Weather and going back in time

 There is apparently due to be a distinct probablity of snow later on this week following weather systems coming from continental Europe and as it was across this weekend gone it was colder and Monday we had rainfall.

You might wonder just what that got to do with boyhood life but for me Winters left evocative memories of rain falling on your legs, having to dry yourself and being wrapped up in your gloves, hat and dufflecoat.

Time was back then it would be the same attire you faced the snow in, walking with your wellies on to the corner store on errands or at least getting your sweets and comics and then there was playing in the snow with sledged or snowballs.

Somehow you remain that boy with your more or less 70's length short trousers on prehardened still doing more or less the same today as I walked in the shop yesterday looking and feeling like a kid that came in from the rain, damp.

Taking stock

As I write this It had been a bit showery here so after carrying a few changes last week with my stereo which I'll probably write something not too highly technical on Friday about it but a part of that has been assessing the difference it has made.

Given how I am, any kind of taking apart, moving around and reassembling the system does take a lot out of me apart from the difficulties in disconnecting things because of the damage to my hands so it's not something I do a lot of.

Thus I've been playing a cross section of records and at the same time reviewing just where I want to see the collection into the new year and beyond -any I feel little need for and just how far I wish to go with collections of artists and composers - so it is a collection and not just a pile of records just stored for posterity.

For me it must be small enough that I enjoy playing them on a regular basis being actively cherished rather than one of a thousand or so dipped into once in a blue moon or held so you can say "I've got one of them"

That's the thing. 

Boyhood logic

After yesterday's storm comes this...

Some things make rather more sense to you as a boy than they would anyone with a more adult frame of mind really as much that it's the case the reverse can be true.

Just why wouldn't you believe you could have a pet tiger who truly loves you as their friend rather than seeing you as either an enemy to be seen of or a potential meal?

You probably feel that emotions are universal not just between people but also cross species, transmittable  and highly likely to be acted upon.

It isn't unknown for animals who have had a high degree of human contact to form close affectionate relationships with people, to sense you are its protector, caring for them and to recognize them after a long period of absence.

Many grown ups don't share the idea, the ideal even of people being able to living together in peace where differences are just resolved through discussion and give and take rather than war.

It may be true society has been battling with this for ages but is the problem down to the idea of revenge, calling for others to join in really down to what they've been taught at an early age by older generations even seeing it as a virtue?

Doesn't the continuation of war actually show its futility as of itself the means of resolving conflicts keeping the whole cyclical thing going on.

To me it's time to break out of these adult inspired habits.

Challenges move you on

After last weeks entry we pick up this week with some of the spirit that started it all off.

To me at least a part of the problem around accepting that boys are always looking for a challenge, keen on adventures really revolves around attitudes towards exploring things you've never done before and to risk.

Some people look at the world with all the things they're so unfamiliar with and see everything that could go wrong with a thousand item long "what if..." list that they become and feel intimidated to try.

Certainly I can recall the horror whenever I tried something no one expected me to be able to do and always fearing the worst seemed to be on a mission to wrap me up in cotton wool as a disabled child and yet I had the same urges as any other boy.

Moreover I felt more alive doing those things .

Others while taking some account of safety and looking at risk would regard managing and overcoming risks pushing yourself as a part your development,  learning self reliance and resilence in all manner of situations as not just something you naturally gravitate towards but desirable

That was more me with my folks always been told what I'd been up to and them saying "well I never thought he could do that".

Post 400

Well Chris's Boy Talk has made its 400th post this week so you might say "and how did it come about?"

Boy Talk was revived from pen notes and odd bits of text file when things at Tumblr started getting messy with perfectly legitimate posts and blogs going which often had commentary around topics either put in as they were mini blog type entries or added to reblogs.

The first and essential start part was the author - me - fundermentally remains a little boy at heart whatever the chronological age and this isn't just a matter of having a child like sense of wonder and innocence.

l don't see me except in the most narrowest of senses as an adult so much as a eternal child and this goes into things such as how I present being nearly always in short trousers and knee length socks and continuing in the same hobbies and interests as that boy.

Things are not collected in the adult way, preserved and with centred around maintaining value but used, played with for pleasure.

Losing that adult sense gained for me the peace of just being able to be myself on my own terms.

Thus I wrote and still write about those things that matter to this little boy including play, dress up and also getting by in world that presumes you become an fully formed adult when you haven't (and for me cannot).

It was always about those feelings that we'd talk about on the walk to school, cubs, during recess or when we stayed with each other rather than just a listing of things I'd had or bought

Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night for me have the fascination and excitement from the earliest of years making things, being with friends, having fun.

It's a kind of conversation as much as a record of what's go on across the week which makes it different than any of the other blogs