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 Remembers Happy Times Of Friends, Sunshine and Tea In Southport

Blob Thing says:

My person doesn't seem to be very happy this morning.  I think it's got something to do with that nasty Mr. Trump.  She says that Mr. Trump has said lots of stupid things.  She says that Mr. Trump has said lots of mean things too.  About disabled people.  About black people.  About women.  About people of other religions.  About almost anyone who isn't like him.  My person doesn't like Mr. Trump much and I have to say that I haven't seen much to make me like him.  But my person says that a lot of people seem to like Mr. Trump even though he has said so many horrible things about so many people.  My person says that horrid Mr. Trump has just won some kind of popularity contest and now he's going to be given lots of power and will even be given a button that he can press if he wants to blow up the world.  I think that's what my person means.

My person seems upset by it all.  I've told her not to worry and that we can go out and have a nice day anyway and hunt for some more snowdogs.  Yesterday she took Winefride and me out and we saw lots of dogs.  We saw nine that we haven't seen before.  We would have seen ten but one was missing and we were so sad that Winefride and I cried lots about it and it was only when my person told us that we would go on a boat and then go and see some more dogs that we cheered up.  It's sad that there's a missing dog.  Tomorrow we might see where there used to be another dog and that one's missing too.  My person says that there were 61 big dogs altogether but that we will only be able to see 58 of them.  There are lots of little dogs too.  And yesterday I was really very pleased because I was able to introduce Winefride to one of my old friends, the Herma Merma Dragora.  She was a bit scared to begin with because the Herma Merma Dragora looks quite fierce but she soon relaxed.  He's obviously still working very hard at his job because the sea ogre from Cleveleys hasn't paid a visit and destroyed South Shields.

Today I want to tell you about a happier time.  The only thing that could have made it happier for me was if I had been able to share it with Winefride.  But she hadn't been created then.  It was a very long time ago.

It was a day of friendship.  A day of sunshine.  A day to relax and to smile.  I smile all the time.  I can't help it because I'm a pretty happy person except when my person forgets to take me out or when a snowdog is missing.  I also can't help it because my smile is sewn onto my face.  But sometimes I smile more.  And it's obvious from the pictures.

We were in Southport and were having a good time.  It was the day I sat in the shoe of a giant too.  Exciting.  We went into a shop and it was there that I found lots and lots of friends to play with and it was such fun to see them smile and to watch how they could all move all by themselves even though they are toys.  Some of them were so funny and I laughed a lot and my creator laughed and my person smiled.

I think my creator wanted to take all of the new friends home with us and I wouldn't have minded that at all.  They were all quite lovely and it was a pleasure to meet them all.  Unfortunately a person said that we would have to pay lots of money for each friend we wanted to take home.  So we could only afford to choose one friend.  Who to save?  Who to save?  Eventually the decision was made and my creator said we would take an elephant with us.  I hope all those other friends are okay and that they looked after each other well.  I will probably never see them again but meeting them was a joy.

We walked on from the shops and we found a place to drink tea.  We all needed some tea.  It was very nice because we sat outside and the weather was lovely and there was a field and I was very happy with the whole experience.  Here I am posing with the tea and my new elephant friend.  In the background you can just make out my creator.  My person took quite a lot of pictures of my creator that day and in some of them you can see pure joy on her face and it's wonderful.  Especially in the pictures taken on the beach.  I'll be telling you about that in my next post.

After our drinks of tea we all left the cafe and we went to the field and we sat on the grass.  And then we lay down and looked at the sky and it was very beautiful.  My person says that there is beauty in the world no matter who wins an election.  I hope we find some of that beauty today.  She needs to smile more and laugh more and be silly more.  Silly in a good way.

We took lots of sky pictures that day.  My person likes the sky.  Sometimes she sees all the colours of the rainbow even on a cloudy day and sees rays of coloured light coming from the sky and hitting the ground.  I think she might just be imagining it or that she's just being strange but she seems to enjoy it when it happens and sometimes she gets a bit happily lost staring at the dark clouds.  I prefer it when it's sunny.  But clouds can be very pretty too and on that day the sky was beautiful.

We sat in the field and we blew bubbles with our bubble guns and we lay back and there was peace inside us.  I recommend it.  Sitting or lying back in a field on a sunny day and just being at peace.  Just be there.  In that moment.  Forget about Mr. Trump.  Forget about all the hard things of life.  Let them go.  And just be.  With the grasses.  With the sky.  With the warmth.  With the sound of a child's laughter as they run around with a borrowed bubble gun.  Just be.  My person doesn't just be enough.  She lets thoughts run wild and gets caught up in things even when there's really nothing to get caught up in.  She's learning though.  And I am teaching her.

One last photo of me.  I was very happy indeed.  I'll tell you about the rest of the day next time.

