The 2016 Paralympics finished on 18th September and I have missed my daily fix of sporting excellence ever since. For me the Paralympics was better than the Olympics by every measure. The achievements were awe inspiring, the personal stories moving, the resilience of the human spirit never better showcased.

I’ll be frank, it annoyed me no end that the Paralympics was handled like the poor relation by the Rio Olympics organisers. When the money was limited, the Olympics got the lion’s share of the funding. That just broadcast the wrong messages about inclusivity and equality.

For the duration of the games, the Baldwins gathered in the lounge each night to watch “The Last Leg Live in Rio” before watching the Channel 4 event coverage.

Prior to the Paralympics, I was not familiar with The Last Leg but, having been exposed, I thought it was brilliant in its fusion of disability education/promotion and humour. It was poignant, thought provoking, hilarious at times and wonderfully levelling throughout.   

During the games coverage, some of the events had to be seen to be believed. For example, the one legged high jumping was incredible. Watching these competitors leaping forwards on one leg before launching themselves over bars set above my standing height, made me think of the Pepperami adverts. Talk about guts and determination and a “COME ON THEN” (in big ‘shouty’ letters) spirit.

In the swimming events or on the running track, the pace achieved by the athletes with missing or deformed limbs was astounding. Disability was shown time and time again to be no barrier to world class performance. The Paralympics saw world records that had been set by able bodied athletes smashed by disabled competitors and that sends the clearest possible signal that disability prejudice is as misinformed, unacceptable and out of date as sex/sexual orientation/race/religion/age discrimination.

And that thought was the seed for this post.

I want to see more of these Paralympic sports people more of the time. The likes of Jensen Button, Lewis Hamilton and a multitude of footballers I don’t even recognise end up being ambassadors for bank accounts, shaving equipment, fizzy drinks and who knows what else; why am I not seeing more of Jonnie Peacock, Hannah Cockcroft, Jason Kenny or Kadeena Cox? These characters are far more inspirational, and much better role models, than any footballer that’s not David Beckham.

The Paralympic stars should be as sponsored/visible/wealthy as their able bodied counterparts – surely Jonnie Peacock is as bankable in the UK as Jensen Button!

I have some other observations too; the camaraderie amongst the Paralympic competitors made their Olympic counterparts look a bit standoffish. In the Olympics, it wasn’t unusual to see athletes looking sulky when they didn’t win the medal they wanted. In the Paralympics it just seemed to be hugs and congratulations all round. Much better!

For the first time ever, Mrs Baldwin virtually demanded I wrote a blog post. I have no idea when such a thing will happen again. Probably Tokyo 2020.

My daughter asked if Mrs B or I could get her the signatures of the swimming Ellies. She has never asked for anyone’s autograph before. For my daughter, the Ellies weren’t ‘disadvantaged’ at all, they were just brilliant and exciting. And that’s how it should be.

When I was a kid, disability meant Joey Deacon on Blue Peter, the Spastics Society, inconvenience and something to be shut away and/or embarrassed about. The concept of “super humans” that we are now getting used to is so much more appropriate, positive and galvanising in terms of sweeping social change. Now disability isn’t exactly something to be celebrated per se, but the Paralympics is a fabulous vehicle for celebrating all that can be achieved in spite of the fragility of the human body.

After the games, the Queen welcomed home the UK Paralympians and rightly so. I just hope that some of these Team GB members get recognised in her New Year’s honours list.

Arise Sir Jonnie Peacock!

Team GB’s haul of medals was fabulous, the best for decades, a few gongs to add to the tally would be perfect.

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​Article links
Rio 2016: Queen hails 'magnificent' Paralympians on homecoming
Team GB 147 medals including 64 golds
Rio 2016 Paralympics: GB roll of honour

I haven’t climbed on my nuclear soapbox for some months now, but a variety of announcements, programmes and news items have prompted me to take to my keyboard in despair.

The construction of the new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point has been given the go ahead. I had my fingers crossed that it would be shelved but, like the renewal of Trident, my hopes, now dashed, had absolutely no bearing on the government’s position.

I watched the recent Panorama investigation (5th September) into Sellafield's Nuclear Safety Failings - the positioning for the programme shared below. 

“A special investigation into the shocking state of Britain's most hazardous nuclear site. With a high-level whistleblower, hundreds of leaked documents and exclusive access to former senior managers, reporter Richard Bilton uncovers the truth about Sellafield. He finds an ageing and run-down plant, where nuclear waste is stored in dangerous conditions and insiders fear a serious accident.”

The documentary made for depressing viewing and left me wondering why the government wants even more of a toxic legacy when its representatives can’t safely manage what there is already.

