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​Potholes, Dustbins, Porn and Denim

5/26/2018

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Earlier this month I blogged about Northampton County Council; today’s post is going to put another log on the fire of disdain that I am burning for my local authority.

Whilst the council has wasted its money on essential stuff like a football stadium scam and new offices, it has failed to fund less important things like the local roads.

I spend a bit of most days on the A428, the Roman Road and others in the vicinity. The name of the second road has prompted this post because some of the damn potholes are big enough to be archaeological digs. If a car park in Leicester was good enough for Richard III, maybe some Roman nobility is being searched for en route to Duston.

When traffic is on both sides of the road at the same time, some of the potholes can’t even be avoided unless you stop and wait (and risk the cars behind driving into you – 60mph limits). At least I am driving a car, if I was on a motorbike, I’d be fearing for my life.

I had a chat with my colleagues in the office and it turns out that others from Northamptonshire experience the same frustrations on their local roads. One mentioned that she had seen a great bumper sticker reading “I am not drunk, just avoiding the potholes”. I need one of those for my rear end.

Next up dustbins, because the local government institutions can’t afford to fund those properly anymore either.   
To save money, Daventry District Council, has now reduced the volume of rubbish collections and requires residents to pay for the collection of garden waste when that used to be free. For me, the main rubbish collections have been reduced from fortnightly to every three weeks, I am now paying £35 extra to keep the brown bin and the recycling will be collected every fortnight instead of every week. Oh, and my collection days have changed just to add to the confusion. The reduced, and much less satisfactory, service has not of course impacted on my council tax bill, which has gone up.

Trash brings me to porn.

These week on Channel 5 a series of documentary programmes called “The Sex Business” ran over three days and studied the UK’s sex industry from film making, through escort services to street-based prostitution.  

The final programme aired on Wednesday night and involved interviews with hookers working in some of the UK’s major cities. It made for thought provoking and frankly depressing viewing.

The characters being interviewed were in a shocking state – ugly, ruined, emaciated bodies; heroin addictions; homeless statuses; completely, irretrievably estranged from their families and whoring to survive. Listening to these prostitutes talk about turning tricks for twenty quid to fund their next drug fix, was horrible. I felt an odd mixture of sympathy and revulsion; these people had no lower depths that they could sink to. It was hard not to feel sorry for them, even when much of the harm was self-inflicted.

Whilst thinking uncharitably though, I found myself wondering who in their right mind would pay to have sex with these “hags”. If these women were relying on selling their bodies to make money, their potential earnings must be as pitiful as the states of their emotional and physical health.

But then again, years ago in my life BK&M (before kids and marriage, before you think there’s any connection to S&M … though thinking about the masochistic element …) when I lived on Century Street in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, I used to see similarly haggard hookers working their patches and being picked up regularly. In my uni-years, I lived in this tired old terrace street that was in the local red-light area. The house number was 69 and the amusement/irony of that, in light of the street’s after dark purpose, didn’t escape me.

It was bizarre, I’d be coming back from college, or the local supermarket with my shopping, and the ladies would be out. I’d see them so often that it got to a point where we’d say “hello” on my way back to my digs. There was one old crone that was fifty something, ugly, overweight and balding - she looked terrible and terrifying if you asked me … but she was busy all the time.

So, what the hell do I know?

That thought occurred to me elsewhere in the mini-series, the film makers followed a dominatrix that looked like Cruella De Vil who was paid good money by her submissive male clients to repeatedly kick them in the bollocks and even piss on them.

Then there was a gay bloke that was seriously into giving and receiving anal fisting …

There was nothing glamorous or even remotely titillating in the entire mini-series. It was an education though, and this is what I learned: -

Channel 5 has made me rather more grateful for my monogamous, almost entirely vanilla sex life. Sometimes I wonder what I am missing out on, but now I know for certain that there are some things for which I’d rather embrace celibacy than experience.
        
And that links me to my final subject for today – an experience I’d actually like to have.
      
