On Monday 15th June 2009 it was a glorious hot morning and I changed from the brown trousers and thick brown cardigan type jacket to black trousers, white shirt and the black sleeveless waistcoat type jacket, unzipped, made from in the inner coat of the winter’s coat. Going from the Hard, the bus and railway terminus at Portsmouth Harbour to the entrance ticket office of the Navy centre I realised how hot a day it had become. Last year I had only managed a couple of hours of a visit paying the entrance fee of £15.50 which included the ability to revisit some facilities as well as any of those with a once only entrance requirement. I had developed a painful groin rash and had to return to the car via the short train journey to the town close to where I was staying at the Innkeeper’s Lodge and gone to the nearest Boots for some cream, some sun cream or was it after sun, anyway got both for the price of one in a special offer and a late lunch sandwich deal before making the journey to near Burford where I was staying the night. I had eat the lunch at a bench in the town centre speculating on the lives of those around me and regretting my physical condition. I remembered the violent storm which had greeted my arrival at Burford.
At the ticket desk this year there was a delay as arrangements were made to transfer an elderly visitor from her wheel chair to a better one provided by the centre. She would be able to visit many of the exhibitions and centres but obviously not HMS Warrior and HMS Victory. I was asked to take the new ticket with the old ticket and eager to get underway I did not clarify the position and then made the same mistake as made the previous year. The entrance for HMS Warrior is in the main ticket office. I had been last year and made the same mistake as before thinking that this was the main way out to the rest of the site when in in fact it is only to HMS Warrior. I was confused because my second ticket provided for entry to this attraction again but did not mention the others I had not visited. Although I had my ticket cancelled by the same lady as before, understandably she did not remember me, I turned around as I had no inclination to visit this ship again and headed for the Mary Rose Ship Hall. Last year I visited the Mary Rose museum and shop but this time I wanted to see the special centre where the raised remains of the Hull can be seen undergoing the final stages of the preservation process/
I had viewed the raising of the remains of the Hull on TV and at the museum watch the greater part of the hour long film on the events leading to the raising, and then the effort to stable the wreck and maintain in the found condition. When the remains were raised in 1994 it was treated with a low weight polyethylene glycol, essentially a wax, and then ten years later with a high weight molecular polyethylene glycol which will continue until next year when the wreck will be slowly dried into a permanently preserved condition. The wax is constantly fine sprayed in constant temperature environment and therefore can only be viewed by the public through misted windows. There is an excellent hand held commentary which describes the ship from end to end. While all that remains is a full length slice as that above the seabed was eaten away by ship worm, it is a full length slice and a thick slice at that. Ideally one should move from viewing the hull to the museum where every form of recovered find and recreation is brilliantly presented. In fact it is the intention to bring the two elements together once the drying out is completed and to provide additional education and study facilities for the constant stream of school parties who visit.
The significance of the Mary Rose is that it is the only 16th century warship to have been recovered. In 2008 the appeal to raise the £20 million required to build the permanent museum around the Hull was successful, mainly through the Lottery Heritage fund. Charles, Prince of Wales, was one of the main sponsors of the original project to preserve the Hull and put on display. I understand the present running costs are around £250000 a year and while we do not need Trident carrying submarines we do need this remains of our Heritage. At the reception desk for entry to view the wreck the nature of the ticket was explained and I misunderstood and thought that in addition to going to see the Victory I could also go on the trip around the harbour once more.
Before visiting Nelson’s Flagship I went to the Museum which is dominated by the Victory and Horatio Nelson. In one upper area there is the fore topsail, the largest memorabilia from the battle. It measures 54 feet at the head and 80 feet at the base with a depth of 54 some 3600 square feet and a weight of 370 kilos and would have taken 1200 hours to stitch. It has 90 shot holes plus some removal of squares by souvenir hunters. It has been dry cleaned through the Mary Rose society.
