A review of a book in a new find of mine, the Bryant & May series, with a few other bits.
INTRODUCTION
Although the book review is the principal focus of this piece there are a few other bits that I will be sharing afterwards.
A GREAT READ WITH A MINOR QUIBBLE
Those of you who follow my London transport themed website may recall that I posted a review of a book called Off The Rails which featured a team of oddballs collectively known as the Peculiar Crimes Unit (officially the Peculiar part of the title referred to the crimes being investigated as opposed to the investigators but one might think otherwise).
Since reading that book I have taken every opportunity to deepen my acquaintance with Arthur Bryant, John May and their team of oddballs, and The Burning Man is just one of a number of their adventures that I have recently read.
The story in this book features riots provoked in part by misbehaving bankers being used as a cover for a series of murders all of which involve the use of fire. The story has many twists and turns. There are also various subplots, principally the antagonism between the PCU and Superintendent Darren “Missing” Link.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, as I have every book I have encountered in this series, and heartily recommend it. It is in that spirit that the following is offered (and I hope will be accepted)…
A QUIBBLE
To set the stage, here is a photograph of the paragraph on page 144 that gave rise to the quibble:
How many of you can guess without reading on where my quibble arises?
If you guessed that it was the sentence “He worked with some crazy people, borderline-autistic tech-heads who were likely to turn up at the front door, find no-one home and climb through a window.” score yourself 10 out of 10.
The phrase borderline-autistic is meaningless given that autism is a spectrum condition, and the usage of such a phrase is indicative of what Richard Dawkins terms “the tyranny of the discontinuous mind”. I also take umbrage at the notion of an autistic person responding to finding no one at home by climbing through a window. Finally, as an autistic person who is skilled in the use of computers I still object to the conflation of autism and tech-headedness – while the two traits can go together they do not always do so. Finally, I find the entire sentence lazily reinforces damaging stereotypes about autistic people. To finish this section, although in one sense every post on this blog has an automatic connection to autism, you can find more posts in which I specifically deal with autism here.
In spite of my quibble with a paragraph on page 144 I thoroughly recommend this book.
ANOTHER FIND AT THE BUS STATION
The new information office at King’s Lynn bus station is a treasure trove. My latest find focuses specifically on West Norfolk…
The obverse in full
A close up of the map
The only section of the reverse worth reproducing
PLANS FOR KNIGHT’S HILL
I make no comment as yet on this scheme, which is still at a preliminary stage, just reproducing it in full…
POSITIVE AUTISM AWARENESS CONFERENCE REMINDER
NAS West Norfolk are holding a Positive Autism Awareness Conference at the Duke’s Head Hotel on Friday 15th April. One feature of this conference will be a photographic display by yours truly. I have mentioned this in a number of previous posts.
This an account of my day at AutismCon. It also includes pictures of every page of the program for that event, and brief snippets about my journeys each way.
INTRODUCTION
Yesterday was the day of AutismCon, an event organised under the aegis of the National Autistic Society (NAS). The actual organizing of the event was done by a committee of five, The AutismCon Committee, while the NAS’s Senior Events Officer Elly sent out emails to everyone who booked in advance so we all knew what to expect.
GETTING THERE
With the registration desk opening at 10 o’clock, I decided to get the train that leaves King’s Lynn just before 8AM. Not knowing for sure how long the ticket purchase would take I left my flat at 7:15AM to eliminate any chance of mishap (therefore, in accordance with Sutcliffe’s First Law of Travelling by Public Transport, there were no problems and I was seated on the train nearly half an hour before it was due to depart), having had time to photograph a 2016 London Underground map on the platform.
Apart from the fact that a mob of Spurs fans chose to sit in the same area where I was already seated and maintained a constant racket all the way to Cambridge, where thankfully they changed trains in preference to travelling into London and out again (I should point out this train departed on schedule at 7:54AM and several of this group had already cracked open lagers by then), the journey was thankfully uneventful.
