Jennings Little Hut

Seeing we're entering the new year, I thought I'd resume from where I left off with the Jennings series of adventures.

 

We resume with Jennings and Darbishire in the Third Term who have managed to secure permission to spend their leisure  time hut building in a remote but alas marshy part of the school grounds. The somewhat rudimentary structures from twigs and bull rushes may not be the Headmasters expectations but has raised the pride of everyone involved.

Intermingled in this tranquility are a series of minor and major upsets one being a strong contender to become a new boy, Roger, who while with Jennings and Darbishire larking about by the pool gets muddy and messes his clothes up to the point of tearing his shorts just view as his Mother and the Headmaster are finalizing it.

The two boys the next day face going to the Headmasters room set for a good thirty-five minute lecture and a caning only to find the incident only encouraged Roger's mother to telephone saying he'd be definitely attending saying how good his time that day had been for him  and the headmaster commuting the punishment!

My copy with a little damage to the dust jacket is the nineteen sixty-seven Collins edition

Judy, Patrol Leader

The idea of leadership is one that interested me so characters in what I read around that topic always appealed to me.

This is quite an old book -my copy is from nineteen-seventy- and shows it but while not perhaps the best example of Girl Only fiction is one that does tackle that topic when Judy, who does to an all girls school becomes a leader of the Girl Guides section for the school and tells of her many adventures as Patrol Leader.

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?

Nature study

As  a child one thing we did a lot of was going on short nature study rambles at school. 

I guess our teachers were thinking of the idea of gentle exercise, slowing us down to appreciate the small miracles of nature and also the opportunity to make scrapbooks with writing, drawings and stuck in leaves etc about our experiences.

The impact it had on me was so much that continue to go on strolls and  a couple of days ago noticed the pussy willow was out on the local trees.

It's been a generally mild winter and this has no doubt lead to things coming out early.

Today however we're back to the cold spells with daytime temperatures of 1 degrees C and minus 5 overnight with heavy snow. I'm off work today!

Kino's Journey

Kino's Journey ADV complete series

For centuries, those in search of self-discovery and knowledge of the world have hit the road in furtherance of those quests. Young Kino, along with her talking motorcycle Hermes, has the same goal -- to travel and observe and learn from different cultures. Staying exactly three days in each location, Kino and Hermes learn much about the world and themselves.In disc two Emerging Lanes, Kino discovers the joy inherent in a trip, without getting caught up in the destination. She realizes that the experience of the journey, and the diversions it brings, matters more than where she's going. As she chats with men working on railways, works hard, and encounters dramatic action in a Coliseum, Kino finds that what she learns along the way is the most important thing.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Recently I purchased this anime DVD issued over here by Manga and was really impressed with it not normally being taken to time travel stories as much as I enjoy sci-fi and anime.

The initial story goes back to the 1970's and has been tackled before but in the opinion of many never in quite the emotional depth of this adaptation and runs like this:

Makoto Konno, a high school girl in Tokyo's shitamachi, realizes she has the power to go back in time and re-do things (what is called a "time-leap") when she impossibly avoids a fatal accident at a train crossing one day.

Bewildered, she consults with her aunt throughout the film, who then implies that she is the protagonist from the original novel. At first, Makoto uses her power extravagantly to avoid being tardy and to get perfect grades on tests, and even relive a single karaoke session for about ten hours. It isn't long however that things begin to turn bad as she discovers how her actions can adversely affect others.

Makoto soon ends up using more of her leaps to recklessly prevent undesirable situations from happening, including an awkward confession of love from her best friend Chiaki Mamiya. Eventually she discovers a numbered tattoo on her arm that counts down with each leap. From this tattoo she realizes it indicates that she can only leap through time a limited number of times. With only a few time leaps left, she attempts to make things right for everyone, but impulsively she uses her final leap to prevent a phone call from Chiaki asking if she knows about time-leaping. As a result, she is unable to prevent her friend Kōsuke Tsuda and his girlfriend from being killed in the accident at the train crossing that Makoto was originally involved in. As Makoto watches the accident in horror, time suddenly stops.

Chiaki reveals that he is a traveller from the future and leapt through time in order to see a painting being restored by Makoto's aunt, as it has been destroyed in the future. While walking in the frozen city, Chiaki hints that his original era occurs after a world wide catastrophe decimates mankind. He then reveals that he has used his final leap to prevent Kōsuke's accident and has stopped time only to explain to Makoto what the consequences will be. Having revealed his origins and the source of the item that allowed Makoto to leap through time, and being unable to return to his time period, Chiaki must disappear. Makoto realizes too late that she loves him as well.

True to his words, Chiaki disappears when time begins again and Makoto is upset. As she tries to come to terms with losing him, she discovers that Chiaki's time-leap had inadvertently restored one time-leap to her: Chiaki had leapt back to before Makoto used her last leap. Makoto now leaps to the moment when she gained her powers, at which point Chiaki still has one remaining time-leap. She reveals everything that he told her in the future concerning his indentity, the ability to leap through time, and his reasons for extending his stay in her time frame. Shortly before returning to his time period, Chiaki says he will wait for her in the future and Makoto replies that she will run toward it.

What makes the film so enjoyable is the portrayal of each character having many layers which adds to the sense of being able to empathize with them throughout the story.

The story is very much bitter sweet because Makoto learns that this power has to be handled with responsibility- changing the past is not so straightforward - and that actions beget reactions as she uses it to make a new world for her friends

I found it very moving.

Love Train

In with this years Christmas presents is this 4 cd long cd box set.
Entitled "Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia" it is a comprehensive set of hits and notable cuts of PhillySoul that for once isn't tied to a specific record label so does a better than average job of surveying the scene so we get acts like the (Detroit) Spinners and the Stylistics in with the mainstays of Philadelphia Records whose selection doesn't cut off 1976 unlike the 1997 3 cd set but goes to it's last glory days in 1983 with Patti LaBelle's If Only You Knew.
it includes a comprehensive booklet with interviews connected with the music one of which does tackle the UK's fascination of the music of Black America.