Tag: Autism

Operation Catch Up

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece I have some photos which connect to that and some cracking links to share with you. Read, enjoy and please share…

OPERATION CATCH UP

The combination of two auctions happening in the space of four days and a degree of failure on the organsiation front has made things somewhat hectic of late. However, after a full day imaging for our June auction today, I believe that we will be able to give our online viewers a week to look at the items that will be going under the hammer, which did not look likely at one point. Today’s imaging has been very varied, including some lovely Hornby toys (Hornby for the uninitiated are THE name when it comes to railway themed toys and models). There were also some decent stamp lots and some interesting militaria. To end this section here are some pictorial highlights…

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LINKS

Here as promised are those links, starting with a fistful on the subject of…

RELIGION

My first three links are all related to the same organisation:

1)Atheist Republic home

2)Atheist Republic blogs

3)Atheist Republic’s brief explanation of atheism.

Patheos, so often a source of good material have done it again, this time with a piece about Christian extremist opposition to higher education.

A CHANCE TO BRING A VILE CRIMINAL TO JUSTICE

A single link, being given a subsection to itself. This is a petition being run by Avaaz to ensure that the South African government does the right thing and takes the opportunity to arrest and incarcerate former Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir

SCIENCE AND MUSIC

An unusual juxtaposition, but both my science related pieces are concerned with planets, and there is a very well known piece of music called The Planets, so I considered it acceptable on this occasion. The music related link is to a piece by Charlotte Hoather about Madama Butterfly, in a production of which she will soon be appearing. My two planets themed pieces both come from Cosmos Up:

1)Juxtaposition of Jupiter and Venus

2)A possible preponderance of Neptune sized planets in our galaxy.

A FINAL SELECTION

Three more links, starting with this from Jayne Linney.

Stop Homophobia have collected some superb responses to hate mail.

Last but most definitely not least is this piece from network autism about gender dysphoria and autism.

A Dull Grey Saturday

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece and accompanying photographs I have some cracking links to share with you.

A DULL GREY SATURDAY

In a classic application of Murphy’s Law today is dull and grey, immediately following several bright sunny work days. Not that unappealing weather meant that there was nothing to photograph – after being dry for some time the fountain in The Walks had water in it and was functioning as it should…

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Just beyond that was a “Trivial Pursuit” type arrangement of flower beds, one half of which I captured for posterity…

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The squirrels were not in the least deterred by filthy grey skies either…

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The ducks and moorhens were enjoying the waters of the upper Millfleet as it flows through the parkland…

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The younger generation were also in evidence out on the water…

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Arriving at the river bank by way of Hardings Pits I took a shot looking towards the town…

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Walking past the anti-flood wall near old Boal Quay I was gratified to spot this blackbird at quite close quarters…

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My last shot was taken at the jetty now in its second summer of service, and hosting a single boat today…

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LINKS

TWO AUTISM RELATED LINKS

I found this shocking story of institutionalized abuse (I can call it nothing else), by way of twitter and I have already made contact with the author and subject of the story, Jennifer Msumba who posted it on her blog Here is an infographic for you…

JRC

My second autism related link concerns Kevin Healey of the National Autistic Society and his continuing effort to get twitter to protect him properly. That perennial source of fine material Huffington Post is running an article by him about cyber-bullying. For some time, Kevin has been running a petition via change,org to put pressure on twitter to do the right thing.

A GOOD NEWS STORY COMBINED WITH A CALL TO ACTION

The petition calling on Playmobil to produce toys that show disabled people in a positive light has succeeded in persuading them, after gaining more than 50,000 signatures. As well as celebrating, the organisers are using this as a springboard for tackling their next target, Lego. To view, sign and share this new petition please follow this link.

SATIRE-DAY

A couple of crackers in this mini-section:

1)Dan Keeling on how the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor.

2)This gem from kittysjones.

OTHER LINKS

The dailyinspirationblog have come up trumps with this piece about Aristotle.

Patheos, who feature regularly in the links section of this blog, are here again, this time with a report on a particularly egregious piece of legislation which will cause the adoption rate in the state of Michigan to plummet.

My next link to share comes courtesy of thepoorsideoflife and concerns new targets for DWP compliance interviews.

My next and penultimate link is to a piece from handandmouse which combines slamming George Osborne with arguing cogently for Jeremy Corbyn to be on the ballot paper for the Labour leadership election.

To end this section here is a link to a piece in the Lynn News about how the town will be celebrating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.

