Christmas Day Edition

Sleighbells are ringing, the lights are on the artificial tree so I'm up and out of jim jams and into my uniform for a touch of breakfast ready to open these presents that are just in the corner of the room in a pile. 

I think most boys have what you might call a  "big present", the main and usually more expensive one and for me it is one that builds on last years, namely the Lego 11004 "Classic" Windows and doors set that adds those items and more lego bricks to last years classic set.
Playing with my Lego was what little boy me needed and still needs, enjoying making and using my imagination in play.

I do like to read but good new stuff for boys is hard to find however this Adventure story for 9-13 year olds is just the thing for little me being written more for boys.

No Christmas could be complete for me without a link to Christmas pasts so I had the Dandy 2020 Annual with all my favourite Dandy characters in it not least Winker Watson, Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan.

The Beano today is different than what it was even in 2005 never mind how it was in the 70's and 80's as I recall well so rather than buying the new annual in the modern rather PC world, I had this 1976 edition, a year from the one I had last year which more as I remember it.
It takes me back to that time and they boyhood I had.

Like most boys soccer aka Association Football is a passion of mine and one leading publication about it has been Shoot! which I recall from Junior School so it's fitting to have an annual that also marks fifty years of the publication

Most of things about Scouting and its relationship to me exist on another blog but like last year I had an annual from the past, the era I remember well for Cub Scouts because being a scout of that age in spirit is really what I am and am about.

When it comes to more of the "Stocking Fillers" one advantage of this current year being very much "The Year of The Boy" is a lot of the ambiguity of recent years just went and so people went more with what they saw and what in the past it always was.  

Thus Mum taking a hint of boyhood regression, bought me "proper"  boy-like Y Fronts like she used to when I was younger apart from never failing to call me anything other than by male pronouns all year.

I had another Green jersey top.

Socks also featured in it as they did when I was younger very much for a boy in actual boy sizes too having small feet rather than just rebranded girls ones as the Adult 'retro' market starts at Size 6 up which doesn't help.

Traditionally made and fitting into the tradition of what Aunts brought me, it was fitting to be given something stereotypical boyish to wear, a sign of the distance travelled in the last couple of years.
My neighbour knitted me a grey hat with black trim apart from giving me some chocolates also seeing very much "That Boy" on the streets talking to him. 

Outside of the literal stocking fillers a specifically boys own colouring book that ties into that passionate interest of mine to help with my hand-eye co-ordination

Rupert The Bear was a love of early boyhood so in with the stocking fillers is his 2020 annual which really is a reprint of stories from the past complete with original illustrations which is as well as many years ago things like Rupert annuals were just removed.

I don't need Rupert annuals from the past as a grown up collecting thing in the way some do so much as I need that connection from him to the Eternal Boy.

If the year began as "The Year of The Boy" it ends with a suitable adult free Christmas that from love contains within it a very boyish feel that I'm most comfortable nay happy for.

Pause for Christmas Edition

This week apart from trying to tie up bits of Christmas with family and gradually recovering from my ankle having been able to walk on it this week,  we mark Christmas that will be with us in five days time  with a pause on this blog ready for the day itself after watching Yesterday's Blue Peter which had clips from past Christmas's on the show that I remember seeing at the time with introductions from past presenters such as Valerie Singleton, Matt Baker and Konnie Haq.

Christmas is a time for Boys and Girls and this picture, taken some years back at Hamley's the famous toy shop for me symbolizes magic of the Christmas's we remember and perhaps try to remake even now for the "Boy" that's still in us.

And that's the magical thing I love the most about this time of year.

* HAPPY CRIMBO FOLKS AND ALL THE BEST FOR THE NEW YEAR FROM ME*

Uniform polling an stuff

Having been out for the third time this year in my usual attire of grey shorts and socks to the Polling Station to vote yesterday even if I had to use the bus because of my ankle injury making walking very painful I won't be going into into discussing the political direction we may be going in or if politically speaking we're lacking drivers.
I mean as close as politics and this blog gets is that yes I stood talking to a Conservative party worker, husband of the candidate here, for several minutes in my uniform - which didn't faze him - and I'd like to see parties insisting on a "Shorts for boys" policy in uniform as some schools ban them but say boys can wear skirts instead.
How muddled up is that?

