Holiday Report

I visited the Snowdonia national park, in Wales recently as I had been experiencing a lot of stress and it was having a serious effect on my mental wellbeing.
I was greeted by exceptional hot, sunny weather affording superb views of Mount Snowdon and the isolated moorlands surrounding it.
The lambs were all out in the fields young and old some having a chew of the grass, others sheltering in the shade of nearby hedges, walls and trees.
A few had the bright idea of exploring the human domain of the narrow roads and we needed to slow down to allow them to cross back into the fields.
I liked the solitude up there but I’m not sure the idea of being literally miles way from the nearest market town would really do for me which I guess is a reflection of my urban upbringing.
Betws–y-coed is a place I like to stop off at as here are good range of shops and spectacular waterfalls. There are a lot woodlands in the area and I took a lot photos – on my ageing Olympus OM10 of the trees, sometimes lying underneath the branches to get the viewpoint I wished to capture.
Llandudno: It remains a largely unspoilt Victorian seaside resort with excellent shopping facilities. The Theatre is really good and many amateur choral performances are hold during the summer season in local churches. On Tuesday there was a Brass Band concert taking place, appropriately enough, on the Bandstand along the promenade. The players were really good – I’m no great fan of Brass Bands but the musicianship couldn’t be faulted.
Bangor: I visit here a lot, being a University town with bookshops, a record store and some good Pubs that serve meals.
Things that didn’t go as they should: I days filming got wasted as a Fuji film become tight and tore whilst rewinding it out of the camera – we came close a to a two inch dent being added to the guest house waste paper bin!!!

Jennings

I went for part of my childhood to a boarding school where of necessity all your relationships with teachers, care staff and class mates  are very different plus to a very large extent you're living by someones rules wearing a uniform all day with no chance of a change.

While there I read the Jennings series of book based upon the adventures  of two friends at prep boarding school called Jennings and Darbishire which made sense as  was in similar situation and we too had our adventures that seemed incomprehensible to those who were responsible for our welfare on the grounds. 

There remains a very large part of my that would enjoy a return to boarding school and I was fortunate to spend 6 months in a residential college where I could go back to being the boarding school kid with informal dorm parties and all the little intrigues.

Trans

Imagine one day you were strolling along  having had some serious doubts about your life and this conversation started.

I could of given that answer having been wearing off and on female clothing since the age of 8, raiding the clothes in the wash and stuff due to go to refuse. That's because it's how I see me. Simples.

Well, I am a magical girl through that transformation.
I have always considered myself to be transgendered from the get go with many significant grown ups seeing the girl in me. Because of the effects from this mis-mash of male body (and expectations) and female self image my behaviour was somewhat effected having issues with self confidence, attempted self harm and near enough a nervous breakdown, I was under a psychologist for a period who picked up on my transgenderedness (though they didn't use that word then) but my folks can't accept this.

Following a periodic outbreak of cross dressing in adulthood, I resolved five years ago to do so on a daily basis because it was me and I felt I was beginning to understand the real me.

I am proud to be what I am. 

Keep working

I do better where there's a clear understanding of who is in charge, what the rules are and instant consequences.

Taking care of your appearence

I have always felt there is a good deal of merit in the notion that taking care in appearances often leads to a more disciplined approach in other areas of your life such as learning and being conscientious.
A good deal of that comes from my own recollection from being at schools that had uniforms that we were expected to wear correctly at all times and to whom we were taken to task for when we did not such as fastening our buttons or ties correctly.
Although I struggled and still do with both I knew enough to ask for the help I needed to ensure I was properly dressed and so was not exempted from what every other child learned, which it has to be said was only right.
This is a part of reason as a adult-child regressor I do wear a uniform beyond just mentally taking me back in time to the childhood that mentally I am unable to progress much from.

Chobits and Interests

I liked this anime for a long time dealing as it does with technology and that age old question if you could fall in love with a robot in this case a persocom (personal computer in an human looking form) called Chi.

Unfortunately the first dvd set of it got from Ebay I discovered was a fake. It had been made on a computer from a official dvd issue but they had radically reduced the picture quality in an attempt to squeeze 12 episodes on a single sided one layer disc! The discs had inkjet printed labels and no case.

In total the used just three discs for the whole set!!!

Normally a PAL disc can take upt to 6 episodes on a dual layers.

Recently I have replaced it with the US official 4 dvd NTSC set  issued reissued and remastered which looks much better.

 

 

Winnie The Pooh stickarounds

GBP £10.99

UK stockist: Children's Rooms

Other products available include linen, photo frames and Twin Bell Alarm Clock.

Winnie The Pooh Stikarounds at Children's Rooms

P.s I got my new Gilberts netball skirt today!

Animal friends

Many of us have our first exposure to animals as children.
We may be taken to see ponies, to a working farm or even a zoo - in my case we had school trips to the Zoo most years actually that we went on a charted bus on together with our sandwiches and pop.
Still more of us had our own animals such as rabbits, cats and dogs that we shared our time with and maybe it was the first taste of responsibility we had taking the dog for it's daily work, feeding the rabbit carrots or sorting out the litter try of your cat.
In fact I had all three although not at once although the dog went a bit funny in the brain department and sadly had to go.
I think our having exposure to animals is a force for good, don't you?