Christmas 2022

Okay Christmas entry here we go after being away for a few days for Christmas having packed a sweater, skirt and a dress to wear being familar with this side of me as much as we've battled over it in the past.

Yes really!

There will be a full entry on this at some point in the new year but basically it is the four cd book form set of songs from 1980-84 Now didn't include the the individual yearbooks and extra volumes.

Call Rupert the Bear an addiction going well into boyhood, a name some used to describe my dress style back then and this is this years Rupert annual with a nexture of reprints and fresh material that makes me feel great.

This is card wrappers worth of books starting with this years Beano annual which like the comic is firmly set in the modern day even if some characters we grew up remain as does Bash Street School.

Then we have the Dandy Annual, the comic outside of the Summer Special no longer exists so we have fresh stories based on our favourites such as Korky the Cat, Winker Watson, the Jocks And The Geordies, Keyhole Kate and Desperate Dan.

The modern world is around them but things are more as they were. Love it!

Then we have the compilation with the theme Things That Go Bump In the Night which draws from old stories from the Beano, Dandy and others in the old D C Thompson stable around that theme which pulls you into the past well.

I enjoy this series of compilations a lot for that.

 The Big Present this year was a three lp version that takes three concerts from San Francisco's Fillmore undertaken in 1997 by Tom Petty that go beyond the greatest hits and the new album but into songs from artists such as the Byrds and Grateful Dead that aren't in their recorded catalogue otherwise and in any event were some the best concerts the band ever did.

I also had a copy of the Record Store Day lp issue of Duran Duran's 1982 Hammersmith Odeon concert which is a double album on gold coloured vinyl.

Christmas greetings

So after a few weeks of Advent posts, we come the one before the actual day where you're always thinking about how people who normally don't see you all decide to drop in being unfamilar with our feminine ways.

Sometimes I feel it's best that when it comes to people coming to you while not leaving anything really "out there" around, you just present as your feminine boy self, even say a festive santa outfit that girls might wear.

The best present is of course to be just you.

WISHING EVERY FOLLOWER A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2023

* Image credit: zerochan

Moving ahead in the cold

Cold enough?

It's been a very cold few days here with temperatures well in the minus region - we don't do degrees f here - so being out has meant being wrapped up even when its been okay to be out on wobbly paws.

Catmas is beginning to take shape with a christmas carols by the tree event being held last Saturday for everyone young and old who was up to it.

Yesterday one Mr S Claus put an appearance in as the christmas lights, reindeer and sleighs are multiplying in the gardens coupled with local shops being decorated out.

 

This is one of two official trees, outside a local church, the damp excuse of a tree provided by the council, wilting and at a bit of angle due to the ongoing subsidence issues here is being ignored by us cos it just isn't a proper Christmas tree we can use for things.

Isn't this how you'd sooner spend Christmas with your family?

Advent is here!

 Hey, we're in December now!

We begin the Christmas countdown here with something that  a friend has already started as they make a pictorial Advent Calendar at one site every year which I really like.

Christmas is really for Children and whose of us who may in law be adults but retain much of our childhood selves, enjoying all the little rituals we re-enact year after year and one for me involves advent calendars.

While things are different than they were, as the sort of ones I had often had things connected more with the Christmas Story like angels, shepherds and the like, this one, based on the hit tv series Paw Patrol is one the one I've got.

It's simple, no toys behind each square or anything like that, just the choco but simple is really what I'm wanting not those more adult type ones certain people are pushing that cost tens of pounds.

It also means I can read a bit per week of this years Beano comic christmas special with 68 full colour pages just as I did back then.

It was colder out this week, temperatures down to three degrees but although the hat, gloves and dufflecoat were on so were the dresses and skirts, still out on the street, interacting with folk.

I usually tend to run down this blog over christmas as I like to spend time making it happen, being with my folks and that so we should pause in two weeks time until Boxing Day Monday.

Now yearbooks 1985

 One, two, three, four, the count off to Raspberry Parade by Prince takes us into the next clutch in the 80's volumes of Now That's What I Call Music yearbook series starting with the transitional year that was 1985.

As with all of the series there was a book format four cd version which I opted for for the short write ups on each song, a bit of a background capsule to what was going on in that year and even a quiz at the end!

This is a condensed three lp version too.

The four discs are held in pockets which I lined with mylar inner sleeves as paper against plastic tends to mark them.

