Moving on into 2021

In this anything that doesn't quite slot into the either the original blog or that uniformed schoolboy sometimes I do publish some kind of a reflection on the year and other times I just don't.

I suppose the first thing to say was the year was challenging when every single tumblr account of mine was terminated and equally two months later so was my Wordpress blogs so not only did I lose a bunch of Tumblr blogs, I also lost the back ups for them.

That was the reason why having found it, I restored the original blog to provide some of the history and background that never was in that uniformed school boy and that would function more as a tumblr replacement.

I did re-establish That Traditional Schoolboy (TSB) on Tumblr, an age regression centred one (That Smol Boy) and a more general facts, adventure and boyhood interests on (A Traditional Schoolboy) but I am under no illusion that what goes up can go down and that the only way to publish securely what I want is on my own blogs.

That fact does limit what I can post and the ability to publish sequences of posts  without being misunderstood before being terminated.

One facet of this blog tends to be discussion around what boyhood means, past issues around how that affects self image and recovery from all of that which in last year had the struggles of living with Coronavirus restrictions added to the mix.

For all that Coronavirus brought, I moved past many of those issues facing fears head on, exploring and actually enjoying being that boy all over again as with much of the community off work or working from home our worlds crossed and I was accepted for just being that, getting on with life, following the guidance.

I did get away at the start of the year with adventures that in hindsight set me up for the remainder and it was the year that I decided to take the plunge and go back not to just boyhood in so many of its trappings but also to have my shorts taken a good way up to where they were back then.

Mine had been like many of biological age boys of today on or only just above the knee short trousers because they were not long (yuck) but nothing like the short trousers we had then or even adults did wear a leisure wear in the mid nineties.

To be out as I was a week before Christmas exploring, scrambling on your knees in the winter sun with most of legs exposed glistening is and was so evocative of that time I felt just like a ten or possibly twelve year old boy just playing outdoors.

Short trousers of that length are so me, something I feel comfortable in my own skin wearing that I can't see myself wearing except in the most adverse conditions anything else that indeed that's what I'm wearing typing this with temperatures at minus two degrees c.

I did talk a bit across the year about the need to respect and provide separate spaces for boys and men as much as we all would agree equality of opportunity helping us grow as people which I certainly have this last year

It's been very much a boys own year for me learning to embrace and enjoy the male world being out with people and channelling those more masculine interests I had back then and indeed one are where it showed was just a few days ago. 

I had long missed my original action man figures, something I fondly recall playing both on my own and with other boys with, the memory of clearly showing that the odd untypical interest aside, I was just like every other boy of my era.

Well, I finally got a replacement for Christmas and  undoing it took my right back to that era, dressed as I was in school uniform with short trousers in the company of my parents on Christmas day opening it, I was smiling again.

My boyhood hero and I were reunited as one. Boy and Man back together, playing having fun.

2021 cannot be anything like the period before I found ASB and that came back too and Tumblr because I have moved on so much in that time certain of being just a regular boy in a adult body who loves being himself.

Christmas edition

This blog will be paused for a period after Christmas as I'll be busy helping out my family make Christmas happen and unlike in previous years in 2020 I am expected not to spending my time stuffing myself with chocolate while being online as part of making more more responsible for myself and others within my limits, helping out, doing more.

Christmas in any event our time of year, a time for me with memories of things such as school christmas parties, plays and the annual carol service not to mention the christmas post box we used to send cards to one another.

I'd watch the carol concert from King's with my parents while playing records of carols and festive songs as we decorated the Christmas Tree under which there would be on the day presents.

***Happy Christmas, Boys***

The Family and the Boy

Nine days to go before The Day as my Barber's reminded me yesterday when I went in for my Christmas tidy up dressed as ever in grey lined schools short trousers and matching turnover socks with two green bars with garters holding them up.

Clearly this boy just received a piece of news he wasn't quite expecting from his Mummy but it isn't that that gets my attention here.

No, it is the fact this boy lives in a family where everyone knows who they are, where there are two adults to help raise the boy and he knows that he is not a mini adult but just a boy whose wishes are subservient to the grown ups who look after him.

There is shall we say a clear structure in place and that is for the good.

It is sad some family relationships do break down but somewhere down the line we've moved from saying we ought to give boys and girls the best most ideal start we can to one of it doesn't matter when so many in society are dealing with the lack of time, the muddled boundaries and standards in those who have been brought up in unstable settings not receiving the attention and love  they need to grow becoming responsible citizens.

