Mainly photographs – a drone that my nephew was given for Christmas and some pictures from a walk I took in the winter sun today. Read, enjoy and please share!
INTRODUCTION
I am having a quiet day today, having spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the company of various family members. Earlier today there was blue sky and bright sun over King’s Lynn, so I went for a walk.
THE STAR GIFT OF YESTERDAY
Although most of the presents given out yesterday seemed to go down very well there was no doubt as to which was the best received – a drone that was given to my nephew. Here are some photos from yesterday…
My cousin and his Swedish girlfriend came bearing gifts – this crispbread is exceedingly good.A piece of stained glass at my aunt’s house.The side view of my parents new burner.Front on picture of the same.The remaining pictures all feature this drone…
A WINTER WALK
I walked along the riverbank as far as Hardings Pits and then back into town by way of the parkland…
The Custom HouseTwo pictures of the bright but very low sun reflecting off the river.
West Lynn Church.Moorhens in and around the NarThe South GateThe Red Mount Chapel from a distance.
Some environmental news and some pictures – enjoy.
INTRODUCTION
Having recently shared the latest of Anna’s posts about her campaign to prevent a big new road from being built through an area of outstanding natural beauty I thought a couple of stories showing a more sensible approach were appropriate (and I have some new pictures to share and was looking for something else to put in the post).
HYDROGEN BUSES AND A CLEAN AIR PLAN FOR LONDON
Hydrogen buses are already a feature of the streets of the city of Aberdeen, and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan intends them to be in service in the capital by 2020. Buses are less damagaing than cars anyway because they carry more people, but hydrogen buses have an extra plus point – zeroemissions. To read an excellent article on this theme click the picture below:
A hydrogen powered bus.
Councillor and London Assembly member Caroline Russell has produced a very detailed plan for making London’s streets healthier, backed up with evidence of a successful scheme in Walthanstow. To read the whole document click on the infographic giving details of the Walthamstow success that appears below:
PICTURES
A Brunel £2 received in changeNext to uncirculated coin.The next four pictures show ice on the surface of the lower Purfleet (yes folks, here in the north of the world it is winter)
Some pictures from King’s Lynn – featuring Christmas lights and the Great Ouse.
INTRODUCTION
Here are some of my most recent pictures from in and aroun King’s Lynn.
PICTURES 1: MORE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
When the Christmas lights were first turned on in King’s Lynn I put up this post. Now I have some more Christmas light picturesfor you…
PICTURES 2: THE RIVERBANK
Regular visitors to this blog will know that walking alongside the Great Ouse is something I do a lot of, and I have some good pictures from earlier today when I did just that…
— Stop Heathrow Exp (@StopHeathrowExp) November 19, 2016
It is time to move on to…
A KING’S LYNN WALK
Here are most of my pictures from today…
I have saved two pictures for their own section…
A SEAL SWIMMING IN THE GREAT OUSE
The Great Ouse is a tidal river, so occasionally one sees things that are more associated with the sea than with a river. This was one such – a seal swimming in the river. It was on the other side of the river from me, and only its head was visible above the water:
A good news story about nature from the village of Balcombe, West Sussex, a King’s Lynn walk, some stuff about music and a few other things.
INTRODUCTION
This post incorporates a King’s Lynn walk but also features plenty of other stuff.
NATURE
This morning I reblogged a post by Anna about the folk of Trosa and their continuing fight to preserve their nature from greedy road builders. I start this section of the post with:
GOOD NEWS FROM WEST SUSSEX
The small village of Balcombe, West Sussex (and having done a walk in that part of the country some years back I can confirm that it is indeed small) was targeted not so long ago by fracking villains Cuadrilla. Not only have they beaten back the frackers, they are on the way to becoming a solar-powered village. Please watch the video below for more:
This is what new developments for the 21st century should look like – big new roads are so last century!
