Space age living

The week it had to be said  had a turbulent start but ended quite well all be considered gaining a few fans at one place, seeing a misunderstanding led disagreement get to the point of accommodation and finally late autumn weather came to that lead to some photography which is more my idea of fun than dealing with the likes of the DWP which has been central in the last few weeks.

People often hear the groan ups talking about how we live, the type of environment they plan and how that affects things and this taps into some of things we recall of the past.

For instance in the late 1960's and 1970's the way children lived was changing rapidly brought on by both the idea of keeping more green spaces and also using less land for housing.
One famous children's tv series caught it well.

Yes that is a lift to the flat Mary lived in with Mungo the dog and Midge the inquisitive mouse in their town. They had a flat with a balcony that served as their garden and if they wanted more space then they'd go the communal park where fairs and other things go on.

Here's Mary playing with the bright colourful building blocks.

 I often harboured the thought they were trying to prepare us to this more isolated existance where everyone kept themselves to themselves, a far cry from the sort of life my folks had.

For one thing you couldn't just play in each others gardens or on the street, just in doors in the park away from the neighbours and the other is it remove the wonder of seeing the natural environment with it's calming effects.

Fun and Games edition

Seeing it's the annual Greenland's Bonfire and ghoulish weekend to which a number of my friends are attending, I thought I'd add something from a far as a contribution in kind to that magical spirit.

Pumpkins will be carved making them into lanterns, food will no doubt be consumed and finally that there bonfire will be lit which I think is a British tradition.

It was a bit late finishing Saturday night so we weren't in bed until Sunday morning but then we lost an hour with changing back to GMT which really affected my "spoons" later on.

We did go before people departed for an enjoyable meal at a local gastropub which was extremely tasty and also relatively inexpensive

 

Meanwhile all the stores are gearing up to Christmas time getting new stock  in and starting the promotions for toys and games which kinda reminded me of one we used to play both at school and at home.

The great thing about Junior Scrabble the word based games is there are two tways of playing.Younger players can begin with the exciting, ‘Words and Pictures’, a game expressly created to help with the recognition and formation of complex words. 

someone has mastered that there's ‘Rainbow Scrabble’, which is the more challenging version intended for younger players of age seven and upwards. 

The scoring system is identical to the ‘grown-up’ version, yet far easier to use and keep track of. In a clever move both games are also conveniently located on each side of the board, making it easy to swap from ‘Words and Pictures’ to ‘Rainbow Scrabble’.

E for effort

 Tales from the past as the return to school looms.

I was never that good at gymnastics of any sort not that we didn't try anything and everything the others were doing with the advantages of two fully functional legs and at least a modicum of co-ordination.

The overall philosophy was one of everyone takes part regardless and has to try all to which any "but miss my..." tended to get short firth asthmatic, disabled didn't come into it and so I did encounter the vaulting horse.

It was never easy to get over it without ending up on the floor although back then if you gave the impression you put nothing into it you were likely to feel warm glow delivered to your rear and a public lecture.

I preferred the Games part of the curriculum

Disability and getting on

How different people handle changed especially life changing conditions or disabilities has always interested me not least for possessing several and having known a good number of people in a variety of situations who have too.

 

It's often interesting to see how people who on the face of may have similar conditions have made of their lives, how they may differ and how others are quite different although I'd like to stress from the get go I don't feel a 'my disability is worse or better than yours' take is really helpful not least for only you alone know how that affects your life or 'mine is more or less “real” than yours either for the same reason.

 

This being said it is my personal conviction how much you are able to make of your life even though you have disabilities depends very much on not only what opportunities may be available to you (and certainly there can be a lack of them that does our society no great favours) and what our own attitudes toward making the most of our lives can be when they are.

 

This can be more difficult when it comes to dealing with things such as social anxiety which as someone does find things like meeting people or using the telephone difficult I readily understand but unless we are prepared to explore how we may get more confident or better able to communicate, then our opportunities are limited.

 

I think it's that which sometimes is the harder thing because on top everything there is insecurity and a blanket feeling that you are not being understood.

 

There is though I feel a difference between an understanding that says “I am prepared to try to improve on the things I struggle with however hard that might be” and one that simply isn't prepared to even explore what options may be available even if they may not be a “total cure” because you may be limiting yourself from the experiences and opportunities that would enrich your life. You can't advance by staying still.