Even fairly early on a Saturday morning King’s Cross was quite busy, so I was thankful that with the event being at Friends House I had only to head for the Euston Road and walk straight along it. This sculpture just outside the station is a new addition since my last trip to London…
Having covered the journey down, it is now time for the main course…
Registration took a little time, after which I consulted my program. To set the scene for the rest of the day, here is a close up of the schedule…
As you will find out later, I made one change to the plan indicated here. Having shown a close-up of the schedule, here is the entire program for your attention…
I took my seat in Light (the big room, now somewhat smaller in terms of seating area than it once was, but still with a massive capacity) for the introductory session. The biggest change since I was last there however is to the ceiling/ roof structure, from which the name derives..
The whole event was shunted back fifteen minutes due to the failings of British public transport (not enough people had been able to get to the event for the scheduled start time). The main purpose of the introductory session was to provide a few explanations about where things were. Also, due to the severe sensory issues of some of those in attendance, applause was very firmly banned (the alternative, already standard in international sign langiuage, is ‘jazz hands’).
SESSION ONE: SURVEY ROOM
My first session was in the “Do” stream, taking place in the Bloomsbury Suite and was titled ‘Survey room’. There was one written and one pictorial survey per person and one could choose either or both (I chose both, and attached my details to the written survey to enable further contact to be made should the NAS wish to). Once we had had time to complete the survey there was a discussion session which was very constructive, and then the session ended.
SESSION TWO: QUIZ AN MP
For me, it was back to Light for sessions two, which featured Labour MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark Neil Coyle and Conservative Councillor Claire-Louise Leyland.
Neil Coyle MP introduces the “Quiz an MP” session, with Claire-Louise Leyland sat next to the podium.
This was a very lively session, with many people from the audience using the question and answer part of it to express their hostility to the Tories (though nothing personal was aimed at Councillor Leyland, who after all had had the decency to show up for what she must have known what would be a tough session). As for why there was so much hostility to the Tories in that room, one general and two specific points can sum it up:
As Neil Coyle pointed out, in 2010 the UK was the international leader on disability equality whereas in 2015 the UK became the first country to be investigated by the UN for its treatment of disabled people.
The Tories introduced the bedroom tax.
The Tories have also just passed a cut to ESA for the third time, ignoring concerns from the Lords for a second time.
After the end of this session there was an hour’s break for lunch. I looked in at the Arts and Crafts session which I had initially intended going to but decided instead to head back to Light for the session on….
AUTISM AND SEXUALITY
This session was opened with speeches from Keran Bunker (an autistic gay man) and Marilyn Misandry (an autistic femme queer person talking about autism and drag) before being opened up to the floor…
One point that came up several times from the floor was that autistic people who wish to transition find their autism used as an excuse to deny them this wish. This provoked an attempted response from someone who works in a gender reassignment clinic, but he was quite rightly shut down by the chair – this was a day for autistic people and he had no right to attempt to over-ride their lived experiences with his comments. At the end of this session I stayed seated because the next session I was attending was also in his room, being the one session that felt I absolutely could not miss…
AUTISM AND EMPLOYMENT
This session featured John Wilson, a former solicitor diagnosed with autism at the age of 50 (I met someone during the first session who was undiagnosed until the age of 61) and Kerry Bover, who has worked part-time at Clarks for 14 years and who also runs AutismCo.
There were many stories both good and bad told during this session. It was here that I heard about the restaurant owner who when faced with a group of customers who asked not to be served by an autistic waiter not only upheld the law of the land (it was John, the trained lawyer, who brought up this story, and his opinion as regards the law the I am using) by refusing to accede to this request and supporting his employee (just substitute ‘black’ for ‘autistic’ in the request by these customers to make the appallingness of their behaviour unmissably obvious) but then subsequently put up a facebook post instructing anyone whose attitudes were like those of this group of customers not to book places at his restaurant as if they made that request he would kick them out.
For music lovers there was to be a live performance from autistic singer/ songwriter Lauren Lovejoy (apparently she was a massive hit on X-Factor in 2013) immediately after the end of this session, but for me the end of the session was also the end of the event.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT
I think that the boldness and organisational skills needed to get 600 autistic adults together in one place should be complimented. Overall, the late start not withstanding, the event was superbly run. I for one thoroughly enjoyed the day and look forward to next year’s event.
THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY
The train back to King’s Lynn left platform 1 of Kings Cross at 17:44 (not the lowest numbered – in true thermodynamic style Kings Cross has a platform 0, which I arrived at this morning). Platform 1 has a very fine clock…
Having walked the length of the platform (the train splits at Cambridge, most of it terminating there while the front four coaches go on to Lynn) I took my seat for what was thankfully both a quiet and an uneventful journey back to Lynn. It was some twelve-and a half hours after leaving the flat that I arrived home.
POSTSCRIPT: POSITIVE AUTISMAWARENESS CONFERENCE
On April 15th NAS West Norfolk are holding a Positive Autism Awareness Conference at the Duke’s Head Hotel, King’s Lynn, for which we are sold out! After the experience of AutismCon in London I am even more enthused about this event at which I shall be displaying some of my photographs.
A pointer to an article in the EDP that highlights a grave failing in Norfolk, along with raising the possibility of submitting an appropriately worded FOI request.
INTRODUCTION
A single issue post here – I may put another more general one later today…
I wonder how many of these pupils were autistic or had autistic traits.
Since this post is written with my NAS West Norfolk hat on, I conclude with a reminder that we are holding a Postive Autism Awareness Conference at the Dukes Head, Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn on April 15th.
The venue for the Positive Autism Awareness Conference.
Pointers to the booking site for the Positive Autism Awareness Conference and a poster advertising the event.
INTRODUCTION
I first made mention of this conference, organised by NAS West Norfolk, in this post, and have featured reminders about it in several other posts. However, I have two pieces of news that warrant a second whole post devoted to it.
BOOKINGS
We are now able to take bookings for this conference, which takes place on April 15th. The booking site can be accessed here (acknowledgements to Claire King of NAS West Norfolk for posting the link).
The front of the Duke’s Head Hotel where the Positive Autism Awareness Conference will be happening on April 15th.
THE OFFICIAL POSTER
The other recent development in connection with this conference is that we now have an official National Autistic Society poster for the event. This is a version I have edited specifically for being viewed on a screen…
Thanks and acknowledgements to Rachel Meerwald and Karan McKerrow of NAS West Norfolk for various posts and links in connection with this poster. I have a full print size version of this poster saved on my computer as well, and will happily email people copies of that file.
An entire post dedicated to publicising NAS West Norfolk’s Positive Autism Awareness Conference, which will take place on April 15th, starting at 9AM.
INTRODUCTION
This brief post is the first of what will doubtless be many about this event, being put on by NAS West Norfolk.
AN IMPORTANT DATE FOR YOUR DIARIES
West Norfolk NAS’s Positive Autism Awareness Conference will take place at The Duke’s Head, King’s Lynn. I have three images to share to complete this post, a screenshot of Claire King’s facebook post about the event and jpgs of a map and a google earth image showing the location…
Not mentioned specifically, but already lined up as part of the event is a photographic presentation by yours truly.
Accounts of England’s triumph in South Africa and of a local fund-raising triumph for NAS West Norfolk.
INTRODUCTION
My title refers to one great sporting triumph and one fabulous fund-raising triumph, which I shall cover in that order.
SOUTH AFRICA SUCCUMB TO STUART’S BRUTAL BROAD-SIDE
An extraordinary Test match at the Bull Ring in Johannesburg ended on the third day. South Africa batted first and reached 313 without anyone managing a half century. England gained a lead of 10 largely due to the batting of three people, Root (110), Stokes (58) and Bairstow (45). South Africa had a tiny bit of batting before lunch which they achieved without loss, before things started to happen immediately thereafter. Stuart Broad settled the match, the series and the destination of the Player of the Match award in 10 overs which brought him 6-17 (I heard the commentary on the first five, but had to leave with South Africa score 67-8, and by the time I was back from my engagement, the last two South African wickets had fallen and England had knocked off their victory target for the loss of three wickets).
FABULOUS FUNDRAISING SUCCESS AT COSTA COFFEE (HARDWICK)
Molly, a barista at the Hardwick branch of Costa Coffee who has an autistic brother and whose mother is a former chair of NAS West Norfolk decided to do some fundraising on our behalf. She managed to raise £335.20 in cash which Costa will be matching with a direct payment into the NAS West Norfolk bank account, meaning that in total the organisation benefits to the tune of £670.40 from her endeavours.
