An account of a day at James and Sons, with lots of lovely images, and a selection of quality links to round things off.
INTRODUCTION
The body of this post features today at James and Sons, but also I have plenty of other stuff for you…
BACK TO WORK WITH A BANG
Today was devoted to catching up on imaging for our August sale (two weeks tomorrow, Fakenham Racecourse). The day started with some coin lots done with the aid of the scanner…
After the coind there were some general lots done with the camera…
My final items of the day were militaria, and involved both scanner and camera…
The next six pics relate to lot 22, which I scanned first and than also did with the camera to see if I could improvee the images.
Lot 160, done exclusively with the camera.
Lot 187 was a scan job.
Lot 199, back to the camera.
LINKS
I start this final short-ish section with two pieces that refer to…
An account of a walk yesterday morning, the journeys to and from East Rudham, and Sunday lunch in East Rudham, with a subsection devoted to bees enjoying wild marjoram.
INTRODUCTION
This post concerns yesterday, and us set part in King’s Lynn and part in my parents village, East Rudham. A running theme is nature. I hope you will enjoy it and that some at least of you will choose to share it.
PART 1: KING’S LYNN, MORNING
It was a beautiful sunny morning, so I decided to take a long walk from my flat, planned to finish at the bus station in time to catch the 11:55 bus to arrive in East Rudham for Sunday lunch. Right at the start, the upper Purfleet yielded these pictures…
South Quay then yielded a few more good pictures…
A gull swimming in the Great Ouse
A few minutes later came one of the regular highlights –
CORMORANT PLATFORM
The set of pictures I have this time indicate precisely why I have given this structure which sits at the meeting point of the Nar and the Great Ouse the name I have…
Before leaving the river there was just time for a couple of shots looking back at the town…
On leaving the river I headed through Harding’s Pits, which at this time of year means…
BUTTERFLIES
It is difficult to capture butterflies on camera, but I got a few pics…
After this, the next pictures worth sharing came from near the end of the walk, along a stretch of river near Morrison’s…
My photographic comment on Australia’s recent batting performances!
A VARIATION ON THE USUAL BUS JOURNEY
A combination of a spectacular day and herd mentality increased the journey time to Hunstanton and the sea to two hours and rendered the Knight’s Hill junction with the A148 effectively unusable for buses, so the X8 towards Fakenham went by way of Leziate, Ashwicken and Roydon joining the A148 just short of Hillington and its first out of town stop. Thanks to this intelligent alteration of the route the bus was only a couple of minutes late arriving at East Rudham.
PART TWO: EAST RUDHAM
Following a delicious lunch of roast beef the afternoon was spent sitting out in the courtyard outside my parents house, until it was time for me to get the bus home. I was reading the book by Robert Bakker that I mentioned in a previous post – keep an eye for a review in the near future – and also endeavouring to do photographic justice to…
THE BEES
As well as being useful for bringing out the full flavour of lamb, the wild marjoram that grows in abundance just outside my parents door is much appreciated by bees. Bees are a vitally important part of the ecosystem and are under ever increasing threat from the combination of the insensate greed of pesticide companies and the cravenness of governments (the latter do not have the guts to stand up to the former). Their activities so close to where I was sitting were an irresistable opportunity for the only sort of shooting I am interested in – that done with my trusty Nikon Coolpix P530!
THE RETURN JOURNEY
The bus turned up precisely when it was scheduled to, and until it hit the now customary traffic jam on Gaywood Road (at which point I decided to get out and walk the rest of the way) it ran exactly to schedule all the way.
PART THREE: KING’S LYNN AGAIN
In this last section I am going to share some pictures from yesterday evening and also the pictures I got of the bus station immediately before setting out…
The new London Connections map, one of the many things that can be obtained from the visitor’s centre at King’s Lynn Bus Station.On the reverse side the whole of the South East.
