David Gillon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
davidgillon) wrote2014-10-25 04:47 pm
davidgillon) wrote2014-10-25 04:47 pm
Entry tags:
Shaking with Fury
It's bad enough we have UKIP on the streets of Rochester because of the by-election, but today we had the fascists of BritainFirst blaring patriotic songs and waving Union Flags and the St George's Crosses in front of the War Memorial.
The friend I was with was shopping in the grocer's across the street and I was quietly seething at everything they were doing - when they started playing Jerusalem I commented that it was like Springtime for Hitler In Germany come to life and that they'd have been better off with Wagner.
They were leaving as we came out of the shop and I realised that 8-10 of them had surrounded a young black woman who was sitting on the wall. Apparently they had demanded to know if she was English. She was holding her own, but she was one small woman surrounded by 8-10 racist thugs, all but one of them male. I just though 'Oh, Hell' and walked into the middle of it, gesturing with my crutch and saying 'There's none of you ever more than 5 seconds away from becoming a minority and being attacked in the street by people like you.' I certainly didn't calm the situation, but I diverted half of them on to me, and I had the chance to tell them that I despised them, that I particularly despised them parading in front of the memorial to people who died fighting against everything they stood for, and that if they really love everything England stands for then they should emigrate ;)
It went back and forth for about five minutes, with amongst other stuff the Britain First woman (ETA: who I've now identified as their candidate and deputy leaderr Jayda Fransen) trying to claim mosques were centres of terrorism, but a couple of them (they'd be the really dangerous ones) realised that being seen harassing a slight young woman and a disabled guy probably wasn't the image they wanted (though it's the only one they'll ever have) and they beat a retreat.
I imagine they'll claim they weren't harassing anyone, but that's belied by how upset their victim was afterwards (and kudos to her for standing up to them).
One of the people who came up afterwards (and if I have the right guy he's a local folksinger who writes some absolutely haunting stuff about social deprivation in Medway) commented that the UKIP supporters and the England First thugs had been being very pally with each other earlier - takes one to know one, I guess....
I'd been thinking about Pastor Niemoller's prayer while I was watching them, I guess I passed.
The friend I was with was shopping in the grocer's across the street and I was quietly seething at everything they were doing - when they started playing Jerusalem I commented that it was like Springtime for Hitler In Germany come to life and that they'd have been better off with Wagner.
They were leaving as we came out of the shop and I realised that 8-10 of them had surrounded a young black woman who was sitting on the wall. Apparently they had demanded to know if she was English. She was holding her own, but she was one small woman surrounded by 8-10 racist thugs, all but one of them male. I just though 'Oh, Hell' and walked into the middle of it, gesturing with my crutch and saying 'There's none of you ever more than 5 seconds away from becoming a minority and being attacked in the street by people like you.' I certainly didn't calm the situation, but I diverted half of them on to me, and I had the chance to tell them that I despised them, that I particularly despised them parading in front of the memorial to people who died fighting against everything they stood for, and that if they really love everything England stands for then they should emigrate ;)
It went back and forth for about five minutes, with amongst other stuff the Britain First woman (ETA: who I've now identified as their candidate and deputy leaderr Jayda Fransen) trying to claim mosques were centres of terrorism, but a couple of them (they'd be the really dangerous ones) realised that being seen harassing a slight young woman and a disabled guy probably wasn't the image they wanted (though it's the only one they'll ever have) and they beat a retreat.
I imagine they'll claim they weren't harassing anyone, but that's belied by how upset their victim was afterwards (and kudos to her for standing up to them).
One of the people who came up afterwards (and if I have the right guy he's a local folksinger who writes some absolutely haunting stuff about social deprivation in Medway) commented that the UKIP supporters and the England First thugs had been being very pally with each other earlier - takes one to know one, I guess....
I'd been thinking about Pastor Niemoller's prayer while I was watching them, I guess I passed.
no subject
Proprioception is very, very 'trainable'.
Practicing with severe hypermobility is another matter. I can ask HQ for formal guidance but it may well be 'No'.
Mild-to-moderate hypermobility, the advice will probably be to work within the framework of relationship with a physiotherapist: the exercises of an Aikido class extend your range of movement in parallel with strengthening and stabilising your joints.
The exercises we use to strengthen and stabilise are effective for most of the general population, but not good enough for people with hypermobility. We would need a student to work with a qualified physiotherapist, to confirm that their joint stability is improving during the time they are practicing; and to advise on whether each exercise was safe, or best deferred until specific improvements in stability are measured, or vetoed altogether.
I would stress that this is a personal opinion: our insurers could say no; or impose additional requirements for both the practice itself, and the monitoring, that make it effectively impossible to teach that student.
And anyway, it's not my decision to make!
Ask anyway. We can and do both teach and grade students who require a modified syllabus that excludes exercises that they cannot or should not do. I say 'modified', rather than 'limited', because we look to bring them up to the overall standard of our kyu and Dan grades by strengthening the abilities and exercises that you *can* practice.
no subject
A physio described my existing range of movement as "ridiculous", so not looking to improve that, thanks!
Having considered it, and I'm impressed that you appreciate the risk factors, the thing I think I have to consider is that I've just managed to stabilise my shoulders, after regular issues going back pretty much to the millennium. That was in fact the reason I switched to the chair, crutches were part of the problem. I'm reluctant to do anything that might put that at risk, given I depend on my arms for mobility.
So thanks for the offer, but I'm going to say no thanks.
no subject
I would say 'hope it gets better' but I know all too well that's not really true for most people with hypermobility. My partner has EDS: it gets better-controlled, but that's it. With splinting and carefully directed exercise under the direction of the physiotherapist, it'll get worse at a manageable rate.
I wish you well in the Medway towns: we had a look at living there, and visited on a day with temperature inversion - even worse air quality than here! - and UKIP out campaigning.
Hopefully you see less of the EDL and EF: like the NF and the BNP, they never really go away, but they can be kept down and kept back,if people stand up to them.
no subject
We get everywhere ;)