We had arranged a presentation and photo-shoot at Costa Hardwick at 2:30PM today (not being clairvoyant I had not realized when I agreed to the arrangement that it would mean missing England sealing their series victory over South Africa).
Of course, it was not only at Costa itself that I got some photos…
The railway line viewed from Hardwick Bridge – this would be a suitable location for new station to serve the Hardwick Industrial Estate.
The solar system in mosaic form.
Now for the fundraising pictures…
For reference NAS West Norfolk chair Karan McKerrow is the one in the middle, Molly the fundraiser is to her left as you look and the store manager is on the other side.
An account of a talk given by Georgina Sait of Contact a Family to NAS West Norfolk at the scout hut on Beulah Street.
INTRODUCTION
I attended my first NAS West Norfolk event of 2016 today, a talk given by Georgina Sait of Contact a Family, a charity which exists specifically to help families with disabled children. As so often with NAS West Norfolk meetings the venue was the scout hut on Beulah Street.
GETTING THERE
Refusing to be daunted by a day so foul it simply did not appear ever to get light I walked, up to the Tuesday Market Place, out to the town end of Bawsey Drain, along to Lynn Sport and thence round to the scout hut, picking up a few pictures along the way…
THE MEETING ITSELF
The talk was done as a slide show, and the slides were very well produced, containing enough information to enable one to follow the talk but not so much as to cause sensory overload (I have seen many talks accompanied by slide shows but few where the slide show element meets with my unqualified approval). I will provide pictures of some of the slides, and also a few important bits of paperwork…
The title slide.Possibly the single most important slide of the show.
A lot of the slides about specific benefits were colour coded like this to differentiate between fact and myth.
There were a couple of important print outs as well…
Georgina herself.
MORE ABOUT CONTACT A FAMILY
I have contact details, including a picture, and also a location map showing where their London HQ is.
An account of a couple recent events run by NAS West Norfolk, with some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
This post covers two recent events run by the National Autistic Society West Norfolk branch. Read, enjoy and please share!
A FAYRE IN THE FENS
On Sunday a Christmas Fayre took place at Walton Highway Village Club (a few miles outside the town of Wisbech) raising funds for NAS West Norfolk. Judging from the hour or so during which I was present it was an extraordinarily successful event – the place was heaving, and lots of stuff was sold at the various stalls, including two bespoke calendars, each of which raised £5 for NAS West Norfolk.
THE NAS WEST NORFOLK COMMITTEE CHRISTMAS LUNCH
This took place today at 12:00 (I had booked a day’s leave for the occasion) at the Lynn Restaurant. Although this is situated practically underneath my flat I did not, as people who live closest to venues often seem to, arrive last.
As part of the festivity we were doing a ‘secret Santa’ whereby we each bought someone whose name we had been given a gift, and had to ensure that they did not know who it was from. This went splendidly. I have put up a post about the gift I received on www.londontu.be and suggest that you visit this post for more information. The gift that I had purchased as part of this was probably the second most popular behind the one I received!
The picture I took of the other diners in our group.The photo that includes me.Secret Santa struck gold with this gift!
Incidentally, the picture above was my second shot at the Tea Towel, the first had been spoilt by the fact that the lens was steamed up. I cleaned it up and tried again (using nothing more sophisticated than a Glasses Wipe – £1.49 for a box of 54 wipes from King’s Lynn LIDL).
I opted for garlic bread to start, followed by spaghetti Bolognese. Both were excellent.
An account of my latest visit to the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, with a mention of my website, http://www.londontu.be and plenty of photographs from today.
INTRODUCTION
Today I paid a visit to the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge to participate in a study entitled “VISUAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSES IN PEOPLE WITH ASC”. Just in case anyone failed to work it out, ASC is shorthand for Autistic Spectrum Conditions. If you have an ASC, can get to Cambridge, and would be interested in participating you could email Jan Freyberg for more details.
GETTING THERE
I decided, in keeping my usual rule for such situations, to take the earlier of two possible trains and be certain barring a major incident of being able to be there in time. I was therefore at Cambridge train station before nine, the train having run like clockwork on this occasion. I took a slightly longer than necessary route to the Autism Research Centre, getting some interesting photos along the way…
The first of four pictures from the Roman Catholic Church.
