Times past and present

I've a little time to kill today so I thought I'd work on this weeks entry tonight instead of leaving it until later and I'll start of by thanking those of who read and remarked on last weeks entry.

One recurring theme from the last seven days has been how you can be transported back in time by such things as rewatching tv shows or  hearing and  maybe discussing such things as music as you recall people, places and events from that period that link in with your childhood. 

There's a phenomenon people call the 'Earworm' that enables to you recall the sounds and tunes when they are heard again even if it may of been decades since you last heard them. 

It may even be one reason people listen to and collect recordings from the past apart from the joy listening to music can bring.

I had a number of those moments this week listening to Boom Radio hearing tracks I hadn't heard on radio for ages and going into a different world.

Then talking some more around the subject of schooldays and the notion of being a schoolgirl with a few people in a more personal way proved interesting for the similarities in what we get from it - being the child, the love of uniforms and structure, finding an inner peace and when we first realized we were different than our peers.

The observant will note its no coincidence the tops are just like mine cos this is the most comfortable in my own skin I can feel and these days it matters so so much.

Numbers

The weekends interlude of snow has passed so I wobble around our estate without fallin' down today which is nice as I don't like being shut in much at all.
Talking in various places across the week brought a few memories back about the past like how we were taught math.

 For us everything started with learning addition and subtraction (take aways) and the decimal system (yay for logical units!) before being introduced to times tables which we had to learn by rote, reciting both individually and as class  up to the Twelve timestable and also by compiling our own time tables  in a grid form.
Everything came from either a text book or more often what our class teacher stuck up on the board for us to either copy down in our exercise books and complete or to work through in class on the board with us being called out to complete in front of the class  showing your working out.
There weren't any work sheets, calculators or a computer back then.
Carrying over numbers and doing long division are kinda etched in my brain which says a lot about how effective the whole class teaching was despite my best effects of telling the teacher I didn't think I should have to, which responded in a sharp reminder who was actually in charge.
We did do fractions but by the time I went to boarding school we got more into equations, area and trigonometry  which I was lousy at to be honest.

Learning past and present

One difference between the kind of education I had and that of many children today centres around how we were taught.
For most of my education for instance generally the teacher led the class learning determining what the days topic was in any given subject. They often would dictate notes or write them down on a chalk board for you to copy to your exercise book sometimes with drawings or diagrams too which was fun if you were not good at writing or spelling things as you'd struggle to keep up.
Sometimes we'd have school made duplicated work sheets for some subjects such as Combined Science to complete as we did experiments with bunsen burners, electricity and magnets.
In History we often read from and makes notes using set text books and all homework (and there was heaps of it!) was to be completed by hand.

This scene would be almost familiar to me in high school as we'd move from old style individual wooden desks to clusters of tables and plastic chairs except for one thing.
That's right, where the girl is sat we'd have our exercise book but she has a laptop which looking at this picture closely is something most of her peers do not suggesting she has 'special needs' and has been given one for 'writing up things' with.
That is something I'd of benefited from personally as my hand writing was poor and spelling pretty rotten too.
A number of schools today have huge screens,  some interactive, for teaching with rather than chalkboards (they were called Blackboards until some edict came down saying that word was racist!) but debate rages as to whither or not this is any more effective from the chalkboard and rote learning we had.

Children of Cherry Tree Farm

I grew up in the countryside in a small hamlet with just one store and public house that we spent summers outside drinking lemonade in when we weren't playing out  so it isn't that surprising I love stories about the kinds of communities I lived in.
Enid Blyton wrote three super books that deal with this topic that I adore.
We start with four children Rory (13), Sheila, Benjy and Penny - that's the youngest at 7 - who lived in London are sent to their Aunt Bess and Uncle Tim's farm, Cherry Tree Farm,as they were poorly to recuperate while their folks were on business in America.
It's an old country farm with thatched roofs and little mechanization.

They learn about country life and lore encountering Tammylan a person who understands about looking after animals and explains the them all about different species and their role in the countryside. For the period this novel is set in Tammylan has enlightened views about the importance of the environment. The fresh air soon helps the children recover and also ignites their imaginations.
They learn about how farming families pull together and have a pleasant surprise as their folks upon returning decided too forgo their city life to return to farming.
The Children of Willow Farm and More adventures on Willow Farm are the stories of bringing a farm back to life, establishing new crops together with livestock as it is a mixed farm and the trails and tribulations of running the farm that the children increasingly learn to do for themselves.
The children learn about being responsible, working as a team and dealing with disappointments.
What I love about these books isn't just the story about the children it's how carefully information about wildlife and farming practise is slipped into the book so you learn about the basics of agriculture and making things like milk, cheese and cream!

Elizabeth in Joanne?

This post has be coming to me this morning where I'm poorly laying across my Hello Kitty bed attire and new Duvet in my school uniform, so do bear with me.
Off and on, I've made reference to the books I read during my chronological childhood some of which I owned, some borrowed off friends or via the library of the boarding school I attended.
Indeed you may of spotted a few entries here about books by Enid Blyton that come in that category and how I've gotten new copies not least the second but last entry around St Clare's that with this rotten cold I'm reading, something that is a direct echo of my childhood in times when I read books in my dorm or the sick bay.
I recently got though a most interesting addition again an older edition with original illustrations that has taken me back with some startling observations.
With the final three in one volume of St Clare's (Back to St Clare's) was another three in one book.

