Cleaning your teeth is such a bore!

Thrice a day for ever more.

Mum will holler, scream and shout,

Go and clean your whole mouth out!

I would run the tap splish splash splosh,

Make it sound like my teeth were washed.

At night time I would eat my sweets,

With my torch, under my sheets.

Since I was small I did those things,

Then one day my tooth went PING!

Ouch, oh, how my tooth hurt,

I screamed and shouted, tears on my shirt.

At the dentist he poked and drilled,

Down my spine ran a ghostly chill!

I think I’ve learned my lesson of pain,

ILL NEVER NOT CLEAN MY TEETH AGAIN!

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Stanley & the Troll

Hello, my name is Stanley.

I’m the loneliest of boys.

I have no one to play with

And share my wonderful toys.

Sometimes I play in fields

And go and climb up trees.

I like being with the wildlife,

The butterflies and bees.

I often like to walk along

The trickling babbling brooks,

With a fishing rod on my shoulder

And lots of dangling hooks.

Then one day when the sun

Was dipping behind the hill,

I went for a stroll

While the evening air was still.

When walking down the road one day,

Whilst going for a stroll,

I happened across a frightening thing,

I happened across a Troll!…..(continues)

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If someone told you there was a troupe of James Bond-esque daredevils operating in Carshalton, you probably wouldn’t believe them. If they went on to tell you that these urban action men can jump off high walls and buildings without getting a scratch, you would giggle at the joke because that’s not possible. But you would be wrong.

For those involved in Traceurs on the Durand (TOD) Parkour project, this is an every day reality.

The group whose ages range from 14 to 20 can run, jump and climb from any surface in Durand Close Carshalton with a fluidity and skill that prevents them being injured due to their training in Parkour.

Organised and taught by local outreach worker Tom Langham and professional Free Runner John Kerr, teenagers can start to Learn the skills of this art as soon as they submit a consent form signed by their parents.

The Volunteer-run group meets every day if the weather is good and because it is not funded, relies on youth centres and gyms in the borough to provide facilities for members to practice and train.

Originating in France Parkour is a physical discipline in which the aim is to achieve uninterrupted motion over under, through and around obstacles in a person’s immediate environment.

Participants are known as traceurs, meaning to trace, and they run, jump, climb and basically learn to adapt the way that they travel so that no object is an obsticale. Mr Langham also works as a *1 photographer-capturing images of the group perfecting their craft and is a qualified rock-climbing instructor and outdoor activities co-ordinator.

The 20 year old resident of Bramblewood Close in Carshalton explaned how he got involved He said: “I was working as an outreach worker and saw a few kids running and jumping off things and I thought it looked wicked. Then the boyfriend of a friend was working as a stuntman on a film and had to do Parkour. And he was the forefront of the group.

While this may sound like an exciting and fairly simple activity, Mr Langham stressed that becoming a traceur requires a lot of training. He said: Parkour involves a lot of skill, it’s not just jumping off things. “you start off jumping off small things and work your way up. It takes a lot of practice and I think it’s really about pushing your expectations of your own capability”

Being a traceur certainly has street cred, as any urban setting can become their own personal playground in which to practice. However, Mr Langham believes it also gives group members a strong feeling of self worth. He said: “ Parkour is not a sport but a philosophy in which the kids take great pride and have respect for, “One of them said to me that Parkour made him who he was and it had given him the strength not to let others push him around” Other than being personally fulfilling, Parkour has landed some of the Durand close traceurs a very glamorous part time job. ……*2 ……Mr Langham said, “When you get into Parkour it is something that grows in your life”….

View Original Article

*1 I’m not a photographer, just owned a camera…

*2 I made an edit, as there was some un-factual information there…

*3 Another edit website does not exist…

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Teenagers have been taking over the airwaves thanks to a series of radio skills workshops.

The young people learnt about broadcasting and journalism during a free course at South Wimbledon Youth Centre in Haydons Road.

The week of sessions ended with the production an internet radio show featuring news, interviews and music.

Shazia Khadim, youth work manager at the centre, said that the course had given the teenagers a chance to express themselves and focus on issues that they thought were important.

“They’re building skills and confidence. It’s completely run by young people, so they can put their views and thoughts across,” she said.

