Christmas

Happy Boxing day people.
As is normal for someone like me I still get children's presents and Mommy bought me this years Beano annual

Nausicaa-Of The Valley Of The Wind

This anime was the second animated feature by director Hayao Miyazaki and for it he chose to adapt his own best selling manga whose huge success in Japan help launch Studio Ghibi and this anime bears all the hallmarks that its output over the years  features in its successes, namely magical kingdoms,great characters and stunning animation.
The story is routed in the past, a thousand years ago after a big war where a seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind is one of the few areas that remain populated.
The people of the Valley, lead by the courageous Princess Nasusicaa are engaged in a constant battle with the Ohmu, a most powerful group of insects who are guarding a poisonous jungle that is spreading across the Earth.
In the anime, we see Princess Nausicaa  and her brave companions working with the people of the Valley, striving to restore the bond between humanity and the earth.
One of the most important messages in it I feel is that as people we need to work alongside nature  for our own well-being.

Edited 2017 for blu ray pix.

Feeding the affections

Well-being is a theme that's been very much on my mind for the last week or so ago as I've posted at certain places around in differing ways but what sorts of things can lead us easily into it?

Typically very tactile experiences such as petting an animal which may be at say a petting zoo  or you own cat, dog or other creature such as a hamster  often is a way of letting go of certain feelings and emotions we are feeling.

Sometimes though it can be animal itself that initiates to doing things that makes us happy, such as sitting on your lap or climbing onto your shoulder.

I'm hardly unique in that I find human affection really helpful such as soft affectionate cuddles, an arm around a shoulder if I'm upset all helps.

Hair strangely enough is something that does too from having it brushed, washed, cut and say braided or otherwise put into a style so it's hardly surprising I feel much better from  going from the hairdressers in itself never mind how the actual appearance helps me feel, adding to my confidence.

Amanda's New School

This is a paperback I've had from my schooldays that I've always had a soft spot for although it is an update of the 1932 original Nesta's New School story.

The outline of the story is Amanda's wealthy adoptive mother dies, and she goes to live with her birth mother and her sister Alice. After a privileged childhood, she has to adjust to a middle class school as well as a new family.
This sort of theme is one I've always adored being less about midnight escapes and epic escapes than many school stories for girls and rather more on the character of the girls such as Amanda being of more practical import for girls such as I with things we have to overcome and adapting to changed circumstances.

Time together or Together alone?

Modern life is certainly very different  compared to that some of us can recall having had one form of entertainment cease to work properly and require replacement this week.

I think one of the big factors has been that increasingly we are living separate lives even when we say we're living together say as partners  or with our families, often in isolation in not just our own mental space but actually increasingly our own physical ones.

It's by no means uncommon to hear of families may text members about either meal times although increasingly that's no longer shared or to have snacks fixed for them ready as they emerge briefly to return in minutes.

When I was growing up the television was seen by some as threat to their way of life, taking away from things people did together such as playing games or just talking to each other with us becoming just passive consumers of that coloured tube in the corner of the room.

People didn't anticipate we'd talk about what we were seeing to each other, on the subway or at school or work so in some way you can look at it as a 'golden era' like that family in the picture, that's how we lived including for some of us the wonders of NTSC colour that was like going to the movies, except it came to you as huddled around it.

Today though we consume our YouTube, NetFlix an co wherever we happen to be and you may be watching that as someone's chatting away or playing a game which is really cool but as people we need some US time as well as ME time to catch up with each other, talk about what we've seen and done, maybe gain some perspective too.

I think it matters for all of us to try to get our modern lives into some kind of balance, sharing time with each other as well as with watching or keeping up with our friends online. Don't you?

*Extra paragraph added 2017

Team Games

One sport I liked at school was Netball

Going on with the ball under pursuit.

 She goes to score!

 Ready to throw the ball!

I love ball games running around as part of a team.

Winter thoughts

 

This time of year has this habit of reminding me of what I always was and am unable to do such as ice skating cos I am unstable on me feet, not that I hold anything against those that can as after all there are things I can do that others cannot.

