Looking around at the movement with my life presently I think it would a sensible idea to examine the kind of ethics going forward I should adopt to take with me on this journey.
To me the most appropriate kind of ethics for me to commit to are essentially the same as those to be within scouting and so I've adopted them
A Boys Code
A Boy is:
Trustworthy,
Loyal,
Helpful,
Friendly,
Courteous,
Kind,
Obedient,
Cheerful,
Thrifty,
Brave,
Clean,
and Reverent
A Boys Law
I will do my best to be
Honest and fair,
Friendly and helpful,
Considerate and caring,
Courageous and strong,
Mentally alert,
and take responsibility for what I say and do
And to
Help people at all times,
Keep myself physically strong,
Respect myself and others,
Respect authority,
Respect my Flag and Country
and Be a brother to all other boys.
I, Christopher, hereby commit myself to upholding the Boys Code and Law this day September 28 2018 from hereon in.
Visiting ones paternal home looking in the bookcase where there are a good many books that haven't moved in at least thirty odd years I spotted a few Ladybird books and inserted opening side out obscuring the spine was this!!!
It is the 1973 edition written by David Harwood and illustrated in the then contemporary uniforms by the late John Berry.
As you have read this blog before, you will know I spoke about how it was my siblings were cub scouts and one was a Scout but strangely enough no one like my parents ever considered asking if I was interested so scouting was something I never got to experience probably because of my disabilities.
Interesting after mentioning on page four it doesn't matter if a boy is handicapped* or not,cub scouting is for every boy who makes the Cub Scout Promise and understands Cub Scout Law, it has a section on page eighteen called Extension Activities.
It is a whole page devoted to disabled boys and how you can be a cub scout indicating that not being able to play every game or undertake every pack activity doesn't stop you because instead you would be expect to help the leaders run them.
Moreover they would give you special activities comparable to that what regular boys might when it comes to what you need to put into them to develop your skills and interests by your cub scout leaders.
It even shows a physically disabled cub scout firing a arrow using a provided aid so he could do archery! This is in 1973 where you did face more restrictions but Scouting was ahead of that curve when it came to being inclusive.
It seems somewhere down the line, nobody actually read this because on the face of it it's saying clearly I would of been accepted and any necessary adjustments made!
All I can say is I read it and just felt like crying.
* Regarded by activists as unacceptable term today, I judge people more by their intent and actions than *Politically Correct* terms or sharing sense of victimhood.
In characteristic back and forth pattern this week I'm looking at the past as I look at my boyhood reconnecting to my masculinity after a period it seemed to get lost and also looking around this present the work in progress featuring being an adult schoolboy.
Something I have mentioned before on the blog is I have disabilities, physical and developmental that played a part in my childhood both when it came to schooling and also when it came things such as play and leisure.
One thing I was strongly encouraged to do back then was to go swimming as as with most juniors we did go as a class every week on a chartered bus to a local swimming pool for lessons where we we told not to eat crisps before the lesson.
That lead to my teacher encouraging me to join a disabled swimming club nearby that met at a local all boys grammar school that had a lot of adult helpers that met weekly and had competitions although it was partial socially where we'd let off steam in a safe way.
I did gain a number of achievement awards some of which are on on these original swimming trunks and won cups in our competitions which also meant having look after said cups.
One thing about swimming is it is a great equalizer so whatever difficulties you may have there is a way you can swim and so feel more able about from building up strength through exercise.
Back to the present where I have a couple of jumpers the sort Junior schools and regular state high schools comprehensive wear.
Compared to the rounded neck ones they do look that bit smarter and for having a V neck much better suited for wearing with ties
There was a drift a few years back against tie wearing in Juniors probably a follow on from many being a part of a combined Primary with Infants where they had polo shirts (and dresses for girls) but this is starting to come back.
I'm glad of it as I honestly feel you do look better and feel that bit more grown up having been a junior boy for wearing a tie and it is preparation for both high school where you do and more formal social gatherings.
As it has been a while since I reviewed my formal shirts, I bought a number of new boys shirts that can be got in up to 17 1/2 collar sizes that should fit most of us from Schooluniform 24/7 who have their own site in addition to being on British Ebay.
These are Zeco's who do a range of good quality schoolwear such as long socks, jumpers etc and these shirts also can be had in short sleeve, both with white and blue options.
They come very well packed with plastic clips to hold down and stiffeners to keep the collar in shape in transit just like those we bought back in the day (or our folks did for us) and are the real deal when it comes to non logo'd plain school attire.
l mentioned would of been last week on Tumblr about how we had found the measure of the kind of boy I was, that there was little doubting I am masculine but how it was more overtly feminine influences and associated habits and behaviour had crept since then that I had no real need for.
One area was very much around the kinds of plushies I did collect and especially when it came to having a lot of saniotown posters of the likes of Hello Kitty to exclusion of all else all over the place which I was just staring at feeling they didn't make me actually happy.
It just felt as though I'd wondered into another persons space and so I have decided replace the posters completely.
One difference today is that on the one hand the number of boys comics and magazines that tended to have pull out posters are much less then they were when I was originally a boy but a number of companies do reproduction posters using modern digital printing techniques and this was one I bought.
This as you know was a comic that did feature in that original boyhood and this iconic issue front cover was available in poster form and so I thought would help me feel that much better for being connected to that and the things I loved as that boy.
,
I was never big on Sci-Fi probably because I find it hard to remember all the characters and key things about them but I did remember following plus certainly been shown Marvel's comic books during that era.
I saw this promotional poster on offer and thought it would be improvement on what had been on my walls.
I did manage to get a A3 poster of this illustration but with "Instructions for Outfit No.1" presumably from the original negative which both iconic for the product but also just perfect for its portrayal of boyhood.
