Have just been to Crookhorn Post Office to post a parcel.
Stood in the queue for only a minute, was two from the counter. The cashier completed serving the lady at the counter and announced that she was going to have to stop serving as there was a task she had to complete by 12:00.
The time, on the Post Office clock was 11:55
The lady in front of me explained that she only had two parcels. This cut no ice with the cashier who just confirmed that she couldn’t take the parcels. I received the same response when I challenged her.
The lady with the two small parcels left, muttering “Unbelievable”, as did I with my single parcel. I was muttering something much stronger.
I took myself off to Waterlooville Post Office where, I had been informed, they were open until 12:30.
I paid the £0.70 for parking and arrived at the doors of the post office to be confronted with a queue snaking its way to 3 cashiers. I joined the queue and waited a few minutes with no movement. I heard someone announce that the post office would close in 20 minutes. I estimated it would take at least 40 minutes, based on the number of folks in the queue, for me to get to the counter. Assuming that each cashier would take a minimum of two minutes per customer. Needless to say, I wasn’t prepared to wait another twenty minutes and then be told they were closing, so I took myself home
Apparently the Crookhorn Post Office is open until 12:30 ????
The following screenshot is taken from this web page The situation is worse when you look at the Post Offices own website which claims the post office is open until 22:00.
In my opinion, if the Post Office publishes opening hours through to 12:00 then they should continue to offer that service right to the wire. If there is a reason why they cannot honour the published hours then please amend the opening times accordingly.
Tuesday morning found us, in Waterloville, up at the ungodly hour of 05:30. Preparing for the taxi that was due to pick us up within the hour. The temperature outside, according to the app on my phone, was -4 degC. This was a small price to pay as we were on our way to Antigua where, all the weather sites told us, the temperatures were going to be around 30 degC.
The taxi duly arrived, carrying the friends that were to accompany us on our latest adventure. We, and our luggage, were soon loaded to the taxi and we were on our way to Gatwick, South Terminal. A bite to eat for breakfast, some retail therapy and we were soon sitting aboard one of Sir Richards finest, a glass of prosecco in hand, waiting for the off. We were soon wheels up and on our way. I have to say that crossing the atlantic is a lot easier than flying down to Oz
After an uneventful flight we arrived in Antigua and what a shock the temperature difference was. As soon as we exited the plane into the jetway all of the thirty plus degrees made their presence felt. So far so good. All we had to do was navigate our way through customs and immigration and then find our taxi for the journey to the villa.
Let me say right now, the Antiguan immigration process is not the slickest. One does wonder in this technological age why it is necessary to provide all the same information multiple times at both ends of a journey. We spent 30-40 minutes in a mind numbingly boring serpentine queue, then out through customs to locate our driver.
Of course we arrived just as the home-time traffic was building, so our journey to the villa was quite slow. It gave us time to absorb our new surroundings and for our driver to impart some local information. It soon became obvious that the driving rules here are very different from the UK. Road position and actions at road junctions are not as disciplined as back home. There is also much tooting of horns which seems to be a weird kind of communication. Our driver seemed to sound his horn at the most random of times.
We safely arrived at the villa where we noted that the hire car had already been delivered. Shortly after we had unloaded the taxi and taken up residence Iris, the car hire rep, arrived to complete the paper work. Visitors to Antigua have to have an Antiguan Drivers License. No test required but does require some form filling and the handing over of some cash.
A quick trip to the supermarket and we were formally on holiday.
A couple of weeks ago it was decided that we, and our Ozzy rellies, would take a trip across to the Isle of Wight. The most flexible way is to take your own car across on the ferry, rather than rely on public transport on either side of the Solent.
Travelling into Pompey around morning peak traffic times is always a bit like a toss of the dice. Albeit late, we eventually made it to the Wightlink ferry port. Luckily, for us, our ferry was late arriving. Apparently this was due to the low tide meaning the ferry had to take a slightly longer route across the Solent. Once loaded aboard, we made our way up to the lounge, where we had hot chocolate and toasties for breakfast. I also took the opportunity for a couple of snaps.
The following pictures show the scene around the ferry.
