This post does exactly what the title claims. The photos are all from yesterday, which has the distinction of being the first day in 2016 on which I ventured out without putting a coat on (yes folks, it has been a long wait but spring really is on its way)
TOP AND BOTTOM SETTLED
WITH A ROUND TO GO
This weekend saw the penultimate round of the Six Nations rugby tournament. Ireland, coming into this round with a draw and two defeats to their name, faced Italy who had lost all three of their matches. Ireland racked up 58 points in the end, to open clear daylight between themselves and the foot of the table. England played Wales at Twickenham and at half time the score was 16-0 to England, probably should have been 23-0 and had it been 30-0 Wales could have had no complaints. Wales played much better in the second half, but had left themselves too much to do to get back in the match. In the third match Scotland faced France and followed their victory over Italy in the previous round with another in this match. The key try that put Scotland out of reach was a brilliant solo effort from Duncan Taylor.
The effect of this action was that England with four wins out of four are now uncatchable at the top of the table and head to Paris with their sights firmly set on completing a grand slam. This is a mightily impressive first campaign for new England coach Eddie Jones. As well as leaving England out of reach at the top, Scotland’s win over France left Italy marooned at the bottom with no way of avoiding the wooden spoon. Of the teams in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, separated by just two points, Wales have a massive advantage because not only are they currently in second, they finish their campaign at home to Italy. Scotland and Ireland face each other, while France have an England team with confidence sky-high to contend with.
PHOTOS
These photos were all taken while out walking yesterday and are presented in the order in which they were taken…
I took this picture because I was so annoyed that this had been left lying around.
The cormorants were out in force.
There will be a long post about various autism related issues coming either tonight or first thing tomorrow.
A review of a book in a new find of mine, the Bryant & May series, with a few other bits.
INTRODUCTION
Although the book review is the principal focus of this piece there are a few other bits that I will be sharing afterwards.
A GREAT READ WITH A MINOR QUIBBLE
Those of you who follow my London transport themed website may recall that I posted a review of a book called Off The Rails which featured a team of oddballs collectively known as the Peculiar Crimes Unit (officially the Peculiar part of the title referred to the crimes being investigated as opposed to the investigators but one might think otherwise).
Since reading that book I have taken every opportunity to deepen my acquaintance with Arthur Bryant, John May and their team of oddballs, and The Burning Man is just one of a number of their adventures that I have recently read.
The story in this book features riots provoked in part by misbehaving bankers being used as a cover for a series of murders all of which involve the use of fire. The story has many twists and turns. There are also various subplots, principally the antagonism between the PCU and Superintendent Darren “Missing” Link.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, as I have every book I have encountered in this series, and heartily recommend it. It is in that spirit that the following is offered (and I hope will be accepted)…
A QUIBBLE
To set the stage, here is a photograph of the paragraph on page 144 that gave rise to the quibble:
How many of you can guess without reading on where my quibble arises?
If you guessed that it was the sentence “He worked with some crazy people, borderline-autistic tech-heads who were likely to turn up at the front door, find no-one home and climb through a window.” score yourself 10 out of 10.
The phrase borderline-autistic is meaningless given that autism is a spectrum condition, and the usage of such a phrase is indicative of what Richard Dawkins terms “the tyranny of the discontinuous mind”. I also take umbrage at the notion of an autistic person responding to finding no one at home by climbing through a window. Finally, as an autistic person who is skilled in the use of computers I still object to the conflation of autism and tech-headedness – while the two traits can go together they do not always do so. Finally, I find the entire sentence lazily reinforces damaging stereotypes about autistic people. To finish this section, although in one sense every post on this blog has an automatic connection to autism, you can find more posts in which I specifically deal with autism here.
In spite of my quibble with a paragraph on page 144 I thoroughly recommend this book.
ANOTHER FIND AT THE BUS STATION
The new information office at King’s Lynn bus station is a treasure trove. My latest find focuses specifically on West Norfolk…
The obverse in full
A close up of the map
The only section of the reverse worth reproducing
PLANS FOR KNIGHT’S HILL
I make no comment as yet on this scheme, which is still at a preliminary stage, just reproducing it in full…
POSITIVE AUTISM AWARENESS CONFERENCE REMINDER
NAS West Norfolk are holding a Positive Autism Awareness Conference at the Duke’s Head Hotel on Friday 15th April. One feature of this conference will be a photographic display by yours truly. I have mentioned this in a number of previous posts.
A combination of sharing a new find of mine and advertising an event that my mother and aunt are involved in.
