NO2ID are starting to ramp up the pressure on the Government.
“I solemnly and publicly promise that:
- I shall not register for a national identity card
- I shall not supply personal details or fingerprints to a National Identity Register
- I shall not apply for any document or service if joining the National Identity Register is a condition of obtaining it
- I shall not co-operate with any Identity and Passport Service interview concerning my identity.
I also promise by my example to encourage others to do the same.”
You can download your own certificate HERE.
I’ve done my small bit to protest- I renewed my Passport not too long ago to avoid having to go to an interrogation centre & be fingerprinted when it would have actually run out in the next couple of years. I also bought a London Oyster Card recently (as cash journey prices are now punitive on the Underground) but have no intention of registering it. I’ve also Paypalled a Tenner to the fighting fund.
I don’t know which one will be the equivalent of Thatcher’s Poll Tax moment- the ID card, or the realisation that we English (and Wales/Scotland/NI) are no longer a Nation in the EUSSR of Regions. It will come in the next two years though.
The name Leslie Overend will mean nothing to most, but to Morleians, Overend is synonymous with photography. He was a social historian, but he didn’t realise it at the time, being a journalist bitten by the photography bug. No-one is quite sure how big his collection is being in the tens of thousands (although Stephen White will know more than most, having inherited it eighteen years ago and he is still cataloguing it!) There is a regular feature in the local rag, where pictures are put up and readers are asked to comment if they recognise anyone. This often turns up some real gems in the letters pages and always gives pleasure to those who benefit from the nostalgia.I’ve only lived here fifteen years so the people are rarely familiar, but the places often are as well as how things have changed (or stayed the same). Morley is an ordinary English town and a fairly unremarkable one, but to locals it is rather special.
There is now a website devoted to Leslie Overend, although it only features dozens of prints at present, only a fraction of a percent of the collection.
I received a replacement nectar card today. Nectar is a loyalty scheme that I don’t particularly use very much, as the merchants who participate in it aren’t very convenient. (For example, we do our weekly shop at ASDA (which doesn’t do loyalty schemes) but Sainsburys nearby at the very busy White Rose Centre always costs us £10+ more for a weekly shop, whilst Tesco is a bit of a road trip away in Batley.
Anyway, with the new cards came bumpf about a free treat. I took a look at their website and spotted something called sphereing. You climb inside a large inflatable ball, tuck your hands and feet in the straps and then roll down a hillside. I’ve seen these on the box but I didn’t realise that a whole leisure industry had grown up around it. 
There is a Wikipedia entry called Zorbing and it looks like fun as it is one of these extreme sports where you are not entirely in control, like white water rafting or even rollercoasters. This Wiki photo from a place in New Zealand (where sphereing originated) even shows a site with a Zorb lift to get the spheres back up to the top of the hill.
I had always thought of these objects as balls rather than spheres, but describing your hobby as Balling may well get misunderstood!
I very nearly called the posting title “balls to that” which was the non-verbal response of BloggerWife. Chief Shadelet, however, says “Bring it on!”
