Mrs Tara Plumbing

To be completly explicit I should say, based on the photographs, that is naked people riding bikes, not people riding naked bikes.

I am amazed to discover that in June all around the world people are embarking on naked bike rides.

Http://nakedwiki.org/index.php?title=List_of_rides#UK

I only heard about this because I’m on a yahoo list of vegetarians - we meet up occasionally and indulge in eating vegan food. The email that caught my attention said would it be fun to all meet up and express our naturist urges!

Some people have replied - they are going. Can you imagine meeting up with strangers and vague acquaintances, with no clothes on! I can - I can imagine it could be a lot of fun - if it was indoors, some where very private and very comfortable - I think there are other websites for arranging that kind of rendezvous.

I am not at all inhibited and there is no part of my body that I’m embarrassed about or would like to change - really. I’d rather try Isaac Newton’s experiment of putting pins in my eyes, however, than ride a bicycle with out at least 2 layers of cloth between my very delicate private parts and the saddle. As well as comfort there are hygiene considerations… Sorry.

It has also been more than a decade since my mammories could be allowed out and about unleashed, though I do support a fine pair, this is again for their own comfort - I don’t do bra-less. I guess most of the naked female bike riders will be flat-chested, young creatures not 40 somethings such as myself.

Lets not even discuss the British weather, rain and sun burn. Suffice to say, I will not be there but I am very pleased that if some people want to go naked in public, on the streets of London and Brighton then they have an opportunity to do so.

www.worldnakedbikeride.org/uk/

I should add that there is some sort of political message to the event and if you want to join in you do not have to go bare.

http://nakedwiki.org/wiki/London

Mr Tara Plumbing still has a stupid grin on his face.

It is one of the happiest days of his life - nothing could spoilt it. I’m sure he would still be happy if I told him that his bags were packed because the sexy woman who works at Ramsgate swimming pool is moving in with me instead.

The reason for such elation - football. I do not understand it myself. Lots of men from all over the world wore red T-shirts and another lot of guys from all over the world wore blue T-shirts. There were some obscure references to Manchester and Chelsea, but not many of the players were even English. They all clocked up a few more air miles by going to Russia so they could play football at the usual time of around 8pm GMT+1 (British Summer Time to me).

The normal game last 90 minutes but they decided to make the most of it by dragging it out. On and on and on it went. So that they could say they played a game in the rain which last 2 days (by Moscow local time).

When they lost the blue team were in tears - any mum would tell you its just a game - your probably crying because you’re over tired - fancy running around in the rain until late at night! They seem very bitter - saying its not fair they played better.

The red team on the other hand. Well Mr T.P. supports them. He says it was an emotional roller coaster and at times he felt sick with the worry.

Is this normal? It doesn’t sound healthy to me.

To remove any doubt from your minds: there is a sexy woman but she doesn’t know who I am! No, she’s not moving in!

It is the International Year of Sanitation and Thursday is World Water Day. This is the sort of thing you learn if you listen to R4 Woman’s Hour instead of bringing the PAYE records up to date.

www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2008_12_wed.shtml

“2.6 billion people worldwide have nowhere to go to the loo – one of the shocking statistics exposed in a new book co-authored by Maggie Black (and Ben Fawcett). Fittingly called ‘The Last Taboo’, it broaches the topic of excrement and the problem it poses especially for girls in the developing world, who are often kept from going to school due to a lack of proper facilities.”

You can see the U.N. website:

http://esa.un.org/iys/

First day back at work - I’ve actually had more than 3 weeks off!

Mr Tara Plumbing did look in to the office a few times - to check there was no crisis going on. Fortunately there is not. Well, obviously there is in East Africa but no plumbing crisis in East Kent, as far as we are aware.

I don’t even remember what I do here.

I do know I will be out walking the streets, delivering lots of leaflets over the next few weeks - reason being that I need to burn off a lot of calories after 3 weeks of over indulgence and too little exercise.

Most people who return to work after a long holiday probably spend a while chatting with colleagues about what they’ve been up to. Well, I’m all alone here - so I’ll chat to you. I’ve got loads of pairs of new knickers and NO gift vouchers, not even a book token.

I read Nigel Slater’s Toast -

Http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1066001,00.html

which I highly recommend, it has been out for ages now, I’m the only person I know who hadn’t read it! I’ve also been reading a book about China.

You may have heard the news about gift vouchers being good for businesses. Mr T.P. and I have been speculating  - a £1,000 gift voucher towards your new bathroom! Think of the possibilities - lots of people buying them as Christmas presents and then never redeeming them…. - I don’t think it will catch on.

Back to school today just in time for Nativity Play dress rehearsals. Our son was off for a few days with conjunctivitis.

