A Weather Eye

Tiresome and turbulent grey clouds boiled across our southern skies and their steel, sullen silence made a tedious backdrop to potential photographs. It would be a while before my foray to the Solent to see weekend visitor the USS George H W Bush. First, I went to see my Mum. I am still getting used to the new car and wondered why the cruise control is quite so unpredictable. Greg had trouble with it yesterday and the best I can say is that it works most of the time. There must have been a little ripple in time today, a strange sub-psychic current in the early weekend; first my Mum was convinced that it was Saturday, later Greg and later still, I was similarly misled by the ambience in Gosport and Portsmouth. We got our shopping done with little enthusiasm and I was extremely irritated in ASDA to be asked if I had been taking photographs. I was carrying a camera - I carry one almost everywhere - but had not raised so as to even look like taking a photograph. I suppose the powers of observation of the member of staff who summoned a manager were as limited as their probable IQ. The manager was quite civil but it still stung for a while. We took a time-out to see an aunt whose husband (my uncle, oddly enough) is in hospital with hopefully temporary heart problems. Our help today was limited to buying carrots. When we were free to go to Stokes Bay to see the Nimitz Class carrier, the weather was not at all encouraging. It was certainly interesting to see our visitor but shots on the south coast on (summer!) afternoons are inevitably contre-jour. This coupled with the distance of the mooring was hardly conducive to excellent photography. What I did took place either side of excellent food at the Bayside Cabin Cafe. It was a breakfast but eaten so late it barely qualified as lunch. The quality of food was a surprise. The cafe was revelling in the Bush-viewing crowds. Even with the prospect of continuing poor light, I would have liked to get closer but a ferry trip to Portsmouth and subseqent visit to both likely boat departure points (Dockyard and Gunwharf) was a complete waste of time. I was disheartened by the lack of commercial drive which might have seen at least one tour operate after 1530. The Naval Dockyard is strange place to arrive in Portsmouth well away from most of what one might loosely describe as 'the action'. The sailors - male and female - who were streaming away from the USS Truxtun amongst others - were greeted by a few rather desultory American flags and countless flyers exhorting their participation in various nocturnal activities. They seemed at least to have been properly directed to Gunwharf; I hope they enjoy their stay after the rigours of 'Saxon Warrior'.

Mayflower Park and Meriva

Two days apart and two very different visits to Mayflower Park. On Tuesday we saw Queen Mary 2 depart on a beautiful evening. Today, watching the departure of Queen Elizabeth for Amsterdam meant braving a cold wind and sharp showers. Whatever the weather, Mayflower Park has become a favourite and comfortable location, a place for leisure. We reached Southampton today in our new car. I was much more pleased than I had expected when I saw the high spec Meriva in the showroom on delivery but we are still evaluating it in use. Our Vectra was a much loved car and I was sad to see it go. The Meriva has a lot of differences. It amazes me the mean ways in which car manufacturers save money. With this new car only one folding key was provided with the spare being rigid. The new car is very comfortable but reaches and exceeds 30mph too easily. I am reflecting on whether many of its internal curves are superfluous or impractical; they seem to reduce the usefulness of the storage space. I will be very grateful if the local peasants at ASDA can avoid pushing their trolleys into our car. Most of the marks on my faithful Vectra were cause by other people with cars or trolleys.

I am feeling a little bit rattled with my latest book choice, Die Trying (a Jack Reacher novel) by Lee Child. I usually spot re-issues but on this rare occasion I was sucked in by a new cover cynically consistent with those of more recent publications. The title first appeared in 1998. I have almost certainly read it and, although I do not remember the narrative so far, I wonder whether to continue when I have so many books to read.

I am still a bit numb with the tiredness of two early mornings and the new car admin but I am looking forward to a stimulating weekend.

Blue Cobra

An evening of unusual but necessary indulgence was the reward for a hard cycle nearly completed and a precursor to what I expect to be an enjoyable weekend close to home. We went to Blue Cobra, a recently opened Indian restaurant in Pier Street, Lee on Solent. The service was good, the food very good. The menu gave us the opportunity to try some new dishes and we were not disappointed. Poppadums were very fresh and the chutneys different enough to be notable. My Keema Kumbi starter was a well thought out breaded minced lamb and mushroom offering. Goan Chicken might have been more predictable but had a perfect texture and well managed spicing. A free Irish Cream (not necessarily Baileys , I suppose) was, as far as I know my first....and delicious.