Half of one building has been given over to the Nelson Gallery about his life. The most interesting aspect is his size in that he was short and slim and very good looking so it is not surprising women fell at his feet! It evident that he was something of confident, self opinionated, unconventional leader with over 30 years experience before the Battle of Trafalgar. He was involved in several battles including the most famous Battle of the Nile, was also wounded and decorated Viscount and Baron of the Nile and Thorpe in Norfolk, Baron of the Nile of Hilborough also in Norfolk, Knight of the Order of Bath, Vive Admiral of the White Squadron of the Fleet, Commander and Chief of her Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in the Mediterranean, Duke of Bronte in Sicily, Knight Grand Cross of the Sicilian Order of St Ferdinand and of merit, member of the Ottoman Order of the Crescent, Knight Commander of the Order of St Joachim. He became a Colonel of the Marines and became a Freeman of Bath, Salisbury, Exeter, Plymouth, Monmouth, Sandwich, Oxford, Hereford and Worcester. Oxford University awarded an honorary degree.
In addition to his Naval prominence Nelson is known for his adulterous relationship with Emma, Lady Hamilton, who was also married although because he was away at sea for long periods. He contact with limited. His first wife, Fanny was a young widow. Emma was the daughter of a blacksmith who died when she was two and then raised by her mother with no formal education. She had various jobs including working as a maid to actresses at the Drury Lane Theatre and supplementing her income working as a prostitute.
Emma developed as a model and a dancer and progressed into an up market brothel. She was still only 15 when taken by a Knight of the realm to his country estate where he spent most of his time drinking and hunting with friends leaving Emma to establish a relationship with a Member of Parliament, Charles Grenville, second son of the Earl of Warwick with whom she had a child. He then wanted to make a financially advantage marriage and passed Emma to his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, the British Envoy to Naples. Grenville had wanted her back after his marriage was established but instead she married Hamilton. When Nelson returned to Naples he met Emma who was overwhelmed by his legend fainting in his presence! Believe that and you believe anything. When Nelson fell ill she arranged for Nelson to stay at her home to nurse him with the approval of her husband.
They became loves with Emma bearing his daughter, Horatia who survived and a second daughter who only lived a few weeks. Emma was very popular with the people who followed her and his activities closely, the Celebs of their day. The navy establishment were not amused and sent Nelson to Sea and away from Emma as often as they could. He had left Emma, Merton Place in his Will and their home in what is now Wimbledon and although he left her family estate to his brother, he had indicated that he wanted Emma and his daughter to be looked after. She had only a small pension from her husband which was quickly spent trying to turn their home into a monument to Nelson and she spent nearly a year in a debtors prison before going to France to escape her creditors where she turned to drink and died in poverty from a form of dysentery. The British establishment, as hypocritical as ever, disregarded Nelson wishes, turning him into the hero they wanted.
Before the visit to the Victory, I was familiar with the layout of the vessel as well as the details of the Battle, having acquired in 1970 a copy of David Howarth’s Trafalgar, the Nelson Touch through World Books.
The tour is organised so that one enters on the third gun deck, then visits part of the two upper decks and onto the quarter deck where a plaque marks the spot where Nelson was hit by a single bullet from which he died. From the quarter deck one then descends into the lower decks including a view into the hold and then finishes via a separate exit at the lower gun level. Having explored the Iron ship Warrior previously I was familiar with the layout of the gun decks and that the crews lived in virtual darkness when at sea eating by the guns and with hammocks slung closely together at night. I did not appreciate until visiting the modern navy exhibition that the provision of fixed bunks was only introduced in the later part of the twentieth century. I regard myself to be of average height at 5 feet 10 but had to constantly watch my head given the space between floor and ceiling of the decks, and demonstrating that with better diets and health monitoring the nation has grown taller.
Being a flagship Nelson had his own grand quarters with a table at which could sit all his captains of the fleet of some 23 vessels. The captain of the Victory had his own grand quarters and the officers their own separate dining facilities. The ship was full of school parties and their teachers. The on hand ships staff enjoyed explaining everything to the children. One area of the ship on one of one the decks was off limits because a film crew were making a video.
