Miss Marianne Martindale's 'Wildfire Club' Publications: In Answer to a Reader's Inquiry

Anonymous' has left a new comment on the posting "More on Non-Corporal Punishment / Discipline" in which he (or she – there are some that visit here) asks whether there is any chance of posting the missing pages from the scanned extracts I posted regarding written impositions. (Way back on Thursday, 8 October 2009; Nostalgia–holic Garth).

The thing is: the book the extracts he (or she) is referring to came from is not one of mine but rather a work entitled 'THE FEMALE DISCIPLINARY MANUAL'. Now, I don't think it is right to scan in someone else's work in its entirety – a few snatches, sure (that's just being a little like Google books) but not everything; not even a complete section. In fact I'm not at all sure that I even posted a complete page, just isolated pargraphs mostly, cut and pasted together in a photo-manipulation package. However there is a link on the page (Click HERE or click on the blog page title above to visit) that will take you to an earlier group of extracts that I had previously posted.

Unfortunately I didn't have sufficient time to scan any more of the work – let alone the complete book – even for my own future delectation and delight. Secondly; sadly I no longer have the book, having since donated it to my good E-friend and arty collaborator 'Snooze' over there in the 'States, who's work you will have come across here gracing one or two past postings. The book was published by Miss Marianne Martindale's 'Wildfire Club' ca 1996 (-ish; I think) and – like the example of another of their publications I came across, above – was by Miss Regina Snow. Have a Google! I'm sure you'll find a fair selection of new and used copies through the usual outlets.

As for myself; I have recently returned from a little tour around the Romney Marsh area of Kent (Hythe, Dymchurch, Camber Sands, Lydde) and ajoining regions of East Sussex (Rye, Hastings, Battle and Winchelsea) – of which more next time.

Louis Malteste: I tried it… And I liked it!

An anonymous contributor wrote, as a comment appended to my last posting : “The first illustration is by an artist who went by the name of Louis Malteste (French 1870-1920). If you enlarge the posted illustration you can make out his signature. In addition to producing formal works of art he also illustrated erotic French novels. More of his outstanding spanking illustrations can be found on the web by searching his name.”

Well I tried it… And I liked it So much so that I just couldn’t resist posting up this little confection I came across, happened upon at a blog called “The Seduction of Venus” (now added to blog list – see right hand sidebar) a wondrous repository of “erotic artworks and photographs from throughout history”. Well worth a visit! Just click the blog’s title, above, or search out in the blog listing. I'd come across one or two works in this style in the past but I'd never specifically searched for Louis Malteste's work before. There is quite a body of work out there it turns out, and quite a lot capable of kick-starting the jaded imagination. Refreshing and just what I needed (thanks for that 'Anonymous')!

Actually I have come across quite a few blogs new to me of late while researching certain topics to finish off the new book. Most I have already added to the blog roll and I’ll post a complete list next time.

'Psychological Governance’, Nuns and the 'Wayward Girl'

A series of pieced-together extracts from a series of articles regarding certain religious houses for ‘morally wayward girls’ that existed through the 1950s and even up until the 1970s, offering “shelter and guidance to vulnerable girls and women.”

“The Sisters and courts working together decided when a girl was ready to leave the Home, but since the courts in turn relied on the Mother Supior's recomendations, her word was effectively law" and woe betide the girl who threatened the status quo - or who she took a shine to!
"Security and rehabilitation were big issues. The girls could not be trusted and neither could the outside world. To prevent residents from seeing the outside world and leaving the Home, locked doors and opaque glass had been installed behind barred windows, barbed wire fences, and alarm systems. There was no television, nor radio; listening to music was allowed, though the girls weren’t allowed to listen to male voices. [At mealtimes] the girls [were obliged to maintain] silence as they entered the dining room and sat down. Two nuns supervised lunch from an elevated platform and they frequently used the time to read and censor the girls' mail. In the dormitory, [each girl’s] toiletries [had to be kept] lined up with precision, with each item being assigned a specific placement.

Though these measures appeared harsh for some; for others, it offered protection and safety and enabled to them to concentrate on [rehabilitation]. In the sewing room, the girls and nuns made school uniforms, all clothing being [marked with a number, designating the individual girl.].”

From another source we hear of the “unfortunate necessity” to employ “certain drastic measures and remedies [in order] to control the risk of the introduction and spread of head lice”. And that although “alternatives were available and marketed at very little expense”, a preventative approach was to be preferred and “conferred certain other advantages”. The article goes on to guardedly hint at these ‘advantages’ pertaining to “good order and discipline” and to “the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience”. We are left in blissful, blameless ignorance as to the details of these ‘unfortunate’ “drastic measures and remedies” and their ramifications – but we might hazard a guess.

Here again there is mention of the importance of an “emphasis on silence as a means of focussing attention on God”, “frugality in all things” and the provision of what is described as a “bare ‘maintenance diet’ – sufficient to keep from losing weight, yet [insufficient] t o risk encouraging the sin of gluttony with its associated unwarranted weight gain”. This particular institution was said to have “embodied regimented discipline”, imposed “extreme restriction on freedom of movement and privacy” and to have “embraced a culture of petty rules and restrictions” that “limited to the extreme [the] opportunities [for] forming personal one to one relationships between inmates”. The emphasis throughout was “one of conformity” with a “reliance on corporal punishment [for the maintenance] of discipline and good order”.

Elsewhere, albeit regarding an entirely separate establishment, it is somewhat enigmatically stated that “…the more closely [the institution] is modelled on the judicious application of the principle of psychological governance, the more salutary will be its discipline, and the fewer occasions will arise for resort to actual [physical] punishment”.