A bit of it is undeniably the whole feel as you twirl around in skaters dress so elegantly as I live the feel of twirling dresses and skirts, given my gender past that's hardly surprising as what we had to wear never gave you anything comparable although shorts are better than dresses for serious hiking which I did enjoy a lot growing up.

Having passed Guy Fawkes Night and Halloween, my mind is moving towards Christmas, getting presents for people I know apart from what I may get myself of course.

Footwear in the past

There are bits about my my early school days that stick out.

 One is that all the girls had white socks usually knee length on as in that era the idea of a school girl in trousers would of been unthinkable as their parenst were only starting to demand the right to wear pants in the workplace.
The other was the 'classic' T bar shoe with a  buckle fastening as girls shoes didn't have laces except say plimsoles.

Using the hols productively

Just over two months to go before Christmas and the first full year of having a blog on here as a chunk of my mind goes back to when it was Autumn half term where after a special assembly at school, that was it as we had time off which often was focused on Guy Fawkes Night and Halloween.

 

Of course back then it wasn't all plain sailing not least when you literally lacked the language to express what it was you were feeling and why how it was they people saw you wasn't really how you saw yourself.

You wanted it different.

Yes! No more school for a fortnight and all the rules and enforced ideas about how how they think you should be not that there's anything much wrong with trying encourage us children to be kind, to think of others and do what we can for ourselves.

Can't we just use this time for something better for me?

How about setting aside some Girl Time, working on helping me dress a lot more girlie, encouraging me more to engage with and in the world of girls, maybe even find a girl or two help me learn to play as the girl I am?

Isn't this really what someone like me really needs?

Scouting and me

The one organization I'd love to have joined when I was a chronological child would of been the Brownies, the younger side of Girl Scouting but it was never to be. In fact my folks never enrolled me to any part of the World-wide Scouting movement which was a pity for although I have disabilities it wouldn't of been hard for them to accommodated me (and I'm sure if asked nicely they'd of been happy too).
This is the Brownie uniform I'd of been proud to have worn, learning more about self-reliance, serving others and improving my poor confidence at the time.

Taking the promise, one I'd of been happy to made in 1972 as I had no problem uphold the principals and pledging my allegiance.

Here's a 70's vintage uniform with  badges but can you see that oh so  1970's smiley face yellow badge. I used to have loads of them then!

Doing things Jo style

The same but different was part heading of an entry on the "big" blog that was a necessary examination of some topics before it could (and did) move on in an integrated way and in some ways this year was like that.

Different people do things very much in different ways and how people present and the kinds of gender roles and that they do can vary as indeed society itself has moved on since I was a child.

I have decided to put my feelings pretty much on the line where it comes to the variety of forms of presenting as more as a Little/Middle simply because as I see it we all do it differently and so do actual little or middle girls.

It's not uncommon for girls to wear shorts or trousers to school however much traditionalists may not so keen on it as I saw earlier on in the week where one girl of about ten living on our road wore grey long trousers to school and still be the same girl who may put a dress on whenever she feels like it. It's not one or the other necessarily.

There's a TomBoy element within me that likes in that context wearing formal shorts so I decided for the first day to wear my black ones where everything else was all girls  which I quite enjoyed as much as I liked wearing my thicker grey school dress on the Saturday and part Sunday.

My heroine, George who really is Georgina in the Famous Five novels by Enid Blyton did the same believing in challenging perceptions around what a girl can be.

They are both equal parts of the same fully integrated girl me, Jo, and I don't like pigeon holes.

Sleepy-byes

This really is sort of way I make any room when I go away on vacation really mine by adding a least a plushie or two and say a flower. I do prefer though to have more books, plushies and playthings in a room as it does feel really to spartan for me, preferring more the feel of a childs bedroom which is me really.
I really don't care that much about having a tv so long as there's a room in the house I can watch tv shows on.

Flashback to the seventies

This was more the sorts of fashions for girls I recall from the early nineteen-seventies that remains an influence on me.

The pull of time

Let's just consider a few things along the way one of which is certain times of the year have particular resonances with me because of the rituals connected with them.