We collect our new car tomorrow which is rather exciting. The weekend offers a Southdown Remembered bus event in Portsmouth and the arrival of Nimitz class USS George H W Bush at Spithead. It is too large to enter Portsmouth Harbour. In the meantime I hope to have caught up with MSC Opera now in Southampton after last weeks unplanned stop in Stockholm. It has been pleasant adapting to my maritime surroundings and the whole area presents regular new photographic opportunities.

Having had quite a shock on Facebook today I must now try to get through the night without dreaming of my colleagues bottoms - why can't the people you WANT to undress have similar moments of frivolity?

The Shocking Voice of Barbara Hepworth

The introduction to BBC2's 'The Culture Show' held sufficient promise that I wanted to see all the pieces in the show. A feature on Hepworth at Wakefield included some b&w footage with the artist talking over it in shocking tones of received pronunciation. An interesting sound to emanate from a face not considerably different to that of Tracy Emin. Even more interesting then to see (and hear) Emin herself later in the same programme; a calming and articulate voice emerging from the familiar, barely handsome, features. Another feature on London's much evolved 'ring of steel' shocked too, by revealing security in urban architecture well beyond buildings and in to the detail of planters and seating.

Rather more prosaically, we took my Mum to the newly opened branch of Dunelm Mill at Titchfield. A homeware heaven no doubt but I decided to soothe my shopping allergy in the car with James Patterson while Mum & Greg negotiated the opening day crowds in what is a rather cramped shop. [The space is large but the displays are a bit tightly packed]. We went to complete more paperwork on our new car and will welcome it to the driveway on Thursday of next week. We are very pleased with our choice and the service we have recieved (so far). The evolution of the car industry pleases me less. For many years it has been the practice to launch models, albeit in their different variants, with as little specification as possible. The various levels then gain accessories and upgrades as the model ages. Our own experience shows us the cynical fashion of today. We have chosen the top specification Meriva (SE) but it still lacks several things we would like but can obtain only as extra-cost options. This then I call the Ryanair model of car sales although it is by no means confined to Vauxhall (GM). The customer is sucked into a vortex (good Vauxhall model name I would say) wherein headline or even OTR prices fail to reflect the more probable price.

I was very thrilled when my cousin drew my attention to this evening's (Portsmouth) Evening News which has published in full a recent letter of mine on QA parking charges. This is the text of that letter:

I was disturbed and angered to read the lead story in The News (9 May) on forthcoming increases to parking charges at QA Hospital. Whilst reluctantly accepting that Carillion is acting within the PFI contract, I want to highlight the following cynicism within what they do on the ground. This I hope will add weight to any protest movement as it inevitably gathers support.

The number and style of warning notices around the site - of a type now increasingly common around the country - are not conducive to the well being of patients, their carers or visitors; they are inappropriate to a hospital environment. I can confirm from personal experience that Carillion are far more enthusiastic about (potential) enforcement of penalties than they are about servicing or repairing broken machines which force people to traipse unnecessary distances around a large site in order to comply with payment regulations.

Ticket machines do not give change or accept cards. However, the tariffs are consistently set in 'odd' amounts. This is a carefully calculated strategy to take advantage of the many people who will not have the right change and will be forced to overpay. This is particularly unfair in the A & E area which probably sees mostly unplanned visits by people who are already distracted and distressed. Machines which accept cards should be introduced immediately and/or a simplified tariff structure designed to optimise payment opportunities and not Carillion's undisclosed profits.

Regardless of the above, Carillion should be compelled to reveal their profits, justify them in terms of costs and overheads and, if necessary, adjust charges to fair levels. Their comparisons with other area car parks are irrelevant and unfair as a hospital is a uniquely stressful environment usually visited not by choice but of necessity.