As he is 5 he was able to tell me his eyes were stuck together with glue.  When, at age 2, he woke up one morning with this condition he was very frightened -

“My eyes! My eyes! I can’t open my eyes!”he said rubbing them with his tiny fists.

This gave him time to hang around with his mum. Weekends and holiday times this may involve lots of fun, but when all the other children are at school I made sure he wished he was there too!

Over the past two days my young son has been luck enough to meet not one but two published Kent poets and get autographed books.

Firstly he met June English at the launch of her latest book - Sunflower Equations. I am no poetry critic so all I can say is they really are very good.

www.poetrypf.co.uk/juneenglishbiog.html

Sunflower Equations is published by Hearing Eye - http://hearingeyepoetry.wordpress.com/

- unfortunately their website is suffering problems but you can buy the book from Amazon, but, I don’t know why amazon want to charge you about £8 when the cover price is only £6.95.  ???

Master T.P. junior also met John Whitworth:

www.poetrypf.co.uk/johnwhitworthbiog.html

who gave him an autographed copy of the only book he has written for children - The Complete Poetical Works of Phoebe Flood. It was illustrated by Lauren Child the creator of Charlie, Lola and Clarice Bean. So, in exchange, son graciously offered John a copy of one of his old Charlie and Lola books (no child’s autograph required).

Speaking of Junior school children this brings me to the important subject of the 11+.

Residents/parents local to Kent are invited to complete a consultation on when the Kent Test should take place.

Currently it is in January. It could be changed to September, so that parents would know the results when they apply to secondary schools. To be consulted here is the link:

www.kent.gov.uk/consultations

Unfortunately, they do not seem to be asking the more important question, in my view - which is how quickly can we get rid of this terrible Grammar school system which does not serve the community well and is a system that the rest of the country abolished 40 years ago.

This documentary film left me frustrated.

The whole premise of the film was that our green and pleasant Isle will be built all over.

Unless I missed something, which is possible, the film contained amazingly few facts.

Not one single map in the whole film to show us how much of the area is currently built up or open space and what proportion of open space might be lost in the near future. So how can we draw any conclusion as to the validity of the arguments?

We were not told many figures either - how much land is there? What is our current and predicted population? How many dwellings are there currently and how many people are living in homes that are not fit for human habitation? Can existing poor quality housing stock be improved or should it be demolished?

Apparently, on Sat 10th November the film shown was not the finished version. So perhaps this information will be included later.

There are about 1000+ houses to be built around Westwood. This sounds a big number, but not when you know Thanet’s has about 57,000 households (people who live together as a family) and total population is 127,000.

The Housing Strategy (2005) on Thanet District Council’s website provides the following information:The Isle of Thanet covers an area of 10,315 hectares incorporating the main towns of Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate with Birchington and the outlying villages of Minster, Monkton, Acol, Sarre and St Nicholas at Wade.Statistics:

• The Council is landlord of 3,193 properties (at 1st April 2005).
• There are 3,100 empty homes (2005).
• Private sector housing stock 57,330 (2002), of which 4,674 were unfit for habitation.

So there are approximately 55,800 houses available in Thanet. We know many properties in the area are ‘holiday homes’, so the real need for housing is much higher. That tells me there is a need for at least 1,000 more homes if nothing else changes locally.

Also via TDC website one can access the Local Plan (2006) which estimates a need for 4,200 new homes by 2011 for new people moving into the area based on jobs that may be created locally at the airport, Pfizer and local business parks. Whether or not there really will be 9,000+ new jobs in the area within the next few years… I don’t know.

You can read the Council’s Local Plan which is to cover the period up to 2011, here:

http://thanet.devplan.org.uk/document.aspx?document=15&display=chapter&id=112

Thanet Under Threat poked fun at a council representative who said there would be new employment generated for car mechanics and plumbers to service cars and boilers. He was correct, if there are more employed people living and working locally they will need their various bits and pieces serviced. They will also use the local restaurants, taxis, pubs, etc..

Of course, the problems with new housing developments in Thanet are obvious -

• can the people who need the house afford them?
• will new houses be snapped up as holiday home?
• will anyone want to live in the new houses? - If there is more like some that I’ve seen - the rooms are too tiny for furniture, there is no car-parking
• the roads into Thanet are gridlocked with traffic? And will the rail service ever improve?

If you are interested, Cllr Green has some vital statistics:

http://eastclifframsgate.blogspot.com/2007/09/housing-in-thanet.html

Which suggest that the current level of building work in Thanet may be enough, without the big developments at Westwood and on Ramsgate seafront.