There will be more days like this.  No matter what happens in the world - unless Mr. Trump ever decides to press that button - there will be plants and sunshine and clouds and light and shade and bubbles and friendship.  Someone wrote this morning that the world has just got darker.  Maybe so, but there is still light and warmth and the sea and snowdogs and there are still lots of people who seek to walk in that light.


[1232 words]

Blob Thing And Winefride Nearly Get Arrested On Wrecsam Station

Blob Thing says:

You know what?  I'm a bit cross with my person right now.  I've calmed down a bit from earlier but I'm still a bit cross.  She's trying to make up for things by letting me write a blog post but she made a big mistake today.  Do you know what she did?  Do you?  No, you probably don't.  She went out today and photographed lots of Snowdogs.  She did.  And she forgot to take me and Winefride with her.  There we were, deserted at home in the warm.  And there she was, walking from dog to dog in the pouring rain without us.  She's a bit crazy is our person.  She walked for miles today.  In the rain.  At least she wore her adventure coat.  She says that she realised her mistake when she found her first Snowdog - a really posh one in a suit, suitable perhaps for somewhere like Gosforth.  She found seven Snowdogs today and lots of little dogs too.  And Winefride didn't see any of them.  Neither did I.  And that's not really fair is it?  And some of them were in Jesmond Dene and she's been promising to take us there for ages.  She's saying now that she'll take us on a sunny day and we can go and look at all the other animals there because though the dogs might have gone the birds and the goats will still be there.

So yes.  I'm a bit cross with her tonight.  Next time she goes out she's got to take us with her and she's promised to take us Snowdog hunting this week.  We might even go twice for two long days of hunting.  We're going to shoot them all.  Shoot, shoot, shoot.  Not with a gun.  We haven't got a gun to shoot with.  Partly that's because we don't want a gun.  Partly it's because we don't need a gun.  My person says she used to know a minister who would carry a big gun with him as he travelled between his churches.  He didn't have a car so had to walk, sometimes for more than a day.  And sometimes he would have to use his gun to scare off lions and tigers.  I don't think we will have to scare many lions in Newcastle.  And partly we don't have a gun because of laws.  Some countries have very strange laws and lots of people have guns because ... well, I don't know quite why.  But in some countries there are shootings all the time and I know there aren't many here.  I think it's because somebody once wrote some words on a piece of paper and those words fit a situation in another bit of history.  And then people think those words should be taken to mean only one thing for all time and everyone should be able to have guns even if they haven't got lions to scare.  I think that's why.

My person is telling me to hurry up and get on with my blog and stop talking about guns.  I saw some men who looked a bit like the ones at the bottom of this post.  They were at Newcastle station when Winefride and I were meeting Snowdogs there the other day.  Except these men were carrying big and scary looking guns and the men in the picture later didn't have guns.  I don't like seeing guns.  It scares me.  I have read it's because there might be scary people around.  But the guns scare me and every time I see them I want to cry and hide.  I know guns have good uses, like starting running races, but I don't like them.  Why do people want to shoot and hurt and kill other people?  They are stupid.

My blog.  I want to tell you about Winefride.  I want to tell you about something that happened when she was only one day old.  I'd sat and watched as my person and my creator acted together and created my sister.  They did a very good job.  She's severely autistic and she's wonderful.  She's also got a tumour but it's benign so that's okay.  I think.  I don't really know what a tumour is.  The very next day after Winefride was made we all took her out on an adventure.  We went all the way to another country.  It's the only time I've ever been to another country.  My person says that she used to live there.  The country was called Wales and there were lots of signs in another language.  While we were in Wales we took Winefride to her very first play area.  She enjoyed it so much and squealed and made all kinds of happy noises.  We enjoyed rocking together on this toy.

My creator and my person both had a ride on this toy and it was very funny watching them.  There is a video of my person using it and she rocked back so far that her head nearly collided with the ground!  It was so funny and I laughed until my sides hurt.  I'm glad my sides didn't split.  They're only held together with stitches and I wouldn't want my insides to fall out.

Later Winefride and I met some sheep.  I've already told you about the Welsh sheep.  I think I've even mentioned Uncle Adrian's emergency Welsh sheepdogs who are going to come and herd some as yet non-existent sheep into the sensory room.  I wanted to show you this picture again because I think it shows just how much I love my sister and how much my sister loves me.  I was so happy to have a sister.  And I still am.  My person needs to give my fur a clean sometime.  I can tell that when I look at old photos.

And then it was time to go back to the railway station.  It was called Wrecsam Cyffredinol.  I know that because it says so on the sign.  I posed in front of it and then Winefride came and joined me.  She couldn't read the words but she wanted to be in the picture too and was obviously getting upset that she wasn't in it.  So here we are together.  I am managing to look at the camera - which I don't always manage.  Winefride is looking in completely the wrong direction.  You can see that she didn't have reins then.  If she had then what followed might have been very different.

