A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall 3: A Visit to a Seal Colony

INTRODUCTION

My previous post in this series covered the journey from St Germans to St Ives and hinted at the feature of my time in St Ives. This post picks up the story. The Cornish Maid has produced posts giving a more local take on St Ives in her blog.

SERENDIPITY IN ST IVES

From the station I headed in the general direction of the sea front, taking photographs along the way.

Old phone box, St Ives — This olde-worlde telephone box caught my attention, while the attached clock had all the appearance of being an old railway clock…

Old GWR clock — …soon confirmed by my zoom lens.

Panel set into wall of RC church — This panel is set into the wall of the Roman Catholic church

St Ives Guildhall, a handome building, though not quite in the class of King’s Lynn’s 15th century masterpiece. It is home to a tourist information office but they evidently have staffing issues as it was closed and locked that day (a sunny friday in July)

Church — This is the main Anglican church

As I hit the sea front area I encountered a man selling tickets for boat trips to a seal colony. Knowing that I was operating to a time limit (the connections back being less good than those for the outward journey I needed be back at the station around 3PM to be sure of getting back to St Germans at 6PM as I intended) I made enquiries about departure times and the length of the boat trip. I benefitted from being a natural born singleton – there was exactly one seat remaining on the Sea Horse, which was departing at 12:00 and would be back around 1:15, and that was the decision made (there is a seal colony at Blakeney Point in Norfolk, but this seemed likely to be an improvement on that).

One takes a small boat out to the main boat one is booked on, and at low tide (as it was for my outbound journey) one has to walk out into the sea to about knee depth for the first pick up. The water was cool but not shockingly so, and it was actually very pleasant standing in the shallows.

OUTWARD BOUND

I managed to board the small boat taking me and others out to the Seahorse (a 12 seater boat, so still not huge) without incident, and the transfer to the Seahorse also passed without incident.

rocks in the sea — The rocks in the background of this shot are the near edge of the seal colony.

AT THE SEAL COLONY

I will let the pictures tell their own story…

seal waves a flipper — Some of the seals, like this one waved flippers at us.

BACK TO ST IVES

The start of the return journey featured the bumpiest sea of the entire trip (fortunately there was a breeze rather than a serious wind blowing, so the sea was choppy rather than actually rough). I imagine that in a winter storm (I encountered Cornish winter storms and their effects in 1989 on a christmas holiday when we stayed in a Landmark Trust cottage. I believe that the enitre village was actually owned by Landmark Trust, but the perimeter fence of RAF Morwenstow was within walking distance for those looking to place it). Fortunately the tide had risen to the point that the transfer boat could get right up to the quayside, so no further paddling was required.

Standing tree stump circle — This put me somewhat in mind of Seahenge, now on display at The Lynn Museum.

A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall 2: St Germans to St Ives

The second post in my series about my visit to Cornwall, in which I cover the journey from St Germans to St Ives.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the second post in my series about my recent vsiit to Cornwall. As mentioned in the opening piece in this series I am breaking my coverage of my day out in St Ives into several posts. This post deals with the journey there (for the record, a day return from St Germans to St Ives costs £10.80), which is very scenic. For a Cornish perspective on St Ives check out this offering from the Cornish Maid.

ST GERMANS TO ST ERTH

The railway element of the journey to St Ives consists of two parts – a journey west along the main line as far as St Erth (penultimate stop on that route), and then a short journey north along a branch line which terminates at St Ives. St Germans to St Erth is a scenic journey in its own right:

Camborne III — I was particularly glad to note this tribute to the great Richard Trevithick.

ST ERTH TO ST IVES

Though the route from St Germans to St Erth is scenic by any normal reckoning it is as nothing compared to the branch line from St Erth to St Ives. Although the route lists several intermediate stops the only one still in regular use is Lelant Saltings. I secured a window seat, although it turned out that I was not on the best side of the train and settled down to see what I could capture in the course of this journey.