Three pictures from this building, the Scott Polar Research Institute
The first of four pictures from the Chemical Laboratories. This stonework reminded me of a Matthew Reilly novel – probably a Jack West adventure with Lily decoding the symbols.Following on from the previous caption, the next book in the Jack West series should feature the number four in its title!
The device on the left as you look at this picture could a be the framework for “The Machine” in the Jack West novels.
The river alongside Trumpington Road (the Autism Research Centre in based in Douglas House, a.k.a 18 Trumpington Road) .
Ironwork on a bridge over the river.
THE STUDY
This study was monitoring electrical activity in the brain, which meant me wearing what was effectively a bathing cap with connections for 64 electrodes. After a preliminary which involved keeping the eyes open for a minute and then closed for a minute and repeating that process, the proper tests began. The first featured white and grey lines flashing across the centre of the screen while I kept my eye on a cross right at the heart of the screen. There was then a sequence of trials in which real pictures flashed up on the screen very fast, for a minute at a time. The final trial involved grey and white “gratings” once again, but this time the box in which they would appear had a solid black border.
There were also of course various bits of paperwork to fill out and sign.
Once I had finished everything, Jan showed be back into the main building and I headed to the exit, making a single stop en route due to something I had noticed on the way to the testing room…
WEBSITE FODDER
On the way to the testing room I had noticed an intriguing poster, which on closer inspection was entitled “Tastes of London” and was a very interesting variation on the classic London Underground Map. I photographed it, and made it the centrepiece of this post on www.londontu.be.
HOMEWARD BOUND
The journey back was uneventful, save for a small delay between Littleport and Downham Market. I conclude withe the photographs from the return journey…
The first of two picttures showing some of Douglas House’s external decor.
A new development near the train station in Cambridge, still not complete.Three pictures of silver plaques with ink faces on them that are set into the pavements at the bus station that adjoins Cambridge station.
Two samles (this and the next of deocrations at the train station).
Pictures taking through train windows are always difficult, but these last four all came out OK.
An account the AGM of NAS West Norfolk, focussing on changes to the committee and an autism awareness event.
INTRODUCTION
The AGM of the National Autistic Society West Norfolk branch took place last night at the scout hut on Beaulah Street, King’s Lynn. Obviously there are limits on what I can say about the meeting itself as some of the stuff talked about is confidential, but there is enough to say to make it worth posting about.
GETTING THERE
Although it was not very warm (this is an English October folks) I walked both ways, not being willing to fork over a bus fare for a journey of that length. For the walk there I headed across the upper Purfleet, down to the Tuesday Market Place and past St Nicholas Chapel to the town end of Bawsey Drain which I followed as far as Lynn Sport, from where I headed across open fields to the scout hut.
The moon over King’s Lynn Minster, 6:15PMThe Corn Exchange lit up for the evening, circa 6:20PMSt Nicholas Chapel against the darkening skies a couple of minutes later.
AT THE SCOUT HUT
We were meeting in a small side room off the main meeting area in this building. Once I had taken a suitable place in the meeting room there were a few minutes to kill before things got properly underway, so I bagged a few more photographs.
For reasons I have already given I am only going to a mention afew things from the meeting itself. Two very long-serving committee members were stepping down, and naturally this was marked with a public thank you…
Delores and Kim with their thank you gifts.
The new committee was chosen. Notable changes to the structure of the committee saw yours truly and Callum Brazzo (both adults who are #actuallyautistic) given roles as adult co-ordinators. As some of you on the other side of the Atlantic have reason to know, not all organisations which claim to be about helping autistic people are so good when it comes to actually involving autistic people in a meaningful way.
The new committee. Second from the right, in the black and green top is yours truly.
In April there will be an Auitism Awareness event taking place at thje Duke’s Head Hotel on the Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn. I will very likely be presenting a display the best of my photographs, probably as a slide show.
HOMEWARD BOUND
I headed back by the path I had not taken on the way there, and although it was of course pitch dark by this point I did get a few more pictures…
A mallard drake taken at night without the use of the flash.As we started with the Minster, so we finish there, with three shots of the son a lumiere display.
aspiblog 