Cub scouts

Cub Scouts and Scouting in general wasn't something I got into or to be more accurate was encouraged into although my older brother did remain it up to his mid teens and my younger brother was a Cub.
It wasn't that it didn't appeal but it wasn't talked about in front of me by either of them so I'd only discover randomly it was 'Bob a Job" week and the like when they'd go out and bring home the completed forms to show what they did to take to Cubs or Scouts the next meeting.
Nor did my parents ever talk with me about joining, perhaps even inviting the cub or scouts leader to talk with me perhaps thinking disabled boys like me didn't have a place in Scouting although in later years I learned that during that era local packs did do this.
To me it was an essential part of being a boy, learning useful skills and values to help me make the most of it and a potential help in learning to integrate that I missed out on to the point when I started age regressing in my mid teens wearing the odd thing such as the green sock garters with their sashes and shorts was one my first steps back in time.

The boy on the train

Railways were a part of my boyhood not least cos my dad had and still has a fascination with model railways in connection with he'd take us to various railway museums and preserved vintage railways at weekends and while vacationing.
Sometimes we'd take the train to them and at other times we'd drive to them but often  there would be a shortish ride on a train powered by a big steam engine with all its smells and noises you could hear before you joined the line to board it as if it had a personality of its very own that you could tell the minute you were off having sat down in the carriage.
We also used trains to get to the large towns and cities nearby especially in the summer months when we were off from school and indeed one year I remember having arrived at the station coming back , crossing the road to the parking lot I get in the car the searing heat as I went to sit on the car seat coming through my shorts and the sting from the heat to my exposed legs.

A little rough and tumble

Play as a boy is very important and goes beyond merely the physical exhaustion of 'rough and tumble' but is an important part in their bonding letting out and asserting their masculinity in front of their peers while it is affirmed.
Timid boys need to helped into 'play fighting' to form good bonds learning to control their strength and handle aggression so they feel confident socially as males with a stake in society.
 While the 'fear factor' and the tendency to see boys as 'a problem' because they don't confirm in the main to female stereotypes has lead to more restrictions in the playground it simply needs to be recognized boys ARE different, they ARE a gender apart and it's better to direct that than in effect de-gender them.

On Malcolm Young R.I.P

This blog isn't a music blog or a blog that has parts to do with music specifically but when an event that is connected with boyhood pasts comes up will be included in it.

The hard rock band AC/DC were a big part of my boyhood who I followed, collected newspaper and magazine clippings and bought their recordings that connected very much with how being a boy felt.
Although Angus Young connected very much with me as the every single inch awkward boy in school uniform complete with shorts strutting his guitar - his boy spirit -  Malcolm provided those necessary rhythm guitar sections and backing vocals on tracks like Problem Child and Shake A Leg and with Angus was the co-founder of the band.
On Saturday November 18 he died after retiring due to dementia. We salute HIM.

Crossing lines

The era in while I spent my childhood compared to today had more overt gender separation although I suspect that widening of it from seven plus remains being primarily child social construct driven.

One thing that did run through it was oddly enough the notion of having 'sweethearts' to which you might walk a girl home from school or when socially a boy was necessary to be with her you were it although you'd never play together at school.

Jacqueline was mine during Junior school to the point we'd both by the age of ten would get ourselves kept out of PE so we we sit together and chat although we would have some work set for us which the other teachers would oversee between their own classes.

We also might share candy but it was a very innocuous thing with no notions around sensuality (or feeling it was 'sexy') at all more a very deep friendship across gender lines where both of you felt carefree.

Junior school uniform

A big part of the life I had centred around being at school, sometimes just that at other times more around the social connections, the friendships that might lead to coming home to another boys house and being fed by their Mommy.

One thing about all the schools I attended was they had some form of uniform or another that naturally every boy (and girl) had to comply with.
At my junior school we boys wore grey long sleeved shirts with thick collars that were fully buttoned, white vests and white 'Y Front' underpants and grey three-quarter length socks.
As well we had  a red and white diagonal striped tie just like the one in this picture and charcoal grey shorts which were lined so they were surprisingly warm  when compared to sports shorts and certainly I felt cooler in long school trousers later on in my schooldays.
Fastening that tie was something I struggled with (and still do) so I made a point of being friendly with at least one boy so if I needed it putting back on after games say, there was someone I could ask to do it for me as like every boy I was subject to full school rules at all times and having on properly fastened was one of them.
I was always happy to wear that tie.

Penny for the guy!

Another month begins in the existence of this blog and there's something I'm interested in sharing.

This time of year in the UK is connected for many of us with marking the attempt by Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 which failed when the plot was discovered.
This is usually marked by a big bonfire where an effigy of Guy Fawkes having been made is burned followed by a celebratory display of fireworks during which sparklers are handed around for people to make shapes and words with in the pitch black sky.
Until fairly recently school boys like myself would spend some time making a such a Guy from waste material such as straw, dressing him in old clothes nobody needed and a hat and we'd taking him around street corners shouting loudly "Penny for the guy".
Making him was a source of pride, showing your boyish ingenuity as people usually grown ups would give you money which came in handy in run up to Christmas eeking our our pocket money.
We learned to work to earn money by our own efforts a valuable lesson for us as we grew up.