Heron, Lelant Saltings — The stop at Lelant Saltings enabled to me to zoom in on this heron.

River flows into Carbis Bay — The next few pictures feature mhy attempts to capture the beauty of Carbis Bay from a moving train.

A SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE MAIN FEATURE OF MY NEXT POST

A few minutes after my arrival at St Ives the decision about my main activity while there was settled. It will be the subject of my next post – for the moment here is a clue to whet your appetite:

A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall 1: Getting There

The start of a new series – A Grtockle’s Eye View of Cornwall.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome the first post in my series about my recent visit to Cornwall. Before we move on, here is a little bit of etymology for you:

For an insider’s view of Cornwall check out the Cornish Maid blog. In this post, because it is an introduction, and mainly about the journey down, you will only see Cornish photos near the end of it, but there will be several with many more pictures (St Ives is getting at least two posts and maybe more, St Michael’s Mount may well get more than one post and the Cremyll Ferry may figure in more than one post) before I wrap things up with a post about the return journey.

KINGS LYNN TO PADDINGTON

I had booked my tickets in advance, and part of the deal was that I had to be on a specific train for the long haul section between Paddington and Plymouth. My recommended itinerary had me on the 08:44 from King’s Lynn, but my usual prompt preparations on the morning of a major journey saw me at the station in time to catch the 08:12, and figuring that having extra slack to make the connection across London from King’s Cross to Paddington could not hurt I took that train instead.

This service was listed to call only at Royston between Cambridge and London, but at Cambridge stops were added at Letchworth, Hitchin, Stevenage and Finsbury Park, at which point having got the earlier train seemed an even better idea than it had originally.

From King’s Cross to Paddington was noteworthy only for the fact that in a situation that is practically headline making these days all of London Underground’s lines were working properly at the same time, and I was early at Paddington, and had to wait for information about the platform.

PADDINGTON TO PLYMOUTH

I was booked in a seat in a designated quiet coach, a window seat that should have been facing the direction of travel, but because someone had decided to reverse the running order of the train was not. However, the coach was quiet, and although I was facing against the direction of travel I did get some pictures along the way, and this train stuck exactly to its schedule.

PLYMOUTH TO FORT PICKLECOMBE

My train from Plymouth to St Germans was due to call at a number of places en route, and at Devonport it picked up a number of schoolchildren, who were fortunately well behaved, and not too noisy. It arrived at St Germans exactly when it was supposed to as well, making two successive trains that had run to schedule. My parents picked me up at St German and we went by car to their apartment in Fort Picklecombe.

Unusual flower pot — This “flowerpot” can be seen at Saltash station

Bridges — A distant glimpse of the famous bridge. bridge that is used by Saltash station for advertising

AT FORT PICKLECOMBE

Thursday evening in the vicinity of Fort Picklecombe is fish ‘n’ chips evening, courtesy of the two wonderful girls who run ahoyfishandchips, a mobile chippy. The meal was magnificent – if you are ever in an area being served by Ahoy Fish and Chips do not miss out.

Looking towards The Hoe — I found a location harbourside from which The Hoe is visible (this is only a couple of miles from Plymouth in straight distance).

salt deposits, breakwater — This image from the breakwater reveals two things: The concrete had not set before someone walked on it, and that it regularly gets sea water washing over it.

Ferry and cloud — A rarity – a sky with exactly one cloud in it.

Marxism 2018: The Closing Rally

Wrapping up my series on Marxism 2018 with an account of the Final Rally.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the final post in my series about Marxism 2018. As this series has for various reasons been somewhat spread out I start by providing links to all the previous posts in the series, in chronological order:

Martin Empson on the Anthropocene.
Science and Slavery
The Opening Rally
Day Two
An overview of the weekend
Meetings with an environmental theme

GETTING TO THE FINAL RALLY

As I mentioned in the overview of the weekend I left my last regular meeting a little early to head for Friends Meeting House. I deposited my bag there, and then had to wait to be let into the meeting room because it had been decided not to open the doors until 5:15PM, which given the size of that room was allwoing absurdly little time for people to be in and seated before the 5:30PM start. Knowing that I would be leaving early I positioned myself in a position to do so without generating any fuss.#

Panel II — The panel for the final rally – Tina McVeigh, Christine Buchholz, Janet Alder, Amy Leather and chair Naima Omar

THE RALLY ITSELF

A little later (but only a little) than originally intended chair Naima Omar got things started.