On arrival at the centre I had a cold drink in the large cafe part of the extraordinary Antiques storehouse. Here there are several thousand square feet of items on display and for sale, not just maritime and military but also collectables of various kinds, including furniture, ceramics and glass ware. I also made a phone call while sitting at a picnic table under a canopy before being surrounded by a school party and made a quick retreat. When visiting the Warrior, the Mary Rose Museum and the main museum the main attractions had been crossed out on the ticket and the reissued additional ticket. My visit around the harbour had not been crossed out so I assumed this had been overlooked and that I could make second trip. However when I visited the Mary Rose Hall, instead of crossing out the name of the attraction, the ticket had been clipped. It was only after the ticket was clipped for the round the Harbour trip that I realised that the original ticket may have been already clipped in this way rather than crossed out. However whether because the individual was kind or because of my age, if this was so, I was not turned away and enjoyed a second trip around the harbour. There were fewer vessels in the docks whereas previously I had attended just after the open day weekend when a number of foreign navies had sent ships. On that first visit there were several decommissioned ships waiting for the navy to sell them or dispose by using for training gun crews and rocket launches.
During a visit to the modern navy exhibition there was references to some 3500 female members of the service today but the available assistant was not able to tell me what percentage this was of the total establishment. Later on the internet I checked and it is 40000 thus making the female composition under 10%.
I decided to get off the boat tour at Gunwharf Quays but was not tempted to take the elevator to the top of the Spinnaker. Some men were absail cleaning or painting the lower level which was awesome. In the area of the Spinnaker there a dozen contemporary restaurants with the main shopping area behind and which includes a cinema complex. I was interested that the Vue was showing live performances of operas and a live showing of Phedre on Thursday, also on the Isle of Wight. Alas when I checked the Newcastle film theatre performance is sold out. However there is showing of La Traviata on Sunday from the Royal Opera House where there are still tickets which I will investigate tomorrow after I have made progress on the growing list of priorities.
The turn ups on one trouser leg had lost their thread and looked bad so I went in search of cotton thread and needles. Thus I came across a sale of shoes and invested in a pair of casual browns and blacks for a modest total of £45. I had thrown out my everyday paid of black laces ups before the trip, such was their condition. I swapped my sandals for the brown casuals and went in further search of the needle and brown thread. I then discovered the quick way from the Hard to the Spinnaker shopping centre and Vice Versa, and back to the city shopping centre. I wished there was time to visit the Old Town now turned into attractive looking Inns and Restaurants, and to Southsea, the City beach much as Seaburn is to Sunderland.
Woolworths the usual standby for needle and thread no longer exists but Debenhams was a good prospect, but alas not. Across from Debenhams was what appeared to be a comparative new shopping precinct and here in a shop selling materials and ribbons I bought a packet of needles and was then directed to the reels of thread. I was able to thread a needle and sew later at the Travel Lodge but I need to do a better job.
I exited from a different entrance and found myself across from a car park and this led to the decision to attempt to find my way to the Travel Lodge on foot. Across from the car park was a Sainsbury supermarket and across from this was the entrance first to some private terrace villas and then to a large estate of Council run flats surrounded by grass verges. I knew I was going in the right direction as I spotted one and then a second bus stop which include the same number of route on which I had travelled into the city. This reminds that on one of the busses I encountered an interest situation.
At a stop a young girl of primary school level got on and skipped towards the first available seat. She shouted uncle and his name, and repeated this, “its uncle so and so and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek as he was sitting in front of me on a side view seat. A woman with a smaller child who I assumed was the girl’s mother had paid the fares but then sat at the first seat almost next to the driver on the other side of the aisle. While she looked to where her daughter was sitting she made no recognition to someone who was either her brother or brother in law. Now what do you make of that?
On the long and hot walk later afternoon to the Travel Lodge I found a local pub, a sports bar where I enjoyed an apple and mango J20 and here the bar man confirmed that I was going in the right direction and indeed I was soon passing another local pub night club and the Lodge came into view. I decided to check in first and find my room which was on the third floor and then sort out the luggage to take up, including food for the evening. It was only when I had dome this and switched on the lap top that I discovered that England were playing their vital game against the West Indies within a few minutes. The restaurants and bar attached to the Lodge had no TV so the next action was to go to another mother across the roadway. Yes this was a TV pub but alas it was football showing as England were playing in an under 21 competition. I decided to listen to the cricket on the internet radio ans then found a difficulty but there was a commentary on Talk Sport available on the TV relay. Within a few overs it was evident this was not to be England’s day. I blame Paul Collingwood. They were beaten by the West Indies in a rain affected match where the operation Duckworth Lewis system meant the opposition had only to score 80 in nine overs. I was ready for an early bed after so much walking in the hot sun so after the evening use up and make up meal I was in bed and asleep, looking forward to going over to the island in the morning.
