Blob Thing Finds An Unexpected Play Area On The River Wansbeck

Blob Thing says:

Hello again.  Thanks for bearing with me in the days on which I haven't written.  My person has been wanting to help me but somehow there has never been enough time.  Or more accurately she hasn't made enough time for me.  I'm sure there was enough time to go round for the both of us.  Today there really isn't that much time because we're going on a little adventure soon.  My person joined a choir recently and they have their first little public performance later.  I'm going along with her and we'll take Winefride too and while we're there we can take pictures and generally have a very good time.  Afterwards we might try walking home even though that's a very long way.

Last time I talked with you I finished telling you about some adventures I had in Morpeth.  Today I want to start telling you about some adventures I had on the way to Morpeth.  Not on that day, no.  I didn't have any extra special adventures on the way to Morpeth that day.  I know that riding on a bus can be an adventure but I ride on lots of buses and I couldn't possibly tell you about every journey.  I mean, I'll be riding on at least one bus today but I'm not going to give details of every road it passes between the city centre and the choir.  That would be very boring.  Especially if I was to tell you about the journey every time I take it.

I want to tell you about a different day and a different journey to Morpeth.  In terms of miles I'm only going to focus on the last part of the journey.  The part after we got off the bus.  Because you don't need to know about how we rode on the Metro and then caught a bus.  Not a bus that went to Morpeth though.  Not this time.  This bus went to Ashington.  But we weren't going there.  Not that day.  I went there recently and we walked to the Woodhorn mining museum and to a lovely park with a big lake and Winefride and I got taken on a little narrow gauge railway which was very exciting.

That isn't the day I'm telling you about though.  This time we got off the bus at a little place called Stakeford.  I'd got off the bus there before, the very first time I got taken out on an adventure.  This time things would be very different on four counts:

1. My person was more confident about going on adventures.

2. My person was better at adventuring with me which meant that I wouldn't get forgotten about in her bag for almost the entire day.

3. We would be adventuring in entirely the opposite direction.

4. And this is a big, big difference and the most important one.  We would be taking Winefride.  When I first got off a bus at Stakeford, Winefride wasn't yet created.  I hadn't dreamed of having a sister.  This time she was coming too.  It was going to be amazing.

We got off the bus and my person had a definite plan for the day and only got slightly lost once.  Only slightly.  That's very good for my person.  Sometimes she can get very lost more than once.  On one walk we ended up in a village about five miles from the one she had been wanting to get to.  I'm not sure how she did that and think it was pretty amazing because she didn't completely meltdown over it.  I dread to think what might have happened if we hadn't found a bus stop though.

Winefride, my person and I walked down the hill from the bus stop until we came to the river.  It was very beautiful.  There's a modern road bridge over the Wansbeck at that point that's not pretty but you can stand on it and look both ways.

Here I am on the bridge.  Behind me is the river Wansbeck and it's flowing in that direction to the sea.

The bridge in the background is a railway bridge but you're not likely to see a train on it now.  Further along there's another road bridge, and then suddenly you reach the sea.  It's amazing there.  When I visited in April my person and I were the only people on the entire sandy beach and we had a little sing before walking the length of the beach to some rock pools and then up onto the cliffs to continue our walk.  I want to walk it again because, as I said, I spent most of that day in the bag and missed out on it.  I've also just suggested another walk to my person.  To walk along the whole coastline and use the road bridge to cross the river.  If we set out early and started at Tynemouth I wonder how far she could get before being too exhausted to continue.  My person isn't very fit.

Here's a picture of Winefride.  We had walked down from the bridge to the river and this is the view upstream.

If you follow the river far enough you get to Morpeth.  We followed it far enough.  Apart from a stretch where you can't follow the river and have to take a big detour to get round private estates.  We didn't want to have to take a detour but we found something amazing there.

We were enjoying our river walk immensely.  Winefride was taking everything in and behaving very well considering she was less than ten days old.  You can tell she's young.  We hadn't even thought that reins might be a good idea then to help her keep safe.

And then we encountered the first big surprise of the day.  Right there by the river, seemingly nowhere near anywhere we found it:

A play area.  A nearly deserted play area.  I couldn't have been happier and when Winefride saw it she squealed with delight.  She must have remembered the play area she visited in Rhiwabon when she was only one day old.  Her first ever adventure.  We just had to go and play and we all wanted to.  It was amazing and it was very peaceful, one of the most peaceful play areas in the world.  You could sit on the swing and watch the river pass by peacefully.

Here are Winefride and me, sharing one of the swings.  We couldn't see the river when this picture was taken because we were facing the wrong way for the river.  That's okay.  It was the right way for the camera.

Then we saw a slide.  I have to confess that I was slightly afraid of slides.  I've been on them now and they're okay.  Winefride saw it though and she wanted to see what it was and experiment with it.  She wanted to try everything in the park even though it meant we wouldn't get to Morpeth as quickly.  It was a change of plans and my person isn't always good at those.  She agreed though.  We would climb to the top of the slide and see whether it looked safe enough to use.

The view from the top scared me.  Was I really expected to sit on a big metal thing and trust it to get me to the bottom safely?  Wouldn't it be better just to walk down again?