INTRODUCTION
I am doing two things in this post, related by location. One, I am sharing a new find in the map department (available for free at King’s Lynn Bus Station), and two I am advertising an event that will be taking place at Gresham’s School, Holt at which my mother and my aunt will have a table-top stall.
ACTIVITIES IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND
This is the title given to this double-sided fold out leaflet that I recently spotted in the Information Centre at King’s Lynn Bus Station. I have six pictures to share…
Both sides of the whole posterThe two maps in a single shotThe Norfolk/ Suffolk/ Cambridgeshire side of the poster.The Map – close upEssex, Herts, Beds and Cambs side of the posterAnd Map
A FUNDRAISER AT GRESHAM’S SCHOOL
Now zooming in on one particular event that will be taking place in the East of England. A table-top sale will be taking place at Gresham’s School on Saturday April 2nd between 10AM and 4PM to raise money for Walking With the Wounded. My mother and my aunt will be running a stall at which fruit prints (I am showing images of 12 out of a substantial collection) and knitted tea cosies (I only have an image of one, but I have seen two others in advanced satges of preparation). I don’t know what the planned prices for the cosies are, but the prints will be sold at £5 for one or 3 for £12.
Both sides of the flyer.The detailThe mapI took two pictures of this tea cosy from different angles and can’t decid which his best so…I am sharing both12 of the fruit prints, imaged in two lots of sixClose Up 1Close Up 2
This an account of my day at AutismCon. It also includes pictures of every page of the program for that event, and brief snippets about my journeys each way.
INTRODUCTION
Yesterday was the day of AutismCon, an event organised under the aegis of the National Autistic Society (NAS). The actual organizing of the event was done by a committee of five, The AutismCon Committee, while the NAS’s Senior Events Officer Elly sent out emails to everyone who booked in advance so we all knew what to expect.
GETTING THERE
With the registration desk opening at 10 o’clock, I decided to get the train that leaves King’s Lynn just before 8AM. Not knowing for sure how long the ticket purchase would take I left my flat at 7:15AM to eliminate any chance of mishap (therefore, in accordance with Sutcliffe’s First Law of Travelling by Public Transport, there were no problems and I was seated on the train nearly half an hour before it was due to depart), having had time to photograph a 2016 London Underground map on the platform.
Apart from the fact that a mob of Spurs fans chose to sit in the same area where I was already seated and maintained a constant racket all the way to Cambridge, where thankfully they changed trains in preference to travelling into London and out again (I should point out this train departed on schedule at 7:54AM and several of this group had already cracked open lagers by then), the journey was thankfully uneventful.
Even fairly early on a Saturday morning King’s Cross was quite busy, so I was thankful that with the event being at Friends House I had only to head for the Euston Road and walk straight along it. This sculpture just outside the station is a new addition since my last trip to London…
Having covered the journey down, it is now time for the main course…
Registration took a little time, after which I consulted my program. To set the scene for the rest of the day, here is a close up of the schedule…
As you will find out later, I made one change to the plan indicated here. Having shown a close-up of the schedule, here is the entire program for your attention…
I took my seat in Light (the big room, now somewhat smaller in terms of seating area than it once was, but still with a massive capacity) for the introductory session. The biggest change since I was last there however is to the ceiling/ roof structure, from which the name derives..
The whole event was shunted back fifteen minutes due to the failings of British public transport (not enough people had been able to get to the event for the scheduled start time). The main purpose of the introductory session was to provide a few explanations about where things were. Also, due to the severe sensory issues of some of those in attendance, applause was very firmly banned (the alternative, already standard in international sign langiuage, is ‘jazz hands’).
SESSION ONE: SURVEY ROOM
My first session was in the “Do” stream, taking place in the Bloomsbury Suite and was titled ‘Survey room’. There was one written and one pictorial survey per person and one could choose either or both (I chose both, and attached my details to the written survey to enable further contact to be made should the NAS wish to). Once we had had time to complete the survey there was a discussion session which was very constructive, and then the session ended.
SESSION TWO: QUIZ AN MP
For me, it was back to Light for sessions two, which featured Labour MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark Neil Coyle and Conservative Councillor Claire-Louise Leyland.
Neil Coyle MP introduces the “Quiz an MP” session, with Claire-Louise Leyland sat next to the podium.
This was a very lively session, with many people from the audience using the question and answer part of it to express their hostility to the Tories (though nothing personal was aimed at Councillor Leyland, who after all had had the decency to show up for what she must have known what would be a tough session). As for why there was so much hostility to the Tories in that room, one general and two specific points can sum it up:
As Neil Coyle pointed out, in 2010 the UK was the international leader on disability equality whereas in 2015 the UK became the first country to be investigated by the UN for its treatment of disabled people.
