Summer ASB clothing replacements

One thing about summer is because you're busy and not necessarily looking as formal as you might otherwise it is the the time you check your clothes over and replace anything that needs it ready for summer hols

One thing I have been doing is replacing some of my more everyday t shirts for new ones with bold colours such as orange that tends also to show less dirt until at least the next wash cycle.

Also there's only so many times you can wash your underwear without them getting more baggy so I've replaced them.
I wear traditional white y fronts because they provide the support my boy bits appreciate while being made from soft cotton are comfortable so I can forget that wearing them while playing no matter how physical it may get.
A good number of other adult schoolboys also wear them because for a very long time they were the only 'approved' underwear not least at boarding schools like mine or prep schools and that's good enough for me!

I also had to replace my shoes as the amount of wear  they get in this life is such the stitching had started to fray around the heel and a few bits of the leather had split even which does nothing for protection from puddles and that.
I cannot tie my shoes for disability related reasons so often get slip on shoes of various kinds and prefer the velcro type as you get a tight fight more easily.
These from US Brass are fairly well made with a wide fit around the toe area, tough leather and a decent lining.

Chris's colouring

With all this World Cup activity  going on I've been super excited for the last fortnight or let's say glued to the tv, reading reviews of matches apart from putting my own footy shorts and that, kicking a ball about.
That's not all I am interested in though not by a long shot.
One thing in general people have been talking about in the last few years has been an explosion in the interest of colouring especially by adults for relaxation with more advanced books for them produced and better stocks of pencils and felt-tipped pens being held.
If as people have been saying it has helped them cope with stresses and anxiety then that's great.
For somebody like me colouring is more linked into the act of age regressing being very much that schoolboy of ten all over again in my head so I do it for the same reasons one did back then, for fun. 

When it comes to most children's colour books which are more the sort I'm looking at you tend to find they are either more infants or more intricate girlish ones so one would be left with something 'too young' or requiring a bit more skill than I have with my disabilities and not really around my interests.
Seeing I was needing a newer one, this is what I got something with  exciting things that appeal to me that is also bit more of a challenge do colour neatly.
I also think having a gendered one will be a good thing as I can enjoy being a boy colouring boyish things will help me develop a more positive image of the boy I am, embracing it.

Summer Holiday specials

Summer for me was linked with vacations and one of things I always did on them was gather together some reading material to help pass the time away such as if I was on a deck chair on the beach or in the event of rain, not unknown in the UK to read when we couldn't go outside.

In my earlier years Whizzer and Chips featured reading them at infant and the first year of junior school and while I had different comics at home, I'd get the bumper Summer Special which was like a mini annual. This copy is from 1970 hence the old currency we only briefly handled before being decimalized the year after.
Tiger was always popular with me because it was more a sporting and boys own adventure type of comic that also had had "Roy of the Rovers" that spun out to a comic in its own right, about a grammar school boys footballing (or as I'd say soccer) adventures on and off the field. 
Soccer was a part of the glue that kept us boys together so we'd often share and talk about his adventures.
This edition from the early 80's shows a cricketing series which as sports go isn't something I got into at all although two of my closest male friends were really into it.

The Dandy was a big comic with me, usually I had three a week bought by my folks and relatives when I was with them such as weekends and so I'd nearly always get the Dandy's summer specials  of which this is another pre-decimalization edition with Korky the cat on the front cover.
It featured the iconic Desperate Dan cartoon strip.

In 1974 into what can be seen now as being a  more staid comic world Warlord was launched with its bright almost garish use of colour in what was in so many ways the boys own comic of the 1970's.
Regular editions featured stories based on various military campaigns of the past not least both World Wars with fairly realistic detail, informative articles about military medals, weaponry and military discipline.

For most of the 70's therefore this was one I always made a beeline to get on arrival each summer vacation as it often had things like posters and anyway I belonged to the fan club.
As to use a modern expression gender fluid I was I loved these stories and playing war games with boys being very much at home with it.

Churchtown Farm Field Studies Centre

I talk quite a bit in this blog about disability in my boyhood because it was central to many of my life choices or the choices others made for me in a era where things were either 'normal' or provided for "the handicapped" as the now un PC language put it by various charities presided over by the great and the good.

One thing that remains difficult is finding accessible places to stay that have disability faculities in them and also the kind of role models to help you take control of your life.

At the time a number of charities owned a few places and it was my school send me and a few others to a special centre in June of 1976 and again in 1978.

The place we went  was called Churchtown Field Studies Centre located in the pretty village of  Lanlivery, Lostwithiel, Cornwall which was open from 1975 to 2011 that was owned by the Spastics Society (who became SCOPE as 'Spastic' was a term of abuse they wanted to move away from) and in the period of my first visit it was opened by Royalty so I met them.

As was very much my want, I wore tailored shorts more like a junior boy when I was there even though the other boys had on longs despite being twelve and fourteen respectively at the time.

It was a place build mainly from disused farm buildings carefully converted  into full wheelchair accessible centre with accommodation block where we went on outdoor activities such as learning about nocturnal mammals setting humane traps to see them later, finding out about foxes, moths and butterflies  an rambling around the grounds.

It also served as a base to explore on free days the area so we went to the Wheel Martyn Museum, saw how china clay was made  and sent to Stoke on Trent for pottery production (where my local knowledge proved most useful!), visited Bodmin and saw Cornish street dancing  which was fun.

It was one the things I loved in that era because it helped me come out of my shell more given some of negative experiences of a few years before and not being really encouraged to explore nature as a disabled child, learning to take risks.

Play 2- Summer edition

This week on That Uniformed School Boy I thought I'd post something around some of things I do as a adult school boy during the course of a day.
There is little getting way from the fact I do get tired so to avoid running out of 'spoons' I do need to take naps during the day apart from having an early fixed bedtime  to keep to recuperate as just trying to keep up with everyone else takes a lot out me.

One thing I try to do is to get out in the open air for some gentle exercise in the from of brisk walk through the countryside where I can relax, switch off and watch the birds and other animals I encounter as well as appreciate the trees.
That's a shadow self portrait, holding the camera while in my shorts and long grey socks as I seldom wear longs and most people here see me more as a adult-child 'boy' .

Although I have difficulty in using my hands, when I am able I love to colour having several colouring books using good quality German pencils in my own style, blending different colours together to create the ones I 'see' in my head.
I find it very relaxing which helps with my anxiety and traumas of the past as well as getting me in a very child-like headspace.

These are two ships I've had since my early teens and I like to get them down from the shelf where they're displayed top play in imaginary sea battles on the carpet  bared knee, pushing them along on their wheels.
Imaginary play like this is something I love doing.