What this cryptic ‘principle of psychological governance’ might have consisted of is not expanded upon. However, it is noteworthy that in the same pamphlet it goes on to state that: “…any physical chastisement [may] consist of moderate childish punishment with the hand or punishments with the cane, strap, or birch” and that “only a light cane or rod [should] be used for the purpose of corporal punishment inflicted on an open palm”. Certain orders of nuns had experience of setting up and governing correctional facilities for women stretching back three hundred years or more, so one may assume that they knew what they were doing when it came to exercising control – psychological or otherwise – and that any young woman, however blameless, once delivered in to their hands would have quickly come to the conclusion that defiance was not an option. Nor was the likelihood of absconding particularly buoying, as I am given to understand it – after all the nuns had had time aplenty to refine the security precautions surrounding their ‘sanctuary for wayward young women’. And security was essential if they were to protect a young woman from further sin – even if (particularly if, some would say) that ‘sin’ or ‘moral infraction’ amounted to little more than having run from a craftily manipulative stepparent, an intolerably overbearing governess or a cruelly exploitative and equally manipulative guardian or indeed just having foolhardily rejected certain amorous advances.

One should never lose sight of that old “Victorian propensity to commit errant wives and stepdaughters to the asylum at the drop of a hat (or at the hint of an inheritance)”. And often a charitable donation made to such an institution spoke volumes, certainly carrying as much weight, if not more, than a learned doctor’s opinion (although the latter could be easily enough swayed if one had sufficient influence). There seems little doubt that certain of these ecclesiastical ‘shelters’ may well have fulfilled a similar purpose, a simple statement attesting to the poor thing’s ‘hysterical instability’, propensity to ‘overwrought imaginings’ and ‘delusion and derangement’ being enough to ensure that none would pay heed to any objections, accusations or entreaties the pretty, doe-eyed teenager might voice. Some mention of sexual impropriety included in the documentation, and a ‘well appointed’ buxom teenager could be assured a very hard time indeed under the reforming hand of the Mother Superior. And of course there was the added attraction of the possibility of visitation and the knowledge that any complaints, especially as such became - as they were sure to over time - more insistent and hysterical, would simply be recorded as yet more evidence of “the poor thing’s mental aberration”; more evidence to be recounted to the governors of the local asylum when the time came, should that be her guardian’s or stepmother’s wish.

The nun’s own isolation was sacrosanct and they had not been averse to adopting new modern ways over time to ensure it remained so. Similarly, it seems they had not been fazed when it came to applying modern methods to wielding the rigid control over their charges they deemed necessary in order to protect the more defiant, incorrigible and diffident of their young inmates ‘from themselves’ and once again one’s imagination is stimulated to muse over the cryptic use of that term; ‘psychological governance’.

Now, That is What I Call Domination! Or is it? Discuss! (Part 1)

See last post for explanation (but read this bit first as the last posting follows on from it)

In the comments section a couple of posts ago 'imreadonl2' wrote something interesting that caught my attention, whetted my appetite and got the ball rolling - now lets see where it rolls to:

'imreadonl2' wrote “The wonder of "institutionalization" is the way that it quickly destroys a girl's identity and sense of self.

Attending classes, eating with the other girls in the mess hall, sleeping next to them in the dorm, wearing your smart uniform, with the tie knotted tightly and your white socks straight, toeing the line. Guilty-or-not, it is soon impossible think of yourself as anything but "one of the girls."

And then there are the little indignities, which taken together, add up to a crushing weight: being addressed by your last name, being scolded for slouching, or being swatted across the behind and accused of "dallying" when you pause to chatter with your friends.

Relentlessly belittled and corrected, your self-esteem rapidly erodes. You come to think of yourself as "incorrigible" and "delinquent", the memory of your past accomplishments and accolades fading as rapidly as a forgotten dream.

You hate it when the Headmaster brings tour groups thru while you're in the shower, and feel humiliated as you feel the male visitor's eye's roam freely up and down your naked body. You comfort yourself that they don't you, or, to be more accurate, who you once were, and now see you only as what you (in your heart) now know that you are, just another naked delinquent justly and properly sentenced to an indefinite term of strict reformatory discipline.

I reply:

"Hi, 'imreadonly2'! That's an interesting analysis of the concept of the destruction (I prefer 'erosion' for some reason) of “a girl's identity and sense of self.” But it does bring up a couple of issues. For example, take the phrase; '...pause to chatter with [her] friends.'

This partial phrase in itself raises two questions in my mind. (1) Should a detainee be allowed sufficient latitude to form close relationships in the first place and (2) should inter-detainee 'chatter' be allowed under any circumstances, whatever form it might take? Imagine the sense of isolation suffered by the poor thing if surrounded by a cohort of others yet disallowed from communicating directly with any of them in any manner, under the continual threat of the cane or the strap for any slip – or indeed one of several subtle psychological punishments of even greater corrective efficacy. Surely far more psychologically stressful – if lovingly instigated, supervised, and with sufficient attention to detail - than simple solitary confinement?