This volume is more effected by licensing issues meaning no Madonna, Prince ,David Bowie or solo Phil Collins but casual fans who probably have compilations by them will buy it so while regretable it's not the end of the world and certainly the rest of the material included more than makes up.

Pop pickers of the generation will know some of the hits were originally include in the Now 5 and 6 compilations that have had sort of cd re-issues but the others mainly from the CBS (now Sony) and WEA labels were on HITS 2 and 3 which never had a cd issue at all so from that point of view this set is valuable.

1985 was a year some of the previous years US hits finally charted here in the UK such as Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For a Hero from Footloose, ZZ Top's Legs from Eliminator and Maria Vidal's Body Rock which had charted in the States in late August of '84, Pat Benatar's excellent Love Is a Battlefield from late 1983(!) plus Dan Hartman's I Can Dream About You from the film Streets Of Fire.

1985 was to be a memorable year for Shakin' Steven's as the wheels came off his career as he sang Merry Christmas Everyone, Tears For Fears and Simple Minds finally broke through with Shout and Don't You (Forget about about me) respectively as did Simply Red with Money's Too Tight (to mention) and the short lived popularity of Jennifer Rush took off with The Power Of Love.

In the world of Soul and R&B 5Star started their career scoring a hit with All Fall Down, Phil Collins joined Earth Wind and Fire's Philip Bailey for Easy Lover, Whitney Houston emerged with Saving All My Love For You, Loose Ends were Hanging On a String, Steve Arrington's Feel So Real got massive airplay and DeBarge scored a big hit with Rhythm Of The Night.

The brilliant Sade continued with The Sweetest Taboo.

Talked about records included Lionel Richie's comeback Say You,Say Me, Tina Turner's We Don't Need Another Hero, Paul Hardcastle's 19 and Harold Faltermayer's Axle F from Beverley Hills Cop and the cheesy but fun Tarzan Boy complete with yodels by Baltimora.

Pure pop included Queen's comment on the Live Aid concerts One Vision, the rather good Go West with We Close Our Eyes, Strawberry Switchblade's lolita fashion influenced Since Yesterday and Katrina & the Waves debut Walking On Sunshine.

In rock Foreigner scored with I Want To Know What Love Is, U2 followed up the previous years Pride with the Unforgettable Fire from the album of the same name, Marillion had a hit with Kayleigh from the Misplaced Childhood album and Bryan Ferry had a solo hit with Slave To Love from his Boys And Girls album.

The teen sensation aspect were covered by Norway's A-ha with Take On Me with its groundbreaking video while Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones maintained the previous years success with Wide Boy and Things Can Only Get Better during which Duran duran split into two for Powerstation who had a hit with Some Like It Hot and Arcadia both featured in this volume with Election Day.

Personal favourite is the atmospheric Life In a Northern Town by the Dream Academy.

On January 6th Now released the EXTRA volume, a further three cds worth of hits from 1985 which comes in a simple card folder with slots for each disc.

The main strength of this three cd Extra is the tracks that often or missed off but non the less were favourites.

There is a selection of fantastic indie and alternative from Toyah (Willcox), Sharp & Numan's Change Your Mind, Inbetween Days by the Cure, Bring On The Dancing Horses by Echo and the Bunnymen, the unforgettable Lost Weekend by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and Love Like Blood by Killing Joke.

Pop at its best is well represented by breakout act Go West with Don't Look Down, Cry by Godly and Creme, the motownesq I'm Your Man by Wham, Laura by the utterly brilliant Nick Heyward, Look Mama by Howard Hones and Don Quixote by Nik Kershaw.

Rock features a remake by the Far Corporation of the Led Zep classic Stairway To Heaven, Pat Benatar with We Belong from her Tropico album, ZZ Top with Sleeping Bag, Celebrate Youth by Rick Springfield, one bigger in the U.S. than the U.K. sadly, and Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon.

Soul and R&B showed the changed taking place across black music with the more traditional Dare Me by the Pointer Sisters, Shelia E with A Love Bizarre, the U.K.'s Five Star with Let Me Be The One while Cameo came out with Single Life

Looking back on it  as I lived it with Record Mirror and Smash Hits magazines arriving through the door upon reflection 1985 had a very lively and diverse music scene.

Overall this is a fantastic top up!

Going forward staying the same

The way that it goes sometimes can be odder than you might expect when you look at places where people who like for various reasons to return to their childhood both when it comes to the sorts of things they did and even how they would of dressed.

