#Southampton Village

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United Women 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion Women

At this point, we might as well just say Nikita Parris rather than United. The girl keeps scoring 😂

For all my criticism of Mark Skinner, the decision to move Parris central and keep Geyse out wide right is paying dividends - with the Liverpudlian doing her best for United and continuing a hot streak of form.

Two goals from the forward in the 9th and 64th minute gave United the win at Leigh Sports Village against a tricky Brighton side who, whilst lacking the same goal threat, still managed to test Mary Earps on a few occasions with difficult stops.

The win keeps United in touching distance of Arsenal in third, and Skinner will need to keep the wins coming in if we're to stay in any sort of Champions League position contest. A title race seems too far from here, especially with Chelsea so resolute. Sam Kerr missing hasn't dulled their potency at all, though perhaps Emma Hayes' departure has them all fired up for a big send off. It's a common motivator...

United travel to Eastleigh next Saturday to face Southampton in the FA Cup, but then it's an away visit to the Emirates on the 17th to face off with Arsenal - a must-win for United.

[publicobsessions]

[wearetekkenrp]

Above Ground - Pool Picture of a sizable backyard with gravel and an above-ground pool in the beach style

[comicaurora]

Could you write a Trope Talk episode about characters that are the last of their kind, e.g., Aang, King from The Owl House? Even Thomas the Tank Engine is canonically the last of a class of Southampton dock switchers.

Honestly, that could be really interesting to unpack! For some reason it feels like doing character origins on easy mode. It's also very funny how almost every "last of their kind" story eventually has a sequel where the Last Of Their Kind finds the hidden village where The Rest Of The Last Of Their Kind have been secretly hanging out without them

[mindblowingscience]

A team of archaeologists, co-led by a researcher at the University of Southampton, believe they have located the site of the lost Monastery of Deer in Northeast Scotland. It is believed that the earliest written Scots Gaelic in the world was produced in the monastery in the late 11th and early 12th century. These texts, Gaelic land grants, were placed in the margins of the Book of Deer, a pocket gospel book originally written between 850AD and 1000AD. Academics have long speculated that these entries, or 'addenda' were added while the book was in the monastery. Archaeologists believe they have now found the building's remains just 80 meters from the ruins of Deer Abbey (founded in 1219), close to the village of Mintlaw in Aberdeenshire. Alice Jaspars, Ph.D. researcher from the Archaeology department at the University of Southampton, led the archaeological investigations, working with Site Director Ali Cameron of Cameron Archaeology. They will present their findings in a lecture to the Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (23 November) and also feature in a new documentary about the project for BBC Alba (20 November, 9 pm).

Continue Reading.

[worsethankonstantinlevin]

Anti-fascist counter demos in the UK on Wednesday the 7th and Friday the 9th of August

There are going to be a new round of anti-immigrant fascist riots in the UK on Wednesday the 7th of August and Friday the 9th. If you are able to get to one of the counter-demos, and it is safe for you to do so (and I'm including safe for your mental health; please don't push yourself too far), it's really important to go. Not only to physically stop the fascists from burning down immigration lawyers' practices or attacking Muslims in the street, but to stand up and be counted. This is a terrifying time to be an immigrant or a person of colour in the UK, and seeing the fascists outnumbered and humiliated by decent people can go some way to making it less bad.

Stay safe:

come early, well before the fascists assemble

Wear a mask, not only to avoid police surveillance but to avoid being doxxed by the fascists

Don't carry identifying information, such as credit cards, in case the police arrest you

Write the number for a protest lawyer on your arm so you won't lose it

Bring water

Bring suncream

Bring a friend if you can

Wear comfortable shoes

Stand Up to Racism has thhe best list of organised counter-demos. I wouldn't advise turning up to oppose a fascist march if you're not sure whether a counter demo has been called, but here's a list of places the far right has singled out to target on Wednesday at 8pm, so you know broadly whether your city is on the list:

ALDERSHOT

Immigration Advisors Ltd, Victoria Road, GU11 1TH

CANTERBURY

UK Immigration Clinic, Canterbury Innovation Centre, CT2 7FG

CHATHAM

Immigration Status UK, Maidstone Road, ME5 9FD

CHELMSFORD

UK Immigration Information Centre, Violet Close, CM1 6XG

BEDFORD

Immigration INN, Ford End Road, MK40 4JT

BIRMINGHAM

Refugee and migrant centre, Frederick Street, B1 3HN

BLACKBURN

Rafiq Immigration Services, Whalley Road, BB5 1AA

BLACKPOOL

Immigration Solicitors, Enterprise Centre, Lytham Road, FY1 1EW

BOLTON

Deane & Bolton Immigration lawyers, Chorley new road, BL1 4QR

BRENTFORD

UK Immigration Help, Great West End, TW8 9HH

BRIGHTON

Raj Rayan Immigration, Queens Road, BN1 3XF

BRISTOL

Gya Williams Immigration, West Street, BS2 0BL

CHEADLE

Intime Immigration Services, Brooks Drive, SK8 3TD

DERBY

Immigration advisory Service, Normanton Road, DE23 6US HARROW

Yes UK Immigration, Pinner Road, HA1 4HN

HASTINGS

Black Rock Immigration, Cambridge Gardens, TN34 1EN

HULL

Conroy Baker Immigration Lawyer, Norwich House, Savile Street, HU1 3ES

KENT

Kent Immigration and advice, Castle Hill Road, CT16 1QG

LINCOLN

Immigration Lawyer Services, Carlton Mews, LN2 4FJ

LIVERPOOL

Merseyside Refugee Centre, Overbury Street, L7 3HJ

MIDDLESBOROUGH

Immigration advice centre, Linthorpe Road, TS1 4AT

NEWCASTLE United Immigration Services - Westgate Road, NE4 9PQ

NORTH FINCHLEY

Immigration and Nationality Services, Percy Road, N128BU

NORTHAMPTON

Zenith Immigration Lawyers, Talbot Road, NN1 4JB

NOTTINGHAM East Midlands Immigration Services - Stonesbury Vale NG2 7UR

OLDHAM

Expert Immigration - Ellen Street 0L9 6QR

OXFORD

Asylum Welcome, Magdelen Road, OX4 1RE

PETERBOROUGH

Smart Immigration Services, Lincoln Road, PE1 2PN

PORTSMOUTH

UK Border Agency, Kettering Terrace, PO2 8QN

PRESTON

Adriana Immigration Services, Church Street PR1 3BS

ROTHERHAM

Parker Rhodes Immigration Lawyer, The Point S60 1BP

SHEFFIELD

White Rose Visas, Wilkinson Street, S10 2GJ

STOKE

ZR Visas, Metcalfe Road, ST6 7AZ

SOUTHAMPTON

Y-Axis Immigration Consultants, Grosvenor Square, SO15 2BG

SOUTHEND

MNS Immigration Solicitors, Ditton Court Road, SS0 7HG

SUNDERLAND

North of England Refugee Service, High Street East, SR1 2AX

TAMWORTH

Lawrencia & Co immigration solicitors, Amber Business Village, B77 4RP

WALTHAMSTOW

Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau, Hoe Street, E17 3AP

WIGAN

Support for Wigan Arrivals Project, Penson Street WN1 2LP

[buglovingbutch]

Everyone stay safe and protect your local communities if you're able to. Below is leaked targets of planned attacks on our migrant advisory services.

This is being spread by the fascists:

This is what they've posted as next list of targets.🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

WEDNESDAY NIGHT LADS

THEY WONT STOP COMING UNTIL YOU TELL THEM...