 

It's hardly fair on the face of it but those of us who have disabilities who in some way or other wish to make the most of our lives in mainstream society need to do as much as can for ourselves to find ways of maximizing it, perhaps in some respects even more than those who don't face the same challenges. 

 

Things just don't come easy to us although I'd also add trying to compensate by excusing other things like 'fitting in' and following the accepted social conventions and rules as everyone else can of itself set you back simply because we have to 'hold our own' and isn't fair to everyone else even though I do recognize that's something I have been guilty of in the past.

Get set to go!

Another wet end to the week, probably going to have some chores to do this weekend as it's that time of the month so I'm writing this up in advance, ready to publish although this piece isn't the one I had I mind.

Followers -and there's 36 of them - of my Tumblr that's usually about stuff that doesn't really quite fit this blog like photo sets, will know I've been posting a bit around uniforms specifically Sailor Suits from South Korea and Japan and that one day I might just get one as I can see myself in my head wearing one.

One big difference with Tumblr is captions and photo's are often reblogged, following site trends with comments added directly in the post and recently within those I follow there's been a number around uniforms.

Now, I can't mention the 'U' word without touching on that one of kind school, GHS and it's upcoming activities as I most definitely will be in attendance although I might have to be really careful not to be put  in 'Corner Time'!   Us First Formers can be a wild bunch!!!

Not surprisingly then, for most of this week, I'll be sorting out what to take when it comes to clothes although I prefer to travel light, making sure I have things like my tickets and cellphone safe, packing away and mentally preparing myself.

It was reassuring to hear this week 'Matron' was going to look out for me as it will the first time I've been 'out' with such a lot of girls under one roof  including overnight although they're all people I know online and I've been with three before there.

Although this all kind of new to me and anything new easily leads to you feeling nervous, I am so looking forward to it.

Also on Sunday I will be putting up my HK Advent calendar which I'm really looking forward to.

Junior Art

Most of us encountered art either around us on maybe on the things people bought us such as books, packaging of toys and so on.
As you slowly and for some of us definitely slowly developed your fine motor skills  you may of started to doodle on pieces of paper, done some colouring before doing art in the nursery or infants class usually around the things you know starting say with faces of siblings and so on.
Later on in juniors you'd of had lessons where you might be given a subject to interpret and draw which in my case included drawing things like branches, pussy willow, acorns and flowers that we'd seen in nature study. In my case we went outside to draw them too!
A while ago I did draw some Canada Geese in pencil as I'm a bit of a techophobe when it comes to using tablet and computer software and here is the picture.

Yes that's a Hello Kitty pencil I used to draw it with!

The return of play

This week something came to me in all this heat being out of doors for a bit of the time.
When was the last time you played in a public space?
I think it would of been about around age 13 and 2/3rds and in the process of reading a book around inner child rediscovery, the topic of when  and how the inner child got put away came up.


Here's a dialogue between mine and it's bigger self that follows the first one I printed a short while back.
Initials: LG - My younger side BG Big Girl/Adult side
BG: Hello again
LG Hi. You came back to see me?
BG: Yes.
LG: Why?
BG: It's been a short while since you and I made a pact. I need to know how you feel about it.
LG: When you said I could come out?
BG:Yes, that is it.
LG:I feel happy now. 
BG:That's good. Do you feel safe?
LG:I feel safer cos I know you will come and  protect me.
BG:I understand. You had a bad time in the past. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?
LG: I want to run around and play outside. But I can't.
BG: You do? Why not?
LG: Before I got put away Mommy said too old for it.But I want to.
BG: Okay then, I say you go out and have a run around. Lot's of people run and there's no reason for you not to.
LG: You mean I can just run around?
BG: Yes but think about where, that's all. I'll help you with that.

On Sunday I run around a tree lined garden without a care in the world for the first time in ages in an area that was a bit secluded so I wouldn't feel too self consious but with plenty of light and near a sidewalk in case I needed help. It felt great

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.

Games we'd play

This is one the games I enjoyed playing as a young child and still do, Marbles.

It is more fun playing with others so here's how.

How To Play the Classic Marble Game of Ringer
Most children understand the game of marbles the first time it is explained, but to make it easier, these drawings show the most common plays.