About a dozen teenagers aged 13 to 19 were involved in the course, which took place last week and was part of a programme of summer activities for young people run by Merton Council

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When I talk about Language imprints it always reminds me of when some young people are out and about, they use phrases like “init bruv” and dat type of speak man to show how cool they actually are, and should be accepted because they are like everyone else. Of course, in some cases when they get home they are polite and use language properly. Eventually if someone tlk lke dis all the tym they will eventually adopt this manner of speaking in their everyday conversations. Therefore making an impact, imprint, footprint or timeline depending on how you would like to visualise it on their language.
I myself use varied Language, with a non-regional accent it’s quite hard to tell my exact location on a map (I’m from surrey) I also do lots of work in London so have adopted some traits of typical London lingo. I do lots of work with young people and when I’m with them my language changes a little to be more informal and simplistic. I do lots’ of writing and get to hang around with all my more educated than me school friends and people I have to do work with. All this impacts my linguistic personality. The really wonderful thing is, its constantly changing and storing every imprint of your life.
Have a look at people you know and see if you can see if people’s language stereotypes have affected their life decisions or peoples perception of them.

For example if someone has a “camp” soft voice some people unfortunately automatically assume they are homosexual. Are they?
People who annunciate well and have a full use of grammar people assume they are posh. Are they?
Has society, after listening to the persons language, coming to their own preconceptions, discriminated against that person, guided their life choices which will then affect their language even more?

Language is a uniquely human gift, central to our experiences of being human.

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I have been thinking about my word of the day audioboo, podcast or whatever you want to call it and realised that it may seem pretentious, or perhaps that i know more words than people.

In fact it’s not that i am pretentious, imperious, overbearing, domineering, magisterial, pontifical, sententious, grandiose, affected, pretentious, puffed up, arrogant, vain, haughty, proud, conceited, egotistic, supercilious or condescending.

I don’t actually know an awful lot about words, and as you can tell from this post and all others nor do i know much about grammar either (thank the great one for spell check or i would be up the creek).

Well, not compared to the wealth of information and knowledge that is out there. As a blogger, facebooker, twitter-er, worker or whatever i believe it’s important to have a expanded knowledge of words and launguage to better get my point accross.

I learn by visual and audio media which is why i produce my audioboos etc. and i hope i can also help others expand their vocabulary through my audioboos, tweets, blogs etc.

If you want to create your own audioboos, e-mail me and i’ll post a link to your boos for other to enjoy!

Tom

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For more information or to participate use this link:
The 4th plinth website

This is all well and good and a nice idea, what is going to go on the fourth plinth after the one hundred days?

My proposal is this: we use it as a place to put criminals; they are out of reach of the public so they won’t be lynched but are still visible to everyone, a kind of public humiliation. Then I started to think about their ability to speak, well, we would not want to hear what they had to say, that’s what court is for. So a nice clear soundproof box for them to go in would be good. It would also have to be televised on digital with rolling titles saying what their crime was. Like big brother for criminals.

By putting them in the box of humiliation for a few hours every day for the length of their punishment It would save money by not putting them in prison, they would think twice about breaking the law again and I don’t think they would show their face for a while. I’m sure there are a lot of benefits from doing this.

What do you think?

email tomlangham.co.uk

Tom

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Sing London is a wonderful project that has been running since 2006. It’s a not for profit organisation and has produced many singing events in London. This year Sing London placed thirty pianos in London that all stated “play me I’m yours!” trying to encourage everyone and anyone to have a singsong while standing around the pianos.

When I turned up at Leister Square to play, there was what looked like a battered old ship piano, it actually sounded good. People seemed to gather around the piano in anticipation that they might hear something they know or can sing along to. Unfortunately they must have been slightly disappointed when I glided my fingers over the ivory, as it was old school rock ‘n’ roll. Even so they seemed to gather around and enjoy my attempt to entertain. I finished playing and it ended with a nice applause. Following me there seemed to be a little musician rivalry going on, as to who could play the fastest. After hearing a Spanish tourist who was about fifteen years old playing the fireball, I decided to move on to Carnaby Street.

I arrived at Carnaby Street and it was fairly quiet. I approached the piano when a group called “angels of chaos” were going round some of the pianos in London hoping to raise money for their sign language choir. I watched them and they were amazing! After they had sung a few songs (including viva las Vegas) they moved on to the next piano.

