This week has been in many respects a turbulent one although I generally don't do politics on this blog those who know me understand my thoughts around certain matters but as that goes I'm going back to the present.
Seasoned followers of this blog will know soccer (aka Association Football) is a big thing with me being what we played on the streets, during break times and for boys games at school.
Face it, if back then you didn't do soccer then your options for socializing with other boys were going to be diminished so we all did including disabled me who learned his lessons on getting along with picking himself up from and standing up for himself on the pitch.
We followed teams following the results on Saturday's and talked about them Monday's at school that means for me soccer reopening next weekend is a biggie so I'll be watching in my footie strip, jumping up and down.
The other thing was footie was in our comics of which a big one was Tiger cos it had Roy of the Rovers who has been rebooted for today's boys (and girls) in fiction and comic strip form.
Rebellion who have the rights to the Tiger era Roy of the Rovers have had a series of annual like compilations starting with the 1950's and getting into the 60's that took whole stories that run across issues compiled.
This week we reach the 1970's kicking off with stories I remember as a boy back then in Junior School reading first time from June 16th through October 6th 1973, August 3rd through December 28 1974 and January 4th through June 21st 1975.
These are straight reproductions of the cartoon strips as published with little digital beaching so you will see some signs of a light brown cast from the paper and the colour where used such as the front cover of that weeks issue as all colour comics were not a thing when I was reading them is muted.
It comes with an introduction from Barrie Tomlinson who joined the team behind Roy of the Rovers at that time as a sub editor talking about how they developed the stories such as it was during this era Roy became a Player-Manager which was a move mirrored in the real life game then.
The compilation is very well put together being well bound and so makes a lovely modern replacement for those comics we had back then.
Recommended for any schoolboy of that era.
It's Friday, it's cooling down so we'll get on to this.
You might remember the grey shirt from that portion of your life we have fond memories of even if for some strange reason my high school didn't do grey thus most of mine today cos I live this life full time were white.
Some academies too seem to have an issue with grey, mind you sometimes you look at their uniforms and think it's more upscale business wear than anything really for children in school too.
That tends to mean bigger collar sizes in grey aren't always stocked by the usual online uniform stores but I found one in the Black Country, here in the Midlands that did and so did get a couple.
Most of my original school shirts were Banner, often brought from Markets in Newcastle Under Lyme and the Potteries and were good, fitting well.
I did pick up an new tie.
Ties are an issue with me as I don't have the dexterity and co-ordination to fasten them so while I agree with the more traditionally minded, reality is unless you going add tie fastening to shoe lace fastening as something you're going to do for me, like with them they have to fasten differently.
That's why it's a clip on, so I can put it on even if that remains difficult so I can be more independant.
That too came from an establishment that sells school wear.
Pix credit Albert Pendergrast
Albert Prendergast just got in stock these UK made grey jumpers with red, white and black trim and turn over cuffs.
So soon no sooner that I'd see the email announcing their arrival, one was promptly ordered and paid for.
I know you can get others and they are not bad value for money but for one thing the styling on some is a crossover between a jumper and a sweatshirt and for another they tend to be synthetics not wool.
These are very good quality and like much of the sector I can remember what I paid in the early 80's for similar UK made jerseys which when you take into account inflation these are close to.
In reality, in the passing decades generic uniform has been driven down for understandable reasons around inclusiveness for the least well off, to becoming less well made and this shows in materials and being made in countries with poor labour conditions.
They may be cheap but they aren't as well finished and don't last as long.
Final thought. On Monday I had reason to meet up with relatives and family friends and I was in toned down schoolboy attire not a million miles removed from how I would of presented back then in grey shirt, tie, grey shorts and a pair of proper turn over top grey socks from A.P
I felt good to be me on what was a sad occasion, that good that I was able to engage in a good twenty minutes of conversation looking very smart with cousins without being me and presenting as such being an issue.
Part of that comes to wearing well made and fitting clothes that having nothing to explain you feel confident and so you just join in.
You may recall in early April we went back a bit to one of the core bits of this blogs history with some photography undertaken during lockdown and this is the continuation of it.
Beginning where we left off, the farmhouse grow a lovely cherry blossom during early May which added much colour and really cheered me up.
Other things also sprouted up perhaps aided by the much cleaner air, the only positive of this current emergency providing just what the insect life needed too.
Tying in more with Scouting, I explored a public right of way across a field I'd never been down before to be greeted with such great sights.
In these last few days the views towards the ridges of North Staffordshire have been stunning and being able to talk at distance with people to enjoying it has been great.
Isolation has been the big negative of this time.
Crops need tending as these are as I actually saw the guy doing it from a distance even in these crazy times and not long after the garden centres reopened, something that was universally popular here as many of us love gardens as my late grandad did.
While travelling in to the city centre remains off due to hotspots of a certain virus and most of the shops being shut, time continues on.
It is that time of year some of us look forward, the recreation of a ritual we observed as boys religiously and don't tell me rituals don't play a part on LB life as I haven't met one that didn't try to recreate a few.
The Dandy Summer Special is special for different reasons than we had as boys in that it is the only print edition of the comic we get since closure in December 2012 where as for most of us before then it was the bigger more colourful edition that had quizzes and the like counterpart to the weekly edition.
The Summer Special is aimed more at those of us who remember it as it was rather than being more like its stablemate The Beano very much in the present and so for most of the current period we've been treated to reprints from the older Summer Specials, albeit those we loved to revisit.
This years is a bit different in that the compilers have gone to pick a selection over a set of twenty years starting from 1940's making their way through 1960's, 1980's and the 2000's in chronological order.