My person assured me that I would be okay and Winefride was getting quite agitated because she desperately wanted to try falling down it.  She is so brave.  Here's my brave sister sitting at the top of the slide before her first descent.

She didn't get killed.  In fact she seemed to quite enjoy herself and when she got back to the top of the hill she was smiling even more than usual.  She huggled up to me and giggled and I decided that I might be able to try to slide too.  Here we both are at the top of the slide.

Winefride went first and then I took a deep breath and followed her.  It wasn't the most graceful of rides but it was quite a lot of fun and I wanted to go again and see if I could slide any better.  Winefride of course wanted to go again.  She would have probably stayed sliding all day, all night and into the next week if we had let her.  But then we wouldn't have reached Morpeth.  Maybe that would have been okay though.  Morpeth would still be there to be reached on another day and maybe giving Winefride such hours or days of happy joy would be better than following the plan.

Then I said to my person, "But what about you?  You haven't done it.  You should slide too."

It took quite a lot of bullying and cajoling and convincing and by the time my person agreed to ride on the slide Winefride had slid down and climbed up another four times and she was laughing so much.  I said to my person, "Look how much fun Winefride is having.  You could be having that fun too instead of standing around looking a bit bored and anxious to be walking."

In the end she decided that she would have a go.  She would follow me and Winefride down the slide.  I made another suggestion.  My person should video the experience and then we could show my creator what we had all been doing.  I thought my creator would be very happy to see our escapades and our enjoyment.  She likes play areas and I know she would have encouraged my person to play.

So we all went on the slide.  And my person did take the video.  This one.  Another video for what will become the worst YouTube channel in the history of the universe.  That's what my person says anyway.

It was excellent fun.  Here I am at the bottom of the slide, just before we moved on to other adventures.

One more adventure in the park to tell you about.  We got to ride on a seesaw.

The seesaw was amazing fun but it was very difficult for us to hold on tightly and it was a bit unbalanced because my person is much heavier than me and Winefride put together and she had to be on the other end to do the seesaw work.  What would have been better would have been if my creator was there too and I could sit on one end with my person and Winefride could sit on the other end with my creator.  It would be incredibly good fun.

My person said it was time to move on.  She didn't let us stay playing all day and said that we had to continue the walk along the river to Morpeth even though some of the walk wouldn't be by the river at all.  Reluctantly I agreed and Winefride was surprisingly calm about being dragged away from the play area.  It was time to walk again.

Later we would discover an unintentional poem.  My person might have helped me with my blog yesterday if not for that poem.  She looked at the photo containing the words and just had to look something up and ended up browsing most of a book about the voting in Northumberland in the general election of 1841 and then she started reading about poor laws and all kinds of other things.  All very interesting I'm sure.  But it meant I had to wait yet another day to get this post written.  Never mind.  I've done it now.  Maybe I'll find another play area today on our adventure.  Maybe.




[1955 words]

Blob Thing And Winefride Meet Pikachu And See A Sad Car Park

I was wanting to help Blob Thing catch up in writing about one of his adventures from a while ago.  There are lots to choose from stretching back many months.  He's been a very busy Blob this year and his friendship has forced me to be a very busy woman too.  There have been lots of days on which I've felt like staying home and binge watching television and then feeling a bit rubbish afterwards due to the binge sapping the life out of me.  And Blob has come to me.  He's smiled up at me.  And he's asked, ever so nicely, if we could go out and have another adventure.  Just recently I've had extra adventuring motivations and Blob hasn't even had to ask.  I've had photo challenges to complete.  And I've had Snowdogs to hunt for.

Blob and Winefride have both been enjoying the Snowdog hunting.  We'll be going out again today.  And we'll be going out tomorrow too.  After that there aren't any remaining free days to look for the dogs before they are all taken away.  It's been a bit of a rush.  The Snowdogs have been there since the middle of September but by the end of October we had only taken a picture of two of them.  It was only when I received a challenge to photograph a white Scottie dog that I began the hunt.  Snowdogs aren't Scottie dogs of course but one of them is white so that became the dog of choice.  And then things got crazy.  We have fifteen days.  Just fifteen days.  To see every Snowdog.

The first of November was that dog challenge day.  The beginning.  On the fifteenth of November we will complete our quest.  Hopefully.  Every Snowdog - except for one hiding in Kielder which is impossible for me to get to in November.  And every little Snowdog too.  We will have seen 158 Snowdogs in total.

But we haven't been able to go dog hunting every day.  That's made things much more difficult.


On the second we saw one dog.  Accidentally.  On the third we didn't see any dogs at all.  And on the fifth we didn't even leave the house.  On the sixth - and this is going to be remedied tomorrow - I saw seven dogs but forgot to take Blob and Winefride out with me.  They were very cross indeed and quite sad about that.  On the eleventh we couldn't go far.  On the thirteenth Blob and Winefride saw one of the seven dogs from the sixth.

And then there is the twelfth.

Blob Thing wants to tell you about the twelfth.

He loves the Snowdogs and he's going to start his own special project Blog about the dogs and about how he and Winefride have enjoyed them.  But he wants me to shut up about them now.  He says I'm typing too much and entering into my own obsession - or is it an autistic special interest?  He wants to talk about the twelfth of November because he had adventures that day.  Special ones.

