a replacement meal, meaning I would be eating when everyone else was finished. And it wasn’t inedible.
Will I go back ?
Yes. I never write a place off on the basis of a single meal.
One other negative comment. I ordered bread and butter to go with my meal, having noted that they were going to charge £1 per slice. There was I thinking it would be a nice crusty bread, maybe granary, ciabatta or something special. Nope, two slices of slightly dry sandwich bread from a loaf that probably cost £1.50 That’s not a bad profit.
I’ll end this on a positive note. The apple and ginger crumble dessert served with a jug of custard was lovely.
Overall, a very pleasant couple of hours were spent with friends in a great location. Had the winds been a little quieter and the temperatures a bit higher, we might have been tempted to go for a walk along the shoreline.
Looking forward to the next Wrinklies gathering and discovering the next venue.
WrAnTz 