You see, Winefride was tired.  She was less than a whole day old so that's not surprising.  And she was a bit anxious because there had been so many new things.  And it was quite boring having to wait for yet another train.  This was the fourth one we had waited for that day.

Winefride started to misbehave.  She didn't know better and she was just being her wonderful self but most people would have thought her behaviour inappropriate.  She ran off.  She did.  It was actually quite worrying a couple of times because it took us ages to catch her and she had run too close to the platform edge.  She might have fallen and been run over by a train and that would have been the saddest thing possible for me.

Between the three of us we managed to get Winefride to calm down.  I was good at it because she's my sister.  My creator was very good at it because she knows a lot about autistic children and how to look after them.  She's gifted and skilled.  My person got a bit flustered by the whole thing and a bit worried in case she couldn't look after Winefride properly when we got back to Newcastle.  As it turns out she's done a very good job.  Except today when she forgot to take us out with her.

Winefride had her picture taken by this sign.  I wanted the picture to be taken.  I haven't got a clue what any of it says because it doesn't say anything in a language I speak.  Winefride didn't have a clue either but I think she liked the picture at the bottom and I think she might also have liked the shade of blue.  My person says that she used to pass through a place called Amwythig a lot.

And then.  We only took our eyes of her for a moment.  To look at a bird.  And then Winefride was off again.  Running up and down the platforms and I was chasing after her.  And she was making a lot of noise.  Lots of excited squeals and somehow or other she was flapping too even though she doesn't have anything to flap with.  She was obviously having a very good time.  But the people on the station platform weren't.  She was being very loud.  People were looking at us.  And then they were looking at my person and my creator with very disapproving faces.  I could tell.  Because they were tutting and shaking their heads like it was the end of the world.  And my person and my creator were trying to catch up with Winefride too.  I knew she was having fun but I was worried about her because she obviously didn't have any sense of danger.  How could she when she was a one day old severely autistic soft toy?

And then someone must have called the police because I heard a whistle behind me and I looked and there were two policemen there chasing after us too.  And that was scary.  I called to Winefride and she happened to look back.  And she stopped running.  I don't think it's because she thought she was doing anything wrong.  I think it was just the bright colours of the policemen's jackets that had caught her eye.

The policemen told us to stop moving.  One of them picked me up.  And the other picked up Winefride.

Winefride started to laugh but I was worried because these were policemen.  Actual policemen.  And I thought we were going to be arrested and thrown in a prison and I am scared of prisons.  It doesn't matter whether it's the prison at Hexagon where I was put in the stocks, or the prison I saw near Durham or any other prison.  I don't want to have to go and live in one.

My person and my creator finally caught up with us.  They were out of breath.  I am so thankful.  Especially to my creator.  She explained the situation carefully to the policemen and explained all about autism and about the difficulties it presents.  And she apologised for Winefride's behaviour.  I apologised too.  But Winefride didn't because she can't talk - or doesn't talk - and because she didn't know that she had been behaving in any way out of the ordinary.

The policemen relaxed and then they smiled.  And we were told that we shouldn't behave in such a way again and just this time we wouldn't be arrested.  The policemen were very nice about the whole thing and even let us have our picture taken with them.  Thank you policemen.

I love my sister.  But sometimes living with her can be challenging.  That's okay.  She's more than wonderful anyway.  Even on days when my person forgets to take us out.



[1888 words]

Blob Thing Meets Pudsey and Upsy Daisy Before A Well Earned Rest

Blob Thing speaks:

I am very happy today.  Happy to be me.  Happy to be alive in this wonderful world.  Happy to live with all my friends.  Happy to be with my sister.  Happy because it's my birthday next month and I might get a card.  I think I'm happy too because of all the places we've been to in the last week.  Yesterday Winefride and I rode on the top of eleven snow dogs and on some baby snow dogs too.  Winefride was especially happy with a message on the side of one of the baby snow dogs in the City Library.

Same But Different.

I was quite surprised.  When I read that sign to her she got very excited.  She is clever.  She might not be able to talk and might get very engrossed in things that thrill her but don't let that fool you.  I think she's clever.  She understood this.  I think it's because she knows she's different from most people but she's still the same and no less a small soft toy due to being severely autistic.  My sister is amazing.  I loved the message too but she was beaming so much and if she was a flame everything around her would have ignited.  That wouldn't have been good though because we were in the library and while you might want to burn a bonfire I don't think it would be good to burn the books.

Same But Different.  Or as I read once, different but not less.

That particular dog had been decorated with stars by children from the Education Centre for Children with Down's Syndrome.  Those children are like Winefride.  They're like me too and my person as well.  Same but different.

Today I want to finish telling you about my trip along waterways in Manchester.  It had been a good day.  It would have been better if Winefride had been there but she hadn't been born yet.  Next I want to tell you about an adventure I had with her.  I've still got lots of adventures to talk about from before she was born but I think I want to talk about her more.  So next time I might tell you about the time we nearly got arrested at a railway station.  The policemen were quite friendly though and my person and my creator sorted out the situation together so that Winefride and I didn't have to go to prison.

