Lard’s World Peace Tips
By Keith Tutt and Daniel Saunders
Tag: Love
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I ran Harry Potter tours in Edinburgh – here’s why I’m stopping them for good
- May 28 Written by Fraser Horn
Fraser Horn is dropping Harry Potter tours from his roster (Dan Chiu-Lezeau)
The decision to drop Harry Potter tours in Edinburgh was not an easy one to make, but was necessary, says guide and Edinburgh Street Historians founder Fraser Horn, writing exclusively for PinkNews.
I was about 11 when I first got into Harry Potter, the kid looked a lot like me at the time.
My mum gave me a copy [of one of the books] and, like so many others, I felt the series captured the mood at the time: a sense of peril, mixed with optimism that the world could turn out OK if people stood up for what was right against what was wrong.
It was an instant classic of a kids book and that’s probably why so many millennials still hold such affection [for it] to this day. But we all grew after the series finished, some of us into decent people and others into cartoon villainy.
This is why today I’m announcing that following the success of the LGBTQ+ tour replacing Harry Potter, come July, the Harry Potter tour will not be coming back.
This decision was not made lightly. Although I wanted out of Potter ever since JK Rowling’s essay in 2020, the simple fact of the matter is that the story is so deeply ingrained in the Edinburgh tourism industry that it feels almost impossible to dislodge.
The connections between Edinburgh and Harry Potter very clearly involve Rowling, since it was [here] that the series was written. The films make demand stronger, bringing in a new audience, and repeat showings keep young people interested. With the new TV show, I expect Potter tourism to increase [here] and across the UK.
If any of those tourists are queer and want a tour that’s more important, they can book the LGBTQ+ one here.
I have been a guide since 2019 but went independent in February. Street Historians was a name that came from the idea that we would be like street magicians, but of history rather than magic. We’re fun, different and the best way to see Edinburgh, in my view.
The initial plan was to do a couple of tours – Edinburgh’s Old Town and Harry Potter – on a free/pay-what-you-want basis. I planned on doing this because I knew it worked. It was around March that I got in touch with LGBT Health and Wellbeing, a Scottish charity which focuses on supporting the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ adults. I wanted to discuss donating money from my Harry Potter profits to them but I also [said] I had offered an LGBTQ+ tour privately in the past.
They were particularly interested in the LGBTQ+ tour so I decided to run that every Friday at 6pm. It involves medical innovators, spies and [the] Aids [crisis], as well as how activists helped reshape society for the LGBTQ+ community. It is essential stuff.
I was motivated to drop Potter for Pride month because of the recent Supreme Court decision which will make our trans siblings unsafe. Rowling has confirmed she donated money to the organisation that advocated for the court decision and celebrated with a cigar picture on a boat, which made me want to drop Potter even more.
The response – both to the original LGBTQ tour and to replacing Potter with it – has been overwhelming.
People who have come on the LGBTQ+ tour love having an event which is a bit different from the standard fare, both in terms of walking tours and queer events. Guests have been making friends and these are the kind of life-long connections from which community is made. The decision to drop Potter for LGBTQ+ history has been a success and most have been positive about it.
However, some thought I was doing it for the wrong reason: rainbow capitalism, or purely to make money for Pride, before switching back to the Potter tours. It’s fair that the community might expect this sort of thing because as we’ve seen, companies change very quickly. A great example of this would be Barclays Bank, which has a very proud LGBTQ+ section. Then I read how they are banning trans people from using the toilets of their gender, based on the court ruling.
To reassure people, Potter will not be coming back to the Street Historians roster. We have been looking for more interesting stories to tell, for example on forgotten women.
Even with significant economic considerations, it seems necessary for me to drop Potter. The series may be a draw for other people but it is proving harder as time goes by to conjure up enthusiasm. Some may be upset, but I guess that’s the lesson I took from the sort of books I read growing up. We have to take a stand eventually or nothing will ever change.
