Tag: Cormorant

County Championship Action Resumes

A brief look at the resumption of the county championship, an account of a ‘Make your own pizza’ session arranged by the West Norfolk Autism Group and a photo gallery.

After a break for The Hundred and The One Day Cup the County Championship has resumed. I am following developments at The Oval where Surrey host Warwickshire (although at the moment only by way of cricinfo – I am listening to commentary on the third T20I between England and New Zealand.

THREE HALF CENTURIES FOR SURREY

Surrey are batting first, and are faring reasonably well. Ben Foakes has just become the third Surrey batter to reach 50, after an aggressive innings by Jamie Smith and much less aggressive one from Sibley, although 65 off 174 is not slow by the opener’s regular standards. I missed the morning session due having a commitment elsewhere, though it is fairly clear from what the commentators have had to say that Ed Barnard has been the best of the Warwickshire bowlers so far. Tea is now being taken, with Surrey 224-4.

MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA

This morning the West Norfolk Autism Group had a Make Your Own Pizza session for adults, hosted by Pizza Express in King’s Lynn town centre. We started with a lump of dough which had been turned into a pizza base. This process was quite tricky, but I managed to get it done. Once the base was in the baking tray in which it would be cooked the next step was to create a barrier by elevating the edge of the base (as close to the very edge as possible). Then came the application of tomato puree, which was the one element with which I required a little assistance. Then came the selection of ingredients – in my case I said yes to mushrooms, pepperoni and olives and no to the rest (ham, chicken, two types of pepper, both too hot for my tastes, spiced beef and goats cheese), after which it was time add the mozzarella, which needed to be distributed as evenly as possible. Before the cooking there was on e more thing to do – to name our pizzas. I was very pleased with my creation and ate every scrap of it.

The pizza, ready for cooking
The cooked pizza.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A cormorant swimming in the pond nearest my house – not a regular haunt of these birds.

Lake District 2023: Birds of Windermere

A look at the bird life in and around England’s largest lake as part of my series about my holiday in the Lake District.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. In this post I focus on the bird life in and around Windermere, of which there is a considerable quantity.

BIRDS OF MANY TYPES AND SIZES

As well as expected water birds (swans, ducks, geese, gulls, terns etc) there were also species that live close to the shores of the lake, including pied wagtails. I have also included in this post a few birds seen a little further from the waters edge.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Autism Revisited

A sequel to the most popular post in this blog’s history, “Autism”.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this post, which you may consider to be the official follow up to my most successful ever blog post, which was posted on Saturday under the title Autism.

WHEN BEING AUTISTIC GIVES ME AN ADVANTAGE

Yes – there are situations where having an autistic spectrum condition gives me a positive advantage (or so I see it anyway).

  1. Having a very logical mind goes with the condition, and this works in my favour in several situations, including at the bridge table and in some situations at work. For example, when I am scanning lots of small items I place the packaging organised in the order in which the images will appear on the screen (and if you are scanning a dozen separate items in one go this is very useful). Also, this ultra-logical mindset comes in very useful when working on computers and indeed when (as I have done on a volunteer basis) helping others to learn how to work effectively on a computer.
  2. My skill at mental arithmetic, which also relates directly to the condition. If I wish to ensure that, for example, a grocery shop does not exceed a certain limit that I have in mind I can tot up the bill as I pick out items and guarantee to be close.
  3. Problem solving – precisely because a number of situations are problematic for me that would not be so for a neurotypical person my problem solving skills get more practice than the neurotypical persons.

Just one image in this post - one of my more recent cormorant pictures.
Just one image in this post – one of my more recent cormorant pictures.

SOME AUTISM RELATED LINKS

A couple of links here that relate to my subject matter:

  • First, courtesy of autismgazette, a piece about autistic people giving unusual answers to creative questions.
  • My other link, courtesy of scienceblogs, and therefore reflective of one of my biggest interests, about a victory in the war against quackery. Even if the treatment that has earned the person pushing it a jail sentence was not cruel, invasive and abusive (and in fact it is all three, in spades) it would still be bogus. Indeed, as those who read the original post to which this one is a sequel will be well aware I believe that it is based on an idea that is itself bogus – namely that autism should be regarded in the light of a disease and that therefore a cure should be sought.

AFTERWORD

I hope you have all enjoyed this, my second full-length essay in writing about autism from the viewpoint of an autistic person, and that some at least of you will share it.