helen-louise's journal

Today, I find myself searching for an old livejournal userpic that some people had. It was animated and cycled through six pictures. Every other one was "Tea". It described various situations in which a stereotypical stoic British person would react by offering and drinking a cup of tea. The last one was something along the lines of "City blown up by terrorists? TEA!"

It probably dated from the 7/7/2005 London bombings, which was about a century ago in internet years, which is probably also why I can't find it on any of the journals which I thought had it. Still, if anyone knows what I'm talking about - and even better, if anyone still has the image - please post it for me!

In other news, it has been a decade in internet years since my last post here. I am currently significantly less ill than I have been for several months, but still nowhere near well. My mental health seems to have improved (in January? while housebound?!) but my chronic fatigue continues to be beyond awful. I seem to be having one or two days a week in which getting out of bed even to stagger to my computer desk doesn't seem to be possible. Hopefully somewhat on the mend though.

Also I need to cycle my own DJ userpics, very unhappy with the current selection!

I've done a bit more work on migrating my lj friends list to a new dreamwidth access list. It is, however, really depressing how many of the accounts on my new list say "never updated" next to them.

It seems that my dreamwidth reading list consists of about 10 people who regularly post. I really miss the chronic health community that I had on lj, but haven't had the spoons either to post on lj to ask where people have moved to, or to try to find a new version here. Must find some spoons. Currently accepting donations.

I still have a couple of hundred links from my mobile browser which I "need" to post on my journal. I expect most of the news-related links are now hideously outdated due to new events. A lot of the queer or disability-related links are still interesting, though.

In exciting personal news, I now have a Freedom Pass! I've qualified for one for years, I just didn't have sufficient energy/motivation to submit the paperwork. And buses in London are free if you're a wheelchair user anyway. However, due to various things (such as the fire at Camden Lock Market), I now need to take the Tube on a regular basis. £8.10 for a Travelcard with a Disabled Railcard is just horrendous (that's like THREE chocolate brownies!), and that was finally enough motivation for me to apply for the pass.

So now I can travel all around London for free, and also on buses elsewhere in England. However, my travel is currently restricted owing to the fact that platforms 7 & 8 at Vauxhall will have no lift until April. Also for the next couple of weeks, trains from Kingston are only every half hour (instead of every 15 minutes), and will be taking 48+ minutes to get to Waterloo instead of 30ish.

I must remember to buy tickets for this vegan food fair. Perhaps after Richard has recovered from the shock of paying for my last-minute train tickets to Leeds - which were already heavily reduced due to aforementioned Freedom Pass and Disabled Railcard...

Today is the British General Election, and I am scared shitless.

On a local level, there is a strong chance that I will once again have the overprivileged twit who didn't know what BSL meant (when given the context of "BSL interpreters for disabled people") as my Member of Parliament. I am absolutely horrified that the local Conservative party chose Zac Goldsmith as their candidate for MP, after he resigned from the party and triggered an entirely unnecessary by-election only a few months ago. He claimed it was about blocking the expansion of Heathrow Airport. Well, guess what? The Conservative Government decided to back the expansion of Heathrow Airport! So how can he stand as a Conservative again? Okay, he never ruled out rejoining the Conservatives 'in the future', but five months later is hardly the sort of 'future' that people were expecting when they asked him.

Basically, the man is a self-serving slimeball*. He believes that the reason he lost the by-election in December was because standing as an Independent, he wasn't allowed access to the Conservative Party database of supporters, and Conservative ministers weren't allowed to help him. (Although some non-minister Conservative MPs helped him, including pro-Heathrow expansion friends.) 1871 votes isn't a big margin, and while people might be willing to vote Lib Dem as a protest against Brexit, people who are scared of Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister aren't going to risk losing a Conservative seat. Urgh.

*[Since we need some humour to break up the unrelenting grimness, I saw this article in one of the local rags the other day: A huge snake paid an uninvited visit to a home in Kew and immediately texted Richard to ask "Was it Zac Goldsmith?". He replied, "It's a popular misconception that snakes are slimy. Actually, only Tories are slimy." My dear friend Stellarwind pointed out "There's a very distinctive difference. One is a predatory cold-blooded reptile that makes some people very nervous... the other is a snake."]

