Play and little boy reading

The week after all the D-Day stuff and as I'm typing this out weather appears to be very much all over the place as I headed out into the park during a sunnier dry spell in the proceedings.

Uniform continues to be a topic but another kind of uniform tends I feel to forgotten about and that what we wear for play as we didn't spend all our time sat in school as much as you might of felt that by Friday morning.

Unlike today where there's a massive market of casual branded clothing for life beyond school back then it was second bests and maybe the odd t shirt as schools then didn't accept them as uniform

Thus I was out in short charcoal short trousers and a red top and grey socks very much a seventies little boy.

Moving on, while on the other blog and the odd time here I've talked about reading  I do sit in a streamed children's reading session where books from peoples childhood are read and people do chat between and we finished one book on Sunday.

Although Enid Blyton was and remains all over children's literature in the UK, it remains a adult game to find every ism and -obic in all she wrote which reflected the world a child back then lived in when often little was meant and let's be honest how will today's children's favourites be seen in eighty or more years hence?

Her more recent publishers have had chunks rewritten to fit various agendas but when we read Noddy And Tessie Bear this didn't have references to gollies, and Noddy having a spanking removed.

After all it was written in 1952 and such things existed as indeed for me they did in 1972!

A bit like the comics we loved such as the Beano, everything is set in children's world - instead of Beanotown we have Toytown where things mirror in a way the world you are in - with the pleasures and disapointments of everyday life.

The story concerns a  playful adventure gone awrywith Noddy and Tessie not realizing what was about to happen unto it's too late and the consequences.

It was fun and I was able to get a fairly early copy free from alterations for my own story book collection as I read Noddy but was seldom bought any and those I'd of had were, like my childhood toys often handed to others on the basis "You a big boy now, you don't need them".

Uniform - getting it without breaking the bank

 It's June and hardly flaming here as it keeps going dullish and then sunny with temperatures around 14 to 17 but damp feeling having been up gettting the oatcakes this morning (Staffordshire, NEVER Derbyshire!).

Something people do talk about is uniform and I don't feel rehashing posts about whole looks and all that but more around the business of getting yours and any more play clothes as you may not either have any or being delicate, perhaps don't fit into the remaining bits you might have or can easily pick up.

The first place you might find is Albert Prendergast Ltd but while I'd never day anything against their service and overall quality unlike some other interests that seem to sell to those who must have stuff from places that cater to them, his stuff tends to be expensive compared even to things from similar suppliers.

You can often find stuff like turn over top socks with and without banding on ebay sometimes new sometimes "vintage" and depending on your shoe size some mainstream shops with school uniforms sections may have them in plain grey or black.

Short trousers if you're over a 36/38 inch waist can be harder to find especially lined although some "Sturdy" or Plus sized pair sold by general school sellers can be found on the likes of Ebay in unlined form.

That's the one area I feel you're more restricted over as often actual boys shirts, M&S y fronts, vests can be found eslewhere.

When it comes to scoutwear within limits such as obviously with new stuff current "branding" will  apply, you can buy from official suppliers but be mindful to order small quantities as if you're buying for an actual child and leave feedback relating to a child not you and certainly not  nothing that might suggest anything else!

I have a more mix and match approach being a traditional grey shorts and matching socks version of the current look.

A.P Ltd do have some replica whole uniforms made for pre 1967 and 70's 80's before the last major changes if you are the sort that need a total period look.

We are talking around the idea of allowing private sales on the forum as some do buy bulk consignments and would be happy to split, others may have some vintage items they don't need and depending what your doing something more vintage may be what you're looking for.

It is early days yet but it is likely to have most correspondence doing via the messaging on site with "Would like to buy" "Pending" "Sold" adding to any sales thread so everyones clear on the status and obviously it is between private individuals and as such Moderators aren't getting into policing sales.

Whit bank holiday round up

The build up to the Whit Bank Holiday weekend wasn't great as I was seriously unwell for a few days before and getting into it so apart from resting and taking my tablets I did have to think a bit about handling the recovery as working flat out to make up for lost time could only hasten its return.

So  a few things got left off that I can at some later point return to as they're not so time critical while I slowly got back on me feet getting some fresh air and moderate exercise in going into the wood and enjoying the natural world free from any distractions.

I also cuddled up to my teddy bears.

I also planned some sorting out of of duplicate records as sometimes you might get through three or more copies before you find the one you're happiest with and really it's that which matters rather than what anybody else might think that ultimately matters.

This ties in with the unexpected Now Yearbook 93 and the 2006-7 volumes on cd coming in the middle of next month so I really need to clear some space for them in their book form editions, talking of which I did tidy the bookshelf out a bit with the Just William books among others 

Fortunately outside of the odd heavy shower, the weather held up for the various events including a traction engine rally that's held in a nearby field.

Photos, A.I and rights

 

Winnie knows things aren't always straightforward and one thing that is causing much talk is Artificial Intelligence (A.I) as it applies to images as while it has lead to an increase in posting, making it easier to have images that illustrate topics, that has lead to some issues.