A Day Trip to Hythe

Town Quay in Southampton is a shabby and inadequate disgrace. Its few remaining viable businesses are crowned by the inexplicably named Monsieur Hulot patisserie with its highly incongruous 'Tabac' signs. Is this some sort of homage to a little known lost episode of 'Allo, 'Allo? For all that it is unattractive, there are people there if only to use the Hythe and Red Jet IoW ferries. They are sufficient in numbers to make entirely unacceptable the 'permanent' closure of its toilets. Visitors and passengers are directed to the Red Jet ticket office where, today, only the ladies was working. I was almost put off my desire to travel on the Hythe Ferry if not by the foregoing then certainly when I saw the ludicrous ticketing arrangements. Two ticket machines take coins only whilst metres away a silently smirking Red Jet machine reminds its retarded cousins that, in the 21st century it is de rigeur to accept notes and cards also. At least the operator recognises that few people carry so much change that they probably would not be able to walk. A man, a very pleasant man it must be said, is on hand to exchange bags of change for notes. The change is inserted into the ticketing dinosaurs and, periodically, removed to be bagged up for the next lot of already weary travellers. It does get better.

There is a fine line between delapidation and antique charm. It is perhaps difficult both to define and to discern but I think my experiences today serve to illustrate the difference. The public face of Town Quay, a relatively modern structure is shameful. The much older Hythe Pier, ferry and railway are entitled to charm through decrepitude. The ferry is busy and the railway, open since 1881, fascinating. Photographs are waiting to be taken and the location is an obvious alternative to Calshot  to view cruise ships. The ferry ride itself affords further opportunities. We confined our movements to an area close to the pier and I can not say that that part of Hythe is especially charming as all the recent decades seem to have impinged upon it. Curiously, the number of banks indicates that the High Street names have not abandoned it as they have so many small towns. The Golden Stir Fry Chinese Takeaway was remarkable in that only the signs outside suggested that it was anything other than a house.

As I took a break from Pier Railway photography and turned my attention to the buses, I noticed that they seemed to be hindered by a growing traffic jam. I went to investigate and found a crowd observing an idiotically parked BMW blocking a bus and hence all the other traffic in both directions. The full illustrated story appears on Facebook. Here I shall just say that a tattoed moron wearing a Confederate cap emerged eventually from a pizza takeaway and showed no shame even when confronted (not, I should add, by me). Nor was he confronted by the police who had chosen to stay well away as, indeed, they do from all except the most dire situations. What can one do about anti-social behaviour? Traffic had been brought to a halt for 10-15 minutes so that one oaf and his bitch (who loooked as though she had seen plenty of pizzas in her time) could pick up their pre-shagging snack without having to struggle to and from the legitimate parking spaces 4 metres away on the other side of the road.

H&SE Notice

In view of the impending Rapture on 21 May 2011 due to be followed by the end of the world on 21 October, the Health & Safety Executive has carried out a full risk assessment and offers the following advice to those ascending to heaven. Although the event may not be as busy as originally predicted as large numbers are now expected to be left behind to be eternally judged, participants should consider the following precautions. Items of safety clothing should be worn and may include, as a minimum, hard hat, steel capped shoes, hi-vis jacket, ear protectors and eye goggles. Ascendees should follow only the marked route. In the event of rain, please mind your step as conditions underfoot may be slippery. Please consider staggering your ascent as the first 2-3 hours are expected to be particularly popular. The H&SE has been advised that places at God's right hand are no longer available. A spokesperson for the organiser said 'We ask that particpants take all reasonable precautions; it would be a great shame if anyone actually died in the pursuit of eternal life'.


Separate advice will be issued to those remaining behind to be eternally judged and a further notice will be issued for the end of the world which is expected to pose exceptional hazards to everyday life.

Inn Luck

Our experience at Crown Carveries' Inn By The Sea (Lee on Solent) on Saturday, was many steps removed from our last experience at the broadly comparable Toby Carvery. You know me as an opponent of rip-off and ardent proponent of value and fairness but, I must say, I don't know how they manage the prices they offer at Inn By The Sea. We paid £3.69 a head and £1.50 per person for Ultimate Upgrade which, frankly, proved to be unnecessary. We had a huge pile of good quality, fresh food served quite quickly. It was very good and, if you can find a space in the car park, you  should go.

