The Truth is out there

What's the Point

 What's the Point

I just read about yet another Russian war crime

So I cut and pasted it and sent it to 20 emails in Moscow

Maybe they all go to the Junk

Or maybe one is read

They do read me in Moscow

and I must be on the radar

years of daily emails

no Salisbury perfume sent to me yet

and the Russian Ambassador Mr LieaLot smiles as he bats away everything

we are not all morons LieaLot

So  I hope eventually Like Chinese Water Torture

the drip drip drip will erode and have a result

The Colony Lands died the most in Ukraine

the White European Russian Boys the least

Because the Colony Peoples from USSR / Russia

are worthless according to Putin's Moscow

So I have put translations galore online in Russian and other languages

To Point to a Better Way

A better Ballet

In between my bouts of pain which are daily

and enough to destroy anybody not just me

with Tinnitus to drive you insane

So my little bit for Humanity

Is sending emails without Profanity

Showing a different path

As the world goes insane with a bankrupt puppet President

being manipulated by a scent

It's my little bit to save the world from Hell

and Tinnitus is the sound of Hell in my head

So that's my Point

If you all replicate this, then eventually

The World will spin over the rough spots

and my can Trek the stars in Peace again

Cuddle Up and stay alive  as the snow falls

Stock up before the snow fall

and don't eat yellow snow

help the blind please

Blindness and visual impairment

‘We’d be stuck’: alarm as UK’s last braille typewriter repairer ponders retirementAlan Thorpe is Britain’s last certified fixer of the Perkins brailler, a machine vital for teaching blind children to read and writeBlindness and visual impairment

‘We’d be stuck’: alarm as UK’s last braille typewriter repairer ponders retirement

Alan Thorpe is Britain’s last certified fixer of the Perkins brailler, a machine vital for teaching blind children to read and write

Matthew Weaver

Matthew Weaver

Thu 2 Jan 2025 12.00 GMT

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Alan Thorpe runs his fingers over the braille note attached to the latest repair job to arrive at his doorstep in Sheffield. Reading from the tactile note, he says: “The paper won’t wind in and the keys are jammed. Good luck.”

Thorpe, 60, is the only certified repairer in the UK of Perkins braille typewriters, the world’s most widely used braille machines. Despite advances in digital technology, these 6kg analogue machines are still a vital communication tool for blind users and are especially crucial for teaching blind children to read and write.

But they need to work, so Thorpe’s talk of retirement has prompted alarm among his customers, including schools and local authorities.

“We’d be completely stuck without Alan,” says Rachel Ward, of North East Wales Sensory Support Service. She has driven from Flintshire to pick up 10 Perkins braillers that Thorpe has refurbished. She has also delivered two more machines with braille notes attached explaining what needs fixing.

Mending the intricate machines looks a daunting task. Inside is a complex mechanism of levers, springs, rollers and chains. But Thorpe, who has been registered as blind since the age of 15, does all the repair work by feel alone. And he is not fazed by the latest broken machines. He is sure they can be working again after a paraffin bath to clean up accumulated gunge and some careful plier work to straighten bent keys.

Alan Thorpe in his workshop

View image in fullscreen

Thorpe says he hopes to recruit an apprentice to take on his business. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

He takes them to his workshop in a converted bedroom of the house he shares with his wife, Sandra, who is also blind, and their guide dogs Velvet and Darcy. The room is stacked to the ceiling with boxes, tools and dozens of discarded Perkins braillers that are scavenged for parts.

The machines were first designed in 1951 at Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, where they have been made ever since.

Thorpe tries to avoid the expense of importing parts from America. He says: “Local authorities and schools are my largest customers, so I try to keep the costs down as much as I can – and I’m a Yorkshireman.”

Asked if the machines are designed to be repaired by blind people, he says: “Absolutely not.” Pointing to the insides, he says: “There are six stylus pins, one for each dot, and inside each there are tiny little springs smaller than a grain of rice.”

He admits he struggles to replace these miniature springs without sighted help. It’s another reason to recycle parts. “It’s far more effective for me to take the machine apart and replace the stylus from a donated machine which I know is working,” he says.

If there is no alternative, he calls on his friend Andy to help with the sub-rice-sized springs. “He’ll do the odd thing and curses me for them,” Thorpe jokes.

For one day a week Thorpe also has assistance from Amanda, who is paid for by an access to work grant available to disabled people. She handles all the administration and occasionally helps to superglue rubber feet to the bottom of the machines, to save Thorpe getting glue on his fingers.

Thorpe is often amused by the objects he finds in the machines. “I’ve found pens, memory sticks, house keys, Lego bricks, little rubber toys, all sorts inside,” he says.

He is less amused when machines have been damaged after being used as makeshift steps or doorstops. “That’s bad,” he says. It offends his reverence for the machines, which he insists are “far from obsolete”.

He says: “I’ve got a machine here which is nigh on 70 years old and it’s still working. They’re going to be around for a while. We still teach sighted kids to use pencils to learn to write, so having a mechanical way of writing is still very important for blind kids.”

A Perkins brailler

View image in fullscreen

Perkins braillers were invented in 1951 in Boston, Massachusetts Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Thorpe is hoping to recruit an apprentice to take on his business. If he cannot find someone suitable, he suggests that the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which is celebrating 200 years since Louis Braille invented the embossed type, could help to provide a repair service.

Another of Thorpe’s customers, from a school for visually impaired (VI) pupils with more than 100 Perkins machines, is alarmed. The customer, who asked not to be named, said: “When he retires there will potentially be no one in the UK capable of the type of repairs Alan undertakes. The only other place would be the Perkins company in Boston, USA. The service he provides will be a huge loss to the VI community when he does eventually retire.”