NO MORE IMMIGRATION

8PM

MASK UP

SPREAD THIS AS FAR AND WIDE AS YOU CAN

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

ALDERSHOT

- Immigration Advisors Ltd, Victoria Road, GU11 1TH

CANTERBURY

- UK Immigration Clinic, Canterbury Innovation Centre, CT2 7FG

CHATHAM

- Immigration Status UK, Maidstone Road, ME5 9FD

CHELMSFORD

- UK Immigration Information Centre, Violet Close, CM1 6XG

BEDFORD

- Immigration INN, Ford End Road, MK40 4JT

BIRMINGHAM

- Refugee and migrant centre, Frederick Street, B1 3HN

BLACKBURN

- Rafiq Immigration Services, Whalley Road, BB5 1AA

BLACKPOOL

- Immigration Solicitors, Enterprise Centre, Lytham Road, FY1 1EW

BOLTON

- Deane & Bolton Immigration lawyers, Chorley new road, BL1 4QR

BRENTFORD

- UK Immigration Help, Great West End, TW8 9HH

BRIGHTON

- Raj Rayan Immigration, Queens Road, BN1 3XF

BRISTOL

- Gya Williams Immigration, West Street, BS2 0BL

CHEADLE

- Intime Immigration Services, Brooks Drive, SK8 3TD

DERBY

- Immigration advisory Service, Normanton Road, DE23 6US

HARROW

- Yes UK Immigration, Pinner Road, HA1 4HN

HASTINGS

- Black Rock Immigration, Cambridge Gardens, TN34 1EN

HULL

- Conroy Baker Immigration Lawyer, Norwich House, Savile Street, HU1 3ES

KENT

- Kent Immigration and advice, Castle Hill Road, CT16 1QG

LINCOLN

- Immigration Lawyer Services, Carlton Mews, LN2 4FJ

LIVERPOOL

- Merseyside Refugee Centre, Overbury Street, L7 3HJ

MIDDLESBOROUGH

- Immigration advice centre, Linthorpe Road, TS1 4AT

NEWCASTLE

United Immigration Services - Westgate Road, NE4 9PQ

NORTH FINCHLEY

- Immigration and Nationality Services, Percy Road, N128BU

NORTHAMPTON

- Zenith Immigration Lawyers, Talbot Road, NN1 4JB

NOTTINGHAM

East Midlands Immigration Services - Stonesbury Vale NG2 7UR

OLDHAM

- Expert Immigration - Ellen Street 0L9 6QR

OXFORD

- Asylum Welcome, Magdelen Road, OX4 1RE

PETERBOROUGH

- Smart Immigration Services, Lincoln Road, PE1 2PN

PORTSMOUTH

- UK Border Agency, Kettering Terrace, PO2 8QN

PRESTON

- Adriana Immigration Services, Church Street PR1 3BS

ROTHERHAM

- Parker Rhodes Immigration Lawyer, The Point S60 1BP

SHEFFIELD

- White Rose Visas, Wilkinson Street, S10 2GJ

STOKE

- ZR Visas, Metcalfe Road, ST6 7AZ

SOUTHAMPTON

- Y-Axis Immigration Consultants, Grosvenor Square, SO15 2BG

SOUTHEND

- MNS Immigration Solicitors, Ditton Court Road, SS0 7HG

SUNDERLAND

- North of England Refugee Service, High Street East, SR1 2AX

TAMWORTH

- Lawrencia & Co immigration solicitors, Amber Business Village, B77 4RP

WALTHAMSTOW

- Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau, Hoe Street, E17 3AP

WIGAN

- Support for Wigan Arrivals Project, Penson Street WN1 2LP

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royal’s Official Engagements in July 2023

01/07 Princess Anne accompanied by Sir Tim, opened the 30th Scottish Traditional Boat Festival at Portsoy Harbour. ⛴️

03/07 As Chancellor of Harper Adams University, visited the University’s Future Farm, Edgmond and met the 2023 Marshal Papworth Foundation Scholars. 👩‍🎓

As Patron, Scottish Fisheries Museum’s Reaper Appeal visited the Scottish Fisheries Museum in St. Ayles, Anstruther. 🎣

04/07 Visited Strathcarron Hospice, Denny. 👩‍⚕️

As Colonel-in-Chief of the Intelligence Corps, attended a 5 Military Intelligence Battalion Training Night at the Army Reserve Centre, Edinburgh. 💂

05/07 As part of Holyrood week in Edinburgh, Princess Anne carried out the following engagements;

Opened the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, at NHS Lothian as part of #NHS75 celebrations. 🧸

Opened King’s Buildings Nucleus Building at the University of Edinburgh. 👩‍🎓

Launched WETWHEELS EDINBURGH Accessible Boat at Port Edgar Marina. 🦽🛥️

Attended a Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria for Eric Liddell 100 programme. 🍽️

06/07 As President of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, attended the Textile Institute World Conference at the University of Huddersfield. 🪡

Opened Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s Maternity Theatre at Bradford Royal Infirmary.🤰

As Colonel of The Blues and Royals, with Sir Tim, took the salute at the Household Division Beating Retreat on Horse Guards Parade. 🫡

07/07 Attended a Charity Polo Day at Cirencester Park Polo Club for the Spinal Injuries Association 🐎

11/07 Visited Flintshire Adult Day Care Centre, Hwb Cyfle in Queensferry, Wales. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

HRH, as the new Patron of BASC (British Association for Shooting and Conservation) visited their Headquarters at Marford Mill, Wrexham, Wales. 🦡

12/07 Visited St Helena’s Nursing Campus at the University of Derby in Chesterfield. 👩‍⚕️

Opened Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s new Urgent and Emergency Care Department. 🏥

Attended a Reception at Rolls-Royce Learning and Development Centre for the Motor Neurone Association. 🚘

13/07 Sir Tim represented the Princess Royal at a service of thanksgiving for the life of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Boyce at Westminster Abbey. ⚓️

Princess Anne opened the King’s Arch at Government House, visited the Tortoise Takeover Trail at Gorey Castle and subsequently opened the Tortoise Tunnel at Jersey Zoo. 🇯🇪🐢