The Happiness of Others

I had been looking forward for a long while to the wedding of James and Nina, the wedding of the year for them. The weather smiled upon the couple and their guests and, in spite of reports of problems (with organisation) right up to the day, the day went very well with much evidence of fantastic organisation by the couple and their families and supporters. In fact, it was a lesson in thoughtfulness and attention to detail; a day planned as much for those invited as for James and Nina themselves. The church service was pleasant and very slightly informal with room for humour even though the photography police were on patrol in the church itself.

The reception venue, Hill Place at Swanmore is fabulous and the arrangements there were inch and minute perfect. The catering was of a very high standard in both food and service. The seating plan and table appointments were meticulously conceived and the attention to detail reflected in the lavishly filled goody-bags for the children. A discreet three piece band made a welcome change from blaring amplified music and a Spacehopper revival amused the children before they reached their meals.

With the evening guests due to arrive to demolish the hog roast, it was time for us to leave in chill evening air which would probably pass unnoticed by a couple with evident warmth for each other. May they have many happy years together.

Bouquets and Brickbats

I hope that the criticisms I level freely in a number of areas are morally balanced by compliments delivered where they are deserved. The two days since the thundery instability of Saturday have brought plenty of opportunities for both. After an uncertain start, the cloud over Dorset peeled away to offer beautiful weather  for the third day of the Swanage Railway Diesel Gala. Breakfast at the Marriott was excellent combining good quality ingredients with fresh preparation. The Sandford Road between Poole and Wareham may be the most rhododendron lined in the country. They are not fully out yet (as in Sarisbury Green) but it was very pleasant. There is so much to see in Bournemouth, Poole and environs, I am sure we shall be back soon. We went first to Norden where 'Western Campaigner' set the scene for an excellent day divided between the respective ends of the line. The organisation of the Diesel Gala was excellent, its choreography excellent. The amount of effort which had gone into arranging resident and guest locomotives and their multitude of movements and pairings was admirable. I felt that the Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum also at Norden was, although still under development, a fascinating bonus.

Later in the day we were back in Bournemouth to collect a new Nikon lens for Greg. While he was in the shop, I finally found the motivation to capture some of the varied buses in busy Gervis Place. Then we went to eat in the Square at the poor Obscura restaurant. As I chewed the Obscura fare I reflected that the only possible advantage of this establishment is its prime people watching location. The food was poor quality, overpriced and dully prepared and served. To my astonishment they required payment up front, blaming escapees from their many outside tables. As one does not normally order a dessert at the outset of a meal, that would mean a separate payment or no dessert. I chose the latter to get away from eastern European wait staff, some of whom had not mastered even the phonetics of the menu and were unlikely to attempt conversational English. I thoroughly recommend not going there. On the way home, I remembered that oil prices went down this last week; I did not see any price reaction at forecourts. There never seems to be such tardiness with increases.

Today was a day for taking Mum out primarily to Gunwharf. We received outstanding attention and service in the shops we visited and Mum got both the shoes and handbag she wanted. That visit was rounded off nicely by another visit to Giraffe where service and food remained very good. I was pleased to be able to comment to that effect to the regional manager who was visiting. No such plaudits are deserved by Carillion, the avaricious and inept providers of parking services at QA hospital. I have had to criticise them before and today's news in the local paper prompted a letter to the editor (by e-mail) and to the Portsmouth North MP, Penny Mordaunt. Charges are due to go up again and, whilst this is entirely within the provisions of the unfortunate PFI contract, several criticisms can be levelled against a firm which is more interested in money than patients (and their attendants). Warning notices of the kind which now proliferate around the UK are inappropriate in the stress rich environment of a hospital. Patients and visitors have plenty to preoccupy them without enforcement threats made with a vigour not matched by the attention paid to broken or faulty ticket machines. Working or not, the ticket machines neither give change nor accept cards. The tariffs present and proposed are in odd amounts; this is a deliberate and calculated ploy to ensure that the many hassled parkers who do not have the right money will overpay, thus bolstering Carillion's profits further. I am not against hospital car park charging as such. In many locations it has become necessary to deter immoral commuter behaviour. It is regrettable that PFI deprives the QA of a potentially useful income stream where non-PFI hospitals benefit. Carillion however must be made to introduce change giving and card accepting machines and to improve their reliability. They should also be persuaded to introduce a simplified tariff of whole number sums to reduce the need for overpayments and hopefully be shamed into retracting the June increases. This is an era of scam. it should be challenged wherever it arises.

