Christmas 2012

If you have just come to this blog you probably did not expect me to publish a Christmas edition as I had said elsewhere I wasn't doing one before Christmas as I was going to be very busy organizing stuff for other peoples Christmas's, visiting and the like.

A Christmas for me is unapologetically a little affair, simple, very childlike wrapped around some groan up parts such as being with relatives so while they may do sophisticated things and talk about groan up stuff, I don't cos I'm the child.

I woke up, got dressed and spend most of the morning  in full school uniform and I see I wasn't the only one in our community that spent at least some of our time like that today.

We went out for Christmas lunch where apart from having some lovely well cooked food, I played a small springy man with a sucker that holds it down for a minute before it goes pop and jumps up in the air landing all over the place. I had loads of fun doing that and Mummy was okay with it too. Having a Mummy that'll let you do this in public is so awesome.

 As well I had this the 75th Anniversary annual of the British Comic the Beano with special stories, jokes and other things in them that make me happy.

I also had the Dandy annual too which in way is a bit sad as it finished a few weeks ago for good.

In a Christmas for me, new children's books feature as I love reading about people and their adventures so there's Emerald Star, a follow up to Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson in their hardback editions.

A borderline adult little girl colleague bought me this cos it reminded them of me which was just lovely.

I love Jacqueline Wilson, having a good number of her books which appeal to girls and boys like me plus the uber cool and kawaii Hello Kitty annual.

Mum bought me some cute girly socks and Scottish shortbread. I had a tin of chocolates to share cos well sharing is a 'very good thing tm' although Ill have to change some gloves as my hands are small, the fingers are smaller than Mummy's even and these are way too big

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I have record coming just after Christmas too as it was in the Christmas Eve sale too.

Now the funny thing is people this is so similar to the Christmas's of of the past and you know what? It just feels so right.

Xmas and The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl

 

Christmas December 1977 is lodged in my mind for being the year I had a Christmas present that unlike a good number from that era I still own.

On May 4th 1977 following the previous years excursion into remarketing the beatles a new album came out that featured recordings of their August 1964 and 1965 performances at the Hollywood Bowl in California that had been recorded for posterity by Capitol records.

1977 was several years on from the end of the Beatles with each member moving on with their own solo careers and other interests to varying degrees of success but close enough for our generation to have known fleetingly about them first hand.

In the main I was more into Paul McCartney and Wings being swept away as mid Junior boy by My Love and Band On The Run three or so years before and loving this years Mull Of Kintyre single which I also had. 

While individual studio albums were still available and it was only three and a bit years since the now legendary 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilations had come out with myself having the latter myself in March 1977, their had been nothing that captured the feel of Beatlemania.

This album compiled of two shows, transferred from the vintage three track tapes to 24 track equalized and remixed, did capture the feel of being at a show with a typical half hour set complete with 17,000 young screams.

It was a deluxe gatefold sleeve edition that I bought on  Friday December 17 from the local record shop all by myself before handing it over to Mum for safe keeping until Christmas Day when it was played.

My copy is a first edition cut by Wally Traugott at Capitol mastering with -1/-1 matrixes rather the later recuts done by Harry T Moss at Abbey Road.

The inner sleeve of the UK edition I had and the North American differed with theirs having a mocked up live photo while ours showed the currently available studio and compilation albums complete with track lists on vanilla background.

This proved useful for a thirteen year old me to plan how to build over time his beatles albums collection and put on birthday and Christmas wish lists.

Falling between two stools

We mentioned a bit about gender identity earlier on and actually that has a big part to do with the history of this blog which is some people misunderstood me taking me into whole areas that really were not.

There was not a question in my own mind that biologically I was male and I didn't beyond natural curiosity really go around thinking that in some way actually I was a girl but the thing was I had feminine interests and feelings.

Back in the nineteen seventies and eighties that was a massive issue because while I was happy to be "one of the boys" what was in that boy was wider and I couldn't openly be me in an era when boys were ridiculed and assaulted for being like me by other boys if not humiliated by macho male teachers. 

I wanted to play some of the playground games girls did but that wasn't allowed, You liked some girls toys but you'd never be allowed to play with their friends and your mates would make your life hell if they had an inclining you did.

It was bigger than that even.

I did like to wear sometimes skirts and dresses, not because I wanted to be a girl or later on transition to be a adult female becoming for all intents and purposes but just because I felt comfortable dressed that way although I didn't mind wearing shorts.

Long trousers were and remain a hatred of mine.

It was all just a mess.

The Plaid Appeal

For a very long time plaid designs had a hold on me from the tins of shortbread biscuits whose contents I devoured as a boy to Scottish Regimental soldiers in kilts via the sensational Bay City Rollers pop group I loved as a young boy.

Perhaps that's where that liking for plaid skirts and matching clan ties came in and my mum did have ladies kilt skirts that I sometimes would try on as I wasn't much for all the ceremonial things associated with the male kilt but did like skirts.

I almost bought one back in 1984 from the Giroscope magazine the bank National Girobank had.