Alan’s wife, Sandra, reckons he will carry on for while longer yet because he enjoys it so much. But she adds: “It’s a full-time job and it’s increased a bit lately. He needs someone to take it on, because he won’t be around for ever.”

Matthew Weaver

Thu 2 Jan 2025 12.00 GMT

Alan Thorpe runs his fingers over the braille note attached to the latest repair job to arrive at his doorstep in Sheffield. Reading from the tactile note, he says: “The paper won’t wind in and the keys are jammed. Good luck.”

Thorpe, 60, is the only certified repairer in the UK of Perkins braille typewriters, the world’s most widely used braille machines. Despite advances in digital technology, these 6kg analogue machines are still a vital communication tool for blind users and are especially crucial for teaching blind children to read and write.

But they need to work, so Thorpe’s talk of retirement has prompted alarm among his customers, including schools and local authorities.

“We’d be completely stuck without Alan,” says Rachel Ward, of North East Wales Sensory Support Service. She has driven from Flintshire to pick up 10 Perkins braillers that Thorpe has refurbished. She has also delivered two more machines with braille notes attached explaining what needs fixing.

Mending the intricate machines looks a daunting task. Inside is a complex mechanism of levers, springs, rollers and chains. But Thorpe, who has been registered as blind since the age of 15, does all the repair work by feel alone. And he is not fazed by the latest broken machines. He is sure they can be working again after a paraffin bath to clean up accumulated gunge and some careful plier work to straighten bent keys.

Thorpe says he hopes to recruit an apprentice to take on his business. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

He takes them to his workshop in a converted bedroom of the house he shares with his wife, Sandra, who is also blind, and their guide dogs Velvet and Darcy. The room is stacked to the ceiling with boxes, tools and dozens of discarded Perkins braillers that are scavenged for parts.

The machines were first designed in 1951 at Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, where they have been made ever since.

Thorpe tries to avoid the expense of importing parts from America. He says: “Local authorities and schools are my largest customers, so I try to keep the costs down as much as I can – and I’m a Yorkshireman.”

Asked if the machines are designed to be repaired by blind people, he says: “Absolutely not.” Pointing to the insides, he says: “There are six stylus pins, one for each dot, and inside each there are tiny little springs smaller than a grain of rice.”

He admits he struggles to replace these miniature springs without sighted help. It’s another reason to recycle parts. “It’s far more effective for me to take the machine apart and replace the stylus from a donated machine which I know is working,” he says.

If there is no alternative, he calls on his friend Andy to help with the sub-rice-sized springs. “He’ll do the odd thing and curses me for them,” Thorpe jokes.

For one day a week Thorpe also has assistance from Amanda, who is paid for by an access to work grant available to disabled people. She handles all the administration and occasionally helps to superglue rubber feet to the bottom of the machines, to save Thorpe getting glue on his fingers.

Thorpe is often amused by the objects he finds in the machines. “I’ve found pens, memory sticks, house keys, Lego bricks, little rubber toys, all sorts inside,” he says.

He is less amused when machines have been damaged after being used as makeshift steps or doorstops. “That’s bad,” he says. It offends his reverence for the machines, which he insists are “far from obsolete”.

He says: “I’ve got a machine here which is nigh on 70 years old and it’s still working. They’re going to be around for a while. We still teach sighted kids to use pencils to learn to write, so having a mechanical way of writing is still very important for blind kids.”

Perkins braillers were invented in 1951 in Boston, Massachusetts Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Thorpe is hoping to recruit an apprentice to take on his business. If he cannot find someone suitable, he suggests that the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which is celebrating 200 years since Louis Braille invented the embossed type, could help to provide a repair service.

Another of Thorpe’s customers, from a school for visually impaired (VI) pupils with more than 100 Perkins machines, is alarmed. The customer, who asked not to be named, said: “When he retires there will potentially be no one in the UK capable of the type of repairs Alan undertakes. The only other place would be the Perkins company in Boston, USA. The service he provides will be a huge loss to the VI community when he does eventually retire.”

Alan’s wife, Sandra, reckons he will carry on for while longer yet because he enjoys it so much. But she adds: “It’s a full-time job and it’s increased a bit lately. He needs someone to take it on, because he won’t be around for ever.”

5090 thats the total of pieces on this blogger site

my head is exploding with tinnitus

yesterday I was screaming with pain, yes  REALLY

my back has popped out, a 15 year old injury that  pops every now and then

then in the night I was screaming again

you try sleeping with a back injury on top of the other stuff

my slap on pain killers dont seem to work as well

so PAIN is there, trying to kill me, along with the Tinnitus

one daughter will go back to School at the weekend

then the week after younger sister will return to her School

then 2 weeks after that The invader from Shanghai, the mother in law will return

I'll probably never see her again, as I'll be dead or she's had enough of me

the girls may see her again, if they go travelling to Shanghai

ckd stage 4 and , quadruple heart bypass 10 years on now

the maths is simple 10 more years

though obviously I'd like 4 more sons etc

But God's sense of humour does not stretch that far

eveb though Trump got elected again

because the Price of Eggs was the most important  things

And the Irony is getting shot won the election for him

BUT remember he did NOT get 50% of the Vote

and a Company of Clowns will be running things

So Watch Midas Touch Network and Legal AF

for a dose of Reality , Michael Pocock et Al

I spend 3 hours a day keeping an eye on USA

and crying is my biggest reaction

How can a Nation be suckered by such a con man

Billionaires wanting to improve things

Line their own pockets

Destroy the banking system with Crypro

Who owns Crypto

Its get rich quick nonsense

The working Joe will suffer

Ok that's all for now

my Tinnitus is peaking and my arthritis too

I need a warm climate or a better central heating system

and money to pay the utility bill