Today featured database work, heavy lifting and imaging. I spent the bulk of the day bringing a degree of order to the January auction lots. A full catalogue for this auction can now be viewed on the following link: http://bit.ly/1yGOwUD. In between times I imaged a very few lots for the February auction, shown below, and stashed some boxes of albums away.
Not much to add except that my twitter account (@aspitweets) continues to prosper.
The text is mainly devoted to celebrating a big success in Cumbria. As usual there are some good pictures form in and around King’s Lynn.
What is this victory in Cumbria that I have used as the title for the post? Well, this body text should make all clear:
My involvement in this was courtesy of an online petition circulated via change.org. For more details please click the following link: https://www.change.org/p/national-health-service-cumbria-give-mike-a-chance-to-live-in-a-home-near-his-family-in-wigton-cumbria I have already shared this FANTASTIC news with my twitter followers on @aspitweets
If you read this, you will see that although this was a small, local campaign, it was of great importance, and as such the victory is worth celebrating.
It was cold today, to the extent that I have some shots of gulls walking on water…
I have plenty of other pics, some of which are worth sharing…
Yesterday at James and Sons was devoted to finishing the imaging for the January auction (Jan 28th 2014, Fakenham Racecourse). It is in the nature of last items to be imaged that they are not the most interesting, but there were some good ones in there…
Today however was a much more varied day. The morning was devoted to the heavy work of clearing the alleyway behind the shop (our neighbours in Fakenham who I won’t name had failed a fire inspection). Thereafter a new advertising board to replace the clapped out and out of date one was constructed (I did some of the selection and layout work, my colleague Andrew then assembled it) – I have a picture of it laid out ready for construction and one of it standing in the shop window, both of which I have tweeted out to my followers on @aspitweets…
The imaging for February only involved four lots, but some needed multiple images as you will see below…
A personal (and therefore idiosyncratic) view of places to visit in King’s Lynn
I am inspired to write this because some pictures I posted on twitter helped to convince one of my followers (@MrStuchbery) that King’s Lynn would be worth a visit. Thus post will comprise a personal list of the places I think should not be missed on a visit to King’s Lynn:
I have some photos from today, which bear some relation to what I have been writing about…
This is a personal account of Thursday’s public meeting of the Save Ashcroft campaign, with some extra information and contact details for the campaign thrown in.
On Thursday 8th January in Norwich there was a public meeting organised by the Save Ashcroft Campaign.
Ashcroft is a women only mental health facility in Norfolk – the only one in the entire county to be precise.
To quote from the online petition that has been running on this issue, which is available at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-ashcroft:
Ashcroft provides essential care services for women who experience mental health difficulties. It is an almost unique service, being one of only two women-only specialist mental health units in the country and is a hugely valuable resource. Norfolk should be proud of its assets, not trying to save a few pounds forcing Ashcroft to close its doors.
More information about Ashcroft and this campaign can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30352968
To contact the campaign email saveashcroft@gmail.com or visit the Save Ashcroft Facebook page or @SaveAshcroft on twitter. Mention twitter, my own following on @aspitweets has just topped the 1,500 mark.
The meeting was very inspiring with lots of moving stories from people who have previously benefited from the existence of Ashcroft. Simon Wright MP, ultra loyal member of the coalition government whose cuts (which he voted for time after time) showed up and was given an absolute roasting, which was quite amusing to listen to. The current state of play is that funding has been secured for seven beds for three years, which is excellent but not enough – the only acceptable final position is that Ashcroft’s future is 100% guaranteed.
I only have a few pictures this time…
This is not a subject that I have blogged about before, but anyone familiar with my personal twitter account (@aspitweets) will already be familiar with my position on this subject. I have been provoked into producing a blog post about this by the behaviour of Oldham Athletic FC, allegedly supported by the PFA.
First up, to deal with the most tiresomely repeated objection made by the pro-Evans faction to those on my side of the debate: He has not served his sentence – he has been released under licence half way through his sentence and if he fails to meet his probation conditions he can be sent straight back to jail.
Secondly, having a conviction for a crime this serious debars Evans automatically from many jobs. Being a professional sportsperson should be one of those. Whether or not it should happen, we all know that children make heroes of sport stars, and that on its own is sufficient for there to be a child protection issue here. Evans should, as others in his position he were not former professional footballers would have to, go through whatever programme is deemed appropriate for ex-offenders looking to find jobs.
While i bitterly regret the presence of people so unprincipled as to make this necessary, the governing bodies (FA, UEFA, FIFA) need to take action in situations like this. In theory, since Evans’ probation conditions ban him for going abroad a lifetime ban from the FA would be sufficient to make sure that whether they want to or not no club can sign Evans. In practice, I would like as insurance to see UEFA and FIFA match that life ban, to make sure that there is no getting around it.
