The Croft-Yates Wedding

A personal account of the wedding party for Rob and Olivia Yates, with lots of quality pics. Also, some important links at the end.

INTRODUCTION

I will start with a word of warning: this is going to be a very long post, as there is a lot to talk about and I have some fabulous pictures to share with you. Olivia Croft (now Yates) is a cousin of mine, which is why I was there.

THE PRELIMINARIES

Needing to arrive at Kegworth early enough for those who would be at the ceremony itself to travel on to Loughborough and arrive by 12 meant an early start. I was not at the ceremony and was assigned another task along with my nephew Zachary, which I have already written about in a previous post. After a schemozzle over room bookings, which worked out to my benefit since I ended up with a room to myself (they had messed up, so we got the extra room we needed at no further cost) it was time to deposit our bags in the rooms and make the short walk to the house where the party was taking place, next door to the Kegworth museum.

THE PARTY

Arriving at the venue the first arresting sight was a 1950s vintage Morris…

A very old style AA badge - this close up shot was gained much later than the shot of the car. — A very old style AA badge – this close up shot was gained much later than the shot of the car.

This is the time, before going on to the party itself to introduce my feature image, a montage of some of the many pictures I took through the day…

FB Montage

There was a Pimm’s table for those whose tastes run in that direction, although I ignored that and was then delighted to located cask beer (four kegs, each different). I went for something called Blue Monkey Infinity and it was delicious. There was a barbecue lunch which was excellent. It is now time for a brief diversion to…

THE FISH POND

The fish pond was quite simply magnificent, with a stunning variety of fish and an excellent rock garden…

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PUNCH AND JUDY

At 4PM there was a Punch and Judy puppet show. I watched it all and got some good pictures. It seemed to appeal to its target audience, the children, but I was unimpressed to say the least…

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OUTDOOR MUSIC

Early on in the day there was some live music outside in the sun, and helped to be the volume not being too ridiculously amped up it was actually quite pleasant from a distance…

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THE SPEECHES

The speeches took place in the same area as the Punch and Judy, and with the exception of the opening salvo from Andy, the bride’s stepfather, none were particularly impressive…

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The bride's sister, flanked by Evie (blonde) and Libby (darker) — The bride’s sister, flanked by Evie (blonde) and Libby (darker)

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The groom's father making his speech. — The groom’s father making his speech.

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The groom's brother at the mic. — The groom’s brother at the mic.

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AN INTERLUDE – SOME GENERAL PICS

Before going on to mention the supper and my own departure from the event here are some pictures taken at various times through the day that don’t fit neatly into a particular section…

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Each table in the marquee had floral displays on them, one of which featured this sunflower.

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My cousin Richard and his fiancee Ida - they will soon be off to her native Sweden. — My cousin Richard and his fiancee Ida – they will soon be off to her native Sweden.

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Ida and Rachel, girlfriend of another of my cousins, Edward

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SUPPER AND TAKING MY LEAVE

Supper was fish (or sausage in my case) and chips, and it was delicious (give what my uncle had apparently paid for the hire of the chip van for the evening so it jolly well ought to have been). While I was eating it in the shelter of the marquee, the evening’s entertainment were warming up, and that was sufficient to persuade me that as it was no longer suitable weather for being outside it was time to return, since there was no way I could cope with that kind of music at that volume and accompanied by strobe lighting at close quarters.

The cake, which I did not get to see being cut.

These last two pics are of the evening's entertainment making their preparations. — These last two pics are of the evening’s entertainment making their preparations.

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I had a fabulous day, and by departing early was able to keep the good memories untarnished. This concludes the main part of this post, but I also have some…

LINKS

My first set of links concerns…

CECIL THE LION

Lots of stuff about this case…

The Care2 petition to stop Lion Trophy Hunting.
The petition site‘s petition calling for justice for Cecil the Lion which has recently topped the 1,000,000 signatures mark
The Animal Rescue site are also running a petition related to this.
The Zimbabwean government has already taken some action.
And, thanks to Delta Airlines this is now one less way for folk to get their “trophies” home.