A Wet Weekend

Considering the amount of rain we had, however welcome, the dry intervals were quite well placed but the weather still cast doubt over pressing ahead with our visit to the Swanage Railway Diesel Gala tomorrow. For today we were content to circulate in Bournemouth. Greg ordered a Nikon lens which we shall collect tomorrow. Amazingly I got only one bus photograph; the place, with its variety, deserves a concerted effort especially in Gervis Place. For various reasons we ate pretty late, effectively combining lunch with dinner (that's dinner and tea for the otherwise perfect Dave). We sat in Hot Rocks through rain - the only reason we had ordered desserts [cough] - and returned to the hotel in a break which preceded a substantial thunderstorm.

I had been rather tense before reaching Bournemouth after long and fruitless conversations with the Highways Agency and Police after yet another lengthy road closure. The short version of the debate is that I think they faff about with no regard for the majority and they defend their right to go over every supposed 'crime scene' with a fine tooth comb which is in fact about the level of technology they use. You only need to look at the recent and now notorious M1 closure in north London to appreciate the sheer lethargy of the authorities and their considerable capacity for overkill.

At Bournemouth Airport, I was not much happier as I assessed their latest parking restrictions and charges. You would not believe that this is a commercial organisation faced with dwindling passenger numbers and fickle airlines. It has become commonplace for regional airports to charge pick-up and drop-off fees which is blatant exploitation of their users. Bournemouth has tried to be cleverer but is equally mean. With prodigious use of coning and the introduction of a manually operated barrier which, apparently, requires two staff - a cost issue in itself I would imagine - they prohibit free pick-up or drop-off and, by banning pedestrian access over a stretch of airport approach make it impossible anywhere in the reasonable vicinity of their much vaunted and over-hyped terminal. Instead all cars must enter the car park for a minimum charge of £2.50 which is, in fact, £4 if you use a credit card. I am presently composing a suitably reproaching e-mail to their marketing and managing directors. The departure terminal I might remind you (I have previously blogged) is, landside at least, simply the old terminal inside a largely cosmetic new exterior.

People undoubtedly think I moan a lot and I shall probably, through self-induced stress, bring my crusading life to a premature close - accompanied no doubt by rounds of grateful applause - but the fact is people do not complain enough. Too many others get away with too many things. Tolerance is a wonderful thing but in the face of ineptitude, lethargy, dishonesty or a number of other negative characteristics it is simply not appropriate. Be prepared to challenge authority, to make accountability real.

Copyright, Common Sense and Nonsense

Once again I have come across a draconian and unjustified policy on photography. I hoped to visit Roche Court (near Salisbury) to view and, of course, photograph the sculpture. I might still visit but the pleasure will be very much diminished by not being able to photograph. There is a clear 'no photography' policy and this was confirmed in a slightly testy phone call to the New Art Centre this morning. The blame seemes to lie equally between site operators and the artists and to some extent with photographs being used for improper commercial purposes. The key fact though is this; to take a photograph of an object in entirely another medium is a record and a creation of a new and unique image with its own copyright. It does not in any sense infringe the copyright of the original artist and should not be construed as doing so. If I were to attempt to recreate, say, a sculpture or a painting then there would be an issue but my documentary image of a piece of art, especially when properly annotated, does not purport to be anything other than that. There is so much to photograph in the world, I should perhaps be less concerned but injustice and illogic always burn and set afire the soul. The supposed concerns of the artists are incomprehensible. They should welcome publicity but seem more concerned about the revenues from postcards and overpriced books. Photographs for private use including appropriate posting on social networks should not be prohibited. On this issue gallery owners and artists together are wrong and mean-minded.