A KING’S LYNN WALK
Although it was not terribly inviting outside I went for a walk this afternoon, taking in the Great Ouse, our river. Here are a few pictures:
At this point I saw a rare visitor to King’s Lynn –
A GREY HERON
Here is a picture taken looking across the Great Ouse, and the page of my bird book that gives info about the Grey Heron:
After the Grey Heron there were no more exceptional sights but a few more photo-worthy moments:
MUSIC
As part of today’s Hili Dialogue, Grania at WEIT mentioned that among those born on this day (happy birthday Ayaan Hirsi Ali) were Leopold Mozart (father of the more famous Mozart) and Fanny Mendelssohn (older sister of Felix) and linked to this video of a performance of Leopold’s Toy Symphony, which I offer you below:
Also, last Saturday was a Musical Keys session, and I have a few photos from there:
A keyboard that enables the player to produce the sounds of other isntruments. The coloured patches stuck to various keys come in to play when Kirsten held up a sheet to indicate which colour one should focus on – although I was on a guitar by then and was using my left thumb to press on a coloured patch, shortening that string.This instrument, here held for me my Kirsten, one the people who runs the Musical Keys sessions is filled with beads and played by being upended, held until all the beads have fallen and then upended again for as long as you care to.
I played the red guitar.
WHAT IS NORMAL?
I found this infographic on twitter and had to share it – I think it is splendid:
HONEST AND DISHONEST PHOTO EDITING
I have shown you some examples of honestly edited photos already in this post. What follows focusses on dishonestly edited photos. Two “newspapers” whose names I refuse to give, one owned by the fourth Viscount Rothermere and on which the good folk of Liverpool refuse to buy, produced photographs purporting to show Jeremy Corbyn dancing towards the Cenotaph yesterday (Remembrance Sunday). To do this their photo editors had cropped out from their original picture the 92 year-old WWII veteran who Mr Corbyn was accompanying and who hotly denies any suggestion that he was dancing:
Two incisive infographics juxtaposedthe individual infographics.
I have a few other things to share, but I will be starting this post with cricket.
BANGLADESH AND THE WEST INDIES
England’s men are in Bangladesh, currently endeavouring to chase down 278 to stay in the series and making a decent fist of it (107-1 off 19 overs – 169 needed off 31 for victory). This is not quite a full strength England, but nevertheless winning the series would be a considerable feather in Bangladeshi caps.
Meanwhile half a world away in the West Indies England’s women are tied at 1-1 in a five match ODI series, with the three remaining matches counting in the ICC championship (the first two did count, and please do not ask me to explain as working out the rationale behind such administrative decisions is beyond my capabilities). The two matches in this series so far have been low scoring, with the highest total in the four innings being England’s 149 in the first game. The West Indies are current world T20 champions, while England blitzed Pakistan in England this summer, so we have two sides who are used to success in action.
FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE
This is a new campaign that has been set up to defend the Welfare State from ever increasing attacks by the Tories. More details are available at:
A report from the National Audit Office has just come out revealing that even in crude financial terms the proposed Garden Bridge across the terms is a shockingly bad idea. In terms of its negative impact on the South Bank it is an even worse idea. Here are a couple of links for you to follow:
Our unelected prime minister Theresa May does not intend to give Parliament a vote on the details of Brexit. Many are dissatisfied with this display of arrogance. Alexandra Runswick of Unlock Democracy has put together a petition calling for a change of mind – click here for more details and to sign.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I end with some photographs. The photographs feature boats moored at the pontoon jetty, one of which had the name Cheetah Marine prominently displayed on its side…
A cormorant dived just before I could photograph it……but moments later I did get it.
I have some pictures to share, and a few links, but no main subject matter, hence the title of this post.