Blob Thing writes:

Yes I did.  It was a very good day for me and for my sister.  It was a very long day too and we got very tired.  We got a bit confused too.  There was a man on Bradford station in the evening and he was shouting lots.  My person says he was drunk and that there were quite a lot of drunk people around.  I don't understand why people get drunk?  Are they really that miserable without adding drugs to themselves?  I was confused by this man because he was shouting about football.  That's confusing enough.  I don't understand why people care so much about a bunch of people they don't know kicking a ball around a field.  He was shouting about a football team called Sheffield Wednesday and how they were going to win the league.  I just assumed that Bradford had been playing that team that day because there were lots of football fans around and some of them were drunk.  But Bradford weren't playing that team.  That team isn't even in Bradford's league.  And that team is nowhere near the top of their league.  So I am confused by the man.

My adventure had started early in the day.  Very early.  We had to leave the house at a time before we would usually have to wake up.  We were very glad that it wasn't raining.  The journey was okay.  Winefride found it very exciting because she was travelling on a train again and she looked out of the window for almost the entire journey.

When we got to Bradford my person wanted to go and see somewhere she used to live.  I decided to let her and thought it might be interesting to see her old home.  It was a long time ago.  It was the first place she lived that wasn't with her parents.  And it was where she became a Christian too and that decision has affected her life ever since.  I think sometimes in good ways and sometimes in bad ways.  Some Christians don't like my person anymore because she is transgender.  They say very mean things to her.  But most Christians she knows don't see anything wrong with her being transgender.  So we walked up the hill to the university.  There are lots of hills in Bradford.  It didn't seem like anywhere was flat.

I wasn't that interested by the university and my person kept on pointing out things that weren't the same.  I did get to meet these two people though and they were quite friendly.  I decided that I shouldn't stay with them for too long because I felt like I was intruding on their moment. 

We walked through the campus until we came to my person's old house.  Here it is:

Nooooooooo.  Not the building in the background.  The empty space in front of it.

My person's old house had vanished.  Gone.  Totally.  She had wanted to take pictures of it, get asked what she was doing, and get invited in to her old house.  Shearbridge Green.  Block P.  But block P wasn't there and neither was the rest of Shearbridge Green.  My person felt quite sad about it and was surprised to find herself knocked about inside.  She wonders where all the other people from block P are now so many years later.  She will never know.

My person's old house had gone.  Yes.  It had become a car park.

We walked back down the hill into the city and that's when Winefride and I had a very big adventure that we hadn't expected to be having.

We all needed to use a toilet.  And on the way we bumped into this creature.

This is a creature called Pikachu and I understand that he's very famous indeed.  He is a Pokemon and it was quite surprising to be meeting him because he's fictional.  Winefride and I are very real of course and meeting us would have come as no surprise at all to Pikachu.  But he's not real.  So it was a very surprise meeting indeed.  He couldn't be there because he's not real.  Nevertheless there he was right in front of us, dancing around to some rubbish music that kept repeating over and over again.  My person asked if we wanted to have our pictures taken in front of Pikachu and that seemed like a very good idea.  Document our meeting with a creature who doesn't exist.

So here I am with Pikachu.

Here is Winefride with Pikachu.

And here are the two of us with Pikachu.

We felt a bit sorry for the poor creature because it was trapped behind some barriers and it kept going backwards and forwards and turning round inside the barriers as if it was looking for some way out, like a caged lion slowly going insane in an inappropriate environment.  My person told us that Pikachu would be taken from the enclosure later.  But that's when it gets even more worrying.  She told us that sometimes Pikachu has to live in a tiny ball, just a few inches across.  She told us that Pokemon are wild creatures in the country where they live and they run around having fun.  Pokemon live in freedom.

And then they are hunted.  Hunted by people who want to catch all of them.  It's not like the way we've been hunting Snowdogs.  Not at all.  We hunt our Snowdogs down, make friends with them, take some photos.  And then our Snowdogs are still free. But when people hunt Pokemon, wild and free on the plains of their country, they actually catch the poor creatures.  And they force them to live in these tiny balls.  I don't know how such a large creature can fit in such a small space but it must be an awfully uncomfortable squeeze for them.

And that's not all.  Most of the time the poor Pokemon have to stay in the little balls.  And they're only released for short periods of exercise.  But not just any exercise.  Oh no.  Nothing so innocent.  They are only released in order to fight other Pokemon.  They have to fight each other and they are rewarded for doing well in the fights.  If they don't do well then they nearly die and have to recover later.

Yes.  You read that right.  People catch wild animals and make them fight nearly to the death.  Over and over again.  And these same people think that's a good thing and they get rewarded for having lots of trapped Pokemon and for having the Pokemon fight lots.

It all seems quite barbaric to me.  It's like cock fighting or dog fighting.  Except it's Pokemon fighting.  Which involves creatures with bigger weapons.

Fortunately none of that is real.  My person says it isn't real.  She says Pokemon are fictional, including Pikachu even though we met Pikachu.  She says that cock fighting and dog fighting and lots of similar things are all very nasty things indeed and that most horrible things like that are not legal in this country.  I'm glad they're not legal.  At least there's that.

So we left Pikachu behind, still in its enclosed space.  Still with that awful tune that kept repeating.  Maybe the music pacifies the Pokemon in some way so that it doesn't attack everyone.  There were lots of children there.  Maybe without the music the Pikachu would have attacked the children.  I don't know.