I have written about Sellafield on a number of occasions and have even engaged with my local MP on the matter of its decommissioning (see links below). During a Panorama interview, Dr Rex Strong, the head of nuclear safety admitted that he had no idea what the decommissioning process would ultimately cost the country.

So multiple billions of pounds of tax payer funds are being spent on Trident and Sellafield…

...and yet our kids can’t go to university without getting into massive debt.

The government prioritises nuclear capabilities over education (and many other matters) and that feels shockingly short-sighted to me…

…but it’s not a new position.

On the 4th September, I watched “A very British Deterrent” on BBC2. This documentary shared the history of the UK’s quest for nuclear weapons. Following the declassification of top secret government files, the story of Harold Macmillan’s negotiations with the US were revealed. The amount of money sunk into nuclear research and testing was as offensive as the Polaris missiles eventually acquired.

Unfortunately CND was as effective in influencing the politicians of the time as it was in mobilising its forces to challenge May and her cabinet colleagues in 2016. 

On the 18th July, I watched the parliamentary debate on Trident replacement. For the first time ever, I spent hours tuned in to the Parliament TV channel to hear the machinations of our elected representatives. After the landslide decision to replace the missile system, to be honest, I felt too flat to write a blog post (another first).

Though a supporter and one time member of the CND movement, I am resigned to believing its protest makes no difference to anything.

The parliamentary process though brings me, somewhat ironically, to North Korea. Who’d have thought that the UK has so much in common with the democratic peoples’ republic? Another country that has its priorities all wrong.

Recent news shared the fact that the North Koreans have tested another nuclear bomb and there seems to be fuck all that the rest of the world can do about it.

But then the UK can hardly protest too much given the recent Trident decision making; our arguments for possessing the weapons of mass destruction are the same as theirs.

And on that bombshell…

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A Very British Deterrent and the Panorama episode are still available on the BBC iPlayer

Four reasons why Hinkley C will happen http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37352816
Approval given for Hinkley http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37369786
North Korea claims success in fifth nuclear test http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37314927
 
Previous relevant posts
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/daventry-district-democracy-and-defence
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/more-nuclear-nonsense
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/nuclear-power-questions-answered-well-sort-of
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/nuclear-profligacy

On Wednesday this week (14th September), I was travelling back to Daventry from Hemel Hempstead. At around 5:15pm, on the stretch of the M1 somewhere between junctions 9 and 11, a low loader went passed on the southbound carriageway. On the back of the trailer was the Deltic “Royal Highland Fusilier”, running number 55019.

I have to say that seeing this locomotive on the M1 was decidedly unexpected and rather bizarre, but nonetheless, a very pleasant surprise. In BR blue with yellow ends, the Deltic was in pristine condition and looked absolutely huge compared to the transporter and all the other traffic on the motorway. To suggest its presence was incongruous, would be an understatement! 

The RAC published its annual report on motoring this week (covered on the BBC on the 15th - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37370828) that revealed that amongst other forms of mobile phone related abuse, 14% of drivers surveyed said they had taken a photograph or video while driving. I wish I had been in a position to take a photo, but unlike the nutters aforementioned, I didn’t give a moment’s thought to doing something so fucking stupid.

On the bright side, nobody got hurt (or worse) but on the downside, the photo that I have augmented this post with, belongs to Chris Kirby instead of me (and doesn’t have quite the right context).

I did some research when I got home to find out why 55019 was on the M1. It turned out that the loco was being transported from the Great Central Railway (Loughborough) to the Epping Ongar Railway for a diesel gala event taking place this coming weekend.

I am a real fan of the Deltic diesel locomotive; in the eighties, I used to watch these engines thunder through Hitchin station on the way to Kings Cross. They were fast, powerful and had a very distinctive sound. The roof exhausts would blast out emissions in a black ‘V’ type shape and that added to the sense of drama that went with seeing them. They eventually got replaced by 125s, which always disappointed me a little.

Tulyar was my personal favourite from the class – like the RHF, she got preserved too.

I am going to Hemel Hempstead again next week – I wonder if there will be a chance for trainspotting then too?

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The Deltic Preservation Society

August saw the Baldwin family take a holiday in Holland.  And before you worry, given the nature of the post’s title, we all had a great time and made it home safely. But in making the round trip, some circle-of-life type observations prompted this post - AKA “the roadtrip, Reichswald and resurrection”.

The road trip
The trip to Het Heijderbos (HH) involved a car journey to Dover, a ferry crossing to Calais and an onwards drive through France, Belgium and a fair proportion of Holland too (bearing in mind that HH is very close to the border with Germany).

Beforehand, the journeying was a potential concern because the traffic into Dover had been terrible and well publicised at the beginning of the summer holidays. On the 21st August though, there were no problems on the M20 and I was relieved to arrive in Dover without any undue stress and delay.

