Ho ho ho!

This time of year brings back memories for me, some painful bordering on the harrowing (I have been know to go AWL from sites around this time of year) and others a lot more enjoyable. I suspect for a number of you it may be similar in which instance you have my understanding.
But as ever I'd not of posted an image here without their being some deep meaning to it and it's that one of the loveliest warm fuzzy feelings I remember is being sat on Santa's knee talking to him about how the year had been and what I'd really love for Christmas.
That's a very special feeling every child should experience as part of the magic of childhood and as we have increasing less days toward that Big Day we shouldn't lose sight of and why we 'do' the social Christmas with our families.
It's not about the money we spend, it's about sharing our love with one another, making each other feel special, loved and above all wanted.

Some Uniform thoughts

Some of  my ideas that go through my mind when it comes to uniform tend to be coloured more by my recollections of high school but in truth I'm more Junior, the kind of girl that English terms depending  on exactly where her birthdate  fell, would still be in Year Six or to moved to the First Form (Year 7) of High School

This is more the summer version  of it with a traditional blue Gingham school dress with maybe White socks with the other bits and bobs like shoes which are simple but stylish.

Find-outers

Hallo there.
I've a bit of blocked up nose today so I'm doing some schoolwork complete in my full uniform today apart from some reading too.
That takes me to today's subject.
There are many types of stories written such as those centred on fantasy, romances, animals, adventures and so on but one genre I struggle with is the Detective Story usually because it requires  you use more short term memory while reading to piece together from the clues you're told, who really did it.
Unfortunately for someone like me reading something like that is like trying to run complex games on old computer with a slow processor and very little RAM (it might load up but attempting play is sluggish and may even stall!).
Fortunately I found a detective  mystery  series by Enid Blyton that were written for children from around nine years upward that I can follow reasonably well.

This series goes under the name the 'Find-outers' after the title the children who form a detective club called themselves dedicating themselves to solving mysteries and outwitting the local Police Constable, Mr. Goon who they christen 'Clear-orf' after what he shouts at them accusing them of meddling and otherwise interfering in the LAW.
The leader of the club is Frederick Algernon Trotteville  who is a boastful as well as cheeky outsider to the others in the village of Peterswood but is actually quite bright being good at languages and art at his boarding school. Because of his build he's called Fatty although he is quite physically fit playing school sports.
His deputy is Larry who is really called Laurence and they are joined by Daisy (his sister), Pip alias Peter, and Bets (Elizabeth) who is just 9 and the youngest of the group.
Fatty has a dog called Buster who obeys Fatty's commands well.
Upon being formed they call themselves "Five find-outers and Dog".
Mr Goon is probably the most incompetent policeman ever to taken on investigating mysteries in their area and the children in the first story, "the Mystery of the Burnt Cottage", strike up a very good relationship with the Inspector of Goon's force much to the displeasure of Pc Goon, especially when the inspector realizes just how good the Find-outers really are solving the mystery Goon failed to do!
There are in total 15 stories in the series which were all  issued by Dean's in the Rewards series in 1990 with reprints from that edition keeping the typeset narrative intact through most of the 90's whereas current editions like most of Enid's output have been revised and rendered 'politically correct'.
Thankfully it's easy to find these editions but Deans also did something else, as with the Schools series Enid wrote, they did two omibus editions each having three stories from the first six published and the top one issued in 1992  is mine (it's a 1994 reprint).

This one (the second in the set) has 'Spiteful letters', 'Missing Necklace' and 'Hidden House' in it and was published in 1994 although my copy is the 1998 reprint and both keep original illustrations and text in them, making a great starter set you can get cheaply used.
I'm really enjoying reading this series, more than I thought I'd of been able to howling at how Fatty and the gang put Clear-orf off the scent as Fatty's boisterous wit as well as his genius with disguises.
They also are a period reminder of how life was in sleepy English villages back then before policing moved mainly to the town and your only contact with the police was in their distinctive 'Panda car' they came out to visit your patch in where at the time this was written your Policeman lived in a Policehouse in your village and he patrolled it.
So far I've picked Mystery of the Pantomime Cat, Mystery of the Invisible Thief and Mystery of the Banshee Towers to go with the omnibus editions.

Putting the play in ageplay

If you were to ask me what age-play means somewhere in it would be regressive play, that's to say play that is more child-like, you you undertake with others ideally letting out your inner kid as you relate to each other as that child.
It may involve a game and it might be that we play with a more girlish trainset, making the track up, deciding where we'd bridges and houses before taking turns sending the train around the track for hours.
Sometimes I think it's very easy to get to a situation where we may perhaps be dressed as littles or for me a Junior Middle juts doing grown up things like talking politics which we'd never had done as children.
I'm loath to say what the experience include but to me it should leave you feeling you're in little headspace, being a child.