On my walk I had finally reached the hallowed ground of Salford.  Journey's end.  I was glad of that because I was aching and thirsty.  I was a bit hungry too because my silly person had dropped the food onto the wet canal towpath so we had been surviving on emergency rations for some hours.  I was ready to sit down and rest.  Except, to my surprise, the adventures just kept coming that day.  I've told you about my surprise visit to the Blue Peter garden and how that excited my person but didn't excite me.  She grew up with Blue Peter and so remembers the time Simon Groom said "What a beautiful pair of knockers."  And everybody laughed.  It was a more innocent time!  My person told me about that when we went to Durham, where a replica pair of those knockers can be seen on the cathedral doors.  I have never seen the programme but I understand she used to enjoy it.

We walked along paths my person had never seen before and got a bit lost.  If only there was someone to show the way to me, lost, a child in need of help.  Who could we ask when most of the people seemed to be in a hurry?  I was getting a bit worried about it because I wanted a cup of tea and I couldn't see a cup of tea shop anywhere.  My person kept telling me that it was okay and that we would find some tea soon but I was anxious by this time and my brain kept going round and round in the circle of lostness and worry and her words couldn't get through even though I see in retrospect that they were sensible words.  I started to fret more and the pretty buildings around me felt threatening and it was horrible.  Sometimes it's very hard having a brain like mine.  Sometimes it's very nice too.

Then we saw someone in the street who wasn't in a hurry.  Someone who might just possibly agree to help a child in need.  We went and asked for help.

He turned out to be a very friendly bear.  He knew just what to do.  He held me tightly and rocked with me for a few minutes and somehow I felt able to trust him.  He said his most favourite thing in the whole world was being able to help children and that he had managed to raise a whole billion pounds in money to help them.  That's very impressive for a bear.  And he even let me pose on his head.

He helped with my anxiety a lot but he didn't know where we might find a cup of tea.  After some thought he decided that one of his friends would probably know because she was quite a bouncy soul who had skipped around the entirety of Media City and Salford Quays.  She would know.  He told us where we could find her and said goodbye.  I liked that bear.  My person says that he will be on television one Friday very soon and the whole evening of programmes will be devoted to him and his work.  I wonder whether I will ever get a television programme devoted to me.

My person and I soon found the bear's friend.  Here she is. 

She was a very funny girl.  She made me laugh.  Her name was Upsy Daisy.  That's a funny name too but I suppose it's no stranger than my name.  Or Adduno's name.  My person named an owl for my creator and his name can't even by typed with letters on a keyboard.  And Portal was named after the Archbishop of Canterbury.

I had ever such a lot of fun playing with Upsy Daisy and together we skipped up and down the street and laughed so much and sang some very silly songs.  Upsy Daisy is my friend.

We had so much fun that for a while I forgot about wanting a cup of tea.  My person hadn't forgotten though.  She wanted tea too and started hurrying me up.  She said, "If we don't go soon, we won't have enough time for tea before we have to be at Ziferblat's."  I thought that was a silly thing to say.  What was the problem there?  Ziferblat's has tea.  Not having time for tea before going for tea didn't seem to me to be any reason to stop playing.  But my meanybum person [Now Blob, I've told you before that I don't like you calling me that] was insistent.

So, poor little blob that I am, I had to leave Upsy Daisy behind and say goodbye.  Fortunately she knew where we might get a cup of tea.  She even recommended a place because she said we would find lots of places to drink tea and some of them weren't as nice and some of them were very expensive.

I walked on with my person.  We came to an open square surrounded by television and radio studios.  Nobody invited me in for a tour and nobody asked whether I wanted to read the news that evening or try my hand at being a camera operator.  I wasn't even invited to dress up as an extra in a costume drama.  Never mind.  I am only young.  If I want a media career I have plenty of time to develop it.

Upsy Daisy was right.  We did pass lots of tea choices.  Lots of them.  Almost the last one was the one she recommended.  Somewhere that we could get a really big cup of nice tea and it wouldn't cost much.  She recommended that we walk with it a little way and sit outside.

It was gorgeous.  We sat in the sunshine.  Behind us was a stage and a man played his guitar and sang peaceful songs.  And we looked out across the water.  It was a very happy time and we enjoyed our tea.  We enjoyed it for so long that we later ended up being late to meet up to go to the cafe.  Never mind.

Before we left we saw plaques on the ground with quotes from people related to life in the past in Salford.  I had my photo taken with some of them.  Some of them have meaning in terms only of their history.  Some of them are relevant today and the wisdom in them is there for us all to learn from if only we would stop to read little plaques and play with Upsy Daisy.