The part about a subject “relentlessly belittled and corrected” resulting in rapid erosion of self-esteem and the subject coming to think of herself as "incorrigible" and "delinquent" is interesting, although I'm not fond of the terms “incorrigible" and "delinquent" in this context – 'inferior' or 'inept' might be more apt terms. As for “...the [the subject's] memory of past accomplishments and accolades fading as rapidly as a forgotten dream.” Yes, this would seem a worthwhile outcome to be expected of such a regimen. I seem to think that both aspects have been explored - both social isolation and continual belittling and correction - have been employed in a psychological research context in the past. The latter belittling and correction approach could indeed be applied quite subtly given the right context, so subtly and gradually that the subject herself might not be consciously aware of what is happening to her even as her personality is being remodeled according to someone else's template.

Now that. I think, is real domination!

On the right: The Finished Article? (Actually, just how right is this pic? Fantastic? Certainly got me thinking! If only her hands were in the prayer position it would be perfection - it's that close! Taken, or re-blogged or whatever you'd like to call it, from Cornertime for naughty girls, just click pic to visit - highly recommended!)

Now, That is What I Call Domination! Or is it? Discuss! (Part 2)

I am currently sitting, working through my email pile in an Enfield (North London) coffee bar (Neros – it has free WiFi but too many screaming babies). In writing terms I am 'high and at the moment having self-forbidden alcohol for medical reasons (? alcoholic peripheral neuropathy) and if not for that selfsame email burden would have been otherwise left completely devoid of inspiration. As it is the though has suddenly struck me that it might be instructive and inspirational to all concerned if I were to more widely disseminate a dialog that seems to have developed between regular contributor, 'imreadonly2' and yours truly.

Partly this is a reiteration of some part of the comments section of an earlier post, partly it is taken from an email correspondence occasioned by the aforementioned contributor having found himself falling foul of some sort of quota limitation or other technical problem relating to the comments section.

All this I shall shortly post in two parts – this being part 2 - taking the most recent last so that it reads in a linear fashion and thus the flow of ideas is a more natural, intuitive one. The idea is that it should become an ongoing interaction, with all and sundry joining, thus stimulating imagination, ideas and creativity all round. I also hope to add some suitable pics as we go along – perhaps retrospectively.

Continued: See post immediately above.

'imreadonl2' wrote: “Whether "chatter" (and friendships) are allowed between the inmates is an interesting point, worthy of some discussion.

Total social isolation for long periods leads inexorably to insanity, so although isolation can be used for punishment, some form of social interaction is required. This was discovered at Eastern State Penitentiary when the Quakers introduced a reform system based on prayer and solitary confinement in the 18th century, and the inmates went mad.

I prefer a mixed model. When the girls are working in the mill, or in the plantation fields harvesting the crops, chatter is considered a distraction from work, and is punished.

However, the reformatory itself is run like a strict boarding school, and the girls (all over 18, or in their 20's or 30's) are allowed to "chatter" between classes, and during sports and such. But such communication is not pleasure, but rather a means to an end.

All communications are closely monitored, both thru a series of well compensated stoolies and prefects, and thru surveillance devices the girls are entirely unaware of. Friendships are allowed to form, but can easily be broken down when the surveillance is used to convince one of the girls that her ersatz "friend" has betrayed her to the Headmaster. Feeling betrayed, the girl becomes even more socially isolated and alone, and dependent on the direction of her masters.

Teasing and bullying is encouraged, both to break down the spirit of the girls, and as part of the social order to keep the girls inline, as it allows the girls to largely police themselves. A "good" girl can become the lesbian bitch of a tougher inmate, and then be punished by her fellow inmates gang for the misdeeds she refuses to, and by the authorities in charge for the crimes she does reluctantly commit (including the forced lesbianism itself). Placing the "good" girl in such an impossible situation quickly erodes her sense of righteousness, and gradually convinces her that the court's sentence of delinquency was in fact entirely justified.

Your point is you prefer incompetence to delinquency, but that can be accomplished as well. A girl who is particularly pretty may be fitted with dental braces, with head gear that must be worn 24/7, giving her a lisp. Another girl may be given special exercises for her "chicken legs" or an especially distasteful diet to help her "manage her weight." A young woman good at math can be placed in a Latin class; a former doctor may be made to scrub bedpans in the ward, where her medical advice is pointedly ignored. Or perhaps she is given a diuretic that makes her wet the bed, and is then made to wear a sailor's cap, and a sign that says "Sailor Sandy" for the next week, so she can be teased by the other girls.

The young woman may or may not be aware of the psychological underpinnings of what is being done to her, but understanding it will make it all the more painful. Slowly, inexorably, she will feel herself slipping away… ”

I Forgot the Title

Hi people! I've been writing most of today, which is a promising sign, though I'm still suffering badly with tingling (like nettle rash - without the rash) forearms and hands (mainly the backs) of which more next time. Last time I reported having removed 'britishspankingmags' from the sidebar blog list and that the site no longer held any content in any case. Today I had reason to search around on the internet and I have now located ‘British Spanking Magazines’ alive and well on Blogspot at http://britishspankingmagazines.blogspot.com/.

Running "stories from old spanking mags, such as Blushes, Roué [my correction], Janus, Februs, Swish, Kane etc" and published "In memory of Alex Birch" it promises to be both an important resource and a refresher course in all that helped form my interests through that important period, the 1980s, and that went on to inspire and inform my own writing. In fact almost the first thing to greet my eyes was one of my all-time fave pics from that powerhouse of the genre, 'Uniform Girls' (see above and just click pic to visit the blog, or look for the link in the sidebar blog list).