PHOTOS AND AN AFTERWORD

AFTERWORD

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and will be inspired to share it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are a few random pics that I choose to share…

Window display at the Salvation Army shop in Fakenham.
Window display at the Salvation Army shop in Fakenham.
A close up of one the pieces featured in the first picture.
A close up of one the pieces featured in the first picture.

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More from the Salvation Army shop.
More from the Salvation Army shop.

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Detail from the Majestic Cinema, King's Lynn
Detail from the Majestic Cinema, King’s Lynn

A Hectic Period

INTRODUCTION

This is going be to what I think of as a ‘standard issue’ blog post – my title piece, a couple of infographics that have caught my eye, some interesting links and a few of my own photographs.

IMAGING, IMAGING AND MORE IMAGING

With James and Sons’ own June auction and the Great Centenary Charity Auction which is being conducted by James and Sons happening within four days of one another I have a heavy load of imaging to get through. The last of the GCCA stuff was done yesterday, and I then got back to imaging for the regular June auction, on which I had made a start before I was commandeered to image the stuff for the GCCA.

At least today, with the GCCA stuff out of the way, I will be working at my usual location the whole day, and should get a lot done.

Towards the end of yesterday I got a few bits of June imaging done, some of which I shall share now…

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LINKS

I am grouping these links by subject matter, because although there are only a few of them, they cover a wide range of topics…

RELIGION

I have two pieces in this section, both courtesy of Patheos:

1)A piece on the Caitlyn Jenner story

2)Much more important than one, a piece introducing my readers to the Freethought Rescue project

SCIENCE

Just the one science link today, to a piece my Marcus Chown about the Cosmic Microwave Background.

LOW PAID JOBS

Two pieces in this section, one from Tax Research UK about social security payments and, following the brook back to the parent lake, the inspiration for the Tax Research UK piece on flipchartfartfairytales.

AUTISM

Just the one piece, but it is an excellent one, and it is feel-good story to end my links section on an upbeat note, courtesy of ramblingsofaspecialmom –  a story about finding the right kind of support.

INFOGRAPHICS AND A CLOSING NOTE

ATomlinson End Austerity Now Tax Dodging

I hope you have enjoyed this post and will be encouraged to share it.

A Visit to the Autism Research Centre

INTRODUCTION

I have a good haul of photographs from today, and some interesting links to share with you, as well as the main story…

ELECTRODES AND FLICKERING IMAGES

Being signed up to the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge’s email alerts I get a lot of details of studies into Autistic Spectrum Conditions for which they need volunteers and being passionate about reducing the ignorance about Autistic Spectrum Conditions that continues to bedevil our world I nearly always agree to take part.

This particular project was to do with responses to visual stimulation and required me to visit Cambridge. My appointment had been arranged for 11AM today, carefully avoiding any clash with work commitments…

GETTING THERE

The train journey from King’s Lynn to Cambridge takes almost exactly an hour, which given that they leave King’s Lynn just before the hour strikes meant that I had to be on the 8:57AM. Arriving at the station in King’s Lynn in very good time, and purchasing my ticket without undue difficulty I was able to take some photos at the recently restored station…

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This blackbird clearly isn't conversant with passenger safety advice!
This blackbird clearly isn’t conversant with passenger safety advice!

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The train approaching.
The train approaching.
This map is inside the train doors - I took the pic en route to finding a seat.
This map is inside the train doors – I took the pic en route to finding a seat.

The train journey was uneventful and (mirabile dictu) ran exactly according to schedule. Although it is far from straightforward to get good photos through a train window one or two of my attempts are worth sharing…

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Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Boats at Ely
Boats at Ely
At Cambridge, witnessing a service run by Abellio arriving (almost certainly late given their reputation)
At Cambridge, witnessing a service run by Abellio arriving (almost certainly late given their reputation)
The operating company that runs service between London and King's Lynn - no connection to the Great Northern Railway of old which ran services out of London Euston.
The operating company that runs service between London and King’s Lynn – no connection to the Great Northern Railway of old which ran services out of London Euston.

From the station, it was a walk through past the bus stops and on to Brooklands Avenue, which goes straight through to Trumpington Road, picking up some more photos en route…

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Cambridge and its environs are served by an excellent local bus system.
Cambridge and its environs are served by an excellent local bus system.