So that's my day.  Because my person has been so bad at helping me with my blog even though she's been writing her own lots recently it's taken me nearly a month to tell you about that day.  She needs to do a lot better.  I know she's taken Winefride and I out every single day for the last week and we've had a good time every day but my blog is important to me and I know there are some people out there who enjoy what I say.

My person needs to do better.  And I think she needs to do better at writing for herself too.  Not just her blog but stories and articles and whatever else lifts her up.  She needs to focus for now on the things that bring her joy.  And see where they lead.  She needs to be sensible and not try to do things that she isn't really meant to do or things where she doesn't have the right gifts and skills.  She can write.  She can take photos.  She can enjoy the world around her.  She can do other things.  So she should allow all those things to develop and see what happens.  I think something good will come of it all.  Even if I don't get my own TV show.


[1720 words]

Blob Thing Unexpectedly Goes To War And Drives A Tank

It's not fair.  It really isn't.  My person has written thirteen posts on her own blog in the last week.  Thirteen!  And how many have I been able to write?  I'll tell you how many.  None.  None at all.  She keeps writing her own blog and then doesn't help me with mine.

I should say in her defence that it hasn't all been bad for me and Winefride.  We've had some fun in the last week.  We've been to Durham on an adventure.  Winefride has flown on a unicorn.  We've both swung in a hammock.  Winefride fell out unfortunately - and after my person said she would be okay too.  Silly person.  Today I have posed with a giant fungus.  We've had some fun.  My person went to a museum today.  I think she should go back so that Winefride and I can have some big adventures there.  I'd like that.  There was such a lot to see there and I think Winefride would especially enjoy it if our person took us to see the planetarium at the museum.  She would love it I think.

Today I want to tell you more about my adventure - before Winefride was even born - along the water from Manchester to Salford.  I was now officially in Trafford and we could see a very famous place called Old Trafford.  It wasn't the famous place called Old Trafford where people dress up in white and play a game for five days and then announce that the game was a draw because it rained.  Not that one.  It was the one where people dress up in red and get paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to kick a ball around for an hour and a half once a week.  I don't really understand sport but I am told that people get a lot of enjoyment watching people kick a ball around or try to hit a ball with a stick.  Anyway, this Old Trafford place is very famous apparently and important to a lot of people.  76,000 people can watch a ball game there.  Only 26,000 can watch a ball game in the other one.  I don't know whether that means there are 50,000 disappointed people whenever the ball and stick game is played or whether less people want to see the ball and stick game than the game with just a ball.  And some nets.  I understand that game has nets too.  I just don't understand it.  Playing on the swings is far more fun than watching people kick a ball.

So I was in Trafford with my person.  And we were walking alongside the water.  The other side of the water wasn't Trafford.  It was Salford.  Both of them are fords though so they might be similar.  We were glad to see Salford because it would be the end point of our walk and I wanted to have a rest and put my body up and have a nice drink.  I actually thought that there wouldn't be any more adventures that day because I had already had lots of adventures and I could see the end of the walk.  I was wrong.

As we walked we passed this building.  It's full of offices but I really liked it.

And then we found a museum in an even more spectacular building.  My person was obviously very tired because she didn't walk all the way round the outside and take photos of it.  One day she will because I want to take Winefride there and show it to her.  I want to show her all sorts of things.

This was the Imperial War Museum North.  I don't like war.  War is horrific, no matter the motives humans have for entering into situations in which they blow each other up.  Why do humans do that?  They're a very strange species.  Nobody in my species has ever harmed another from my species in any way.  Of course, my species only numbers two.  Winefride and me.  But we would never hurt each other and if our species grew to be a million small soft toys we wouldn't have a war.

This was a whole museum about war.  My person decided we should go and see what was inside because the building looked interesting and because it was free admission.  I didn't really want to go and learn about war but she insisted and I am glad that she did.

The building was wonderful.  I recommend visiting too.  Even if you don't look at any of the exhibits it is worth visiting just for the building.  I want to go back and get my person to take lots and lots of building photos.  And I have to say this.  Even though I don't like war I was very impressed by the museum.  It didn't proclaim that war is wonderful.  In fact it often said the opposite and there were sections looking at the suffering caused to ordinary people when there is a war.  There are lots of wars going on now and people killing each other for lots of reasons which seem to make some kind of sense to them.  I don't think my person would ever want to fight in a war.  She bought a book today about Quakers and I know they wouldn't want to fight.  I want to go back to visit the Quakers soon.  They were nice.  Winefride might not cope with the worship though.  I wonder if they would let her go and take part in the children's meeting and whether they would take photos of her.  She might like that and they're very inclusive.

On the wall of the main exhibition hall - which is an incredible room - there was this sculpture.  I really like the shape and all the prickly bits and the colour and the way it shines in the light.  I'm not quite sure what it's meant to be though.  Probably I could have found out and I know there was some information about it but I just wanted to look at it shiny and bright and full of shapes.