Take holidays for instance.

They were always set around school life, specifically the school timetable often routed in the past but one no one has any burning desire to change and beyond the bank holidays they connected to other things like the one we've just been through.

That was when your school kit from pens, sports war and uniform was looked at and reviewed before any replacements.

 

To be honest I so wanted to wear a uniform more like this, feminine but traditional, practical as I could dress myself in it which is something I do struggle with and to be quite honest if I could go back to school on a proper basis then to be honest I would do that in a flash.

I just never felt I'd outgrown it, more rather I wasn't really ready to leave that environment.

Girlish annuals

When I grew up, I had annuals like this, that Gran bought me as she only wanted me to happy doing and reading what I liked:

She also bought me more girl centred comics too as well as teaching me how to bake cakes and playing games with me.

and their annuals like this:

She help to mould this girl into who she became and is much missed.

Up, awake and socializing

It's true I have a somewhat relaxed approach when it comes to some daily routines compared to others and this might be connected with being more child-like.

This could of easily of been a weekend on a school vacation just casually lounging having gotten up fixing a quick breakfast socializing and I did read in my teens while doing this although my folks were really fussy-strict about getting fully dressed when you were awake  and never wearing your pj's when you're up.
I am sometimes unthinking when it comes where I rest my feet and that so sometimes I feel I could use a bit of "Feet off the table" grown up authority.

Card games

Well when I was young I loved playing cards either with my school friends in the Dorm or when at my Nans usually if Mom was busy away someplace for the day or so.
We played shape games  using Snap and similar games or games like Top Trumps where you have facts on the reverse and you trade information around subjects like travel, cars or sports such as Soccer.
It was fun!
Recently I got some new cards to replace those I lost from my youth trough thinks like Mom's saying you don't need 'em anymore or cos I was ill and Mom was concerned in case they had Germs on them.
As you'll see there's a common theme running through them yes that cat Hello Kitty and her friends as I'm sure if Nan were alive she'd of bought these to play with me loving cute stuff like me.
First pictured is the Hello Kitty Travels top trumps set that can join my 'vintage' Top trumps sets and then some ordinary cards made by Waddington's that have Kitty on around by the hearts, ace of diamonds etc. Last one is the HK twist on the British classic Whot!

Souvenir

I went away this week and by way of souvenir, here is a picture of where I stayed.

 As you can tell it was very sunny indeed with all the flower in full bloom in the guesthouse gardens which is something I enjoyed waking up and rushing downstairs to sit out in in the morning. I'd always pack some short sleeved  t shirts and pull on skirts to put over my swimsuit as well as hardier clothing for walking and something more formal foe evening dinner with fellow guests.

Hot Summer Musings

I can't speak for everybody but blowing on a Dandelion head and making wishes is something that I can recall from my actual childhood apart from making daisy chains during the summer months and actually that scene sat cross-legged on the school fields pulling them with the girls and making them has just come straight back into my mind this last rather hot week over here

The idea of attending a Weekend play club for people who may be adults in law but feel very much like children where you play, watch tv and have together where an adult keeps everything all safe and well organized appeals hugely.

Maybe I'll get to something like this one day as I feel it's what I'm needing.

Childhood Fiction

Part of this whole adult still  a child side of me involves reading  often things about or even from  my childhood.

The What Katy Did trilogy  by Susan Coolridge  I originally read but never owned as a child having more of Enid Blyton's novels but a good few years back I bought the 1989 World Distributors editions together with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
I hope to read more.

Music from the past....

