Some Good News about 'The Institute'

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I have just received an email regarding 'The Institute' (a great institutionalised bondage, medical restraint and chastity-device site, for those that don't know) from the guy that runs it saying that "[The Institute has] moved to [its] own web space as the provider of the previous server had his sites closed without warning...". As always, just click on the site name to visit or check the link in the resource list in the sidebar over on the right. As for yours truly - I'm off for a 'hair of the dog' - first in The George in Enfield and then to The Jolly Butchers in Baker Street / Silver Street, Enfield; such exotic locations!

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By the way; today's pic has nothing whatsoever to do with this posting - I just like it - but do you know where it came from?

The Sad Demise of 'The Institute’: Links Removed

Sadly I have had to remove all links (including those leading to the reviews of – and snippets from - INSTITUTIONALISED volumes 1 and 2) to ‘The Institute’ as this excellent little site - that featured all sorts of institutionalised, medical and psychiatric bondage and was quite wonderful in its way - seems to have disappeared from the face of web-world. It will be sadly missed, I’m sure, but if by some miracle it does still exist in some form, please let me know. Also please let me know if you encounter any other broken links. On a more positive tack - I have just added a new blog to the blog list in the sidebar - over on the right - for you to check out: Thirst for BDSM Knowledge (just click to view).

A New PicasaWeb Album, a Couple of Spanking Magazine Covers and a New Scanned Caning Photoset Series Starts

Hi, folks! It's my birthday tomorrow and I'll be in the 'The Tyburn' (JD Wetherspoons, of course) which can be found at:

18 Edgware Rd Marble Arch London W2, just in case anyone is around in the area.

I'm aiming to arrive sometime around 14:30 - 15:00, although I may be earlier. My main celebration will be on Sunday though - see last posting for details.

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Now for an update. I have just started a new PicasaWeb album for high street shop girl uniforms (to be found in the women's work-wear section of the sidebar). There's not much in it yet - just a few Marks and Spencers uniforms from the 1980s and 1990s and a Tescos uniform from 2006 - but I will be expanding gradually over time. I have also added a couple of covers and a bit of artwork to the Spanking magazine covers album (also to be found in the side bar). I doubt many folk will have come across these before, so I have included them above. These both date back to the mid 1990s or thereabouts and were rather rough-hewn and basic but nevertheless had their moments - for example the delightful summer uniform dress depicted on the cover of 'The governess' taken together with the young lady's contrite and submissive posture tells a story all of its own: a thousand words indeed. Even the 'Uniform Journal' had its redeeming features - the art work may have been a little rough and ready at times but could also on occasion capture the very essence of the exploitative possibilities inherent in the imposition of a strict disciplinary regime and strict uniform on a vulnerable young woman in the hands of an unscrupulous guardian or other disciplinarian (see right). Note the juxtaposition of the basically childish nature of the gymslip and the rigidly high-buttoned collar and firmly knotted school tie with the closeness of fit around the obviously mature bust-line, the sexually suggestive short skirt flaring over maturely curving broad hips, the tightly cinched waist, not to mention the rose-red blush of embarrassment and humiliation painting her cheeks - delicious, quite delicious!

Now; here is a photo-set I have recently scanned from my collection that I am betting few will have seen before and that, together with the story that went with them, triggered many of the ideas that I have since incorporated into the INSTITUTIONALISED series when I first came across them in the mid 1980s. I will reveal their origin at the end of the series, which I shall probably split into two or three parts, to give a chance to anyone who thinks he (or she) might know the source.
Not my favorite style of gymslip, it must be said, but great school knickers - how school knickers should look - suitably voluminous, yet elastic enough to ensure a nice, tight close and intimate fit. First we have the discipline of the uniform inspection, then those knickers come down and we get to see just how voluminous they relay are despite their elasticity - such beautifully ugly knickers - how galling for a young woman of her age to be obliged to wear such humiliating and belittling under-garments . Finally we are privileged to witness the humiliation of the gusset inspection - and those intimate blemishes marring the snow-white absorbent double gusset have a tale to tell; a tale undoubtedly deserving of a few strokes of her governess's cane (just click to enlarge)... to be continued (if you like it, let me know). Meanwhile work on volume 3 and the 'in between and back-story' volume (particularly the latter) continues apace - I hope to get a bit more written in the pub tomorrow!

New Front and Rear Covers for Volume 2 and a New 'Judith' Post

The consensus of opinion, both posted as comments and as emails, as to the preferred version of the new cover design for volume 2 seems clearly to indicate the third version (version C - see last post) and accordingly I have changed the both the image in the sidebar (see right) and the cover pic presented on Lulu. I have gone one stage further in that I have uncluttered the design by removing the cane images that bracketed the titles. I have also taken the opportunity to subtly redesigned the rear cover (see above right), although I have yet to get the colour correctly matched to that of the front and so I have not yet changed it on Lulu - many thanks go out to all those who expressed their opinion!