We saw lots of things as we walked round.  Some of the photos didn't come out well because it was quite dark in places and my person didn't want to use flash on her camera.  She didn't know whether she was actually allowed to take photos.  Here I am in front of a car.

This is me in front of a firewatchers shelter.  The sign behind me says that nobody is allowed to stand on the plinth.  But I am standing there.  I hope they don't find out or I might not be allowed back into the museum.

And then I saw something very impressive.  An armoured killing machine with a massive gun on the front.  This was a tank.

I asked if I could go and explore the tank and that's what I did.  I don't think I was meant to but I'm small and wasn't spotted by a security guard.  So I climbed up onto the tank and climbed in.  It smelled very funny in there.  I pressed and pulled levers and buttons and drove the tank all the way round the museum and then had to carefully steer and drive it back to where I started.  At least I think I did because I did lots of pressing and pulling.  I know for sure that I drove skillfully because when I climbed back out of the tank it was back where it had started.

Driving a tank was ever such an exciting experience.  I was very good though and didn't fire the big gun.  I didn't want to destroy the Imperial War Museum because that wouldn't have been fair at all and because it is in such a nice building.  Here's a picture of me posing in front of the wheels of the tank.  Aren't they big?

One last photo of the museum.  We have lots more on the computer and I like looking back at old photos of me.  Hey, it's my birthday today.   Did you know that?  I am ten months old today.

This is me in front of an aeroplane of a sort used in wars.  You can see that shiny bright sculpture behind it.  I knew what the aeroplane was.  But I preferred the sculpture.

It was time to leave the museum and head to Salford.  Journey's end.  And even there we would find more adventures before finally sitting down with that cup of tea.

I am glad my person agreed to help me with a blog post today.  Maybe in November she will be a bit better about helping me rather than getting distracted by her own blog post or by difficult things in her life.  I think I deserve to be helped and I was told yesterday - by a writer no less - that my blog is excellent.  I certainly like it.  I wonder what I'll talk about next.  I think I should talk more about God and autism and flowers and creativity and beauty and giraffes and I saw a narwhal today.  I did.  I saw a narwhal.  And a rhinoceros.  And a dinosaur.  And lots of birds on a lake.  And it was really enjoyable being out and the sun was shining.  That's a strange phrase too isn't it.  The sun was shining.  Well of course it was you silly!  It doesn't stop shining.  It's not as if the sun ceases to burn at night or goes out whenever a cloud is in front of it.  It's a silly phrase and I'm a bit embarrassed to have used it.  The sun was visible in the sky.  There.  Although: don't look at it or you'll hurt your eyes and might end up with Medjugorje Syndrome and you wouldn't want that would you?  Yes, it was a lovely day today in Newcastle.  Lovely.

Right.  That's it.  My person is telling me that I have to stop because she needs to put food in the oven otherwise nobody here will be eating tonight.  That would be sad.  I don't want to miss my dinner tonight because we didn't get fed when we were out.  My person didn't even buy ice creams for Winefride and me even though we passed a perfectly good ice cream source in the park.  Next time person, you should indulge us.  Thank you.




[1737 words]

Blob Thing Pushes Barrels And Gets Chained Up At Praed Road

Blob speaks:

This is my 101st blog post.  I was wanting, having posted for the hundredth time, to get back to posting things every single day.  But my person hasn't been doing very well in the last few days.  It's been a real struggle for her head.  I've had to look after her and all our friends are chipping in to caring for her so that her head can get through everything and recover.  Got A Warthog and Amethyst have been doing an excellent job at night, with Portal helping out when they've needed a rest.  Even Buttons and Gerry have been active and have shown that they're worth far more than their weight in stuffing.  I haven't been asking my person to write with me every day but this morning I think it might be good for her.

Yesterday I colluded with my creator and strongly encouraged my person to go on a little adventure.  It was amazing.  We visited the Lady of the North.  I've been to see her before but Winefride hasn't.  She wanted to run out to where it was dangerous.  I think she wanted to stand on the tip of the lady's nose and then roll right down her face.  But it was very steep and I didn't want her to get hurt.  We took some pictures.  I'll show you them one day.  Then we went to Plessey Woods and had a walk in the trees and by the river.  My person walked along a path she possibly wasn't meant to walk on and was very tempted to just keep on walking in the hope that it came out somewhere.  It was very pretty even if we weren't meant to be there.  And then the three of us went out for lunch in a tiny little cafe above a new age shop.  The food was very nice.  I think some people were there to have some kind of readings done by some kind of psychic or intuitive.  My person quite likes tarot cards.  She keeps saying they're pretty.  She doesn't think they are of any use in predicting the future though.

