I am a founder member and currently secretary of the West Norfolk Autism Group and am autistic myself. I am a very keen photographer and almost every blog post I produce will feature some of my own photographs. I am an avidly keen cricket fan and often post about that sport.
My mother Ruby Urbacz age 59 was found dead at her home on the 6th September as a result of a heart attack. She had been admitted to hospital a 01/08/15 for chest pains where they found she had had three minor heart attacks. Even though my mother had poor mobility , type 2 diabetes, very basic numeracy and literacy skills and mental health problems including depression, she was deemed “fit for work” by the DWP. She was put on JSA and hounded to show evidence of looking for a job she struggled to write a shopping list and thus constantly worried about money and if her benefits would be stopped.
Her benefits were stopped without without any investigation as she missed her jsa appointment whilst in hospital, after her discharge she had received no money for five consecutive weeks of the…
The second post in my series devoted to Heritage Open Day – this one covers King Street, starting from the Tuesday Market Place end and finishing at the Custom House.
INTRODUCTION
This is the second post in my Heritage Open Day series, and takes in King Street, virtually every building alon which had opened its doors for the occasion.
BEHIND THE ARTS CENTRE
There was some remarkable stuff on display between King Street and the river, accessible from two directions.
Rachael, one of my companions for the day looking closely at this curio.
WHEN TWO BECAME ONE
The premises of Kenneth Bush solicitors does indeed consist of two buildings that were joined together to become one. It also had fine garden, in which stall selling homemade cakes and biscuits.
A CONCEALED TREASURE
When you first appoach them, the premises of Metcalfe, Copeman & Pettefar don’t look like they are going to be massively impressive, but you soon discover that on the inside you are looking at a Norman building…
The attic, not accessible, but those beams are very impressive from below.
This mirror was working rather too effectively – you get the photographer as well the photograph!This view is not pretty – I include only because it is Baker Lane car park, and just out of sight to the top right as you look is a set of iron stairs which lead up to an intermediate level outside space up from which a spiral iron staircase leads to my own outside space.
INSIDE THE ICON
The ground floor of the Custom House serves as King’s Lynn’s principal tourist information office, but beyond that there is a mini museum, which was accessible that day, and as our next planned activity was watching a Napoleonic era militia in action nearby we decided to have a look to fill the last few moments before that started. Custom House marks the end of King Street, after crossing the lower Purfleet the road bifurcates, one fork becoming King Staithe Square and then the quayside and the other Queen Street which feeds in to the Saturday Market Place. Here are some final pics from the Custom House…
I had to darken this considerably to get the text to stand out.
It isn’t only Lord’s that has a Long Room! (I concede that this one is not quite so impressive as theirs!)
Walter Dexter’s painting of the Custom House in his day. Later for comparison there is a photograph taken by me on September 6th 2015.
An announcement of a new website I shall be running, with a picture of my envisaged home page.
INTRODUCTION
A knackered power lead/ charger cable put my computer out of action on Wednesday, and because Thursday was a working day it was only today that I was able to locate a replacement. All is now well again, so I take this opportunity to make
AN ANNOUNCEMENT
The series of posts I have been running on this blog under the general heading “London Station by Station” is going become a website – I have the domain name (londontu.be), but please DO NOT visit it yet – it is still under construction. As a little sampler I offer you this screenshot of my envisaged home page, together with a link to the document itself…
The white blank space I have shown at the bottom will be populated with those links I deem important enough to feature on the home page.
The first of a series of posts about Heritage Open Day 2015, which happened last Sunday. The focus here is on the Tuesday Market Place, an air raid shelter, some classic cars and a masonic lodge.
INTRODUCTION
Sunday was Heritage Open Day, with no fewer than 57 sites open to the public for the day. While my aunt and my mother were both involved in actually running the event – one of the venues being right next to my aunt’s home, I was merely unofficial guide for my cousin Edward and his partner. This post is the first of several which will be devoted to telling you about the day, accompanied by loads of splendid pictures.
This, on the Tuesday Market Place, was the place to find information about the event as a whole.