On a national level, the fact is that the Conservatives hate disabled people. I could link to literally hundreds of articles to prove this, but here's one about mental health, and one about physical disability. That second link should be read by EVERYONE I know except for those who are expecting a PIP assessment soon and can't afford to get triggered.

There's also the absolute mess that Brexit is going to make of our country. I have no training in economics and cannot really argue this point, but I do know that the pound was worth US $1.6 only about a year ago. Now it's more like 1.1. And that isn't because the dollar got a lot stronger, it's because the British economy is collapsing.

I was arguing with an idiot this morning who claimed that "u can look at it as people more incentivised to buy local and your economy will benefit". I replied "'Buy local' means giving up every foodstuff which can't grow in your climate. Goodbye, oranges!". The exchange rate matters A LOT for trade. Even on the most basic level of an individual wanting to shop, it matters. I want a $20 nerdy t-shirt from the US? It used to cost me £12.50. Now it costs me £18.18. (The idiot claimed I should "buy a nerdy UK shirt. this is how you rek your own economy gettin evrythin foreign", and I tried to point out that the specific design I want to purchase is sold by an American company, and then I gave up trying to argue.)

The Conservative government is violently pro hard-Brexit (i.e. a complete split from the EU, removing the right to free movement, withdrawing from the European Court of Human Rights, withdrawing from the European Medicines Agency, etc). I'm a scientist and I'm worried sick about the effect of Brexit on science. I'm also a person with Northern Irish ancestry, and I'm worried sick about the effect of Brexit on the Irish border. These things matter, and it's like a load of little Englander UKIP-voting Brexiteers haven't even thought about them.

And I just can't cope. My mental health has been collapsing ever since this election was called, along with many of my friends'. Richard is kicking himself for not taking up Belgian citizenship when he was still entitled to it. I'm going to be out today working for the Liberal Democrats, trying to make sure that we keep our Sarah and don't let that awful Zac back, but a General Election really isn't the same as a local by-election. And I've been too ill and stressed lately to do more than cheer Richard on as he's delivered leaflets. If we lose by a narrow margin, it's going to feel very personal.

[Leaving this public for now. If any anonymous trolls decide to have a go at me, then I'll close it down. Not in the mood to argue.]

UK Government and Parliament Petitions: EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum. To be fair, this doesn't have a hope in hell of succeeding. But I had to do something. Apparently, Nigel Farage said "In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way". Apparently, if it's 51.9:48.1 in the direction he wanted, it doesn't count as unfinished.

Remember, as Rami Ismail @tha_rami wrote on Twitter:

Just in case somebody argued the majority of the UK voted leave: they didn't.

37.5% voted Leave,
34.7% voted Remain.
27.8% did not vote.

In other news regarding that odious individual, Nigel Farage, he said ‘we won it without a bullet being fired’. Given the tragic death of Jo Cox MP last week, that was a terrible thing to say and he needs to be held accountable for this. 38 Degrees: Nigel Farage: Say sorry for that shocking comment regarding bullets.

The Leave campaigners have blatantly lied. The Guardian: There are liars and then there’s Boris Johnson and Michael Gove - by Nick Cohen. So I signed two petitions about this:

Change.org: Petitioning Home Secretary and Member of Parliament for Maidenhead Rt Hon Theresa May MP. Make it a criminal offence to knowingly mislead the public to achieve electoral gain.

38 Degrees: Expand the powers of the Electoral Commission against misinformation.

and also, related to a referendum promise which now looks unlikely to be kept:
38 Degrees: Keep the promise of £350 million for our NHS. I don't actually believe we do pay £350 million a week to the EU, let alone that all of this money will be freed up if we leave (for one thing, the various regions which currently claim EU funding will need to be given that money. Sadly, the Leave vote was strongest in areas most dependent on the EU).