It was a very good adventure yesterday.  I sat on a giant toadstool too.  Winefride had her picture taken with some real fungi and I was very glad that she didn't try to eat them.  She can be crazily bouncy enough without accidentally eating hallucinogenics.  I don't want to imagine Winefride on drugs.  Or even worse, the fungi might have been poisonous and then she would have had to go to hospital.  We were going to hospital anyway but having one member of the family there is quite enough.  Yes, it was a very good adventure and we got home in time to go and see my person's wife in the afternoon.

But that's yesterday and I'm not talking about yesterday today and won't be talking about yesterday tomorrow either.  Today I want to tell you more about another big adventure.  I won't tell you much because my person's head is not coping well and she's finding it hard to focus.  I think she needs a big squish hug from someone special.  Someone special isn't here so she'll just have to have one from Got A Warthog.  He's a very special warthog.  I don't think there are many songs about special warthogs.  Not many.  But there are songs about warthogs of course.  Why wouldn't there be?

Got A Warthog has not got a pink satin dress with blue bows.  I wonder how smart he would look in such beautiful clothes.  It would make me sad if he went out dressed up like that and nasty people insulted him for being a boy warthog in a dress.  Got A Warthog says that he much prefers that warthog song to this one.

He doesn't want me to look further on YouTube for warthog songs because he just spotted a link to something very frightening.  It was a video of a warthog being eaten alive.  Got A Warthog is feeling bad now and has his head hidden under the bed covers.  I hope he'll be okay.  I'm glad that there are so many other friends here because he'll be looked after well.  Yes, here come Stillness and Pain to give him a big cuddle.  Stillness is an elephant.  He was rescued from the shelves of a shop on the same day as Without Names.

So yes.  I was with my person and we had been walking from the centre of Manchester along some water.  We had nearly reached the end of our journey but still had many adventures left.  As we walked we came to an industrial sculpture area.  It was great fun to play on some of the sculptures except I couldn't play as much as I wanted because it was raining and I don't have any waterproof clothes.  We looked in the hiking shop but they didn't have any Blob sized jackets.  Even the extra small ones for human children were far too big for me.

This first photo is rubbish.  I don't know why my person was holding the phone camera at that angle.  I don't want to insult my person, especially when her head is so sore inside.  But it is a rubbish photo.  The best thing in it is me!

The rest of the photos are much better.  It's a big shame that Winefride wasn't with us that day.  She would have loved it there.  She would have been jumping around on everything and would have had so much fun and I would have enjoyed seeing her smile and hearing her excitement.  Maybe one day I can take her there.  She is amazing.  The way she finds joy in nearly every situation is brilliant.  Yes, she can't talk.  Yes, she's severely autistic.  But she's absolutely wonderful.  Of course there was a reason why Winefride didn't come out with us that day.  She hadn't been born yet.  That night when she was born was the most exciting of my life.

I have got a lot to say about these photos.  I have the version of events that my person remembers.  But there's also another version of events that's equally exciting.  Let it just be said that I got completely stuck in the chains.  I couldn't get out and the whole situation got more than a bit fraught.  My person couldn't help me either and she tried everything she could think of.  In the end I was freed through the combined efforts of the fire brigade, the army and a helpful pigeon named Persephone who lent the aid of her beak.

I'd tell you all about it but my person is really not feeling good and she needs to stop typing now.  Hopefully she will have enough energy for my blog again soon.  I might get her to write it for a while rather than me dictating.  I think it helps her when we get into discussions about my adventures.  Especially when she doesn't remember them properly.  And especially when we get sidetracked in our discussions and start writing about other things.

Yes.  Time to stop typing.  My person is very tired.  I hope you enjoy all the pictures.  They've all got me in them.  In my next post I'll tell you about how exciting it was to drive a tank and might tell you about my part in winning a war and how I attached loudspeakers to the top of my tank and played "Give Peace a Chance" and how I adjusted the big gun to shoot white poppies and bubbles.  My tank was the only peace crusader tank in the whole war and when the enemy saw it they laughed and decided that bubbles are better than bullets.  Their country stopped producing bullet guns and everyone got issued with a bubble gun, a sparkly wand, and a kite and the country devoted itself to spreading pacifism.  It's a shame no other country has listened and it's a shame that their country had too many people shouting about how bubbles were for babies and how it was their divine right under God to bear arms because an ancient piece of paper seemed to say so.  Silly people.  They got into power in the end and that country became miserable again.  I might tell you all about that adventure.  If my person lets me.

Enjoy the photos.

[1403 words]

Blob Thing Goes Hospital Visiting In A Week That Was Not As Planned

Blob Thing says:

This is my one hundredth blog post.  Isn't that amazing?  My one hundredth blog post was meant to be a big celebration.  A massive party in honour of me!  And of Winefride too.  It's important to honour her because my sister is amazing.

But life doesn't always work out as planned.  My person was going to help me with this post at the weekend and now it's the end of the week.  So this is my post and it's not a joyful celebration of me.  Because things happened and my person didn't manage to find the time or the energy for my blog.