We were hoping for some more adventures in Bradford.  And later that day we were going to meet my creator too for a few hours and I was looking forward to that lots and lots and lots of lots because I hadn't seen her for weeks and weeks.  We would have fun with my creator.  Lots of fun.  Next time I'm going to share a video with you.  It's quite a strange video.  Nooooooo.  It's a very strange video.  I'll do that next time.



[1840 words]

Blob Thing Remembers An Angel's Words And Freedom In Southport

I don't want to say much this morning.  Yesterday Winefride and I found six more snowdogs and we also went to see the Angel of the North.  That angel is my friend.  That angel told me some very special things the first time we met.  After meeting the angel I had been so thrilled by the experience that I got my person to write about it and together we wrote a post.  It was one of the first posts on my blog and we wrote it five months ago today.  Here it is, under this link.

I'm still not going to tell you everything the angel said to me in his special message.  But the angel was right and my life has been a lot more extraordinary and exciting than I could have dreamed all that time ago.  I think that there will be even more exciting times ahead for me and for my person.  And for Winefride too.  Five months ago I hadn't ever imagined that I could have a sister and would love her as much as I do.  I won't share that special secret message.  But I want to share again some of what the angel said to me that day:

"You're a Blob, unique.   Be proud of yourself.  Be proud of who and what you are and live your life in the wonder of your own being.  Be you, love others, and don't let anyone make you feel bad for living a life of freedom and love in whatever way is right for you.  Let go of the things you can't do.  Those things are for others.  Embrace what you can do.  Embrace your desires, your dreams, your passions and let your creative spirit flow.   If people look down on you for being a Blob Thing rise above them and know that you are beautiful, you are strong and you are as valuable as any soft toy could be."

Those are good words for me still.  And they're excellent words too for my person.  She needs to do these things better but she's learning.  She let go of something last week that she wanted to do but couldn't.  And the letting go was hard for her.  I was very proud of her for putting down something while knowing that it was a very good something she was putting down.

Today of course we're going snowdog hunting again.  My person says we're going back to Sunderland.  We were there twelve days ago hunting for butterflies and we saw some of the dogs then but now we want to find them all.  We want to see eleven dogs today and some little dogs too.  Little dogs but not Little Dog.  Little Dog lives here with us.  He's small and white and he's quite old.  I'm not yet one year old and Little Dog might be twenty-five years old.  Maybe he could come on an adventure with me one day because he's only little.

I said I didn't want to say much but then I said lots.  And I want to share some more pictures from that happy day in Southport.  It had been a very good day and I had lots of adventures.  I like adventures.  Most soft toys don't get to have as many adventures as me.  Not even the soft toys I live with.  It would be quite difficult for them all to come out on our adventures.  My person wouldn't be able to carry all of them because there are quite a lot of friends.  And some of them, like Adunno, are heavy.  He's a very heavy unicorn because he had surgery.

I was with my person and my creator in a field after we drank tea and it was so nice there.  I think it might be less nice to lie down on that grass today.  I think it would be a lot colder and the ground would be very wet.  But on that day it was perfect and we were all happy.  I played and bounced up and down the field.

Before we left I lay back on the ground and looked up at the sky.  It was very beautiful.

Of course, I didn't look directly at the sun.  That wouldn't have been good for me.  But my person could point the camera at the sun and that was it didn't hurt her eyes.  Can you see?  Can you see?  Ooh, ooh, can you see?  There are bubbles in that photo.  Because we blew bubbles too.  What can make a perfect moment even more perfect?  Bubbles.  That's what.

Eventually it was time to move on and we decided to walk to the sea.  But first we had to cross this big lake that's in Southport.  That was quite pretty too.  My person took a really nice picture of my creator as we walked by the lake.

And we saw lots of birds too.  They were good to see.

It was a long way to the beach.  I don't know why they put the sea so far away from the carousel and the crazy golf.  It's a long way.  And even when you get to the beach the sea is still a long way away.  I've been to Southport beach several times now and I haven't yet seen the sea.  My person tells me that the sea does come a lot closer sometimes and says that one day we will go there and be surprised because the sea will be nearer and we will see waves.  I saw lots of waves in the last couple of weeks because I've seen the sea several times.  Last time I went to Southport we walked all the way to the beach to sit and watch the sun setting.  It had been a very sunny day.  But just as it got time for the sun to set there was lots of cloud in the sun setting direction and we could hardly see the sun.  We sat and watched anyway.  Winefride was there too that time because she likes to come out with us.

I took this picture of my person.  In the background is my creator and behind her is a fairground.  My person says that she has never seen this fairground open.  Maybe she just goes at the wrong time.  She might like to go on that big wheel but might not like the fast rides.

And then it was time to go.  We couldn't stay in Southport forever.  So we walked back to the train station and I got to sit on a plant with very big leaves.  That was fun too.  I don't think anyone else got to sit on the plant that day.