OTHER PETITIONS

I start this section by reminding readers of the change.org petition calling for a better gender balance in Parliament. Another reminder of a petition that I have been pushing for some time, Fiona Paddon’s via change.org calling for the NHS to provide tests for group B strep to prevent needless deaths of newborns. My next two are related, a call on BA to stop selling trips to seaworld and one from uk.whales calling on ABTA to enforce its own very tight guidelines. Still on the Cetacean theme, defenders.org have this plea on behalf of the Vaquita. Next and penultimate, another reminder, this time of the Sweets Way Campaign. Finally, I end this subsection by inviting all my readers to take part in a thunderclap on behalf of the Hen Harrier.

SCIENCE

I have several very interesting science pieces for you:

A light start courtesy of Faraday’s Candle, whose latest offering is this one.
Cosmos Up have this on red arcs on one of Saturn’s moons, Tethys.
From Niume comes this on “Methane the Destroyer“
Finally, accompanied by some graphics to whet your appetite comes this magnificent youtube video on the evidence for evolution.

GENERAL LINKS

The first link to appear in this section comes courtesy of a new find for me, suburbanprincessteacher who has produced this wonderful piece about school dress codes entitled “Newsflash: Girls Are Not Distractions“. Tax Research UK, often a source of good material have produced this on human rights versus trade deals. My next piece comes from unisonactive and is their take on the Trade Union Bill. My final link is to a quite wonderful response by a paramedic to news that New York fast food workers have won a minimum wage of $15 per hour.

AFTERWORD

I hope that you have all enjoyed this post and will be encouraged to share it. A final message for all who have made it to the end…

TY4

England Take The Lead In 2015 Ashes

A bit about England’s magnificent win at Edgbaston, an infographic about an event being staged by Surrey, some quality links and infographics.

INTRODUCTION

I have some links and infographics as well as my main piece. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be encouraged to share it.

A THUMPING VICTORY

England responded to the battering they took at Lord’s in the best possible way, by storming to a three-day victory at Edgbaston to restore their lead in the series. Australia won by 405 runs at Lords, England by eight wickets here. I reckon this constitutes the most spectacular about turn in fortunes in successive ashes matches since 1965-66 when the teams traded innings victories in the second and third matches of the series.

Particularly welcome was the return to top form of Steven Finn who followed James Anderson’s first innings six-for with six wickets of his own the second. Among the scraps left by these two were enough wickets for Stuart Broad to reach 300 in tests. Ian Bell whose poor form had him in the last chance saloon with the last orders bell being sounded came up with two fifties in the match in front of his home crowd – and given the low scoring nature of the game these were easily worth centuries on a flat one.

An unfortunate injury means that for the fourth match at Trent Bridge England have the unenviable task of attempting to fill an Anderson shaped hole in their squad.

To finish this cricket related section, Surrey are putting on an event to celebrate women’s and girls cricket featuring current England captain Charlotte Edwards, head of ECB women’s cricket Clare Connor and being hosted by Surrey”s Director of women’s cricket Ebony Rainford-Brent…

Women's cricket

LINKS

My first set of links follow on from my last blog post and feature more on…

CECIL THE LION

First up an event that will probably remain unique in the history of aspiblog – a link to an article in the Daily Mail

Next, courtesy of Huffington Post, this piece by wildlife expert and occasional ballroom dancer Steve Backshall

Finally on this particular topic, this from The Age.

Lion

SCIENCE

Tonight is the second full moon in July – a rare event called a Blue Moon and best know for the cliche “once in a blue moon”. For a detailed account of the phenomenon check out this piece from discovery.com.

Next, courtesy of livescience come two dinosaur related links:

1)A new discovery of a dinosaur with an exceptional sense of smell

2)Photographs of remains of one of the largest animals ever to walk the earth.

Dinosaur bone

Ending this subsection on science, courtesy of bbc.co.uk, this piece about the Earth’s magnetic shield being older than previously thought.

ATHEISM

Just two connected pieces here:

1)A post on Patheos about an atheist suffering persecution…

2)The original blog post that triggered the Patheos piece.

DISABILITY

Again, just two connected pieces:

1)An update on a change.org petition calling on Lego to positively represent disabled people…

2)And a piece courtesy of themighty that connects to the above petition.

INFOGRAPHICS

I finish this post with two infographics, one from the Corbyn campaign and one on the subject of NHS pay…

Corbyn NHS

On Appreciating Nature

This post may be considered my personal response to the death of Cecil the lion.

