Keeping warm

For a long time a staple of my more Tomboy look were lined tracksuit bottoms of the sort that was less overtly masculine with a very sporty feel to them but plainer fleece lined ones that for a period I wore a lot with baseball jackets.

 Just to annoy the brand loyalists I'm not simply because they tend to made from similar materials in the usual factory locations despite attempts to use 'sports science' to build up a strong sense of individual identity and unless you truly are using them in a professional sports context, you generally don't need that stuff anyway.
These area navy blue pair I recently  bought as I usually prefer to avoid baby pinks or white as they tend to show up marks and draw rather more attention to them than I'm comfortable with.
While non-brands can be cheap, I find the finish doesn't last as much.

Sports

Miss Kitty and I go back quite a long time actually not that I was much good at tennis or badminton on few times I did play it at high school preferring ball games or swimming which is an equalizer when you're disabled which was why I went for a period to a disabled swimming club apart from understanding company.
The instructors were super good at understanding you, your needs encouraging you to try swimming different ways to your fullest abilities and unlike regular pools our water was warmer.
When I hurt my upper right arm in my mid teens, physical therapy in the water was part of how I was helped to regain strength and confidence in using it.

Thoughts on the 2016 Summer Olympics

This is been written on what has been a very wet and windy weekend here in the English Midlands where it hasn't been really fit enough to go out so I've been studying, doing some reading, colouring and watching the tv a bit.
One thing that I have been watching is the coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics from Brazil, following the athletes in their attempts to win their own and their team medals  in their various stages from cycling to boxing.
Seasoned readers of this blog know one sport I do love is Hockey so it was a pleasure to watch the Women's field hockey competition that saw the British defeat New Zealand and then the Netherlands to take the gold medal in an exciting closely matched performance settled by a penalty shout out.

 In fact the British Olympic team have come second only to the United States in the standings with 27 gold medals included in its 67, beating their record from the 2012 games held in London, here in the UK which is a momentous achievement they can be proud of.
From a personal angle there are some life lessons you can draw from what was achieved, the importance of focus, being centred on what matters to achieve your aims, the preparedness to practise the skills you need to do it and personal self-discipline.
It also was interesting that a a number of teams had both a black out from social media use around an event and also curfews so people got the rest they needed and no distractions from what they needed to do.
Perhaps as a country the UK can believe in itself rather more than  has in the past having the ability to hold its own in the world for what it has to offer and its talented citizens.

Can we share the same baton?

Between a number of things like having a cold and encountering a number of interesting websites this week, I was reminded of something which has many implications some of which were relevant to us.

That's right a picture of the game I loved playing at school but it's a sobering thought that sport in many schools has a gender divide going on and not enough people are questioning it.
For instance while in the earlier years girls and boys may play the same sports and if really being radically have mixed teams (just fancy the concept of girls and boys actually co-operating!), as we work our way through the tweens, something starts to happen.
Sports start forming along  rigid gender lines in Britain with boys having to play soccer and girls hockey or netball as if having a few anatomical differences is sufficient to what may interest you or where your sporting abilities might lie.
This is a problem if your abilities do indeed lie in sports not judged to be acceptable to be played by people of your own gender, for instance a boy who is really good playing field hockey may struggle to find a team to play for.
It used to be difficult for girls to play soccer in school although The Football Associations in the UK have been working on that for a while now.
It's also a problem if like me you're transsexual, pretty much out on a limb wanting to spend time with those who gender you do identify with in class, sharing the same interests and yet there's little reason why it should be this way. 
Fortunately my last school was a bit flexible in that regard but many are not. 
It's really  time for a change don't you think?

Elizabeth in Joanne?

This post has be coming to me this morning where I'm poorly laying across my Hello Kitty bed attire and new Duvet in my school uniform, so do bear with me.
Off and on, I've made reference to the books I read during my chronological childhood some of which I owned, some borrowed off friends or via the library of the boarding school I attended.
Indeed you may of spotted a few entries here about books by Enid Blyton that come in that category and how I've gotten new copies not least the second but last entry around St Clare's that with this rotten cold I'm reading, something that is a direct echo of my childhood in times when I read books in my dorm or the sick bay.
I recently got though a most interesting addition again an older edition with original illustrations that has taken me back with some startling observations.
With the final three in one volume of St Clare's (Back to St Clare's) was another three in one book.

