The Year of the boy, Part Two

In 2019 I wrote a piece entitled “The Year of the Boy”, written just after Christmas 2018 where I looked how I had moved from my arrival first at asb.org and then Tumblr in April of that year to how it was I was being my little boy self that Christmas in a family context accepted for being that little boy.

No one not even me could have foreseen how that year could of ended up a year where on Christmas I was dressed from totally as that boy right down to grey shorts and grey with blue banded socks with a grey school jumper on in front of them all, playing.

It also was a year where on three occasions in the huge political uncertainty in that time I arrived to vote in elections, in person dressed as that boy in front of people I have know some connected to my own involvement in politics who just accepted me as I was and for other reasons had to be examined by people who also saw me dressed the same way, totally unphazed and respectful of who and what I am.

While this blog doesn’t go deeply into it, it also was the year I moved totally from those situations and people who tried to undermine my own sense of what to be a boy was and my very real own masculinity, sticking up for my right to be unshakably male and to associate more with them to the point I found men in my community who befriended me encouraging me to rely more the Men’s World  to help me stand up for myself.

It was a year of personal growth and security in clear cut all male identity unparalleled where as I type this I feel so much better in myself for all of that which I am sure some including “Sammy” can tell straight off from when we first met.

While a certain amount of care may be needed  toning down on anything with logo’s and the like in certain public settings, the year will begin as it began represented in grey shorts and a uniform, being little and being an increasingly confident as that male.

Christmas Edition

Sleighbells are ringing, the lights are on the artificial tree so I'm up and out of jim jams and into my uniform for a touch of breakfast ready to open these presents that are just in the corner of the room in a pile. 

I think most boys have what you might call a  "big present", the main and usually more expensive one and for me it is one that builds on last years, namely the Lego 11004 "Classic" Windows and doors set that adds those items and more lego bricks to last years classic set.
Playing with my Lego was what little boy me needed and still needs, enjoying making and using my imagination in play.

I do like to read but good new stuff for boys is hard to find however this Adventure story for 9-13 year olds is just the thing for little me being written more for boys.

No Christmas could be complete for me without a link to Christmas pasts so I had the Dandy 2020 Annual with all my favourite Dandy characters in it not least Winker Watson, Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan.

I got the compilation in the "Classic" series entitled Chortle With Chums with stories on that theme from the Dandy and Beano archives.

The Beano today is different than what it was even in 2005 never mind how it was in the 70's and 80's as I recall well so rather than buying the new annual in the modern rather PC world, I had this 1976 edition, a year from the one I had last year which more as I remember it.
It takes me back to that time and they boyhood I had.

Like most boys soccer aka Association Football is a passion of mine and one leading publication about it has been Shoot! which I recall from Junior School so it's fitting to have an annual that also marks fifty years of the publication

Most of things about Scouting and its relationship to me exist on another blog but like last year I had an annual from the past, the era I remember well for Cub Scouts because being a scout of that age in spirit is really what I am and am about.

When it comes to more of the "Stocking Fillers" one advantage of this current year being very much "The Year of The Boy" is a lot of the ambiguity of recent years just went and so people went more with what they saw and what in the past it always was.  

Thus Mum taking a hint of boyhood regression, bought me "proper"  boy-like Y Fronts like she used to when I was younger apart from never failing to call me anything other than by male pronouns all year.

I had another Green jersey top.

Socks also featured in it as they did when I was younger very much for a boy in actual boy sizes too having small feet rather than just rebranded girls ones as the Adult 'retro' market starts at Size 6 up which doesn't help.

Traditionally made and fitting into the tradition of what Aunts brought me, it was fitting to be given something stereotypical boyish to wear, a sign of the distance travelled in the last couple of years.
My neighbour knitted me a grey hat with black trim apart from giving me some chocolates also seeing very much "That Boy" on the streets talking to him. 

Outside of the literal stocking fillers a specifically boys own colouring book that ties into that passionate interest of mine to help with my hand-eye co-ordination

Rupert The Bear was a love of early boyhood so in with the stocking fillers is his 2020 annual which really is a reprint of stories from the past complete with original illustrations which is as well as many years ago things like Rupert annuals were just removed.

I don't need Rupert annuals from the past as a grown up collecting thing in the way some do so much as I need that connection from him to the Eternal Boy.

If the year began as "The Year of The Boy" it ends with a suitable adult free Christmas that from love contains within it a very boyish feel that I'm most comfortable nay happy for.

Christmas pause

It's normally that point in the year where I not only pause my Tumblrs but also the blog because there's things to be done like visiting family, sorting out presents and writing out Christmas cards.