The first speaker to be introduced was Dublin councillor Tina McVeigh, who talked inspiringly about the current Irish political scene, and reminded us of the recent triumph for progressive forces in that part of the world, the repeal of the 8th, about which her compatriots Mary and Siomha had spoken so movingly during the Opening Rally.

Tina McVeigh speaks — Tina McVeigh making her speech

The picture above shows The Team, the people who keep the event running smoothly, act as first point of contact for queries etc. This is a challenging and exhausting task (I did it six times myself, so I know whereof I write).

The second speaker was Christine Buchholz of Die Linke, a member of the German parliament, and virtually bilingual. She gave us a direct account of fighting against the rise of the far right in mainland Europe (Germany being one of the places where this is a particularly hot topic at the moment).

Naima introduces Christine — Naima Introduces Christine

Third to speak was Janet Alder, whose brother Christopher, a former soldier, was killed while in police custody. This is bad enough, but what followed was if anything even worse – while consistently refusing to reveal the truth about what had happened to Christopher the police also used resources that should have been used to investigate the death to spy on Janet instead (similar to how Doreen Lawrence was spied on by those who were supposed to be investiagting her son’s murder). Janet told us about the campaign, which has now been running fior almost 20 years to get justice done – to this day Christopher’s killers remain unpunished. It was at the end of this speech that I left the event.

The two pictures above show the response to Janet’s speech.

HOMEWARD BOUND

There was a train nominally for Cambridge and King’s Lynn leaving just after 7PM, which I managed to be on. An announcement by the driver told us that they hoped to be able to split at Cambridge and travel onwards to King’s Lynn but that they may not be able to because there had been problems, so I prepared myself to change at Cambridge (I have a justifiably low opinion of Great Northern, so I given two possibilities I naturally assumed that the worse would eventuate). In the event my assessment was correct, and those of travelling beyond Cambridge did have to change trains, so I arrived back at almost exactly nine o’clock.

St Pancras Station from the far side of the Euston Road

Press Release Success

A brief account of the genesis and development of a Lynn News article advertising James and Sons’ upcoming auctions.

INTRODUCTION

This post tells the story of the development of an article that appeared in today’s Lynn News about James and Sons upcoming Militaria auctions.

EMAIL AND PRESS RELEASE

I created a document for emailing out to potential militaria buyers, using lot 11 as the main image (at that time I envisaged that lot being on the front cover), but also including an image of lot 50, which I realised was an interesting item. On the advice of my employer I used the exact same document as a press release, though for this purpose I attached the original word document, a jpg thereof and full image galleries of both featured lots. Thus those receiving the press release saw all of the following:

AUCTION REMINDER MILITARIA

Not long after I had sent this press release came a response from Julie Graham of the Lynn News, whose eye had been taken by the Agincourt bas-relief. She requested some additional information which I supplied and indicated that an article in the business section of the issue for Friday July 20 would be forthcoming. For obvious reasons the Agincourt piece also became the front cover item on the printed catalogue. The article duly appeared as promised this morning:

You can find out more about James and Sons from the company website, and online catalogues for our upcoming auctions can be accessed from there, or on the following links below:

27th July – Militaria
30th July – Militaria
6th August – General

Marxism 2018: Meetings with an Environmental Theme

The environment themed meetings at Marxism 2018.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the penultimate post in my series about Marxism 2018 (to be followed in the not too distant future by a series that I will title “A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall” following my recent visit to Cornwall (more on that curious word grockle at the start of said series). I missed only one of the environmentally themed meetings at Marxism 2018 (it clashed with a meeting about mental health, which I attended instead), the one featuring John Bellamy Foster.