The front of the vistor’s centre and the Lynn museum
Focus on the visitor’s centreThe clock, courtesy of King’s Lynn Civic Society.The barrier at stand C – interleaving Captain Vancouver and the Custom House.
Welcome this little look back the test match that finished yesterday morning. I also have links, photos and infographics to share.
ENGLAND REGAIN THE ASHES
The third and fourth matches of this series have just about totalled five days (one test match that goes the distance) between them, such has the speed with which England destroyed Australia in both games. Previously England had won the first match comfortably, but were utterly monstered at Lord’s in the second. All in all, this means that England now have an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five match series. Given what happened on the Lord’s shirtfront the groundsman at the Oval would be well advised to prepare a pitch with some life in it for the fifth match.
In four successive innings Australia have had their batting wrecked by four different bowlers (never before has one country had four different bowlers pick up six or more wickets in four successive innings). The figures that Stuart Broad produced in the first Australian innings of the match that concluded yesterday still test credulity.
Both captains had good moments near the end of the match: Cook by giving the youngster Mark Wood a chance, duly accepted, to finish things, and Clarke by announcing that the Oval will be his last test match, thereby sparing Cricket Australia an unpleasant but necessary decision.
Stuart Broad deservedly got the man of the match award for his destruction of the Australian first innings which set England on the road to victory, while Ben Stokes’ sensational catch (check it out here) deservedly won the champagne moment.
A PHOTOGRAPGIC INTERLUDE
Here a few pictures from yesterday evening…
This picture and the next two come from the same original but with different degrees of cropping.A closer cropThe closest crop – a little blurred because it is so close.
LINKS
Not so many links to share as sometimes, but enough to split them into subsections.
PETITIONS
Three petitions for your consideration this morning:
This piece, from respectfullyconnected is a heart-wrenching account of a piece of thuggery perpetrated someone referred to due to their conduct as “Ableist, Sexist Jerk” or “ASJ” for short. I am sharing at here, as I already have done elsewhere (twitter, facebook, google+) not in any hope that “ASJ” will see it but because it so outraged me that someone thought it was OK to behave in the manner described. The title of the piece is “Don’t You Dare Call My Autistic Son a Sissy”
A link to quirky new blog, featuring Walthamstow among other locations, which I wish every success, called dutchgirlinlondon.
A SEGUE LINK
This is to a new find from this morning, which I got onto courtesy of a post on twitter by Jon Swindon. It is a blog called pollysshortattentionspan and it will no surprise to anyone familiar with Jon Swindon that the segue is to…
INFOGRAPHICS
This was the one that caught my eye on twitter.And this caught my attention when I visited the blog for a closer look.
A brief, personal account of an Autism Awareness Day event organised by NAS West Norfolk.
INTRODUCTION
This is a brief post devoted to an event that took place at Gaywood Community Centre today.
THE EVENT
As someone who lives in the centre of King’s Lynn there was only ever one way I would be getting to an event in Gaywood: walking. Although principally concerned with locating the event I did get one pic en route…
I heard the event before I actually saw it because they had a live music act performing…
After briefly taking in what was on offer I headed to the main National Autistic Society stall, picked up a flier and took some photographs…
I spent £2 on tombola tickets and £1 on a keyring (It was an NAS keyring featuring Thomas the Tank Engine – as an autistic railway fanatic named Thomas I could hardly not buy it!).
I did not stay terribly long, but I was very favourably impressed – while it was not really my type of event it was very vibrant and very well attended – well done the NAS. The homeward journey yielded another couple of pictures…
Some important and/or interesting links, some pictures, some comments about England’s ashes triumph.
INTRODUCTION
Although this post is mainly dedicated to stuff I found online yesterday, there are also some of my own photos from the morning. I am also working a little against the clock – can I complete this post before England produce the three good balls they need to win the Ashes this morning. As soon as the cricket finishes I will be off on a walk with Gaywood Community Centre as it’s final destination because of this…
Starc has just gone giving Ben Stokes his sixth wicket of the innings (back to back matches in which two England bowlers have bagged six-fors).