On the train I sat and remembered the day and I drank my tea.  You will notice that we bought our tea from a shop called Subway.  That's not at the station.  You can't buy cups of tea at Southport station.  There's a shop outside that sells drinks.  But it doesn't sell cups of tea.  It sells cups of coffee.  But it doesn't sell tea.  You have to walk a very long way indeed to buy a cup of tea in Southport, especially when it's so late that most of the shops are shut.  But we found tea because we needed tea.  We hadn't drunk tea since going to the cafe by the field.  And now we needed tea.  My person likes tea.  She's especially obsessed by what she calls black tea.  She has it with milk so it's not black.  And it comes in a white packet.  But the packet used to be black so she called it black tea when the packet was black and now she still calls it black tea even though the packet is white and she has it with milk.  She seems to think that's a totally reasonable way of naming tea.  She's also got some green tea here.  But that's not green tea.  It's a spiced tea and the tea is black.  But the packet is green.  She wants to get some red tea too but only knows of one shop that sells it and that's in Manchester which is a long way to go for a teabag.  My person does also have lots of green tea that is proper green tea.  Black tea and green tea are both black teas but her green teas are green.  My person has too much tea.  But she likes tea and I have to say that sharing in tea drinking with her is very nice.  I like tea too.  My person has more than one mug.  That's good because how else would I be able to have tea to drink?

So there I am, with my tea.  I was quite tired but it had been a wonderful day and I was happy.  I am happy now because I'll be seeing snowdogs today.  And I'm happy because I saw the angel yesterday and was reminded of all that the angel said to me.  I'm happy because I've got my sister.  I love Winefride.  I have lots to be happy about.  My person says that there are lots of sad things going on in the world.  My person says that life can be quite difficult for her.  And it can be much more difficult for lots of other people.  But I am still happy.  Because I am me.  Because I am loved and love.  Because I listened to the angel.  Because life is a wonder and because I am awestruck by the amazingness of it all.  And because there is always tea in this house.  And tea is a happy thing.



[1612 words]

Blob Thing Looks Back on September Adventures With His Meany Bum Person

[Excuse weirdness in presentation.  We typed the whole lot.  Then the software died and we had to copy and paste it back from Open Office where we had saved it.  But then we had to redo all the photos and it all got difficult.  It's not as neat as we wanted it to be.  Apologies from Blob Thing.]


It's been a long time.  I keep trying not to get cross with my person but there's no getting around the fact that it's been a long time.  And she keeps making excuses.  First she says that she can't manage to type my blog when we're away from home so much.  It's true.  We have been away quite a lot.  We're away from home again now but she's agreed to try to type something for me so I don't think it's a particularly good excuse.  But then when we did get home for longer than a few days she still wouldn't type my blog for me.

My creator called my person a meany bum yesterday because of something my person wouldn't let her do.  Well my person is a meany bum for not getting on with my blog.  There's always been some excuse or other.  First she's too tired.  Then she's too stressed.  Then she says she would have typed my blog but she had to type something else.  Then I catch her just sitting watching television sometimes.  Yes.  She does that.  When she could be typing my blog for me.  It's not as if I can do it myself.  My creator says that my person should make a big strap on pointer for me so I can attach it to myself and use it for typing.  I bet my person doesn't do it.  She's such a meany bum.

It's been twenty-three days since I got the chance to type a blog.  Twenty-three.  When my person promised me that I would be able to do it nearly every day.  Meany bum.  My creator is such a wise woman in designating that title for my person.  I'm surprised she is typing this for me but I've told her that if she doesn't do it I'll get in a strop tomorrow in Southport and tell everyone how meany bum she is.  I'll tell the woman at the ice cream shop.  I'll tell all the staff of the chip shop.  And I'll even tell the people in the liquorice shop.  And everyone will know what my person is like and she wouldn't have a very good day.  I probably wouldn't do any of that of course.  I'm too nice.  But the threat is there.

Anyway.  It's been a busy time.  Today I just want to share some photos of some of the things I've been getting up to during September.  There are still adventures from July I haven't told you about.  Lots of them.  But all of these are from September.  My life has been pretty busy even though there was one day on which my person promised Winefride and me that she would take us to a special forest where we could walk round lakes and go and see lots of animals.  And then she didn't take us at all.  Instead she went for a lunch with some people and didn't even take us out of her bag and introduce us.  We would have much preferred to walk in the forest.  I think that she would have preferred it too in retrospect although of course she wouldn't say that.  She didn't treat us well that day and put herself first.  What a meany bum!

I think October is going to be a busy month for us too.  I hope so anyway.  Yesterday we got to row a boat across a big lake.  Today we've been to visit Jesus and Mary in their special shrine.

My person.  Meany bum.  She got to that point in typing my words and then she claimed to be too tired to continue and that she needed to try to go to sleep.  Where did that leave me?  Yes.  Unable to finish.  And now three more days have passed. [Blob stressed the word three a lot when he spoke just then.]

She hasn't helped with my blog.  At all.  I suppose I shouldn't moan entirely because it's not all been bad.  And she hasn't been totally terrible.  On Monday we had a day out to Southport.  Winefride and I didn't get to adventure much but we did play on a slide and we did try to watch the sun setting over the sea.  That was very nice.  Yesterday my person took us out walking.  First we visited a big graveyard because for some reason my person likes visiting graveyards.  There was a massive church there which I wanted to go in because it looked amazing and there were lots of holes but it was fenced off and there were big signs about it being unsafe.  Then we walked by a river and saw some pretty things.  I was glad that my person carried Winefride and me because part of the walk was very muddy.

