Author: Thomas

Harry Houdini had nothing to compare with the piece of escapology I have just spent most of the night listening to. The starring roles were played by Ian Bell (75 in 354 minutes) and Matthew Prior whose unbeaten century eventually saw England to safety. Stuart Broad held the fort bravely for two and a quarter hours after Bell’s dismissal, while there will never be a more valuable 2 not out than that produced by Monty Panesar at the death.

Matthew Prior benefitted from a freak piece of good fortune on 28, when he played a ball into his stumps without dislodging a bail (Herbert Sutcliffe once enjoyed a similar break, at Sydney in 1932, and likewise made it pay, advancing from 43 to 194, which formed the backbone of a first innings tally of 524, and the subsequent ten wicket win).

Another quirky stat: this was only the third time a team four wickets down going into the final day batted through an uninterrupted day’s play to gain a draw: Atherton’s stonewall against South Africa was the first, South Africa against Australia at Adelaide was the second, and this, spearheaded by Johannesburg born Matthew Prior was the third.

Old Trafford in 2005 saw a draw with Australia holding out defiantly at the end, one of the two batsmen in at the death for them being a genuine number 11 in Glenn McGrath, while at Cardiff in 2009 James Anderson and Monty Panesar held out for some time to secure a draw for England, but for sheer unremitting tension this one topped the lot.

Having seen England extricate themselves from this match and followed goings on in the Aussie camp I do not see anything other than two English series victories in the centrepiece clashes of the rest of 2013.

The public meeting on “Disability, Austerity and Resistance” in Norwich this Thursday was very successful, with a good attendance and an excellent discussion. All four speakers (myself, Mick and Mike from Disabled People Againts Cuts, Roddy Slorach, author of a pamphlet with the same title as the meeting) were very well received.

I will be attending James & Son Auctioneers in Fakenham for an interview at 3PM on Wednesday.

Having already won the T20 series, England today polished off New Zealand in the 50 over series, winning a second very comfortable victory in a row, with Joe Root making the winning hit for the second straight game.

Here are some photos from the public meeting….

This meeting, for which I am on the platform, has been postponed by two weeks. The new details are:

7:30PM Thursday 21st February, Vauxhall Community Centre, Johnson Place, Norwich

I have secured myself a place on the platform at a public meeting on Disabiity Rights. This will take place at the Vauxhall Community Centre, Johnson Place, Norwich on Thursday 7 February at 7:30PM.

In today’s women’s final of the Australian Open Viktoria Azarenka got the better of Li Na and a packed house crowd at the Rod Laver Arena to retain her title and with it the number one ranking. Tomorrow Andy Murray seeks to become the first man in the Open era to win his first two Grand Slams back to back as he takes on Novak Djokovic in the final.

The snow has not entirely lifted yet, but it is much warmer this weekend than for some time.

I have secured a grand bargain from one of our local charity shops. I spied a briefcase in the window yesterday at £3.99 (my old one, another charity shop purchase, is starting to show its age), but one of the combinations on the locks had been mislaid, and today they said I could have it for £2 and take a chance on finding the combination. I accepted, and started going through each three digit code on turn. After 15 tedious minutes I got the correct combination and was able to open the case and confirm that it is as good inside as out.

My Concession Leisure Card finally arrived today (a mere ten day wait for something that if permitted I could have comfortably picked up by hand!).

I have some interesting photos…

I have recently had two job interviews both of which went fairly well although I did not get either job. The second of these, at Cotman Housing Association in Bowthorpe was a particularly pleasing experience as they made a point of telling me how well I had presented at interview and that I had only missed out because the successful applicant had worked in an administrative capacity on a housing project.

The King’s Lynn Social and Support Group for Adults with Aspergers Syndrome will have a new home from our March meeting (Monday 4th March, 6PM-8PM). From that month onwards we will be based at the Community Hub of King’s Lynn Town Football Club (aka The Linnets). Having just returned from a meeting at which these details were finalised and I got to see the room, I consider it to be an ideal venue for our purposes.