For instance what would you of expected of a site that was mainly for and about those who like to return to boyhood and school boy pasts?

Normally I'd expect a lot of talk about more overly masculine hobbies, relating patterns that may be more physical such as play fighting and rough housing and that sense of being a group of lads together.

Equally you'd expect to see more around boys casual and especially school uniforms with short and long trousers.

Imagine then to find that when asked about other sorts of clothes beyond boys school uniform for a number to freely volunteer that they like and have worn "girls" school wear such as skirts, pinafore dresses and gym knickers.

That really was so unexpected  so actually people like me do exist in those spaces even if on the surface they appear to be very much traditional boys only spaces.

The ramblings of a damp day

 Almost approaching Winter so reaching for more grippy footwear given the combination of weather and twisting, bumping and sinking sidewalks and pretty gloves has been something I've been doing as I've been gradually getting back on my feet this last week.

Not the sort of weather for that although it's so timeless and summery.

Won't be long before the ghoulish comic comes here but Josie And the Pussycats were a favourite cartoon series of mine combining an adventure per episode with a musical performance you could play air tambourine to in an era that included the Archies and The Partridge family were on tv with the Monkees a repeated treat.

You could say that era and me were very much at one with each other so elements show up in the extended current version of the young me that loves music or school related anime and enjoys the whole experience of handling and playing a record as "Stack O' Tracks" the 1968 album of Beach Boys instrumental versions is current playing out from my original copy.

It will soon time to put up Advent Calendar's another childhood ritual as one square at a time we count down the magic of Christmas and all that brings.

Until next time, bye.

Remembrance thoughts

 This blog tends to look at a variety of things not just about gender presentation, fashion but also personal life so today's entry about something I think matters and formed part of my life.

 

I enjoy a bonfire night as much as anyone but the other thing GirlGuiding and Scouts is involved in around this time of year is Remembrance  which was marked Friday with Armistice Day and on Remembrance Sunday at the weekend.

Having taken part in Parades it has a bit of a sombre nature because we think about what men (and women) did both at home and on the battlefield to preserve the liberty, freedom and way of life we have and the sacrifice of lives given to have succeeded in it against great odds in WW2.

It is important for people, especially children to know about this so in guiding with the help of people such as the Royal British Legion, girls and boys are taught about this as in a good number of schools they are too.

 

Here we see Guides and Brownies going to the cenotaph as many will this weekend placing their wreath upon it as a symbol of our respect and appreciation of what those people, often young gave for us and our country.

We will remember our war dead.

Crossing the line

 

From my own perspective you function better and achieve much more in proportion that you are and act from your own selfs needs rather than fighting metaphorically although sadly sometimes literally other peoples attempts to deny them and substitute their own.

One reads of parents of teens some even past 18 and thus legally adults finding that their attire has been binned, ripped up with attempts to keep them in away from friends and any social media they had used or work colleagues saying things but insisting they don't want any drama when it is they that actually are making it by raising their objections to even having nail polish on you where any woman would without question.

To me those sorts of things should be raised with people such as the police where laws are being broken  (taking another's items is theft) and human resources where people are being bullied and intimidated for just being different.

In order for me to feel good and work at my best I just need to be my feminine gurl self.

That's how to cross the winning line.

Feminized halloween

 

It was a special kind of a weekend when as a boy I had to present myself at my most feminine around girls and cross dressing "little girls" for some halloween themed fun activities as while the company wasn't a perfect fit nontheless where would I given my little side needs to come out?

I mean I can't be with the "adult boys" in their social world of sirs and short trousers so you have to adapt.

Basically I wore a grey pinafore dress of the sort some private schools still do but with the length taken up to a more shorter length so it was more what you'd wear in Junior school except for being better made.

And yes I had to wear knickers!

There's something rather fun about doing arts and crafts so that's what we did with everywhere all festooned with spiders, ghosts and bats!

I made a pumpkin lantern which I added a tea light to later on with all the others and joined in with a quiz before partaking of a buffet meal making sure I was sat decently, not showing anything I shouldn't on the floor.

We had  bonfire from wood and assorted bits and pieces before the fireworks began being placed with care and taking account of the wind which was getting up a bit.

The fireworks were rather fun although one seemed to split and went horizontally towards me which was a bit scary.