Last night we got taken out to an autism event in Manchester and we heard lots of talks.  I was very very pleased at one point because I got mentioned and so did my blog.  I'd better get my meany bum person to help with it more often now if we're going to be mentioned at autism events in Manchester.  My person was given a few ideas at the event too even though the focus was different from the focus she wants to have in Newcastle.  And she met a person who used to live in Newcastle and really misses it.  Unsurprising.  Because Newcastle is a wonderful place.  She lived a few metres from a bus stop I will be standing at tomorrow evening.  Amazing.

This morning we are going back to Newcastle but my person said that there is just time to help me with my blog post.  I am going to post lots of photos now.  And just say a sentence or two.  When we manage to blog about these events I can tell you about my adventures in detail, the kind of detail only a blob or her person can include.

Here goes.  Photo time!

This is Winefride and myself from when we went hoop dancing.

My person wasn't good at it at all.  And the hoops were a bit large for me.  There weren't any blob size hoops.

Here I am.  Out of focus.

That's the evening I met the head of the Catholic Church in England.

Or the ex-head.  This head is a dead head.  He has ceased to preach.  Gone to meet his maker.

That was Humerous!  (sic)

 Here are Winefride and myself on a visit to Newcastle Anglican cathedral.

Newcastle has three cathedrals because Christians disagree and keep having arguments and used to kill each other lots over those arguments.

At the graveyard yesterday we saw how even in death the Christians have to be kept separate from each other.

Maybe they go to different heavens too.

Here's Winefride.  She's my sister and I love her.

This was the first time she rode at the front of a Metro train and got to look at the view from the front.  She liked watching the rails and sleepers as they went under the train.

My person likes the numbers on all the bridges and posts by the track.  She keeps telling my how the number on the first bridge out of Jesmond is a square number and how that makes her happy.

Another number we pass is the sum of two squares.  If she halves it it's still the sum of two squares.  If she halves it again it still is the sum of two squares.

That makes her happy too.  My person is a bit strange.

Here are the two of us on another train.

This one didn't have a driver at all.  How does that work.

It's the driverless train at Gatwick Airport.  We went to see the airport when we were in Sussex.  The train was amazing and we actually got to go on it again later.

Here we are on the south downs at a place called Ditchling Beacon.  We took lots of photos there and it's a place that now has a special meaning for my person.

This is one of lots of pictures that my person took of me and Winefride when we visited the museum in Market Lavington.

We enjoyed our visit there a lot.  It's a very good little museum.  My person and everyone with her enjoyed it too but they all seemed a bit sad because of something very sad that happened a few days earlier.  I think my person is still sad about it.

This was absolutely brilliant.

I spent three days helping here.  It's the Autistic Fringe yurt which was the best thing at the Autism Europe International Congress.

My person had a very good time too and Winefride was free to be herself in a safe autistic space.

Here's Winefride and I.  We're sitting on the head of a snow dog.  It's tempting to go and find all the snow dogs because there are lots of them scattered around Tyne and Wear.

In the background you can see an actual real life river god.  You can tell that they are powerful because they are sitting on the side of a wall and they don't fall off.

Here I am sitting on a melodica.

I went to a brand new choir with my person.  It's a women's choir and my person was really happy because she could hit the lowest part without having to drop and octave.

I know that she's looking forward to tomorrow night because she can go to the choir again.

This time she will take a head torch.

Final picture.


Here's Winefride being a bit too Winefride like.  She didn't understand how dangerous it was to stand so close to a caiman.


I was pretty scared.  But it turned out okay.  And we got to see dinosaurs too that day.



There you are.  A little glimpse into some adventures I had during September.  I have an amazing life for a small pink toy.  Absolutely amazing.


In a while we will leave for Newcastle and I'm sure we will do lots of living while we are there.  And then we will come back to see my creator for a few days again.  I love my creator.  I am very proud of her indeed.  I am proud of Winefride too.  She's pretty amazing.  She's severely autistic and doesn't talk but she's so full of joy and life and exuberance and I love her very much indeed.

[1741 words]

Blob Thing Reconciles Himself To A Life In Fleetwood

Blob had arrived back in Fleetwood.  His escape attempt had failed.

He looked back at the ship that had been his hope of freedom and which had ultimately brought him back.  He sniffed one tear and then turned and smiled.  The attempt had failed.  But he was still alive.  And where there is life there is hope and beauty and freedom.  Very often, Blob says, we can created prisons for ourselves that don't really exist.  We trap ourselves in situtations.  We bury our dreams in thought processes that speak of hopelessness and self criticism and lots of other things that aren't the truth.  Some prisons are real.  Blob had seen them.  He had imagined what it would be like to be on the other side of the wall, to be in a real physical prison.  Some prisons are not.

Maybe, just maybe, Fleetwood itself would turn out not to be a prison at all.  Maybe Blob could find freedom here.  Inner freedom and the deepest of joy that can only come from contentment of mind and heart.  Life might be in Fleetwood for the foreseeable future.  But that didn't mean it had to be terrible.  Here there would be sunsets, and eccles cakes, and cafes.  There would be market days and climbs up The Mount.  There would be friendships to forge and even Fleetwood could have an almost infinite scope for new adventures.  Blob was determined.  Life would be happiness.  Whatever place he ended up in.   Even Fleetwood.