Before then I had moved the car closer to the Lodge entrance once the sun had set. Apart from the cricket I was very satisfied with my day. It was the second part of completing the trip commenced the previous year. I had visited central Oxford and the naval base. I knew that my unfinished business with the Island would continue unfinished because of such a short visit.
It was Monday June 15th, a week ago and I woke early at the Oxford Travel Lodge and was away before eight o’clock, first calling at the reception to report that the hot water tap did not function and I had obtained hot water by taking cupfuls from the bath taps I then got petrol and set off immediately making a route mistake. I had forgotten that I had come off the A34 at the adjacent roundabout and reversed to the next and for some now inexplicable reason set off towards Witney. Nor can I pretend that after forty years I had triggered an automatic homing button which used to take me daily towards Witney and beyond and back, every day for three years in work as a child care officer for Oxfordshire County Council. No, I simply was not on the ball and paid the penalty by having to continue to the Cassington turn off, the village where the Children’s Officer lived until her death. It took sometime for the traffic lights to let me turn and then by the time I had reversed that had changed again and a further wait was necessary. Then there was a hold up because of work on the bridge, the bridge in question carried the A34 from North to South Oxford and then I had a further slow down approaching the roundabout in the early morning rush hour and continuing to reverse the journey just made to take the left turn up the rising slip road onto the A34. There was then further delay approaching the turn off to Oxford and the M40 at Botley Bridge.
It was therefore a relief to have an open road and I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I was approaching the turn off Winchester with the M3 and the M27 ahead. Before then I had a service area stop for coffee and a roll, may be two. I was already thinking that on the return journey I would skip the M27 spur of some twenty miles from the outskirts of Southampton, past the airport and the Rosebowl turnoff before coming to the M275, and instead take the M27 back just a little way in the other direction and join the A3 road to the M25 and M1. On Monday I continued to almost the end of the M275 coming off at the main roundabout just beforehand but missing the second exist turn to the Portsmouth Travel Lodge and had to continue to the next even bigger roundabout and then back but without needing to rejoin the M275 and taking a lower road to the original roundabout and taking the correct exit to where within sight and opposite a large office block there was the Travel Lodge with a large restaurant fronting the road way. I entered the large car park and discovered there was a vacant space one of eight undercover . Understandably the hotel reception is from within the car park from the far end to where I had parked with an entrance into the restaurant adjacent. I thought it wise to check that it was OK to leave to the vehicle until registering later in the day and found there was no problem and the registration number was not required then or later, It was only 10.30 am so I had the rest of the day to explore Portsmouth. First I had some more food and coffee prepared at Oxford and then reorganised the car so that there was little luggage in evidence. I had seen a couple go towards a road which was between the hotel and the overhead roadway and decided to follow the to a bus stop where there appeared to be buses going direct to the city centre and to The Hard which I believed was the bus station adjacent to the port station and to the Gunwharf Quays, the new shopping and restaurant development with the Spinnaker Tower, the second highest building in the UK and which I was to learn and cost twice as much as planned and where the civic party had become stuck in the lift for several hours on the first day. (£35.6 million). It was designed for the Millennium but came in six years late and required public funding, nearly a third by the city council.
