Picture of The Month - June 2009    This picture was taken at Molesey Lock on the River Thames near Hampton Court. A boat had just exited the lock, going upstream (east, to the left in the picture), and immediately a whole gaggle of ducks decided they would like to go downstream and swam into the lock, in line ahead - or is that astern ? They probably came back the same way too, but I didn't have the time to hang around and check it out.

Ducks entering the lock at Molesey on the River Thames

Picture of The Month - April 2009    Like last month's it's not a particularly great picture, but the subject is interesting. It's a graphic illustration of the erosion which is taking place on the cliffs between Hill Head and Hook Village. The cliffs face the Solent. The other interesting thing about this picture is the sub surface. You can see why the whole of the area inland has been designated for gravel extraction by Hampshire County Council. There are alternative sites locally. No decision has been taken yet.

Erosion on cliffs between Hill Head and Hook Village, Fareham

Picture of The Month - March 2009    It's not a particularly great picture, but I really like the subject - Mr Anvil Head. He's in Fareham Precinct, outside the western entrance to the mall. He's one of several sculptures in the precinct, cast in iron and made by local artists to remember Henry Cort , a local ironmaster who worked during the middle of the industrial revolution and who made significant improvements to the process of making iron castings. Henry Cort was born in Lancaster, but lived and worked near Fareham (at Fontley) in the period when he was involved in iron smelting and casting. In addition to the sculpture park, he also has a local college named for him.

Anvil Head, Fareham Precint

Picture of The Month - February 2009    Trish, Charlie and Maxton went over to Wisconsin to see Uncle Toby and Aunty Erin. They flew BA so that meant Terminal 5. It was my first visit to T5 so I though I'd take a few pictures. This was taken on Monday 31 Jan 2009 at about 0900. It's taken from the centre of the building - there is as much of it behind me as there is that you can see in this picture. The entrance to the boarding gates is to the right. The cost of the short term car parking is eye watering and the signage for the car parks on the approach roads is bad. Inside, on the departure level, there are two sets of toilets, one at each end of the building but you cannot see the signs until you are almost upon them. There are terminals for automated check in, but there were still a dozen or so very busy people showing people how to use them. There were the usual queues at check-in and security. I think we should be able to do better than this. However, the building looks gorgeous with a huge, open space free of support pillars for the roof.

Terminal 5 Heathrow

Picture of The Month - December 2008    Everytime I walk along the bit of the Solent Way from Hill Head to Warsash I see something unusual. This is late December and it's late in the afternoon - the sun has about 30 minutes to go before it sets. The scottie was doing what all dogs do - refusing to answer to a human shouting "Here Boy !" . He was having a great time paddling in the lakes which form at low tide and I snapped him. The picture came out pretty much as I intended - with a silhouette foreground with the sun shining on the water though I suppose I should have waited another half a second so that he would have framed in the middle of the fence.

Scottie in a puddle on the foreshore at Hook on the Solent Way

September 2008    The summer of 2008 was one of the wettest on record. I was up in Heywood for my school re-union and went for a stroll in-between the rain. This football pitch at Hopwood Recreation Ground caught my eye - 6 inches deep in water. Makes an excellent mirror.

The wettest summer on record - 2008

July 2008    Fareham council have been trying for years to dislodge Warsash Motors from their site on Warsash Road, so that they could complete a road building project. When Warsash Motors finally decided to call it a day the dreaded Japanes Knotweed was discovered on the site and its' removal delayed things for another two years. Finally, work commenced earlier this year. The roadbuilders have demolished the buildings but left the entrance gates - I'd like to think as a salute to the intransigence of the original site owners. I noticed today (Aug 1 2008) that the gates have finally gone to make way for the road.

Warsash Motors hangs on to the bitter end !