On the other hand two pairs of these rather good MagicFit red banded long socks did arrive from Albert Prendergast, photo by AP cos I believe credits for stuff like that as a few of my generic socks are showing signs of wear as I'm seldom in anything other than school shorts with matching long socks.
I'm sure the idea of me looking smart in uniform might appeal. 😉
Like the irony is the day I hurt my ankle, was the only weekday this year I was wearing my Puma tracksuit bottoms as it was minus 1 degrees C out being smart and pretty warm. Maybe it's telling me to avoid longs?
I also had given to me by a family friend a truck with wheels that contains Fudge so I push that across the carpet and have a bit of a chew at the same time cos must people know I'm little.
I'm writing Crimbo cards here during my enforced staying in recovering  to ensure that at least that side of things gets done as because family members have changed jobs, the usual system of present and card swaps will be different this year and they aren't sure as yet when they'll be coming.
Think they'll be a pre crimbo special next week having been thinking about about my blogging schedule over this season and something for Christmas or Boxing day.

Thoughts on leaving Junior School

This is being written while I recover from a damaged ankle which is very painful but this time of year often sees me thinking back in time to past events not least my own boyhood.

I recently saw this picture one presumes taken late summer last year of a "Year Six) or to me J4 leavers service of the sort we had as part of the process of transition that had included visiting for a day a secondary school the majority of the year group would transfer to, writing up about the subjects we'd taken in Junior school and a service.

Actually, to tell you the truth when I saw this picture I did feel a bit sad actually because for me, Jacqueline and a few others it was the point we realized  we would be at the margins of the group because we wouldn't transfer with them and as you countless know, daytime school groups transfer over to things like sports groups, the "Youth Club" and so on resulting us being marginalized.

For me it was near total because I was going to boarding school so daily after school contact in a pre-internet age was non existent so the few I did manage to keep in contact with through things like the Methodist Chapel do matter and some those contacts have been maintained through 'adult' positions in the community like being a Council Chairman or involved in other groups that paradoxically put me in positions of some real stature in this community that the others didn't get around to.

On Monday, I was about when I called over Karl who was living at his fathers old house here and to which I'd know backward from the days we'd call on each other to play and we got talking about how each other was and that.

He was one of six I had regular contact with over the years and that was when I realized that as unfortunate as that break was as a J4 leaver, actually I hadn't really lost anything of value because those friendships still remain right now. It is a part of how we relate to each other. 

Almost Advent edition

Hello there!
It's been a bit of damp week here so I wasn't able to be out at all Monday so it was a day to finish off reading my Roy Of The Rovers book and I did record a couple of albums off to play whenever I wish on my portable cassette player which has a built in Radio with an old school dial for listening to TalkSport and Radio Four's spoken word programs or classical music on Radio 3 in stereo using a pair of headphones.

A couple of years back I wasn't in the best of places but something about him really connected with me, taking me back to when I was his age and that time after enrolling myself in the short lived ASB.org site exploring my own past I started to feel I understood me, what kind of boy I was.
I started to recover with help and support from other ASB's, directing my boyishness and learning to disconnect from what had been so ailing me finding I really felt good  about being me - an adult little boy.

One strange problem I get is being more an actual boys size the sorts of shops that sell this type of traditional school wear don't necessarily stock things in more actual child sizes but I manage to get recently a pair of grey long pull over top socks with blue bands very close to what had in in effect been my muse during this period.

Polesden Lacey, a beautiful Edwardian house and estate was a place I visited when I was at a residential college in North Surrey, England around the period I had my walkman and I was exploring age regression except I didn't have the words for it at the time.
It is located on the North Downs in Surrey England. The estate has grounds of 1,400 acres including a beautiful walled rose garden, a path with flower beds on both sides, landscape walks and an ancient woodland. It is one of the most popular properties owned by the National Trust. 

Jennings follows a clue

This week I am returning to second in a series of books I read at boarding school as a young boy which really connected with me the and indeed even now as that adult little boy.
The second story in this series came out in 1951 where Jennings feels inspired to take up the career as a detective with Darbishire as his assistant, trouble needless to say is just around the corner.