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful. (snip)
Unity
Reblogging, and Joining in This Message
🐕Funny Little Guy
So, things with Ollie are progressing nicely. He’s a very good boy, he’s hilarious, and he’s made a good difference here in the house. Anyway. He was a little bit broken when he came; the wonderful family who gave him to me had rescued him from a kill shelter, where he was dropped for biting. They got him in 2020, everybody was pretty sure he was not older than a year, and he’d been abused and left with one or both rear legs that get sore. So, while Corgis are naturally snappy and usually are trained out of that, Ollie’s instincts are distrust and biting. The family who gave him to me were working with him, but he bit their toddler for reasons but still, so he had to move away. They think he’s around 5 now. I’ve been working with him more on trust and behavior. He has never demonstrated thinking of biting me, nor our son who lives here, and they play hard together! It really only takes a little time and a lot of consistency. And positive attention. Turns out, Ollie knows just how to behave himself, is a superlative watchdog (so now we’re working on barking after I’ve said something’s OK,) and is fun to play with. I wouldn’t want to be a stranger who just reached out to pet him, or to break in the house, but if I’m there, he’s not going to bite unless he sees that things are not right. I do worry he’ll never enjoy riding in a car; he gets really agitated and frightened in the car; it takes him some time to get past it once we’re home.
So yesterday (I’m scheduling this for early AM posting,) we went for our morning jaunt. He’s just hilarious on walks! Even though he’s been altered most of his life, he marks. Most of our doggies continued to mark after being spayed or neutered; even Corky, who was female. Anyway, I usually call walks “taking Ollie to check and reply to his messages,” since of course that’s what it is for doggies; they sniff, then mark (or not) then along comes the next reader-sniffer. Today, we stopped at a buried fiber optic marker, and he sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. He was very thorough, like individual bits of blades of grass thorough. Suddenly, he lifted his head, and turned to look at a house behind us. Then he glanced up at me, then sniffed the same spot again, but not as long. He then turned bodily to look at that house (I have no idea if they have a dog there,) then turned and sniffed again, then zoooomm we were off to the end of the block, Ollie apparently airborne. I’m still dying to know what on earth he learned there! I know we should be careful what we wish for, but I wish he could talk.
Ron’s health and doogie questions.
Hi everyone. I did this video around 11:50 AM this morning. It took about as long as it is to record, give or take the sudden breaking of the video by the program. I do have to change that setting. Then I had to merge the two videos something I have become really good at, and because I am not adding stuff at that point I can save and “export it” Ok if I was willing to give Cyberlink access to all my YouTube channel then the video would automatically upload to my YouTube to my channel. Instead because I don’t agree to give Cyberlink the rights to everything I post and watch, I prefer to make my own video of the original file. That took more time. About 40 minutes maybe less.
What took almost another 40 minutes is the settings I used to put my HD filmed videos to YouTube in HD on YouTube had now disappeared. Now my program only allowed me to load it up as either 400 something P or 2K. WTF!
What took all the time was I started uploading it and after it was nearly 17% I had to change VPN spots, and the entire upload stopped. I waited an hour and it did not restart. I then closed everything, restarted, reset the VPN and came pack up. But each place I tried with or without the VPN. The speeds were dirt slow. So I again closed everything, this time I shut the modem and the router down. Then I restarted it all again.
So now before I tried to upload the video to YouTube I checked speeds … not for downloads but upload speeds. I found one that was 10 MPS and stayed with it. It was the highest I had. I clicked upload on the video again. Nearly 3 hours. Oh I could do that it as midday but I had the time … except I did not.