The Tories introduced the bedroom tax.
The Tories have also just passed a cut to ESA for the third time, ignoring concerns from the Lords for a second time.
After the end of this session there was an hour’s break for lunch. I looked in at the Arts and Crafts session which I had initially intended going to but decided instead to head back to Light for the session on….
AUTISM AND SEXUALITY
This session was opened with speeches from Keran Bunker (an autistic gay man) and Marilyn Misandry (an autistic femme queer person talking about autism and drag) before being opened up to the floor…
One point that came up several times from the floor was that autistic people who wish to transition find their autism used as an excuse to deny them this wish. This provoked an attempted response from someone who works in a gender reassignment clinic, but he was quite rightly shut down by the chair – this was a day for autistic people and he had no right to attempt to over-ride their lived experiences with his comments. At the end of this session I stayed seated because the next session I was attending was also in his room, being the one session that felt I absolutely could not miss…
AUTISM AND EMPLOYMENT
This session featured John Wilson, a former solicitor diagnosed with autism at the age of 50 (I met someone during the first session who was undiagnosed until the age of 61) and Kerry Bover, who has worked part-time at Clarks for 14 years and who also runs AutismCo.
There were many stories both good and bad told during this session. It was here that I heard about the restaurant owner who when faced with a group of customers who asked not to be served by an autistic waiter not only upheld the law of the land (it was John, the trained lawyer, who brought up this story, and his opinion as regards the law the I am using) by refusing to accede to this request and supporting his employee (just substitute ‘black’ for ‘autistic’ in the request by these customers to make the appallingness of their behaviour unmissably obvious) but then subsequently put up a facebook post instructing anyone whose attitudes were like those of this group of customers not to book places at his restaurant as if they made that request he would kick them out.
For music lovers there was to be a live performance from autistic singer/ songwriter Lauren Lovejoy (apparently she was a massive hit on X-Factor in 2013) immediately after the end of this session, but for me the end of the session was also the end of the event.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT
I think that the boldness and organisational skills needed to get 600 autistic adults together in one place should be complimented. Overall, the late start not withstanding, the event was superbly run. I for one thoroughly enjoyed the day and look forward to next year’s event.
THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY
The train back to King’s Lynn left platform 1 of Kings Cross at 17:44 (not the lowest numbered – in true thermodynamic style Kings Cross has a platform 0, which I arrived at this morning). Platform 1 has a very fine clock…
Having walked the length of the platform (the train splits at Cambridge, most of it terminating there while the front four coaches go on to Lynn) I took my seat for what was thankfully both a quiet and an uneventful journey back to Lynn. It was some twelve-and a half hours after leaving the flat that I arrived home.
POSTSCRIPT: POSITIVE AUTISMAWARENESS CONFERENCE
On April 15th NAS West Norfolk are holding a Positive Autism Awareness Conference at the Duke’s Head Hotel, King’s Lynn, for which we are sold out! After the experience of AutismCon in London I am even more enthused about this event at which I shall be displaying some of my photographs.
A mention of the fact that our catalogue is now available in print and some of today’s best images.
INTRODUCTION
Two days ago I put up a post about James and Sons March auction, mentioning that the catalogue was at the printers. That post gives full details of the format of the post. This one, featuring some of the images I produced today is to say that the print catalogue is now available and that it will be online for the weekend.
THE CATALOGUE
Here are pictures of the outside covers of the catalogue…
Front and back cover togetherFront coverBack Cover
SOME OF TODAY’S IMAGES
The bulk of today was spent imaging militaria from one of regular vendors. Then it was time for some scouting.
This image shows that this gun has been deactivated – it is a pure museum piece (lot 163)
An account of yesterday at work and the current state of play as regards James and Sons March Auction.
INTRODUCTION
A brief post about two interlinked things – yesterday at work and the plans for James and SonsMarch Auction, which is at Fakenham Racecourse.
A TWO DAY SALE
Due the quantity of items we have received, we have over a thousand lots in this sale, so we will be conducting it over two days. The format for this auction will be:
Tuesday 29th March: Set up and viewing
Wednesday 30th March: Day 1 – lots 1-600 go under the hammer (the cut-off is after half-way as we can leave the stuff at the venue overnight).
Thursday 31st March: Lots 601-1050 and clear-up
The catalogue has been sent to the printers and will therefore be available shortly, and an online version should be ready for viewing by the end of the week.
IMAGING
Although the vast amount of stuff in this auction and lack of staff to image it has left us a little behind where we would like to be in that regard there are only about 200 lots in this sale for which we thus far have no image. I conclude this post with some of the best of yesterday’s images…
The war that led to the creation of this silk map was one that I am proud to say that I virulently opposed, but the map itself is splendid.