I got on the first bus and unsure about its direct got off at the city centre thinking I was closer to the front than I was and then got on another to the bus and train station at the front. This was all to good when it came to return journey that evening and going for the car ferry in the morning. This is because Portsmouth has been organised on an effective one way system but which confuses ones north south east west sense of direction. I hoped I would complete the visit I had commenced a year ago to extraordinary Naval Dockyard attractions, the restored MHS Warrior, the first Iron Warship and the fully restored HMS Victory. The remains of the earliest surviving Warship in the World from the 16th century the Mary Rose, together with the presently separate museum and shop. The Three enormous Museum buildings which includes presentations about Nelson and the modern Navy as well as a topsail from the vessel. Action Stations a large activity centre for young people and there is one the largest collections of antiques of every description for sale or just to look at. The all in one ticket which lasts a year to enable as second visit to see anything left on the first includes a trip around the harbour where one can get of if you wish at the Gunwharf Quays and the Spinnaker Tower.
At the ticket desk this year there was a delay as arrangements were made to transfer an elderly visitor from her wheel chair to a better one provided by the centre. She would be able to visit many of the exhibitions and centres but obviously not HMS Warrior and HMS Victory. I was asked to take the new ticket with the old ticket and eager to get underway I did not clarify the position and then made the same mistake as made the previous year. The entrance for HMS Warrior is in the main ticket office. I had been last year and made the same mistake as before thinking that this was the main way out to the rest of the site when in in fact it is only to HMS Warrior. I was confused because my second ticket provided for entry to this attraction again but did not mention the others I had not visited. Although I had my ticket cancelled by the same lady as before, understandably she did not remember me, I turned around as I had no inclination to visit this ship again and headed for the Mary Rose Ship Hall. Last year I visited the Mary Rose museum and shop but this time I wanted to see the special centre where the raised remains of the Hull can be seen undergoing the final stages of the preservation process/
I had viewed the raising of the remains of the Hull on TV and at the museum watch the greater part of the hour long film on the events leading to the raising, and then the effort to stable the wreck and maintain in the found condition. When the remains were raised in 1994 it was treated with a low weight polyethylene glycol, essentially a wax, and then ten years later with a high weight molecular polyethylene glycol which will continue until next year when the wreck will be slowly dried into a permanently preserved condition. The wax is constantly fine sprayed in constant temperature environment and therefore can only be viewed by the public through misted windows. There is an excellent hand held commentary which describes the ship from end to end. While all that remains is a full length slice as that above the seabed was eaten away by ship worm, it is a full length slice and a thick slice at that. Ideally one should move from viewing the hull to the museum where every form of recovered find and recreation is brilliantly presented. In fact it is the intention to bring the two elements together once the drying out is completed and to provide additional education and study facilities for the constant stream of school parties who visit.
The significance of the Mary Rose is that it is the only 16th century warship to have been recovered. In 2008 the appeal to raise the £20 million required to build the permanent museum around the Hull was successful, mainly through the Lottery Heritage fund. Charles, Prince of Wales, was one of the main sponsors of the original project to preserve the Hull and put on display. I understand the present running costs are around £250000 a year and while we do not need Trident carrying submarines we do need this remains of our Heritage. At the reception desk for entry to view the wreck the nature of the ticket was explained and I misunderstood and thought that in addition to going to see the Victory I could also go on the trip around the harbour once more.
Before visiting Nelson’s Flagship I went to the Museum which is dominated by the Victory and Horatio Nelson. In one upper area there is the fore topsail, the largest memorabilia from the battle. It measures 54 feet at the head and 80 feet at the base with a depth of 54 some 3600 square feet and a weight of 370 kilos and would have taken 1200 hours to stitch. It has 90 shot holes plus some removal of squares by souvenir hunters. It has been dry cleaned through the Mary Rose society.
Half of one building has been given over to the Nelson Gallery about his life. The most interesting aspect is his size in that he was short and slim and very good looking so it is not surprising women fell at his feet! It evident that he was something of confident, self opinionated, unconventional leader with over 30 years experience before the Battle of Trafalgar. He was involved in several battles including the most famous Battle of the Nile, was also wounded and decorated Viscount and Baron of the Nile and Thorpe in Norfolk, Baron of the Nile of Hilborough also in Norfolk, Knight of the Order of Bath, Vive Admiral of the White Squadron of the Fleet, Commander and Chief of her Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in the Mediterranean, Duke of Bronte in Sicily, Knight Grand Cross of the Sicilian Order of St Ferdinand and of merit, member of the Ottoman Order of the Crescent, Knight Commander of the Order of St Joachim. He became a Colonel of the Marines and became a Freeman of Bath, Salisbury, Exeter, Plymouth, Monmouth, Sandwich, Oxford, Hereford and Worcester. Oxford University awarded an honorary degree.
