Monday is of course a Bank Holiday which generally means people either go out doing last minute return to school shopping for things that traditionally meant stationery such as folders for projects, pens, paper and pencils, geometry sets and bags.
Most parents should of sorted out uniform items by now as either they're the same as last year or if it's a new school all of that was set out in the glossy prospectus together with any required stockists for certain items.
The other thing is and I'd rather parents did it, is to take them out for a day trip for a picnic and a stroll because however we wrap this thing up it has been been a stressful time and some of the stuff around schools has not helped with that.
After a fashion our parks reopened for boys and girls to play in although truth be known a good number had been using it before being lifted over the gates by parents and the happy sounds of children chattering has returned to it although locally a number had been around on foot and on bikes playing.
Coming soon is this five cd set of classic children's songs and rhymes most of which aren't really nursery songs but more what was played on children's radio shows when it was recognized that children were that not pint sized adults who liked funny songs rather like the sort we'd sing at scout gang shows and camp.
While some actual schoolboys have been very frustrated around their examination results this week which perhaps the word chaotic and the phrase "a shambles" is justified while it's been raining I've been getting around to doing a few things like putting up a few posters that tie in with my past.
Corgi cars and others such as those by Matchbox manufactured by Lesney were things that featured in my boyhood so it's nice to have iconic posters around
That's a small number of them.
Tin Tin as in The Adventures of was something I followed reading the books and watching on tv at the time although his past has come under much scrutiny in recent years and it can't be denied some scenes do reflect the less than charitable views Belgium had toward Africans in their then colonies.
It's right to be aware of such things but can we say in fifty years time many of our attitudes might be seen in the same way we do now?
I feel it's better to acknowledge the past and learn from it rather than re-writing or airbrushing it as if it never happened.
It's also how I look at my life experiences.
There's been a few things going on this week which I'll get around to talking about but one is the extent to which I now recognize I'm very much a physical activity centred person whereas in the past with being less obviously mobile it was just assumed I was sedentary preferring to sit quietly with a book up a corner.
People sometimes confuse that sense of being or needing to be always physically "on the go" with sports which can for many be an expression of it but it need not be because it is that need be moving your body around that can come in activities like making things especially in a group such as building structures or racing cars on your hands and knees.
It's like we can't settle for long without having to get up and go which has bedeviled traditional sat at the desk chalk and talk education rather than more hands on and even outdoor education in schools.
I spotted that this week and just acted on it going out to let it out several times in a day as so long as it doesn't get in way of regular life, it's fine.
Another is something that I feel we are in danger of losing and that is the sense of conviction about what is we say, feel and believe being prepared to be open about it rather than to fudge or even backtrack in the face of opposition.
It is impossible to have meaningful discussion when topics are said to be no longer debatable and where those who may disagree effectively howl down and deliberately seek to ruin peoples lives for challenging their little world.
Equally as the protagonist, you need to be prepared to stand firm and put forward your case citing relevant facts and experiences respectfully.
For me he summed it up well so supporting male only spaces in the world of boys and men and living openly as LB/ASB is perfectly fine and nothing to be ashamed of.
Over on Scouting and Me it's the 500th post today which is being marked.
Sometimes it possible to lose track in looking at the outer signs of this life such as the discussion around uniform, the length of shorts, what actually makes you a LB/ASB to what it is that we do.
Sometimes a preoccupation with all the fine points around that leads to ignore one thing, namely that all of the is the decoration of the vehicle though which we live, that we have urges to play, explore and learn about things when not taking in a tv show or comic.
After all, were we so preoccupied with all of that as eight or ten year olds that they'd of got in way having a childhood or perhaps more poignantly a boyhood?
This could be seen as here from the top as just a few pieces of Lego I put together a few weeks back as I like playing with lego and I have no need to justify it to myself by making anything big or important or wrapping it up in adult language.
When you look at it from side with the upper bit on it reveals itself as a tunnel structure that you might imagine an adventure taking place in, an adventure that includes you.
That's the thing. It is what we DO that actually defines us as did when we were that age, rather than having an extensive set of uniforms or other attire because it only matters if we actually let that eternal boy out doing the sorts of things that we instinctively like getting satisfaction from. Not a tick box of items we have.
Put them on because they are in part the props that take us back to that time AND have that time playing in them or as I was this weekend in my footie strip just letting the excitable ten year old out jumping up and down in his footie strip watching the F.A. Cup where Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 eating choco like I did with my Nan as we watched it in the past together.
That's what it's about.