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AT THE AUTISM RESEARCH CENTRE

Having dallied sufficiently that I would not be crazily early I rang on the doorbell of Douglas House 15 minutes in advance of my appointment time, signed in as requested and waited. It turned out the researcher who should have been conducting the experiments was not around that day, so someone else took charge of me. The preliminaries (paperwork) attended to, it was time to set me up for the tests. This involved me donning an electrode cap (effectively a swimming hat with points for attaching electrodes), each electrode point being filled with a conducting gel before the electrodes could be attached, and then the electrodes being attached. A second set of electrodes were attached around the eyes . The purpose of this get up was to monitor electrical activity in my brain while I responded to various visual stimuli.

Everything, be it lines or proper pictures, was flickering so that I only got fleeting glimpses. There was one set of exercises that involved proper pictures, one that involved viewing arrows and then clicking a button as soon as white box appeared on the screen, and several involving flickering lines.

At the end I was quite relieved when the wires were all detached and I was able to wash the gel (which is water soluble) out of my hair and take my leave.

Although the gel feels cold when it first makes contact with you, and when all the electrodes are fitted to it the cap weighs quite a bit I feel that this set of experiments are no great imposition. If you are 18 or over, have an Autistic Spectrum Condition, feel that you could undergo this and are able to get to Cambridge you could send an email to: Sarah Kaarina Crockford” <skc48@medschl.cam.ac.uk>

GETTING BACK

A combination of the fact that I finished at the Autism Research Centre at 12:15 and that I wasted no time getting back to the station meant that I was able to catch the 12:35 train back to King’s Lynn, and was sat down to a late lunch at 2PM. A last couple of photos…

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LINKS

Just a handful of links for you this time. Firstly, Jayne Linney on the possibility of a National Disability Union. Next Cosmos Up, a reliable source of good stuff on “exiled stars”. My final two links both concern the Great Barrier Reef (surely would feature prominently on anyone’s list of seven natural wonders of the world), one a petition that I urge you to sign and share and one page giving some extra information.

SHARING

i hope that you all enjoyed this post and that you will share it widely. Many thanks.

Another Great Test Match in the Making

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece, I have my usual selection of links, infographics and photos to share with you.

ANOTHER GREAT TEST MATCH IN THE MAKING

In spite of the interventions of Jupiter Pluvius (a mischievous deity who specialises in interrupting test match play in England) the truncated day’s play we got yesterday at Headingley was sufficient to indicate that we are in for another classic test match. Luke Ronchi, making his test match debut for New Zealand, scored a spectacular 89, and the scoring rate was lively throughout. The pitch offered plenty to bowlers throughout, but any error in length or direction was liable to be punished. James Anderson became the first England bowler to take 400 test wickets. It is possible that this will not be the only historic milestone to feature in this match – if Cook bats well he could become the first England batsman to amass 9,000 test runs. The second day is just under way, and a mere six minutes in to the day a six has already been hit – and a wicket has been taken by the very next ball. Yesterday was a wonderful day for cricket lovers – after play finished at Headingley there was commentary on the T20 Blast (20 overs each per side) game between Essex and Somerset, which ended in a tie. Chris Gayle making his debut for Somerset scored an explosive 92, giving the houses adjoining the ground a peppering.

INFOGRAPHICS

I have no fewer than six high quality infographics from various sources to share with you…

A reminder for those who are sceptical about trade unions of where we would be without them.
A reminder for those who are sceptical about trade unions of where we would be without them.

Nationalisation RejectReligion Trickle Down Fraud Welfare Action Welfare Cuts

LINKS

RELIGION

First up in this section, an article highlighting some indefensible behaviour and attitudes from those running a Jewish school in north London.

Second, a cardinal who has described the Irish as ‘worse than pagans’ following their decision to legalise gay marriage.

Third, courtesy of Patheos, the source piece for the infographic about teenagers rejecting religion.

SCIENCE

My first link in this section follows on from the stuff about religion, and comes with a very impressive picture. It comes courtesy of Huffington Post and features a creationist who discovered a 60,000,000 year old fossil fish.

This is the fossil fish in all its glory.
This is the fossil fish in all its glory.

My other science piece for you comes from wildlife articles and is about a volcanic eruption in the Galapagos Islands.

WELFARE AND TAX

My first link in this section comes from The Poor Side of Life and tells a truly shocking story.

Tax Research UK, often a source of valuable information, provide this piece about a new form of tax dodging.

Finally in this section, we come to a story from Welfare Tales which provides ironclad evidence that jobcentres DO HAVE SANCTIONS TARGETS.

ANTI-DISCRIMIANTION

This is my final subsection of the links section, and includes three items. Of course, this entire blog is strongly anti-discrimination, but these three pieces relate more specifically to that concern than anything else in this post. First up, the S*n have been hammered by IPSO over the despicable behaviour of their columnist Rod Liddle in relation to Emily Brothers, who is both blind and transgendered. Enjoy this piece from zelo-street.

My second piece in this subsection comes from across the pond bpecial neey way of Disability Scoop and concerns schools (ab)using truancy laws to get rid of children with special needs.

My final piece, again from the other side of the Atlantic concerns a large donation made to college by the mother of an autistic student by way of thanking them.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I hope you have enjoyed this post and that you will share it. To finish off I have a few pictures for you…

These dragonfly jewels were on display in the window of the Salvation Army shop in Fakenham
These dragonfly jewels were on display in the window of the Salvation Army shop in Fakenham

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This detail is from the side of St James MCP, from outside which i shall be catching the bus next week.
This detail is from the side of St James MCP, from outside which i shall be catching the bus next week.

Final Preparations for Tomorrow’s Auction

INTRODUCTION

This will be a briefer than usual post as I have less to share than usual (I set off for work this morning part way through a post, which I will finish this evening once I have got home.

TOMORROW’S AUCTION

James and Sons’s May auction (we have one live and at least one timed auction every month) takes place tomorrow at The Maid’s Head Hotel, Norwich. A full catalogue can be viewed online and you can also sign up to bid online if you cannot make it to Norwich.

As well as getting the van loaded for tomorrow, any last-minute queries had to be attended to. This did result in some good images to liven things up a bit…

186-218 Tails

These two were the scans from which most of my edited images were taken (as you will immediately observe, one had to be redone)
These two were the scans from which most of my edited images were taken (as you will immediately observe, one had to be redone)

Now that you have seen the original scans, here are the iomages that I emailed to various clients and then uploaded onto the-saleroom.com:

This image and the next two are of lot 186
This image and the next two are of lot 186

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Thisn image and the next two are of lot 200
Thisn image and the next two are of lot 200

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This image and the next two are of lot 218, showing in each case the whole container.
This image and the next two are of lot 218, showing in each case the whole container.

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AFTERWORD

That concludes this post. I am now going to do a survey for the Autism Research Centre, more details of which can be found here. The survey itself can be found here. There will be a proper sized post coming later today…

Stuff to Share

This post is going to be dominated by things to share (I have a lot of them).

LINKS

WALTHAM FOREST DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTRE

Two important developments concerning this project:

1)Council reconsidering their decision to cut all its funding and

2)A chance for you to help them secure funding.

GENERAL POLITICAL STUFF

I will lead into this section with an excellent infographic courtesy of Vox Political...

Turkey

Naturally,our next link is to a post that features the above picture.

Glynis Millward provides a post that full lives up to its title “Read it and Weep”

Press Gang UK offer an excellent post about Catherine Shuttleworth, ‘undecided voter’

Another UKIP candidate makes the news for the wrong reasons – threatening to put a bullet in one of his rivals on this occasion.

THE NHS

First of all, a link to a very important petition from change.org.

Secondly, an excellent piece from someone with very real chance of unseating Jeremy Hunt tomorrow, Dr Louise Irvine of the NHA.

RAMPING UP THE PRESSURE ON KATIE HOPKINS TO APOLOGISE TO THE AUTISTIC COMMUNITY

Three links here, first of all to the petition that is at the heart of this campaign and then two more to articles that have been published in

1) The Mirror.

2)Metro.

VOLCANOES ON EARTH AND OTHER PLANETS

A couple of related posts here, first Faraday’s Candle on vulcanology and second, from space.com a piece about possible volcanic activity on an exoplanet.

STUFF FROM OFFLINE

KING’S LYNN LIGHT SHOWS

Having been very successful at the Custom House, there are now six different light shows available around King’s Lynn at night, and here in the form of four pictures is the official publicity…

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HANSE FESTIVAL

Coming up on the 16th and 17th of May is the Hanse Festival in King’s Lynn, and I will again let a picture (just the one this time) do most of the talking…

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A FEW FINAL WORDS

For my British followers don;t forget that tomorrow is the General Election – your chance to kick out the worst government of my lifetime. In King’s Lynn we also have Borough Council elections to vote in. In the nick of time (last day before polling) I picked up a delivery which enabled me to enhance my window display looking out on to the High Street…

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I encourage everyone to continue the sharing process.

Borough Council Elections

This post will be in three parts. First of all I have a very important link to share, then I will be writing about the Borough Council elections, and finally I will say something about the Test Match that finished late last night our time with two full days unused.

A HYPER-IMPORTANT HYPERLINK

This link is to a radio interview with leading autism campaigner Kevin Healey. Please listen and share!!

BOROUGH COUNCIL ELECTIONS

In King’s Lynn we have two decisions to make on Thursday, who to vote for in the general election and who to vote for in our borough council election. I have already made clear, both here and on my twitter feed who I will be voting for in the general election, and I will say no more in this post than that it would be folly for anyone in King’s Lynn who considers themselves even remotely progressive to vote for anybody other than Jo Rust. I have not previously mentioned the Borough Council elections, because I had not formed a definite conclusion. The game changer that has prompted this post was the following from our local Green Party…

Look to the central part of this leaflet in particular to see why I am so definite about the decision.
Look to the central part of this leaflet in particular to see why I am so definite about the decision.

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TEST MATCH HUMILIATION FOR ENGLAND

Not long after 10PM our time last night the final test of the series between England and the West Indies ended (with two days unused) in a defeat by five wickets for the visitors. England’s batting was woefully inadequate with the exceptions in the first innings of Cook who ground out a century and Ali who made 58. 123 all out at the second attempt when seeking to build on a lead of 68 tells its own tale of woe. The other problem for England was lack of a serious spin option (Ali, the ‘front-line spinner’ recorded match figures of 2-110 from 22 overs on a turner). If Adil Rashid was not the right option on this pitch he never will be.

Whoever they go for, and wherever they find them, England need a genuine front-line spinner (and not a batsman who bowls being bigged up) and they need one as soon as possible. A spinner who takes only two wickets in the match and goes for five an over on a turning pitch does not deserve to be described as such. It was not just the number of runs being leaked but the deliveries off which they were being hit – frequently short (including a substantial ration of rank long hops). Wilf Rhodes, a great spinner a century ago, used to say talking about the length he bowled “Ah were nivver hooked and Ah were nivver cut”

Congratulations to the West Indies on being able to take what was handed them on a plate.

Now for a few more pics…

On Saturday there were no fewer the seven boats moored at the new jetty (I am fairly certain that this is a current record)
On Saturday there were no fewer the seven boats moored at the new jetty (I am fairly certain that this is a current record)

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NHS Action Yesterday

Some very important links, an account of yesterday’s petitioning activity around the NHS and some pictures.

I have a variety of other things to share with you before I get to the main meat of my post…

LINKS

First of all a family of related links. Autism Mom’s latest post “autism-respect-the-beautiful-otherness-of-the-autistic-mind” is the original post that attracted my attention, and it in turn was inspired by two articles:

1)A piece published by the Royal Society and authored by Francesca Happe and Uta Frith.

2)A piece published on medicaldaily and written by Lecia Bushak.

Next, news of a major victory in the battle to save the world’s bees, in pictorial form. While on the subject of conservation, I have a petition to share with you about that horror known as the ivory trade.

My next link is to a piece written by a lawyer who courageously and correctly stood up for his neighbours when they were being bullied by the DWP – it provides insight into just how vicious this department has become since the Idiotic Delusional Sociopath (IDS for short) took control. This post is simultaneously disturbing and inspiring. A natural follow on from that is a link to this post from refuted.org.

Moving on, Tom Pride gives details of some vicious anti-semtism from a Tory candidate.

My next two links are related both referring to matters connected with LGBT rights. The first one was written in response to Nick Clegg publicly ruling out (a rather grandiose thing for soon-to-be ex MP to do in any case) any coalition involving the SNP, and points out just who he might find himself helping if he supports a coalition of the right – the gang of bigots officially known as the DUP. The second concerns the case of an asylum seeker facing deportion back to Jamaica and certain death – anyone actually carrying out this threat will be an accessory to murder and should be punished appropriately.

My penultimate link comes courtesy of julijuxtaposed and is counterblast to the increasingly rabid Scotphobia being shown by the right.

Finally, I include a link to an establishment being run by my latest twitter follower, which seems to be an excellent thing.

A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE

This card was sent to me by Rocio Watkins, an American researcher who I have been of some assistance to - it contained a small cheque for which I have thanked her.
This card was sent to me by Rocio Watkins, an American researcher who I have been of some assistance to – it contained a small cheque for which I have thanked her.