MEETING 1: MARTIN EMPSON ON CLIMATE CHANGE

THis meeting was the subject of my first Marxism 2018 post. Here is the featured image:

WHY DOES CAPITALISM LOVE PLASTIC?

Amy Leather started her talk with a potted history of the development of plastics. She then talked about plastics as a by-product of fossil fuel extraction, linking in to controversies over fracking. She also talked about how when disposable plastic first became a thing there were advertising campaigns to persuade people to dispose of the stuff. During the discussion James from north Derbyshire mentioned that the company who are seeking to engage in fracking in his part of the world and against whom he and others are fighting are primarily a plastic making company, and their interest in fracking is based on a desire to use by products of fracking to make more plastics.

SARAH ENSOR AND IAN RAPPEL ON CAPITALISM AND EXTINCTION

This was the first meeting of the Sunday. The Institute of Education has a somewhat curious system of floor numbering, whereby you enter the building from outside on level 4. This meeting was in a room on Level 8, and I chose not to use the lift (I have been known to opt for the stairs at both Russell Square – 175 – and Covent Garden – 200 – stations, so for a mere four floors it was barely even a question).

I enjoyed the meeting – both speakers were excellent, and although the sun prevented the presentation from being seen to best effect (even with blinds drawn and the lights off in the key part of the room – the latter a suggestion on the part of yours truly) it was still well worth the climb up and down.

DIRTY ENERGY AND CAPITALISM: WHAT’S THE REAL STORY

This meeting which featured Suzanne Jeffery and anti-fracking campaigner Tina Louise Rothery took place in Clarke Hall, on Level 3 of the Institute of Education in the post lunch session of the Sunday. It had been made even more topical by the fact that in the run up to the event the Tories had simultaneously refused to provide funding for the Swansea Tidal Lagoon (capable of supplying 10% of the country’s energy needs had it gone ahead) and forced through the 3rd runway at Heathrow. Both speakers were excellent, and during the discussion Brid Smith TD talked about a bill she is trying to get through the Dail which would mean that no more fossil fuels will be extracted from Ireland (it has already passed its first reading).

$Anti-fracking notice$

Brid Smith TD contirbutes to the discussion — Brid Smith talks about her fossil fuels bill that is curfrently going through the Dail

AN EXAMPLE OF A CAMPAIGN

A common theme running through these meeting was the necessity of supporting campaigns all over the world. I therefore conclude this post with a mention of the Save Trosa Nature campaign. You can find out more about this campaign by reading Anna’s posts about it. There is a petition currently running which you can sign here.

Marxism 2018: An Overview of the Weekend

The antepenultimate post in my series on Marxism 2018.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this, the antepenultimate post in my series about Marxism 2018 (to be followed by a post about the environmentally themed meetings I attended and a post about the Final Rally), in which I cover Saturday and Sunday.

SATURDAY

Having arranged to stay in a hall of residence near the event I was able to walk in, and had time to take a few photos along the way:

London’s Pride march was taking place this same Saturday, hence the crowd outside Warren Street Station.

I started my day with Sarah Bates’ meeting “How did women win the vote?”. She started by pointing out that it was only wealthy British women who actually won the vote 100 years ago – their poorer compatriots had to wait, like a few of the men, a further 10 years. Then she went on to talk about the struggles that led up to women’s suffrage being granted in this country in those two stages. A lively discussion followed.

I then went up one floor, from the Malet Suite where that meeting had happened to room 3C/D for WhatMakes Humans Different from Animals? The Marxist View of Human Consciousness, with John Parrington. This one was based around a powerpoint presentation:

A contribution to the discussion — Jenny, who was filming the meeting (most of the meetings at this event should now be viewable on youtube) also made a contribution to the meeting.