INTRODUCTION

This post can be considered as my response to the tragedy involving Cecil the lion. Before getting into the main body of it I am once again going to share details (as I did in my previous post) of The Art of Autism’s calendar for 2016, currently being sold for $12. Full details can be seen on their own post on the subject, but I offer you this picture as extra inducement…

A picture to show you why as well as wishing to support the activity I am genuinely enthused by this calendar.

ON APPRECIATING NATURE

We are now in the main part of the post, which as well as what I am writing on my account will feature some photographic highlights relating to nature from the last few months, a variety of important links, and leading from here into the rest of the post my first essay in the craft of infographic creation…

CECIL THE LION

Cecil, a 13 year-old lion who jointly controlled his pride with another lion called Jericho, was shot by a wealthy American who had paid $50,000 to have him lured out of the reserve in which he lived. Walter Palmer, the shooter, has a long and bloody history of such activities, including at least one felony conviction involving poaching. Cecil was a huge tourist attraction, and even from the purely monetary angle (not a viewpoint with which I identify) his death has cost far than the $50,000 that was paid to bring it about. Before moving on from this introduction I have a bunch of Cecil related links to share with you:

A public response from World Animal Protection
Two links to the petition site:
1)The original petition
2)The current state of play
Sumofus calling on airlines to refuse to carry the “trophies” of such activities
Take Part have produced this splendid article by way of response
Patheos have offered this interesting view
Finally, mashable have produced their own petition relating to this issue

There seems little doubt that Mr Palmer’s activities, and those activities that were paid for with his blood money were in breach of Zimbabwean law, and as a staunch internationalist I would say that the American government has a duty to ensure that Mr Palmer gets appropriately punished, either by putting him on the next plane to Zimbabwe to be punished in the country where he committed the crime or by arranging for him to be tried, convicted and punished in America.

I would also like to see a blanket ban on “trophy hunting”, enforced with stringent penalties for those who breach it. Also, I have concentrated on the American, rather than the two Zimbabweans involved in the atrocity because it is the American who bears full responsibility – without his money the two Zimbabweans would have had no motive for their nefarious contact – Mr Palmer is guilty on his own account and has made criminals of the other two involved.

SOME PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS

This subsection is devoted the only kind of shooting I am interested in performing – that done with my trusty Nikon Coolpix P530. Yes I have recently acquired a set of five obsidian arrowheads – but that was purchased as on object of interest, not with any intention of using them as weapons!

The first two pictures are of an insect that was crawling on the window of an X8 bus in which I happened to be a passenger.

These two robins, enjoying the local park, formed the basis of my second ever pictorial thank you message.

This lone robin was by the bandstand in the local park.

A squirrel preparing for the main ascent!

A swimming gull, reflected back by the smooth water.

This one was standing on a submerged log

A cormorant - the first of many. — A cormorant – the first of many.

A cormorant on the structure that I named Cormorant Platform because they make so much use of it.

Swans in the parkland off Littleport Street

One of my ornithological alter egos - a magpie. — One of my ornithological alter egos – a magpie.

The only time I have ever got a really got shot of one of these white butterflies - they move seriously fast — The only time I have ever got a really got shot of one of these white butterflies – they move seriously fast

A cormorant and black backed gull together.

These were the first ducklings I saw in 2015.

This crafty duckling had realised that it could use the lily pad as a kind of boat.

These three shots were gold from my point of view - usually if a cormorant is swimming it is looking for food and therefore dives regularly, making it tough to capture on camera. — These three shots were gold from my point of view – usually if a cormorant is swimming it is looking for food and therefore dives regularly, making it tough to capture on camera.

Mallard drake and moorhen being companionable on the edge of the upper Millfleet.

I had seen swans on various rivers, but until July 2015 never on the Great Ouse which is tidal and flows seriously fast.

These birds like marshy land best, but mud flats when the Great Ouse is at low tide are clearly also acceptable to them.

The base of my current pictorial thank you message.

Every single photo in this subsection was bagged within walking distance of my “compact” town centre flat – if you truly appreciate nature you do not have go very far to find glorious sights, and nothing need be harmed.