The wind was such I had to hold on the skirt of my pinafore as I could feeling trying to lift up, potentially showing more than I should but fortunately as I have worn skirts before I know how to handle such things although as a boy I never had to being kept in shorts or cords.

It was an enjoyable time together being able to let my little feminine boy side out with other littles who feel and dress similar.

Halloween

 Halloween is but a few days away which I'll be marking with friends this year being great opportunity to fem up to the max while having fun playing games taking part in quize's and making things .

Will YOU be in your frilliest refinery for this?

Motivation: Why I'm me

Some things around being a femboy get lost in a load of noise from settings that may appear to be similar but are not.

Take motivation for instance.

It's not around notions of being humilated as a genetic male such as you might associated with sissiness nor is it about becaming a woman you always felt you really were as it would for a transexual.

It's about you being happy as yourself, the way that comes out by itself  and people accepting that's how you are.

It's not about endorsement  nor is it about meeting some groups ideas about how you should present to be accepted by them.

You may need some help to be brave, letting people really see the real you rather than masking it all, being the master of all disguises.

Why hide our feminine ways not least when real women and girls do appreciate them.

The road travelled around the start of the last decade showed me that.

This really isn't something I can remotely agree with simply because men should not be carrying around ideas of seeing school girls as sexual playful objects and as someone who is younger than my years I am that person all the time and as such want to be respected and cared for.

Wear a uniform if you'd sooner be at school studying, taking lessons not for those reasons.

Of ghouls and notes

 It's Wednesday again and so in this old meets new blog we look at past and present on the same page.

The world is getting spooky with lanterns and giant spiders webs emerging as we progress through October although the spiders wed I'm sleeping with is fairly small as I just don't have the heart to evict him.

Marshmallows  have been declared VAT exempt following a court ruling because they are primary for toasting which of course we all love to do over an open camp fire on sticks.

While war rages over Ukraine and the City of Liverpool is to host next years Eurovision song contest for that country I did pick up a box set of symphonies to play as the nights get darker and my legs get soaked.

Rachmaninov's symphonies always had an appeal having bought a record of the the Third in 1989 which was to be the last record of classical music I had bought until last month and this rounds up over four full discs all the symphonies and some interesting shorter works such as Symphonic Dances in well performed versions in digital sound.

I also got this great set of recordings by the French composer, Ravel  from the same era that all fits in four compact discs.

Someone should tell Mr. Hifi Bore digital recording is the norm for classics

Signs of a new era

This week I'm looking at something a bit different, nay something we didn't anticipate a month back.

As we settle into a new reign some of the new symbols we will encounter along that way are emerging not that all the previous ones will just go.

Firstly, the new Royal Cypher has been designed and approved looking rather like this, C for Charles, our King, R for Rex, Latin for ruler and III the roman numerals for Third, traditional with just a hint of contempary in the font.

That is likely to feature on things such as any new Post Boxes commissioned or replacement to damaged ones.

There are a good number of older Post Boxes about going back to the reign of George VI and before in our Towns and Villages.

It was announced a set of commemorative stamps would be issued by the Post Office marking the passing of our late Queen of some seventy years service.

This is something that my long departed school soul mate, very much missed, and I would of been delighted with as avid stamp collectors back then buying the stamps to mount and getting First Day Issue Covers franked addressed to us.

We did everything together.

A new reign brings over time new coinage and new cins will be issued starting on the left with a Fifty Pence piece with now familiar smaller design rather tha the original we had from 1968 until a couple of decades ago where the many of the original coins were redesigned.

The one on the right will be a special commemorative£5 design rather than the polymer backed note we are familiar with

The reverse shows the new relief of our King, approved by him for new coins and notes to issued as needed, previous notes showing The Queen will remain legal tender.

Dad and my Grandad did collect coins several decades back.

The magic of Autumn

 After last weeks trip to the past this week we're in the present even the inspiration is very much from our childhoods.

Things that with all the other stuff in the world going on that I'm far more interested in is Halloween which creeps in towards the end of next month and in the first couple of days of November.

Good things about for me include spending more time outdoors as I'm not really an indoors type of person at all which can include things like outdoor crafts such as pumpkin based lantern making and games which benefit from having that room to spread around.

In the past they would of included things like toffee apples, dress up with props

 

There's nothing wrong with getting up in the trees and even being a fairy

Fall is magical for the amazing colours of leaves that may be gathered and I can remember when I was young doing a leaf based collage on black card.