In addition to his Naval prominence Nelson is known for his adulterous relationship with Emma, Lady Hamilton, who was also married although because he was away at sea for long periods. He contact with limited. His first wife, Fanny was a young widow. Emma was the daughter of a blacksmith who died when she was two and then raised by her mother with no formal education. She had various jobs including working as a maid to actresses at the Drury Lane Theatre and supplementing her income working as a prostitute.
Emma developed as a model and a dancer and progressed into an up market brothel. She was still only 15 when taken by a Knight of the realm to his country estate where he spent most of his time drinking and hunting with friends leaving Emma to establish a relationship with a Member of Parliament, Charles Grenville, second son of the Earl of Warwick with whom she had a child. He then wanted to make a financially advantage marriage and passed Emma to his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, the British Envoy to Naples. Grenville had wanted her back after his marriage was established but instead she married Hamilton. When Nelson returned to Naples he met Emma who was overwhelmed by his legend fainting in his presence! Believe that and you believe anything. When Nelson fell ill she arranged for Nelson to stay at her home to nurse him with the approval of her husband.
They became loves with Emma bearing his daughter, Horatia who survived and a second daughter who only lived a few weeks. Emma was very popular with the people who followed her and his activities closely, the Celebs of their day. The navy establishment were not amused and sent Nelson to Sea and away from Emma as often as they could. He had left Emma, Merton Place in his Will and their home in what is now Wimbledon and although he left her family estate to his brother, he had indicated that he wanted Emma and his daughter to be looked after. She had only a small pension from her husband which was quickly spent trying to turn their home into a monument to Nelson and she spent nearly a year in a debtors prison before going to France to escape her creditors where she turned to drink and died in poverty from a form of dysentery. The British establishment, as hypocritical as ever, disregarded Nelson wishes, turning him into the hero they wanted.
Before the visit to the Victory, I was familiar with the layout of the vessel as well as the details of the Battle, having acquired in 1970 a copy of David Howarth’s Trafalgar, the Nelson Touch through World Books.
The tour is organised so that one enters on the third gun deck, then visits part of the two upper decks and onto the quarter deck where a plaque marks the spot where Nelson was hit by a single bullet from which he died. From the quarter deck one then descends into the lower decks including a view into the hold and then finishes via a separate exit at the lower gun level. Having explored the Iron ship Warrior previously I was familiar with the layout of the gun decks and that the crews lived in virtual darkness when at sea eating by the guns and with hammocks slung closely together at night. I did not appreciate until visiting the modern navy exhibition that the provision of fixed bunks was only introduced in the later part of the twentieth century. I regard myself to be of average height at 5 feet 10 but had to constantly watch my head given the space between floor and ceiling of the decks, and demonstrating that with better diets and health monitoring the nation has grown taller.
Being a flagship Nelson had his own grand quarters with a table at which could sit all his captains of the fleet of some 23 vessels. The captain of the Victory had his own grand quarters and the officers their own separate dining facilities. The ship was full of school parties and their teachers. The on hand ships staff enjoyed explaining everything to the children. One area of the ship on one of one the decks was off limits because a film crew were making a video.
On arrival at the centre I had a cold drink in the large cafe part of the extraordinary Antiques storehouse. Here there are several thousand square feet of items on display and for sale, not just maritime and military but also collectables of various kinds, including furniture, ceramics and glass ware. I also made a phone call while sitting at a picnic table under a canopy before being surrounded by a school party and made a quick retreat. When visiting the Warrior, the Mary Rose Museum and the main museum the main attractions had been crossed out on the ticket and the reissued additional ticket. My visit around the harbour had not been crossed out so I assumed this had been overlooked and that I could make second trip. However when I visited the Mary Rose Hall, instead of crossing out the name of the attraction, the ticket had been clipped. It was only after the ticket was clipped for the round the Harbour trip that I realised that the original ticket may have been already clipped in this way rather than crossed out. However whether because the individual was kind or because of my age, if this was so, I was not turned away and enjoyed a second trip around the harbour. There were fewer vessels in the docks whereas previously I had attended just after the open day weekend when a number of foreign navies had sent ships. On that first visit there were several decommissioned ships waiting for the navy to sell them or dispose by using for training gun crews and rocket launches.