The two boys firstly detect the lights being on in the sanitarium when nobody is supposed to be in there which is the catalyst for them investigating it and the laundry room before noticing the school sports cups, to which competitions are to be held soon have disappeared!
Jennings and Darbishire see a man they believe to be a piano tuner leave the building with them and follow him, breaking school rules into the village going into a silvermith and jewellers oblivious to this being his occupation and that he was to engrave them for the school by permission!
In the meantime all this detective stuff is becoming something of a distraction  not just to Jennings and Darbishire but within their form leading to a number of mishaps not least being caught having defaced a textbook and not paying proper attention in class which results, as it did for many of our generation, in a lecture and a caning from the Head.
While exploring the sanitarium they get caught by a mysterious person who locks them in a room and after escaping, investigate laundry as they lose a clue to only end up being driven  away as the school sports is taking place. In the end they found out who really stole the cups in time for presenting them.
To me these two boys sum up just how boyhood was at the time as we often made more of things than perhaps we should of and got carried away with it!
The story remains an absolute riot.
One thing that I do have to say is like many of books I read at the time, it could only exist ina pre-internet and smartphone world.
My own much treasured edition is the 1967 Collins hardback which keeps this dust jacket which captures the feel of the boys at prep school well with their uniforms.

Cool week and indoor stuff I do

In a week where it has been both cooler and very wet as the people of South Yorkshire and the East Midlands sadly can tell you about experiencing major problems with flooding, none the less I have been out and about for a good hour or so a day in the open air with temperatures at 2 degrees C in my shorts and pull up grey socks with just one of decent jackets on and a bobble hat to keep my head warm.
I'm no sissy!

It's also been one where  apart from reading Kick which arrived  late last Thursday, the monthly boys footie magazine and keeping up with the mighty Wolves, I've also been reading the latest Roy of the Rovers fictional offering where Roy is on tour with the team but things don't seem quite right within the club.
One thing I do but don't talk much about on the blog is record things such as interviews, performances off the radio and the odd commercial recording.

I find it less faff when I want to have a permanent physical copy of something as while Sounds, the BBC radio app is okay, stuff is on their for a limited time plus it requires a connection online.
There's been a few attempts to made radios that put programs on things like USB sticks and SD Cards but they never really took off and the quality (thanks to the 'bit rates') was no where near as good as tape.
The other thing with digital files is you're always backing them up hoping they don't fail before the next one whereas I have tapes over thirty years old that playback just fine.
Find me hard drive or usb stick that has lasted that long? 

Remembrance

There are two things that closely follow each other this month, one that just past us is of course Guy Fawkes Night which was connected to where I was last weekend and the other being the Armistice and Remembrance Sunday  commemorations.
One thing I can say is there has been hardly a year that at any age I did not attend remembrance sunday events either as a child or later on wearing my "Grown Up" hat I took part in the service and paraded with the Scouts and Brownies before laying a wreath  at the cenotaph as a Council chairman or otherwise appointed to represent it within this community.
You see war played a major part in my family, losing relatives, others suffering injuries both physical and mental so these things are not just dates from 'history' nor places because what people did was something that was talked about.
Moreover in this community people know how not just the two World Wars but other conflicts impacted on whole families so you feel, I certainly when attending in official capacities know it my responsibility to think about what happened and to pay my respects.
Nobody, not least anyone who has served wants War but sometimes it is the only way to preserve our liberty and way of life as Country and peoples.     
That's what matters about this weekend.
Please think about it, thanks.

Getting that cubby feeling 2019

After last weeks double post lead as this blog always is by real life events and emotions we move on to the Spirit of the Wolf Cub out in the Fall because simply it's a massive part of me to the point there's a separate blog around the whole topic.

Part of the origins of this blog is photography, many of the early entries are connected with it and this is a most colourful time of year so these crisp leaves with wild berries were one thing that caught my eye.

Trees make interesting structures although as here because the woodland is adjacent to a electricity sub-station the branches needed trimming, they still make for an imposing sight, something I do like about this area.

The playing fields is my haunt for other reasons, like play been know to kick a ball about but surrounding it are trees and this in streaming sunlight was one I liked one morning as I was out in my footie gear.

Very close to home literally these berries are most attractive.

Respect and a tribute to "H"

Sometimes life at least on Tumblr can seem odd but on a sadly deactivated account there  belonging to "H" aka "olderboyshortshorts" there were a few pictures by  him that actually did touch me .

They were from a actual boy who I inferred went to school where longs ruled and for whatever was looking at wearing shorts instead which is something I can understand as in my era I felt the same way, sometimes getting my way for trips out and the like.

He looks great in them judging by his pictures although I'm not so keen on sports socks  but hey having played the hide your stuff bit myself when I resumed wearing shorts and that around his age you use what you can.