FIG. 1: To start a game of Ringer the children lag from a line, drawn tangent to the ring, to a parallel line across the ring, which would be 10 feet away. The child whose shooter comes nearest the line has the first shot. Players must lag before each game. Practice lagging, as the first shot may mean the winning of the game before your opponent gets a shot. In lagging, a child may toss his or her shooter to the other line, or he or she may knuckle down and shoot it.

FIG. 2: This shows child No. 1 who won the lag, preparing to knuckle down. His knuckle has not quite reached the ground, which is necessary before shooting. He can take any position about the ring he chooses. (The process of picking the best possible position for starting is referred to as "taking rounders.") The 13 marbles in the ring are arranged as in tournament play. For casual games, a one foot ring is drawn inside of the ten foot ring and each player puts in some 5/8" marbles, so that there is about a dozen marbles in the smaller ring.

FIG. 3: Child No. 1 knocks a marble from the ring on his first shot and his shooter stays in the ring. He picks up the marble. As he has knocked one from the ring, he is entitled to another try. Players are not permitted to walk inside the ring unless their shooter comes to a stop inside the ring. Penalty is a fine of one marble.

FIG. 4: Here we see child No. 1 continuing play. He "knuckles down" inside the ring where his shooter stopped on the last shot. This gives him the advantage of being nearer to the big group of marbles in the centre of the ring for his next shot. Expert marble shots try to hit a marble, knock it out of ring and make their shooter "stick" in the spot. "Sticking" or shooting seven consecutive marbles out of the ring and winning the game without giving an opponent a turn is usually good for two days of playground bragging rights .

FIG 5: On this play, No. 1 hit a marble, but did not knock it from the ring. At the same time his shooter, too, stays inside the ring. He can not pick up the marble, and whether he is allowed to pick up his shooter depends on the type of play - in tournament play, if your shooter is in the ring at the end of your turn, you must remove it. In casual games, if your shooter is in the ring at the end of your turn, it becomes a legitimate target and any player who hits it out collects a forfeit from you, or even your shooter! (Players should agree in advance whether to use this rule.)

FIG. 6: Child No. 2 may start by "knuckling down" anywhere at the ring edge. In this case he may shoot at the 11 marbles in the center or if he wishes, he may go to the other side and try for the marble that No.1 almost knocked from the ring. In a casual game he might also try to knock the other player's shooter from the ring.

FIG. 7: Child No. 2 chooses to try for No. 1 child's shooter and knocks it out of ring, winning all the marbles No. 1 has taken (and his shooter, if that rule is being followed) and putting No. 1 out of that game. Or he could shoot as shown in Fig. 8.

FIG. 8: Child No. 2 hits a marble but does not knock it out of the ring, yet his shooter goes thru the ring and stops outside where he may pick it up. The target marble remains where it stopped in the ring, and as No. 2 did not score, it is now the turn of No. 1 to shoot again.

FIG. 9: No. 1 "knuckles down" inside the ring where his shooter stopped (Fig. 5). he is going to shoot at the marble nearest his shooter. By hitting it at the proper angle and knocking it from the ring he can get his shooter near the center of the ring for his next shot. Play alternates until one player has knocked a majority of the marbles out of the ring.

Team games III

Here go in the last of the current Team Sports series looking at the the time sports I loved  from Junior and High school.
Field Hockey

We're on the case of the ball!

Fielding, what you need to be good at

Overall view as the match is well underway. 

It's no wonder I've always followed the NHL don'tcha think?

Card games

Well when I was young I loved playing cards either with my school friends in the Dorm or when at my Nans usually if Mom was busy away someplace for the day or so.
We played shape games  using Snap and similar games or games like Top Trumps where you have facts on the reverse and you trade information around subjects like travel, cars or sports such as Soccer.
It was fun!
Recently I got some new cards to replace those I lost from my youth trough thinks like Mom's saying you don't need 'em anymore or cos I was ill and Mom was concerned in case they had Germs on them.
As you'll see there's a common theme running through them yes that cat Hello Kitty and her friends as I'm sure if Nan were alive she'd of bought these to play with me loving cute stuff like me.
First pictured is the Hello Kitty Travels top trumps set that can join my 'vintage' Top trumps sets and then some ordinary cards made by Waddington's that have Kitty on around by the hearts, ace of diamonds etc. Last one is the HK twist on the British classic Whot!