Princess Anne with Sir Tim, later attended the Royal Academy of Engineering Annual Awards Dinner at the Londoner Hotel in Leicester Square, London. 🏆

14/07 Opened the new Southampton Citizens Advice Bureau and visited DP World Shipping Container Terminal. ⛴️

15/07 As Colonel-in-Chief of the Intelligence Corps, attended their Annual Corps Day at Chicksands. 🪖

18/07 Princess Anne and Sir Tim carried out the following engagements in Kent;

Opened a new affordable housing development at Bartlett Close, Staple, Canterbury, followed by a Reception at Staple Village Hall. 🏡

Visited St James’s Cemetery in Dover in her role as Patron of the Remembrance Trust 🫡

Visited Folkestone National Coastguard Institution Station in Folkestone to mark its 25th Anniversary, followed by a Reception at Folkestone Yacht and Motorboat Club. 🚨

19/07 In South Wales, visited Barry Citizens Advice Bureaux in her role of Patron of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and later visited HM Prison Cardiff in her role of Patron of the Butler Trust. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

20/07 Joined the ship’s company of HMS Albion and visited Clyde Marina near Glasgow, Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

21/07 Princess Anne and Sir Tim attended a Dinner at the Royal Ocean Racing Club Clubhouse, to celebrate the 50th Edition of the Fastnet Race in Cowes, Isle of Wight. 🛥️

27/07 Attended the Tall Ships Races Captains’ Dinner at Lerwick Town Hall, Lerwick, Shetland Islands. 👨‍✈️🍽️

28/07 Visited ships in Lerwick Harbour taking part in the Tall Ships Races. 🚢🏁

29/07 With Sir Tim, attended the King George Day at Ascot Racecourse. 🏆🐎

30/07 Princess Anne and Sir Tim visited Cowes, Isle of Wight for Cowes Week and carried out the following engagements;

Viewed Cowes Week Racing and met Squadron Staff at the Royal Yacht Squadron. 🛥️

Visited HMS Tyne and The Royal Navy Stand. ⛴️

Attended a Church Service at Holy Trinity Church. ⛪️

Attended a Reception for Members, Racing Crews, Flag Officers and Sailing Associates at the Royal Yacht Squadron. 🥂

Total official engagements for Anne in July: 42

2023 total so far: 304

Total official engagements accompanied by Tim in July: 14

2023 total so far: 70

[stephensmithuk]

A Study in Scarlet Chapter 1

This novel was originally published in 1887 as part of Beeton's Christmas Annual.

Netley is a village near Southampton, home to a military hospital that was opened in 1863 and at 435m long, was the longest building in the world at the time. It saw use in both World Wars, but fell into disrepair after that - after a 1963 fire damaged much of the building, the place was demolished in 1966 and only the chapel remains. A military psychiatric facility remained on site until 1978,

The Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers is now part of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, whose 5th Battalion is today a Reserve regiment.

The 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot disappeared in 1881 as part of army reforms, being one of the ancestors of the modern day The Rifles.

The Battle of Maiwand on 27 July 1880 was one of the key battles of the Second Anglo-Afghan War; to put it simply, it was a heavy British loss although the Afghans, led by Ayub Khan, themselves had a lot of casualties themselves. Two Victoria Crosses were awarded for the battle and the retreat afterwards. Khan's forces were decisively defeated a month later at the Battle of Kandahar, the British ultimately winning that war.

A jezail was a handcrafted long-barreled rifle; very accurate for their time, they were generally highly decorated as well. Some saw use against Soviet forces in that particular conflict in Afghanistan.

Enteric fever is another name for typhoid fever; even with modern treatment, the death rate can be 1-4%.

The Criterion Restuarant is located on 224 Piccadilly and a plaque commemorating Watson's meeting with Stamford was added by the Baker Street Irregulars in 1981. It is currently closed, but the current owners plan to turn it into an Indian restaurant with as much decor as the listed building status allows.

The Bunsen burner was developed in the 1850s by German chemist Robert Bunsen and his assistant Peter Desaga.

Police News of the Past references The Illustrated Police News, a sensationalised tabloid newspaper that ran from 1864 to 1938.

[officiallordvetinari]

Below are 10 articles randomly chosen from Wikipedia's Featured Articles list. Brief descriptions and links are below the cut.

Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures' 1931 film Frankenstein. As with the first film, Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale starring Boris Karloff as the Monster and Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein. The sequel features Elsa Lanchester in the dual role of Mary Shelley and the bride.