Basically what I’m trying to say is that singing with people you don’t know, think are weird and smell, is actually a good experience and fun! It makes everyone in what can be a very lonely place unify together for a while.
Perhaps Boris Johnson could have permanent pianos placed around town? It would certainly make London more enjoyable!

What brought everyone together so quickly went just as fast, maybe that’s just Britishness? One does not want to get carried away in the moment, does one?

Still a brilliant project! Click on like for more information about Sing London http://www.singlondon.org/

Tom

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The term vigilante is Spanish and Portuguese for “watchman” or “watcher, often used as a term to describe taking the law into your own hands. So vigilante journalism is the documenting and publishing of crimes that are overlooked, unseen and/or ignored by the Ministry of justice and the general law enforcement. These crimes are usually recorded on videotape and published on the Internet.

Some examples of when vigilante journalism would be used are:

Human rights violations many at this current time coming from Iran; they also come from all over the world.

The recording of law enforcement officers violating the laws they serve to protect.

Vigilante journalism is not new, but because there are so many conflicts and human rights violations happening and the media being banned from reporting in some countries or locations, it is falling on the “people” to report these crimes.

So far I’ve only really mentioned serious offences like human rights. My question is: if the police and other law enforcement officers break the law, why is nothing done about it? While driving I have seen policemen speeding with no sirens or lights on. Police cars parked on double yellow lines while they get their lunch from the café, yet no ticket? Traffic enforcement officers giving someone else a ticket for parking on a red line while they are also parked on a red line.

Why is this allowed or even tolerated? Why don’t we speak out? Why don’t we record the offences and bring the offenders to account? After all (except the hardcore) we carry a video camera built into our phones all the time. Is it fear? We might not have the lyrical skills to argue the point or are we too English to make a scene? Is it the fact that it’s not bothering us so we should not get involved or just block it out of our heads?

We should not be scared to confront or produce evidence of blatant law breaking especially when it involves those who enforce it them selves.
If you come across serious crimes we all have the power of citizens arrest (if you’re a citizen that is). Citizens arrest is not something that should be used unless there is no other option. Never put yourself into a dangerous situation.

The current powers of citizens’ arrest, that apply to “any person”, are broadly covered by three parts of the law.

• Arrest for an “indictable offence” under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
• Arrest of persons committing, or about to commit a Breach of the Peace under common law.
• Use of reasonable force to prevent crime or arrest offenders or persons unlawfully at large under the Criminal Law Act 1967.

So if you have seen any part of the law enforcement committing crimes report it and use places like you tube or contact newspapers to publish your findings. Let them know that just because they enforce the law it does not let them break it!

Tom

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“Last year, obesity was a factor in at least 20 child protection cases. It is estimated that by 2012, one million children in England will be obese.”
- From healthcarerepublic.com

This being the case it is surely very important to get young people walking more and cycling more. I walk everywhere I can, only getting the bus, tram or train when needed.

For adults it costs one pound to travel one journey on a bus or tram and a bit more for the train. Children aged sixteen and under travel free.

Children aged sixteen and under travel free? Hang on a minute, your trying to tell me the government are spending hundreds of thousands if not millions promoting walking to school and then they introduce free travel. What kind of stupid M.P. comes up with that one? No wonder this country has gone to the dump when you have stuff like that going on! For example, I was travelling from Morden to Hackbridge (about a twenty minuet journey) on the number eighty bus. At the second to last stop two young people in school uniform came on. Then thirty seconds later they got off, why? If they had to pay for the bus then they would not have got on it and they would have got the exercise that the government so wants them to have.
An idea I’ve been toying with is that when you apply for your child to attend school your child’s school of preference is checked against how far you live from the school. It’s called the catchment area. Why don’t schools that take children from over, lets say, a mile and a half automatically provide that child with a “free” bus pass? Surely that would be a much better way to run things. After all it’s not exactly fair to make young people or adults for that matter walk more than a mile and a half twice a day.
Hopefully someone like an M.P. will read this article and be able to give me an answer to why they introduce a scheme and then introduce another that counteracts it.

Happy Walking

Tom

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