THE MUSEUM OF LONDON
This is a signpost to my London transport website, and simultaneously a mention of James and Sons’James and Sons’ next auction, since the post was built around lot 737 in said sale…
How does this poster connect to the Museum of London? To find out follow the link below.
http://www.londontu.be/the-museum-of-london/
AN AUTISM RELATED PIECE ON WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK
This story is about a 4 year old boy who was hospitalised after being fed a ‘holistic cure’ for autism on the advice of someone describing themselves as a ‘naturopath’. The notion of any sort of ‘cure’ for autism is of course offensive nonsense. Equally, the idea that a ‘naturopath’ should be entitled to prescribe remedies for anything should probably be considered offensive nonsense. The combination of one person’s belief in the offensive nonsense of a ‘cure’ for autism and one person’s cynical willingness to exploit this gullibility created a situation that was very dangerous for an innocent child. The full piece can be viewed here.
SAJID AND THE FRACKERS
Some of you will know that the Dishonourable Sajid Javid has recently made a decision to ignore the will of a community and give Cuadrilla the go ahead to frack there in defiance of clearly expressed local wishes. Mr Javid receives big money from fracking companies and as such should have had the decency to admit to a conflict of interest and say that this was a decision that he could not be involved in making, but of course Tory and decency do not go together, and so unsurprisingly he made a decision in favour of his rich mates and against the community and against the environment. I end this section by linking to a piece that details the environmental impact of fracking.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS
I am presenting this pictures in two tranches, starting with the general…
I bring this post to a finish with some pictures of the new £5 note, which before I got this one in change I had not seen in the flesh…
The two faces of the note in one pictureThe Churchill sideThe Queen side
A variety of things that have come to my attention recently.
INTRODUCTION
This post is about a mixture of things from the last few days, hence the title.
CHAMPIONSHIPS AND CONTRIVANCES REVSITED
Some of you may remember that I put this post up on Thursday, with Somerset having secured an emphatic win in their game and Middlesex and Yorkshire going head to head in theirs. Sadly, when I checked what was going on on Friday afternoon, Lyth and Lees (the two opening batsmen, neither with any sort of status as bowlers) were purveying out-and-out filth for Yorkshire to help Middlesex set an agreed target. Yorkshire paid for accepting such an arrangement when their batting subsequently collapsed handing the title to Middlesex. Sadly, Somerset were innocent victims of this scam by Middlesex and Yorkshire, being robbed of would have been their first ever county championship not by good cricket but by dirty back room dealings.
BEES AND PARKS
This refers to two important issues that came up this weekend. Firstly, Greenpeace have exposed Bayer and Syngenta as having covered up evidence that their products were hugely damaging to bees. Greenpeace’s release can be viewed here, and here is a copy of their accompanying picture:
The parks part of the title of this section refers to an effort by 38 Degrees to secure better protection for our parklands. Living in King’s Lynn at this time gives this a particular resonance for me, so:
Britain’s parks are at risk. There’s no legal responsibility to look after them and squeezed budgets mean our local green spaces – from playgrounds, to the park you relax in on your lunch break – don’t have the money they need. We could end up being forced to pay to use our parks – or lose them altogether.
A group of MPs are looking into the crisis right now. They’re thinking of making protecting parks a legal requirement, and they’ll advise the government on what to do. A huge petition, signed by all of us, will prove how much we love our parks. It could convince the MPs to come up with a water-tight plan for protecting them.
Can you sign the petition now and demand that looking after our parks is made a legal requirement by the government? It only takes 30 seconds to add your name: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-parks
Here are some pictures of my own, including a few from King’s Lynn’s own parkland areas:
LABOUR LEADERSHIP ELECTION
I will let these beautiful infographics culled from twitter do the talking for me on this one:
SOME AUTISM RELATED STUFF
As NAS West Norfolk Branch Secretary and as someone who is #ActuallyAutistic I am always glad to share really excellent autism related content, and I have two absolute gems for you:
Finally to end this section, as regular readers will know one of the activities I am involved in via NAS West Norfolk is Musical Keys, and this is an advert they have recently produced:
THE FINISHING TOUCHES
One of my favourite blogs is that of singer Charlotte Hoather, who has just started at the Royal College of Music in London. Her post about her first week there can be viewed here.