On Saturday my life was being very good.  I went out with Winefride and my person to meet up with a friend we all knew from Autscape.  We went to the Literary and Philosophical Library and I tried not to have flashbacks of my last visit there - the one in which a dragon dressed up as a giraffe stole my Autistic badge when I fell asleep.  My person helped me write a blog post about that.  We went to a very good photographic gallery.  And we sat in Super Natural cafe for ages.  During the day this photograph was taken.  It was an accidental screenshot.  Sometimes very exciting photos happen when accidental screenshots happen on the phone.  Sometimes very boring ones happen too.  This is one of the best.  Don't worry.  The vampire bunny didn't manage to bite me.  I have not become a blood sucking small pink soft toy.

Everything was very happy.  But that changed.

On our way home we learned that my person's wife had suffered an accident.  She was at the hospital being checked out.  That was on Saturday.  It's now Friday and she is still there.  She fractured her spine.  So my life this week hasn't included writing happy blog posts.  My person might have been able to find the time for them but she didn't have the mental energy to help me.

Today she's agreed to help me and I'm going to share some photos from my week.  It hasn't all been bad.  I've had some fun too.  And my person's wife is going to be okay which is a big relief to everyone.  Winefride and I have been hospital visiting every day too.  Here we are in one of the wards of the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle - a place where the staff are all doing a wonderful job looking after my person's wife.

My person has taken quite a few photos of the prettier part of the hospital.  On one day we had some food in the cafe.  We might have some more later today.  The cafe is in the prettier part, which also houses the Great Northern Children's Hospital.

Here I am sitting on a ledge by our table.

And here's a view from a walkway we use on our way to the ward.

It's a very nice place even though it's a hospital.  But from there we have to walk through a very long corridor to get to the ward.  Maybe this afternoon, if the weather is fine, my person can go to the hospital a different way and avoid the corridor.  Maybe we can also go and see some ducks in a nearby park too.  I'd like that.  I like ducks.  I had an adventure with some geese once and I'll tell you about that one day.  They didn't think our pea snacks were tasty but we didn't have any proper goose food and they were all very insistent about being fed.  There were dozens of them gathered around us.  I have to admit that I didn't like the pea snacks either.  I don't think my person was that keen either because she didn't eat all of them.

It's not all been hospitals this week.  Not for me.  It's all been hospitals for my person's wife though.  She hasn't left the hospital yet.  She hasn't even been able to visit the pretty part of the hospital.  And she has had a lot of pain.  It's all been very worrying.

My person has also been able to give me a few adventures.  Little ones, but for me a little adventure is better than no adventure.  Here I am with Winefride.  This amazing creature is on a wall in central Newcastle.  It was very friendly and told us a very interesting story about its place in the history of the city and about how it came to have such a fabulous tale.  Gosh, it was a brilliant story teller.

Here we are again.  We're back at Super Natural cafe.  I thought the books were quite interesting.  Mr. Hitchens made some very good points in his book but sometimes spoiled them by using some very mean insults that I don't think were called for.  We've only just started Mr. Holloway's book.  He seems a lot more calm about the whole thing than Mr. Hitchens.  We've been enjoying Mr. Hitchens though.  Well I have.  Winefride hasn't.  She doesn't want to sit there and have our person read big books to her.  Why would she?  Sometimes I think that she's far more sensible than both of us and that her priorities are far more what life should be about.  She's amazing and so full of joy and love and excitement.  I love my sister.  But my person is still a little obsessive in her thinking about God things and I've picked up some of that too.  I spend quite a bit of time in rooms that contain a lot of God books and I read some of them.  But Winefride can't read.  She can't talk either.  Or she doesn't talk.  It's hard to know which.  But she can laugh and smile and let out big whoops when she's excited.  She's amazing.

Here I am a few days ago.  We went to Whitley Bay.  My person knew that the Amazon delivery person was somewhere in the street just now and she was right.  She couldn't see him but could hear the bass of the music coming from his car.  That Amazon delivery person has a particular tone of bass noise coming from his car.  Sorry for that sidetrack.  The Amazon person has gone now.  Yes, we went to Whitley Bay.  Just a quick visit to help my person stay calm by doing something other than being at home or at hospital.  We visited the charity shops.  All we bought was that book by Mr. Holloway and a book containing the Dhammapada with a commentary on all the words and their meanings and how they all fit in with Buddhist philosophy and practice.  I did say my person was still a bit obsessed with God type things.  She probably always will be, no matter what she decides to believe in ten years time.  I am going to enjoy watching her continuing to grow in the ability to be lost in wonder at the things around her.

So that's my one hundredth blog post.  It's not what I wanted it to be.  But that's okay.  I can have a big celebration of the wonders of my life at another time.  When my person started this blog she was just going to share a photo of me and say where I was when it was taken.  She didn't expect that I would find my own voice.  I am very happy with the way it turned out.




[1246 words]