AUTISM AND DISABILITY RELATED LINKS
Just before I start on these links another update – Aus are now 9 down – just the one more to go.
Yes!!! while I have been creating this post England have terminated Australia and secured the Ashes. The final moment appropriately saw the stumps being spreadeagled the way Australia have been in this match. It was Mark Wood, in for the injured Anderson who had the pleasure of taking that final wicket – well captained Mr Cook.
A FEW FINAL LINKS
Time constraints dictate a swift finish, so just one old petition, one new petition and one other link:
An account of the launch of project to build a museum that really is dedicated to the women of east London. A section on London Underground that opens with some support for the workers who run that system in their effort to secure a limitation on the number of night shifts they can be forced to work and concludes with some quirky stuff about London Underground.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this post with a triple purpose title. Those purposes are:
A tribute to a wonderful piece of music, composed by Edward Elgar
This is the first of several posts that I will be putting up today
Also, some elements of this post will indubitably be springboards for launching future posts.
LONDON TOWN
The Cockaigne Overture is a musical invocation of London Town, and it fits with this post because this post is about London. There are two elements to the body of this post:
Some stuff about an exciting new project in East London
And some stuff about London Underground
EAST END WOMEN’S MUSEUM
This is the most important part of the post, being dedicated to the exciting project mentioned above. Before I get right into it, I must mention as an extra sharing forum my newly created second personal email address, thomasavsutcliffe@gmail.com and its associated google+ account. This project has grown out of the anger at a piece of vile duplicity, when what was claimed to be a museum dedicated to the women of East London turned out to be dedicated to Jack the Ripper. The first response, by way of 38degrees, was this petition entitled “Celebrate Suffragettes not Serial Killers“.
Then came the idea to create a museum that really was dedicated to women of East London, for which I offer the following links:
I conclude this part of the post by urging all of you to get involved in any way you can with this really excellent and exciting new project.
LONDON UNDERGROUND
Before getting into the two main parts of this section, I draw your attention to my series of posts “London Station by Station“.
THE STRIKES
The first thing to say about the strikes that are currently rocking London Underground is to make a point that opponents of these workers are doing their damnedest to deliberately obscure: THIS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY. The dispute is about working conditions, and specifically about changes in connection with the introduction of the Night Tube (as it’s instigator, BoJo the Clown calls it). What these workers want and which management have thus far refused to do is a guaranteed upper limit on the number of night shifts any individual can be made to work in the course of a year. To finish this introduction by I reiterate the opening point: THIS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY.
I support these workers wholeheartedly in their struggle and I conclude, because this really cannot be over emphasized by saying one final time: THIS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY.
SOME OTHER STUFF ON LONDON UNDERGROUND
I have two links and some accompanying graphics in this subsection.
Just a very quick post this time – a brief account of the second day’s play in the fourth test match between England and Australia.
BAD LIGHT DELAYS ENGLAND
Bad light has just ended the second day’s play with England 3 wickets away from regaining the ashes. The last time England won an ashes match in two days was in 1890, while Australia did it in 1921. Five second innings wickets for Ben Stokes lit up the latter stages of the second day. While a mid-series change is unlikely it is hard to see Michael Clarke’s tenure as Aussie captain lasting beyond the denouement at the Oval. Right from the start of play yesterday, when Aus were 10-3 after eight balls this match has progressed at ludicrous speed, but given the circumstances the craziest passage of play of the lot was just before tea today when Australia gave four wickets away in the twinkling of an eye. Adam Voges has to his name the highest score of the series by an Aussie batting at 4, 5 or 6 with 48 not out.
What both this match and its predecessor at Edgbaston have amply demonstrated is that the current Aussie side is full of ‘flat track bullies’ – they can score colossally when the ball isn’t doing anything (witness a combined tally of 820-10 in their two innings at Lord’s) but as soon as there is sideways movement they cannot cope.