To end this post I give you a series of pictures starring a snail…
This is the original picture that I took.This is cropped but not otherwise edited.This is the snail after my normal editing routine.This is a colour-boosted version.This version has the contrast enhanced.Finally, this version has had the colour boosted and the contrast enhanced.
A brief post showcasing some cormorants from earlier today and announcing my intention to produce a calendar.
INTRODUCTION
This post combines showing some new pictures with being the official announcement that I shall be repeating last year’s experiment of producing calendars as Christmas presents.
CORMORANTS
I decided once I had completed my online NAS branch officer’s training this morning that I would go for a walk, and I was delighted to see the structure I call ‘Cormorant Platform’ was very busy…
The first of the cormorant images – this one shows precisely why I call it ‘Cormorant Platform – notwithstanding the three Caspian gulls also on there, it is the cormorants (five on this occasion) who stand out.
Just before leaving the river I got this picture of a cormorant in flight.A couple of moorhens to finish with…
CALENDARS
The calendars will be large, month to page, each month decorated with a picture. Learning from last year I will be aiming to have no borders, and certainly no patterned borders, just pictures taking up the whole available space. This is very much a work in progress, but here are the pictures I have so far picked out as being good enough (feel free to add your own suggestions of pictures you particularly enjoyed when I first posted them in the comments sections, although remember that I am limited to 13 pictures (front cover plus 12 months):
This picture showing the two Inlandsbanan trains together is earmarked for the front coverI will use one of these two ducking pictures
Likewise, I will use one these two butterfly pictures.
This photo, from the Stockholm Archipelago, will be July’s
This picture was actually taken in January.This picture might get the nod for AugustThis is nailed on for April, since it was in that month that the Positive Autism Awareness Conference was held at this establishment.This is provisionally September’s picture.
The latest in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the next installment in my series of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden. I briefly interrupted the sequence of posts to respond to photographic challenge from a fellow blogger, but now the action returns to Lulea on the Gulf of Bothnia where I left it last time.
ENABLING PROPER EXPLORATION
Having had a decent night’s sleep and having a clear head I was able to plan this day, unlike its predecessor, to best effect. After checking out of the hotel my first port of call was the station to ask about stowing a bag there (my smaller bag contained stuff that I was determined to keep with me at all times). An enquiry elicited the information that the station building closed at 5PM, which meant that I could stow my heavier bag safely until then, after which the only practical option would be to await the arrival of the overnight train out on the platform. This still gave me plenty of time for a detailed exploration of the town.
THE START OF THE EXPLORATION
My heavier bag safely stowed I set off to the main shopping area to purchase food for the day from a supermarket I had identified the previous day. This done I then left the shopping area heading into an area of parkland. Even before entering the parkland I had added three photos to my burgeoning collection:
An interesting frontage.A close-up of the device in the upper centre of this first picture.
THE PARKLAND
Entering the parkland I was delighted to find that it was far more extensive than the first view had suggested. Here are some pictures from the first part of the walk through the parkland…
Polar bear sculptures like these can be seen all around Lulea – this set is unusual for their being so many all in a line.
The second part of the walk through the parkland area, which took me to the waterside, where I stayed for a considerable time featured this…
The last point of interest before getting to the waterside was the County Governor’s Residence:
THE WATERFRONT
Then I was at the water-front, and after a brief diversion heading towards maritime Lulea. Here are pictures from the first part of the waterside section of my explorations:
The ducks swimming around this model lighthouse make it obvious that though close this is not actually the sea.
My final set of pictures ends with a pointer to the next post in this series…
I had not previously seen seats like this (and have not seen any equivalent since then)
This is the seat I sat on to eat my lunch.
The subjects of this picture will also be the subjects of my next post in this series.
aspiblog 