As you read this it will be the August bank holiday which tends to mark the return of school over here and as it happens also is being marked by family fun days this weekend in churches and public houses where I live.
Not unsurprisingly in the local newspapers and some national media too we are seeing the various promotions for such things around uniforms, where in the UK the majority of schools have one, stationery and equipment.
This is a good example of the sort of advertising we have, here for the Matalan discount store with photogenic models and needless to say the cardigans, socks setc are all available from the store too.
Being taken out to the local uniform shop in the last ten day or so of August is a ritual many of us remember well, being told we'll 'grow into' our clothes as you feel a bit like a scarecrow with everything being a bit big and baggy on you.
This lovely Panda Plush pencil case is a good example of the variety a regular stationery store such as W H Smiths over here stocks and yes things like Football one exist for boys too
A decent geometry set helps for math and science and this is an example from W H Smith although you'd need to add a compass a 2hb pencil and rubber to it plus some decent colouring pencils and ballpoint/fountain pen with ink.
Personally I'm with fountain pens as a good broad nib often improves the flow of the least good handwriting which even if this an age when digital often prevails, still is worth cultivating.
Yes, it's the fantastic 1970's again where equipment had wood effect surrounds and we had four speakers as in this lovely Sanyo unit that has a built in Q8 Quadraphonic and stereo tape player, a FM/AM radio, an aux input and a "matrix decoder" to get four channels out of records using that system.
Into that era some of us had odd ball likes compared with our peers and one of mine was a liking for Country music which takes me to two cds that merged recently by an artist of this era I liked, Charlie Rich who having experimented with blues settled on country.
This one contains a all time favourite recording of mine "The Most Beautiful Girl" which its rich arrangements from 1973's Behind Closed Doors and his 1975 album Every Time You Touch Me.
The Silver Fox is a autobiographical medley of hits by him setting out his recording career while Very Special Love Songs is a selection he loved and chose to record with his backing group, the Nashville Edition both from 1974.
The common denominator is all four albums apart from being favourites were originally Quadraphonic records and tapes, the very tapes you'd play in that Sanyo unit with four matching speakers in the corner of your room
Because of the Super Audio cd format, all of those Quad versions are made available again in higher quality than we had originally on these re-issues apart from the stereo versions on the regular cd (plus the super audio cd layer)
As I write this, it's really been something of a damp squid of a weekend with very heavy rain, power issues in parts of the country and no good for being out of doors which as I said the other week is really more my thing.
Instead I've been otherwise engaged with more mundane things such as sorting out bookmarks on the Chromebook because my bookmarks go back at around 2006/7 being imported from machine to machine regardless of browser over that period.
Sometimes it can be good for finding a old post about something I recall particularly if it has some otherwise hard to find information in it.
On the other hand you may draw a blank because either the site no longer exists like Google + or it's a persons blog on a site that has been removed or they shut down such as on Tumblr and so serves no real purpose.
The great thing about Google Accounts is being synchronized it doesn't matter on what you view on, all things like bookmarks and password changes are all saved across the board so I thought it was a good use of time this weekend.
One thing you can do is still life photography of either objects like coins, models or like this, flowers.
I also listened to a few recordings I hadn't played in a while while I wait for some new old titles to slowly come in being ordered from various separate suppliers.
Last week I was away at a 'littles camp' a place where you can let your little/inner child out with others and caregivers/ significant others which was in East Anglia, UK and today's post is about that.
I set out about Twenty to Eleven in a taxi to catch my train from the best rail station in the Northwest Midlands to travel to a large town in the Black Country meet with Miss Green who kindly agreed to drive both us to the venue.
Travelling was mainly uneventful outside of a broken down vehicle causing delays on the motorway from Wednesbury, Staffs to Castle Bromwich , Birmingham and heavy rain that reduced visibility plus ongoing roadworks around Cambridge and Huntingdon on the A14.
We arrived just on Four in the afternoon, with assistance, moved bags plus things for camp such as food, games equipment and so on.
The society of Little Girl engineers solved how to make the Lego Disney Princesses Castle in eighteen hours that involved making over 14 sections including various Disney characters on the castle drawbridge and then dropping in each completed section which was a room in the style of a Disney Princess.
We also completed one jigsaw but had to terminate another as it was way too hard for the time we had remaining.
The Games Morning:
Mrs Green on Monday put on a 'Sports Day', a kind of homage to the kind of school sports days many of us can recall from being around 8 through 12 when while winners got prizes, it was really rather more about the taking part than how things got by high school with the 'jocks' an all.
Archery, relay race, score a netball goal, the 'egg and spoon' race, sack race one I certainly did hobbling about at the time and even a sponge the staff competition for good measure.
One felt sorry for a well soaked Mr.Pool
Arts and Crafts
This time a 'formal' session wasn't laid on but various materials such as things to paint, paper, kits etc were set out for anyone who wished to do some either indoors or as the weather was pleasant outdoors.
This is what I painted after going for a walk on Tuesday morning, a Cheshire Cat in the manner of Garfield.
For me arts and crafts are enjoyable even with my co-ordination and damaged paws, providing the kind of relaxed, more child-like headspace I need.
Walks: A few of us did venture out for a spot of rambling though fields and woodland nearby toward lakes, meeting cyclists, people walking dogs and families with children.
I am a more outdoor, exploring, identifying and self challenging sort of a person who really doesn't like being cooped up indoors and not given to changing outfits much give the difficulties dressing itself presents frequently.
I set breakfast up for those who wished to across the time apart from helping out within my (limited) means.
Alice put on a Space Themed treasure hunt on Monday afternoon with clues to find which was fun.
Lunchtime catering was mainly salads with cheese, eggs and meats apart from Monday where Jacket baked potatoes with optional fillings were available put together by Daisy, Suzy, Jillian and a few others whose names escape me.
Evening meals were mainly cooked by members of our group with Karla and Caroline doing a great outdoor Barbecue on the Sunday with sausages, pork, chicken, beef burgers and kebabs complete with onions and baps and Jennifer did pies, mashed potatoes, creamed parsnips and mixed veg on Tuesday.
On Monday evening having got details of what everyone wanted and telephoned them in, we had fish and chips apart from the odd person who preferred either sausages or a whole chicken which Samantha and a.n.other collected from a shop a few miles away.
On arrival most people had an ordered 'Indian' - various curried dishes - apart from Jennifer and I who had pork and vegetables coupled with cake with strawberries.
On Sunday Mr Pool, suitably dried put on a disco with lighting for everyone and on Monday, the resident Nekomini laid on her "all purr-puss" music quiz after tea that everyone enjoyed complete with prizes.
Apart from one furson and two people who needed to leave earlier we all left on Wednesday morning before 11 am and apart from a few roadworks that involved one minor detour was largely uneventful we arrived at the train station so I could catch my train home which after a short taxi ride got me in for just after 3 pm to unpack and unwind.
I'd like to than everyone that did something tidy up, help with food and drinks, put on events, handle the booking and so on for a super time.