And so he stood up proudly by the ferry and smiled his biggest smile and sighed in expectation of the future.  Or rather he was held up by his creator because it was very windy and he didn't want to risk falling into the water.

Blob told his person and his creator that things would work out.  He said that they shouldn't look so sad about being back in Fleetwood.  At least this was a place where hungry dogs aren't turned into statues for stealing a biscuit.  Blob's smile and his enthusiasm were infectious and pretty soon his person and creator were smiling too.  Fleetwood wasn't so bad.

Together they stood by the dock and watched the ship workers prepare their ship for departure.  And then it left.  Blob knew that he might never see that ship again and he waved his best wave.  It wasn't a particularly good wave because he hasn't got a hand to wave with.  Blob's person waved a much better wave because Blob told her to.  The ship got smaller and smaller.  At least that's how it appears and right now Blob wants to go into an extended monologue about how perspective makes things in the distance look smaller but Blob's person isn't going to let him because anyone reading this probably knows about such things already.

And then the ship was gone.

Gone.  And just for a moment a great darkness seemed to fall across the face of Blob.  Just for a moment.  Then life was bright again.  The sun shone and the birds still sang.

The three friends stood for a while longer by the dock considering their lives.  How was it that everything had led up to this moment?  And what would a future in this land hold for them?  They stood and watched the water and believed they would stand and watch nearby waters many times again.

Then they turned with their heads held high and walked back into the town.

It didn't look bad.  It was true that all the cafes were shut and they desperately needed a drink.  Just when it looked as though thirst would defeat them they saw a big sign up ahead.  "North Euston Hotel."  They were saved.  Surely they could get a drink in here.  It did look like an interesting building.

The three walked in and were greeted by an old man who said some very strange things.  Blob decided that this man must be the person employed as the town fool.  He was very friendly.  He beckoned them into an area with lots of chairs and there was a man there behind a counter selling drinks.  Fortunately Blob's creator still had enough cash to acquire a drink.  The next day they would all have to look for gainful employment.  Maybe they would all get jobs as swan feeders on the local lake.  That would be good.  They sat and drank and started to make plans for the future.  If they were truly stuck in this town for the rest of their lives then some pretty solid plans were needed.  Blob was quite impressed at the results of the planning meeting.  He hasn't got time to tell you about it but promises you that it was a good meeting with a lot of actionable outcomes as business people put it.  Blob doesn't like the word actionable.

Feeling a lot better and wonderfully refreshed by the local tea, the friends got up to leave the North Euston Hotel because they didn't have the spare cash to rent a room.  The town fool was still there and greeted them again on the way out.  He spoke some more strange words.  Then he said the most profound thing anyone had heard that day.

He said, "The Fleetwood Ferry tram and bus stop is where they come.  The Fleetwood Ferry tram and bus stop is where they go.  In and out.  In and out.  They get off the tram, get off the bus.  And they get on the tram or the bus again.  From elsewhere they arrive.  To elsewhere they leave."

Could it really be true?  Was it really that easy?  Was it possible that Fleetwood wasn't a prison at all and that all one needed to do was get on a bus at a specific place and time and escape would be secured?  Really?

Blob Thing said that they had to try it.  What did they have to lose?  He would be able to forge a new life in Fleetwood but he didn't really want to.  He wanted to be able to go home to where his soft toy friends lived.  Blob's person said, "No, it can't be true.  Not after all we've gone through."  But Blob was adamant.  And when Blob is adamant there's no point saying no.

So Blob Thing, his person, and his creator left the North Euston and walked back to Fleetwood Ferry, to the place they had spotted a tram stop earlier.  And they waited.  Hardly daring to hope that the old fool had spoken a truth in his crazy ramblings.

But he had.

A bus arrived.  A bus.  The companions boarded the bus.  Their passes still worked.  They could leave Fleetwood.  The bus driver didn't even know it was a prison of any kind because she had been bringing people to Fleetwood and taking them away again for years.

Blob Thing had escaped.  It only remained for him to return to Blackpool and from there he would be able to return to his creator's house and rest from his adventures.


Note:  Blob will be taking a little break from his Blog for a few days because he's currently on holiday having more adventures and doesn't have the time to write anything even if he had the opportunity.  He's just got one more adventure to tell you about from his day on the Fylde coast.  It's one that he found very exciting.  His person found it quite exciting too.



[1245 words.]

Blob Thing Hears Distressing News From A Dog In Knott End

Blob Thing was feeling wonderful.  He had staged a successful escape from Fleetwood and was now totally free to live in the Republic of Knott End.  He says:

Oh yes.  That was a thrill.  My first attempt to escape Fleetwood had failed.  I'd tried to dig myself a tunnel from the beach but it would have taken a very long time.  I think my person and my creator would have got very bored sitting there waiting for me to finish.  It would have been a scary escape too because I don't think my tunnel would have been quite wide enough for my people.  I would have had to escape alone and then hope I could send back help later from the far side of the world.  They would have remained in Fleetwood with only the special eccles cakes from the Home Bakery to sustain them.

