The day after lessons

The good thing about boarding school is after school lessons are over, then you'd a ready assembled group for games and all manner of activities plus facilities you may not of had at home.

We played Table Tennis not that with my co-ordination I was good at it or squash, we played board games that didn't get too argumentative or might go to the theatre or cinema as a group with staff to keep an eye on us.

We did have a video recorder which wasn't something we had until I left school so we could see shows you otherwise might of missed in an age without iPlayer or school might hire a video for us to watch but it was always a shared thing.

The only thing that might be personal was your radio or tape recorder that was in the dorm but you needed to keep the volume down a bit if you didn't want a unexpected knock on the door.

After all these years it is that shared experience, the names of those you spent that time with that come back to you.

Who are we?

Bit of a different post this week.

Before all this identity politics business kicked life was pretty simple that we all belonged to four corners of the UK and so we would for thing just about our part show our English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish flags with pride.

Collectively we've never been big on flags and saluting them outside of military or ceremonial contexts while for things around the whole United Kingdom, we'd show the Union Flag and generally it wasn't one or the other.

Recently there have been many flags been put up, often the Cross of St. George so some say is it that we've changed that relationship or is it more around politics?

While no one can  deny the Cross of St, George has been used by Nationalists and by some for racially intolerate purposes perhaps when people feel identity is under question and some have issues referring to native identities while other groups are encourage to share theirs, shouldn't we all be free to show our pride for whatever part of the UK we are from and for bring British regardless of race, religion or country of birth?

Past winter dress

Just been outside with the temperatures around 9 degrees c (sorry don't do Imperial) and like noticed the coolness which really brought me around to dealing with the colder part of the year which for some us especially in infants and juniors meant thick wollen socks and duffle coats.

Mine's hanging up, ready to go when needed!

There was though something else.

Being in a more liberal environment, you could just wear a sweater in a design that the knitting pattern might of said "for Girls" if you liked it and the colour scheme was okay like dark pinks, pinky blue or torquoise.

You could wear tights, plain tights mind under shorts or the dreaded long trousers that were ofter colder than decent shorts and long woollen socks and mum did buy me the odd pair for winter so a look like that wasn't uncommon although needless to say back then it was a bit "out there"

Today it's not unknown for boys and men to were thick "nude" tights when playing football in the winter without any issues but back then it was unthinkable!

So much fuss about a few scraps of material,eh?

September and the return to normal

So it is September and we know what that means, the rituals well ingrained in us as you feel the sun on you but not being as warm as it was in early August.

Checking over all your school wear for any wear tear, growth spurts that rended items too tight or indecently short, missing buttons on shirts, ties that appeared to lose the will to live and short trousers that show signs of wear in the seat.

Then the trip to the uniform shop especially if everything but your own skin has to be approved and branded or for more liberal establishments the local discount schoolwear shop and market store sellers of basics like Banner shirts and a shoe shop for footwear to survive seven hours on your feet all day, five days a week.

Having had a free and easy time of it all for six weeks you struggle to fixed periods of rigid academic study if you hadn't found chunks of last terms work seems to have gone very much astray, lost in memory holes.

Mind you, if I was him I'd of had those short trousers take up a bit as they must catch the knee even if you kept the turn up and I have got my original 70's tastic short lengh grey ones out and on today as the lcoal children all go back this morning.