Chew Stoke is a small village and civil parish in the affluent Chew Valley, in Somerset, England, about 8 miles (13 km) south of Bristol and 10 miles north of Wells. It is at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, a region designated by the United Kingdom as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is within the Bristol and Bath green belt.

David Hillhouse Buel Jr. (July 19, 1862 – May 23, 1923) was an American priest who served as the president of Georgetown University. A Catholic priest and Jesuit for much of his life, he later left the Jesuit order to marry, and subsequently left the Catholic Church to become an Episcopal priest.

Denbies is a large estate to the northwest of Dorking in Surrey, England. A farmhouse and surrounding land originally owned by John Denby was purchased in 1734 by Jonathan Tyers, the proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens in London, and converted into a weekend retreat. The house he built appears to have been of little architectural significance, but the Gothic garden he developed in the grounds on the theme of death achieved some notoriety, despite being short-lived.

Courbet was the lead ship of her class of four dreadnought battleships, the first ones built for the French Navy. She was completed shortly before the start of World War I in August 1914.

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate dietary therapy that in conventional medicine is used mainly to treat hard-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates.

The football match between Manchester United and Ipswich Town played at Old Trafford, Manchester, on 4 March 1995 as part of the 1994–95 FA Premier League finished in a 9–0 victory for the home team. The result stands as the joint record, with Southampton having subsequently lost by the same scoreline at home to Leicester City in 2019 and away at Manchester United in 2021, while Bournemouth also lost 9–0 to Liverpool in 2022.

M-185 is a state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan that circles Mackinac Island, a popular tourist destination on the Lake Huron side of the Straits of Mackinac, along the island's shoreline. A narrow paved road of 8.004 miles (12.881 km), it offers scenic views of the straits that divide the Upper and the Lower peninsulas of Michigan and Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Santa María de Óvila is a former Cistercian monastery built in Spain beginning in 1181 on the Tagus River near Trillo, Guadalajara, about 90 miles (140 km) northeast of Madrid. During prosperous times over the next four centuries, construction projects expanded and improved the small monastery. Its fortunes declined significantly in the 18th century, and in 1835 it was confiscated by the Spanish government and sold to private owners who used its buildings to shelter farm animals.

Sarcoscypha coccinea, commonly known as the scarlet elf cup, or the scarlet cup, is a species of fungus in the family Sarcoscyphaceae of the order Pezizales. The fungus, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, has been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia.

[ccohanlon]

how i live

I woke at midnight, last night, to a hard sou’westerly and the floor moving in three directions at once — pitching, rolling, rising-and-falling. Now, six hours later, the wind has moderated. Everything is still. The rest of the world is obscured by grey mist and sporadic showers, as if the sky has fallen across the shore.

I climb up a short ladder to the companionway to check that all is well on deck — it’s the first thing I do every morning — then I return to my bunk to download email and read a couple of news sites on a laptop before my wife wakes and we have a cup of coffee together across the varnished teak table that separates our bunks.

We talk about what we want to do today and waste a minute or two trying to agree a time-table before giving up. For half a decade, we have scraped by with a minimum of routine or planning. We are singularly unadept at making lists or coordinating diaries. We end up doing most things together. Today, we will pick up some paint and shackles at a chandlery and find a local metal fabricator to repair or replicate a damaged stainless steel stanchion. We also have to buy some groceries. But first I want to repair our rubber dinghy.

My wife and I live on a 32-foot sailboat. It is a life-raft of sorts. It is also an island on which we are trying to regain an unsettled but sheltered freedom after several years of being homeless. Most days, we feel like castaways, with no hope of ever being rescued.

It’s hard to explain how we ended up here. Moving aboard was not a ‘lifestyle choice’ but an act of quiet desperation. We had dropped out of a life in which I had somehow ended up running two well-known, medium-sized companies, one of them publicly listed — before those roles, I had been a musician, gambler, seaman, smuggler, photographer, magazine editor, and governmental adviser — and we had taken to wandering slowly across Europe, the UK, and North Africa. After a year holed up on the southern coast of Spain, a few miles east of Gibraltar, riding out the worst of the pandemic, we moved to southern Italy, where we acquired, and set about restoring, a small ruin, part of servants’ quarters attached to a 16th century Spanish castle, in a village not far from Lecce, in Puglia. We had just completed the work, two years later, when the local Questura, the office of the Carabinieri that oversees Italian immigration, rejected our third application for temporary residence and issued a formal instruction to us to leave Italy — and Europe’s Schengen zone.