Music it has to be said played an important part in my life and especially through my childhood whither or not it's what we call popular or what is usually classified as classical. Music has this amazing ability to transmit emotions, stimulate the mind as well as taking us on epic journeys of discovery.
Sometimes music is an end in itself such as such as recital or rock concert, it may the accompaniment of a dance as many Waltzes were intend to or an integral part in a grand production such as stage show, opera or ballet together with other artistic disciplines.
Music has a lot to offer people especially children and thoughtful educators have always tried to introduce not just musical concepts as harmony, melody, time etc as well but encouraging children to play an instrument themselves as well as in ensembles.
At my primary school I played the xylophone, glockenspiel, triangle as well as tambourine in school productions, assemblies and we had separate music classes during the week to learn new pieces of music as well as develop our abilities which for some of was a challenge!
One of the first prices of classical music I heard was Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade  an epic tale based on the book of 1000  and one nights (aka The Arabian Nights) told in rich symphonic sound with a wonderful role the Violin when I was just over nine years of age when my teacher decided to play it for us.
It wasn't long before I was pestering pop for a copy of this on lp record as by that point I'd gotten a stereo phonograph of my own.
Fortunately in my country there were and still are many classical music programs on the radio that give you the opportunity to explore works you may be unfamiliar with and through them I learned about people like Beethoven, Chopin and Berlioz among others and their music.
As well in time I started to build my own library of recordings such as the Beethoven Symphonies in my teens that I write about yesterday.I also had recordings of Tchaikovsky ballets at the time - he was a way with musical characterizations like Puss and Boots in the third act of  Sleeping Beauty and I adore the entire Nutcracker suite.
So you could say my classical music collection originally started on ye olde lp record and for a brief period went to cassettes as their quality improved in the early 1980's.
The first classical cd I bought was one of Sibelius's tone poems by the Berlin Philharmonic followed by  Lalo Espagnole Symphonie disc in 1986.
I had a mania for "Cutgut Music" and was lucky to get the two lp box set of Paganini's First Violin Concerto and 24 Caprices as performed by Itzhak Perlman on British  HMV with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Laurence Foster replacing them on cd eventually.
Back then cd's were quite expensive £12.49 or more and many discs only contained one major work say Beethoven's 5th Symphony running for about 35 minutes performances that were also often were on mid or budget price tapes and lp's so I didn't get anymore .
In 1987 four years after the introduction of cd in Europe, the first Mid Price discs started to come out and the then PolyGram companies - DG, Decca and Philips - issued a series often adding extra works to improve the value for money.
That was when I first made a head start adding titles by Mozart, Handel, Stravinsky (The Rite Of Spring in the version I had owned on tape) and Holst as well as getting Rostropovich's award winning Tchaikovsky ballet suites collection performed by the Berlin Philharmonic.
As part of my Ravel splurge I got Margaet Agrerich's recording of the Paino Concerto in G with the B.p.o. conducted by Abbado, the recordings made by the Boston Symphony Orchestra of his orchestral music and Ma Mére L'Oye with the Los Angeles Philharmonic all from the DG Galleria series.
By 1988 Naxos had pioneered the budget price new digitally recorded cd and I picked up several in that series made using Eastern European orchestras but the big push was 1991 and the anniversary of Mozart's birth which DG celebrated in style with the Mozart Masterpieces collection of 25 cd's all at budget price many of which had been previously on more expensive labels.
I bought a shedload of them at the time and they remain the hub of my Mozart collection featuring the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras and leading DG pianists and violin players from the 60's to the early 1980's.
I also bought the recording ocf Ravels String Quartet in F by the Britten quartet coupled with two Vaughan Williams compositions including On Wenlock Edge which were written after he studied under Ravel on the EMI label.
It was around this period I discovered the violinist  Anne Sophie Mutter although many over in England were more taken by Nigel Kennedy whose recording of the Four Seasons by Vivaldi was one of the top selling albums of 1989/90 and I bought several discs of her performances.
I picked up some budget DG issues that although lacking essays contained great performances the Tone poems of Brahms, Richard Strauss, ballet favourites from Offenbachs Gaité parisien, Chopin's  Les Sylphides  and Beethoven's Violin Concerto.
I went mad in 1992 buying the City of Birmingham S.O recordings with Simon Rattle of Sibelius's symphonies on EMI. I bought a complete set of Beethovens Piano Concertos and some solo Piano pieces having borrowed these performances (Kempff's) off and on from the municipal library. In 1993 I added to my lone 1987 full price buy - the Grieg Peer Gynt suite (Academy of St Martins in the Fields) - adding his Symphonic Dances and Violin Sonatas followed in '96 by the Piano Concerto (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra).
I also made a bit of a start on American Classics by Bloche, Ives, Copland and Barber which I had loved from high school even if some think nothing American is fit to put on the same level as 19th and 20th century European composers.
Naxos that budget label I mentioned earlier had by then taken on the mantle of recording the less popular tackling in a systematic way all this material and it hadn't been unnoticed that they recordings were often as good as or even better than the traditional majors such as Sony (CBS), EMI and DG/Philips/Decca. In fact they were to become the one of the two largest companies recording the classics! I got the complete Falloni set of Schubert symphonies issued in 1994/5 they did and some titles from the Iceland Symphony orchestras Sibelius cycle of 1999/2000.
Currently I am building on this collection having added complete series of Mozart's Quintets and Quartets and have replaced a couple of older discs that gave me the 'bare bones' of the piece  but didn't didn't really satisfy.
Unfortunately a few of my discs bought in 1991/2 are going bronzed due to a cd pressing plant problem that could cut short their life so am investigating replacements.

