Tag: Trains

The 4th Ashes Test

INTRODUCTION

Welcome this little look back the test match that finished yesterday morning. I also have links, photos and infographics to share.

ENGLAND REGAIN THE ASHES

The third and fourth matches of this series have just about totalled five days (one test match that goes the distance) between them, such has the speed with which England destroyed Australia in both games. Previously England had won the first match comfortably, but were utterly monstered at Lord’s in the second. All in all, this means that England now have an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five match series. Given what happened on the Lord’s shirtfront the groundsman at the Oval would be well advised to prepare a pitch with some life in it for the fifth match.

In four successive innings Australia have had their batting wrecked by four different bowlers (never before has one country had four different bowlers pick up six or more wickets in four successive innings). The figures that Stuart Broad produced in the first Australian innings of the match that concluded yesterday still test credulity.

Both captains had good moments near the end of the match: Cook by giving the youngster Mark Wood a chance, duly accepted, to finish things, and Clarke by announcing that the Oval will be his last test match, thereby sparing Cricket Australia an unpleasant but necessary decision.

Stuart Broad deservedly got the man of the match award for his destruction of the Australian first innings which set England on the road to victory, while Ben Stokes’ sensational catch (check it out here) deservedly won the champagne moment.

A PHOTOGRAPGIC INTERLUDE

Here a few pictures from yesterday evening…

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This picture and the next two come from the same original but with different degrees of cropping.
This picture and the next two come from the same original but with different degrees of cropping.
A closer crop
A closer crop
The closest crop - a little blurred because it is so close.
The closest crop – a little blurred because it is so close.

LINKS

Not so many links to share as sometimes, but enough to split them into subsections.

PETITIONS

Three petitions for your consideration this morning:

A SINGLE AUTISM RELATED LINK

This piece, from respectfullyconnected is a heart-wrenching account of a piece of thuggery perpetrated someone referred to due to their conduct as “Ableist, Sexist Jerk” or “ASJ” for short. I am sharing at here, as I already have done elsewhere (twitter, facebook, google+) not in any hope that “ASJ” will see it but because it so outraged me that someone thought it was OK to behave in the manner described. The title of the piece is “Don’t You Dare Call My Autistic Son a Sissy”

A TRIO OF FUN FINDS

Switching away from the serious for a moment…

  1. A National Geographic piece about scientists successes and fails at fieldwork.
  2. A link to what looks to me be an excellent free resource.
  3. A link to quirky new blog, featuring Walthamstow among other locations, which I wish every success, called dutchgirlinlondon.

A SEGUE LINK

This is to a new find from this morning, which I got onto courtesy of a post on twitter by Jon Swindon. It is a blog called pollysshortattentionspan and it will no surprise to anyone familiar with Jon Swindon that the segue is to…

INFOGRAPHICS

This was the one that caught my eye on twitter.
This was the one that caught my eye on twitter.
And this caught my attention when I visited the blog for a closer look.
And this caught my attention when I visited the blog for a closer look.

Travel and Other Stuff

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece I have some links, and few photographs to share. I am producing a post specifically about travel because I have always enjoyed travelling and also because in honour of a forthcoming visit to the UK one of my favourite bloggers, Autism Mom

THOMAS ON TRAVEL

PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND SUTCLIFFE’S FIRST LAW

Not only do I not drive, I knew long before I was of an age to drive that I would never do so, so all travelling that i do under my own steam is done on public transport. Since I am now 40, my experience of public transport is long, and because I am British it is also not entirely happy!

The second part of my title refers to a law I have coined for travelling by public transport which reads as follows:

Sutcliffe’s First Law of Travelling by Public Transport – If you allow time for things to go wrong they won’t but if you don’t they will.

The practical application of this somewhat cynical ‘law’ is that when planning a journey where you need to be at your destination by a certain time you should work out the particular bus or train you need to catch and then aim for the one before to allow for mishaps.

These pictures of an RAF rescue helicopter were taken through the window of an X8 bus on the way home from work…

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IN TRANSIT

When in transit I either seek to enjoy the scenery (if I am not familiar with the route) or to read a book (if I am)

Another reason that travel is much on my mind at the moment is that my local bus station, which I use frequently is in the process of being refurbished. Here are a couple of pictures…

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LINKS

My first link comes courtesy of Autism Daily Newscast and features some advice from Jamie Lee Curtis.

Next, we have a little gem of a post from my friends at Faraday’s Candle.

Now, a new discovery for me, seabirdwatchireland

Next two items concerned with the 50:50 campaign for gender equality in parliament:

1)A blog post on Huffington Post

2)A link to a petition related to the above blog post.

My final link, to end this section on an upbeat note is to news of a victory of a campaign in Hackney.

CONCLUSION

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.