The boat was not something we thought through in any detail. I had spent a lot of time at sea in my youth and had lived on sailing boats of various sizes on the Channel coasts of England and France, as well as in the Mediterranean. Which is to say, I had an understanding of their discomforts. But the prospect of resuming a life that, before we ended up in southern Italy, involved moving every three months — not just from one temporary accommodation to another but from one country to another, so as not to contravene the terms of our largely visa-less travel — had exhausted us. I made an offer on a cheap, neglected, 45-year-old, fibreglass sloop I had come across online and organised a marine surveyor to look it over for me. He gave it a cautious thumbs up.

I won’t forget my wife’s dolorous expression, a month later, when she saw the boat for the first time. It was in an industrial area of Southampton, on a dreich morning in early spring — bitterly cold, windy, and raining. Around us, the Itchen River’s ebb had revealed swathes of black, foul-smelling mud. Raised far from the sea, on the plains of north-eastern Oklahoma, my wife told me later she had been praying that our journey to this glum backwater was part of some elaborate practical joke.

There is a whole genre of YouTube videos created by those who live on sailboats full-time and voyage all over the world. The most popular, the so-called ‘influencers’, are young(ish) couples or families with capacious, often European-built, plastic catamarans or monohulls. Their videos focus less on the gritty, day-to-day grind of boat maintenance and passage-making and more on sojourns in ancient, stone-built harbours in the Mediterranean, white, sandy beaches and palm-fringed cays in the Caribbean, or improbably blue lagoons and solitary atolls in the South Pacific, where they barbecue fresh fish, paddle-board, kite-surf and practice yoga and aerial silks for the envy of hundreds of thousands of followers. My wife’s and my life aboard together is nothing like any of this.

We are both in our sixties — I am just a year away from seventy — and we have spent more than a decade on the move around the world, at first following eclectic opportunities for employment then, when those opportunities receded, in search of somewhere we might be able to settle with very little money. Four months after moving aboard our boat, we still think of ourselves as vagabond travellers, our boat a shambolic, floating vardo that we haven’t yet managed to turn into a home. We’re not really ‘cruisers’, despite the sense of community we sometimes find among them, but we are seafarers — historically, a marginal existence driven by necessity. A recent, 150-nautical-mile passage westward along the south coast of England was a shakedown during which we learned how to make our aged, shabby vessel more comfortable and easier to handle and to trust her capacity to keep us safe at sea.

She bore the name Endymion when we bought her — after my least favourite poem by John Keats (“A thing of beauty is a joy forever…”) — but we re-named her Wrack. Depending on the source, ‘wrack’ describes seaweeds or seagrasses that wash up along a shore or the scattered traces of a shipwreck, either of which might be metaphors for my wife and me in old age. It is certainly how we feel when we’re not at sea. Life aboard Wrack is spartan — fresh water stored in a dozen polyethylene jerry cans, no hot or cold running water, no refrigeration and when the temperature drops, no heating either — so, from time to time, we concede the cost of berthing in marinas to gain access to on-site laundries, showers, flushing toilets, and wi-fi. Whether we’re berthed or anchored somewhere, we shop for food once a week — mainly vegetables, fruit, bread, pasta, and rice but little dairy and no meat — and eat one meal a day, cooked in the mid-afternoon on a two-burner gas stove.

The days we spend in close proximity to others’ lives ashore remind us how disenfranchised ours have become. We were homeless before we acquired Wrack, but now we are without a legal residence anywhere, even in our ‘home’ countries. We enter and exit borders uneasily as ‘visitors’, our stays limited to 90 or 180 days, depending on where we are. We have no access to banking, insurance, social services or, with a few exceptions, emergency health care. Even the modest Australian pensions we have a right to can only be received if we have been granted residence in countries with which Australia has reciprocal arrangements — and we haven’t. It’s hard even for other live-aboards to understand how deeply we are enmired in this peculiar bureaucratic statelessness. It’s harder for us to deal with it every day.

But life afloat provides consolations. We are ceaselessly attuned to the weather and our boat’s responses to subtle shifts in the sea state, tide and wind even when we are tethered to a dock. We appreciate the shelter — and surprising cosiness — the limited space below decks affords us but the impulse to surrender to the elements and let them propel us elsewhere is insistent. Our best days are offshore, even when the conditions are testing; the world shrinks to just the two of us, our boat and the implacable, mutable sea around us. Whatever problems we face ashore become, at least for the duration of a passage, abstract and insignificant. We sail without a specific destination — ‘towards’ rather than ‘to’, as traditional navigators would have it — and without purpose. Time drifts.