It's a wrap!

Well, the first week of new improved life went pretty well from the ability just to do a bit a work and keep up with the lives of my work colleagues now the crazy world of paid work is over. I had a blast talking with and helping our clients out as I've so much more control over how much I take on.
I was able to spend some more time dealing with sorting out presents for people although as some of you will recall from last year with the current financial situation effecting us all, I have again parred down how much I'm spending as have those who'd usually treat me. I do sometimes wonder if we'd be better of giving more of ourselves all year round instead.
Arrangements have been made to get me to and help me throughout this years works Christmas lunch which usually involve a quiz and various presentations outside of the formal meal.
I also did some more reading last week and will be taking part in this years Winter readathon where we read a set book and discuss together which should be fun as we're tackling the first Secret Seven novel!
I've wrapped up all ready my stuff cos as I think we all know sometimes it can be hard to get folk to get you what it is you really would like for Christmas with people feeling a bit awkward and that, so to avoid that foot stamping angry protest from the Little Girl within, she's been the money to get what she would prefer with the help of her bigger side.
That makes a lot of sense really as Christmas is really important for children.

Intimate regression II

School knickers should be modest, single colour and fit snugly  which was the reason before the "My right to wear what knickers I want" argument started, your school told you which and in what colour they were meant to.
Now there's concern that some girls knickers don't fit properly around the gusset, are too revealing and Moms are saying may need Lycra overshorts for PE to keep girls modest.
If only 'My rights' would of listened to why my generation had it different this would never of happened.
***Rant***

Reading and more on change of circumstances

Well the start of the week is among us and as you've no doubt read this week will like all my weeks from here on in will be different meaning I'll have to fill the extra time I have to be my little self up by myself which should prove most interesting.
Tomorrow, I'll be working for a few hours across the morning at my own pace talking with people and from that helping them out for the people I was employed by because it's a skill my health situation aside I'm actually rather good at.
I liked the people we get for the most part (you'll always get the odd one that's a bit awkward), finding our conversations rewarding apart from learning about other peoples circumstances. Anyway my leaving employment isn't and really shouldn't be seen by anyone as just more time for to be online for hours at a time just because someone may like a bit of company although it'll enable me to visit a few sites more often where I can have fun people who know me there and I love their company a lot. Their support during this period means a lot to me, personally.

One thing I will probably be doing more of is reading which for all my difficulties with it, is something I'm really enjoying right now and one site has an upcoming readathon I'll be able to take part in, sharing observations around the story as we all read together.

This week I've been reading the Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton which is about a group of children - Jo, Bessie and Fanny - who having moved to the Country, encounter a  most odd wood at the end of their garden - The Enchanted Wood where pixies, fairies and others live. Growing in this wood is the Fareway Tree which initially the children climb that leads to the top where you can enter lands, lands that change regularly where many an adventure is had often featuring Moon-Face who has a face just like the moon and Silkie who has hair just like silk.

Some of the lands are really magical like Nursery Rhyme Land or the Land of Presents, cautionary such as the Land of Do-as-you-please or a bit nasty like the Land of Tempers. Well, would you liked to be surrounded by people always in a bad temper?
My copies of The Fareaway Tree and the Folk of  the Faraway tree are copies I had from my chronological childhood being printed around 1971 and1972 but the first book of the series the Enchanted Wood is a newer copy from 1987, all just being decimalized but otherwise keeping the same text as earlier editions which isn't the case with the current ones with name changes for the three children, gollywogs being removed and any mentioning in passing of slaps or spanking as punishment removed.

Related to that and again from my original copies from the early 1970's I read Wishing Tree series (in the original series there but two books) which are fun to read. The plot is essentially that of two children, Peter and Molly who go to an antique shop to by their mother a present and come back with a chair that, when wishes are made has the magical ability to fly. They discover and make friends with a pixie called Chinky and have adventures flying in the Wishing Chair meeting also sorts of amazing and sometimes slightly scary characters.
As with Fareway Tree, these two books (Adventures of the Wishing Chair and the Wishing Chair Again) have been extensively 'revised' in their current editions to remove all the stuff so-called 'Politically Correct' people have issues with even mentioning.
Thankfully for those without copies, the Deans hardback Rewards series are easy to find used in at least acceptable condition being in print until at least 1990 where the heavy revisions came in.
Malory Towers revisited:
I got used the unbutchered text editions in the form of a W H Smith hardback Omibus edition of the first four novels and the separate Deans hardbook Rewards series ones from 1990 of the last two.
There are entire paragraphs missing from the current ones and the 'PC' alterations do effect the characters responses to some important storylines in the books. Rereading them, it all makes more sense.