I have a message to all who currently support Oldham Athletic: turn your back on this club because it no longer merits your sujpport. If your are a season ticket holder, return that ticket and demand your money back. And this last applies to supporters of Oldham’s opponents as well: do not turn out for the games – make Oldham play in empty grounds for so long as they keep Evans on their books.
I never like to put up a blog post without pictures, so here are some from yesterday at work…
Last night’s FA Cup 3rd round match between AFC Wimbledon and Liverpool was thoroughly enjoyable. Although two goals from Steven Gerrard were enough to prevent what would have been an almighty upset, there were moments in the match when memories strayed back to 1988.
The BBC’s Assistant Political Editor, Norman Smith suffered yesterday for parroting the Tory line, a hecklers shout of “Get back to London” being one of the politer comments. The full story can be read at: http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/01/06/pillock-bbc-reporters-duff-nhs-question-makes-milibands-day/
One of the pictures I tweeted yesterday on @aspitweets was of one of the new buildings at Hillington Square, and I received a response from the official Hillington Square twitter account, @HillingtonSq thanking me for doing so.
I have plenty of photos to share…
2014 has been a very significant year for me in many ways. Between a return to full-time education, mental health issues and the difficulty of finding employment as someone with Asperger’s Syndrome this is the first year since 1998 in which I have been in paid employment from beginning to end.
It is also the year in which I discovered twitter, first administrating @great_auction and subsequently launching an account of my own, @aspitweets which already after only just over two months has more than 1300 followers.
As a counterblast to the New Year Honours List I have produced a brief New Year Dishonours List. For the sake of balance,, and also by way of thanking the individuals concerned I have also produced a short list of people who have impacted positively on my life in recent times. Undoubtedly since I was attempting to be brief people have been missed from both lists!
I also have a few new pics from today, some of which I shall include below…
An important press release and some high quality images.
My day at James and Sons started with putting out a press release about a significant development (see added media) and ended with imaging some cigarette cards.
My personal twitter following (@aspitweets) continues to grow at a satisfying rate. I have a special post in mind to usher in the new year but until then enjoy these…
NORFOLK AUCTIONEERS APPOINTED FOR SUFFOLK ANTIQUES SHOWS AT NEWMARKET
A brief mention of the Strictly final, and Alastair Cook’s replacement as England ODI captain followed by some stuff about books and accompanied as usual by pictures.
Before moving on to the main theme of this post there a couple of other issues I wish to touch on first.
Strictly Come Dancing is over for another year. Caroline Flack and Pasha Kovalev won the vote (in the final, judges scores are given for guidance only, the outcomes resting solely on the public vote) as they jolly well should having clocked up perfect 40s from the judges in each of their last four routines, including all three in the final. Besides these four the only other perfect score of the series was achieved by Simon Webbe and Kristina Rihanoff in the last couple dance of the series. Frankie Bridge and Kevin Clifton with two 39s and a 38 were third best on the night.
The second item on my agenda that England have finally acted over the One Day International captaincy, replacing Alastair Cook with Eoin Morgan. Cook is a magnificent test match cricketer but in limited overs matches, especially on good batting pitches, he does not score quickly enough. Not only do I think a change had to be made, I am certain that the selectors have made the right decision about the new captain.
I have decided to write about something that is important to me but which I have not often covered in this blog: books. I am going to focus my attention on an old favourite and two new discoveries.
Starting with the old favourite, Edward Marston’s “Railway Detective” series dovetails neatly with two of my areas of interest, detective fiction and railways, and as such was a sure fire winner. Even so, i never cease to be impressed by just how good the stories are and just how much I enjoy reading them. I do not know how long a period the series will eventually cover, but it has already spanned most of the 1850s. 1863 would be a significant year in this context, because of the opening of the world’s first underground railway.
My second port of call is another fictional series, Laurie King’s remarkable Mary Russell/ Sherlock Holmes series. I was originally very sceptical because in the original Holmes stories he is very much not the marrying kind. However, in spite of the implausibility of Holmes marrying, the series works spectacularly well, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.
Finally, moving away from detective fiction and indeed from fiction we have Clifford Pickover’s “The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles & Stars”. This provided me with reading material for three bus journeys (unusual for a book to occupy me that long) and is of more specialised interest than my other two mentions, but the patterns contained within it are fascinating.
I have some photos to share with you – one thign you will notice if you look at the front cover shots of the books – all are library books, and I am happy to pay a tribute to Norfolk Libraries for continuing to provide a good service in difficult circumstances.
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