At least half of every day is spent maintaining, repairing, or re-organising the boat, an unavoidable and time-consuming part of our days, especially at sea. When we’re at anchor or berthed in a marina, we do what we can to sustain ourselves. Most afternoons are spent prospecting for drips of income from journalism and crowd-funding — a source inspired by those younger YouTube adventurers — or adding a few hundred words to a manuscript for a non-fiction book commissioned by a Dutch publisher, whose patience has been stretched to breaking point. Because of our visitor visa status, we can’t seek gainful employment ashore, and we have long since lost contact with any of the networks that once provided us with a higher-than-average income as freelancers. Our existence, by any definition, is impoverished and perilously marginal, we have little social life, yet we make the effort to appreciate our circumstances, even if it’s just to sit together in silence and absorb the elemental white noise of wind and sea, to do nothing, to not think.

Our precariousness burdens our four adult children, who have scattered to San Diego, Sydney, Berlin and Rome: “Where are you now?” our youngest asks. “How long will you be there?” We speak to each at least once a week. Not all of them long for fixedness but they do want desperately for us to have a ‘real home’, somewhere we can assemble occasionally as a family. We will be grandparents for the first time, soon. Like our few friends, our children worry that we might become lost — in every sense.

My wife and I are uncomfortably aware of our financial and physical vulnerability but at our ages, we can no longer cling to the faint hope that there’s an end to it. We have committed to an unlikely, reckless voyage. All we can do is maintain a rough dead reckoning of its course and embrace the uncharted and the relentless unexpected.

First published in The Idler, UK, 2023.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.3 (after 1900)

1913 – Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors. 1938 – World speed record for a steam locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 miles per hour (202.58 km/h). 1938 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield. 1940 – World War II: The Royal Navy attacks the French naval squadron in Algeria, to ensure that it will not fall under German control. Of the four French battleships present, one is sunk, two are damaged, and one escapes back to France. 1944 – World War II: The Minsk Offensive clears German troops from the city. 1952 – The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the United States Congress. 1952 – The SS United States sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship takes the Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary. 1967 – The Aden Emergency: The Battle of the Crater in which the British Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders retake the Crater district following the Arab Police mutiny. 1970 – The Troubles: The "Falls Curfew" begins in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 1970 – Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashes into the Les Agudes mountain in the Montseny Massif near the village of Arbúcies in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard. 1973 – David Bowie retires his stage persona Ziggy Stardust with the surprise announcement that it is "the last show that we'll ever do" on the last day of the Ziggy Stardust Tour. 1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. 1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard. 1988 – The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus. 1996 – British Prime Minister John Major announced the Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland. 2013 – President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is removed from office by the military after four days of protests all over the country calling for his resignation, to which he did not respond. The president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Adly Mansour, is declared acting president until further elections are held.

[guerrerense]

Afternoon water stop at North Village Station por Kevin Madore Por Flickr: With about 5 hours still to go in her excursion schedule, Surry, Sussex & Southampton Railway #6 brings her excursion train into the depot at the North Village, which will include a welcome water stop at the big, red tank. As with most of the infrastructure around the Midwest Central Railroad, this water tank is fully operational. Steam crews typically stop here every couple of hours to top off the water supply in the tender, even though they are only covering about 5 miles every hour. Each time they stop for water, boiler treatment chemicals are added, to prevent prevent scale and sediment, which can not only impair boiler efficiency, but also promote corrosion of the internal surfaces, such as the flues. The railroad also conducts frequent blow-downs to clear sediment from the mudring areas of the boiler. Because blow-downs can be hazardous to bystanders, the railroad has a designated area near their yards where these are conducted with ample signs to warn pedestrians to steer clear.

[bikepackinguk]

Day One Hundred and Five

It's been 15 weeks on the road!

Whilst it doesn't manifest too often, I am a sufferer of hereditary Restless Leg Sybdrome, and last night it decided to be its wonderful self and do what it could to prevent much sleep from being had.

So, may as well get up and at 'em! It's an easy start today, extricating myself from a patch of trees by Hythe Bypass and rolling down around town to the pier at Hythe, where I don't have long to wait for my first ferry of the day.

The Hythe ferry is a catamaran style vessel, and it's a short cruise over the water to land at the docks by the city centre of Southampton.

Ruah Hour is in full swing right now, so it's some careful maneuvering to navigate around town and over the bridge across the River Itchen, before heading through the streets of Woolston to get back to the waterside.

There's a nice run along the water's edge here, before heading up through the grounds of Royal Victoria Country Park and into the nice little village of Hamble-le-Rice, which is still and quiet in the early morning.