This was the lest lot O imaged yesterday.
For those interested in historic buildings, these five volumes which form lot 494 represent effectively a “Complete Guide to Scotland’s Historic Buildings”.
An account of this weekend’s six nations action plus some pictures and some links.
INTRODUCTION
The third weekend of the six nations rugby tournament is done and dusted. As indicated in the title I also have some links and pictures to share.
THE SIX NATIONS
On Friday night Wales took on France at the Principality (nee Millennium) Stadium. Yesterday’s two matches featured Italy versus Scotland at Stadio Olimpico and England versus Ireland at Twickenham.
WALES V FRANCE
Wales came into this match with one win and one draw to their name, France with wins over Scotland and Italy (a record which flattered them – given a decent kicker Italy would have beaten them and they were not convincing in the second game either). The match was fairly close throughout, and not of the highest quality. The Welsh emerged victorious and thus temporarily sat at the top of the table.
ITALY V SCOTLAND
Since Italy were included in the tournament, making it the Six Nations, these two sides have accrued 14 wooden spoons between them (Italy 10, Scotland 4) and few would bet against one or other adding to that tally this year. Often of late Italy have come to grief in the kicking department (see above) so it was ironic that on a day when Kelly Haimona was flawless with the boot they were well beaten, and are now very likely to finish bottom.
ENGLAND V IRELAND
England came into this match having won both games, unconvincingly against Scotland in the Calcutta Cup match and very comfortably against Italy. Ireland, winners in 2014 and 2015 had started with a draw and a defeat. England dominated the first half but failed to register the points to reflect that, and when James Haskell got himself sin-binned (for the fifth time in his international career) defeat was more than a possibility. However England were only one point behind when Haskell was able to rejoin the action, and two converted tries in a short space of time thereafter put them 13 points ahead. Although Ireland pressed hard in the closing stages England had done enough and on the balance of play over the whole 80 minutes their victory was well deserved.
THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
England now lead with three wins from three games, Wales are second, and France third, with Scotland currently fourth, Ireland fifth and Italy sixth. England and Wales face each other in their next match, and the winner of that will be a strong favourite for the trophy, with France likely to finish third. Ireland, Scotland and Italy are fighting out the bottom half of the table. Thus far the quality of the play has not been especially high.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE
After a big chunk of text, here are some pictures…
This is the frontage of the Royal Arcade, Norwich
The back of the Guildhall – the work is nearly complete.
LINKS
Although there are not that many of them I am splitting these links into sections, starting with:
A link to a very interesting piece about Asteroid 2013 TX68, accompanied by an image:
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Three links, and also three pictures, the latter showing how I have combined two metal badges to make a composite public transport badge. Since I am talking about public transport, here is a reminder of my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be on which I have already posted two of the links.
Citymetric expose in great detail the lack of a business case for the controversial garden bridge.
Following on from the previous link, change.org are running a petition against the building of the garden bridge – please sign and share.
This post is about today at work. There was a lot of imaging to do for the cover of our March catalogue (auction takes place at Fakenham Racecourse on the 30th and 31st March), also a van to be loaded up with stuff for tomorrow’s auction, and I also got a few other lots imaged.
THE COVER IMAGES
The images for the cover of this catalogue spanned a great range of items, some of which I had already imaged but most of which needed doing today. The early lots to feature are 83, 110, 124 and 135, one a framed photograph and the other three military items…
Lot 83Lot 110
Both sides of lot 124
The naming on the rim of lot 124Lot 136
Next we come to a selection of…
SMALL COINS
These coins, the first of which is lot 209 and the last 269, we done using the scanner at high resolution – and for safety I did both faces of each coin and assembled composite images.
Lot 209
Lot 217
Lot 220
Lot 225
Lot 227
Lot 231
Lot 241
Lot 242
Lot 243
246
Lot 238
Lot 269
We next have three items of ephemera, nos 301, 311 and 359:
311 – five images in total
359
We then come to four images of…
SPEEDWAY MEMORABILIA
Lot 420Lot 421An extract from Lot 422A second image of the extract from 422A single badge from lot 423
The last of the new images needed for the front cover were of…
A TOY, SOME PROOF COINS AND A JAPANESE MEDAL
The toy is lot 562, and I was particularly pleased by this choice for reasons that will be instantly obvious to anyone familiar with this blog! The Japanese medal is lot 686, part of small run of militaria in among the proof coins, of which lots 665 and 728 were also to feature on the cover.