THE PRELIMINARIES – FEATURING CLASSIC CARS
The event itself ran from 10AM to 4PM, but, remembering from last year, I reckoned that we needed to be early for our first destination, the air raid shelter underneath the Tuesday Market Place. This was confirmed to be the case – even though we were so busy checking out the cars that we missed being at the front of the queue we only had a brief wait. Before moving on here are some early pictures…
THE AIR RAID SHELTER
This air raid shelter made use of pre-existing tunnels, which are known to have been used as storage in the 17th century, and it would probably not have survived a direct hit. Here are some photos of those tunnels we were allowed to see (we were going round in groups of 20, and during the war these tunnels sheltered 200 people at a time)…
One of the smaller ‘wardens’!
THE MASONIC LODGE
Philanthropic Lodge 107 to give it its formal title is housed inside the Duke’s Head Hotel which looks out on to the Tuesday Market Place. The person who told us about freemasonry also told us that there is now a female lodge in Norfolk, though he does not where (apparently the nature of the initiation ceremony is such as to prevent mixed lodges from being a possibility). The only thing I was not allowed to photograph (an even then it was put to me as a request) was a single framed certificate. The masonry part of a freemasonry is a reference to the stone masons who built the pyramids of ancient Egypt although I respectfully beg leave to doubt as to whether the freemasons have actually been around for all that time.
Here are some pictures from this remarkable establishment…
This clock is in the hotel before one gets to the lodge.The doormat at the entrance to the lodge
This is the temple, the heart of the lodge.
Not easy to photograph a ceiling decoration!
An interesting little document.
MOVING ON FROM THE TUESDAY MARKET PLACE
Having seen and enjoyed to Masonic Lodge it was time to move on, and of all the streets leading off the Tuesday Market Place, the best one to follow both in terms of the overall direction we wanted to head in and in terms of finding interesting things to see was King Street, virtually every building along which was open for the occasion. This will be the subject of the next post in this series. I leave you with the last set of pictures from the Tuesday Market Place, going to town on a one hundred year old Ford…
An explanation of why I have not published a post since Sunday morning and details of some upcoming posts, with a couple of ‘aperitif’ picttures
JUST SO YOU KNOW
My last published post was on Sunday morning, and as I will probably not get another full post up before tomorrow I thought a few words of explanation were appropriate (I do not like having big gaps between posts). Sunday was Heritage Open Day, and because I was at work yesterday and will be again today to get the imaging done for our next auction I have not yet had time to edit all the photos I took from Heritage Open Day. So, upcoming on this blog for definite are:
Tomorrow: At least one, probably two posts about Heritage Open Day
Thurs AM: Heritage Open Day continued
Fri AM: Heritage Open Day continued
Saturday: If I have not already done so I will finish the multi-post account of Heritage Open Day, and I will be putting up another of my London Underground posts, this time covering the Bakerloo line.
I leave you with a couple of pictures…
The brochures produced for the occasion.The stairs down into the first attraction that I and my companions visited on Heritage Open Day – an old air raid shelter.
The title of this post comes from the title of Piers Connor’s history of the District Line, which is getting the aspiblog treatment this week…
HISTORY
As with that of it’s second youngest, the Victoria, almost precisely a century later, London’s second oldest underground line’s initial opening occurred in three phases between 1868 and 1871. After the third and final phase of opening the Metropolitan District Railway (as it was officially called at that time) looked like this:
A running theme of these early years were squabbles between the District and the Metropolitan over the completion of The Inner Circle (now the Circle line) and who could run their trains where. In the 1870s the District started producing maps for the benefit of their passengers, as these pictures show…
I do not know what these very early maps looked like, but here is a picture of my facsimile of a pre-Beck geographical map…
The Richmond and Wimbledon branches were both opened during the 1870s, followed by branches to Hounslow (the origin of the Heathrow branch of today’s Piccadilly line), Uxbridge (again handed over to the Piccadilly in the 1930s) and between 1883 and 1885, before being pared back to Ealing Broadway, Windsor (more on this later). The current eastern terminus of Upminster was reached (by a grant of running powers rather than new build) in 1902, and for a brief period as this reproduction postcard shows occasional District line trains ran to Southend and Shoeburyness…
Additionally, a branch to Kensington Olympia was created, which linked to a corresponding branch south from whatt is now the Hammersmith and City. Also, sometimes services ran from the district line north of Olympia to Willesden Junction. Additionally, there was a spur to South Acton and even briefly a terminus specifically to serve Hounslow Barracks.