This means we start to see such legends as Keyhole Kate, Korky the cat, Desperate Dan and Corporal Clott which was discontinued in the comic July 25, 1970 plus Owen Goal from the 80's as they emerged which compared with the Beano makes for a more retro, regressive, reliving the past feel when you read it as inevitably you recall those days.
For that feeling I would say the Dandy Summer Special is better.
What is great about this years is we have some newly drawn strips of Postman Prat originally drawn by Lew Stringer from October 30, 2010 by the man himself that survived the misstep that was DandyXtreme in 2007 to October 2010 when they tried to add Viz style "attitude" to push sales in a fortnightly form plus new Winker Watson for 2020.
The new strips are funny, not departing from the world those characters come from but showing where they would of been in a regular comic so Winker Watson remains in Greytowers in the third form but he can use a computer and printer while being the Blazer and Shorts clad boy whose wanglers we loved in much the same way the modern prep school mixes modern technology and the old (and true) ways.
Do yourself a favour and get a copy!
This weeks theme is awards and inspiration which is something that helps keep ourselves motivated through these difficult times.
Hot off the press and due to be launched yesterday (Thursday) is Mwaka Mudenda aged twenty-five Blue Peter presenter number 39 in that inspiration children's magazine shows Sixty-one and bit years history.
Found in the BBC's sports department, she makes her debut from home like the current duo Lindsey and Richie with her first challenge which will be a first in these changed times, restoring the presenter numbers back to three which to was prior to the 2010's.
As I still love watching the show, not least for being LB, for many years I'm looking forward to that.
This leads us to the following:
One inspiration by common consent has been Captain Tom Moore now aged 100, a WW2 veteran who raised over Thirty-three million pounds by doing 100 laps before he reached that centenary for the NHS.
Some indication of his impact is he inspired young children, some with disabilities to raise funds too and others overseas and also for his calming philosophical approach to dealing with the Covid-19 crisis.
Recently he was the recipient of a Blue Peter Gold Badge award put forward by Georgia and Benji, his grand children seen pictured and presented due to current restrictions remotely by presenter Lindsey Russell who described him as "a beacon of light".
Street artist "Banksy", an anonymous character whose art just appears on walls was also in the news this last week.
He left if that was the right word a peace of work in Southampton general hospital saying he hoped it would brighten up the lives of the staff and patients there and after the Covid-19 infection it could be auctioned off with the funds going to NHS charities.
Entitled "Game Changer", it features a boy playing with a basket of superhero dolls, but instead of grabbing Spiderman or Batman, he is playing with the doll of a nurse with a superhero cloak.
Many have been inspired by the dedication of our Nurses and other clinical staff dealing with Covid-19 patients seeing them as real life heroes rather those in our comics, tv or cinema screens.
It is a both a touching act of generosity on his part and also a touching depiction of a boy at play.
There we have it on the as ever looking backwards and going forward LB blog, the inspiring, the inspirational and the enduring source for all we truly need.
This Friday is the 75th V.E. Day anniversary when War in Europe after the signing of an unconditional peace treaty with Germany and the Allies, WW2 in Europe was over with.
Twelve years of unspeakable inhumanity initially in Germany and later across much of Eastern Europe but involving people from the whole continent stopped.
Millions of lives lost, many taken brutally.
The Spitfire matters to me, not just because its designer Reginald Mitchell lived just two and half miles away and the planes were assembled here in the Midlands helping the war effort in the air but because of one who piloted it.
You see it was the closest guarded secret that my Headmaster, John Smith had been one of its pilots although on the face of it we should of guessed as much by his age, the fact more or less any non essential males in work were called up for service and many returned and were retrained as teachers.
That man did not just run a small school well, laying on lessons many others did not but his strong emphasis on moral conduct, discipline within the unit coupled with humanity going beyond what he had to do to help if needed, setting the standards.
He took us as boys and made a unit of us with bonds that last even until this day, he fought the well intentioned cotton wool some put around me getting me to do everything, learn to be resilient and darn well made a man out of me.
He was a God to us and why?
Cos he had that grit, spirit and determination to overcome difficulties, to give your all, to go down trying rather than giving up his generation needed AND he passed it on.
The reason he didn't let on about exactly what he did was simple: He took no glory from that conflict and did not want us to form the view it was in any way glamourous or desirable that men should fight and kill others. He believed in peace and co-operation but had to defend our country from invasion.
In an era were WW2 was still around us on tv, on film, in our comics and play even, he didn't want us to get the 'wrong' message from knowing all he'd done.
We should be glad of what he and others did defending our country, liberating much of Europe, not least the Germans who too suffered under Hitler and the Nazis, paying our respects. We also shouldn't forget his sentiments which were shared by many returnees.
Today is May 1st which up to early last year would of meant we'd enter the weekend leading to May Bank Holiday which would be the 4th as it is the nearest Monday but that got knocked on its head by marking the 75 Anniversary of Victory In Europe day.
As much of that wouldn't be happening as planned thanks to Coronavirus, I'm marking the day it was meant to be after all!
It still is a thing although like most things this year it's off thanks to that virus, dancing around the Maypole whither it's in a town square or as here in a school playground has always been a sign of May, a much cherished tradition.
It was something I did in Juniors as hard as it was every year, practising the steps polishing up our plimsolls and having to wear white socks which wasn't really what we wanted as we liked our grey ones much more.
This is great picture when boys looked very much like schoolboys and the girls looked better in summer dresses
May isn't all about just that though as they days are getting longer and often quite sunny so walks in the woods may be on offer as it in this picture taken in North Derbyshire with boys enjoying a walk in the woods balancing on a tree trunk enjoying it.
Time alone to do things just as boys does matter and I hope once we get back to something like near normal people will organize sessions just for boys to let of steam enjoying being themselves getting to know one another.
I should be out most of this weekend enjoying the weather around the farms and woodland here just like they are.