The de-icing salt I purchased from LIDL just before christmas (£4 for a 7.5 kilogram tub) has proved to be worth its weight in gold as a vicious cold snap has hit but I have a clear, safe path from my door to the nearest communal outside space (one floor down).

Most of my photos of our new venue:

At a ludicrously early hour of the morning our time, and a fairly early hour of the morning local time, England completed an emphatic victory in the third test match at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Although India captured three early wickets including the previously impregnable Cook (who had spent the first innings giving the record books a thorough rewrite) they only had 40 to defend, which is less than half the previous record low target to be succesfully defended in a test match (85 at the Oval in the match which led to the creation of the ashes), so there was never any question as to the result. The milestones that Cook established in the course of his first innings 190 were: when his score reached 88 he became the youngest person to reach 7000 test runs, beating Sachin Tendulkar; his century was his 23rd, putting him on his own at the top of the England list of test century makers; it was also his 5th in five matches as captain and his seventh on the subcontinent (both of these being extensions of records he already held). A draw or better in the final match at Nagpur will see this squad become the first England side to win a series in India since David Gower’s side in 1984-85. The hours of play at Nagpur are slightly less unfriendly for those of us listening in England than those at Kolkata (but only to the extent of ‘Ridiculous o’clock’ start as opposed to a ‘Ludicrous o’clock start’.

The big personal development concerns Learning Works, where having recently increased my voluntary work from one to two days per week there is a possibility of a 16 hour per week job. All that remains is for to check with my Seetec advisor (who I will be seeing tomorrow morning) as to whether I can keep my housing benefit since the salary is not enough to pay my rent out of. Of course, if I am able to accept the job I will keep searching, looking for a second part time job which would then mean I would not have to worry about housing benefit. I am not that bothered about the extent to which I am financially better off having a job, or whether I qualify for Working Tax Credits, but I am not prepared to lose my flat.

The photos for this post were taken before a concert at Great Massingham church, which proved to be very enjoyable…

England have taken what appears to be a decisive advantage in the second test match in Mumbai. Following magnificent innings from Pietersen (186 off 225 balls to redeem himself in spades) and Cook (122, his fourth hundred in four matches as England captain, surely the best effort by a captain called Cook since HMS Endeavour was on the high seas), the bowlers have captured seven Indian second innings wickets with a mere 110 on the board (equivalent to 24-7 given the England the first innings lead).

Meanwhile in Adelaide, Australia seem poised for victory over South Africa. If this victory eventuates then Geoffrey Boycott will regain one of his records. None of “Sir” Geoffrey’s 22 test centuries came in a losing cause. This was the record until Graeme Smith of South Africa beat it, but his 26th century looks like being an unavailing one.

Changing the subject, I have completed the course work for the level one Desktop Publishing course that I have been doing – looking forward to moving on to the level two course.

My kitchen window is to be replaced in early to mid December. The measurements were taken on Thursday.

Just the one photo this time, from my archives…

Yes I’m back – will try to get back into the habit of posting frequently. The Asperger’s Syndrome social and support group that I am involved with may well have a new meeting place at the “Community Hub” of King’s Lynn FC – we hope to be able to meet there from January (Dec will be our Christmas meal at the Lattice House).

My involvement with Learning Works continues to go well. I have recently started a Desktop Publishing course at which, not altogether surprisingly given that the Professional Project was the best piece of work I did for my degree, I am making very rapid progress.

I spent Tuesday night listening to radio coverage of the US election. Although I am the first to recognise that there is little real difference between Democrat and Republican I was still pleased with the result.

Now for the big stuff. On October 27 we thoroughly humiliated the Eejits, Dimwits and Losers (EDL for short) when we had a four figure turnout at Walthamstow while they slunk off to Westminster where they mustered 60. If this carnival represented the closing of the EDL’s coffin lid, then yesterday in Norwich (in spite of horrible weather) represented some six inch nails being hammered in to keep that lid down, and a few tons of earth being heaped over the top of the coffin.