In the 1930s a lot of the western services (Hounslow and Uxbridge specifically) were transferred to the Piccadilly line, while the Hounslow Barracks service ceased to exist, and the South Acton spur was abandoned.
Nevertheless, with main western termini at Wimbledon, Richmond and Ealing, and a cross branch serving Wimbledon, Edgware Road and Kensington Olympia the District remains a very complicated line.
SPECULATIONS
Although I leave the eastern end of the line unchanged, my suggestions for the District involve some very dramatic changes. My plans for the Wimbledon, Edgware Road and Olympia branches will form the subject of a later post, and for the moment I will settle for saying that these branches would cease to form part of the District line, and that as with my changes involving branches that would remain part of the District line the plans involve making use of a feature that might otherwise be problematic (see The Great Anomaly), the fact that being one the older lines, this line was built to mainline specifications. Although my plans for the Richmond and Ealing branches are big, they involve only a small amount of new track – enough to link the lines that serve Windsor and Eton Riverside and Windsor and Eton Central forming a giant loop at the western end of the line. This loop would link with my suggested London Orbital Railway at Staines and at West Drayton. Thus in place of the current fiendishly complex District Line there would be ‘horizontal frying pan’ line, with Upminster to Turnham Green serving as the handle in this model. It would also make possible a reissue with appropriate modifications of this old poster…
A GUIDED TOUR OF THE PRESENT-DAY DISTRICT LINE
From Richmond to Gunnersbury the District and London Overground share a route, which features one of only two above-ground crossings of the Thames on the entire network (the other is Putney Bridge – East Putney on the Wimbledon branch of the District). Richmond features a deer park, as advertised on this old poster…
Kew Gardens actually has a pub that is built into the station, and serves a world famous botanic garden…
Gunnersbury is not very significant, although the flying junction that this branch forms with the rest of the District line just beyond here and just before Turnham Green is very impressive, to the extent that it too has featured in a PR campaign back in the day…
The section from Ealing Broadway to Acton Town includes a depot which features the steepest gradient on the system at 1 in 28 (passengers are not carried over this gradient – the steepest passenger carrying gradient is 1 in 32). At Ealing Common the District and Piccadilly lines converge, not to diverge again until the Piccadilly goes underground just east of Barons Court and even then, the Piccadilly follows the District at a deeper level until South Kensington. Between Acton Town and Turnham Green the District calls at Chiswick Park. After Turnham Green the District has stations at Stamford Brook and Ravenscourt Park. From the latter the remains of the viaduct that once carried trains from what is now the Hammersmith and City lines onto these tracks can still be seen. Beyond Hammersmith and Barons Court the District calls at West Kensington before arrving at the grand meeting point of Earls Court. Immediately east of Earls Court is Gloucester Road (pronounced glos-ta not glue-cess-ta – Americans please note), which at platform level has been restored to something like it would have looked in 1868, while the frontage at surface level is as nearly restored as the creation of a new shopping centre permits…
The inside back cover of the Piers Connor book – a look along one of the restored platforms at Gloucester Road.From London Underground: The Official Handbook, a picture of Gloucester Road at surface level.
One stop further east at South Kensington is an original shopping arcade of the sort that several stations were provided with back in the day, complete with some splendid decorative ironwork (pictures photographed from London underground: The Official Handbook…)
One stop on from South Kensington is Sloane Square, which I remember from growing up in London is the station that served Peter Jones (a huge department store). Also, a large pipe above the platforms here is the only routinely visible sign of the river Westbourne (for more detail click here). From Sloane Square, the line visits Victoria (the ultimate transport hub). We are about enter a section of the journey featuring a lot of landmarks, so I will be giving each station I cover a section heading, starting with…
ST JAMES PARK
This station is the local station for London Underground’s official headquarters, located at 55 Broadway. It is also, along with Temple and Mansion House one only three stations on this section if the district to be served only by the district and circle lines.