Every so often something leftfield pops up on the BBC news website and makes me think “that’s really cool”. In the past it has been Banksy, in January this year, it was James Gibson’s road dirt artistry, this time it was Ian Berry and his amazing denim artworks.

Here’s a link to the BBC post, why not have a read yourself, I challenge you not to be impressed – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-44198953

I’ll be honest, before the article, I had never heard of Ian Berry – I guess that will also be the case for the majority of my readers. I have since looked up his website (links above and below) and can report that his on-line gallery is amazing.

Ian uses denim in various shades to create three dimensional scenes that you’d have to be quite close to … to realise aren’t paintings. In the article there are photos of his work including portraits of Debbie Harry and Ayrton Senna that are seriously good.

Berry exhibits his work in art galleries all over the world but, interestingly, wants to engage more with his fellow, but rather less glamorous, Huddersfielders. His desire is to organise an exhibition in West Yorkshire that attracts folk that would not normally attend an art gallery – people like me then!

Well good luck to him with that, I hope that he gets something set up. I have relatives in Huddersfield and would happily make a trip up and see them and take in Berry’s denim show at the same time.

I even have an idea for a new Berry creation, I am going to dig out some of my old photos of Century Street, maybe there’s scope for a street scene including the hookers.

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Tesco.Net – goodbye old friend

5/19/2018

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I received an email from Tesco in April that advised that it will close Tesco.Net for good on 27th June 2018. I’ll be honest, after checking it wasn’t some kind of spoof/phishing exercise, I was rather distressed, depressed and disappointed too.

I have had my firstname.surname@tesco.net (no numbers or other spurious characters) email address for nigh on twenty years now - it has accompanied me for longer than my wife and kids.

Do you remember dial ups from the pre-broadband days? Tesco.Net was with me then. I used to have to trail a phone cable from an upstairs room all the way down the stairs to plug (via a splitter) into the main phone socket.

It’s only an email address, I have others, but having it taken away from me is/was a blow. Like losing an element of my identity. My address was simple to remember and had been mine for so long that everyone knew it. 

You might not appreciate just how much you rely on your email address, but, take it from me, losing one is surprisingly disruptive. Hours of work is involved.

Since Tesco’s bombshell, I have had a lot of work to do re-registering on dozens of websites. The re-registration process was a time-consuming pain in the arse because sites won’t just accept your updates, they need to send you emails that you then need to “action” before the change is implemented. All the websites inevitably had passwords and that meant lots of “forgot password” protocols had to be followed through. There is an expression “nothing is ever easy” and fuck me, in this instance it was right too.

Whilst on the subject of "not easy”, I also needed to download all of my old emails (or lose them forever) and so the old school POP connections to the back end of the Tesco server needed making. Then of course you can’t use a POP connection to download "sent" items. I spent ages trying to work out how to resolve that challenge before I simply moved all my sent items to my inbox and then used the POP to download them from there.

Oh, and another complication, the only computer I rely on these days is my work laptop, it is in use every day. The thing about my work computer is that I could hardly download all my old personal emails to it. That meant I had to temporarily recommission my old desktop machine. When I say “old”, it is still running Windows XP. I had to find all the old cables and ancillaries before I could even get it started. Still the old girl eventually fired up and met the task required of her (though her time connected to the internet was kept to an absolute minimum).

I understand why Tesco decided to sacrifice Tesco.Net, the broadband services were shut down in 2015 and it’s only thanks to some sense of civic duty that the email service was allowed to continue from that point. The technology was already obsolete thanks to Gmail and other competitors.  And I don’t suppose that any money was being made either. By way of illustration, I enjoyed my email account for 20 years and didn’t pay a bean for it … ever.

Frustratingly, since moving house last year, many of my friends, family, acquaintances don’t actually know my new postal address or landline phone number. That’s not by design on my part, rather a lack of time to write to everyone who knows me. And shortly, those that know me … won’t know my email address either.
 
Tesco.Net will stop being accessible/visible on the 27th June but the supermarket will provide a forwarding service until the 10th October. After that, it’s all over.