On our side over 500 people, all save one Unite Against Facism national speaker from Norfolk, turned out for what was part demonstration and part victory parade. All the organisations affiliated to We Are Norwich were represented, and during the speeches and music at the start of the day a message of support from local (Tory) MP Chloe Smith was read out.

Meanwhile the enemy turnout was so small that they were all clustered around a single flag (!). A sterile zone directly in front of City Hall kept us apart, while giving us a clear view of them. The tiny size and evidently non local nature of their turnout enabled us to augment our earlier chants such as “Whose Streets? Our Streets” and many popular anti-fascist slogans with various efforts to point up the difference between us. Three examples of the latter category were:

“There are many, many more of us than you..
There are many, many, many more of us than you…
many many more…many many more….many many more of us than you”

“Get back on your minibus”

And referring to the only noise they had to offer:

“We don’t need a sound system, we’ve got the people”

When the EDL were finally sent on thier way at 3PM we had a victory parade back to Chapelfield Gardens from where we dispersed in orderly fashion.

As usual, here are some photos. The second, third and fourth photos below are really a single picture, taken from the bandstand at Chapelfield, but I had to divide it into three to get everyone in the shot.

It has been rather long since I last posted, but I hope this will compensate for the wait.

To clear the decks for the We Are Norwich stuff, I will deal with the other stuff first:

• Asperger East Anglia AGM happened on Monday night – lots of interesting news, and for the first time in living memory I won a raffle prize, although it was the last to go and of exactly the quality you would expect something in that position to be
• On Tuesday I had an interview for an Administrative job at Manor Park Holiday Village in Hunstanton (I only got the call asking to me to come on Sunday afternoon)
• Learning Works continues to go well. On Monday I will be starting a Deskop Publishing course

We Are Norwich came into existence because a crazy church responded to being barred from distributing Islamaphobic filth by inviting the Eejits, Dimwits and Losers (EDL for short – I reckon my version of the full name is more accurate than theirs!) to Norwich. We Are Norwich is the group that is ensuring that when this happens (November 10) there will be a large reception committee to tell these thugs that they are not welcome here.

This Wednesday evening there was a public meeting in the main hall at the Vauxhall Community Centre in Johnson Place (I travelled direct from Learning Works to Norwich to be there on time) at which over 100 people in total were present. A coachload of us will be going to Walthamstow this Saturday to help make it clear to the EDL that they are not welcome anywhere, and I fully expect a four figure turnout on November 10 at Chapelfield Gardens.

Here are some photos:

At 10-4 down with two Saturday evening fourballs out on the course and twelve Sunday singles matches to come Europe looked dead and buried in the Ryder Cup contest at Medina Country Club. Victories for Eruope in the those last remaining fourball matches made it 10-6 to the US, and Europe merely needed to equal the greatest final day comeback in Ryder Cup history.

Gradually through that astonishing final day the impossible became merely improbable, then possible, then probable and finally materialised. When Lee Westwood won his singles match Europe were ahead 13-12, and were all square in two of the remaining matches, and as defending champions a 14-14 draw would be enough to retain the cup. One of the three closing games was firmly under US control, but when Martin Kaymer won the 17th hole in his match to go one up with one to play Europe were favourites for the first time since Friday morning. The US gained their expected point in the third-last match, to make it 13-13. When Tiger Woods won the 17th to go one up on Francesco Molinari the pressure was on Kaymer to win his match and settle it for Europe. Twenty-one years ago a German, Bernhard Langer, missed a five-footer on the 18th at Kiawah which would have retained the Ryder Cup for Europe, now, another German, Martin Kaymer faced a putt of the same length to retain the cup for Europe, and holed it. Woods then missed a short put moments later to give Molinari the final hole, a halved match and outright victory for Europe.

England’s men are out of the World T20, beaten comfortably by Sri Lanka, who therefore qualified for the semi-finals alongside the West Indies who had beaten New Zealand in a super-over eliminator after the main match finished tied. The Women’s team meanwhile are carrying all before them in their tournament.

As usual I have some photographs for you…