Grange Hill - a BBC Institution

 

The BBC TV series coincided for a good many of us with our actual secondary education so coming home from school  or watching in the dorm after formal lessons had ended to wacth it before tea and homework is a strong memory.

The series not without its critics in the education establishment at the time, did tackle some serious issues such as bullying, racism, inappropriate staff behaviour and abuse by and drug abuse.

Our prevailing feeling was one that today would come under the umbrella of "That's so relatable" although Zammo would never pass uniform inspection with that badge on his lapel!

Dolly time

Sometimes the adult worlds new seems so heavy your age dysphoria comes on very strong which kind of inspired todays post.

Princess Natasha all in white making her way down the stairway. I had her for several years and is more the decorative sort of doll having a porcelain face

Morse sat on my chair. Although he's Scottish he doesn't drink Whiskey!

Jessica, as she'd just gotten up in the morning before I brushed her hair, living on the side of my chair in the front room from where I usually play, use my computer and watch tv from.

I doesn't matter they and my other dolls and stuffies are clearly visible to my neighbours across the street as are my Wood's Cat teapots or if they come into the front room.
It's my space and I'm me.

A Summer day trip

I went out on Saturday with daddy to the seaside departing from our estate on one of two coaches organized by residents where we travelled through our town to join the motorway network passing near Stanlow before joining the main A55 in North Wales, a semi-independent Country within the UK parking up at the coach park.

I left daddy to his own devices after getting off going some people I knew helping me cross the road to get into  the middle of town as there wasn't  a crossing and I'm poor with road sense.

 You may not of noticed it but in the gardens, there is this amazing clock set in the ground that looks rather striking from this angle. In the background on the far left is the Cenotaph and along the front there was a flower display marking  the start of World War One.

I agreed to met grumpy at 12:15 to make our way to a restaurant for lunch as being a Saturday it sure gets busy so you'd better get your skates on.

We went to Tribelles which had been recently taken over and revamped where the service was excellent from being met to getting your food in good time.

I had a 9oz Cod with chips and peas to whom the batter completely covered the fish itself so you had a whole lotta fish which is just fantastic for a growing little like me and tea which was very well cooked with the fish being moist but not mushy.

 There were a number of events taking place out of doors, one being a display and collection for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, a charitable organization that rescues folk at risk on the water and that was one of their lifeboats.

Also the Lions had a vintage motorcycle exhibit with many plushies and flags on the bikes one even had Crazy Frog with his googles!

I spent part of the afternoon watching the Punch and Judy show with the children, shouting and screaming along jumping up and down for good measure cos I love letting my more little side out while not reading my Beano Summer Special comic with my childhood heroes up to their usual tricks and playing on the beach.

Llandudno is one of a number of seaside resorts that has managed to retain its long jetties into the sea -a pier- and along of which are many shops and amusements one of which this not that you'll me in or consuming their products.

Jetties have their uses apart from launching boats on, fishing being one and here's a family group doing just that.

The coastline with the Haufre Gardens toward the top left with assorted Alice in Wonderland related things to be found.

Making our way back to the coach, I had a Mint Chocolate chip ice cream locally made as in many parts of the UK there is an aggressive Seagull problem meaning sitting out on the seafront  with food you'll be attacked and possibly injured by said birds.

Sunny start to the day here as Marmalade has come in for his toast who smell is invading the front room, hope it doesn't burn(!) as I'll be out for part of the day enjoying the weather.

For all of the fans of this

 

And that's an awful lot of us,eh, one place I stopped by last Saturday was here.

You can follow the Alice trail across Llandudno which is an awful lot of fun.

Herbert von Karajan on EMI & DG

From time to time I do post short amounts around my classical music tastes and one conductor I discovered in my earlier years was the late Herbert von Karajan and a year ago a large 13 set of boxes of his recordings for EMI Records  came out covering the two period he recorded for them in the UK, France and Germany.

The first and unfortunate thing to say is he never did a complete set of the Finnish composer Sibelius' symphonies although he championed them  in the 1940's, missing the Third completely.

This box has his recordings from 1976 through 1981 with the Berlin Philharmonic taking in symphonies 1,2,4,5 and 6 and the Tone poems which have their own cd.

I owned a few of these on record at the time in SQ Quadraphonic  so it's nice to have a complete set carefully remastered using 96/24 mastering techniques being personal favourites.