Ron and I had taken out a couple bags that were to be wings and drumsticks to fry for supper. Yet the one bag had one drumstick and the other bag had two and all the rest were wings. Ok, but the instructions were only to bake, not fry. So we had to find our own way. I tried a batch at 3:30 minutes and Ron said they were cooked. I tried a batch at 3 minutes but he did not like the skin on them. He wanted the skins crispy. So I did the rest at 3:30 and cooked the fries while he ate his fill. Then he noticed I had not eaten yet, so said he would take over as I had already cooked the wings and there was only one more hopper of fries to do. I had a few wings too tired to really eat, and then he told me he tried a few back in the fryer longer but it did not crisp the skin any. I could have told him that. But OK. So then I went back and finished my video at well after 7 pm. I am so tired having gotten up at 3 am, and trying to nap during the day but only laying there resting. So here is the video, I hope you enjoy. I will be going to bed. At this rate of uploading I will need to make the videos two days before they get posted. Hugs
I talk about a recent event with Ron’s memory. I also talk a lot about doogie (my name for Musk’s actions in the US government) Where is the money they claim to have saved as it has already been put in those agencies budgets. Hugs
Sorry for not posting much today. Update on my fall
As I wrote I fell two days ago. It was late Monday morning early Tuesday morning. I couldn’t sleep so I got up and went to my Pink Palace. I was sitting in my chair and got up then went to take a step and suddenly had no legs, my right leg was totally gone and my left had about 1/4 strength and was not enough to hold me even if I had warning. See the damage to my spine makes my legs go suddenly dead. It is why I am supposed to use a cane even in the house. I went down hard on my right side bruising my ankle, my right hip right at the place of my implant where it goes into my pelvis, coming down hard on my right shoulder, and I threw my hand down in front of me in a fist to break my fall which has given me a swollen hand and bruised knuckles. It is good I hit my hip where I did, remember I have thin bones osteoporosis. If I had hit on the bone lower could have broken my leg bone. A little higher and it could have been my pelvis. There is a large very dark bruise right in the middle of my still deep very long scar. The surgeon who did my right hip in 2004 was 74 years old doing his duty for god and his country. He had been a military surgeon who when he retired from private practice went back to working for the VA. His office was plastered with posters about the Christian god, and he played Christian radio broadcasts / music while meeting with patients. Today I would have raised a fuss and made it an issue. But the guy flayed me, his scar is wide and over 9 inches long. It runs from my hip across to some of my right butt cheek. My surgeon in 2017 who did my left hip had a small 1-inch scar. So I can hardly move the mouse even the small bit required for using the mouse, and my hand hurts too much to really type. Walking is a real fun exercise right now.
Ron was sound asleep and he said it made a huge boom that woke him. That may have been the shelf I reached out for support and brought it crashing down on me. Everything hit the floor including my Xbox One. Lucky it slid off the shelf as it was tipped to one side as it came off so the box managed to slid down without crashing. Still works so it is OK. But as Ron struggled to pick me up, he complained I was not helping much. I told him I couldn’t control my right leg at all, no muscle control over and could hardly move my left one much less get support out of it. Looking back he should have gotten my walker. It has a seat, he could have wheeled me to the bedroom. He did get me one of my canes which I used to help support me as he supported the other side.
So why not do a video. The roofing company came this morning to put a new roof on to replace the roof they did that kept leaking. Now the rep says we need to keep after the company for assistance repairing the ceiling tiles that got wet so that we can secure the skylight they put in. See it hooks over the inside of the tiles which can’t happen on ours because the skylight kept leaking causing the tiles to swell and then decay away giving the bottom part nothing to hook to. Plus I got a very important post to go make.
While the benefit from the steroids is still going the side effects of driving hunger has worn off. Just in time, I had gained 10 pounds from constant eating. I think if I can get away with it next month I will not take them. Plus hopefully the walking and exercising is creating needed muscle. Anyway to get to the very important post I wanted to make as soon as I get done with this one.
An update on Ron and his mental decline. Mornings are the worst for him and some late evenings before he comes to bed. But lately he has been coming to bed at 8 or 8:30 pm. This morning he was trying to talk to me about things but it was almost impossible. He would start sentences with no subject or thing he was talking about, just saying what he heard or saw. I would have to stop him and gently ask him what we’re talking about, was it a person, place, or thing. This morning he told me one of the roofers asked him if something was ours, saying Scottie someone dropped stuff off on our lawn. The roofers had to move it to park their trucks. Side note I had a stroke in early 2023 and got dysphasia where I could see the word I wanted to say, understood what it meant, but couldn’t get my mouth to say it no matter how hard I worked. It was so damn frustrating. My conversations then made more sense than Ron’s lately in the morning.
I went through the security cameras. Turns out the neighbor two doors down from Ohio were going home today and left a bunch of stuff out on trash day. We have three trash days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The workers seen it and took the stuff from there to our lawn. Yes they had to move it because they put it there. They did not ask Ron if we owned it, Ron asked them why they brought a bicycle with them. The guy told him where they got it and explained it was being thrown away did Ron mind if they took some of the stuff. He said no keep it. Then came in as I said and told me that someone dropped a bike and shelving unit off on our lawn that the roofing guys had to move. He figured it was maybe stolen because one of the renters of the guy next to us was a person that stole stuff mainly bikes and golf carts. We saw her on our camera try to steal ours and chased her all the way back into the guy’s house.