I was particularly pleased that this toy (lot 562) was chosen to feature in our catalogue!
The full gallery for lot 665 starts here (six images total)
Lot 686
Lot 728
A HANDFUL OF GENERAL IMAGES TO END
The non-cover images I did today were less special, but a few are worth sharing:
An MCC tobacco pouch? Yes – at one time smokers versus non-smokers was a regular fixture.Lot 442(two images)
Our first building of the day is sadly not being used for anything. It used, in the days when such things existed to be our main Post Office (we now have the services of a few cashiers at WHSmith instead), and no subsequent use has been found for it.
Now we have some buildings near the train station…
The first of the two pictures I combined to make the ‘juxtaposition image’
The Fenman Pub – there is lots of railway memorabilia inside (it is directly opposite the station)St John’s Vicarage
From here, since we are at the start of St John’s Walk, we enter the parkland area…
The Guanock Gate
The South Gate.
On our way from the South Gate to the Great Ouse we get a glimpse of the Baptist Church.
Looking across the river, we get a glimpse of West Lynn Church (one can use the ferry if one wishes to get closer, or walk down to the road bridge and cross there)
Near Marriott’s Warehouse one can see the Rathskellar wine bar…
The Rathskeller, with a side wall of Marriott’s in the background.
We finish this section with a few quirky images from the town centre.
In spite of the size of this poster the map is next to useless – I know the Hardwick Sainsbury’s well, but could not find it using that map.The side of Boot’s .Close up of the metalwork.The top of the guildhall. The green structure projects the light show on to King’s Lynn Minster at night.
GAYWOOD AND PLANNING PERMISSION
My aunt had noticed a cause for concern in a planning application for something in Gaywood, and as we were heading for Sunday lunch with my parents in East Rudham anyway we went via Gaywood. We actually saw no evidence there of the planning application that had caused the concern, but did see another, for an extension of the pub. The original planning application that had been brought to my aunt’s attention was for a small new build, and these photos from the area in question show, a plain concrete box which is what apparently was on the table would have been very inappropriate.
The planning application that was on display in GaywoodTwo brick houses with distinctive features.
Trees that may i danger of being knocked down.Not brick and flint, but (like the library) brick and Carr.
A PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT ABOUT HEDGEHOGS
Dedicated followers of this blog will know that yesterday I put up a post supporting a team4nature thunderclap. I am finishing this post by linking to an official petition to the UK government to give hedgehogs better protection. The petition can be viewed here (note and apology to my international followers – you have to be a British citizen to sign petitions on this site).
A pot-pourri of a post, featuring my website, mental health, public transport, a new find in the blogging world (for me), human evolution and a few pictures.
INTRODUCTION
I have spent a good part of today working on my website, www.londontu.be, and I also have some pictures that I have not previously shared, plus a few other things.
THE LATEST FROM LONDONTU.BE
I have recently created three new posts that I choose to share here:
Cheshunt – a post that grew out of seeing this on my twitter feed:
Covent Garden – a post that was in part inspired by this:
THE MENTAL HEALTH TASKFORCE
Mind, the mental health charity, have produced this about the Mental Health Task Force:
MUSICAL KEYS
On Monday evening, Musical Keys had another session for autistic people. As well as my usual i-pad generated strings (cello only on this occasion), the session ended with something new – generating sounds by constructing lines on the i-pad screen for balls to bounce off (for those with long memories the approach is bit like reverse “bat and ball”). Here some photos relating to that event:
The Custom House viewed from Queen Street
The Mart.
This is exactly the sort of ride that I hate!
The Pilot Place development
A Rainbow while I was waiting outside (there was a session for youngsters going on, so I felt it best to stay outside although it was cold.
The Scout “Hut”
I-pad screen.
The lines and dots program.
A NEW FIND
To give credit where it is definitely due, it was a post by Mike Sivier at Vox Political that introduced me to anewnatureblog, which I am now following. The particular post that Mike shared and that I followed up on was this one. I subsequently also read this one. I highly recommend this blog.
BETTER TRANSPORT MAPS
It was also courtesy of Mike that I found the Guardian piece that led to my discovery of the better transport campaign. One thing they are doing is producing maps which show how transport services across the UK are being endangered. Just one example: in Norfolk, where I live the county council’s transport budget was £4m in 2010 and £2.67m in 2015 – a cut of 33% in five years (and as a regular user I defy anyone to suggest that Norfolk’s transport provision is not in need of improvement!).
A GIF ABOUT HUMAN EVOLUTION
This little GIF, which WEIT picked up via twitter, started life in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos TV series. I have two links for you:
