Kites with the kids
A great time with the kites and the little ones.
Kite flying is such fun for both kids and adults.
GPS – how odd!
Tracking my activity (walk) into the village, my iPhone’s GPS put me in some odd locations.
The red block is where I shopped in Waitrose – I never went to the left as would be suggested by GPS. The red circle is where I stopped to make a longish phone call.
All very odd, though perhaps explained by the accuracy of GPS, the strength of the GPS signal and the quality of my iPhone’s GPS receiver,
Update: I came across the following at Why-is-GPS-data-sometimes-inaccurate
When signals from the GPS satellites bounce off buildings, the GPS receiver can be confused by the extra time the signal took to reach it. In these cases, you may observe sudden large errors in position. There is not much that can be done to reduce the effects of multipath errors – GPS is simply less accurate in canyons, whether they are made of buildings or natural formations.
Sutton 1 Salford 2
A disappointing result after a fascinatingly competitive match for the first hour. Sutton took a deserved lead in the 62nd minute but ruined their prospects with a player being red-carded 5 minutes later. Hanging on lasted until two goals from Salford, 10 and 3 minutes from full-time, ruined the party – it seemed inevitable with a one man advantage.
Sutton nearly nicked a point in the last minute of extra-time, but it wasn’t to be. Disappointing!
A trip by train to the underwhelming Guildford Cathedral and five books from the wonderful pre-loved bookshop at the National Trust’s Dapdune Wharf.
For 15 minutes Sutton were lively, but for the rest of the first half they seemed to lose the plot.
A cup of tea at halftime must have done the trick and they put away two goals for a deserved win.
I am enjoying watching them play!
Sutton 2 – 0 Hartlepool
I do like Dorking, and there appeared to be a freshness to the place following recent rain. Since I was last here a few months ago, the high street appears to have a few more empty shops, but it’s still a very pleasant, small town. Today’s visit by train was to donate around ten books to the Oxfam Bookshop (and to pick up another three!). Probably over three-quarters of the books I read end up here. I only keep those I flag as highly recommended, the rest are donated to Oxfam Books. A coffee and date-slice in the Two Many Cooks coffee shop rounded off a nice morning.
A lovely day at Polesden Lacey with the kids. And the bookshop was open, too – see below! Those black specks in the image on the right are actually a flock of birds (not dust on the lens). Click to enlarge.
Last year Sutton were the losing finalists in the Papa Johns Trophy competition – I was there to see the game at Wembley. Tonight they took the first step in this season’s competition with an enjoyable and deserved win over Chelsea U21.
Sutton 1 – Chelsea 0
My local library is quite small but I can usually manage to find something interesting. Today was no exception – two science books (my daughter would approve of The Knowledge, which is subtitled How to Rebuild Our World After an Apocalypse!), a novel about football and an American crime novel.
Whilst on a short holiday in Aldeburgh I bought three paperbacks from the excellent The Aldeburgh Bookshop. I’ve just read, in no time at all, the short (160 pages), 1952 thriller, The King of Fools by French author Frédéric Dard. It’s a charming read. At the back of the novel there’s an interesting potted history of the author’s life. I checked out the publisher’s website and found that they have a bundle of 4 of his novels for a mere £20.
A family (2+2+2 little ones) holiday to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast by train – how exciting! Train number 1 took us from North Surrey to Farringdon, then one stop on the super-duper Queen Elizabeth Line to Liverpool Street station, then a train to Ipswich and another to Saxmundham, before a bus to our destination. Less than 5 hours of stress-free travel. Phew (but we would do it again)!
We rented a fabulous home just a few yards from the beach. If we weren’t on the beach we were relaxing in the house and looking out to sea. Aldeburgh is a lovely, little town with mostly independent shops and cafes.
I would never have thought how much pleasure could be got from being on a pebble beach. We did much walking, particularly north, along the beach to Thorpeness where there is a wonderful, large boating lake.
Lots of smoked fish, lots of pastries and a very fine meal in a fish restaurant. The two little ones were, as usual, an absolute delight. A wonderful family holiday!
I didn’t know that!
On my son’s trip from Berlin to the Baltic the cat had to be in the front seat, whilst here at home a hot-air balloon appeared first thing in the morning.
Josh Turner & Carson McKee
I came across these two lads on YouTube. Maybe you’ll like their talents and enthusiasm, too
Josh Turner and Carson McKee (the one in the red t-shirt) perform together as The Other Favorites.
“I just played a wrong chord!”
“Oh, OK”
I’m on my 5th day with Covid and there’s no sign of improvement. In isolation, other than from my wife, there’s little enthusiasm or energy for doing much. But I have felt able to tackle my laptop’s downloads-folder which has filled up considerably over the past year or so. The folder mainly contains images downloaded from the camera or phone, some of which I had dealt with but not deleted or filed away, and some which have just got ignored. After much effort the downloads folder is now in good shape with just two, near-empty sub-folders.
I found these 4 images which have some interest, particularly the main one of 8-year-old Chloe in a rather stunning outfit.
The 6th part of the long-distance Solent Way goes from Lee-on-Solent along the coast to the city of Portsmouth. It’s not a pleasant 7-mile walk – too much of it is along busy, main roads, but on a very hot, sunny day there was the chance to take some nice pictures of boats and blue sky.
I have fond memories of Stokes Bay which is just along the coast from Lee-on-Solent. As kids we would be driven there to sit on the beach, kick a ball around, to picnic, to play on the putting green (now a crazy golf), to have a knockabout on the grass tennis courts (now just hard courts). It’s still a largely unspoilt, but busy little seaside area.
The water between Gosport and Portsmouth is bustling with boats of all sizes, and the short and expensive ferry is well worth taking to get to the interesting city of Portsmouth. The city really requires at least a day to explore its delights – something for another day, perhaps.
-
Lee-on-Solent promenade -
Picnic lunch on the beach -
The Diving Museum, Stokes Bay -
The Diving Museum, Stokes Bay -
Boats on the Solent -
Approaching Portsmouth -
Can you see the submarine? -
Big ferry -
The local ferry and two aircraft carriers -
Spinnaker Tower -
Even bigger ferry -
HMS Warrior -
Spinnaker Tower -
Multi-storey boat-park
The 60 miles of the Solent Way
- Walk 1: Milford on Sea ⇒ Lymington (9 miles) (✓ 4th July 2019)
- Walk 2: Lymington ⇒ Beaulieu (10 miles) (✓ 4th May 2022)
- Walk 3: Beaulieu ⇒ Hythe (6 miles) (✓ 10th May 2022)
- Walk 4: Hythe ⇒ Hamble (10 miles) (✓ 27th May 2022)
- Walk 5: Hamble/Warsash ⇒ Lee On Solent (7 miles) (✓ 7th July 2022)
- Walk 6: Lee on Solent ⇒ Portsmouth (7 miles) (✓ 15th July 2022)
- Walk 7: Portsmouth ⇒ Hilsea (7 miles)
- Walk 8: Hilsea ⇒ Emsworth (8 miles)
The 5th part of the long-distance Solent Way goes from Warsash along the coast to the seaside town of Lee-on-Solent. At some point I must have lost the coastal path which resulted in much of the walk being along pebbled, sometimes sandy, beach. At 7 miles and on a hot, cloudy day, it was exhausting walking mainly along pebbled beach. Only at the end of the walk did the sun come out.
Lee-on-Solent is a pleasant seaside town. As kids we would pass through on the way to Stokes Bay which is a couple of miles along the coast. In later life my Mum liked to visit either the Penguin Café or the Blue Bird Café on the Lee-on-Solent front. At the end of my walk I sampled the delights of Kathy’s Seaside Treats Bakery.
It was not the most interesting of walks, plus I had some exhausting journeys to get to the start of the walk and to return home.
The 60 miles of the Solent Way
- Walk 1: Milford on Sea ⇒ Lymington (9 miles) (✓ 4th July 2019)
- Walk 2: Lymington ⇒ Beaulieu (10 miles) (✓ 4th May 2022)
- Walk 3: Beaulieu ⇒ Hythe (6 miles) (✓ 10th May 2022)
- Walk 4: Hythe ⇒ Hamble (10 miles) (✓ 27th May 2022)
- Walk 5: Hamble/Warsash ⇒ Lee On Solent (7 miles) (✓ 7th July 2022)
- Walk 6: Lee on Solent ⇒ Portsmouth (6 miles)
- Walk 7: Portsmouth ⇒ Hilsea (7 miles)
- Walk 8: Hilsea ⇒ Emsworth (8 miles)
things change 