This was a 1992 edition of first three The Naughtiest Girl stories (Naughtiest girl again, Naughtiest girl is a monitor and Naughtiest girl in the school)

The stories are set in Whyteleafe, a progressive co-ed boarding school that some feel has a striking resemblance to Summerhill school in Suffolk, England.
The main character is Elizabeth who you could say is a very spoilt child used to getting her own way often running with unchallenged ideas so much so she resolves to behave so badly she can't avoid being expelled from the school she never wanted to go to. The secondary character is her best friend, Joan Townsend, who tries to get her to behave which by the time Elizabeth realizes how lonesome she was as a only girl, she gets more onside with the other children and  is less of a problem to the staff.
Here's an earlier cover from one of the separate books:

Now the first think upon quickly skimming the book was I saw my reflection in in how she dressed in the original illustrations, not least the fully pleated skirt, the modern version of which I'm actually wearing. She's around nine or ten years of age so the first thing I am thinking is, *Something* around this age is lodged in me as I'm not a senior. The second  is that smile as she's doing thinks like flirting ink about - it comes to me that around this age I did some similar things with ink and it's her awkwardness is causing this lashing out as oddly enough it did for me.

E.A stood there on the left of this original illustration is the image of that era of my life, meeting together with satchel, sports kit and naturally full uniform.
One interesting aspect of the Whyteleafe school is that the children have meetings where they dole out pocket money (everyone has a certain minimum  because it is pooled and the case for more has to be accepted by the others first) and also they deal with infractions dishing out punishments which the Monitors have the power to as Elizabeth is reminded of when she acted silly.
In practise, in my school head boys and girls also did although it wasn't formally set up - effectively they stepped in and if didn't accept whatever the outcome was, it was reported to the staff.
On one  particular day I did do something really silly like get going calling one girl rotten names and it got a bit out of hand, as does some of Elizabeth's silly things but unlike it being raised at a Meeting I was called to see the Headgirl in private who wanted answers, insisted on an apology to the girl in question and used her hairbrush on me (which was as far as I was concerned better than some poxy letter from the Head to my folks who'd just send me to child welfare person dragging the whole thing out. At least it's all over with in one go.).
Like Elizabeth I got better after that as I learned to fit in better with people, having my rough edges smoothed and even became a year rep, greeting very important people which does help when as now I have to do groan up things.
Having this book has reminded me of the distance I've travelled emotionally, the difficulties I've overcome in the past through learning to be more mature in how I deal with situations. As well, it affirms what Joanne remains deep down - a little girl only just in double digits - and no one least of me should ever forget it.

Time for a story

Not that long the little saint nick comes, eh and I'm thinking  back to the Christmas's of the past and the presents I'd of wanted to have been given.
I loved reading although it's something I'm not even now particularly good at and so I's of gotten a  few books.

 

Now that's more the kind of book, a collection of short stories you can just dip into whenever you have a few minutes spare and as it happens I have a copy of this because although when I was a bit older and we were moving about Mommy tossed aside stuff including books she thought I grew out of, this one came with me in the toybox no doubt wrapped in wallpaper that we were expected to put over to protect our books so no one knew what it was!

The front cover makes me so happy with its carefree images of junior life although I only briefly had a dog and well you don't run around with your cat on a lead now do you?

Also back then we weren't big on 'Brands' with their logo's spluttered on garments like some walking advertising hoarding.

The Adventurous Four

I don't know about you but adventure stories have always had an appeal and two wonderful books in the series The Adventurous Four set off the Scottish West coast where four children with the oldest Andy aged 14 who's acquired already a good knowledge of the sea, islands and sealife is  helping his Dad,  encounter Nazi's thieves and gunrunners.
The series is very much set in Wartime arguably more so than any other of Enid Blyton's work and sees them taken prisoner by the Nazi's resolving to show them what Scots are made of.

These are my copies in the Deans Rewards series from 1973 where as with a few other series such as the Famous Five, the skirts and shorts worn by the children in the original  covers are replaced with Jeans although we all know children during the War never had Jeans!

Blue Peter

 There's a fair chance some of you may well remember having these annuals during your childhood as avid viewers of the BBC TV Blue Peter program. It may surprise you to know I also have a number that are co-related to the period I was (officially) a child having not just information about what was shown during that 12 month period, but also on the news of the day such as with this edition information about the US space carrier, Skylab and some good illustrated bits about British History.

It all helps to jog my memory back to the year and what mattered to me as a child during it such as the arts and crafts which at all the schools I attended we did.

As far as I'm aware that's John Noakes a Northern English presenter during most of the 1970's with Shep, the Boarder collie to the left of him.

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?

More annuals

I've always loved having annuals for Christmas and Birthdays and was fortunate to have girls annuals rather than yukky boys ones

I also like horses so horse plus girlie fashion couldn't be better.

This was from 1973 which I remember well as being the year of Skylab, Britains joining the  Common Market and Princess Annes Wedding to captain Mark Phillips.

Scouting and me

The one organization I'd love to have joined when I was a chronological child would of been the Brownies, the younger side of Girl Scouting but it was never to be. In fact my folks never enrolled me to any part of the World-wide Scouting movement which was a pity for although I have disabilities it wouldn't of been hard for them to accommodated me (and I'm sure if asked nicely they'd of been happy too).
This is the Brownie uniform I'd of been proud to have worn, learning more about self-reliance, serving others and improving my poor confidence at the time.

Taking the promise, one I'd of been happy to made in 1972 as I had no problem uphold the principals and pledging my allegiance.

Here's a 70's vintage uniform with  badges but can you see that oh so  1970's smiley face yellow badge. I used to have loads of them then!