I take a tumble and the camera comes of worse.

 And it was going to be such a good day! Started well enough, although I should have known things were about to go down hill when we couldn't get into the Park and Ride car park at Portsmouth! Nothing to do with no long parking bays, no, would you believe there was a height barrier...how stupid was that! It meant that any large vehicle had to find somewhere to park on the road. An hour later travelling down roads, turning around finding a space large enough for us to fit in only to find someone had beaten us to it, we eventually found somewhere! A good walk away, mores the pity, from the Historic Boatyard where the ships we had planned to see were.

So we set off with raincoats 'cos the forecast for this afternoon was not good. Not 2 minutes into our walk and I fell flat on my face! Blimey, what a shock, and what an idiot I felt. But not my fault, as this was why

Chatting to Ian and striding along quite nicely for a change, suddenly I found myself heading for the pavement. A small grate had flipped open as I stepped on it, I could do nothing to save myself, so down I went.  That was bad enough, Knees and hands came of worse (think I sprained my right thumb as well)  but the real catastrophe was my camera. It took the full force of the fall and I just knew something bad had happened,

Gutted, this camera has already been repaired twice, spent loads of money on it and now this! I really didn't want to continue to the attractions, but tickets had already been bought online to do The Mary Rose, HMS Warrior and HMS Victory, so I had to keep going.

The hobble to the first of the ships was done in silence. I was in no mood for chat, and poor Ian had to put up with my bad mood. Once at HMS Warrior, I tried to take photos. At first, I thought they looked okay, but on checking realised it wasn't just the electronic eyepiece snapping off that was the problem, but the focus point was all wrong too.

Look closely at the focus point (centre) It appears to be blurred, almost like I had a mark on the lens.

This next photo shows it very well. Ian is in focus but the Ice cream sign, my focus point, is completely blurred.

 

On our return 4 hours later, we phoned the camera repair shop in Tunbridge Wells. His quote was high. A new lens mechanism was probably needed, costing £350. The new electronic eyepiece was another £100 and his fee for doing the repair £99, making the total £549. Considering this camera is now 5 years old, has been worked to death as you can all testify, we started looking for a replacement. Shown at Curry's store was one very similar, a Lumix DC FZ1000 11 for £749. So coordinates put into the sat nav and a Curry's was just 3 mile away. By now the rain had arrived and we hit rush hour! What should have taken about 10 minutes, took nearly 30. Anyway, hardly any camera's now on display at Curry's. As the store assistant said, there is no need for them because everyone has cameras on their phones. But one assistant was very helpful, he took time to look at the options and found the FZ1000 11 camera at their warehouse. So one camera purchased with the assurance that it would be ready for collection on Friday, I went away a lot poorer but much happier now it's sorted.

I must just say HMS Warrior was a great ship to visit, and I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been feeling so bad-tempered. It wasn't busy so consequently we could take our time to visit the three decks. I did take photos from my phone, so there are a few to look at.

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Lunch was had before going to see the Mary Rose. Now, this did buck me up. Those of a certain age may remember when Henry Tudor's flagship was raised from its grave in the Solent back in 1982. I remember watching the moment and being totally mesmerised. In 1986, we went to see her in Portsmouth housed in this huge building and gallons of water being sprayed over the timbers. I thought then that I would never see her dry in my lifetime, but here I am, in front of a brand-new museum with all the artefacts brought up from the depths on display and a 4 D cinema presentation on the finding and raising up of her. It was brilliant and quite remarkable how well preserved she is

These next 4 photos are from Ian 

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It reads, 34 years Kings ship, 437 years underwater and 35 years in conservation

Just one of the many skeletons found on the wreck. Reconstruction of the skeleton done by modelling clay

Ships surgeons tools

Ships dog used to catch the rats

Back at MB and after the trip to Curry's we made our way back to Port Solent car park where we had stayed. 6 days ago when getting ready to catch the ferry to the IOW. Gosh how time has flown! Makes one wonder where the week has gone? Tonight, thunderstorms are forecast. We expect to be woken in the wee hours as they are due to arrive after midnight.