April 2008    As I said in the text for the February picture - "The weather is so weird these days." And here's another example. All through the first week in April (2008) the weathermen had been saying "Snow and sleet for Sunday" but I don't think anyone really believed them. Then around 0745 AM on Sunday 6th it started to snow and by 0900 AM it was going strong and had deposited nearly 3" of snow on us. It stopped as suddenly as it had started and by 1500 the same day it had all gone.

Crazy weather - 3 inches of snow in April 2008

February 2008    The weather is so weird these days. This is early February and the sun is pouring down. Folks are walking around in T Shirts. Down in Portsmouth it's a bit like the holiday season. Here the WightLink ferry to the Isle of Wight leaves Portsmouth bound for Ryde. If you squint and half close your eyes you might think it's some much more exotic location !

Isle of Wight Ferry out of Portsmouth for Ryde

January 2008 0745 AM , Thursday 31st January 2008. It's cold. It's grey. It's blowing a gale. It's raining cats and dogs. It's bloody January again. The M27 westbound from Fareham to Southampton is stopped - all three lanes locked solid. Took me 90 minutes to drive the 11 miles to work this morning. It's at times like this you wish you could be instantly transported to a desert island.

Bloody January again ! Thanks to Flanders and Swann

November 2007 Another problem with some of the traffic cameras in London, so KT is up in Town to give them the magic touch. I've photographed this scene quite a few times, and every time it looks different. Today its a cold November morning and the sun is shining at full blast from just above the horizon to the left of the picture. Westminster Bridge has just been refurbished and has had a splendid clean up and fresh paint job. The cold,wet air from the river gives a misty appearance to the Palace of Westminster. More pictures from this trip here.

Newly refurbished Westminster Bridge, with a hazy houses of Parliament in the background. Friday November 15th 2007

October 2007 So it's the last Sunday in October, and we are down in Southsea for the Great South Run and what's the weather doing ? That's right cold, gray,raining and blowing a gale. These folks don't give a damn! They were on the first turn, about a mile after the start. It really must lift your spirits to hear and see this crazy bunch giving it everything.

Samba Band at the Great South Run, Southsea October 2007

July 2007 We had American friends over in July on their first visit to England and they wanted to see Stonehenge. I was last there 30 years ago, and it hasn't changed a bit. You still have to park in a (waterlogged) field, there's no exhibition / museum / visitor center and you cannot touch the stones. A bargain at £6.50 ! But despite this, it is worth seeing. You can't help thinking though that what a tatty shambles it is for a World Heritage Site - 3 out of 10 for English Heritage, who run it. And what do they do with all the entrance money they collect ?

Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK taken July 2007

June 2007 I was in Utrecht on business in June, staying in a hotel near to the center of the city. I went out for a little wander around just before sunset and was struck by the image of all the red lights. Not many cars to see actually, because there are plenty of buses, trams and trains at low prices, which whisk you around the place.

Traffic in Utrecht, Nederlands taken June 19th 2007

April 2007 The Horseshoe Falls at Niagara. In April we went to see the kids in Wisconsin USA and took four days out to drive up to Niagara. I can't remember now how many millions of litres per second flow over these falls. Whatever it is the effect is stunning and the noise very loud. The stuff which looks a bit like limestone at the left of the picture is in fact ice. Chunks were still coming over the falls and that's why we couldn't take the boat trip in "The Maid of The Mist" - it wasn't running. See more of our Niagara pictures.

Niagara Falls, Canada taken April 24th 2007

January 2007 Back in the 1930s, folks used to come over to Warsash just for the Crab Teas. There was a cafe down at the front (where the car park is now). There's more about this in Bryan Woodford's book. Well, the cafe has gone now, but local crabs are still harvested from the river. Here's some of the pots waiting for the warmer weather so that they can go back into the water.

Crab pots stacked up on The Hard, Warsash, January 2007

October 2006 This one, the start of the Great South Run, I like because it shows the effort being put into getting those racing wheelchairs up to speed. Everyone is pretty well synchronised, arms back, having just delivered another power stroke to the wheels.

Start of the Great South Run in Southsea, October 22nd 2006