Physical Therapy

Something I don't tend to talk that much about is some of the changes that happened from when I transferred to high school
From juniors we did do quite a bit in P.E such as gymnastics, using a rope swing and climbing  but very much directed physical therapy.

 That changed because at my high school we had physical therapy sessions for those of us who had disabilities tailored to our individual needs which included the used of chest expanders to help maintain and build up chest and upper arm muscles  as well as using a mounted exercise bike with adjustable resistance to develop leg muscle as I was physically quite weak.
Another thing I had was floor exercises that had to be performed and graded on a blue pvc covered mat to work on my back which is twisted and build up strength.
The people taking the sessions were quite strict and would smack me if did not do my exercises correctly.
One thing I did find from doing these exercises was I felt much better in and about myself for having some build and indeed I felt more confident about being a boy for it apart from becoming fitter within my limits so the strict approach I feel taken to me about this was justified.
It's just unfortunate that upon leaving the school system itself, measures that might of included supervised Physical Therapy were not set up to help maintain this.

Two wheeled machine

Frosty mornings brings back childhood memories...

Bike is a common currency amongst boys especially as got older being more able to get about independently to our friends, to school perhaps or to the shops on. It becomes a sign of our growing up, a rite of passage, that may of started when we were young just going up and down our streets and many say you never really forget.
For me as a physically disabled boy though it was never something I did because I couldn't stay upright on one and even stabilizers wouldn't of helped with even so it was one of long for things that left me out of the circle of boyhood because I couldn't join in with their adventures.
I'd of loved to had the opportunity to have used a tricycle to go out in my shorts and trainers and played with them on one, just being a boy amongst boys.

Checkmate!

On what would of been the week we'd return to school after the Christmas Hols there's something I feel like talking about.

During the period when I was in school there were a number of recess clubs and activities operating as typically we'd have an hour  lunch break midday around fifteen to twenty minutes mid morning and mid afternoon before formal schooling shut and any day children left.
The big one for me in Juniors was the Chess Club which really took off during the period of US and Russian rivalry with people like Bobby Fischer not just in space but for being the best in chess.
We had a stack of fold up chess boards, some of which did double up for Checkers which I also played and usually you provided your own full kit nine was full sized in plastic and lived in a reused ice cream tub.
They'd be two sets of games going on, an all school championship and friendly games played as much to brush up on our strategies and understandings of the rules as to give newcomers a grounding in the basics of the game.
One sign of it's importance to me in Juniors and Junior High was I had a small black with red trim plastic fold up chess set that used magnets embedded in the plastic pieces to stick to the aluminum under the plastic board that I took out on school trips and vacations  to play with others or to practice moves.
It's an important memory of boyhood with me.

Uniform talk

I haven't said much really around school uniform simply because with me it was very much in the past, some parts of uniforms today have changed at least in the State School sector around Combined infant and Junior schools known as 'Primaries' where they have increasingly standardized to down to more Infants whereas when I went we had a distinct Junior one that was more formal.
I feel that's regrettable because it give us a status we liked and we looked smarter being dressed in a more mature way
The other thing is I never had much to say about my own regressive side which is schoolboy and it does involve wearing shorts that I do nearly all the time to be honest.

They aren't the exact same sort we had as ours were shorter and lined but I think they are a good replacement not least on longer bodies where the older sort did look a bit too short and in the end boys do need to feel comfortable wearing them.

Socks tended come in variations, some allowed ankle socks in summer and generally in high school you hand ankle or calf length over long trousers or traditionally long socks that you had with shorts.
At the time I did mainly school boy age regression, I'd catch the bus to the local BHS in Stoke to visit the school wear department and buy grey ribbed socks like these but since BHS closed down you get these online from people like Universal Uniform (the former The Schoolwear Company).
You can get the coloured top sort (usually blue or red) that you'd associate with Prep  Schools, Grammar and Independent Schools too still from school suppliers

Christmas Edition part II - our day

Christmas comes but once a year no doubt to the relief of most parents when we think about how much they put into making Christmas happen such as getting the Christmas meal, buying presents visiting their own parents and so on.
Christmas is more a time for us as children has having had our school parties, we look forward to the day itself opening our presents and indeed I like most boys often was so excited the night before I could hardly sleep for wondering what I might have.
Sometimes that's hard to manage because our expectations are boundless and the reality sometimes is different such as a duplicate present, a sock say the wrong size or one that just isn't us which often happened with me for having some atypical interests compared to most boys.
Usually in my presents would be annuals connected to either pop artists, tv programs or the comics I read as boy that you'd read all year round.

These two are this years editions of two I got as an actual child jam full of stories featuring all the comics characters like Korky the cat, Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx.
Then you'd have a Main Present which I can recall one year was a Lego set and when I was nine a cassette tape recorder followed by smaller odds and ends such as socks, underpants and pens for school. Finally you have presents from your Aunts, Uncles and Cousins and if you were jolly lucky your best friend at school.
Christmas was a indeed a magical time for us.

Christmas Edition

The last full week of Christmas at school was always a bit of a run down where we may play games, read and generally relax a little after the build up toward early December where we'd been rehearsing for our school plays between regular lessons as Winter set in.
You'd certainly notice that as we played soccer in the afternoons out of doors where you had to keep moving to avoid getting too cold.
The other big thing I loved at this time of year was our annual school Christmas Parties where fun and games would take place such as pass the parcel and our Christmas lunch where we'd we'd have a scaled down grown up Chicken lunch followed by Christmas Pudding to which we were expected as juniors to act a bit more grown up during.

*** HAPPY CHRISTMAS***

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.