That Old School Summer Dress

Just came across the blog 'Discipline Her' being "Tiffany Scarlet's spanking musings" on Wordpress.co (click to visit or check out the blog link list in the right hand sidebar). And I am jolly glad that I did, too as one of the first entries I happened to blunder upon – not necessarily the latest – featured this brace of charming shots taken from Blushes (I think it was – certainly one of that stable; though it might just be from Roue I suppose) that I did have in my collection at one time but that seems to been mislaid over the years; I have been looking for a replacement for some time in fact. The photo set this is taken from dates back to the mid to late 1980s though the room setting might almost suggest the 1970s.

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The dress design itself possibly dates from the late 1960s. Why I think this is that I once uncovered an old woman's magazine dating back to that period featuring a pattern for a near identical dress while taking up some lino in a house I was involved in renovating. It is the modest high collar that I think makes the thing work and though not perfect I still think it goes a long way towards forming the design basis for a school uniform summer-dress suitable for the older teen being educated at home or indeed held in a strict privately run institution.

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Any thoughts or suggestions? What improvements /changes might you make, if any?

Composite Uniform Design and the Imagination

'Madmonkey' wrote to me recently by email (well, 4 days ago) to say: “ Awhile back on your ‘behind the barred window’ blog you asked what everyone thought was the perfect fantasy school uniform [It was Thursday, 2 December 2010: Best Gymslip Design of all Time? You Tell Me (click to view)– Garth the ever attentive Archivist]. Attached is a picture I made from a composite of other pictures and is what I think of as the perfect school uniform for the recalcitrant young lady (or grown woman one needs out of the way).”

Well, here is the fruit of Madmonkey’s labour (above left). Thanks for that, Madmonkey old chap. It’s an interesting idea don’t you think, this composite idea. The would-be designer could in principle put together all sorts of combinations of elements on the figure of one’s choice, pillaging from both old and new. In particular some of those old classic black and white shots could be first colourised in Photoshop or its equivalent and elements – or perhaps whole outfits – put together in imaginative ways. Alternatively the designer might leave the source material in monochrome and convert any more modem elements one might choose to include – such as the school ‘jumper’ of Madmonkey’s vision – into monochrome to match, the idea being to recreate that pastimes air of strict reform-school discipline. The one proviso I would add is that the uniform should be clearly designed to conform to the biologically adult form of the late teen. Whether one starts with a 3D computer generated figure as a framework (an interesting concept in itself) or one drawn from some other source (one has to be careful here) it should be possible to morph the impression of a mature figure into one’s design. So there’s the challenge – let’s fry those imaginative little grey cells out there! I’m always looking for creative input to aid in the design of the new book cover and it may be possible to integrate the outcome into the design as it presently stands.

Now you will have noted my absence for some time from these pages: I have been a little 'indisposed'. Some fool using a mobile phone drove over my foot while parking close to where I was crossing the road. This did my foot no good at all as I only had trainers on, although x-ray revealed nothing broken (don't know how - must be made of rubber!). The real problem is that I have osteoarthritis in my right knee that I refused an operation on as long ago as 2001 (I was coming up to the 12 month report stage of my PhD and couldn't afford the time off involved). Of course it has worsened somewhat over the years.

It is little surprise that when, having argued with the driver, he subsequently leaped out and jumped on me from behind (brave chap) my knee promptly gave up the ghost pitching me onto the ground - whereupon said driver proceeded to give yours truly a 'good kicking', as we say here in the UK. Hmmm nice! No real damage was done other than a bit of bruising and I felt absolutely nothing (I was very, very drunk - of course!) but it has made my knee swell and walking painful, so I am using it as an excuse to springboard myself back onto the treatment track. I had no GP so I have been in and out of x-ray and registering myself at a GPs surgery and all the rest to ‘get the ball moving’. After all this time I would imagine we are talking knee replacement surgery (at least that is what I am hoping - they have some good stuff these days). So a little bit of a silver lining there!

Despite these...er...distractions, I have been working my way through my files from time to time and cutting and pasting into the book. At last a logical story progression is emerging. The upcoming new book now stands at 315 of 9 by 6 inch pages of 10 point text, should it be published as a single work. Of this figure, perhaps 300 pages will likely survive further editing by my estimate. Unfortunately the next part to be inserted will not be such a simple cut and paste job as I am going to have to run through it first, changing the tense it is written in. You see there is a section in which one of the characters first encounters her new ‘home’ - her first impressions of ‘The Ward’, as the place is euphemistically known - which at present is told in flashback at a later point in the girl’s mind's eye. After the adjustment I propose, the reader will encounter the layout of ‘The Ward’ in 'real time' as the girl first enters. It makes for much more sense that way from the point of view of storytelling, as the reader immediately has the backdrop picture painted in their mind for the action to then play out against. As always the devil is in the detail and the essential thing is that the action should flow in a logical sequence.

By for now – have to fly.

A Couple of Blushes Reader's Letters Scans

Hi, as it is the weekend and I am away from home I wouldn't ordinarily produce a blog posting but it just so happens I have a few minutes on my hands and I just realised I have a few of those Blushes Magazine reader's letters pages scans that were kindly sent in by Alan some time ago here with me stashed on a data stick. I am currently hard at it putting together the introductory and final chapters of the new book, much of the middle being now in place. As you probably know by now, I am also beginning to mess around with some cover design ideas - some preliminary versions of which I may share with you next time.

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Many thanks to those of you who pointed out the spelling error in the title of my last posting (now corrected) and also that I'd posted the same picture back in September. Someone asked if there were more of the same set - well there are, posted way back and now languishing in the blog archive some place; just type the search terms: 'gymslip', 'school uniform' or 'adult school uniform' into the site search facility box over in the right hand sidebar.