I have had a few weeks to grieve, come to terms with my loss and make alternative arrangements, but I’ll miss my long-term email partner more than I miss my youth, hair, slim figure, 20/20 vision and alcohol tolerance level.

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Car Show and Car SOS

5/7/2018

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PicturePlymouth Sport Fury - AACI Spring Event 2018 - Billing Aquadrome
Regular readers will know that I am into classic motors. On the 22nd April, I attended my first car show of the year. The American Automobile Club International (AACI) held an event at Billing Aquadrome and I spent a few happy hours in attendance.

I have been to a number of AACI events before (previous reviews are available, see below), the first few were at Billing, but then the venue pulled the plug on all the car shows.

Fortunately, the Billing management has now capitulated and let some of the car clubs back in. The AACI was one such beneficiary. It is a shame that the same can’t be said for the Vauxhall Bedford Owners Association.

The early outing for the AACI was at risk of being affected by the weather and though it was fortunate that the sun was shining across the weekend, the main show ground was still too soggy. The impact of this was that the show vehicles had to be tucked into a corner of the site that was okay to use. The grassy area available wasn’t big enough to accommodate all the vehicles and so cars were also displayed all around the car parks, shops and attractions near the show field.

For me, the American car scene is really interesting because so much more happened than it did in the UK – there is so much more to see. The US manufacturers would release new models/variations almost every year whereas the British would change every so often. To illustrate, I love the Vauxhall Viva HC and its derivatives, but the HC was in production from 1970-1979 and old stock was still being sold in 1980, that’s nine years of the same body shell. The Morris Marina did nine years in the same shell as did the even more horrible, Allegro. By comparison, between 1965 and 1973, the Ford Mustang was restyled to a greater or lesser extent every year – certainly there were three completely distinct body shells in that time period. And when you allow for revised front and rear ends and body style derivatives (saloons, fastbacks, convertibles) … a car show just dedicated to Mustangs would be thoroughly entertaining.

Of course, the AACI caters for everything American, so any event has the potential to be fascinating. As usual, I wandered around taking photos (252 in total this time) and share some for your enjoyment below. 

What I like the most about the AACI events, unlike any UK car club outing, is that I always see something that I have never seen before, or have perhaps only seen in photographs. To illustrate the point, and draw your attention to my snaps below, before the 22nd April, I had never seen a Dodge Polara (the pale yellow car) or a Ford Thunderbird in the style below (the powder blue car).

The glossy black Plymouth GTO shown below was spectacular ("spectacucar" would be appropriate - I've made up a new adjective for you), the finish and detailing just amazing, the engine/alloys chromed to perfection, the red interior (also pictured) flawless. The love shown to this car was unbelievable. It wins my "Car of the Show, Show Award" even though it was up against some stiff competition.  

The Chrysler Imperial pictured was for sale, the price £8,000. That's a great deal of car for the money.

The owner of the Ford Galaxie could be heard revving his engine for the pleasure of the crowd. Blimey, it was exciting too, like a barely restrained and angry bear.

​
If you like what you see/read/hear, why not put the following dates in your diary and come and experience an event for yourself:

•             June 15-17th
•             Sept. 7th-9th

My thanks go to the AACI for organising another enjoyable show. This was my fifth outing and I am already looking forward to June.

And from one enjoyable car show to another ...

Car SOS

I have written about the more widely known DIY SOS show before but the purpose of this part of the post is to promote National Geographic’s/More 4’s television series, “Car SOS”. 

Car SOS is a similar proposition to the building programme but instead of homes being fixed up by Nick Knowles and his team, Tim Shaw and Fuzz Townsend repair classic cars for deserving owners, usually those that are too ill to get their cars back on the road themselves.

Car SOS has been running for a number of years now (series six underway at the time of writing) and over the last month, I have watched 55 of the episodes (one or two more than once). That’s most probably why April was a drought in terms of blog posts … too much telly watching and not enough writing.

The combination of interesting motors and stories of personal challenge are compelling and I recommend the show to anyone with petrol in their veins, or a heart in their chest. Seriously, it's feel good telly.