Guides and things

It's the height of summer as we get this slice of life blog going notwithstanding the many issues I have with my internet provider whose connection seems really rather erratic, prone to coming to a grinding halt at times.

 

I did write something a few years back around guiding and most probably will write a bit more as we get going (and I'm well enough to type) but I love reading about guides not least reading old annuals of the sort your parents or great Aunts would of bought you as they knew you were, taking an interest in what you do.

This is good example of the kinds of things they'd cover, accounts of special days like World Thinking Day, Pack camps with your friends putting into practise what you know while having fun and the badges you can earn.

I do have dolls and might write something about them at some point on this blog as I don't have a digital camera so any pictures I take need to be scanned from film taken on my Olympus SLR before uploading but I'd truly love to have a Brownies Doll in the 1979's, 80's uniform I remember so well.

The Head Girl at the Gables

Today I'm going to talk about another book of mine that I've had for a very long time and this copy dates to 1971.

It's a story about a girl called Lorraine who wasn't thought of being Head Girl material by all her peers at The Gables, their school being rather quiet and withdrawn, scarcely one of the schools personalities.
The Headmistress, Miss Kingsley has altogether different thoughts so she's appointed but from the get go, a hard struggle for Lorraine to win the girls over begins. She decides to organize a School Show, finding a new ally in artistically minded Claudia, taking command in a most surprising effective way.
She finds a newly discovered talent for painting as part of her school life which leads to the unmasking of a dangerous spy ring.

Schoolgirl

As a person with a LG age of 12 this is close to how I see myself just perhaps a year or two younger in full school girl uniform right down to the socks and shoes although I do wear tights sometimes as do many contemporary British schoolgirls.
Although I don't actually own an 'over sized' uniform, the way I dress is based loosely around this but from ranges that fit my size and worn in the same sort of way.
I'd like everyone to treat me as child within I am.

Third base!

It's that time of year and I love wearing short skirts so this Honeybee Games type skirt the sort we all used to wear for PE is just great with Tshirts.
Nicely finished I could just fancy a game of Hockey and maybe Rounders over afternoon tea.

Reflections on being away 2006 style

 

Well, we're back after our holiday in North Wales which I never really tire of at all with the scenery and great folks we stay with but of course when you're away you do notice things like school children coming home from school just as you're making your way back to where you are staying via the beach.

I often think to myself just how I might feel living with such obvious child-like attractions on your doorstep seeing children holidaying when you have to go to school?

You also tend to notice things like the local school uniforms, how they are worn, if say girls are still wearing knee socks until their mid teens and feel they're a bit more grown up and wear tights of the thicker 40 denier sort.

I do actually have a bag like these girls have although they appear to have something on their mind.

I like Cowslips of which you do see a fair few here.