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Meanwhile: you have seen an example of something I consider close to the perfect school uniform (or at least a good starting point, perhaps with the addition of a high, stiff 'Eaton-style collar' for example) but I'm curious as to your ideas - any takers?

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Let's hear about your design ideas, restrictive petty rules, punishments and the devilish torments you would inflict and impose given a free hand.

An Open Letter and a Blushes Reader's Letters Page Scan

As you will have read, I ended up staying on the IOW longer than anticipated. What I was a little loath to admit – and a little in two minds about sharing with you all - was that this was largely as a result of becoming… sort of locked in to a drinking binge which then continued on having eventually reached London. Having written to my collaborating illustrator in the ‘States’ with a few words of explanation – having all but lost contact due to my lack of feedback to him – I gave a second thought to this reticence, coming to the conclusion that you all deserve an explanation as to my increasing erratically-timed postings to this blog; not to mention the delays occurring to the production of the new volume. Today is only my 4th ‘dry’ day – and it still feels bloody awful. I get bouts of very deep depression in any case, but following such an extended binge (relatively rare, thankfully) it can get so, so much worse.

It wouldn't have been so bad if my (usually) trusty netbook computer had been working correctly. Usually when partaking of a few beers my mood is elevated, my imagination and enthusiasm are stimulated and I often get a lot of useful writing completed. But with the computer playing up, added to the ‘downer’ that comes after such a binge I have this overwhelming sense of remorse, having wasted so much time. Yes, I could have switched to pen and paper, which is how the first two books started out life, but to tell the truth, for a while, recently, I seem to have exhausted pretty much all my reserves of enthusiasm. I think this is partly due to the way that sorting out the story-flow of the new book – bearing in mind that the work now represents well over a year of writing, on and off - seems to have become such an insurmountable task. It has become a real ‘monster’ and undoubtedly, in hindsight, overambitious; with the result that at present it exists as a series of disjointed vignettes (if exciting vignettes, I guess – though to be honest all the focus required as led to my becoming more than a little jaded).

Well, here I am, full of ant-depressants. The herbal remedy, St Johns Wort, usually works for me whereas the SSRI type things the doctors often prescribe - Prozac and the ilk - don't do much for me. So I am on buckets of the stuff and forcing myself down the gym, as that often helps. To be honest it is always a little like this at this time of the year with the shortening hours of daylight – just not usually this bad.

At this stage it all seems so overwhelming; there seems so much left to do. If I can get going at all, I would really want to get at least the written version up and published in some form by xmas. If I can do that, then I think I’ll be able to keep going a little longer and put a couple of months aside to complete the illustrated version – but no more than that. I think that come February or thereabouts I'll want to wash my hands of the whole thing, including the blog (although I might change the direction of the blog, or start a new one) - it just doesn't do anything for me anymore. For now it is all about getting that spark ignited again. What it comes down to is that writing can be such an insular and lonely task (though the blog helps), especially when the subject matter makes it difficult to discuss it with those around me. It comes down to many hours sitting alone. And it is such a thankless task with little financial gain to be had; the commercial take-up of this genre of literature seems somewhat limited and, through Lulu at least, often days go by between sales; it is all dribs and drabs. But then again, if I don’t finish it… what happens to all those piles of part-written stuff I have built up over the past fourteen months or so?

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Finally: I have dug out this Blushes Reader’s Letters page (see above right) scanned and sent in by Allan. Thank god (thank Allan, anyway!) I still have a stockpile of these to provide a little light relief – I have little drive to get around to scanning any more of my own collection at the moment. It's that ever-popular 'adoptee' thing again! I am unsure of the origin of the illustration at the top of the page (something I blundered across a time ago on the webb somewhere) and I know nothing of the original storyline behind it. The latter makes it all the more intriguing, though, and although fat girls are not my thing it did at least inspire one particularly devilish idea - now woven itnto the new book's storyline. I just hope someone gets to read it some day. See y’all next time.

Blushes, Braces and Booze (And a Length of Pliant Malacca)

Boy, did or I have a skin-full yesterday: Green King Abbot Special Reserve no less (6.7% alcohol by volume, wowza!!!). It was not all oblivion though; I did get another chapter of the new book finished. I've just got to read through it and make one or two corrections are no longer to send off to my illustrator chum in the States to see what he thinks of it and whether or not it triggers off in him any ideas as regards art work. It's just a little something that involves the enforced wearing of leg braces, something encouraged by various devious means, partly psychological partly physical, the psychological domination of a young girl by her implacably strict governess, the application of a swishy Malacca cane across defenselessly-bared chubby teenage buttocks and plump adolescent curves squeezed into a charmingly-sweet one-piece sailor-suit-styled acetate sleep suit and experiencing for the first time the intimate slickness of a night spent encased by the waterproofed final lining of the humiliating garment’s lower section. Of course it goes without saying that there are shutters on the windows and padlocks, steel bars and security devices in profusion - one can't be too cautious in this day and age of rising burglary rates.

Now, as I said last time, I'm off to the Isle of Wight in a couple of days time and may not have Internet access so I thought I'd use this opportunity to paste up another of those letters page from Bushes scans that were kindly sent me some time ago (click to enlarge) and also a bit of art work that I came across in my searches and that I found inspired me.