During a visit to the modern navy exhibition there was references to some 3500 female members of the service today but the available assistant was not able to tell me what percentage this was of the total establishment. Later on the internet I checked and it is 40000 thus making the female composition under 10%.
I decided to get off the boat tour at Gunwharf Quays but was not tempted to take the elevator to the top of the Spinnaker. Some men were absail cleaning or painting the lower level which was awesome. In the area of the Spinnaker there a dozen contemporary restaurants with the main shopping area behind and which includes a cinema complex. I was interested that the Vue was showing live performances of operas and a live showing of Phedre on Thursday, also on the Isle of Wight. Alas when I checked the Newcastle film theatre performance is sold out. However there is showing of La Traviata on Sunday from the Royal Opera House where there are still tickets which I will investigate tomorrow after I have made progress on the growing list of priorities.
The turn ups on one trouser leg had lost their thread and looked bad so I went in search of cotton thread and needles. Thus I came across a sale of shoes and invested in a pair of casual browns and blacks for a modest total of £45. I had thrown out my everyday paid of black laces ups before the trip, such was their condition. I swapped my sandals for the brown casuals and went in further search of the needle and brown thread. I then discovered the quick way from the Hard to the Spinnaker shopping centre and Vice Versa, and back to the city shopping centre. I wished there was time to visit the Old Town now turned into attractive looking Inns and Restaurants, and to Southsea, the City beach much as Seaburn is to Sunderland.
Woolworths the usual standby for needle and thread no longer exists but Debenhams was a good prospect, but alas not. Across from Debenhams was what appeared to be a comparative new shopping precinct and here in a shop selling materials and ribbons I bought a packet of needles and was then directed to the reels of thread. I was able to thread a needle and sew later at the Travel Lodge but I need to do a better job.
I exited from a different entrance and found myself across from a car park and this led to the decision to attempt to find my way to the Travel Lodge on foot. Across from the car park was a Sainsbury supermarket and across from this was the entrance first to some private terrace villas and then to a large estate of Council run flats surrounded by grass verges. I knew I was going in the right direction as I spotted one and then a second bus stop which include the same number of route on which I had travelled into the city. This reminds that on one of the busses I encountered an interest situation.
At a stop a young girl of primary school level got on and skipped towards the first available seat. She shouted uncle and his name, and repeated this, “its uncle so and so and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek as he was sitting in front of me on a side view seat. A woman with a smaller child who I assumed was the girl’s mother had paid the fares but then sat at the first seat almost next to the driver on the other side of the aisle. While she looked to where her daughter was sitting she made no recognition to someone who was either her brother or brother in law. Now what do you make of that?
On the long and hot walk later afternoon to the Travel Lodge I found a local pub, a sports bar where I enjoyed an apple and mango J20 and here the bar man confirmed that I was going in the right direction and indeed I was soon passing another local pub night club and the Lodge came into view. I decided to check in first and find my room which was on the third floor and then sort out the luggage to take up, including food for the evening. It was only when I had dome this and switched on the lap top that I discovered that England were playing their vital game against the West Indies within a few minutes. The restaurants and bar attached to the Lodge had no TV so the next action was to go to another mother across the roadway. Yes this was a TV pub but alas it was football showing as England were playing in an under 21 competition. I decided to listen to the cricket on the internet radio ans then found a difficulty but there was a commentary on Talk Sport available on the TV relay. Within a few overs it was evident this was not to be England’s day. I blame Paul Collingwood. They were beaten by the West Indies in a rain affected match where the operation Duckworth Lewis system meant the opposition had only to score 80 in nine overs. I was ready for an early bed after so much walking in the hot sun so after the evening use up and make up meal I was in bed and asleep, looking forward to going over to the island in the morning.