Psychologist Beth contributes to the discussion — Psychologist Beth was well received when she made her contribution.

After lunch I headed for Nunn Hall and the meeting on Disability, Oppression and Resistance, featuring an excellent panel of speakers from DPAC. This meeting was particularly fiery, as you might expect. Mention was made of the petition that DPAC have started to get Esther McVey sacked for lying to parliament.

After this meeting I headed for Politics of the Mind: Marxism and Mental Distress, a book launch meeting. There were two other meetings in that session that would have been of interest but for the clash, John Bellamy Foster on Marxian theory and eco-revolution, and a debate being Charlie Kimber and an as yet unnamed Labour MP, What Would a Labour Givernment Look Like?. The meeting I opted for was a very interesting one, with many people sharing their stories during the discussion section.

I concluded my day by going to Alex Callinicos’ meeting on Marx the Revolutionary.

SUNDAY

Since I was returning to King’s Lynn that night I was leaving my accommodation on the Sunday morning, and got away earlier than I needed to. My first meeting was at The Institute of Education, but before that I needed to deposit my larger bag at Student Central. I walked via Euston Square this time, using its two street level entrances as a convenient way to cross the Euston Road.

My first meeting of the day was Capitalism and Extinction, featuring Sarah Ensor and Ian Rappel. This is one I shall be covering in my next post, so for the moment here is a single picture:

After this meeting I headed for Brian Richardson’s meeting on “Who gets to be remembered: should all the statues fall?”. The thrust of this was that while statues do not necessarily have to fall it is appropriate to demand that the bad side of people like Cecil Rhodes (vicious racism and imperialism) be acknowledged.

Mary from Norwich makes a contribution tio the discussion — Mary from Norwich contributing to the discussion.

A brief note on meals: food was available at the event for £5 per meal, and also there were district picnics, where the food was cheaper. I therefore attended the Norwich picnics, donating £2 per time.

My third meeting of the Sunday was “Dirty energy and capitalism: what’s the real story?”, featuring Suzanne Jeffery and Tina Louise Rothery, which I shall be covering in my next post.

For my final meeting before the Closing Rally I opted for “Corbyn, antisemitism and justice for Palestine”, featuring Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi (founder of Jewish Voice for Labour), Salma Karmi-Ayoub (British-Palestinian lawyer) and Rob Ferguson. This meeting was chaired by Anna Gluckstein (I do not usually mention chair’s surnames or origins, but she is Jewish, and her father Ygal, also known as Tony Cliff, was a founding member of the Socialist Workers Party, organisers of the Marxism Festival).

I left this meeting slightly before the end in order to reach the final rally venue early because I was hoping to catch three of the four speakers at that before departing in time to at least be home by 9PM.

Marxism 2018 Day 2

An account of Day 2 at Marxism 2018 (now a week ago).

INTRODUCTION

There has been a hiatus in my coverage of Marxism 2018 because I had no opportunity to blog on Sunday, due to the tight meetings schedule and my subsequent journey home, was working on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and travelling virtually all day yesterday (getting from northwest Norfolk to southeast Cornwall by public transport takes a long time). I have plans for several more posts about Marxism 2018, a batch of posts about Cornwall, and at least one work-related post in the near future.

FIRST MEETING: JAN NIELSEN ON THE POLITICS OF FOOD

This was a good though very disturbing start to the day. Some of the things that the speaker revealed about what is done to our food were quite shocking. There was an excellent discussion.

MEETING 2: WHY DOES CAPITALISM LOVE PLASTIC?

I will be covering this meeting in a later post along with several other environment related meetings. For the moment here is a photograph from the room:

MEETING 3: MARXISM AND RELIGION

The thrust of this meeting was that we are always willing to work with people no matter what their religion, or indeed whether they have one or not. Most people at this event are not religious themselves but would always consider arguig against religion to be a waste of time.

