Jennings Follows a Clue

The second story in this series came out in 1951 where Jennings feels inspired to take up the career as a detective with Darbishire as his assistant, trouble needless to say is just around the corner.

The twosome first of all detect the lights being on in the sanitarium when nobody is supposed to be in there which is the catalyst for them investigating it and the laundry room before noticing the school sports cups, to which competitions are due have disappeared!
They see a main of that they believe to be a piano tuner leave the building with them and follow him, breaking school rules into the village going into a silvermith and jewellers oblivious to this being his occupation and that he was to engrave them for the school by permission!
Meanwhile all this detective stuff is becoming something of a distraction  not just to Jennings and Darbishire but within their form leading to a number of mishaps not least being caught having defaced a textbook and not paying proper attention in class which results as did for many of our generation in a lecture and a caning from the Head.
While exploring the sanitarium they get caught by a mysterious person who locks them in a room and after escaping, investigate laundry as they lose a clue to only end up being driven  away as the school sports is taking place. In the end they found out who really stole the cups in time for presenting them.
It's a hilarious account of schoolboy life that could only exist pre internet and cellphone.
The edition I own is the 1967 Collins hardback which keeps this dust jacket.

Tag and Kiss Chase

This was a game I sure remember playing as a kid and no doubt if were socially possible to today I would gladly. The game involves one or more of you chasing other players with the aim of touching them generally with your hands.
Two or more players decide who is going to be 'it' using a counting out game such as Enny Meany, miny, moe and the one designated 'it' then chases the others attempting to get close enough to tag them - a touch of their hand - that makes that person 'it' and so it continues usually to the end of recess at schools.
In some forms it's deemed if you are on or touching a safe are then you can't be tagged cos it's off limits.

There was a form of it I well remember well from primary school 'cos we played it all the time called Kiss Chase.
The main difference is the tag is done by kissing rather than a touch of the hand and typically all of us of one gender are 'it' at the same time and chase the others of the opposite gender until everyone is caught at which point the team that was caught becomes it.
I really loved playing kiss chase between 8 and 11 years of age.

Cosplay

Today I'm feeling liking talking about Cosplay Pronounced, kosupure is short for "costume play", a type of performance art whose participants outfit themselves, with often-elaborate costumes and accessories, as a specific character. The characters are usually sourced in various Japanese and East Asian media forms, including tokusatsu, manga, anime comic books, graphic novels, videogames, and fantasy films. Other sources include performers from Visual Kei, J-Pop,J-Rock, fantasy music stories, novels, and objects from the real world or cyber-space that are often are unique and dramatic.

Cosplay participants ("cosplayers") create a subculture centred around wearing their costumes and re-enacting scenes or inventing likely social behaviour inspired by sources they have chosen. In some circles, the term cosplay has been broadened to include simply wearing a costume, without special consideration given to enacting characters in a performance context.

In Japan a whole district may be seem to be inhabited by the cosplayers and many business support it, supplying the needs.In the west this has been picked up on by the interests in gaming and anime.

This has had an influence on role play with males taking on the roles of females in play - think Second Life. There are a number of suppliers of Cosplay made to measure outfits. The image at the top of this post is of one. Cute, eh?

A great site abut the scene: Cosplay.com -

Stockists:
About Us : Lawrara Cosplay Shop - Japanese Uniform, Costume, Japan School Bag, Candy Sugar, Fancy Pocket, Socks, Gothic Lolita, uniforms, costumes

Wombling Free!

Well none of us of a certain age can forget the Wombles, ecological warriors and cute cuddly creatures from the 1970's and as a child i look forward to watching every episode.

Here's a link to the online Museum:

Tidy Bag - The Online Wombles Museum

This also has links to various currently available merchandise.
There is a lovely two DVD box set in recycled cardboard featuring all 60 original episodes in order which I recently purchased.

School Uniformed Life

This kind of uniform with blazer over blouse tie and skirt was very much a part of my own experience as a child because this was what girls generally wore to school. You cannot help but notice it just doesn't compliment their appearances but it looks very smart as well as defining you a school girl.
If you were in the 5th form (14 1/2  thru 15) or above you could wear tights usually a plain colour such as tan, blue, black or grey instead of knee socks

Of course any part of being a school child included shared interests of which a big one is comics and for me it was the British Comic, the Beano with it's adventures that we shared especially in my boarding school.
Recently it has been celebrating its 70th anniversary with a special soft back magazine edition that I bought back in July and this exhibition.

You, me and the rest of the world.

How we handle our 'Little Girl' side is in some respects down to us but we do need to think sometimes about how being the way we are can impact on others.

For instance some us may just be more at the point of maintaining many of the interests we had from our childhood such as playing with dolls, doing sticker albums and so on and whatever the rest of world may think about this, it just between us and causes no harm.

Some may be more into the look which can vary from what is just 'adult' clothes based on childhood likes, though larger versions of children's clothes to those who may wear oversized school children's clothing as a means of building on how they feel. 

The latter may seem a little odd although in the UK at least middle aged do put on school uniforms - usually high school ones mind - to wear to school reunion discos and social meet ups!

 In that context it is accepted and in your own home what you do is very much your own affair.
Every so often though we read stories of people, generally men, who dress as school girls hanging around recreation grounds or actual schools which attracts the attentions of the local media and host of other people.

Now their intent may not necessarily be to harm any child and for one thing most kids would soon realize this person wasn't their (chronological)  age, however it does cause children especially the 12's and younger to feel ill at ease and in some circumstances distressed even.

Many parents will feel at least a sense of unease at your presence in oversized school pinafore dress, white socks  and pigtails and most would conclude you wanted their child's attention to harm them. In that context it isn't that surprising that your local police department will be called and will expect you to explain yourself.

Causing children to feel this uncomfortable is just plain wrong, may well result in verbal even physical abuse to you from parents and is a extremely stupid AND serious thing to do even if from your point of view you're just placing yourself back at school feeling still that age.

I used to work in child protection not least as a 'Little Girl' I had a great empathy toward the role of protecting children from harm and it makes my blood boil!

Remember being a 'Little Girl' doesn't excuse us from respecting the emotional needs of children and avoiding needless distress.  In fact it ought to inform them!

Nancy at Saint Brides

This month I am going to write a bit about a book which taps into part of me but was even when I was growing up was seen as part of a series that were more in the past more what we'd be handed down or bought second hand.

This copy is the 2002 Girls Gone By paperback reprint.

 Nancy at St. Brides was written eight years on and after the second in this series (That boarding school girl) but in a lot of ways the first proper book in that this is where the main character Nancy makes here appearance as a relatively unschooled 14 year old dispatched to St.Brides  with instructions to be kept an eye on being very ahem spirited which soon shows in the dares she was only too willing to perform and caught out by the Sixth form prefects.
You could say she was impressionable which I was too at this age and this is the the story of her first unhappy term as she gets to grips with school structures, rules and consequences.
Nancy's problems were less the stuff of theft, insubordination, refusal to apply ones self or bullying  but more about what can be seen as maturity or rather the  lack of age appropriate maturity at least in part because she was never really 'schooled' so failed to see how her impulsive reckless side so resulted in one child almost drowning and another catching a serious cold.
For Nancy this lead to the matter of her being 'asked' not because  to return not formally expelled by Head Mistress Miss Cawdwell because she feels Nancy lacks the maturity a girl at boarding school needs. It also leaves the door open for her to return with a clean slate made easier for Nancy making a attempt in her last three weeks to do some good such as doing well in the swimming competition.
It's an enjoyable read not just for her spirit but also how working at channelling her interests starts to pay off.