Monthly Archives: April 2008

Making my own postcards

OK, that didn’t take long to convince myself. I’ve ordered a set of postcards from moo.com using these pictures:

Lord Byron’s Wallpaper

Newstead Abbey

From our Newstead Abbey trip last week

Council House Dome

Council House Dome

The inside of the domed roof over the main staircase in the Council House.

Ghandi Statue

Ghandi

Statue of Ghandi, just behind the main staircase in the Council House

Green’s Mill

Green's Mill, Sneinton, Nottingham

Picture Green’s Mill, Sneinton – I just love the greens and blues of the grass and sky in this. I’ve given consent for the picture to be used in publicity around National Mill Day or somesuch.

Sunset

Sunset

That really striking orange sunset we had a few weeks ago, seen from our street.

Postcrossing update

Time for an update on the Postcrossing website, which lets you send and receive postcards to complete strangers around the world.

I initially signed up to send five cards around the world, but it took me a few days to get started – finding and buying postcards (I’m not all that impressed with the few I got to start me off, so will have to look out for some better ones or even make my own), getting to the Post Office to buy the right sort of stamps and stock up on “Air Mail” stickers, then finding the enthusiasm, and deciding what to write – I have mostly been moaning about the weather.

Anyway, four of the first five have been sent now, and three of them received.  Those three received mean I can sign up for three more addresses and this time I got Mexico, Germany and NE, USA, which I first thought was New England, but now think is probably Nebraska. I’ll be able to post those out straightaway, having stocked up on all I need in the way of stamps and postcards!

And having had cards received means the system starts sending them to me as well, so today I received my first, from Finland with lots of pictures of snowy landscapes. Apparently there are more Finns than any other nationality on the system.

Tweets on 2008-04-04

  • Not quite beleiving that’s really the time. #
  • Getting interesting answers on @BrianPaddick twitter interview. #
  • Taking opportunity to go on nottingham eye before it closes on Sunday. #
  • @lfeatherstone wondering how you de-sing a website. #
  • Making lasagne out of yesterday’s spag bol. Wouldn’t know a ragu if it bit me. #
  • Showering the kitchen with pasta sheet shards #
  • Putting the lasagne back into the oven and hoping I can manage to cook the pasta without burning the cheese #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

Tweets on 2008-04-03

  • Quite liking the new coin designs: http://tinyurl.com/2pjlo4 #
  • Halfway round my leaflet route and feeling knackered. #
  • Thinking uncharitable thoughts about people who put letterboxes at knee height. And thinking about cake. #
  • Listening to You’n’Yours about deterrent music… and thinking of buying some Tchaikovsky and Barry Manilow. #
  • Slightly disturbed to find I spent more time in a special school yesterday than you would on a PGCE course. #
  • @willhowells Have you tried the Health Secretary? #
  • Feeling dead chuffed for getting a basic parking manoeuvre right first time. #
  • Finally, the weather is warm enough for the cats to choose to sleep in the conservatory. #
  • @merylf you should have been a statutory consultee! Raise merry hell with transport auth! #
  • Planning ahead for a massive comfort eating sesh #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

More double dactyls

Having infected all around with me finger-tapping scansion seeking, I’ve spent the last hour having fun in the comments on Kathryn’s blog – new baby-wrangling has led to thinking-time a-plenty, and she started off both G&S double dactyls, to which I have contributed…

Piraty-piloty
Freddy’s apprentic’d til
Reaching maturity
That’s what he thought.

Paradox-Ically
Birthday’s a leap year day
‘Prenticeship lasts until
After the war

(Kathryn’s Iolanthe one is much better)

…and new-baby double-dactyls, which allowed me to try a particularly vile poo-based neologism:

Crippity Crappity
Zachary Caple-san
Likes to feed slowly so
Mummy can’t type

Her patience rewarded by
Faeco-exuberance;
Mummy is left with a
Bottom to wipe

I’m quite chuffed with that one – but a more revolting poo-based one comes from this website:

Enteric Water-loo by Roger Lee Robison:

Higgledy-Piggledy
Vibrio cholerae,
Spread by excreta in
Water supplies,

Roils the intestines with
Pathogenicity;
Practice good hygiene, or
Cork it, you guys.

Same website also has one about Sisyphus, confirming to me that when I used the word “sisyphean” in a budget speech on the council, I was talking about what I thought I was. Which is always reassuring.

Rock ‘N’ Roll by Roger Lee Robison

Higgledy-Piggledy
Stone-Pusher Sisyphus
Twice cheated Death, but then
Learned who was boss:

Sentenced to Hades for
Pretereternity,
Rolled a stone uphill, just
Gathering dross.

And of course, don’t miss Rosie’s well finessed lines in the comment to the last one of these posts.

Questions of equality

Bit surprised to read this on the Guardian website saying that a survey of gay people found most considered themselves discriminated against.  There was a bit of a ray of sunshine when it proved that people thought the Lib Dems less likely to be homophobic than the other main parties, but still nearly half of those surveyed thought that their homosexuality would be a barrier to standing for parliament, for example.  That’s definitely not the case in the Lib Dems.

One paragraph stuck out from the report:

One in four think they will be treated less fairly by police if they become a victim of hate crime, while one in five expect to find it harder than a heterosexual person to get social housing, and nine in 10 expect barriers to becoming a foster parent.

This should not be the case in Nottingham.  I have experience with friends who have been a victim of violent crime and received first rate treatment from the local police – although the perps were never caught. Being gay should make no difference to applying for a council  house (although single people of any sexuality almost never get houses, which are reserved for families, so are most likely to be offered flats).  And Nottingham City is desperate for more people to become foster parents.  We have a terrible shortage at the moment, and money is being invested in recruiting many more volunteers.  On the question-and-answer page it specifically says:

Is fostering only for married couples?

Definitely not.  It does not matter whether you are married, in a partnership, single, separated, or in a same sex relationship.  However, we do ask that any couples have lived together for at least 2 years and have a stable, caring relationship

 There certainly are barriers to becoming foster parents and to getting social housing.  There are quite simply not enough council houses for everyone to have one or for everyone to have their first preference of accommodation.  Becoming a foster parent is not easy, with lengthy training and assessment to complete first.  But being gay should make no difference.