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This is the stamp on the envelope in which the car was sent. Although being current issue it is not yet of interest to philatelists I feel that I may be so eventually as circular stamps are not all that common.
This is the stamp on the envelope in which the car was sent. Although being current issue it is not yet of interest to philatelists I feel that I may be so eventually as circular stamps are not all that common.

YESTERDAYS NHS ACTION

Between 11AM and 1PM yesterday about 10 of us took to the streets of King’s Lynn to collect signatures for a petition which is at the heart of a campaign to Save Our NHS. Our numbers were a little less than they may have been because of late withdrawals and the fact that some people who would ordinarily have been with us were campaigning in Hunstanton as part of Jo Rust’s election campaign (including Jo herself who would certainly have been with us otherwise).

The weather was decent, and lots of people signed. I, and accosting people I do not know with a petition is something that having Asperger;s definitely does make more difficult, personally got 20 and must have had 10 times that number tell me they had already signed. Given how many others were also collecting signatures and the near certainty that I will have gathered the fewest of any of them we are certainly talking in terms of several hundred new signatures.

Finally, a few more pictures to end the post:

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Look up and across from outside King's Lynn Debenhams and you will see this window display!
Look up and across from outside King’s Lynn Debenhams and you will see this window display!
Details of a post-election public meeting that will very likely be the occasion of my next visit to the fine city of Norwich.
Details of a post-election public meeting that will very likely be the occasion of my next visit to the fine city of Norwich.
This is my enlarged version of the victory for bees picture.
This is my enlarged version of the victory for bees picture.

Save Ashcroft Campaign

An introduction to the Save Ashcroft campaign, with some important links and cool pictures.

This post is going to be in three parts:

1) An Image to introduce you to what it is all about

2) Some links that relate to the topic being covered.

3)The main body of the post

THE SAVE ASHCROFT CAMPAIGN

A photo of the current leaflet.
A photo of the current leaflet.

LINKS

My first offering is a link to a wonderful piece detailing how mental health issues are misrepresented in the media, courtesy of an American health news site. Next comes an article on awareness, acceptance and how one can to lead to the other, posted on ramblingsofaspecialmom. My next link is to an online section of the Labour Party manifesto. Before continuing with my next links i will just say that while I am as mistrustful of manifestos as anyone if it comes to a choice between someone who is offering an improvement and someone who means to make things worse I know who I will be voting for! My penultimate link is to a an open letter that gives the Guardian’s “Secret Teacher” a well deserved telling off. My last link is to the Save Ashcroft Campaign’s facebook page, which I hope everyone will visit and like. Mention of social media brings to me to a landmark – aspitweets has just reached 2,000 followers.

A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE

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The Wensum, near the heart of the fine city of Norwich
The Wensum, near the heart of the fine city of Norwich

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THE ORGANISING MEETING

Last night there was an organising meeting of the Save Ashcroft Campaign. The meeting was arranged for the Vauxhall Community Centre in Norwich from 7:30 to 9:30 PM. Not wishing to get back to King’s Lynn after midnght, and being even less keen on not being involved at all, I contacted the organisers to find out if I could stay overnight in Norwich. This duly arranged (many thanks to the kind woman who offered me a bed in her house), I arrived at the venue without incident at 7:15PM (precisely the time I would want to arrive for a 7:30 start). The meeting was very constructive, with many excellent suggestions being raised.

The next public activity on behalf of this very worthy cause will be on May 2nd at the Forum in Norwich, where they will have a place a stall being run by a larger campaign concerned with the whole of mental health provision (or rather lack of it) in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Before finishing with some more pictures, I ask you all to share this and to support Save Ashcroft any way you can – every little helps.

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My T-shirt for Saturday's activity in King's Lynn
My T-shirt for Saturday’s activity in King’s Lynn

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The first fo five pictures to show that my Aunt's pots are prospering.
The first fo five pictures to show that my Aunt’s pots are prospering.

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This blackbird is getting bad habits - that is a chip from a mobile stall in its mouth!
This blackbird is getting bad habits – that is a chip from a mobile stall in its mouth!

Just before finishing this post where I started with the leaflet, I urge anyone who is in King’s Lynn on Saturday to come out and help as gather signatures against the creeping privatisation of the NHS.

Yes so good I am using at both ends of the post - and making it the feature image.
Yes so good I am using at both ends of the post – and making it the feature image.