But my second escape attempt had worked.  I had managed to find a ship whose captain was willing to smuggle us out of the city.  It had been quite frightening arranging passage and trying to get to the ship without being apprehended.  But we had done it.  The voyage was quite thrilling and we were even allowed to look out of the windows.

Here we all were in Knott End.  Freedom at last.

I sat on the ground near the water and basked in the the atmosphere.  Don't you think that even the air smells different when you're free?  It's as if the world around you knows your freedom and adjusts accordingly.  Flowers smell better.  The birds sing better.  Apart from seagulls.  They weren't singing better that day.  The sun shines with a different shade of flame.  And the wind sings a happier song.

It was certainly windy that day.  Just look at my dress.  If it wasn't sown in place I could have lost it entirely.  And look at the way the sunlight is beaming in those clouds.  The sun knew.  The clouds knew.  Together they played and celebrated my freedom that day.

Knott End.  An entirely new world.  What would I find there?  The answer turned out to be this:  Not much at all.  Maybe if I had more time I'd find the adventures.  Maybe I could follow the footpath signs we saw.  Maybe I could meet the sorcerer.  Maybe I could have discovered the house of Kitty Wake and learned the secrets of alchemy.  Or discovered a lost and forgotten part of the kingdom in which soft toys are treated as equals.  All soft toys.  Harmonious together without any oppression from human beings.  Do you know that some of us are forced into unwanted hugs?  That some of us are just thrown away?  Some of us get ripped apart to make bedding for humans and some of us get burned or buried with all the rubbish.  It's not right.  Maybe in that part of Knott End I could find the place where soft toys can live free.  Maybe.  I don't believe I am going to be burned or ripped apart for bedding.  My person would never do that.  Winefride is safe too - even safer than I am because of her reins.  And all my friends here are safe.  They are all very fortunate to live in my house.

As I wandered round Knott End I made a friend.  Here he is.

Yes.  He's a dog.  He was very sweet and stood totally still so I could climb onto his back.  It was quite difficult because of the wind.  I fell off several times before I could get my person to take a picture of us.  I enjoyed my new friend.  Until he revealed things to me that I could hardly bear to hear.

First he said that Knott End wasn't entirely a place of freedom.  It was a place where the justice system could be cruel.   He had been very hungry one day because his person had forgotten to feed him that morning.  All he did was steal one biscuit.  Just one.  And he left his paw print as a promise to pay the owner of the biscuit later.  The justice had been brutal.  It turned out that the reason he didn't move was because of the punishment.  He had been glued to the ground forever.   Even in the coldest winter and the fiercest storm he had to stand on the spot.  The dog hoped that one day there would be some reprieve, some mercy shown and that he could run around again.  If that happened he said he would leave Knott End as quickly as he could arrange it.  Possibly he would follow one of the footpaths and see whether a place like Lancaster or even Cleveleys would be a better place for a dog like him.

And then he gave me some terrible information.  Terrible.  I'm not quite sure how he knew this, but he turned out to be correct.  He told me that my escape from Fleetwood had been discovered.  He told me that the authorities of Fleetwood weren't happy.  He told me that an extradition treaty exists between Fleetwood and Knott End.  He told me that armed soldiers were already on their way and that I wouldn't be able to avoid them.  My person, my creator and myself would all be returned to Fleetwood on the next ship.

Sure enough.  The ship was approaching.  And I could see that the dog was entirely correct.  There was no point in fighting any longer.  I would return to Fleetwood.  I would experience that town and I would enjoy it.  I had to.   Sadly I walked down the slipway to the ship and surrendered myself to the care of the ship's captain.  He promised to take care of my throughout the voyage.  I could see that my person and my creator were already on the ship.  They looked a little sad but I told them to smile because they had a voyage to look forward to and even in Fleetwood they would have the illusion of freedom.

As the ship left Knott End we looked back to the land.  The place where we thought we would be free.  The place of dashed hope.  It was all very sad.

Now I am Blob Thing.  I have a certain personality.  And that means I can't be sad for long.  I much prefer to smile and find joyful things in life.  So I smiled through the voyage and looked at the sun on the water and looked out at the sea.  It was very beautiful.  There is always beauty somewhere if you can see the sky.  There is mostly beauty somewhere if you can't.

By the time we returned to Fleetwood I was feeling pretty happy inside.  If this was my future then this was my future.  I would live it.  I would like it as fully as it was possible to live it.  I would see the North Euston.  I would go to a show at the Marine Hall.   I would definitely feed the swans on the boating lake.  I might even get a job working for those fisherman's friends.  This was Fleetwood.  And I would live here.  Every other day I would walk and see the sea and I would watch the sunset as often as I could.  It would be okay.  It would.  Yes.  Fleetwood isn't Newcastle.  But I would prosper in it and encourage my person and my creator to do the same.

The ship pulled into the dock.  It hadn't been long ago that we had all walked down that ramp and onto the ship to stage our escape.  I asked the captain whether he would get into trouble for smuggling us all to Knott End.  He said we would be forgiven if he donated the fee we had paid to a local charity.

I was in Fleetwood again.  A new life was waiting for me.  If my person could survive living here for so many years then I could do it too.

Look out Fleetwood.  Blob Thing is here.  Watch out.  Your life is about to get exciting!




[1351 words including the 100,000th word of Blob's blog.  A boring word.  It's "a".]