DEMOLITIONS TO SOCIAL CLEANSING – THE CLASS WAR ON HOUSING

This meeting, excellently chaired by Moyra from the Justice for Grenfell campaign, began with a small disappointment. One of the scheduled speakers, Emma Dent Coad MP, was unable to get away from parliament to make her contribution and sent her apologies. The other two speakers were housing campaigner Eileen Short and London Assembly member and housing expert Sian Berry from the Green Party. I was particularly pleased to finally get to here Ms Berry (have a look at my coverage of the 2016 London Mayoral Election and my “Fantasy Cabinet” post for more about my opinions of Ms Berry).

She made an excellent speech, searing criticism of current housing policy and some good suggestions of her own.

Eileen Short was also excellent, and there were some great stories in the discussion.

The first of a number of shots I got of Sian Berry in action.

Outisde student central — Outside the building after the meeting.

INJUSTICE AND THE BRITISH STATE

This meeting, which took place at The Venue (in it’s third incarnation, having started life as Manning Hall and then had a few years as Room 101), featured Sheila Coleman from the Hillsborough Campaign, Brian Richardson and Gareth Peirce. It was a superb ending to the day.

Almost showtime. — Jill from South Yorkshire chairing the meeting.

Gareth Peirce speaking — Gareth Peirce spoke first

Sheila Speaking — Followed by Sheila Coleman

Brian Richardson speaking — Brian Richardson was third to speak.

Marxism 2018: The Opening Rally

An account of the Opening Rally at Marxism 2018, which took place on Thursday night.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series about Marxism 2018. My previous post covered the second and third meetings of the first day, and this post takes up the story with coverage of the opening rally.

THE OPENING RALLY

This event took place in Friends Meeting House on Euston Road. We heard from a McStriker about their ongoing battle, a victim of the Windrush scandal, a muslim woman talking about islamaphobia, two women, Siomha and Mary, giving a shared talk about the #Repealthe8th campaign in Ireland, one of the Wigan, Warrington and Leigh strikers about their determination to remain as NHS workers and not be contracted out (a battle that we now know has been successful), Moyra from Justice for Grenfell, and finally wrapping up the evening Weyman Bennett, co-convenor of Stand Up to Racism. Here are my pictures from the evening:

Team Member — One of the Team – the group who ensure the smooth running of the event and deal with any queries.

Siomha and Mary speak about #Repealthe8th — Siomha and Mary gave a very moving account of the campaign to #Repealthe8th

Ovation for Siomha and Mary — The next three images show how Siomha and Mary’s efforts were received by the audience.

Moyra from the Justice for Grenfell campaign speaks powerfully — Moyra was savage about the official response to the Grenfell tragedy, particularly their increasingly desperate efforts to pin blame anywheren other than where it belongs – the latest dirty trick they have pulled out being to point fingers at the firefighters – the very people who went into the burning building to attempt to save lives.

Weyman brings the curtain down on the evening — Weyman’s fiery speech was a splendid finish to evening.

Marxism 2018 – Day 1 Continued – Science and Slavery

Continuing my account of Marxism 2018, with the second and third meetings of the Thursday.

INTRODUCTION

This post continues my coverage of Marxism 2018, which started with an introductory post. In this post I cover the second and third meetings of the opening day, which for me were Camilla Royle on the Politics of Science and Ken Olende on What Was Unique About The Translatlantic Slave Trade.

CAMILLA ROYLE ON SCIENCE

Camilla’s actual title was “Is science political?” Most scientists would like the answer to this question to be no, but desirability and truth are two different things. Camilla demonstrated many examples of science being coopted for political ends. This was an excellent talk and it set the stage for a splendid discussion.

KEN OLENDE ON SLAVERY

This talk was accompanied by slides which makes it easier to convey an impression of the ground covered.

	Thomas on World T20 Cup Underway
	Anna on World T20 Cup Underway
	London Underground t… on Project Piccadilly
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	Anna on All Time XIs – Detective…