Portsmouth Fishing Fleet with Viviers in the background
Portsmouth Fishing Fleet with Viviers in the background
In the background, above the fishing boats, you can see Viviers Fish Market. They are the suppliers of some truly scrumptious fresh fish. Proof is, as they say, in the tasting and we have recently had some superb Halibut, a couple of Bream and a couple of dressed crab.
Land Rover BAR Team home
The bland looking building is the Land Rover BAR building. Having now seen it several times, I’m still not sure about the design. It looks like they are waiting for the wrapping to be fully removed, to expose its true shape.
The ferry was soon underway and after a short voyage, arrived at Fishbourne. We disembarked and made our way to our first destination, Osborne House.
Osborne House is a former royal residence, built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, as a summer home and retreat. Now under the care of English Heritage, both the house and grounds are made available to the public. A few pictures are posted below.
Clock Tower – Osborne House
Ornamental Gardens – Osborne House
Large Painting – Osborne House
Fountain – Osborne House
Ornate Steps – Osborne House
Fountain – Osborne House
Clock Tower – Osborne House
Unfortunately, due to filming of a new drama about Victoria and her indian servant, the fabulous Durbar Room was not available for viewing. In addition, photography was prohibited in other rooms as they were dressed for filming. Apparently, any images would be copyright, because the film company had installed some of their own furniture.
After touring the house, we had a pleasant lunch in the Terrace Restaurant and Orangery. Suitably refueled we headed down to the Swiss Cottage
Set For High Tea – Swiss Cottage, Osborne House
and on to the sea-shore via the Rhododendron Walk, dotted along which there are a variety of carved animals and birds.
Queen Victoria’s Personal Bathing Machine – Osborne House
Beach Shelter – Osborne House
Queen Victoria had her own “Bathing Machine” in which she would get changed. The “machine” would be run into the sea and she would descend the steps into the bracing waters of the Solent. Also on the beach at Osborne is a decorated “alcove” which during our visit gave shelter from the brisk breeze blowing in off the sea.
Returning to the house we spent some time, and of course money, in the gift shop.
From Osborne House we headed off to view The Needles, a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight. They are also home to The Needles Lighthouse built on the western most stack.
The Needles – Isle of Wight
An unusual sight was this, apparently tame, fox being enticed to feed.
Tame Fox ? – Isle of Wight
Not sure about the fashion statement this guy is making.
It was soon time for us to think about a spot of dinner before travelling back to the mainland. We had already decided to head to a regular haunt of ours, The Folly Inn.
The Folly is a rustic pub perched on the banks of the River Medina, just up the river from Cowes in Whippingham. They serve good food, good beer, are friendly and provide a great location to chill and watch the yachty world go by.
View From The Shore – Folly Inn, Isle of Wight
View From The Shore – Folly Inn, Isle of Wight
Suitably replete, we headed back to Fishbourne for our ferry ride back to Portsmouth. With the autumnal evenings drawing in we were welcomed back to harbour by the Spinnaker Tower.
Spinnaker Tower – Portsmouth
Driving out of Pompey was a lot easier than our rush hour entry. We were soon home and relaxing with a nice cup of tea.
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On Tuesday 5th July, 22 Landscape Architects and invited guests from across the county visited the West of Waterlooville development to see best practice in Sustainable Urban Drainage systems (SUDs). The 247 hectare site has a custom designed infrastructure to reduce the risk of flooding to homes and promote biodiversity. Rain water is collected in channels […]
It is a well-known fact that many of the flood problems around the UK have been exacerbated by the continual building of large housing estates and associated road systems. These prevent the normal, slow soak away of rain water. Instead the water is channeled away via drains and gutters, moving the water down stream at an ever-increasing speed and volume. Ultimately dumping the water into river systems that never had to cope with this level of flow before.
So I am pleased that the developers were ahead of the game when planning the drainage system for the West of Waterlooville site. I would have expected nothing less.
However, in these environmentally aware times, we are always being encouraged to conserve water. So why does all of this carefully controlled “filtered” waste water get channeled out to sea ?
Surely, if the developers were so ahead of the game they would have designed the drainage system so that the water was pumped away to local reservoirs.
Similarly, I would expect the Welbourne developers would be looking hard at the drainage and waste water management.
WrAnTz 