In time I'll get a few more suitable posters and postcard sized pictures more in keeping for boys but at least I will have things things to look at that reflect my own masculine self.
I know freeing myself of those feminine influences that have only taken me away from my true self is the only proper way to get the point of loving the real me. It is something I owe to myself to do from now on.
Recently on my Tumblr we celebrated the thousandth post and a pretty fair following it must be said which given that was the first time I'd been on anything resembling social media since Two Thousand Five and Friends Reunited which may be known to Brits of the early Two Thousands and means nothing to some of you further afield.
The blogging service it offered briefly is the spiritual home of this blog and why it is that although obviously I had a life between then and August of Twenty-Seventeen there aren't any posts from that time.
I have a few bits I wrote as word documents around Photography in that period but it would be difficult to stitch that in the main blog and don't have much enthusiasm for trying to write the best part of twelve years of entries about that time in strict chronological order.
That's why we started last August from scratch and in time I'll talk about those interests and events from the past in addition to my current life.
As part of this, my current life as adult schoolboy, I do wear uniform and seeing it was the first month of this academic term I now own a Rawlinsons Jumper made for St. Johns with gold and orange trim around the v neck.
I love the finish on it.
To go with it, I did pick up a pair of "Sturdy sized" grey shorts which like most shorts worn today at actual schools is longer than those you may recall from the seventies and eighties which while not being fully lined are well put together and do look right on me.
As for me at least this is a regressive experience it's quite fitting to mention that while you do know a bit about my tastes in comics and those I read officially as a child it wasn't enough to just read them in the pre computer world I and millions of us lived in.
For us 'interaction' meant writing in to competitions, mailing it and waiting weeks for a reply back and also we joined fan clubs run by them too.
I joined the Dennis the Menace Fan Club in the British Beano comic in the Nineteen-seventies, sending off a postal order to Dundee, Scotland and this is what you got.
We wore our badges with pride.
I might add I still have have mine and the two badges to which I did add a few others over the years.
I also joined the Warlord club with its badges and secret code around the same time where if my memory serves we right the wallet everything came in was a dark brown colour with a secret code encode and decoder.
That's the front of the wallet and the reply to your application to become a Warlord secret Agent.
Inside of it had your Identity Card with a space to put a head and shoulders picture photo booths such as those in Woolworths and many places at the time had, your yellow badge to put on your sweater when playing with other boys and that Code Book
Ciphers were something that interested me as my Junior Head had a passion for things like that sending several lessons teaching us all about them and actual had served WW2 as a spitfire pilot before going into teaching.
You also had the Bronze on Black Fireball badge with the flaming symbol and a survival booklet which did have some real information on making a shelter and first aid.
As you can see they also go how to survive an attack although they cautioned being careful practising them with your pals.
I did also talk briefly about my own battles, how I have changed since being with you all on Tumblr and ASB.org and the journey I am on. Although that is emotionally difficult I do intend to write something about and what it is you can do to help me along the way at some point in the near future.
As some of you might of gathered I was unwell for a few days with a Migraine last week so not an awful lot got done because when that happens the curtains have to be drawn, the computer switched off and put away and naturally the tv too and that's besides these Compact Fluorescent bulbs we've had since the EU directive against regular incandescent bulbs.
I actually find that sort of bulb triggering.
I've had these migraines pretty much from the age of five or six haven been to the doctors regularly in all that time and when I was at boarding school I was often down in the sick bay for a day or two with them being kept an eye on.
You know Andy who is almost as old as I, spent most of his time in my clutches as I was cuddling him lying on top of my bed and actually that's him on the left.
Yes folks that actually is me in daytime dressed in 'proper' school shorts sat on a couch with him on my lap trying to take a picture holding the camera above me, praying the focus was going to be in range as you have the normal 0.8 meter to infinity auto focus and a so-called Macro mode which strictly speaking isn't unlike my Minolta film Camera and the life size adapter to the 50mm 'standard lens' that gives 1:1 images but is usable for big flowers or models.
And by the way my skin looks really 'fresh' being that smooth regardless of 'bone' age I actually am cos I look much younger than those years!!!
I'd like to thank everybody including Sammy for their best wishes during this period cos feeling cared for does make a difference and it should be possible for us to support each other as boys in a way we're comfortable with.
Speaking personally I feel more comfortable with the support and understanding of males rather than more feminine sympathy and what to me feels too 'hemmed' in and intense.
On Friday we have more schoolish talk
Into September, the month when traditionally British schools go back with the trek by car bus or train to ones dorm after the summer hols finish and the six weeks of freedom becomes a dim memory as the daily battle over algebra and trigonometry resumes.
There are of course good sides to it, the resumption of friendships, the comradely of shared existence in our dorms and in our undoing in the hands of the Grown Ups in charge when we're all caught out.
We were fortunate for one year to have a person with a great interest in engineering and motor vehicles on staff and for period I and a few others were placed with him on a project to repair a BSA Gold Star motorcycle including major respraying.
It and all the BSA models were made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company ltd, Warwickshire, England from the 1930's through to the 1970's where the competition from Italy and Japan especially proved too much.
It was very much a hands on job requiring overalls as parts were checked over and replaced such as the gaskets which I had to cut from paper, parts were regreased, paint was removed, surfaces cleaned and resprayed and so on.
Very much a labour of love by the time we'd finished on it, it looked an absolute beauty.
There was something else though, namely in that time we all had bonded as a unit relying on each other, being responsible as a group of boys and as such had grown under the direct attention of our instructor as much in carrying our boyish selves as in our knowledge of the workings of engines and making parts.