People have been taking photographs from the victorian era, some went in institutional collections, newspaper photo archives but many stayed with individuals passed to family members or friends who themselves decided what to do with them.

As the modern internet took shape with websites, companies paid lots to buy up photographs which they then charged money to have the right to add to your site or magazine page (printing went digital to the press).

Because of advances in Computer techniques it is now possible to write a script and have a program create an image from it and this does threaten image rights holders (and does concern artist who may feel part of their work is in it).

It's important to realize rather like "The dog ate my homework" you can't say "I didn't do it, A.I. did" if the image you produce is sexually explicit, features indecent children, or abuse material Tm because as it's creator YOU are responsible.

On our site W-T-O and I are responsible for what goes up and it's our doors that would get knocked.

We also have to understand with regard to actual photographs if you use anything that is copyright (and most stuff published is) we'd be in trouble with our hosts for allowing it and you can be charged a lot for it or even told take it down OR else.

There is "fair use" but that like much of the law around rights is in something of a flux and messy is a good way to describe present so perhaps it's safer to avoid actual photos unless you have taken them or own them (like yout childhood snaps).

We're trying to explain in a way everyone can understand how we can use photos and the like with less risks.

Just keep your eyes peeled.

The Rifle and my Brother

When you write a bit about either things you have experienced or the past it isn't always you that's the subject, it might well be others.

In this country gun ownership is not common and in the main there's not a hand me down culture to owning a weapon but that doesn't mean some boys don't wish for some sort of gun that isn't clearly identified with a sport.

My younger brother for a period had a mania for more "macho" things and one thing was various forms of air rifle so despite unease by Mum and myself, Dad bought him one when he was fifteen  and a bit.

Part of our unease was our rear garden unlike the front is narrow and adjacent to neighbours who at the time had younger children who played near the fence.

Dad had kind of suggested to point his target toward the apex of the fence at the far end of the boundary but my brother wasn't into boundaries and despite cautions by me he had it aimed more towards the centre and this lead to a police visit and a verbal caution as our neighbours feared for their children's lives.

That to me was obvious - a stray pellet could go through anything - but caused ructures between Dad and Mum and with our neighbours ever since.

If you are to given a rifle of any sort, you really need to be responsible with it and in my opinion he wasn't remotely ready for that.

Co-ed schooling and uniform options

Following some discussion on forum, rather unexpectedly around the broader topic of school uniforms, presentations and co-ed schooling I do want to set out my thoughts as evolving as they can be around this.

The first and more important thing is that for me I never saw co-ed schools as being anything other than a school that admitted girls as well as boys.

For one thing they playgound was seldom really mixed with there being groups of children playing in single sex groups together not because teachers want that but because in practise that's what the children elected even if, like me you might of wanted to play the odd game with the girls (and at the time some girls wanted to play footy with us).

P.E. was co-ed but Games certainly wasn't even at the non competition level was us been taken out two year groups at a time for "boys games" and they'd be taken out for theirs so no chance for me to play netball and they never got to play football.

How sad.

People do confuse how you dress with your sex, something I find baffling, because simply the only difference is that fabrics are cut to different patterns that have at different times been associated with either sex.

Boys and men can wear kilts, a basically skirted item, and today not a few girls wear trousers both long and short.

Let's put it this way: I have no issue with any boy wearing a suitable possibly lined skirt to school if he feels more comfortable in himself as part of the uniform and on the odd time I had worn one too as baffling as it might of been to the "he man boys".

It's no different to allowing as we do girls to wear things other than pinafore dresses and skirts to school and I really don't see why we need to by having so much energy wasted on fighting it.

It's very much different than the vexed issue of social gender transformation and medical interventions as addressed recently in the Cass report as it applies to minors.

That is about presenting as another sex in settings such as schools with different gender identities such as a new name, use of pronouns and so on.

All I'd say is to make things easier for other children and for staff to adjust, I feel making a choice on a term by term basis for anything not requiring specialist clothing needs and keeping to that would go with that so if Robert wishes to wear a skirt and Roberta feels she wishes to wear short trousers then they can and their mates get used to it.

The month has ended

The week it must be said isn't getting off to the best of starts with the retrun of cold weather and indeed for most of Monday we had very strong winds not unlike you'd get at the seaside and rain of which to be truthful I'm really rather fed up of  having had it for most of this year.

The ground or more scientifically speaking the water table is really quite high so if you go to mow the lawn, play in the park or try to play footy everything is at least damp, if not muddy and yes as sightings have confirmed it's weather for ducks all right.

Being we are just in May, of course that means we have the first of two bank holidays next monday so seeing public transportation is off, one has to get things in before hand out here that can't be got from the local store and off license.

I'm slowly finishing off a box diary chocolates here as standard black diary chocolate is prone to giving me headaches if not full blown miagraines which are very debilitating while listening to some new cd's of music by Bach, Britten and a few others while I await at the end of the week the much anticipated super regressive Now Yearbook 74 to arrive with music that links to memories of junior school life with its little facts and figures booklet.