Then there's the decorations to put up like Mary and Joseph and the tree to covered from head to foot so really I'm a bit busy to be doing much else.

So then from me to you, have a super Christmas and see you on the day.

Bye, Chris.

A room full of toys

As we move towards Christmas my mind is more on things like presents, those I would love to receive and play with as much as that of what those who gave me things really mean to me.

I used to have until my late teens a big wooden toy box that stored my toys and some big heavy books that periodically was sorted through apart from sets thick draws to keep things in.

What I'd give for a boys bedroom like this one with Thomas the tank engine!

More Pooh

You were always warned about the fair weathered friends who wanted to be in with you and those who perhaps less pushy were more minded to stick with through the thick and the thin, sticking up for you even if it may not be popular.

Real friendship is based on mutual respect for one another, knowing when things are best done together but respecting when we need to be alone with our thoughts but prepared to come in and comfort us as needed.

Winnie the pooh

I have always loved the Winnie The Pooh stories from boyhood.

There are many inspiring lines to be found within the stories that have a real benefit to boys and girls.

Christopher Robin is a boyhood hero of mine.

On regressed blogging

Now that would be getting close to supersonic  but this different, in some respects more traditional boy regression based blog has actually managed hundreds of posts which shows there’s more than one way to do this thing.

My world always had in it thrills and spills, from the sense of elation as on a wobbly pair of legs you managed against the odds to save a goal from being scored with your disabilities, made loud engine sounds as you played with your mates with toy cars emulating your motor sport heroes alongside watching cartoons with your favourite teddies or playing with in a play house and play fighting.

You had both in a way you felt comfortable with as did  your mates and when you think about what regression as a thing is - the state of being as if you back in that much simpler time - whither or not you do it as way of coping with trauma or it’s connected to your developmental needs, then whatever is in your regression has to be informed by that past.

Everybody’s past is different for variety of reasons which can include the culture of your country, era, class, gender and so on which to me is a good reason for people *accepting* without being judgmental the form that regression takes for you.

There isn’t a single standard for it and I’m glad we’re getting along just being ourselves.

Regards Chris.

Cool week and stuff

In a week where it has been both cooler and very wet as the people of South Yorkshire and the East Midlands sadly can tell you about experiencing major problems with flooding, none the less I have been out and about for a good hour or so a day in the open air with temperatures at 2 degrees C in my shorts and pull up grey socks with just one of decent jackets on and a bobble hat to keep my head warm.
I'm no sissy!

It's also been one where  apart from reading Kick which arrived  late last Thursday, the monthly boys footie magazine and keeping up with the mighty Wolves, I've also been reading the latest Roy of the Rovers fictional offering where Roy is on tour with the team but things don't seem quite right within the club.
One thing I do but don't talk much about on the blog is record things such as interviews, performances off the radio and the odd commercial recording.

I find it less faff when I want to have a permanent physical copy of something as while Sounds, the BBC radio app is okay, stuff is on their for a limited time plus it requires a connection online.
There's been a few attempts to made radios that put programs on things like USB sticks and SD Cards but they never really took off and the quality (thanks to the 'bit rates') was no where near as good as tape.
The other thing with digital files is you're always backing them up hoping they don't fail before the next one whereas I have tapes over thirty years old that playback just fine.
Find me hard drive or usb stick that has lasted that long? 

Getting that cubby feeling 2019

After last weeks double post lead as this blog always is by real life events and emotions we move on to the Spirit of the Wolf Cub out in the Fall because simply it's a massive part of me to the point there's a separate blog around the whole topic.

Part of the origins of this blog is photography, many of the early entries are connected with it and this is a most colourful time of year so these crisp leaves with wild berries were one thing that caught my eye.

Trees make interesting structures although as here because the woodland is adjacent to a electricity sub-station the branches needed trimming, they still make for an imposing sight, something I do like about this area.

The playing fields is my haunt for other reasons, like play been know to kick a ball about but surrounding it are trees and this in streaming sunlight was one I liked one morning as I was out in my footie gear.

Very close to home literally these berries are most attractive.

Fall is here

It may hard to believe but with the current weather I have been out a little this week where at long last The Fall is actually happening having been quite mild from September into this month and so it's only been in about the last week anything much had happened where I know elsewhere in the UK it has been much cooler.
It's a time of year I associate with both Bonfires which we used to have with elaborate displays and communal catering and also Remembrance Day parades which I attended going up and down tree lined country roads.