This was a 1992 edition of first three The Naughtiest Girl stories (Naughtiest girl again, Naughtiest girl is a monitor and Naughtiest girl in the school)

The stories are set in Whyteleafe, a progressive co-ed boarding school that some feel has a striking resemblance to Summerhill school in Suffolk, England.
The main character is Elizabeth who you could say is a very spoilt child used to getting her own way often running with unchallenged ideas so much so she resolves to behave so badly she can't avoid being expelled from the school she never wanted to go to. The secondary character is her best friend, Joan Townsend, who tries to get her to behave which by the time Elizabeth realizes how lonesome she was as a only girl, she gets more onside with the other children and  is less of a problem to the staff.
Here's an earlier cover from one of the separate books:

Now the first think upon quickly skimming the book was I saw my reflection in in how she dressed in the original illustrations, not least the fully pleated skirt, the modern version of which I'm actually wearing. She's around nine or ten years of age so the first thing I am thinking is, *Something* around this age is lodged in me as I'm not a senior. The second  is that smile as she's doing thinks like flirting ink about - it comes to me that around this age I did some similar things with ink and it's her awkwardness is causing this lashing out as oddly enough it did for me.

E.A stood there on the left of this original illustration is the image of that era of my life, meeting together with satchel, sports kit and naturally full uniform.
One interesting aspect of the Whyteleafe school is that the children have meetings where they dole out pocket money (everyone has a certain minimum  because it is pooled and the case for more has to be accepted by the others first) and also they deal with infractions dishing out punishments which the Monitors have the power to as Elizabeth is reminded of when she acted silly.
In practise, in my school head boys and girls also did although it wasn't formally set up - effectively they stepped in and if didn't accept whatever the outcome was, it was reported to the staff.
On one  particular day I did do something really silly like get going calling one girl rotten names and it got a bit out of hand, as does some of Elizabeth's silly things but unlike it being raised at a Meeting I was called to see the Headgirl in private who wanted answers, insisted on an apology to the girl in question and used her hairbrush on me (which was as far as I was concerned better than some poxy letter from the Head to my folks who'd just send me to child welfare person dragging the whole thing out. At least it's all over with in one go.).
Like Elizabeth I got better after that as I learned to fit in better with people, having my rough edges smoothed and even became a year rep, greeting very important people which does help when as now I have to do groan up things.
Having this book has reminded me of the distance I've travelled emotionally, the difficulties I've overcome in the past through learning to be more mature in how I deal with situations. As well, it affirms what Joanne remains deep down - a little girl only just in double digits - and no one least of me should ever forget it.

Sleep well but do sleep

Yes people, I'm feeling sleepy today and that's pretty much what I'll be doing in a bit.
As a number of you know, I go to bed early at least in part because I get tired easy which is why I disappear from chat just as some of you are like getting going but I broke that particular rule on Friday to see the opening of the 2012 London Olympics happening over here cos I may not see something like that in a country I'm residing in ever again. It was spectacular in that understated British way they have giving a short economic and social history of the UK and celebrating the UK's large contribution to the Arts something this country more than punches over its weight in.
After last weeks epic entry something more heavyweight  (see all those sporting metaphors coming in, eh?)  than I usually do, we've had quite a few more people reading this blog so I'll end this entry before I go bed with my teddy with a thought.
Ever thought of doing say a day in the life of your inner child? Somedays I often feel like things like doing something like being in a school setting studying apart from my habit of 'playing', running going on my swing for a half hour or more a day and so on.  It wouldn't be just for learning stuff though who knows I might but more for the calm feeling of being in an emotional place you feel comfortable in.
Any thoughts?

Maypole

Yay! A bank holiday over here so I'm able to relax a bit  read and yes write today's blog entry although the idea came to me a few days ago so i just jotted down the initial thoughts cos my short term memory isn't good at all.
Seeing it's May Bank Holiday I was starting to think about what kinds of things I used to around this time of year and one of the things that stuck in my mind was school maypole dancing

While that  picture wasn't taken it my school, it was taken at a school in Gloucestershire, England actually, it is very very similar to how we did it.
Those who had two left feet were selected as 'ballast' to hold the maypole down, the uniform was similar except the boys nearly always had shorts on and in alternate boy/girl pairings we'd dance weaving in and out creating the plait you can see from the top of the pole downward.
One difference is we have what in England you'd call 'Pumps'  a cotton with rubber soled gym type shoe that you had to clean and polish before the public performance with matching three-quarter length socks.
I use to take me ages to polish and whiten mine!
I was pretty good at it actually having a good ear for the tunes we danced to so we kept in time with the music as well as each other. Well it kinda helps, eh?

The 'From Lausie with love edition'.

 Great start to the day today with flat fire closing off the high street making getting into work later than it should of been, the rubbishy IT system we changed to was reversed to old one and storms raging here meaning I had to leave early too. Such fun!

Well in chatting with Lausie a few topics came up and I thought it would a good idea to post about them subject to the usually "all locations and full names  removed cos this is the internet' stuff:

So you wanna know about boarding school?

Well I went when I was 11 and 1/2 and it probably as as well as there were lots of problems at home revolving around Dad that were affecting me emotionally.

As much as I'd love to say I went to this gorgeous old building with orchard and that, it was actually a very modern boarding school on the edge of a small town and as close we got to an orchard was a field with wild poppies growing in it.

The school was what you call co-ed so not just being a girls school one didn't need any kind of spray Elspeth might of concocted to get in!

