European Deafblind Holiday, Sweden 2004

At last I have got round to putting the article I wrote at the time about the European Deafblind Holiday held in Sweden in 2004 onto my blog. You can find it by going to All my Online Dossiers and then click on the link Travel (Conferences and Holidays). Then click on the Holidays link and then you will find the Sweden link. Don't forget you can access all the photos taken on the European DB Holidays for 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 by going to my Flickr Photo Gallery by clicking below http://www.flickr.com/photos/hova/

The article about Zagreb, April 2008

We have now been able to publish on the blog my article about the EBU/EDBU Conferences held in Zagreb, Croatia in April 2008. Go to all my Online Dossiers and then click on Travel (Conferences and Holidays). Then click on Conferences and then you will see the link called EBU/EDBU Conferences in Zagreb, Croatia in April 2008. Don't forget you can look at all my photos (not only from Zagreb) by visiting my Flickr Photo Gallery. Happy viewing!

Another accomplishment!

Today is sunny in Hove albeit with a touch of Autumn in the air. This has put Alice and I in the mood to accomplish a new task. we have just learned how to add a newspaper article with photo to the blog. We are talking about the article and photo referred to in my posting of 10 September 2008 see below. Here it is now!

Opening ceremony of refurbished Manor Cottage in Southwick, West Sussex

Saturday, 13 September 2008 brought even more excitement into my life. I went to Southwick in West Sussex which is a large ancient village about 4 miles west of Hove. I went there because the refurbished Manor Cottage Heritage Centre was being opened. Manor Cottage is next to the House and dates from 1450 AD. I know a little about this project and I was also drawn there because there were going to be dancing displays by local Morrismen: 'Mythago'. The weather was lovely and I enjoyed myself imposing on others to take photos for me. I had some interesting conversations. You can see here 5 photos of the day. You can see all the photos taken on that day by going to Flickr. www.flickr.com/photos/hova/

Norma, her guide dog and the AVT film crew

Life was quite exciting here in Brighton and Hove last week! The National Federation of the Blind UK of which I am an active member commissioned the filming of a DVD in the City. This took two days and featured Norma Town (from Darlington in NE England) who is President of the NFB, Keith Turner (Brighton) and myself (Hove). The purpose of this film was twofold: we wanted to show how blind or partially sighted people negotiate obstructions on our pavements; we also wanted to draw attention to the problems caused by the current introduction of so-called "shared spaces" schemes into our towns. When the DVD is completed I hope to do something new in my blog. I want to add a video of all or part of the DVD onto my blog. I don't know how to do this yet so don't hold your breath. I would like to add to this posting a photo and article that appeared in our local daily newspaper, The Argus, on 6 September 2008. However, I have not posted a newspaper photo before and I'm not quite sure how to do just now! We will fix this in the next week or so so look out. Hollywood, here we come!

Walkin', singin' in the rain

According to the Met. Office, August 2008 was the gloomiest August since 1942. Anyway, despite the unpromising weather the Brighton and Hove City Synergy group embarked upon their planned walk to the Jack and Jill Windmills on 31 August 2008. We took the No. 79 bus from Old Steine, Brighton up to Ditchling Beacon. We then walked the 3 or 4 miles over to the windmill called Jill. It was raining just a little and on the way over the Downs there was a 20 minute serious downpour but we all had umbrellas. Jill and Jack are both corn-grinding windmills. Jack is in poor condition but is protected by being a listed building although the machinery is not in working order. Jill is in good nick and the machinery works. She is maintained by volunteers from the Jack and Jill Windmills Society who open her up to the public at weekends and some other days. For more info about Jack and Jill go to the web link below. www.jillwindmill.org.uk Our group had an interesting time at Jill and we explored her insides. Attached to this article are a few illustrative photos and you can see ALL the photos taken that day by going to my Flickr Photo Gallery by clicking here. www.flickr.com/photos/hova This was a great day out and I recommend it to anyone. I love windmills and watermills and it is interesting to realise that due to changing circumstances, we are likely to depend more on windmills and watermills (or rather tidal-driven turbines) in the future.