Around this time of the year I think about Remembrance Day and those days in my past parading with cubs, scouts and the British Legion, paying our respects.
I also had to change the clocks around too as we went off Daylight saving yesterday.
Next weeks blog may be delayed as I'll be away at the weekend and probably too shattered to post anything.
Bye for now.

Nature week

While recovering here I did nip outdoors and noticed apart from ground frost something else was starting to put in an appearance

Yes breaking down things was Fungi near hedgerows and trees when I went out to fetch the newspaper and a few things for Sunday's breakfast passing as I do our bits of meadow that break up the nondescript ribbon development along the main road, keeping some sense of human scale.

 It has been pretty mild up here so there hasn't been much of indication of The Autumn as in gorgeous coloured leaves on and off the deciduous trees although it won't be long I suspect before they put in an appearance.

Children's Magazines

Although the weather has been lousy for most of the week I do get out rather than living life behind a screen, interacting with people and that means at the very least I get to go to the general store and newsagent quite a bit.

I had been looking for a while at comics and magazines aimed for children are both displayed and also the kinds of content because in the time I've been on this planet things have changed, something prompted a little by last weeks post.

 This kind of display should be familiar to most Britishers, usually a few levels high with the children's magazines toward the bottom in a dedicated sub section, titles battle it out for supremacy especially as when here one or more is stack just above the other, limiting exposure of the cover.

One of the first things you'll notice is the cover mounted usually plastic gifts and because of the whole comic or magazine is then covered in plastic.

The first thing to say is those mounts make the display harder fit in the racks and this makes it harder to be seen by children who contrary to popular opinion aren't super tall.

The other is the return rates for most as they're sold on "sale or return" is quite high no less than 35% and often higher then them means the plastic gifts need to be recycled or otherwise disposed of as ultimately at children's homes they also do so it isn't really helping the environment.

 Often publishers have a different idea of the age range they are catering for and for example when I scanned through Nat Geographic Kids this Saturday, there wasn't anything that would really appeal to a child of nine or older - the last years of Junior School to thirteen plus as while animals featured it was more quiz and simple fact centred as if they expected that age group to pay for and read the 'adult' National Geographic magazine.

As with some other magazines around say Soccer there wasn't a lot that might stretch a child's reading ability and vocabulary in the that in the past adventure comics would promoting understanding of ideas and rules.

It just seems to me there doesn't appear to anything that filled the void left by the celebratory and Tv centred Look In of the nineteen-seventies and eighties where intelligent well written pieces around topics can be found mixed in with fun for those over eight but not wanting an adult publication.

900th Entry

I'm still a bit rough as it were but actually were at about the nine hundreth post on this blog which goes back rather a long time looking at past childhoods, age regression, being an adult little and all the things that go in this crazy life.

Everything starts from somewhere and that somewhere included little rituals like reading comics such as the Beano every Wednesday and in a sea of changes that has seen many comics go and changed reading habits that's still a constant.
Most of us could relate to the world of the Bash Street Kids even if mirroring real life over the decades that's changed too and I adored Minnie The Minx.

Today reading for kids goes into such things like this monthly magazine for junior mainly boy soccer fans as well as National  Geographic for Kids and with some regret children's celebratory magazines which just seem very frothy, lacking substance.
To me this life is about doing, following things living a more regressed child-like life so sometimes there's things about activities, being away from adult things we may need to engage with.
This can include nature as in exploring your surroundings, taking an interest in different species and varieties of animals and habitats as well as man made things such as historic events and buildings.
The  act of doing these things adds to our store of experiences that builds up our character and makes memories that can be backed up photographs and writing which is the measure of this regressed alb life rather than a preoccupation with dress.

Dress is great, dress is something I do like in the context taking in uniform but it isn't the life, that's what happens when you're in it.
Britishers might remember (and they're probably on YouTube apart from dvd) The Mr Benn cartoons where he changed his outfit and had an adventure. Well the thing that was interesting was that adventure, that by casting off those clothes he cast away what held him back from being that person having the adventure.
What holds us back often is us.
Regression for me is therapeutic doing that which is enjoyable, comforting and operating within my own limitations rather than feeling pressured to go beyond, into things I can cannot see or find too frustrating to attempt to keep up with.
That's really what blog is about so while you might see a book or a music review the enjoyment of it is a part of that life.

Teh Internet edition

Things will be a bit different this week for a variety of reasons one being actually I'm not well being on hot drinks, throat pastels and the like as I have a bit of soar throat and cold.