*****************************************************

Film maker replies:

We have two more screenings planned at the Palace cinema, Harbour St, Broadstairs, Saturday 8th December at 12 noon and Sunday 9th December at 5pm.

We are also holding a public meeting on the 13th December at The Red Hall, 11 Grosvenor Rd, Broadstairs at 7.30, hosted by Friends of the Earth.

You are very welcome to attend all of these, if you wish.

Our concern is to preserve the good things that we have in Thanet and help to improve the lot of the worst off in the area, and I do not see how massive building projects can achieve this.

…. edited for personal details….
Best wishes
Christine Tongue
 

Fear as I heard the news headlines this morning.  The only points on my licence have been for ’speeding’ and I have often been carrying 6 at a time.

I’m all for a 20 mph speed limit in towns and reducing the limit on many A roads. I do not think of myself as a fast driver - most of the time I’m not - its only when I’m drunk.  Ha Ha. No, only joking!

Like many people I’ve been caught out doing about 40 in an area where the limit was 30, such as that very wide straight bit on the Canterbury Road going in to Margate.  At a quiet time of day, on main A roads like this it is easy to exceed the speed limit without realising it.

There is a stretch of the A2 with a 30 mph limit where I have aquired points for speeding at 42 mph - so I am very aware of the limit and the cameras on that stretch of road YET, I have found myself driving along there at around 40 many times, sometimes triggering alarming flashes.

That must surely tell you something -

those speed cameras are not assisting road safety - they are just there to catch you out.   Other road calming measures could be far more effective ( sleeping policemen, chevrons, other road markings and surfaces…).

 Or

I really am a hopeless case - take my car now!

P.S.  Having checked on the finer details of the proposal - it is suggesting 6 points for exceeding the limit by a wide margin, such as 45mph in a 30 limit and 97 mph in a 70 limit.  No-one could possibly think it OK to drive at almost 100 mph, could they?

The film that has been much written about in the local press - will be screened at the Granville in Ramsgate Sat 10th Nov. 

I have no idea whether it is worth seeing or whether you should spend your evening doing something more enjoyable.  From what I have read it has a political agenda - that all green space in the area will be covered by new builds and without the infrastructure to cope.

I will probably be in the audience.

I should have been at my desk working. Instead I was watching day time TV, it was very disturbing.

Lib Dem MP John Hemming. http://john.hemming.name/

He looks ordinary enough, just like any other MP, really. His allegations of an adoption scandal going on in the UK today - that is very disturbing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6297573.stm

“Babies are being removed from their parents so that councils can meet adoption targets, MPs have claimed.“

Obviously it is easy to find adoptive parents for young babies, but not for the thousands of older children in care.

A young woman, Fran Lyon, was also on the TV. Fran is 22 and pregnant, her baby will be taken from her at birth to be given for adoption - against her wishes. This decision has been made by the Family Court. The reason given is that an ‘expert’ who has never met the woman says their is a risk she could harm the child. This risk is because a number of years ago, as a teenager, she was treated as a psychiatric inpatient. The Psychiatrist who has treated her does NOT think there is any risk.

Just in case you do not know - it does not mean she is a psychopath or schizophrenic, she is not a threat to society or herself, she is just normal. Many people have some psychiatric illness for a period in their lives (possibly 1 in 4 people) teenagers are especially vulnerable to anorexia, bulimia, self-harm and suicide attempts. It is not trivial at the time, but at risk of sounding flippant, for most people this period in their lives passes away into history as they grow up and get on with life. I know many respectable people who have spent some time in mental hospitals in their distant pasts.

Many scandals have come to light in recent years where people have been imprisoned due to discredited ‘expert’ witnesses. So you would think there would be more caution these days.

www.fassit.co.uk/adoption_scandals.htm

The problem is that The Family Court is not like any other, it does not work to the same rules.

This part of the story is more shocking. The court can take away a child even though nothing has happened. Before the baby is born Fran Lyon can appear on TV and speak out about this injustice, but after the child is born she is not allowed to speak to ANYONE (but her lawyers) about it. This is a very common occurrence - but no-one is allowed to speak about specific cases. There really seems very little a mother can do once the baby is taken, as adoption is irreversible.

This sort of thing could happen to any family. I have heard harrowing stories of children all taken in to care and adopted with no evidence against the parents. No crime was committed and the parents were never charged with a crime. Still the children can be taken, ‘just in case’ and spend months or years of their precious childhood in care, foster homes or even be adopted. This is UK Family Justice today (I think, Radio 4, Law in Action).

