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St Swithun’s Way (1) Winchester to Alresford

The first part of the St Swithun’s Way long-distance walk was disappointing. On the positive side I had a very pleasant bar-snack at the Cricketers pub in the lovely village (hamlet?) of Easton.
The weather was supposed to be sunny, but there was none. My pictures are disappointing – I blame the lack of sunshine and the over-processing I’ve done to try to get something out of the images. The walk was disappointing, with a lot of road walking, mainly lanes, and it was uphill all the way!
I’m going to reconsider doing the rest of the St Swithun’s Way long-distant path. ie The sections from Alresford to Alton and Alton to Farnham.















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The 10:12 from Clapham Junction (reposted from 2019)

Many times I’ve travelled on the 10:12 from Clapham Junction towards Southampton.
In the last year of my mum’s life, when I had become fed up with the drive, I would catch this train to visit her in her care home. I’ve also used it to carry on beyond Southampton to Brockenhurst and eventually Lymington, one of my very favourite places. From Lymington you can walk or catch the little ferry to Hurst Castle, you can walk around the coastal path, and you can catch the larger ferry to the Isle of Wight. I love ferries, large and small.
Over the past 12 months I’ve also caught the 10:12 in order to reach the starting points of the four sections of the Itchen Way walk – Southampton, Eastleigh, Winchester (twice).
On most of these train trips, I’ve bought a coffee and KitKat from the on-board trolley service (I’m a creature of habit), and on most of these times I’ve been served by the same East-European lady with the lovely smile. And though I remember her, she probably doesn’t remember me.
On Tuesday I set off to start the last leg of the Itchen Way walk. I was standing on the Clapham Junction platform, waiting for the 10:12, when an express, non-stopping train shot past, but with its hooter blaring. The next thing I know is that station staff are active, moving waiting passengers away from the platforms. Someone had jumped under the express train. Chaos followed as trains were suspended in order to deal with the emergency. I abandoned any thoughts of doing my walk. Two days later I tried again, this time without incident.
I guess that forever, when standing waiting for the 10:12, I’ll spare a thought as the express train shoots through, for the person who had had enough.
(The post image was AI generated from the post text – amazing!)
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I’ve been listening to Luca Stricagnoli

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A walk to Leatherhead

A repeat of a 5-mile walk I did a couple of months back.








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Eastbourne

I saw a man smoking a pipe. Who still does this?!





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My backgammon program

My latest VB.NET program, to play the board game backgammon, is done (subject to fixes and further work!). It’s been through many, many iterations. I’m happy with the result despite more work needing to be put into improving game strategy. I’ll see. Here’s a video of a game.
And here is a sample of the code….
Module PlayFunctionsModule Public Function AbleToPlay(ND As Integer) As Boolean ' ' See if there is any move that can be made with the current dice ' If IIf(CurrentPlayer = Whois.human, HumanBlotCount, RobotBlotCount) > 0 Then If AbleToPlayBlot(ND) Then Return vbTrue Else Return vbFalse End If If AbleToPlayNormal(ND) Then Return vbTrue End If If InBearOffZone() And AbleToBearOff(ND) Then Return vbTrue End If Return vbFalse End Function Public Function AbleToPlayBlot(ND As Integer) As Boolean ' ' See if there is a blot move that can be made with the current dice ' Dim p, d As Integer If IIf(CurrentPlayer = Whois.human, HumanBlotCount, RobotBlotCount) > 0 Then For d = 1 To ND p = Dice(d) If PointOwner(p) = CurrentPlayer Or (PointValue(p) <= 1) Then Return vbTrue End If Next Return vbFalse End If Return vbFalse End Function Public Function AbleToPlayNormal(ND As Integer) As Boolean ' ' See if there is a normal move that can be made with the current dice ' Dim p, pTO, d As Integer For d = 1 To ND For p = 1 To nLandingPoints If PointOwner(p) = CurrentPlayer Then pTO = p + Dice(d) If pTO <= nLandingPoints Then If (PointOwner(pTO) = CurrentPlayer) Or (PointValue(pTO) <= 1) Then Return vbTrue End If End If End If Next Next Return vbFalse End Function End Module -

Book Links

My favourite second-hand bookshops
Dapdune Wharf book shed Guildford, Surrey
(15 minute walk from Guildford station)https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk Kirkdale Bookshop Sydenham, South London
(close to Sydenham station)https://kirkdalebookshop.com/about/ Sam Beare Bookshop Weybridge, Surrey
(20 minute walk from Weybridge station)https://wsbh.org.uk/support-us/shop-with-us/find-local-charity-shop/weybridge-bookshop/ FARA Teddington Books Teddington, South-West London
(10 minute walk from Teddington station)https://www.faracharity.org/shop/teddington-books/ Morden Hall Park bookshop Morden, South London
(20 minute walk from South Merton station, or 10 minute from Morden tube station)https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/morden-hall-park Mrs Lofthouse’s Emporium Scarborough, North Yorkshire https://www.mrslofthouse.co.uk/ Some book links
The Book Guide Secondhand and Antiquarian Bookshops in the UK and Republic of Ireland https://www.thebookguide.info/bookshops/ The Book Guide (Facebook) Ditto (Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/thebookguide Charming Book Shop Cafes In London A magazine article https://londonist.com/london/food-and-drink/book-shop-cafes-london Second Hand Bookshops In London A magazine article https://londonist.com/london/books-and-poetry/buy-second-hand-books-shops-stalls-london-rare-antiquarian -

Black Bag


An interesting spy movie with lots of dialogue and very little action. Despite struggling with making out some of the dialogue, I just about followed the tricksy plot. I enjoyed the film.
A glass of Malbec and a packet of crisps in the Throwley Yard cinema bar, accompanied by a book, completed a pleasurable afternoon.
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I’ve been listening to…

Luca Stricagnoli
Lose YourselfDavid Bowie
Where Are We NowGlobalSoundDownCorona FlashMob
2025-03-08 -

Sam Beare Bookshop, Weybridge

Some interesting pre-owned books bought from the fabulous Sam Beare Bookshop, Weybridge, Surrey.
