Tammy and the steam train

While I've been away with friends this last week thoughts came back.

Trains while not the mainstay of my interests were a childhood fascination, not least steam ones going on many preserved steam railways, having a model steam train of my very own and loving the Ivor the Engine animated cartoon heaps.

I like to go on trips as often as I can to experience live steam traction.

The Electric Light Orchestra

The Electric Light Orchestra and I go back in time buying the 45's as they came out in the 1970's and early 80's a good number in their colourful picture sleeves, playing them at school and home and later on getting a good number of their albums on cd having borrowed  them from either brothers, friends or the public library.

The Elo, were a band that defied the single or album orientation bias  many back then had issuing worthwhile albums and many memorable singles such as Telephone Line, All Over The World, Mr. Blue Sky, Don't Let Me Down and Rock and Roll Is King.

That can make having a compilation quite desirable however there's been a good number starting from 1979's Greatest Hits that in some ways is remains the perfect summary of the 1973-77 singles and double or even triple cd sets.

The one I remember getting in December 1997 was Light Years, a mid price British double issued on cd, cassette and mini disc which was jam packed full of material including edited versions from singles and an EP, in no particular order and suffered from being too consistently loud and bright so I relented and got the original Greatest Hits album on a cheap cd. 

I did briefly get 1991's Greatest Hits Vol II but that sounded very thin although the selection was very good so I got rid of it.

That did leave missing a selection of the later hits as most miss off anything from the  Zanadu soundtrack that gave us three hit singles and to which the title song had been re-recorded in 1991 for the Flashback cd  box set that was criticized for chopping off the very start and ends of a number of tracks.

The one pictured above most would consider the best of the bunch having most of the essential tracks including the very early tracks and was very well mastered by Vic Anesini in 1995 who did excellent work on a number of Columbia projects like the Simon & Garfunkel remasters.

It was only issued in North America and recently I obtained a copy to fill those gaps and having the European Zanadu soundtrack on cd that came out in 1998, the missing tracks from it aren't so much of an issue with me. 

It sounds really good with the extra resolution from using good tapes and taking extra care about how you make each track sounds. 

My feminine gurl likes

 

I've always had something for pleats in my skirts, may be a lingering bit of my memories of trying on girls school uniforms but generally they hang better on me, having that bit extra pouf that I like so it's hardly surprising I like to be put in them.

Today, I'm having to rest, well kinda rest anyway which wasn't really planned for and has little of itself to do with what this blog usually talks about although the weekend started off pretty well. You see yesterday was day one of Study Weekend as I was getting to grips with paragraphing and punctuation which to be honest is something I struggled with at least because I had poor idea of what were never mind how you use them in written English. 

I did pretty well on the set exercises going over what I had learnt which was very much eye opening before it was time to go from where I study to the main lounge to take a break before having an evening meal. 

Talking about fashion,  most of the time when it comes to footwear it's a variation on Mary-Janes or maybe a  canvas plimsoll that I wear not least with poor co-ordination and balance any kind of heel is off.

I must say though these thick soled platform Hello Kitty shoes do have a irresistible cute appeal to me.

Stepping out as you

 

Going off with a mate to play and have fun together was always a part of this life even though modern day gaming was very much in its infancy with small 8 bit consoles that hooked up to your tv and computers were not Personal more corporate back then.

It is interesting how both boys in otherwise fairly masculine attire have cute good luck charms attached to their backpacks where over here at the time I was in my teens it was all about grey and being unobtrusive.

The thing about being a boy is there is lots of ways and you can blend them.

The thing we need to break is this cycle of "only real boys do" which places artificial limits and often gives comfort for homophobic, transphobic and feminine boy hating attitudes and aggression. Girls and Sissy Gurls are into gaming too.