Sorry, but I have been too busy of late to do much with the blog. I'm still hard at work refining the new volume or volumes (I'm still undecided) aiming to get them out by Christmas (can we still say that? No? It offends who? Oh! Those - we mustn't offend those! OK - The Mid-Winter Festival then). I am off to the Isle of Wight for a week this coming Sunday and although I'll be taking my computer I doubt I'll get much done, judging from my trip last year, so that's another week gone! The illustrator I have been working with has come up with yet another nice illustration, but I can't say much about that at the moment for fear of giving too much away of the plot (for what there is of it at the moment).

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I think that come Chris... I mean The Mid-Winter Festival... Yes, come the The Mid-Winter Festival anything not finished will have to remain that way as I am going to have to focus my energies on earning a decent crust. I am examining the idea of setting myself up in business as a personal trainer. I have a master's degree (M.Sc) in human nutrition from King's College, London and practically live in the gym (when not in the pub) and have done for more years than I care to think about. These days, for health and safety (and insurance) purposes one needs certain physical education qualifications but these can be acquired through a couple of short courses run by the YMCA among others
and in addition there is a specialised course to allow one to work with 'older people' (whatever they are - it's all relative, isn't it?) which I intend to undertake. That - along with nutritional advice and focus on improving body composition rather than on weight-loss per se - will be my USP (Unique Selling Point) in what is quite a competitive market. Basically my idea is to work with folk of around my own age or older, the advantage being that they can see what is possible and that they are not going to be asked to do anything that someone of their own vintage is not clearly capable of. In addition, having suffered most pitfalls and injuries over the years and come up against one or two age related limitations, I have an understanding of where the boundary lines exist and a good knowledge of working around those limitations. I'm sure you get the idea. So although I intend to make sure the illustrated version gets completed, any written material that doesn't make it in will just have to remain in limbo. One possibility I have been thinking about is handing over any incomplete work along with an outline sketch of the story direction I envisage to someone else to finish off - but we will just have to see how it goes for the time being.

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Now, I for one was enjoying our anonymous contributor's running tale appearing in the comments section and it seems a shame that he is now going to be posting it elsewhere (the link you can find in the comments under my last posting) especially as he is no longer posting as anon. That was the only problem I had with it - too many folk all using the moniker 'anon' - it was all getting terribly confusing. Partly it was my fault: I had intended to gather together all the separate parts of 'Anon's' Natalie reform school tale up to that point and publish them as a single post in the main section for ease of reading but never got around to it. I probably still will in some spare moment at some point. Now, as for today, I thought I'd put up a couple more scans of those old letters pages from Blushes et al that inspired me so much in the early days - these kindly supplied by an anon contributor. (I have lost the original email somehow - but thanks... and have you got any more? What a cheeky git, you're probably thinking!). Just click to enlarge and read. There are plenty more - including some I have scanned myself from my own magazine collection - scattered throughout the blog archive, try clicking on the relevant tags or use the archive search facility over on the right situated near the top of the sidebar. The pic I just came upon and just like - and it seems to fit in somehow with the sentiment.

Punishment Dress: More Inspiration Taken from Blushes Reader’s Letters Pages

Hi folks! I'm a little pushed for the time at the moment as I'm struggling to get the new work out there and finished by Christmas and it may well end up published as two distinct volumes, with all the extra work that will entail (three, if one counts the planned illustrated version of one of the books). The rational behind spliting the tale into two distinct books is twofold: One: the total number of pages if presented in one book as it is at the moment would be colossal. Two: the storyline follows two distinct characters, both of whom you have met before, along two very distinct and very separate pathways. These paths only overlap to any extent to a very small degree.

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On the other hand it may be possible to pare away certain areas where the commonality between the two timelines threatens to introduce too much repetitiveness. After all there is a limit to how many times even the most ardent uniform discipline aficionado, for example, would want to read a detailed description of an ultra strict, ultra restrictive, school uniform imposed on a petulant teenager (or is there? you tell me!).

The reason I would like to finish by Christmas is because - to put it bluntly - money is getting a little short this end; I get very little return financially from book sales and the amount that I've taken from my savings this year to support myself has already exceeded that which I had scheduled and is already threatening to eat into the funds that I had earmarked for next year for various projects. In short I shall need to set aside a little time to seek some form of supplementary income: vis-à-vis a job! You can get an idea of how serious the situation has become by the fact that I plan to forego my usual visits to the pub throughout the month of October and to limit my enjoyment to only two or three visits, at the very most, in the month of November (timed to catch the end of the Wetherspoon's beer festival with any luck).

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As a change of subject: The above chatter over the imposition of strict, restrictive uniforms on recalcitrant young ladies brings to mind the notion that in the domestic or private institution scenario the dividing line between such dress discipline and what might be described as punishment dress can easily become blurred - a thought that came to mind when reading through a couple of the scanned reader's letters pages taken from that marvelous publication of the 1980s and early 90s: 'Blushes' in preperation for today's post. So without further ado here's a couple more of the pages sent in courtesy of our kind contributor 'Alan' (I just had to cut out and zoom in on that natty little drawing!). Needless to add that to read, just click on each page to enlarge. See Y'all!

Blushes Reader's Letters Pages Inspiration

I've just been lucky enough to have received via email a whole series of scans taken from the reader's letters pages of that grand old institution, the Blushes, Whispers and New Uniform Girls magazine stable (many thanks Allen). Longer-standing readers of this blog will remember the letters pages scans I published taken from my own collection that I used to illustrate the type of thing that went to inspire my writing. As the contributor himself says: “Breast punishment and leering old men, you can't beat it, and this letter is also illustrated with a rather pretty girl”. Indeed, old chap! Indeed! I have to say I've had great fun reading through all these great old letters pages.

