Portsmouth – Page 2

A Little Prog Rock Please

This was us, Gerry, me and a couple of friends out for a Fridays entertainment.

Honestly, we were in the stalls, somewhere just left of centre, three rows from the back.

The picture was taken at the very end of the show by Genesis Connected, a very competent tribute act.

I have been a Genesis fan since the early 70’s. In fact, the first time I saw them live, they were only 2nd or 3rd on the bill, still very much on the rise.

I followed them closely, seeing them live every time they visited Portsmouth. That is until Peter Gabriel departed.

After that, I found it very difficult to differentiate between Genesis with Phil Collins taking the lead vocals or a Phil Collins solo effort.

This new phase for Genesis saw the band transition from Prog-Rock to Pop-Rock, and my interest in Genesis waned.

Not having any prior knowledge of this act, I will admit to being a little disappointed during the first half of the show. I was expecting more offerings from Prog-Rock Genesis.

Where were tracks from Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway ?

Turns out that I was being a tad unfair. The image below tells why.

“Celebrating the hits ….”

Genesis didn’t start to have hits until they transitioned to Pop-Rock, although they did enter the UK charts with a track taken from Selling England By The Pound. I Know What I Like was a minor hit, reaching number 21 in April 1974.

Once I had rationalised what this band was about, I began to enjoy the show more.

We were treated to crowd pleasers such as Living Years and Cup Of Coffee from Mike and The Mechanics, Biko, Sledgehammer, and surprisingly Panopticom from Peter Gabriel, but for the most part, this was a Phil Collins love-in with songs such as In The Air Tonight, Easy Lover, Turn It On Again, Invisible Touch, Sussudio and more besides.

Genesis Connected had the audience singing along, clapping, and even dancing for the final song of the night.

All in all, it was a polished performance. I sang and clapped with the rest of the audience but when it was over I was left hankering for the Return Of The Giant, Hogweed, The Knife, Watcher Of The Skies, just a little more Prog-Rock.

Having said all that, I would go to see them again. I’ll just have to get my Prog-Rock fix elsewhere.

Danger in Numbers

https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/full_page_image/page-4-2033/content.html

I’m baffled.

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.

How many illegals are there ?

I Don’t Get It

https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/2024/02/28/747-new-houses-purchased-by-portsmouth-city-council-in-largest-acquisition-of-its-kind-to-boost-social-homes/content.html

I don’t understand how this works !

Portsmouth City Council purchases houses that are already occupied. In so doing, they become responsible for the management and maintenance of 747 properties.

The homes were sold to the council by Clarion Housing Group, who were trying to shed the properties from their portfolio.

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.

White Elephants ?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am embarrassed for our Royal Navy. Especially for those currently deployed aboard the aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales .

My perception may be wrong, but it seems to me that these carriers have spent more time in port than they have at sea since their initial launch in 2014 and 2017 respectively.

Just 18 months ago, HMS Prince of Wales broke down off the Isle of Wight. A fault with a propeller shaft coupling took nine months to resolve.

HMS Queen Elizabeth was due to participate in a major naval exercise, but the February 4th sailing, from Portsmouth,was cancelled due to a mechanical fault discovered during pre-sailing checks. This new fault is said to be propeller shaft based but not related to HMS Prince of Wales’ earlier problem.

So HMS Prince of Wales was scheduled to replace her sister ship and set sail on February 11th. At the last minute, this sailing was cancelled. The MOD has not divulged the reason for the delay, but HMS Prince of Wales did, in fact, set sail yesterday, 12th February.

There must be many red faces in both the Admiralty and the MOD.

HMS Prince of Wales cost around £3.2bn and does not appear to be good value for money. The Admiralty, MOD, British Government should be pursuing Babcocks, the ship builders, for a refund or some form of compensation.

It is not acceptable that the British taxpayer should fund these repairs. If Babcock have supplied substandard quality product then they should be held liable.

The government needs to get a grip before the RN and the UK become a total laughing stock.

https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/2024/02/12/royal-navy-hms-prince-of-wales-and-hms-queen-elizabeth-branded-unreliable-as-ex-chief-calls-for-refund/content.html

Right Now ..

What am I listening to ….

Assassing by Marillion from their 1984 album, Fugazi.

I saw this band live, back in the 80’s, at Portsmouth Guildhall. If my memory serves, they were supported by a local band, Rufus Stone.

More Stupid Than An Amoeba

https://www.facebook.com/share/nvjUaCf4k7bjj24J/?mibextid=xfxF2i

In what universe do you have to live for this kind of behaviour to be acceptable ?

ARREST MADE AFTER LASER DEVICE TARGETED AT POLICE HELICOPTER

Hampshire and IoW News

A suspect has this afternoon been arrested from an address in Portswood after the Police helicopter was targeted by a green laser device.

Police were alerted by Air Support who had been assisting in the city following a vehicle failing to stop.

Police attended the address where the laser had been targeted from and a suspect was arrested under the Laser Misuse Act 2018.

A laser device was also seized.

This carries a 12 month prison sentence if found guilty of the offence. 44240053135

I would hazard a guess that the perpetrator has one less brain cell that an amoeba.

Unforseen

None of us can see into our futures. It wouldn’t be much fun if we could.

However, Jon, my son in law probably wishes he had been touched with a small spoonful of prescience.

Yesterday, he was swapping out the battery in his car. It is a task that he has carried out many times over the years. What made this time a little different was his treading on uneven ground.

Before he knew it, his left foot tucked under as he put his weight on it. He heard a sharp crack, followed by his eyesight being impaired by blue spots and, as he parked his bum on the kerbside, an overwhelming feeling of nausea.

The net result was a trip down to the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at St Mary’s hospital in Portsmouth, with yours truly acting as a taxi driver.

Generally speaking, nobody wants to go to the UTC. Primarily because the wait times can be horrendous and the waiting room would not be high on anyone’s list of must see places. At the time of writing the current wait time is indicated to be 3 hours.

So, at around 11:45 I dropped Jon at the UTC and went to find a parking space.

At 11:50 Jon was booked in and awaiting triage. By 12:15 he had been seen and was waiting for an x-ray having been told there was, potentially, a two hour wait.

At just after 13:00 immersed in Swedish detective thriller I was startled back to reality by my phone ringing.

Jon had been dealt with and was ready to head home.

The diagnosis, he had broken the very end of his fibula.