Holiday Report

I visited the Snowdonia national park, in Wales recently as I had been experiencing a lot of stress and it was having a serious effect on my mental wellbeing.
I was greeted by exceptional hot, sunny weather affording superb views of Mount Snowdon and the isolated moorlands surrounding it.
The lambs were all out in the fields young and old some having a chew of the grass, others sheltering in the shade of nearby hedges, walls and trees.
A few had the bright idea of exploring the human domain of the narrow roads and we needed to slow down to allow them to cross back into the fields.
I liked the solitude up there but I’m not sure the idea of being literally miles way from the nearest market town would really do for me which I guess is a reflection of my urban upbringing.
Betws–y-coed is a place I like to stop off at as here are good range of shops and spectacular waterfalls. There are a lot woodlands in the area and I took a lot photos – on my ageing Olympus OM10 of the trees, sometimes lying underneath the branches to get the viewpoint I wished to capture.
Llandudno: It remains a largely unspoilt Victorian seaside resort with excellent shopping facilities. The Theatre is really good and many amateur choral performances are hold during the summer season in local churches. On Tuesday there was a Brass Band concert taking place, appropriately enough, on the Bandstand along the promenade. The players were really good – I’m no great fan of Brass Bands but the musicianship couldn’t be faulted.
Bangor: I visit here a lot, being a University town with bookshops, a record store and some good Pubs that serve meals.
Things that didn’t go as they should: I days filming got wasted as a Fuji film become tight and tore whilst rewinding it out of the camera – we came close a to a two inch dent being added to the guest house waste paper bin!!!

Jennings

I went for part of my childhood to a boarding school where of necessity all your relationships with teachers, care staff and class mates  are very different plus to a very large extent you're living by someones rules wearing a uniform all day with no chance of a change.

While there I read the Jennings series of book based upon the adventures  of two friends at prep boarding school called Jennings and Darbishire which made sense as  was in similar situation and we too had our adventures that seemed incomprehensible to those who were responsible for our welfare on the grounds. 

There remains a very large part of my that would enjoy a return to boarding school and I was fortunate to spend 6 months in a residential college where I could go back to being the boarding school kid with informal dorm parties and all the little intrigues.

Trans

Imagine one day you were strolling along  having had some serious doubts about your life and this conversation started.

I could of given that answer having been wearing off and on female clothing since the age of 8, raiding the clothes in the wash and stuff due to go to refuse. That's because it's how I see me. Simples.

Well, I am a magical girl through that transformation.
I have always considered myself to be transgendered from the get go with many significant grown ups seeing the girl in me. Because of the effects from this mis-mash of male body (and expectations) and female self image my behaviour was somewhat effected having issues with self confidence, attempted self harm and near enough a nervous breakdown, I was under a psychologist for a period who picked up on my transgenderedness (though they didn't use that word then) but my folks can't accept this.

Following a periodic outbreak of cross dressing in adulthood, I resolved five years ago to do so on a daily basis because it was me and I felt I was beginning to understand the real me.

I am proud to be what I am. 

The trials of moving on

Time moves on.

I mean it wasn't all that long ago it was Easter with all those cards and delicious chocolate eggs to consume both big and small with that gooey sweet filling that just seems to go all over you.

But then the drawback of that time is I desperately lack a real life girl or two to help me make the most of being a Bunny Girl with cute ears and just let out all that side of me that had to remain hidden in the past.

If I was a computer I'd need them to press the control key with a command to launch the girl program in me and short circuit all the old ways with love.

Taking care of your appearence

I have always felt there is a good deal of merit in the notion that taking care in appearances often leads to a more disciplined approach in other areas of your life such as learning and being conscientious.
A good deal of that comes from my own recollection from being at schools that had uniforms that we were expected to wear correctly at all times and to whom we were taken to task for when we did not such as fastening our buttons or ties correctly.
Although I struggled and still do with both I knew enough to ask for the help I needed to ensure I was properly dressed and so was not exempted from what every other child learned, which it has to be said was only right.
This is a part of reason as a adult-child regressor I do wear a uniform beyond just mentally taking me back in time to the childhood that mentally I am unable to progress much from.