The programmes follow a consistent format that involves vehicles being spirited away from their unknowing owners, restored to their former glories and returned in a dramatic, showy fashion. During each show, Tim and Fuzz experience other peoples’ already “sorted” cars to get a feel for what they are trying to recreate. In most episodes, Tim Shaw has to come up with a ruse to get spare parts more cheaply from potential suppliers – this is the only part of the show that is a bit contrived/far-fetched, but hey, it’s a bit of fun.  All sorts of cars from every era from the 1920s to the 1990s, every condition from good to write-off, every status from ordinary to super, and every value from cheap and cheerful to unattainable have been restored over the last few years.
  
There have been a few episodes that I defy any of you not to be moved by. From the current series, the Lancia Delta Integrale restoration was particularly moving. Even if you don’t care about cars, watch it anyway, what Tim and Fuzz do to support the family of the car owner is nothing short of beautiful.

I started off cherry picking the episodes so I could see the cars I was most interested in, but after getting hooked and appreciating that the owner stories were as engaging as the car restorations, I have watched everything.

It is great observing the chaps restore cars properly; when I used to work on mine, I never had enough money, often didn’t have the right tools, was short of key skills (welding and painting for example), never had enough space, never seemed to be able to keep the skin on my knuckles … but at least my health wasn’t in decline, though often the motors were well past their best.

I didn’t have Tim or Fuzz at my disposal but for all those that helped me keep my Vivas/Firenza on the road, I am very grateful – Gary Martin, Laurie Walsh, Matt Emery, my Dad - your support massively appreciated.​

Click on any image below to enlarge. High resolution images available, if you'd like one, just get in touch.


32 Ford
40 Ford Coupe (I think)
59 Ford F100
Ford Econoline
Dodge Tradesman 200 Custom Van "Orange Crush"
Chevrolet Impala
Dodge Polara
Ford Galaxie
Plymouth Belvedere
Dodge Charger
Plymouth GTO
GTO interior
Oldsmobile Cutlass
Ford Thunderbird
Chrysler Imperial
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AACI - 
https://www.aac-int.com/

Other Relevant Posts:
https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-late-summer-open-nationals-2017
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-summer-open-nationals-2017
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/24424-the-aaci-summer-nationals-and-fathers-day
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-late-summer-open-nationals
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The Saints and Tigers Delight

5/4/2018

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I know that it's Star Wars day today and that this post should probably reference the best sci fi series of all time ... but I haven't finished off the posts I started last month yet. "May the 4th be with you" in this instance will have to be related to a different underdog versus conqueror battle ... from April.

The recent(ish) rugby match (14th April) between the Northampton Saints and the Leicester Tigers was the best game of rugby I have seen this year, certainly better than anything from the Six Nations.

Though rugby has been featured on this site a number of times, this is the first time I have written a post that’s a review of a single game … it was that good!

But first a digression, I am actually a follower of both sides - one day you’ll see me in a Tigers’ shirt and the next in a Saints’. Lots of people don’t accept/understand that I could follow two local (for me) derby protagonists. In a football context, it would be like supporting the Blues and Villa or Oxford and Swindon. Or, because it's today, the Empire and the Rebellion!

The reality is that I am not a diehard fan of either side, I just like a good game of rugby. When tuning into this particular game, I wasn’t too concerned about who was going to ultimately win. Listening to the pundits pre-kick-off though, started to annoy me.  All were expecting the Saints to get a hammering from the Tigers. To be fair, Northampton’s form this year has been poor and the side had got a spanking only the week before. But listening to all the “knocking” got me thinking that the Saints deserved better. I’d be supporting the underdogs for this game.
​
When the match got underway, it was clear Northampton had travelled to Welford Road to play.

Highlights included precision kicking from Stephen Myler, robust defence throughout the game - one particularly inspired scrummage defence on the Saints’ five metre line that saw Saints win from a Tigers put it. And of course the tries from Foden, Reinach and Tuala.

