Incinerator Planning Meeting

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough council’s planning committe held a public meeting today to discuss Norfolk County Council and Cory Wheelabrator’s plans to inflict an incinerator on us. They decided unanimously to oppose the granting of planning permission for this and to ask to relevant minister to call it in and take the decision out of the County Council’s hands (since they clearly cannot be trusted). Cory Wheelabrator sent one person to speak to suggest that that the dangers were being exaggerated, but no one from Norfolk County Council could be bothered to show up. It was a very good meeting, and hopefully another nail in the coffin of this daft project.

Vivaldi and Bach Double Bill

Spent yesterday evenin g having a wonderful time at a double bill concert in St Margarets Church as part of the King’s Lynn Festival. The early concert (7:00-8:30) featured four works for strings by Antonio Vivaldi magnificently played by a superb ensemble. Listening to this music made me feel sorry for those unfortunates whose only experience of Vivaldi is the butchered version of the Four Seasons played down the phone when someone sticks you on hold. The second concert featured a choice selection of Keyboard works by Johann Sebastian Bach, played with quite incredible virtuosity by Carole Cerasi on a Harpsichord. This emphasised the sheer folly of having Bach keyboard works played on a piano – it really should be a harpsichord or an organ.

To all the many people who have indicated liking my posts (12 WordPress messages, all positive, in my inbox) a big thankyou – it is appreciated.

My New Home To Be

As of yesterday evening it is confirmed that I will be moving to 117E High Street, King’s Lynn, PE30 1DD. This was so much the best of the properties I have looked at that after a second viewing yesterday the decision was made. I will be moving there during the week beginning 15th August. The picture below shows approach to the flat from the top of the final flight.

My Humble Abode (from 15/08)

Talk on Pompeii and Herculaneum/ House hunting

Panoramic view from 117E High Street

Yesterday evening the King’s Lynn Festival featured a talk on Pompeii and Herculaneum by Professor Wallace-Hadrill, a world renowned expert in the field. The talk was extremely interesting, and all but one of the questions from the floor were sensible.

During the day I was viewing properties for rent in King’s Lynn. This came about because it has become obvious that Genesis Housing is not a suitable option. I had come up with a list of six properties which warranted further investigation, four of which my mother had arranged for us to see yesterday, while we are waiting on the other two. In addition to the four I had noted Abbotts thought that they had another worth viewing. The first property, a third floor flat in The Granaries was far too small. The second, a flat overlooking the High Street, was the best we saw all day, not only being spacious and well-organised but also possessing outside space – a real bonus. The extra property, 9 Priory Lane came next, and was so badly afflicted with damp as to entirely cancel out it’s advantages. The other two properties, viewed later in the afternoon, were in an area that had some very obvious problems. The first of these, on North Everard Street was absolutely hopeless. The place in Valingers Road was better but still not great. Only the property overlooking the High Street is worth following up on. I include a couple of photos taken from the outside space belonging to this property:

Debenham's Cupola viewd from 117E High Street, King's Lynn

Tasmin Little Concert

Classical musicThe King’s Lynn Festival is underway. Last night saw a concert at St Nicholas Chapel (don’t be fooled by the official designation, this is a huge building) featuring internationally renowned violinist Tasmin Little and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. The music was every bit as good as one would expect. This is the second time in eight months that St Nicholas has hosted a musician of international repute, Emma Kirkby having sung there at Christmas. I attach some photos to give you an idea of what the place is like:

A view of the front two-thrids of St NicholasSide on view of the Organ at St Nicholas Chapel

Side Windows St Nicholas Chapel

The Open Championship

This year’s Open Championship was an absolute cracker. Darren Clarke’s victory was one of the most popular ever. It made excellent listening on the radio because it was so close most of the way through (Clarke established a substantial lead in the end). For those of us who listened to the actioon on the radio Clarke’s victory had the extra spice of coming less than 24 hours after he was dismissed as a contender by an American pundit (name withheld to protect the guilty).

The Rudham Festival

This weekend was the Rudham festival. Lots and lots of people turned out to do various things. The playing field was the centre of activities, but there was also some stuff in St Peters Church, West Rudham, incluidng a History Society stall featuring photographs which I had done some work on, and various other interesting documents. This stall was massively successful. I bought a pair of ex-army binoculars from a stall run by Break for £5. There was a highly entertaining demonstration of the art of sheep shearing. Another quirky event was Snail Racing.

Marxism 2011

Have just returned from Marxism 2011, a huge left-wing festival in London. Over 4,500 people turned up this year, inspired by events all round the world. The atmosphere was electric. I have made contact with the Norwich SWP which will means I shall be able to attend future events in Norwich. The event was given a further shot in the arm by the strike action which took place just before it started. A running theme through the event was calls for a general strike (“name the day”). Attending and enjoying this event was another little landmark in my personal journey of recovery from the problems I had in 2005.

various

A great victory for England yesterday in the ODI. Wimbledon turning into a tournament of shocks, with both Williams sisters and Federer all shown the exit door in the space of three days.

Away from sport some big news: I will be moving to Genesis Homes (nee St Matthew Housing) in the near future. I spent a couple of hours today going through a risk assessment interview with two of their professionals and Dave from Julian Housing (standing in for my regular caseworker Duncan). They have a room in each of their two Kings Lynn houses so I await with interest finding out which house I will be in.

Between tomorrow and Tuesday inclusive I will be in London for Marxism 2011, a big political festival.

cricket

The thrid and final test match of the series between England and Sri Lanka has ended in a draw. Perhaps the most significant occurrence of the match was the return to form of Kevin Pietersen who contributed a magnificent 85 to England’s 377-8D. The horrible weather that has blighted this series was particularly unfortunate here as the groundstaff had produced a proper cricket pitch on which all types of player were in the game, as opposed to the shirtfronts we see far too often. Today we witnessed Kumar Sangakkara’s 1st test hundred in England, wilile Thilan Samaraweera was 13 short when the rain came.