A FEW NATURE RELATED LINKS

These two links are both to petitions that anyone who takes an interest i nature should sign and share:

1)This from 38Degrees is an emergeny petition about bees

2)Take Part are running this petition against unsafe drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

A FINAL REMINDER

To finish the main section of this blog I have another infographic, which gives the same message as the one I opened the section with – the fundamental message of this post…

GENERAL LINKS

Just a handful of links today:

Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK on the “power of capital well used”.
An update on the change.org petition launched by the Sweets Way Campaign.
Two from Vox Political:
1)A splendid attack on the despicable Jeremy Hunt.
2)A scathing indictment of Tory plans that would amount to legalising bribery and corruption.
Finally, to end the post, a link to a new find that came by way of Fargaregardsanna, Harsh Reality, who are offering the opportunity to share a blog post, which I shall by accepting!

Adverts and Imaging

INTRODUCTION

The title section of this post refers to today’s activites at James and Sons, but I also have some important links and quality infographics to share. On the subject of sharing, I hope that some of you are encouraged to share this post.

ADVERTS AND IMAGING

Today was productive, but not as productive as it might have been due to the fact that my efforts on the imaging front were interrupted by the need to send a couple of very basic adverts to the Diss Express and the Bury Free Press respectively about collector’s fair. A copy of one of the ads is below and I will provide links to the original word documents for both…

COLLECTORS FAIR AND AUCTION VALUATION DAY

WEDNEDAY 5^TH AUGUST

STOWMARKET FOOTBALL CLUB 10AM TO 3PM

A wide range of coins, stamps, postcards,
banknotes, militaria etc. for sale.

COLLECTIONS PURCHASED

Please ask for David James

Tel: 01328 855003 Email: admin@jamesandsonsnorfolk.com

Collectors Fair Diss CF

IMAGING

The imaging workload was nicely varied, featuring most kinds of item we sell save for militaria…

COINS

The coin lots I choose to share come in the form of high resolution scans…

68b 68a 67b 67a 60b 60a 57b 57a 56b 56a 53b 53a 52b 52a

STAMPS

The stamps were all in albums and hence required the use of the camera…

403 403a 403b 403c 405 405a

EPHEMERA AND TOYS

These items were also done with the camera, and apart from a few football programs I will sharing the full range. The items categorised as toys are actually as you will see collector’s models – not intended to be played with…

50a

This gazeteer is not in great nick but then it is over 250 years old

348b 348c
350 351 351a 352 354 354b 355 355a 356 356a

POSTCARDS

To end the section on today at work, some more scans, this time of postcards…

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LINKS

I do not have as many links as sometimes, but they are all very important, starting with…

CECIL THE LION

This is a story about a self-indulgent rich bastard (I make no apologies for the strong language – I do not often resort to it) from Minnesota named Walter James Palmer and an African icon. The circumstances of this particular piece of “trophy hunting” – Mr Palmer apparently has a long history of such activities – have generated it vast international publicity. The lion was decoyed out of the protected area in which it lived by bait, shot with a crossbow and ultimately finished off with a rifle – all so a rich American could indulge his perverted sense of fun. I have two links for further information about the story:

1)This from avaaz

2)And this article in a newspaper not often cited by this blog – The Telegraph.

AN UPDATE ON “ROOSH V”

The campaign to prevent “Roosh V” from being allowed into Canada continues to gather momentum – here is the latest news.

VOTING REFORM

Just a single link here, to the Voting Reform Declaration.

VOX POLITICAL ON DISABILITY

Two excellent pieces from the ever reliable Mike Sivier today, both on the subject of disability:

1)This one about the assessment system as orchestrated by the vile American company Unum.

2)This horror story about a case of discrimination by association – sacked for being a family member of a disabled person.

A NEW DISCOVERY COURTESY OF A GREAT SUPPORTER

Autism Mom is a long standing supporter of this blog, and it was from her blog that I located the details of pucksandpuzzlepieces whose most recent post features tackling an assault course!

INFOGRAPHICS

My first infographic comes with a link this article on Discover…

Lizard Family Tree

Next, a return to the Telegraph – unlike the story which I am told was big and bold this correction was tiny and in the bottom corner of a page, so I am giving it a bit of extra exposure!

Torygraph exposed

Finally to end this post two excellent infographics relating to the Conservative Party…

Tory Bastards selfservatives puc

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