But the Saints most definitely didn’t have the game all their own way. Rob Horne, in his capacity as captain, was injured in the first minute of the game and has since had to retire with nerve damage. Nine penalties were given away by the Saints. The Tigers were generally much stronger in the scrum. Toomua (Tigers) scored a try as a result of a kick being charged down by Kitchener. Alex Waller (Saints) was sin-binned for ten minutes in second half, the Saints down to 14 men just as the Tigers were upping the ante. A try for the Tigers in the last minutes of the game was heart-stopping but ultimately disallowed by the TMO for obstruction.

On the downside, the game probably stopped Tigers accession to the play offs but, the action was end to end and genuinely exciting right down to the final whistle. Against all expectations Northampton won 27 -21 and deserved to. But the points difference was less than one converted try.

If you didn’t watch the game, find a way to catch up. I watched it on Channel 5 so you might still be able to find it on Demand 5. During the final minutes of the game, I was leaping out of my chair and shouting at the telly in excitement … it’s probably a good thing I was on my own.

Afterwards I was pumped, enough to spend the next hour running on a treadmill. Rugby is rarely that good ...

... unlike Star Wars!

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WTF Moments

5/3/2018

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What a weird few weeks in terms of news and events. After umpteen stalled efforts at article writing, the whole month of April ended up passing by without a single post being published. That’s a first in six and a half years of blogging.

The media was however awash with material worthy of comment … but by the time I had got around to contemplating a particular subject, another one had come up to divert my thoughts.

This piece is going to be a quick catch up of “What The Fuck?” moments from April.

First up is the Windrush nastiness. Last month saw lots of coverage about the dreadful treatment of legitimate British citizens by their own government. I was appalled to learn that some of the families of the Windrush generation were at risk of being deported. Our country’s immigration protocols are well and truly buggered when our authorities allow in the needy from all over the world, whilst trying to turf out those that have already paid taxes, integrated into and contributed towards our multicultural British society. It is no wonder that lots of people were very angry.

The MP for Tottenham, David Lammy’s impassioned speech in the house of commons was excellent, a link is shared if you didn’t get to watch/hear it at the time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2q2dQlsywY

Those that made the journey to the UK from the Caribbean, and other places, from 1948 onwards, faced all sorts of challenges, not least of which was racism. The Windrush generation and their families helped make our society a more enlightened one; shitty, ignorant, casual bigotry on the scale that I observed in the seventies and eighties, has largely, and thankfully, been eradicated from our society. For those that were born in this country, that faced deportation (or worse, were actually thrown out), there couldn’t have been a worse slight. It’s no surprise that Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary has since resigned and that compensation is now the order of the day.

Next up North Korea.

WTF has been going on in that country to change its war mongering rhetoric to something more like reconciliation? I read the news of meetings in China, of North/South Korea dialogue and of Trump’s possible visit with astonishment.

I have been guessing at the reasons for this change of heart. Is it that all the sanctions have finally bitten? I wouldn’t bet on this one.

Is it that the North Korean regime now has fully functional nukes? This feels more likely to me than the first idea. Maybe Kim Jong Un believes he now has a better negotiating position because he is in charge of a super power too?

My final thought is that his testing programme has gone badly wrong and he has inadvertently destroyed his testing environment. Maybe the earthquakes/landslides reported by China were “significant”.

Whatever was the catalyst, I don’t believe for a moment that altruism has any part to play.

Inadvertently destroying, brings me to Northamptonshire County Council. I live within the territory of the authority and am frankly dismayed by the fuck up that has been made of running the council. N.C.C. is basically broke, if it was a business, it would have gone the way of Maplin and Toys ‘R’ Us.

Disasters, including building new offices it couldn’t afford (and actually having to rent them after construction), being scammed out of bucket loads of cash for NOT building a stand at Northampton Town Football Club, one chief executive being investigated by the police, another resigning, not to mention the Council being unable to fund any new initiatives or even its existing services … mean expletives are unavoidable when referring to the institution. I am embarrassed to admit that my council tax contributes to the authority’s coffers.

I hate politics, the thought of working in the public sector fills me with dread, our local MP is an arse … but W.T.F., all that stated, I think that even I’d do a better job of running N.C.C. than the current leadership.  
​
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