Shaun Marsh, who replaced his brother Mitchell for this game to strengthen the batting twice threw his wicket away for next to nothing, creating the prospect of a baton pass from brother to brother back to brother in as many matches.
My final word for today is this: congratulations to the Trent Bridge groundsman for producing a wicket on which both bowlers and batsmen had a fair chance of success. We have had two days of superb entertainment.
An account of the extraordinary first day of the 4th ashes test at Trent Bridge, some links and infographics.
INTRODUCTION
The 4th Ashes test at Trent Bridge got under way today. As well as a brief account of the day I have some links and other bits to share.
AUSTRALIA FALL TO BRUTAL BROAD-SIDE
England 274-4 approaching the close of Day 1 with Root still there on 124 sounds like a solid, no frills opening day but actually England won the toss, put Australia in and this happened…
Stuart Broad’s (yes, Brisbane newspaper, the guy you call the tall English medium pacer) 8-15 beaten on wickets taken in an ashes innings by an English bowler only by Jim Laker’s Old Trafford double act of 1956 (9-37 1st inns, 10-53 2nd inns). In all test history only two cheaper eight wicket hauls have been taken, both in the 19th century for England against South Africa: 8-7 by George Lohmann and 8-11 by Johnny Briggs.
The irony behind this tale of woe (for them) is that Australia, acting very much in the style of 1990s England, had attempted to strengthen their batting by bringing specialist batsman Shaun Marsh in for his all-rounder brother Mitchell.
The nearest an opening day of an ashes match in my lifetime has come to being this one-sided was at Melbourne in 2010 (Aus 98 all out, Eng 157-0 in response).
Sometime between now and 6PM Monday, unless the weather puts up more of a fight than the Aussies have managed, the little urn will be returning to English possession.
Some of my readers may also a recall a 38degrees petition regarding a museum whose creator gained planning permission by lying about his intentions. Well the story has moved a little further, with this effort to create a museum that really is dedicated to women’s history.
An event taking place in Gaywood, which is comfortable walking distance from King’s Lynn, this weekend:
AFTERWORD
Two things:
I hope that you have enjoyed this and that some of you will share.
I would like to end by thanking Stephen Hurrell, author of the book I reviewed in my last post for acknowledging said post and following me on twitter.
An account, complete with a fine haul of photos, of a walk around King’s Lynn. This is followed by some important links and some interesting infographics. Please share widely.
INTRODUCTION
Being up bright and early this morning and noting the sunny weather I headed off for a walk. The body of this post is devoted to sharing the best sights from that walk. After that I have some links and infographics to share. I hope you enjoy this post and will be encouraged to share it.
THE WALK
My first ports of call were…
THE TUESDAY MARKET PLACE AND ST NICHOLAS CHAPEL
These places looked very fine in the sun. The extensive restoration work on the chapel is now nearly complete.
From there I headed to…
BAWSEY DRAIN
This is a far more significant waterway than that name may suggest, and was rewarded with a clutch of fine pictures in that section of the walk…
Watching and waiting in the undergrowth…
I left Bawsey drain part way along it’s length to head towards the Great Ouse by means of a nice route that I know, but I am briefly going to diverge from strict geographical recounting for a subsection on…
BUTTERFLIES
The butterflies were out in force, but it is always difficult to photograph them due to their speed. Nevertheless, I did get some good pics to share…
This was the last butterfly I got, while walking through Hardings PitsThis was the first butterfly pic I got today.The only non-animal flyer I got today – a helicopter (Helico- = spiral, pteron = wing)This one had its wings folded.
ARRIVING AT THE GREAT OUSE
Just a few pics here, but it was a delight to see the river at very high tide…
My next set of pictures are themed around a small but (to me) very significant little landmark which I have dubbed…
CORMORANT PLATFORM
The very high tide meant that most of the structure was submerged, and the presence of boats and the river and West Lynn Church on the far bank also contributed to a great set of pictures…
A brilliant piece of photobombing by the flying gull!Multiple species of bird coexisting peacefully.The platform and a boat.