Down to the docks and it's onto ferry #2 of the day, a tiny little pink boat that I share with a few ramblers to get across the River Hamble to reach Warsash.

Around the trails I go and it's up into some rough pathways along cornfields above the sea.

The paths meander around the fields before turning down to Hill Head, before a nice long run looking over the water through Lee-on-the-Solent.

As the road turns inland a little, the busy roads have a good few cycle paths along them, so I have a good charge down the main streets to speed my way through to the town of Gosport, where awaits my third and final ferry if today's river-hopping.

It's only a short journey across the harbour to land in the historic docks of Portsmouth, beside the famous HMS Warrior.

I'm on a bit of a schedule currently so I hit the road once more, rising through Old Portsmouth and missing a turn to take me through aome of the busier urban stretches of town, before zigging down to hit the edge of the Solent once more for a ride down past Eastney Beach.

I double back for a ride up through Eastney and along the easterly edge of Portsmouth and roll up to a hearty greeting with my lovely cousin Sarah!

The last time I was in Portsmouth was for her wedding to her lovely wife Charlotte and riding through has brought back many happy memories of the occasion, so it's all the more joyful to be able to interrupt her busy schedule as I'm treated to a beer and slap-up steak lunch. Thank you so much again and look forward to seeing you again soon cuz!

Farewells said and bellies full, I'm off along the road north as the cycle route hits some major road junctions around the north of Portsmouth, but the cycle paths track around alongside a good ways yet ao I'm spared the heavy traffic as I track around the A27 past Havant.

The route drops on to the A259 here, so it's time to put that hearty lunch to good use as I stretch the legs for a long run along the busy road awhile.

The cycle pathing here is spotty at best, and I end up just staying in the road to get some miles cranked out, and as the miles and small towns drop away it feels like practically no time at all before I hitnthe edges of Chichester.

With some twisting through town, I drop on to the towpath at the Chichester Canal to follow the cycle route down the water to Hunston, where I tack on to the B2166 as it curves around the expansive farmlands.

Along the road and jostling with plenty of tractors and school-run drivers, I keep in peddling away the miles and charge my way down through the growing suburbs and push on through to arrive at the beach at Pagham.

I have a brief pause to appreciate the view up the coast, but I've energy yet in the legs and light in the day, so am eager to keep at it.

Around through the roads of Pagham, it takes a good bit of routefinding to work my way around, but eventually ride around to hook up once morenwith NCN 2 as it restarts once more at the promenade of Bognor Regis.

My eagerness hasn't done me a great deal of favours here as I had been thinking of stopping a little short of Bognor, as it's a long urban stretch ahead with little opportunity for stealthy camping.

A bit of thinking and checking of the maps has me riding up and through the seaside town to head to the northern end of town where there look to be more possibilities to hole up for the night. I'll let you know how the scouting goes in the morrow!

TTFN!

[bandcampsnoop]

12/11/22.

Welly are a six-piece band from Southampton , England. When I first saw the cover of "Home for the Weekend / Me and Your Mates" I thought we might be hearing another Black Country, New Road - large band of young British musicians.

But from the first sound, I realized Welly are closer to Los Campesinos! combined with Art Brut. One of their hashtags is dance pop, and in a weird way, this does make me think of dance pop in the vein of early Talking Heads. There is an angular pop sound at work here.

This is the first release on Brighton-based label Goo Records.

[candm-brittany-2023]

Thursday 11th May

Yesterday evening I walked up the pontoon to have a look at the other boats. Most of them are yachts, generally 40 odd feet. Then I saw a Sun Fizz.

I haven’t seen one for years. This was the same type of boat my Dad aged 69 sailed with his mate Newlyn aged 72 from Maryland back to Southampton. 22 days at sea. Now that was intrepid!

This morning was sunny with no wind, it might have even passed for warm.

We walked to Arzal, the nearest village about 1 1/2 miles away.

There were some nice houses but the streets were very quiet.

There was a small road coming in from the left. We could hear a tractor coming so we stopped and waited. A small tractor appeared with an old man driving. When he saw us he stopped and opened the door and said something unintelligible in French with a smile on his face. We went closer to hear him better. He was telling us, joking that it was priority à droit! We laughed and he drove on.

We went to the boulangerie, the tractor was parked outside.

While we were in there the old man came in and went to go round the back, he saw us and came to talk to us. I asked him if it was his business, no it was his daughter’s. I asked him if he was a farmer. He said no but he kept horses. Do we like horses? Yes, I say. Come. He took me by the arm outside of the shop and across the road to the back of a garden. There, in the back garden of his house in the middle of the village was his horse, who was very pleased to see him