And some things that I feel strongly about:
Change.org: Mandatory teaching of Politics in British High Schools. Because it seems that a lot of people didn't understand what they were voting for or what leaving the EU would mean. There are still a lot of people in this country who seem to believe that we directly elect our Prime Minister!

38 Degrees: Guarantee no change in the status of E.U citizens currently living in the U.K.

Change.org: Petitioning Boris Johnson MP and David Cameron MP. Government to ensure LGBTQ+ rights do not suffer as a result of the referendum.

And I don't care if you think this is a joke. I am very serious. Change.org: Petitioning Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. Declare London independent from the UK and apply to join the EU.

Still living in the hope that if Scotland leaves the UK and (re)joins the EU, that I'll be eligible for a Scottish passport.

Grant is visiting from the US. It's his first time out of North America and everything here is very very strange. He first got confused on the bus back from Heathrow because of how twisty the streets were, compared to the grid patterns that he's used to. "It's like driving around a Paisley!" he said.

We have done various things, including cuddling, eating, playing Elder Scrolls Online (Grant is such a nerd that he brought his non-laptop computer. Yes, a mini tower) and looking at museums and other such tourist "attractions". I will write more about that when it's not 3 am and we're not supposed to be up in the morning.

I'm sure that what you actually want to see are the pictures of us loving each other.

A couple of days after Grant arrived, in our house. Picture taken by Richard.


( Two more pictures! )

Last night I went out for curry and ice cream in a clean t-shirt. And then proceeded not to spill any of it over myself. Who am I, and what have I done with h-l?!

The evening also featured a visiting brooksmoses. It was lovely to see him, just as it was to see epi_lj and clawfoot in May. If any more friends from the other side of the Pond have a burning urge to visit London, do come and see me :) I am under the impression that there is some big science fiction convention going on in a few weeks, so if any of you are coming over for that, do let me know...

I have been trying to sleep since 6.30 am and it is now 10.30 am. Conclusion: My sleep patterns are fubared. And yes, I meant "fubar" and not "fiber", thank you spillchucker. I have Plans for seeking medical attention, but it occurs to me that I shouldn't go running to my GP flailing about the state of my brain before I've done everything I agreed to do/have checked out from my last visit. So I have to go and see - or at least arrange appointments with - some other medical professionals first. Waah.

Is anyone in/near London doing anything interesting on New Year's Eve? We are entirely struggling to find a rock/metal club playing the sort of music we like. One friend is going to Shenanigans, but the list of bands is seriously not Richard-friendly (although I wouldn't mind most of it), and a random person on the internet suggested Jubilee at the Barfly, but even though it's run by Chris McCormack who was in two of my favourite bands, most of the music played at the club is apparently stuff that would make me scream, and that's even without the stairs.

Tomorrow is, variously, International Celebrate Bisexuality Day or Bi Visibility Day.

I couldn't decide whether to go to the London BiFete or the Brighton Evening With Cake, so I'm doing both!

I will be at BiFete with my friend Lou from 2-3.30ish, and then at the Brighton Evening from 6-8pm. And on trains the rest of the time.

I have discovered that First Capital Connect are actually competent, and were able to book my assisted travel despite my journey consisting of three separate train companies. This is so amazing that I might have to die of shock.

HOLY CRAP, IT'S SNOWING!

And the snow's settling :)

I hope this'll get some of the wretched humidity out of the air, so those of us with joint problems will be in a bit less pain. My back would really appreciate that.

Anyone want to go & see Toy Story 3 tomorrow? I'm thinking a late showing, 8.30 or 9pm, in central London, to ensure that Richard is actually out of work on time.

It would be useful if we could acquire an even number of people for maximum use of Orange Wednesdays vouchers. I want to make the most out of that deal before Richard & I quit Orange in disgust! (I'm thoroughly sick of phoning him and the call failing to connect simply because there's not enough Orange bandwidth. Also sick of randomly not having reception for the same reason. Bah).

Comment here if you're interested and I'll try to find a cheapish central London cinema that takes the Orange Wednesdays vouchers and has a 9pm showing.