Most I have had in my collection at one time, but long, long ago, before I sold a few off and then gave away many of the rest. Why? Who knows? That was all long before I had ever thought about writing my own stuff of course, although the memory of the imagery conjured in my imagination when originally I'd leafed through those pages is still fresh enough in my mind to have informed some of the events presented in my publications - including the unfinished new one.

One other area that would crop up from time to time within those same pages and could always be counted on to generate a fascinating and imaginative discourse was that of institutional 'admission procedures', especially those dealing with the importance of the psychological implications behind the ritualistic nature and design of those procedures. Those letters that I could still locate in the remnants of my collection I have already scanned and shared with the readership of this blog - tagged with the term, 'inspirations' or something similar I believe, just in case any of you want to look them up in the blog archive. While I'm at it, I'd just like to point out that for your delectation and delight I have today added a link to a diapered girls blog – check out the blog listing in the sidebar on the right.

The Girl in the Striped Pyjamas - A Good Reforming Spank and a Blog

Since I have been going on at length in recent weeks (or has it been months) about humiliating baggy institutional pyjamas, can you imagine my joy at coming across a blog featuring a continuing reform-school style storyline including exactly that. The approach is somewhat different to my own and the scenario is entirely different of course, but the addition of
matching elasticated cotton mop (sometimes, mob) caps is inspired - although those of you who have read the first two volumes of my INSTITUTIONALISED series (see sidebar) (there are only two at present - but with a third on the way) will have come across the concept of the wearing of bonnets as part of an institutional uniform, although not with pyjamas and not at all of that style. But as part of institutional nightwear it makes perfect sense, somehow. I pinched the pic from the section that deals exactly with that - simply click on the photo to go read. To read the latest instalment from The Girl in the Striped Pyjamas.blogspot.com - click blog name here, or see the link I have posted in the right-hand sidebar blog list (err... over on the right?). By the way: I don't know where this pic originated - I have never seen it before - but notice how each seems as if obliged to permanently utilise one hand to keep hitched up her pyjama bottoms. A hugely demoralising feature - and a concept I have recently been exploring in my writing, although in what I would imagine to be a completely different context.

Institutional and Domestic Discipline: An Illustrated Collaboration 3 – Further Evolution

I have to rush out today – I am off to Eastbourne on the sunny Sussex coast where my mother is enjoying a few days in a guest house. I am going to be there later today and will probably (hopefully) spend the afternoon outside a bar at the end of Eastbourne pier writing in the sun - and it is blazingly sunny here in London at the moment, so I’m quite optimistic. This evening, I hope, will find me ensconced in the Eastbourne Wetherspoons pub; come and say hello if you are an Eastbourne type, appreciate a good ale and happen to be in the vicinity. Tomorrow I may visit Brighton or Hastings. I am taking my trusty bike and hope to tour around a bit up and down the south coast, visiting Wetherspoons branches and of course writing if and when inspired – I am taking my netbook computer with me. I next expect to be back home at my desk on Tuesday 8th June (next Tuesday) but WiFi internet connections willing, I may update the blog while on the move and hopefully I will still be able to view my emails – so don’t be shy, write today.

Talking off inspiration: if you remember the piece I posted recently regarding my collaboration with the Stateside computer artist, ‘Snooze’ and the evolution of a particular illustration I demonstrated as an example of the sort of thing we have been developing you will probably be interested with this, the latest incarnation of that art work - compare and contrast with the earlier renditions posted elsewhere. There are many more scenes we are working on – some far more complex and detailed - but it would spoil the fun to give any further inkling of these – you’ll just have to wait until the new book gets finished, or more specifically, the illustrated version of it.

In the present illustration the girl has just failed a written imposition set by the section psychiatrist – a most formidable, yet exceedingly clever - woman and has had her institutional pyjama bottoms taken of her in preparation for correction. The view through the door tells the viewer that this private little prison is in fact a tiny secure anteroom leading directly off of a more conventionally furnished consultation room - the regulation hospital bed provided for the inmate with its integral restraints is behind the view and so not in evidence. The white outer door beyond the bars both provides the psychiatrist’s office with the appearance one might expect, when closed, while also increasing the hapless girl’s isolation by removing from her the stimulation of the external view and providing for a high degree of soundproofing. The thick but supple leather belt carried, doubled-over, in the hospital sister’s hand, has a special relevance to the poor girl – it is something destined to make the up-coming correction all the more intolerable for the girl once the realisation sinks in! As always - all comments, ideas and what have you, will be gratefully received - bye for now!

Is it Me, is it Nanny’s World - Or Just a Spot of Sanitary Protection?

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Interviews and Interrogations

Hi Folks, I'm still here, stuck in Eastbourne which is why the blog updates are still so sparse. As always I'm continuing writing but various family duties have taken up a lot of time of late. Today I had to remove a link from the blog-list in the right-hand sidebar. Google chrome was flagging up the link to the blog ‘Paolo in Dublin’ as having ‘content embedded likely to cause damage to a computer’ or something along those lines. I have uncovered a couple more interesting sites while having a hunt around the Internet this morning, the most interesting of which is probably 3D Kink (click to visit) which is full of 3-D rendered images and that has an interesting feature whereby one may design their own ‘ slave girl ’ or whatever. I also hit pay-dirt in my quest for images to inform a suitable role model for the governess figure who will emerge in INSTITUTIONALISED volume 3 in the form of this nice little vintage set here. And now back to a little writing;

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I have been working on a little scene involving a rigidly disciplined probing question-and-answer session between attractive female psychiatrist and her young charge - the formal white-coated, the latter dressed in a hot and particularly restrictive school uniform.