I went through the security cameras and seen the guy show up, park his large work panel truck. Then he walked up the street he had just driven down, and bring back the bike and several other items back to our lawn. After I watched the camera then talked to Ron again. I showed Ron the camera footage, then explained to him what it showed. So I asked him why the guy asked Ron if it was ours when they knew it was not. Ron looked at me confused and then explained that the guy did not ask him, that Ron had asked the guy if the stuff was theirs. Why he would even do that I don’t know. What do we care as it was not ours?
This morning knowing these guys were coming I got him up at 6:30 so we could both shower. After I got mine I told him that he could start his while I got dressed. I got dressed and still no Ron. I came out to find him fiddling around with blinds. I admit I scolded him because I was frustrated. That was wrong, but I had asked him to get up earlier and he did not want to. I get up at five am. I talked to him and asked if he wanted to get up. No he said. I said when? I asked if 6 am would do. No he was tired. Ok so I waited to 6:30. As it was the guys showed up while he was still in the shower because as I figured they came at 7:30. The same time they came the last time.
At night when he comes to bed the next time I have to pee I come out to check if he has left food out or forgot to close the refrigerator / freezer. So many times before I started checking I would come out in the morning to find one of the other totally iced over. Many times the freezer so iced over the light wouldn’t work until I thawed the switch and the light bulb out. I can tell if he has set the alarm from the bedroom and set it from there with the keyboard or my phone. But he is not sundowning as he is far more with it at night than he is in the morning. In the morning he is struggling hard, he can barely function. I make coffee, deal with the cats if I have not already, he sits in his chair and often forgets to drink his coffee until I remind him as I am ready for my second cup. Then he downs his and hands me his cup.
This is my life and how I am trying to deal with it. Hugs
OT, Nancy Beiman Post
(Then see “Furbabies” )
Healthy cartoons by Nancy Beiman
Readers asked for them. Read on Substack
here’s a little image from an upcoming cartoon. Mrs. Oldman makes a joke.
The story line starts today, March 11. (snip)
Too tired and too discouraged.
My own doctors have been pushing for 8 years that I need a neurologist. It got much worse after I had my stroke in 2023. But I put it off. But I have seen Ron decline. I admit that the string of numbers I need to put in due to two factor authentication. I need Ron to read them to me, or I have to keep refreshing them as I can’t remember the numbers. I also am dyslexic on numbers. I have never been able to spell but also numbers are not my friends.
But while my doctor has said I need a neurologist due to the lost of strength on my left side due to my stroke, and the ever increasing tremors, and while I have a standing order for an MRI on my left shoulder due to a spasm that my doctor thinks tore my rotator cuff. I put it off. Glad I did.
Ron has been failing mentally for years. I took over the bills a decade ago because he said it was too much for him … I have seen the writing on the wall. Now at 70 I have to often remind him of things, make sure he puts appointments into the calendar. He will open food and walk away leaving it on the counter, he struggles to understand why some of his lapses upset me, always promising to do better … then repeating it.
When it comes to construction issues he is spot on, but now on cooking he comes to me confused. When Ron met me and moved in I had eggs and hot dogs in my refrigerator, it was all I knew how to cook, he taught me all I know. Now he comes to me confused asking what I think we should do. To be clear he understands he is losing memory and time and it terrifies him. He has begged me that if he ever has Alzheimer’s that I will kill him. But he is simply forgetful. I have to get up and check the security system after he goes to bed, but also I have made my own mistakes in my nighttime pills when I am exhausted. I am not sure where this is going to go. I did not think the problem was as bad as this doctor did, but when Ron told me the tests he took … I couldn’t pass them either. We are older people. So … Hugs
First
First They Came For… by Public Servant
Updating German pastor Martin Niemöller’s 1946 poem for 2025 Read on Substack
My Fellow Democracy Defenders,
Martin Niemöller was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany. After Hitler seized power in 1933, the pastor became an outspoken critic. For defying a dictator, he spent the last eight years of Nazi rule (1937 to 1945) in prisons and concentration camps. Pastor Niemöller is best remembered for his 1946 poem, which I have updated for our current situation below.
First they came for the refugees, and I did not speak out—because I was not a refugee.
Then they came for the trans children, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trans child.
Then they came for the people of color, and I did not speak out—because I was not a person of color.
Then they came for the abortionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not an abortionist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the journalists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a journalist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the civil servants, and I am speaking out—my partner has lost her job, and I am fighting for mine.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Will you speak up for all those who are oppressed by fascists? (snip)
Scottie's Playtime 