What upset me and may of caused his first deactivation was how a person responded sexually toward him - a child- which isn't just inappropriate but against the law to wholly innocuous posts by him.
There appears to be a number of gay males who want sexual contact and relations on Tumblr with minors as a matter of course.

Our ASB/ALB world is NOT about any or all of this, he should of felt safe on Tumblr talking about how he wanted to present and he wasn't.  

He was a boy who I felt proud of.

Milestones and issues

This week two of my Tumblrs have celebrated 2,600 and 1,400 entries respectively which is interest as both came about after this blog was conceived and created as a place to share interests and concerns as well as obviously to share links to this blog with as in general it has less constraints around what the host considers acceptable.
This despite attempts by me and others to establish other places to do just that remains so rather like although many do moan about Facebook few seem prepared to jump from its orbit.
One thing that comes up and is likely to with events unfolding here is discussion around politics with a small and big 'P' and attitudes around identity and gender politics and male rights.

I generally avoid any sort of Party Politics having voted for all the main English parties because not unlike a certain other person I have seen positions change radically in recent years so that what might of seemed "radical politics" a few years back is in the mainstream of the Labour and Liberal Democratic parties and even elements of Conservative policy aren't things I can agree with.

To me it is more to do with the attitude that doesn't stand up believing your country accepting such faults that may exist, perpetually wishing it was as  a part of another, following different norms even if it isn't what most people want to change.
It's an attitude that thinks defending it isn't a priority or even the priority, that would sooner surrender to China, Russia or whoever than countenance defence even if no one in the right mind would ever willing choose war. War happens when politics and diplomacy fail to resolve differences while standing up for your own country. Nobody wants it but it is necessary sometimes.

It's also an attitude that buys into such notions that the narrow interest of women should come over above all especially the child-less, that would cause all overtime to stop lest it 'discriminate' against working women in careers with children, that pushes for typically two times salary to be taken from tax payers to fund child care meaning we are paying more to employ people than they are earning.

It's an attitude encourages the marginalization of males by favouring women and ethnic minorities by quotas and "positive discrimination" rather than selection on the basis of skills, qualities and abilities where men are turned down for...being men.
It's a set of attitudes that encourages women to give birth with no consideration to the many advantages of having a father around activity engaged in his children's life and playing a vital part in raising boys because feminist theory doesn't believe in gender playing any part even though studies clearly show boys thrive with the support of men in their lives.

The same theory denies the differences in boys needs, interests, strengths and weakness as much as we accept individual variance and why that should be addressed by parents, teachers and educators who instead prefer to prioritize girls learning and then regard Boys as being a problem. The wellbeing of every child matters meeting each child's own unique needs.

It's almost article of faith in liberal circles that gender and sex are the same and believing that the gender you feel regardless of any physical changes trumps the rights of those of that actual sex to the point that Tampax cannot be sold "for Women" as transgenders and NonBinaries would be excluded even if actually they do not menstruate and so they lobbied to change it and a transgender person without any so-called corrective surgery   can demand to use spaces such as toilets, swimming pool facilities and single sex camps even if they still have 'male bits'.
Five years ago even saying why this wasn't acceptable would not be considered necessary today it'll get your facebook and tumblr shut down as they're so pro this and tossed out of meetings run by liberals.
It's kind of obvious like in the Nude they look...male and the reverse for those women who think they're male the same and none of us truthfully can say we'd feel comfortable in those situations especially when it involves children. 

So as you can they're not party political things just traits in society I find objectionable.

Play and the modern boy

This week apart from nursing an achy hip and sorting out they when  and at point my footie magazines subscription kicks in as it wasn't clear, I have been thinking a bit about  play.
At one time, perhaps when you were younger generally play specifically play for boys was something that you didn't think much over and responsible adults would step in if things were getting out of hand with risk of injury or actual fighting breaking out.
The accept thing was children came up with ideas for playing together perhaps using purpose built play things and adults oversaw it.
In more recent years some adults have started to see things within play that do not fit in with their personal and political with a small 'p' agendas these things from what we'd call play fighting seeing it as encourage aggression rather than as some of us would argue teaching kids to learn self control and the need to hold back. 