WESTMINSTER
The local station for the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey (officially the Collegiate Church of St Peter). The Abbey was originally founded by Edward the Confessor, who reigned from 1042-1066. While many look askance at the amounts of money trousered by folks in the House of Commons these people are at least elected, whereas in the House of Lords large sums of money go to people who are not elected, some of whom barely bother to attend and the vast majority of whom have demonstrated time and again that they are a waste of space. Even Baron Kinnock of Bedwelty, who has personally profited hugely from the existence of the House of Lords reckons that it is ripe for abolition. Since the opening of the warped (I will not dignify it with the word modified) Jubilee line extension in 1999 there has been an interchange here.
EMBANKMENT
The station that has been through more name changes than any other on the system (people couldn’t decide whether Charing Cross, Embankment or both should be emphasised). The issue was put to bed for good in 1979 when the Jubilee opened, and its Charing Cross terminus created interchanges with what had previously been separate stations, Trafalgar Square on the Bakerloo line and Strand on the Northern, which meant that with Charing Cross definitively settled on for the marginally more northerly of the stations, this one had to be plain Embankment. The Embankment from which this station takes its name was designed as part of the building of this line by Joseph William Bazalgette, who also designed London’s sewer system. His great-great grandson Peter is a well known TV producer with some good series to his credit and Big Brother to his debit. This, photographed from the Piers Connor book is a diagram of the profile of the Embankment…
TEMPLE
This is the only station name to feature both on London Underground and the Paris Metro (it also features on the Hong Kong network). In the days before the Aldwych branch of the Piccadilly line was axed there was an interchange here, as Temple is very close to Aldwych.
BLACKFRIARS
A station which derives its name from the Dominicans, who were referred to as black friars because of the colour of their habits. There is an interchange with both Thameslink and South Eastern here. Also, it is one end point of short scenic walk, which takes in a bridge over the Thames, Gabriel’s Wharf, The Oxo Tower, the Bernie Spain Gardens and the vast collection of attractions that between them constitute The South Bank, finally ending at Waterloo. Also if you go East instead of West after crossing the river you can take in the ruins of Winchester Palace (the former London residence of the Bishop of Winchester) and Clink Street, once home to a prison so notorious that ‘clink’ became slang for prison, a building that now houses London Dungeon, ending at London Bridge (you could continue yet further east – to Greenwich or even Woolwich were you feeling strong). I have done Waterloo – London Bridge and also Greenwich-London Bridge, and indeed Woolwich-Greenwich, so all these indvidual stretches are comfortably manageable. Also in this part of the world is Sainsbury’s main post-room where I once temped for a week (giving the agency feedback I took the opportunity to make it clear that I would not take any more work in that particular establishment – it was hell).
MANSION HOUSE
This name is either contradictory (a mansion is different from a house, being much larger) or tautologous (a mansion in a kind of large house) depending on your definitions. From 1871-1884 it was the eastern end of the District. The building after which the station is named is “the home and office of the Lord Mayor of the city of London” – an office filled four times by Richard Whittington (for once the story underplayed the the truth) in the fourteenth century.
CANNON STREET
A mainline rail terminus, albeit not a very significant one.
MONUMENT
I mentioned this station in my post about the Central line because it is connected to the various lines that serve by Bank by means of escalators. This interchange was first created in 1933, but the current arrangement dates only from the opening of the Docklands Light Railway terminus at Bank.
TOWER HILL
I have given this station an individual post to itself. From here the Circle and District diverge, the Circle going round to Aldgate while the District heads to Aldgate East. It is also at this point that I abandon for the moment separate station headings.