Boys especially benefit from one to one male support of the sort fathers and uncles are best placed to provide.

Adults need to consider more what they have to offer a child and be prepared to changes to their lives before having one and in the event of any unforeseen circumstances put the child's welfare first.

Play and middle me

I wasn't really what you might call a softie kind of a kid for being a disabled boy I was as I liked to run, play with things and wasn't too fussed if I got all muddy cos it would all come off with a cloth if not a hot bath and we had plenty o' them.

Mum may not of been too happy with an extra demand on the hot water and having to wash my shirt and socks but at least I was out with friends having fun.

Some of our games my raise the odd eyebrow today especially war games that involved tying the "enemy" up and making them reveal their 'secrets' but we knew our limits not going beyond that persons comfort zone.

At other times we'd play sports for fun or games such as chess, darts or mouse trap together.

The biggest thing was the play, the unfolding adventure and it's that I like to relive today as the Middle with a little side adult boy I am when I'm able to be away with others.

Winter is here!

 

As I'm typing this from the bedroom HQ it is officially 1 degrees C here and while in terms of the school year it isn't Winter, really this winter with a capital W quite noticeable as we don't have any central heating which is straight out of my boyhood as we never had it with just electric heaters on briefly due to the expense and seeing the steam as you're standing there having a pee in the morning as that's much warmer than the air around you.

What they say about wool is quite true, it certainly traps your body heat and keeps you warm wither or not we are talking tank tops, jumpers or proper long socks while allowing your skin to breath unlike man-made fabrics.

Thus as crazy as it may sound to some you'll see me out this winter in my shorts.

Thoughts from between the sheets

It hasn't been the best start to the week to be honest with experiencing a severe migraine that has lasted several days so I've been in bed, curtains drawn and off food which is par for the course.

It's not something I am unfamiliar with having had these from early boyhood missing parties and schooldays and I can remember well staring at the curtains sometimes if I felt a little better reading a little from a Shoot annual or the Blue Peter books I had trying to keep my spirits up.

Days feel long when you're in bed all day.

This weeks coming Beano had arrived in the post as I have a subscription so I was able to look at that a little having a chuckle at Billy Whizz's and Dennis's adventures and the classic schoolboy and girl jokes printed at the bottom of some of the pages.

It isn't how it used to be this is true but when look at the longer picture, whenever new illustrators have come in how each character is drawn such as Dennis changes and with him a part of that is due to tying in with the made for tv cartoon version which given it was aimed to be shown on the BBC, they also placed some content restrictions.

The old school me may regret some of those changes but by doing so, they've kept it and good chunk of the old cartoon strips in children's minds today, relevant to them ensuring the comic is in business and not as with so many of my youth, no longer produced.

Boyhood fashion musings

Sometimes I talk a bit about attire on here, sometimes about whatever may be on my mind, sometimes more around boys regression and I feel that makes it different.

That's always been what makes this blog different than the others, it's a bit "behind the scenes" and it has a different sort of focus really.

One thing that has fascinated me really from childhood onwards are fashion trends and how they influence even those things that are not really meant to be fashionable by design.

For instance there was during the late eighties a push on Grandfather Shirts with rounded necks that never really took off and then there was the battle between the traditional duffle coat versus the cool 'mod' influenced Parker Jacket with its fur trimmed hood and the push in the late 80's for the Baseball jacket, not that as Brits we generally play that game.

I did have a few at the time!

But anyway the big one was waists on our underpants, shorts and long trousers because if you get low waisted shorts with high or natural waisted underpants you usually end up with a fair bit showing at the rear!

Thing is I remember when I was much younger how the waists of my shorts were and any 'tailored' longs too and they went to your natural waist - the thing we measure to get our trousers to fit - and that our shirt tails were longer than today.

Toss in our interlocking vests and underpants and that was snug.

This boys are at the natural waist and that was how it looked with a sleeveless jersey or standard jersey on.

As I got older I started to notice the waist bands started getting lower and starting to feel draughts more around the small of my back (my spine is curved, usually in pain and I notice stuff like this) and it got to the point that in America, then President Obama felt obliged to call out the trend for those wearing "low rider" trousers showing not just the waist band of their underpants but a fair bit of bum!

Where did this low waist trend come from and was it about just saving material costs?