One area that unites pacifists, left liberals and feminists is objecting to playing with toy guns- guns that do not fire bullets-and are intended for use in say role playing such as cops and robbers or reenacting things from Westerns such as Cowboys and Indians.
They seem to feel it encourages the idea of using a gun to settle arguments, play at war and see at as not being gender inclusive (although is leaving things boys alone out like actually inclusive?).
Thus it is not uncommon in playgroups, nurseries and schools to find bans on using toy guns and campaigns to persuade stores not to stock them plus celebratory child rearing sorts preaching against.
The thing actually there is plenty of evidence that shows boys do gain a lot from such play and are no more violent than their peers that do not.
What actually matters is how you play because play is social activity that has a few rules in so we all feel good and are safe while doing so.
Thus good parents and educators put more store on teaching responsibility through play so they know what not to do (and why) and as you get a bit older to judge where it is okay to play with toy guns out of doors so you don't alarm and bring unwarranted attention upon yourself.
This was all stuff I and my generation learnt while having fun with our toy guns playing in the garden and in suburban streets.
Let's have childhood back and let boys be boys.

The Fall and The Boy

This week as we're well into Autumn I was outside in trademark grey shorts and socks taking a few pictures.

The local trees are a little late changing colour this year but this group looked just great having spotted one of few dry moments  with sunshine to capture them.

At ground level  good number of leaves have already fallen and in with them were bits of branches and pine cones.

I took back in the coat pocket of my red kagooul this Horse Chestnut aka a Conker, one a a good number and the least damaged of them which we played Conkers with when I was younger.

Berries are out and these were in a hedgerow nearby where I did spot a few finches scutting about.

These leaves bring back a lot of memories as they were near my first school, the building still surviving but repurposed for light engineering as even then I always followed the seasons.

Out with Kickabout and In with Kick!

It was a little late for inclusion in last Friday's blog entry and wasn't something I would of chosen to but I received an email from WSC (When Saturday Comes) who produced  Kickaround to say it was closing and that there would be no more issues.
By rights I'd of received October's which would of been issue 14 on Friday or Saturday and normally they'd of worked on for around two to three weeks.  

It launched in March of last year but took a hiatus in January  for a couple of months returning as Subscription only which meant I needed to make one with WSC as previously I'd bought from the Newsagents.

I did get my copy of Scouted, the Roy of the Rovers fictional reboot and had been enjoying reading Kickaround every month taking it away with me too because it covered not just the men's Premiership action but the other leagues such as the English Conference, Women's football and had found a way to write about the game that could hold boys attention while interesting girls who love the game too.
The bias was on the writing which was genuinely inclusive open to any reader without getting bogged down with gender politics and related activism plus it covered disability football very well which isn't something that normal is and indeed was missing from my actual childhood sadly.

They chose to keep way from cheap plastic tat freebies and those sticker albums that I recall from boyhood that in theory you were supposed to swap with mates but you ended up buying lots (and still had gaps!) but had things like charts to fill out and a world map, which was good for leaning Geography in a fun way.

This was issue 13, September's, sadly the last, looking forward to the start of season proper with young English Premiership players and the Women's Super League plus Faintly Athletic. the comic strip antics of a football team.

I'm looking at what alternatives there are as I don't wish for a full on 'adult' football magazine either by content (cuss words and the like) nor writing style as with my disabilities my reading ability is restricted although Kick!  magazine aimed at 6-12 year olds is a good substitute. 

This is more traditional boys own although it has a few girl readers and  I sampled the last copy - September's - that came out about three weeks ago from my newsagent having walked down in my grey school shorts and socks this week.
The writing isn't on a par with Kickabout which was exemplary being more like a mini essay with words that do stretch your vocabulary but is more text blocks set around images more akin to a comic strip, has a comic strip in which is  boys only and a number of free gifts that includes a football card game you can play plus a Premiership chart with push out figures you move across the week charting the various teams progress.
The fact it makes no concessions to gender equality in coverage of either the Women's Soccer League nor talks about girls playing puts it at odds with much of more PC inclusive children's media but I feel has its place.
It is a better fit for me personally and for boys who love their own space within the manosphere whereas perhaps there is a place for a magazine or section with a magazine aimed at girls that covers girls and women's soccer than the junior equivalents of celebrity obsessed 'OK Magazine' all froth and sickly sugary.  

Stamps and awards

It's a Friday so after updating my Wordpress back ups and doing my usual scouting blog  on here - link at the top - I'm writing this weeks blog.

Stamp collecting always was a thing with me but in connection with another interest of mine that does tie into alb age regression life with me I received a small parcel that contained the following unfranked stamps that I thought so interesting I'd write something  about them.
Going from the left we have a stamp commemorating the "The Most Ancient Nobel ORDER of the THISTLE Tencentury of the Revival, Middle right one female authors Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre and the European Assembly Elections from 1979!
By when this gets printed paws crossed Automattic Inc should be running Tumblr assuming my tumblrs are still up and intact rather than Yahoo/Verizon /Oath Holdings Inc so we'll see what their plans are for that place we use are.