THE EASTERN END OF THE LINE
At Aldgate East the Hammersmtih and City line joins the District and they run together as far as Barking. In between Aldgate East and Whitechapel there used be a line connecting to Shadwell (formerly East London Line, now London Overground). Whitechapel has been in the news recently because a museum that was given planning permission on the basis of being dedicated to the women of the East End turned out when it opened to be dedicated to Jack the Ripper. This has been the subject of a vigorous 38Degrees campaign seeking both to get the monstrosity closed and to establish a proper East End Womens Museum. Some of those involved in the campaign met with the mayor of Tower Hamlets recently, and he has apparently been sympathetic and has confirmed that he too is unhappy with the way the planning process was subverted by an act of calculated dishonesty. Beyond Whitechapel, the line has an interchange with the Central line at Mile End which is unique for an interchange between ‘tube’ and ‘subsurface’ lines in being cross-platform and underground, Bow Road, which has an interchange with the Docklands Light Railway station at Bow Church is the last station on the line to be in tunnel. East of Bow Road the line rises on a 1 in 45 gradient to emerge into the open some way before Bromley-by-Bow. West Ham is nowadays a major interchange, featuring mainline railways, the Jubilee line, the Docklands Light Railway (this section which runs from Stratford to Woolwich was once part of the line that became the nucleus of London Overground, which originally ran from Richmond to North Woolwich, but now terminates at Stratford) and of course the District and Hammersmith & City lines. The main line railway runs side by side with the District to Upminster, and then continues to Southend and Shoeburyness. Upton Park is until 2017, when the club in question move to the Olympic Stadium, the local station for West Ham United’s home ground. Barking in the eastern limit of the Hammersmith & City, also the terminus of London Overground branch from Gospel Oak and an interchange with mainline railways. Upminster is the easternmost destination currently served by London Underground.
EDGWARE ROAD, OLYMPIA AND WIMBLEDON
For this section I will be reverting to individual headings for station names…
EDGWARE ROAD
A four platform station, where the Hammersmith & City line and the District and Circle lines meet (do not be fooled by the fact that both have stations called Paddington). This is the only one of the original 1863 stations to be served by District line trains.
PADDINGTON (PRAED STREET)
Why have I given this station a suffix that does not feature in it’s current title? Because the current plain “Paddington” designation is misleading – although the interchange to the Bakerloo line’s Paddington is a sensible one to have, you do far better for the mainline station and Hammersmith & City line to go on one stop to Edgware Road, make a quick cross-platform change to the Hammersmith & City and arrive at platforms that are structurally part of the mainline railway station (the two extra stops – one in each direction – plus a cross platform interchange taking less long between them than the official interchange up to the mainline station from here. Therefore to avoid misleading people the title of this station should either by given a suffix or changed completely, and the only interchange that should be shown is that with the Bakerloo. I have previously given Paddington a full post to itself, but failed to make the foregoing points with anything approaching sufficient force.
BAYSWATER
This station is on the north side of Hyde Park, and like the two on either side of it still has the same style of roof over the platforms as when it opened – a style now not seen anywhere else on the system.
NOTTING HILL GATE
I refer you to my previous post devoted to this station.
HIGH STREET KENSINGTON
This is the point at which this branch of the District diverges from the Circle line. The District branch continues south to the “Crewe of the Underground”, Earls Court, while the circle goes round to Gloucester Road (this section of track features in the Adventure of the Bruce Partington Plans, being the point at which the body of Arthur Cadogan West was fed through a rear window of a flat occupied by one Hugo Oberstein onto the roof of a conveniently stationary train, where it remained until being shaken off at Aldgate. Mycroft Holmes was sufficiently discombobulated by the case to change his routine (a thing so rare that his brother the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes likened it to seeing a tram car in a country lane) and pay a visit to Baker Street to seek assistance.
OLYMPIA
Trains to all manner of destinations pass through this station, but for the District it is a mere side branch..
WEST BROMPTON
An interchange with a London Overground branch. This station is fully open to the elements, as are all the others we have still to pass through.
FULHAM BROADWAY
The local station for Chelsea FC’s home ground, Stamford Bridge.
PARSONS GREEN
This would become a District line terminus, with an interchange to the new Hackney-Chelsea line, under official plans. In my personal ideas for the future it would be an interchange point but no terminus.
PUTNEY BRIDGE
The local station for Fulham FC’s home ground, Craven Cottage. This would also be the best station to travel to if you wished to catch the Boat Race, second oldest of all the inter-university sporting contests.
Like some the other posters I have displayed in this post this one would need adapting, but it could certainly be reissued.
The oldest of all the inter-university sporting contests is the Varsity Cricket Match, first played in 1827, two years before the first Boat Race took place.
EAST PUTNEY
This station is the first of a section that used to be mainline railway.
SOUTHFIELDS
Another stop with a sporting connection – this is the local station for the world’s most famous tennis championship – Wimbledon. Although I have already given this station a full post, I show this picture again…
WIMBLEDON PARK
The second to last stop on our journey.