Before then I had moved the car closer to the Lodge entrance once the sun had set. Apart from the cricket I was very satisfied with my day. It was the second part of completing the trip commenced the previous year. I had visited central Oxford and the naval base. I knew that my unfinished business with the Island would continue unfinished because of such a short visit.
It was Monday June 15th, a week ago and I woke early at the Oxford Travel Lodge and was away before eight o’clock, first calling at the reception to report that the hot water tap did not function and I had obtained hot water by taking cupfuls from the bath taps I then got petrol and set off immediately making a route mistake. I had forgotten that I had come off the A34 at the adjacent roundabout and reversed to the next and for some now inexplicable reason set off towards Witney. Nor can I pretend that after forty years I had triggered an automatic homing button which used to take me daily towards Witney and beyond and back, every day for three years in work as a child care officer for Oxfordshire County Council. No, I simply was not on the ball and paid the penalty by having to continue to the Cassington turn off, the village where the Children’s Officer lived until her death. It took sometime for the traffic lights to let me turn and then by the time I had reversed that had changed again and a further wait was necessary. Then there was a hold up because of work on the bridge, the bridge in question carried the A34 from North to South Oxford and then I had a further slow down approaching the roundabout in the early morning rush hour and continuing to reverse the journey just made to take the left turn up the rising slip road onto the A34. There was then further delay approaching the turn off to Oxford and the M40 at Botley Bridge.
It was therefore a relief to have an open road and I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I was approaching the turn off Winchester with the M3 and the M27 ahead. Before then I had a service area stop for coffee and a roll, may be two. I was already thinking that on the return journey I would skip the M27 spur of some twenty miles from the outskirts of Southampton, past the airport and the Rosebowl turnoff before coming to the M275, and instead take the M27 back just a little way in the other direction and join the A3 road to the M25 and M1. On Monday I continued to almost the end of the M275 coming off at the main roundabout just beforehand but missing the second exist turn to the Portsmouth Travel Lodge and had to continue to the next even bigger roundabout and then back but without needing to rejoin the M275 and taking a lower road to the original roundabout and taking the correct exit to where within sight and opposite a large office block there was the Travel Lodge with a large restaurant fronting the road way. I entered the large car park and discovered there was a vacant space one of eight undercover . Understandably the hotel reception is from within the car park from the far end to where I had parked with an entrance into the restaurant adjacent. I thought it wise to check that it was OK to leave to the vehicle until registering later in the day and found there was no problem and the registration number was not required then or later, It was only 10.30 am so I had the rest of the day to explore Portsmouth. First I had some more food and coffee prepared at Oxford and then reorganised the car so that there was little luggage in evidence. I had seen a couple go towards a road which was between the hotel and the overhead roadway and decided to follow the to a bus stop where there appeared to be buses going direct to the city centre and to The Hard which I believed was the bus station adjacent to the port station and to the Gunwharf Quays, the new shopping and restaurant development with the Spinnaker Tower, the second highest building in the UK and which I was to learn and cost twice as much as planned and where the civic party had become stuck in the lift for several hours on the first day. (£35.6 million). It was designed for the Millennium but came in six years late and required public funding, nearly a third by the city council.
I got on the first bus and unsure about its direct got off at the city centre thinking I was closer to the front than I was and then got on another to the bus and train station at the front. This was all to good when it came to return journey that evening and going for the car ferry in the morning. This is because Portsmouth has been organised on an effective one way system but which confuses ones north south east west sense of direction. I hoped I would complete the visit I had commenced a year ago to extraordinary Naval Dockyard attractions, the restored MHS Warrior, the first Iron Warship and the fully restored HMS Victory. The remains of the earliest surviving Warship in the World from the 16th century the Mary Rose, together with the presently separate museum and shop. The Three enormous Museum buildings which includes presentations about Nelson and the modern Navy as well as a topsail from the vessel. Action Stations a large activity centre for young people and there is one the largest collections of antiques of every description for sale or just to look at. The all in one ticket which lasts a year to enable as second visit to see anything left on the first includes a trip around the harbour where one can get of if you wish at the Gunwharf Quays and the Spinnaker Tower.
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