On Thursdays Blue Peter a new Badge (right) was launched to tie in with BBC Music Day on Sept 26 by the British singer Ed Sheeran and the show featured an appearance by Sir Paul McCartney.
Sir Paul said "Music was really important to me growing up and I hope this badge will inspire more kids to get into it."
The badge will be awarded to boys and girls from five to fifteen years of age who
*  Writing in to Blue Peter saying how the enjoy MAKING music
*  Ask a parent, grandparent or teacher about their musical memories
*  Tell Blue Peter their top three songs of all time
As someone who played music at school and enjoys musical performance I think this is a good idea especially for those who may find academic interests hard going.

While I'm not so sure he should have what suggests to someone brought up when I was a ash tray on that table, I am happy to have reverted very much to looking like the eternal schoolboy in so many ways I am with a minimal adult role and presenting openly the way I am simply because vast chunks of what I need to function as an adult simple are not there and all else leads to assuming far more than I capable of.  
Summer has passed with heavy showers earlier on in the week so it's as well I have new waterproof jackets for when I'm out that do look good with my usual uniform on.

4,000 editions of The Beano

After last week's post we move to something that did happen last week, last Wednesday to be exact when the long running children's comic - and there was  time when comic didn't need that bit in front of it - marked its 4,000th edition on September 4th.

The main theme running through Beanoland, the imaginary world of all the comics characters live in is the future through such devices as time travel although for some of us it might seem the comic inhabits a different world than that we grew up in which is hardly surprising I guess.

One issue I have with it in its current form as a child who read this from the age of at least seven is the stories I loved from the time such as Dennis The Menace, Minnie The Minx and the Bash Street Kids set in a fictional school while still carried bare little resemblance to the origins we knew.

That's a simple summary of what's changed with Dennis-he no longer is a menace being mean and getting punished for it as we did and much the same applies with Minnie The Minx who doesn't get smacked and the cane has been removed from the Bash Street Kids school.

The problem I have with it is that simply these are long running stories whose characters haven't changed were formed in the era when that mirrored the lives of boys and girls and  for today's youngsters it's no more odd than the world of Lord Snooty and Pals was to us but we enjoyed the story set that past.

Moreover, when Dennis isn't allowed to menace really he loses his reason for existence, the bit of us who could be cold, mean spirit and who got punished for it which provided a tone even for those boys who were  - and I'm not condoning bullying - where people like them could see bad behaviour called out and and dealt with.

Simply not showing bullying does nothing to prevent it where showing it affirms the reality that as children we knew and know happens.

There is nothing at all wrong with including newer stories that reflect modern ideas, that have greater diversity in terms of gender and ethnic origins matching that of today's boys and girls liking many of the newer stories, it is simply that I cannot let pass how I feel about what has happened those set in the past as it marks it's 4,000 anniversary.

A boyish week

As some may be aware there's an awful lot of political discourse going on at the moment and I've said about as much as I feel like saying on that on Tumblr but the practical upshot is I need to switch off from it
One thing I did decide to do during the week was to get my Lego out and play with it making things that just came into my mind rather than following an set designs.
An advantage of sorts with such an approach is I need to think as I am going along about the pieces I need from what I have what bits I have, tweaking the design as I go along which helps with my thinking skills.

On thing I made was this simple one room shed-house that took me about an hour and a quarter from start to finish that was fun to make.

I also played some Beach Boys records I had talking to a few people I know about them as their music was a part of the background I had growing up. There's a up to date list of them on here but as you all know I don't do long reviews and that.

Another thing I did was read these two compilations of classic 1950's and 60's Roy of the Rovers cartoon strips that originally were issued in the Tiger comic where our here gets to join Melchester Rovers and battles for promotion as well as clashes with egotistical playsers abound.

I came to Roy of the Rovers in the 70's but by then much of the backdrop had been established so reading this brought them to life being very much the kind of boys comic I loved even if you were wobbly footed on the pitch.

Finally I had my hair - I do have hair don'tcha know - put in a crew cut as not much had happened with stylistically for years and I felt a more traditional boys cut was something I'd feel more  comfortable in.
I feel this more is me now when I'm walking or kickin' a ball about.