WIMBLEDON
As we approach this station, we first join up with the mainline services from Waterloo coming in from Earlsfield, and then with Thameslink services coming in from Haydons Road. Wimbledon is also one terminus of the London Tram system. Along the north side of the tracks as one approaches Wimbledon runs Alexandra Road, and we pass underneath a bridge carrying Gap Road across the tracks to a junction.
ODDS AND ENDS
I have a few promotional pictures still to share, and some maps to round out this post. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the ride…
The District line and its history.The District line and its connections.Close focus on the two Windsor branches that I would incorporate into the District making a loop at the western end.
A short post mainly devoted to sharing links, but with some photos also included.
INTRODUCTION
This is a brief post, principally to share some interesting and important links, At the end, there will be a few photos from in and around King’s Lynn.
LINKS
Today’s link’s divide naturally into two sections, starting with…
#JezWeDid
Yes everyone – #JezWeCan is now #JezWeDid – Jeremy Corbyn not only won the election outright in the first round, he did so with an absolute landslide, leaving even the 57% achieved in the first round by Tony Blair when he won the leadership behind him. I have three links that relate to this news…
If you are a former ILF recipient, living in the Waltham Forest Council area can you please email us at mail@dpac.uk.net, or if you know someone who is, could you please ask them to contact us.
An account of imaging at James and Sons with a focus on Railwayana, some links to pieces posted on whyevolutionistrue and a few general links.
INTRODUCTION
The mesalliance of subjects indicated by my title is brought about by the fact that I only have time for a very quick blog post, and the two things I most want to share are pictures of some interestinfg railwayana that will be in our next auction and a number of superb pieces that whyevolutionistrue have produced recently.
RAILWAYANA
I have had a particularly busy time imaging autcuion lots over the last few days, because the other person who regualrly does imaging was involved in a car accident (the car accident stats for Norfolk make grim reading because the lack of a proper public transport infrastructure and the prevalence of poverty mean that people start driving at the first available opportunity and are often using cars that are not really road worthy) is consequently off sick. Thankfully, albeit with a rejigging of work days for next week, we are on track for completing the catalogue by the end of Tuesday, which means that by the back end of next week printed copies should be available, and an online listing should be ready to view.
The two lots that especially caught my eye in and amongst the vast quanrtity of stuff I have been imaging were numbers 51 and 52, and I conclude this section with full photo galleries for both lots…
Lot 51 is this antique railway mapThe remaining seven images including this one are of lot 52
A FANTASTIC FIVE FROM WHYEVOLUTIONISTRUE
This blog, the title of which comes from a marvellous book by Jerry A Coyne has been in tremendous form just lately, with the pieces I am sahring merely the cream of a spectacular crop…
Next an absolute crackerjack titled “Religious Freedom In A Nutshell” and accompanied by Ambrose Bierce’s classic definition of a Christian: CHRISTIAN, n. One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor.
A post created in support of Chris Packham, and therefore featuring nature. I also have some important links and a great infographic for you.
INTRODUCTION
I am producing this post to offer public support for Chris Packham, who has been targeted by group of hunters/shooters/fishers who call themselves the Countryside Alliance. I hope that you will all enjoy it and that you will share it.
NATURE
It will not be news to followers of this blog that I take a great interest in nature. One of the reasons why living where I do works for me is that as well as having the amenities of a town centre on my doorstep I have open green space within comfortable walking distance and a river with all its associations even closer at hand. The combination of the fact that I do not drive and the scandalous state of public transport provision for out of town areas mean that I have to live in a town centre.
Most days I get out for a walk, and I usually get some good pictures (there is only one kind of shooting that I am interested in, and my weapon of choice is a Nikon Coolpix P530). Here are a few highlights from today…
The first four pictures are from yesterday.
This snail, on the path through Hardings Pits, has a very interesting coloured shell.
An unusual drake, with a white front and a black bill.
Just in case any of you are not already familiar with him Chris Packham is a naturalist and nature photographer who sometimes presents stuff on the BBC. I included a link to his official website in my introduction, and repeat that here.