Chobits and Interests

I liked this anime for a long time dealing as it does with technology and that age old question if you could fall in love with a robot in this case a persocom (personal computer in an human looking form) called Chi.

Unfortunately the first dvd set of it got from Ebay I discovered was a fake. It had been made on a computer from a official dvd issue but they had radically reduced the picture quality in an attempt to squeeze 12 episodes on a single sided one layer disc! The discs had inkjet printed labels and no case.

In total the used just three discs for the whole set!!!

Normally a PAL disc can take upt to 6 episodes on a dual layers.

Recently I have replaced it with the US official 4 dvd NTSC set  issued reissued and remastered which looks much better.

 

 

Winnie The Pooh stickarounds

GBP £10.99

UK stockist: Children's Rooms

Other products available include linen, photo frames and Twin Bell Alarm Clock.

Winnie The Pooh Stikarounds at Children's Rooms

P.s I got my new Gilberts netball skirt today!

Animal friends

Many of us have our first exposure to animals as children.
We may be taken to see ponies, to a working farm or even a zoo - in my case we had school trips to the Zoo most years actually that we went on a charted bus on together with our sandwiches and pop.
Still more of us had our own animals such as rabbits, cats and dogs that we shared our time with and maybe it was the first taste of responsibility we had taking the dog for it's daily work, feeding the rabbit carrots or sorting out the litter try of your cat.
In fact I had all three although not at once although the dog went a bit funny in the brain department and sadly had to go.
I think our having exposure to animals is a force for good, don't you? 

Childhood co-operation

 When I think back to my days at Junior School, it is images like this that go through my mind, the time we spent out of doors not just playing although that was fun but also of our trips out to various places where we went to learn things although our teachers cared enough to build in some play time and treats to keep our interests up.
Inevitably we were in teams usually one boy paired up to a girl having to co-operate as the reality of those days was and in many still is of rigid gender lines not so much by school design but more from within the classes you were in themselves so we did learn more about each other and while we lack the language for it, each others assumed gender roles and identity.
I passionately believe in the idea that boys and girls need to value each other and their own identities in a more co-operative and less gender denying way than the tendency to make it very much girls versus boys every time.
That as a transgendered child and now adult  I feel would be in our best interests too.

Beatles Capitol Albums Vol:2

Released this week, the second installment of Capitol's Beatles The Capitol Albums series came out although initial copies had incorrect mono mixes on the mono portion of Beatles VI and Rubber Soul. 
As a set I'm so looking forward to it comprising of the albums I had from childhood.

Starting with The Early Years, this comprises of 11 of the 14 tracks from the UK Please Please Me album some tracks such as Twist and Shout and Boys were rebalanced compared to the UK versions. This had been issued in 1964 under another title by Vee Jay Records of Chicago but upon acquiring the rights, re-released in March 1965.

The track I Saw Her Standing There being the 'B' side of the (US) single I Want To Hold Your Hand is on Meet The Beatles. Misery and There's A Place were not issued on a Capitol album in the US until 1980's Rarities.

Beatles VI is a fine selection draw from the Beatles For Sale and Help sessions taking in the #1 smash 45 Eight Days A Week, Dizzy Miss Lizzie and the Buddy Holly cover Words Of Love.It is a personal favourite of mine from my youth and a big reason for getting this box set

Help! Is actually the Soundtrack album with the seven film songs plus Ken Thorne's instrumentals featured in the film.

The current UK CD of this title was extensively re-mixed by George Martin OBE and has digital echo as well where this issue is his original 1965 mix which most of us grew up with.

Rubber Soul:

This was the first album issued in the US to bear the same title as it's UK counterpart but is different in that It kicks of with I've Just Seen A Face and also features It's Only Love which came out in the UK on the Help! Album.

The US version has more of a folk-rock feel to it and is actually preferred in some circles to the UK for that and I sure do.

As with Help the UK current CD was remixed but this goes back to the original mixes and from that point of view is valuable even if you keep your UK CD for Drive My Car, Nowhere Man, What Goes On and If I needed Someone as they were on 1966's Yesterday and Today, currently unreleased on cd.