Once off the ferry, the drive across Europe got underway and though long, was also uneventful. Perhaps bizarrely, it is the uneventfulness about the journeying that makes it worth writing about.

​When on the continent, the news broke about the following:

• The M20 accident and bridge collapse
• Calais gangs disrupting ferry port traffic to aid the smuggling of migrants into the UK

I was expecting the problems on the M20 to have a real impact on the time taken to drive home from Dover. A few days before the end of our holiday, the road was closed for repairs…

…but by the time we came back on Bank Holiday Monday, it was running again as normal. Phew.

Though seeing half a bridge over the motorway was a little disconcerting!

With regards to the challenges in Calais, I saw the “Jungle” from the roadside but didn’t see any trees making their way on to the carriageways.

​This week has seen the French getting militant over the refugee camp and blocking the roads approaching Calais with trucks and tractors. Thank God that protest didn’t take place a week or so ago instead.    

One thing though that I did see on the way to Calais was an accident being cleared from the road that involved a Polish HGV and  white English BMW (I think). The occupants of the car were looking decidedly shaky by the roadside and I am not surprised why – the nearside (UK that is) of the car had been crushed from end to end (their lives must have flashed before them).  I really felt for these people because they were heading to Calais just like we were, no doubt to go home…but I guess that wasn’t going to happen that day.

At least nobody died.

But the subject of death, does bring me on to a cemetery.

Reichswald Forest War Cemetery
Given the close proximity of the border, on the 26th August we decided to take a trip into Germany. Kleve was the destination selected because it was relatively close and easy to get to.

The commonwealth war cemetery was on the main road into Kleve and so we stopped at it and went in. The cemetery was beautiful, peaceful and immaculate. The sunshine was blazing as we walked around the rows upon rows of white headstones.

Most poignantly, for me anyway, it turned out that Reichswald was the final resting place of six other Baldwins. See the attached photo from the cemetery’s directory.

Resurrection
But Kleve wasn’t just memorable for death, there was some evidence of resurrection too. In the town centre there were two businesses that were back from the dead, at least so I thought.

Woolworth and C&A were next door to each other and I was so surprised to see them that I stopped, took the photo you see below and then went into both stores. C&A still stocks the Canada brand I remember so well (but not with any affection) from my younger days.

​I thought that both businesses were dead and gone but it turns out I was wrong. I was genuinely pleased to see them looking fit and well.

Some internet searching later and it turns out that C&A, always a Dutch business, only died in the UK in 2001. It carried on its operations in Europe.

Whilst Woolworths collapsed, Woolworth (without the last ‘s’), operating in Germany since 1926, carried on trading. Woolworth was originally part of Woolworths but was actually a separate company. The branding on the store looks identical and the familial ties explain it.  

So by way of a conclusion to this post; on the road I had seen near death; in the cemetery I had witnessed real death; in Kleve, I saw that there can be an afterlife.

And, blimey, I didn’t expect all that philosophical reflection from a week’s vacation at Center Parcs.

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On Sunday 21st August, I made my way to Billing Aquadrome for another car show – the American Automobile Club Late Summer Open Nationals.

Back in June, I went to the plain “summer” version of this event (in fact I wrote about that outing too).

At the point of that post I didn’t expect that I’d make it to the August bash. But I was wrong and this trip to Billing was a welcome bonus. 

The 21st coincided with the start of the Baldwin family summer holiday (which involved a car journey to Dover). The stopover was however authorised by Mrs B. because it also enabled us to see her dad and wish him a happy birthday.

Result!

And cheers Walt!  

With regards to the show, it followed exactly the same format as in June: trader concessions (a lot of the same ones too) circled the main show field and US automobiles of all decades formed a car park in the middle.

So a challenge for me then in terms of providing new insights, angles, observations etc.

To be honest, on this occasion, I am not even going to try too hard - I’ll be frank with you, this post amounts to little more than car porn!

The event arrangements were identical and so were some of the vehicles on display for that matter…

…but there were a significant number of different ones (for example, this time out, some low-riders were on show) for me to be able to take a load of new photos (268 this time).

A smaller collection of shots is shared below for your enjoyment. The black Mercury featured can also be seen on the front page of this month’s “Classic American” car magazine.

Time constraints meant that I had less than half the time available for me to mooch around (compared to June), but the hour and a half I got was great fun and I am glad I had the opportunity.

The downside of leaving by lunchtime is that vehicles were still turning up as I had to go. But hey, there’s always next year.

And on that note, if you have enjoyed the photos, keep an eye out on Billing Aquadrome’s event calendar – why not go along to an AACI event in 2017 and then you can perv over the real models instead of their photos.

Click on any of the thumbnails to enlarge the image