 The other is while all this is going on my Broadband is being upgrade to "Superfast Fibre" by my provider for free which should give me a speed of on average 67mbps which is just over two-thirds as fast as my current speed.
Part of that is done electronically, throwing a switch to send my internet via the service but to fully use it I need to change my modem and router combination for a new all in one faster hub which even if I'd been well would of been taxing so I'm kind of dependent on someone doing it when it suits them.
That means I may not around this weekend gone to write this blog and other things like Storytime at FA so I'll have to occupy myself with comic and music until I'm back up ready to change the Wifi name and password across laptop and chromebook.

Wet weekends

Sometimes it just turns out like that, doesn't it.

Roaring to go, you have everything double checked, packed ready to go and you're greeted by storms and rain that just won't go away so you end up channel flicking on the tv which I did today rather like I did with my brothers way back in the past except tvs then didn't have remotes.

We had to get off our bottoms to turn the channel knob, assuming you'd remembered the channel number for the station unless you had a push button tv in which instance once it was set up, you just pushed it and walked back to sit down watching the show.

Something else: I do think shorter not necessarily "short shorts" are really me and what I should be in now like these two.

September round up

There is little denying we are moving toward Fall, where there nutkins start to gather up nuts and acorns to store and the birds in my garden start eating the berries like there's no tomorrow round the back and near to where I often walk.
With the present political mess going on I find getting out and away from it all helps.

Something I did pick up recently was this three cd set of albums by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes who were one of the leading Philly Soul bands of the 1970's as it had  a couple of albums I lacked  plus some alternate mixes.

Lead vocalist Teddy Pendergast, left the group in 1975 and his career was one I followed having all his solo albums so this set nicely completes a set of his recordings for me.

Going down a peg in length

When I first started school like a number of were different then than now and one area that ties into it is the shorts we were put into

These were pretty similar to what we wore until I left Juniors and continued on for a good period after for others.

Apart from being lined which is exceptional now but common place back then the other thing is the inside leg.

An inside leg of two wasn't uncommon as with this pair and four was around as long as they got so depending on your build there was a fair amount of thighs on display from the short legs to just below your knee where your grey long socks went.

That's the rear of the pair showing how it covered your bottom well and then just the top of your thighs.

This does come into play when it comes to the business of wearing a uniform be it school or wolf cubs that is of that period because most modern shorts for school are of the longer Bermuda length typically nine inch inside leg and aren't lined.

Recently I got a pair of David Luke lined shorts which were flat fronted especially altered to take the leg length down to about six inches from eleven because while the newer style is less noticeable wear as is the case with me as everyday outdoor wear with discretion I do miss my shorts being - well shorts as I knew them.

In certain contexts having a pair that while not being as short as my original boyhood shorts were but still very much recognizable as 'shorts', the sort an older boy might of worn makes sense.

That's how length now is, just an inch shorter than most leisure shorts of a few years back were.

Autumn replacements

This week has been a bit busy with getting some basic ideas for an upcoming event sorted out, finishing off some redone MiniDiscs and out doing various things for folks so I did a bit a check through my stuff.
I mean how many of us know our sock draws intimately when I noticed a few of mine were rather bobbled and even had worn bits around the heels and that  so I needed to replace several pairs.

No, this isn't featuring a record review although there's a Mars Bar going if you get one hidden somewhere here but these are new long socks in grey featuring turnover tops with coloured bands cos I'm a Neko!

Bands also happen to be very pretty too as well as super smol and are available from schoolwear suppliers cos I'm small really.

I also have a new coat too which is as well given we can have rain or snow  from late Fall through Winter.

The good news is the all the old socks get turned into textile fibres that can be use to make new things.

Return to Autumn term

As you read this it will be the August bank holiday which tends to mark the return of school over here and as it happens also is being marked by family fun days this weekend in churches and public houses where I live.

 Not unsurprisingly in the local newspapers and some national media too we are seeing the various promotions for such things around uniforms, where in the UK the majority of schools have one, stationery and equipment.

This is a good example of the sort of traditional boys dress you can still see and I love to wear although I feel the dog has the upper hand here.
Being taken out to the local uniform shop in the last ten day or so of August is a ritual many of us remember well, being told we'll 'grow into' our clothes as you feel a bit like a scarecrow with everything being a bit big and baggy on you.

This lovely football pencil case available from Amazon and other regular Stationary stores like W H Smiths is just ideal for your felt tip pens, fountain pen and other odds and ends.

 A decent geometry set helps for math and science and this is an example from W H Smith although you'd need to add a compass a 2hb pencil and rubber to it plus some decent colouring pencils and ballpoint/fountain pen with ink.
Personally I'm with fountain pens as a good broad nib often improves the flow of the least good handwriting which even if this an age when digital often prevails, still is worth cultivating.