The claim made by the Countryside Alliance is that he has violated BBC neutrality. Frankly I would regard being targeted by this group as something to be proud of, and I am adamant in saying that the BBC should stand by him. I finish this section by including the full link to a petition to tell the BBC not to sack Chris Packham:
I wish to draw our attention to two things coming up in the near future:
Heritage Open Day, which is this Sunday, and no fewer than 57 sites in King’s Lynn will be opening their doors for the occasion.
November the 4th marks the 125 anniversary of the opening of the City and South London Railway, the oldest deep level tube railway in the world. Those familiar with this blog can probably work out what aspiblog will be doing to mark the occasion!
I have a few other links I wish to share, starting with two that should both make unpleasant reading for the…
I will start with a link to the website of the West Norfolk branch of the National Autistic Society. Their most recent newsletter includes this quote: “a member has pointed us towards www.autcraft.com the online version of minecraft for people with autism”. As the member who provided the information I am delighted, but I must also assign credit where it is really due – I only happened to know about Autcraft because Autism Mom has written about it in a number of blog posts, such as this one.
My last link is the twitter account through whose good offices I located an infographic in the “Never mind gold, that’s platinum” class with which I shall end this post. They are called identifor and the infographic is this:
An account of a coffee morning organised by NAS West Norfolk, some photos and some important links. I draw your particular attention to the levitycropscience crowdfunding issue.
INTRODUCTION
As well as my title piece I have some photos from the King’s Lynn area to share, some important links and a platinum quality infographic.
A MUCH ANTICIPATED COFFEE MORNING
Having received more than one email from my friends at NAS (National Autistic Society) West Norfolk about this coffee morning I was hoping for a decent event. From my perspective the rest of the story involves three elements..
THE WALK THERE
With the event due to start at 10AM I set off from my small town centre flat at 9:15AM and headed for the Scout Hut on Beaulah Street by way of Bawsey Drain and Lynn Sport. It was grey and uninspiring, but there was the odd photo worthy moment…
I don’t all that often include pictures of ducks, but this was a particularly fine specimen and there was not much else to command attention at the time.
AT THE EVENT
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who had shown up – in total there were 14 of us present. One of the others, who I had not previously met, noticed the fact that i had a camera and had snapped off a few pictures, so I provided her with details of my blog, twitter account and email address, which she gratefully accepted, along with the explanation that all my best pictures are on the blog.
One of the two posters on the wall of the upstairs meeting room at the Scout Hut.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I felt that this was a good start to what is intended to be a series of such mornings (and Karan, who organised the event, mentioned having people come to give talks in the future, which I also approve of).
The other wall poster – might be though of as ‘zooming out’ from the subject matter of the first.
THE WALK BACK
For the walk back I completed the circle by going via KES (King Edward VII Academy) and the train station. The only picture worth sharing that I was able to get was on the way out, heading down the stairs.
I look forward to more events like this in the future!
SOME LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Yesterday was a sunny day, and I got some fine photos, the best of which I now share…
My first four pictures related to classic local landmark, Greyfriars Tower, with two information boards…
This up-tower shot……And this external shot, taken from next to the the projector that displays a light show on the walls of the tower.The next five pictures are of a remarkably coloured butterfly that was just near the Greyfriars Tower, in the Peace Garden.
A westering sun reflected off the Great Ouse yesterday evening.
King’s Lynn landmark no 1 – the Custom House
With two local landmarks pictured above this an opportunity to draw your attention to Heritage Open Day, this coming Sunday, when no fewer than 57 places of interest in King’s Lynn will be open to the public, some for the only time of the year.
I have previously mentioned that the UK is currently being investigated by the UN for human rights abuses because of the way the Scameron government treats disabled people. Courtesy of samedifference I can now tell you that there are no fewer than 41 issues that prompted this and provide this link (already widely shared on twitter).
While I have been producing this blog post I have received information about a crowd-funding campaign to support an autistic crop scientist, about which I shall be producing a full post sometime soon. For the moment, to prepare you, here is a link to levitycropscience.
A PLATINUM INFOGRAPHIC
This, from politicsbeginner comes this superb infographic about Kim Davis:
A FINAL WORD
I hope you have all enjoyed this post. I end with a request: please share widely. Even if you choose not to share the whole post, please share at the minimum the stuff about levitycropscience.
aspiblog 