Will the journey resume?

 All being well I should be out at the Barber's on Tuesday as my hair badly needs tidying up as I missed a normal slot with being unwell with Covid a while back.

Sometimes you see things that just put over thoughts with admirably simplicity and there's two that go together.

You can deny it until you're red in the face. you might due to works or other pressure have to be mindful about how much of it you let out but for so many of us this is true.

Sometimes having realized that boy within is there, the tension is such he needs his space but in order to create that you need to accept you are no longer willing to stay with the status quo and make a first step along the path to being the whole you.

I hit that point over a decade ago working though what the younger me really wanted to be doing, was he prepared understand and even look again at some of ways of modern boyhood given the restrictions and baises of the day, taking what was good for me from the present as much as I am the product of that past.

Would I be prepared to radically change how I presented to match more that person I felt tpo feel comfortable in my own skin?

Perhaps it's time you started your own journey?

The school radio years

One boyhood hobby was shortwave listening of both broadcast and ham radio transissions and this did go go to school with me in various of necessity portable forms

This was a very specialized piece of kit designed for us during WW2 for SOE Agents behind German lines that came in two bits, this, the reciever and a transmitter that operated of a large battery as it used miniaturized tubes (Brit Eng: Valves).

The Radio portion had a simple Tuned Radio Frequency (aka TRF) design rather then the better Superhet design for space reasons, a socket for the long wire antenna and earphones.

After all you didn't want "Jerry" hearing you!

Dad made a DC convertor that you clipped over the battery connectors so you could run it off the mains.

That hole on the upper right is the coil pack that sets the wavebands it recieves - you had two reversable pairs and because the tuning knob only had a one to a hundred scale you had a graph that converted that to actual frequencies on the inside of the battery unit

That long wire caused ahem "issues" with school grounds staff as it run from the dorm window to the nearest object to clip it on such as a pole or a tree as they seemed to think it was a saftey hazard even though I had a bright marker flag at the far end so it was visable.

One that sometimes came into school was the Soviet made Selena B 212 portable radio that did have extensive shortwave coverage but having its own telescopic antenna had less issues although you'd have the don't leave the pointy bit sticking out lecture.

That had a earphone socket and the ablity to connect to a tape recorder.

The home side of things could never of been in school although it make an appearence in May 1980 was the R 1155 radio reciever that also had a matching transmitter the T1154 and was fitted to the Lancaster aeroplanes and certain ships in a different version.

The wavebands are selected from a knob on the left but the selection depended on model you had - mine covered from 75 Khz to 18 mhz, shipping to shortwave via Medium wave broadcast band radio.

It was modified to run off the mains and have a loudspeaker output rather then the leather headset with earphones and microphone built in.

By modern standards the electrical connectors would be condemned ease of reversal and carrying high voltages but, hey, I'm still living!

cc

Special friends

Week has been more bearable for the showers that have helped cool things down from last weeks near thirty degrees outside and rather more indoors which to be honest really was way too much for me as much as windows were opened.

I did have strange email from D C Thompson suggesting my Commando magazine subscription had expired which was followed within a couple of days one saying it was all a mistake and please ignore it.

Don't ask how that came to be.

I also lost a bit of tooth on Saturday eating my butchers sourced Angus beef burger and chips!

Sometimes you might wonder if you do really get what I'm about.

I am a boy who cares about things that happen to others be they close friends or communities miles from here, feeling their sadness, anger and pain and truly doesn't want to cause that to happen although I am also sometimes I goof up.

I'd would do almost anything to help my friends if I could  deal with their emotions and needs being prepared to share whatever I have at the time.

Resumption and restoration

By now schools here *should* of resumed and thoughts around that apply in this life too also surface and those things we may of learned along this journey.

For many of us things resumed after finding or wearing out our last official uniform via the school uniform department with a quick furtive look and a dash to the tills with some story or other in the back of our minds should the sales person ask about them.

We'd hope there was enough stretch in the waist as waists tended to be smaller and it was rare for stores to stock proper school short trousers over 32" waist.

The modern world is a bit different big waist and fits are easier to find but often they are much longer than we had.

One pair of mine has started to show clear wear and the one thing along this trip we've learnt for me the length needs to be brief to have the transformative impact of taking out any adult sense pulling me well back into boyhood.

Thus I have a new pair ALTERED as the ad suggests as required for a adult boy put in three inch inside leg shorts of suitable brevity for regular schoolboy wear outside of those places that may need something a bit longer for acceptance such as church or family gatherings.

That state where with a bit of care I can be adult but child me free from pressures I can't be dealing with has been the gain I badly needed and for me radically taking them up to the length I had in juniors has helped so much.