This set in some ways is the catch all loose ends bit of the collection but having a  good  number of his recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra to which he was the first conductor and stem from the early days of the LP record although the sound is remarkable even if a good many were taped in mono.

This set covers his 1950's recordings of Sibelius which the composer himself  was highly impressed by, something to bear in mind given the contempt some critics show for his interpretations as well as a amazing account of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique taped in 1954 but in stereo and among a program of 'lollipop's', there's a nice rendition of Waldteufel's Skater's Waltz which I danced to in a wheelchair as a kid.

There were reasons for picking up this  portion of the complete set too, namely that it included his 1950's recording of Tchaikovsky including the 1954 Fifth symphony I had as a child and my love of the Philharmonia who play on nearly all these recordings of Russian works by the likes of Mussorgsky and Stravinsky.

 Rounding things off, this 2 cd set of his 1960's recordings in stereo of Symphonies 4-7 is a must being very well regarded during the lp era and features his only stereo recording of the Seventh symphony.

It belongs next to  my original mid 1980's cd of Finlandia and other Tone Poems  recorded  digitally for DG and the 1987 DG Galleria re-issue of Christine Ferras's 1960's account with them of his Violin Concerto.

Selections will be written in lossless to micro sd card for playing on my Fiio digital audio player.

Billy Joel and Streetlife Serenade

If you read the previous editions of teen beat and the predecessors, you may of gotten the idea I do rather like Billy Joel and over the last five years a whole batch of his albums have had so-called 'audiophile' editions promising and delivering the best possible  sound from the Master Tapes.

 In 1974 he recorded a second album in Los Angeles whose songs referenced  both Surburbia and the Inner City.

Billy has publicly expressed his feeling the album as released didn't realize his intention and like with The Piano Man and Cold Spring Harbor, he re-recorded some of the songs live for the 'Songs In The Attic' album released in 1981.

The song most remember from this is album is 'The Entertainer' a #34 single hit, where he expresses his disapproval of how 'Piano Man' had been severely edited for single release inserting the sarcastic response "If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05".

Personally I like this albums wider musical range.

What's nice about this edition is the Mastering Engineer, Kevin Gray has prepared it from from the original mastertapes as mixed from the multi-track session rather than a copy of that so it's a clear sounding as possible and has the widest range between the quiet and loud passages.

The original recording to my ears was very well captured.

As well back in 1974, a four channel mix was made for the SQ quadraphonic record designed to reproduced over four speakers in the corners of your listening area and that mix is added as a extra to the Super Audio cd layer for those with players that support that format.

Feminine recovery program

 It's the second longest battle I have fought over identity issues over the one bought what my real age is and its implications when it comes to what I can be expected to do and and the degree of supervision I need in everyday life is when essentially you're still a child. 

Having the confidence to express how you feel not just in words but also in how you present such as your dress and for it to be respected is very important. 

It does not matter how much I have masculine traits, how happy I was to play rough and tough with the boys I have a sizable feminine side running through me that at the time was never able to be let out as the whole me.

Within age dysphoric life inclining playing I need to be able to play feminine games and undertake those activities as a part of being still a child amongst children.

I need full access to the whole range of children's clothes of my era and specific time devoted to being in skirts and dresses and more feminine underclothes not just to express the here and now of my gender but as a therapy for past issues.

As a little sissy gurl, it matters to me that I express this side of me, being more open about as some have tried to say I can't be a little as an age regressed adult and even bullying me over it.

I can be cute as a feminine little sissy gurl in a pure age regressed side with nothing sexual in that space and I have every right to be that person. 

That's what matters.

Things for a Summer Day

Summer always was magical but without the structures of school work it didn't take much to get bored especially if it was a rainy day which we sometimes get.

One staple was the Summer Special and this year I got the Dandy and Beano ones which I always read as a young child more or less until Mummy cut of the newsagents order and so would buy copies during works lunchbreak and the like.

I just found they keep me smiling as I recall what we did back then.

The good thing about annuals and books is if it is a rainy day you can start them and resume later on if it brightens up easily so I keep a good number around including a few past Summer Specials.

It was a lesson I learned in Juniors and as a little, I find it also helps now.

I'm not just a physically active little sissy gurl but have been known to colour so it's not all running around or playing ball games so I bought some new colour pencils to do a bit of suitably girlie colouring with.