Gratitude

This is a little late coming out today not least for me feeling pretty tired yesterday and as it will become apparent, not around to write it either.

Yesterday was different for it was one of a number of days my Aunt s and an Uncle would meet up for food and talking about things in general that goes back a good number of years following the  sad loss of a number of members and the feeling we needed to do *something* to keep in touch beyond a phone call or Facebook messaging.

Those were in the days when Mum was very much alive and with us and there was for a period a bit of pause when whe died and all the funeral stuff was being worked through.

Back then it was more a thing I knew of as it was just that group and didn't include me which wasn't an issue - sometimes your parents need spaces from you - but following the resumption, they decided to invite me to attend.

My Aunt knew a bit about my more adult boy side - not the whole nine yards -  when she came few years back with my oldest cousin to which we'd attend lots of parties and that together and they'd discovered this "boy" in shirt and short trousers at home with everyone else well in and okay with it.

Indeed that was how I was at the funeral itself even .

But anyway when it came attending these events not least with that Uncle I hadn't seen for a while that was very much how I presented.

Yesterday we were  supposed to had attended a venue inside the large and much loved as a boy park in the district centre for the North of this city region with it's boating like, playgrounds, gardens and bowling green but my Aunt had forgotten one thing.

Easter Hols. And in the immediate city area, they take their Easter Hols a week before in this part they do so there you are with lots of kids walking around and the menu was changed to more Children's Favourites no doubt with idea that Grandparents looking after children whose parents work would at least ensure they'd get a decent warm meal.

It wouldn't of mattered for me - sausage,egg and chips is right up my alley - but they wanted something more *adult* so we wet off for the Chatterley Whitfield, name after the area the coal mine (one a good number round here) had been.

We settled on a mass order of Fish and Chips with mushy peas which I added choco fudge cake and ice cream which went well although the place was full and with...children!

Indeed one young child was having a birthday dinner and inevitably there was more background noise.

We talked and talked which really was the kind of point really and then I was presented with a box of chocolates for Easter by my aunt which felt more of a nod to boyhood easters to which I thanked her for  before we went back to her place.

That place has memories such as those cousins, their late father whose presence loomed and the many things that happened as they all sat on chairs and I was on a pouf at near floor level which of course was just how it was as the grown ups always had seats and we didn't enjoying a drink before setting off.

It feels so...different. To be returned in a setting that might of been decades ago but yet in some many ways one that felt so right for me.

Resting up time

 

Today is what would of been Mum's birthday.

I may be off to the Barber's in a bit but I'm having to be careful as my knees ache a lot a little above them hurts too as I was struggling to get about on monday having been out for a stroll a long the towpaths which in the stretch I was on was gravel over the mud of which there had been a lot at the weekend.

I had been out at the weekend to the park but even there after the heavy downpours not only was the playing field all muddy so you sank in it, even the pathways had about two inches of waterover the and mud that had ran on from the adjacent grass so thick I almost went flying in landing head first.

The better stuff of sorts has been its been warmer around thirteen to sixteen degrees c so actually for a few days I've just been able to be out with a jersey on, leaving off a coat completely.

On updates and stuff

 

Today is officially a very wet day having been woken up twice by it and with reports of torrential rain in nearby Biddulph so I'm half expecting to see more pictures of my brothers smallholding with flooded fields by days end.

This of course means I won't be going anywhere soon having been soaked just taking the recycling out ready for the refuse service tomorrow so it's a matter of getting things done that you can today and possibly into tomorrow.

One thing I've been working on is tidying up the main blog which goes all the way back to the earliest years of blogging which is something I tend to do from time to time for a variety of reasons such as having additional information or insights into a topic than at the time I made the post where there is otherwise little reason to make a new post.

These also include some music based entries where the actual records have changed over the years as either I have found better originals or as been the case in the last year or so, actually new superior so-called "audiophile" editions have come out and those old ones replaced entirely.

So the image and where appropriate the text gets altered with a suitable comment added to indicate the last update.

Another thing I try to do is correct spelling or the odd typo which as person with both dyxlexia and damaged paws that mean I don't always strike all the intended  keys or tremoring so a letter doubles which is frustrating to say the least.

Equality or invading spaces?

 The modern world throws up all manner of wierd and wonderful stuff as much that some of things that were wrong back in our day are at least recognized as such equal opportunities when it comes to subjects studied at school for boys and girls, equal pay for men and women and so on.

Football for girls has come a long way from I dare say some of our peers (or even our younger selves) said "Go away! Only boys play football" whenever any girl showed any interest in having a kickabout and when women were in effect banned from playing all together.

So we see a great national Women's Super League (the WSL), more girls teams being set up to cater for demand and a better share of the money from the Football Association to pay for this.

Recently though it was reported a teenage boys parents were pressing to have him join the Girls Team using a "grandfathered" F.A. rule from the 90's where then because of the shortage of Girls Teams, a girl could join a team comprising of boys.

One obvious thing is to say is the strength of children between the sexes changes after 11 and appreciably after puberty with boys being stronger and in general more able to play to almost adult standards compared to girls.

Often boys are"scouted" by the big premiership teams at 14 plus so what could be more discouraging to a girl than to have boys in her team getting all the breaks?

A pretty good question I'd ask is "Just what does a boy in his teens want BEING in a girls team"?

Most of us if there was a group that did something we were mad keen with boys joined them, we were comfortable with one another and wanted the benefits. We certainly didn't wish to be seen to just spend our time as if we were in a group of girls, far from it.

I only hope this nonsense gets stopped so girls can get on playing in girls only team developing as themselves and this boys parents are put in touch with a local team for their BOY to join so he plays with other boys at the level he's capable of.