He may be thinking "Can I jump up there?" but if he hangs around long enough a leaf will land right on his nosey!

Now Yearbook 1979

 Delayed for obvious reasons, we are getting around to reviewing the latest edition in NOW's yearbook series that sees us return to the nineteen seventies, an era generally not well covered in year based compilations.

As with every issue in this series that started in 2021, this comes out in two cd forms, a simple cheaper quadraple fold card sleeve or in a book edition which has short entries each song, a short resumé of the year and a quiz.

Issued on September 9th, I opted to get the book edition with its 85 songsalthough there is a shorter 3lp version available too.

There's a decent width spine and the four discs are held in cuts outs which I lined with mylar inner sleeves

Musically the main chart sound as disco based which is well represented by Donna Summer and Hot Stuff, soul veteran Edwin Starr with Contact, the Village People with Y.M.C.A. and In The Navy (covered comically by Billy Connolly as In The Brownies) and Leif Garratts I Was Made For Dancing.

Classy soul included Still by the Commodores (darn fine group btw), Woman In Love by the Three Degrees, Lady's Night by Kool & The Gang and September by Earth, Wind and Fire.

Reggae including Ska was big thanks to the Two Tone scene  with On My Radio by the Selector, One Step Beyond by Madness, that nutty North London group, Silly Games by Janet Kay and Walking On  The Moon by the Police..

Great Pop included Pop Music by M, I Only Want To Be With You by the Tourists, We Don't Talk Any More by Cliff Richard, Bang Bang by B A Robinson, Abba with Chiquitta and Queen's Don't Stop Me Know.

New wave as big in in 1979 which pleased me so Dreaming by Blondie, Eton Rifles by the Jam, Accidents Will Happen by Elvis Costello, Money by the Flying lizards, I Don't Like Mondays and Rock Lobster are all included.

The Cars aren't included but after their first two UK hits were bigger in the States, pity as I loved them buying Candy-O that year.

Heaver rock sounds came in although they tended to sell better on albums so Rainbow's Since You Been Gone, Bat Out Of Hell by Meat loaf feature as does Rappers Delight by the Sugarhill Gang, the first really popular rap song.

It was a fantastic year to be a teen into music with big variety of styles, images and associated youth culture and we haven't even mentioned Don't Stop Til You Get enough from Michael Jackson's first Epic solo album issued that year.

On October 21st the now legendary top "Extra" volume was released that added an additional 67 tracks to the series in the more bare bones tri-fold card sleeve with slots for each disc.

This set isn't quite as disco heavy as the main having a mixture of Pop, New Wave and then Disco hits included such as Cats U.K. with Luton Airport a ditty to that other "London" airport, Sally Oldfield's Mirrors and the hard to forget as a fifteen year old Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney.

Other hard to forget numbers include Mike Oldfield's arrangement of the Blue Peter tv show theme, Daytrip To Banger by Fiddler's Dram and Gerry Rafferty's Get It Right Next Time from his Night Owl album.

Add a dose of new wave classics to the mix and it couldn't be better!

The Queen and Me

It was announced on Thursday 8 September at four-thirty pm Queen, Elizabeth 2nd had died at Balmoral, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

At the heart of this institution lies a family and her in this picture taken in 1936 Elizabeth aged 10 with her father who my parents knew as King George VI and upon his death in 1952 she ascended the throne as Queen reigning for some seventy years, marking the anniversary in June this year.

Her service as Queen was beyond reproach.

The Queen pictured on the right was a Girl Guide but of course had been a Brownie before and this colour photograph restored shows the then uniforms.

Some might write more about her as an adult but that is not my focus as for me it was more that we grew up with her family, sharing in that story as children just like us, learning about them, yea even meeting them.

Her comedy sketch filmed for her 70th Anniversary of being Queen with Paddington Bear, taking tea, revealing her taste for Marmalade sandwiches after Paddington has some near misses before they tap out using a tea spoon against the cups the beat of the Queen song We Will Rock You that lead to a live performance wasn't just funny but connected with children.

It let out beyond all her adult role that eternal child-like side that could take pleasure in the simple things of life.

For me she was a role model and from now on I feel drawing from her life, not least her childhood dressing more as she would of, embracing my feminine gurl side is the better lesson to not just learn but go with.

Be that feminine gurl, be reliable, trust worthy and work on being the best you one is capable of.