More about Fran Lyon’s story here:

www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2007/10/22/justice-for-families-mp-takes-up-fran-s-fight-61634-19986921/

A few months ago I watched the harrowing film Stolen Babies on www.truemovies.tv

It is based on the shocking story of the Tennesee Childrens Home Society, a local adoption agency, run by Georgia Tann in the 1940’s. Children were abducted from their parents and adopted by people for cash payments.  Many of the families were reunited after it was exposed, but some records were destroyed, some parents were never able to find their children.  There is a similar film which I have not seen, Butterbox Babies, another true story based in the 1940’s USA.

It seems that a similar thing is going on in the UK today. The new adoptive parents do not have to hand over cash and will be unaware of the true circumstances behind the babies.

As a mother myself, I can begin to imagine how painful it is for parents who have their children taken away.

As a rational, intelligent person born in the twentieth century - I can’t imagine the frustration of the parents at the how illogical and medieval the Family Court system seems.

I do know that John Hemming was correct when he stressed that this process is a cruel injustice to the children - as taking them from their mother at birth, denying them the physical contact and breast milk has negative health implications which are proven.

I shall be writing to my MP to ask him to support the campaign led by John Hemming for reform of the Family Justice System.

If you would like to know a lot more about this subject look at Hemming’s website.  

 http://john.hemming.name/national/index.html

click on family law on left, then ‘reform of family public law on right. From his site I have copied the following:

BBC - An independent enquiry finds that social service works in Norfolk take decision based on insufficient evidence
The Times - A child is taken away from it’s parents because of suspicions over whether the father hurt a child during a previous marriage, though the father was never either charged or convicted.
Libdemvoice - A mother has her baby taken off her just after it is born, and isn’t allowed to breast-feed it.
The Daily Mail - A mother and daughter are re-united after having been separated on false grounds seventeen years previously.
The Daily Mail - A mother is accused of abusing her children and they are taken away from her.

P.S

I’ve had some comments: I’ve cut and pasted this into the body of the blog - it is a quote from a comment received:

We are in the UK helping parents under threat of having their babies taken by Social Services. We arrange free Legal advice, help and support.
Trackers International is also fighting for a Public Inquiry for the hundreds of thousands of unmarried mothers 1950’s-1970’s who suffered the heartbreak of having to surrender their babies for forcible adoption. They were subjected to coercion and duress, denied vital informattion about their rights and never told of the alternatives.

… We’ve had 57,000+ viewers since Oct 2006.

Please pay us a visit, we have boards for John Hemming MP. Joe Soll, Mirah Riben, Ian Josephs and Origins.
….www.uktrackers.co.uk

Mr Tara Plumbing and I are rather fond of Art and we are lucky enough to have visited many great Art Galleries around the world, such as

www.guggenheim.org , www.centrepompidou.fr , in addition to those in London and Edinburgh.

I can not resist telling you I’ve seen loads of Pollocks: 

 www.moma.org/exhibitions/1998/pollock/website100/index.html

So you might imagine that I would be excited about the prospect of a new Art Gallery being built on our doorstep, in Margate. 

Well, NO. 

Much as we have happily parted with many pounds to look at Art, I think we have parted with far more money in the pursuit of thrilling fun fair rides.  I have never planned a holiday specifically in order to visit an Art Gallery, whereas I’ve planned many weekends away around the Thrills of Alton Towers and Blackpool (even taken in Drayton Manor Park on route - roller coaster that you stand up on).  Returning to the attractions time and time again, spending money in the local eating and sleeping establishments.

As for day trips, over the past 16 years I may have visited Chessington World of Adventure alone more times than I have visited all of London’s art galleries (not exactly sure of this).

Based on the huge unrepresentative sample which is my family - people do not travel far out of their way to visit an Art Gallery unless the area has a lot more to offer.  People will travel to the back of beyond to go on unique roller coasters (do you know how hard it is to get to Alton Towers - there is nothing else there and it takes forever).  What is more - people actually return to go on the same roller coasters year after year!

How many people, from outside of Thanet, do you estimate would make an annual pilgrimage to Margate to visit the Art Gallery?

www.turnercontemporary.org/

So my point is a new Dreamland, if it was really good, could attract far more business and money to the local area than an Art Gallery.  Thanet is easily accessible for day trips and weekends for most people in the South East.  An amusement park which attracts mostly young people is the ideal compliment to the nightlife in the Margate.

Margate Dreamland and or Turner Contemporary are often discussed, it seems to me a lot of sensible comments were posted in response to this blog:  http://birchington.blogspot.com/2007/10/turner-extraordinary.html#comments

I can not imagine why any one would travel many miles to visit an Art Gallery in Margate when London has so much to offer.

www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery

www.royalacademy.org.uk

www.southbankcentre.co.uk

www.tate.org.uk