On another tack: Those of you that remember and appreciate the fascinating semi-anonymously posted saga of Judith and the strict disciplinary regime imposed over her by her aunt, that has graced this blog from time to time, might like to know that another instalment has been posted by Judith herself as a comment on Aussie School Uniform Summer Dresses, Soap Operas and Inspiration (Just click to read). Ordinarily I would re-post such a contribution in a proof read and edited form as a full-blown update as contributions posted as comments are so easily overlooked. However in this case, due to its length I thought it best to leave it as a comment but flag it up in this manner. It makes for interesting reading nonetheless but I can't help wondering if the young lady's aunt is not 'missing a trick' here, when putting the girl to work in what amounts to domestic service, in not considering perusing charity and second-hand shops for old shop-assistant uniforms - what could be more apt than a shop-girl uniform from a bygone age, either as it comes or, if accessorised with a suitable apron or tabard and a cap, as the basis for a domestic uniform of her own design. I have some experience of putting together an outfit in such a manner for a young lady living under a not dissimilar regimen in any case, but was recently inspired to this way of thinking having come across this old photograph (see right) of Marks and Spencer's staff from many years ago (the first dress chosen for the girl I refer to above was in fact and old Marks and Spence's uniform, albeit one from the 1980s, donated by a friend of my wife of the time for the purpose - a most practical solution for work around the house, especially when teamed with a transparent plastic bib apron). The 1980s uniform, along with other shop-girl uniforms, I will feature as part of my Picasaweb album collection in due course (I shall shortly be expanding my albums).

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Meanwhile: It is my birthday on Thursday and although I am not sure what I will be doing on the day yet I can tell you that on Sunday 19th July (this coming Sunday) I shall be in (or just outside) the Camden Town Weatherspoons branch (LLoyds No 1 Bar) known as 'The Ice House' and positioned on the canal side (I'll put up the full address later) from around 13:00 - all are invited and I am easy to spot, so come and have a chat if you are in London.

A New Cover - Your Help Needed

Many, many thanks for the many congratulatory and supportive messages I have received, both as comments and as emails, on the first anniversary of my blog! I was initially quite unsure as to how my approach - and the subject matter of my blog - would be received. Indeed, with the publication of my first book and after my initial postings here, I was bracing myself for a deluge of judgemental condemnations - or at the very least, bemused misunderstanding. It is so gratifying to have met so many like-minded - or at least, tolerant - people willing to explore beyond the accepted bounds of 'conventional' spanking, S/M and D/S literature.

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But work goes on and now I have a favour to ask of you: As you probably know by now, I have been hanging back from more widely publishing INSTITUTIONALISED Vol 2 because I am not particularly happy with the cover as it stands. I have come to the conclusion that I would like to have something of a uniform look running through the entire series if at all possible - a sort of 'brand identity', if you will. As volume 1 has already been published through conventional channels its cover can not be altered; thus for better or for worse if I want to go down that particular route then the other covers - in this case, volume 2 - will have to be based around it. This is where you come in: below are three versions of the proposed new volume 2 cover design I have knocked-up today. The question is... which one (if any) do you like or prefer? Or should I stay with the present cover (as at the top of this post)? Or do you have any ideas of you own - some preference perhaps? What would make you want to look inside?

Let's call them version A,B or C respectively: Well, what do you think? Or are they all equally crap - which, incidentally, is how I'm feeling today. I'm pretty much confined to home: sore throat, aching limbs, high temperature - all in all a bit 'flu-like. Blimey! Grunt, grunt, grunt! My next posting will incorporate some of the stuff I have recently scanned in from my long-lost collection, now retrieved from the loft.

Happy Birthday My Blog - Behind the Barred Window is One Year Old Today

Greetings from North London, humans: Did you know that...wait for it...

Behind the Barred Window is One Year Old Today? I didn't and it's my baby - what a rotten farther! I only just realised, otherwise I would have come up with something special. As it is I have to go to Brent Cross (the local shopping mall) with the other 'alf (wife) and kids, who for some reason or other are off school today! How mundane - I'd much rather be working on a new version of the cover for volume 2 so I can get it finally properly published, ie with an ISBN and available through Amazon et al as with volume 1 (or better still - hangin' down the local pub, although the weather is a bit naff today anyway).

To see the first ever entry click HERE or check out the blog archive pull-down menu which can be found in the sidebar over on the right somewhere. PS: It is my birthday soon also - on the 16th (Thurs). I'm creaking and feeling ever more ancient by the moment!

Aussie School Uniform Summer Dresses, Soap Operas and Inspiration

Hi folks! You know, generally I hate TV soap operas (That’s ‘TV’ as in television, folks) but I used to just love those Aussie school uniform summer dresses that appeared on 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away' (and probably still do for all I know) on the rare occasions that I came across either while Chanel-hopping. There is something juvenile about the styling, an image so robust that it persists no mater how adult the actress wearing it appears - and actually is, in chronological terms. And isn't that something a strict governess might strive to achieve with her charge - to undermine the young lady's burgeoning sense of adulthood and thus self confidence and Independence. Its all in the little details, the collar, the half-belt to the rear (right), the (some how essential) invert pleat at the front (top left). Quite a few of my ideas were informed during those fleeting views - and then later further bolstered by my discovery of a Yahoo group featuring those very uniforms (actually I seem to think there were once three, two featuring uniforms from 'Neighbours' and one featuring 'Home and Away' but the latter seems to have vanished).

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Of course, for my girls, my creations if you will, I would prefer to think of something a little more tailored. In my mind's eye I can see perhaps a nipped-in belted waist, a subtly flaring skirt and a high buttoning collar - either large, circular or of the 'peter pan' type - teamed with subtly puffed 'lamb-chop' shoulders and long, button-cuffed sleeves yet nonetheless essentially juvenile in the extreme.

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Why the long sleeves and high-buttoning bodice in a garment apparently deemed suitable for wear in warm weather? Discipline, simply that!

Anyway if you appreciate those Aussie school summer dresses you'll love the Yahoo groups: Neighbours Uniform Babes and its sister / overflow site Neighbours Uniform Babes 2 (As always; just click either to visit or see the rapidly growing Yahoo group list in the sidebar to the right)