Well, when I first decided to write a blog, it was going to be about me, my life, my new business and my hobbies.  However, I've found myself ranting in my head about things going on in and around Baffins, which is where I live.

The other morning, as I was ranting to myself about another perceived injustice, I thought, why don't I write my issues down here.  True, it may be that no-one reads my blog, but it gets it off my chest!

I shall first let you know a little bit of background.
I am not Portsmouth born & bred.  I only moved to 'Pompey' 7 years ago.  Before then, I lived in the Kent countryside.  I enjoyed walks across fields with my dog.  I regularly saw sparrows, thrushes & blackbirds in my garden - in fact, it was quite an inconvenience to be awoken by birdsong at 3am in the summer!!  Now.  Having lived in Portsmouth for 7 years, I would give anything to be woken by birdsong in the morning........instead, more often than not, I am nudged from my sleep either by the sound of drunken yobs shouting as they go by my front door at 3am, or by sirens (presumably police or ambulance), who are on their way to drunken yobs!  The only birds brave enough to venture into my city garden are starlings, and rarely, a blue tit or great tit.  I can honestly say I have never seen a sparrow or a thrush in my garden in all the time I have lived here.

This, I believe, is something to do with the lack of trees in Portsmouth.......and it is one of my pet-hates to see trees cut down, just because they are inconvenient.  As I look out of my office window now, I can see no 'greenery' anywhere, no grass, no plants......only the occasional brave weed, squeezing out from a crack in the drab, grey tarmac.

I was horrified, mortified....and lots of other words ending in 'ied' a while ago, when, on my regular commute between Baffins and North End, while waiting at the New Road traffic lights (I'll get onto them later), I saw some 'butcher' felling the most beautiful tree that the locality had to offer.  I have no idea why it was decided to cut it down, and I was very saddened to see it being disected.  I often used to look at the branches and leaves swaying in the breeze as I waited at the traffic lights, and it used to kind of buoy me up a bit.  It seemed to restore my faith in nature for a while.  It really was like a small oasis in a desert of cement & concrete.
Well, now it's been reduced to a sad stump, and instead of a beautiful Robinia tree, you see more brick, more cement, and the back of some rather unattractive houses..............mmmm, yes that's much better.  I can see exactly why the decision was made to cull it!!

What is it with people wanting to seemingly erase every piece of nature in this place?  I am very lucky to live nearby to Baffins pond & the surrounding park, and I'm quite certain that it's that which keeps me from going quite mad.
But, even that was blighted a while ago, when the work on Copnor bridge was undertaken.  In their wisdom, someone decided to bulldoze the bowling green at the top of Tangier Road, to make way for a railway works yard.  The bridge has been completed for some time now, but instead of returning the bowling green to where it was, they got permission to build a new bowling green on a designated Brent Goose nature reserve.......I wonder how the council got permission to do that?  Oh, that's right, they gave themselves permission.
So now the old bowling green on Tangier Road is standing vacant.  Hmmmm, let me think, I wonder what they're going to do with that, maybe make a small park for the local residents, maybe some swings, slides, rose bushes or replacement trees.  I doubt it.
What they'll do, is build more flats.  Because Portsmouth really needs more residences!  Will they provide plenty of parking for the 50 or so (I'd guess) flats that they could squeeze onto that piece of land.  Nah, course not (parking will be another of my rantings).

Anyway, I feel slightly better after venting my spleen.
Watch this space for more moanings.......if you can stand them!
Bye for now.

 

 

It's taken me a few weeks to write some more of my blog, due to the comments of someone who appeared to take umbridge at me saying that I thought Portsmouth was too overpopulated, and that I was saddened by a tree being felled.
For that particular person's information, I can't "go back to Kent", as you so eloquently put it, as I moved down here to be with my now-husband.  He is Portsmouth born and bred, his parents are Portsmouth born and bred, his grandparents are Portsmouth born and bred, his great-grandparents are..........do you see where I'm going with this one??
I would dearly love to move back to Kent, but I made the decision to be with my husband, so that's that - not that it's any of your business to be honest, but considering the verbal bullying I received from you (I was physically shaking as I read your bigoted, offensive and misinformed tirade), I felt I had to justify my mere existence on this hallowed ground that is Portsmouth.

I shall recommence my 'formal' blog, as and when I have something worthwhile commenting on, that won't offend one of the 250000 people who currently reside on this tiny piece of land.

Silly me.  I thought a blog was somewhere that you could write about the things that were important to you, the things that made you sad, that made you happy, that made you angry and that made you laugh.
Clearly I was wrong.

Well......I've been meaning to do this for ages, but have never actually got around to actually sitting and typing.
So much has been going on in my life, and sitting down to write about it is not something I've had the time to do.

I really don't know where to start.  Ok, well lets tell you a little bit about me.  I'm a mum to a 4 year old and an 11 month old.
I used to work for HM Revenue and Customs in Portsmouth, but decided to leave after completing my maternity leave, in order to start up (sort of) my own business.
It's been a long time in the making, and has meant that my husband has made sacrifices in his own career progression in order for me to progress mine.  This is something I will be eternally grateful for.

In May this year, my ambition was finally fulfilled when I opened a branch of my family's stonemasonry business - The Stone Shop.  I'd been wanting to do this for a long time, but something had always cropped up to put a kybosh on things.  Well, in April this year, everything just seemed to slot neatly into place and I managed to open my shop.

It's going ok, and I am making slow but steady progress.
So, this is one aspect of my life which has changed.

Additionally, my eldest son is starting school next week.  I'm filled with so many emotions about this rite of passage for him.  Pride - for him being so brave about starting school; Sadness - to acknowledge that my baby is growing up; Trepidation - I want to protect him fiercely, but know that he must learn to protect himself; and Excitement - he will have so many experiences, that will help to mould his character.

On top of this, I also have my 11 month old, who will be joining me at work for the foreseable future.....at least, until he wreaks more havoc than I can willingly deal with!!

Finally, to top it all off, I've decided to start up a branch of my morris dancing team.
Before I moved to Portsmouth, I spent 21 years dancing with a morris team in Kent, The Loose Women (www.loosewomen.org.uk).  I realised that there wasn't a similar type of team down here, and have ummed and ahhed about starting a team here for the last seven years.  Well, with all the changes in my life, I thought "in for a penny, in for a pound" and decided to start up the Loose Cannons (www.loose-cannons.org.uk). The team has got it's first practice next Sunday (14th Sept).  Contact me if you fancy having a go, we always need new girlie members and any musicians.

So, that's my life in a nutshell at the moment.  My intention is to do a new blog at least on a weekly basis - maybe more if 'stuff' happens.