I quite liked it because it gave me security, a host of friends and more of a chance to be myself because for once I was in the right place at the right time.

When you mention boarding schools people tend to weigh in with opinions from either 'my Island horror story' or 'the very making of me' but oddly enough I think the best portrayal is in fiction specifically Enid Blyton's Malory Tower or St Clares series that you might possible of read before those who had it in for Enid removed her books from libraries in England.

Her portrayal is very similar to my experience in that it's a multifaceted thing because you are part of a social unit who live and breathe together for all of the time so everything is that much bigger.The good and the not so good.

If you live a way from people as I did it's a great thing because you have a ready made supply of playmates available form daybreak to sunset from different backgrounds plus my family had issues amongst themselves (still does!) so it provided a bit of an escape from them.

I suppose the first thing to say when I arrived was there were more boys so when the first morning had began it obvious the head boy had rather more to 'take care of' so standing very nervously by the wall, the Head Girl puts her arm through mine and says "I'm Jo and I'll take care of you".

This leads to the biggest tear stain heart to heart ever as I explain what stuff is like at home and why I really hate how I looked to the point of hurting myself deliberately all with a vocabulary of a nine year old as my English wasn't terribly good then. She doesn't really understand it all but says she'll help me which is good enough.

By a stroke of luck while the individual Dorms are gender separated, they alternate along one long corridor and so long as you didn't snuck in rooms over night or when people were getting changed, you could visit anybody in either, so I spend quite a bit of my my time with the Head Girls Dorm with her friends who become mine.

As well she realizes how the imbalance may affects Games we'd be down for Rounders and Netball and has a masterstroke. She takes me in tow to the Games Mistress and Having explained the potential problem says can I join them? After a while It's agreed so all I had to do was go to were the girls were playing and anyway Swimming was mixed.

In my school, the  Dorms for us held about 3 or four to one room in which  which you can put up some of your own things such as posters, dolls and you could have your own tv and tape player

If you wished although in the common room where you could read watch tv and have drinks before getting dressed for bed and lights out. No talking ever after lights out!!

Generally we could play in our dorm, the hall, outdoors in good weather under supervision, in in our common room although that's where we'd listen to music mainly in and sometimes we could arrange activities or school would take us out to places like the movies or the theatre especially when we were older.

The other side of being in a boarding school was you had to accept this space had rules and you had staff who would see you looked after yourself when it personal appearance and hygiene because that was their responsibility.

We also wore uniform outside class grey skirts or trousers with grey or red jumpers and white blouses -nothing really fancy (I'd of loved a blazer!) which I didn't mind cos at least nobody was able to be nasty about clothes you had.

The first thing you learned in your first term as that the 'social ground rules' were different, so If anyone said anything catty regarding another it would last well beyond communal mealtimes and 'broadcasting' your thoughts willy nilly or making wild accusations was a very silly thing to do cos the group would be upset for ages and you couldn't escape it.
You'd pretty much have to apologize to the person and the group and take whatever sanction they'd apply so we all could move on. Yes that was one lesson I learned from the Head Girl of the form the hard way!

In hindsight that was the best training for using the internet ever ('Everything seen cannot be unseen') as well as being very useful in large organizations dealing with group issues.

So you see my school experience was actually pretty good not because of some big idict from above but just from being flexible and showing compassion.

Sports day

One essential ritual of my school life was the annual Summer school Sports day where like it or not you were entered into the various sporting competitions for your school year group and house (cos we had operated a 'House' system).
There were  a number of them that stick in my mind and this is one of them.

That's the Egg and Spoon race that every junior school I went to always had  with the point being to fast walk with the egg balanced on a spoon not dropping or breaking, a feat that require much co-ordination the likes of which I never had!

Often there would be running races along a predetermined distance  with the first to reach the winning post getting a prize. Okay I could kinda run but staying in lane was hard going!
The other  common race was the Sack Race where you'd stand up wearing a sack over your PE kit holding the edges and have to run with the itchy material not tripping up over yourself which usually happened.
Usually some teacher or helper had the first aid kit at hand!
Although I was rubbish at it, I enjoyed taking part although we'd have to walk to the local park where it was held and was the 'Mascot' for our House.

Winter sports

I've always loved the Winter as cold as it often gets  not just for natural beauty but also for the many things you can do both inside and out on a Winters day.
One of my favourite sports to watch is Winter Skiing which is shown on the BBC as well as British Eurosport and it is sport many girls do take up although it is an expensive hobby to get into.

Off on the snow you really can move fast but it also requires good co-ordination too.

Here they are enjoying themselves in lovely girlish coloured attire, Who said girls can't ski or it's not feminine?

Baseball

Ball games are something I'm very interested in and I'd of loved to have played baseball as a kid like Ryo Hayakawa seen in this image in an all girls team

This was from the 1998 anime series Princess Nine which is hard to find new of which my copy has a rather awkward segmented box to get the discs out.

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.