The church contributing to the scene.
Two cormorants took wing in my direction.
Not all of the boats i saw on the river were there for leisure purposes – there was also a…
RESEARCH VESSEL
Four pics showing the boat and website details…
From here all that was left was…
THE HOME STRETCH
The pictures I took in these final few minutes are very varied…
One last boat pic.The Custom House.Looking north from the Lower Purfleet.An adult moorhen in the Upper PurfleetThe smallest baby moorhen I have ever seen.
We have reached the end of my walk, but I do hope some of you stay for the…
LINKS
I have a shed load of important links to share, starting with some on…
Although it was a universally revered lion whose demise sparked this activity they are not the only species targeted by noxious individuals, and my next link is to a take part petition on behalf of the elephant.
Finally in this subsection, from Mark Avery comes a story about hen harriers which was written in response to a piece in the Telegraph that was shockingly inaccurate even by the “standards” of that detestable rag.
I mentioned this yesterday, and the story has moved on since then. My source today is Socialist Worker with a piece giving great detail, including the fact that the museum which got planning permission on false pretences did not open yesterday as planned – let us hope that in it’s current incarnation as a musuem dedicated to Jack the Ripper it never does open its doors. here are the two links:
An account of the last few days, with some excellent pictures, some important links and a great infographic courtesy of Dr Lisa Sulsenti.
INTRODUCTION
My last blog post was about my cousin Olivia’s wedding on Saturday. This post tells of Sunday, Monday and today, with plenty of pictures. Also, I have some links and infographics to share. Talking of sharing, I hope that some of you will choose to share this post as well.
KEGWORTH HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTRE
While possessed of precisely zero architectural appeal, the Kegworth Hotel and Conference Centre is clean and comfortable…
I have plenty of good pictures from inside the hotel…
This is a 24 hour roman numeral clock – can you spot the deliberate mistake in the numbering?
Detail from the ornamental glasswork at the reception desk.
My bedroom had some pictures as well…
You will note a degree of duplication between the public pictures and those in the rooms!
SUNDAY LUNCH
My cousin Richard and his fiancee Ida are off to her native Sweden soon, and he had the idea of a farewell pub lunch at the Plough in Normanton on Soar. Eventually after a few cancellations, 12 of us were there for this excellent meal, which we ate outside overlooking the river itself, much used by boats and birds…
Richard and Ida
I have lots of splendid pictures from this event, and both the food and drink were magnificent.
Tables overlooking the Soar
The local product – look up Leciester Rugby Club for more on the name.
As well as boats at surface level, a plane flew high over our heads.
HOMEWARD BOUND
I travelled back as a passenger in my aunt’s car, since we live very close together in King’s Lynn. Taking pictures while in transit is not easy, but this one worked…
After helping my aunt to unload her car I walked back to my flat by way of another river on which boat travel is not unknown, the Great Ouse…
DOWN TIME
Knowing the effect that such a busy weekend would have on me I had taken the precaution of booking this week as leave to enable myself to have some quiet time. Last night was a group meeting for KLASS (more on this in a future blog post), but apart from that it has been a very quiet couple of days.
To give you an idea of how vast an eyesore this building is, this photo was taken from a point that is a 20-minute walk from the building itself!
LINKS
I have as usual plenty of links to share with you, starting with…
“A new museum gained planning permission by promising ‘the only dedicated resource in the East End to women’s history’, but has now been unveiled as a venue dedicated to the violent crimes of Jack the Ripper”.
My next story concerns a police officer who is already facing a lawsuit for handcuffing children in a very dangerous way, and should as the story makes clear be suffering more than that (defo a jail term measurable in years for this crime).
Now, a sad blast from the past. Unbelievably Kevin Healey is still suffering impersonation on twitter and still apparently receiving no protection – please either sign and share the petition if you have not already done so or keep on sharing it to apply pressure to twitter.
aspiblog 