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Perched on a narrow, hard-seated, straight-backed wooden chair our young lady is of course obliged herself to sit rigidly straight backed throughout, admonished for fidgeting and picked up on for the slightest discrepancy or inconsistency between answers to questions that are apparently endless worded almost as if to deliberately trip her up. It is not the first time she has had to sit through such a tedious and punishing interview nor will it be her last - the sessions are repeated over and over and will be until such a time that the therapist is satisfied that all answers given are consistent and that she therefore wheedled out every little nuance of her patient’s hidden thoughts and has her subconscious lying open at her fingertips. Obviously the girl wishes to keep hidden anything that she believes might count against her, especially insofar as her remaining in the institution she now finds herself, but there is a long supple length of rattan lying across the doctor's desktop that begs to differ.

The Bad-Bunny Punishment Suit

Recently I have been enthusing over the work of an artist going by the Monika of Thorn, though rumor persists that the originator is this guy, Hobbs. Whatever the truth it is rare that any artwork has been quite so stimulating in terms of being a catalyst for ideas for incorporation within my own work – other than the work of Roger Benson I suppose, particularly his reformatory series. One tantalizing possibility that fired my imagination was the prospect of a collaboration with this Thorn / Hobbs chap illustrating my scribblings. But faced with the apparent impossibility of making contact with the chap and his reluctance to defend his own work, if indeed he is being plagiarized, I have been led to the depressing conclusion that he might well be deceased.

Imagine my delight then when, while searching for yet more undiscovered Thorn / Hobbs imagery I stumbled across the work of Julian Guile, not a name I have run into before. It turns out that I have unwittingly posted up an example of this artists work before, albeit in a low resolution form - an image that was sent to me anonymously and was entitled 'The Detention Room' and displayed a high degree of imagination in the design of the miscreant's seating arrangement. The latter is little more than a perch and is undoubtedly very uncomfortable - but so practicable when it comes to instant correction by way of the application of cane or strap. This little innovation is what rescues the subject matter from what so easily could have been something rather hackneyed and stereotypical.

The way this artist captures the all-important psychological effect on the young lady by way of her expression and body language is masterful and very reminiscent of the aforementioned Thorn / Hobbs – he successfully captures the emotional pain and how it may surpass the merely physical in its way.

If further evidence of this guy's creativity is called for, one needs look no furtherer than this little number entitled 'The Bad-Bunny Suit' – below, right. Designed to make the wearer look and feel ridiculous and humiliated while facilitating the application of corporal punishment, a real stroke of genius is evidenced in the design of the sleeves. The latter, terminating in fingerless mittens, extend beyond the fingers and seem designed to incorporate a brass eye or ring at the extremity – all the better to secure flailing limbs. Even the 'bunny-ears' undoubtedly included to further exaggerate the absurdity of the outfit, could be pressed into service to secure the young lady if so called upon. Suitably furnished at their tips with metal rings or eyes they would make fine anchor points to conjoin with similar rings attached to tabs sewn into the waistband or perhaps attached to the toes of the suit if it should be required to restrain the young lady into an acute hairpin-bent posture during the progression of her correction.

What could be more humbling for a girl in her late teens than having to wear such a ridiculous outfit, clearly designed with corporal punishment in mind and leaving little in doubt in the mind of the observer, while fully aware that it also doubles as a restraint system and that, so suited and with her behind so charmingly displayed, she is completely at the mercy of her master or mistress. She has been rendered ridiculous, impotent and helplessly subject to corporal punishment at the whim of whomever in one swoop – what more could one ask of a well-designed punishment outfit?

That Thorn / Hobbs Drawing - Revisited

Today you find your scribe sitting working in the local Wetherspoons pub – I had intended to go to the gym but it turns out that it is going to be shut for a few days. So here I am, sat sitting, and leafing through my notebook I came upon the second part of the piece I wrote around that old Thorn / Hobbs illustration. If you pop back to the original piece / illustration you will understand that this takes the form of some rather rambling thoughts that came to me while sitting in a pub having earlier in the day stumbled across a printout of this old drawing that i had all but forgotten about. Basically it is a series of ideas and thought processes that sprang naturally from the ambiguity of the scenario depicted and as such the ideas tend to branch and grow and pile one upon the other in no particular order but based around certain assumptions about the interrelationship of the participants. At this point I had moved in on a certain assumption as regrades the seated older woman.

Assuming that the woman is a teacher or governess having the intent of returning the young trollop to a strict regime of scholastic discipline, is it then her intention of only leaving the shop once she has the girl suitably dressed from head to foot in full school uniform? Although it seems doubtful that such an establishment as this would seem to be from the visible clues available would stock attire that would be deemed suitable in any conventional sense, in the case of a young lady, schooled in seclusion and kept largely out of public view, that sensibility might be shifted somewhat. On the other hand, being an efficient and well organised woman, might she have arranged beforehand to have a suitable complete wardrobe delivered from elsewhere? Then again, perhaps our young lady will be relieved to find herself handed back the fashionable adult outfit she arrived in, only to be much later dismayed when led to an old-fashioned school outfitters, hidden away in the backstreets, and shown through to a rear stockroom that looks as if it has been frozen in time since the 1950s.

This is where the artist (whoever he might in reality be) has surpassed himself, in the way that he uses the girl's body language to tell the story. Anything seems possible from this point onwards; just a glance at the position of the girl's hands and arms and one instantly reads that this girl, however defiant she might have been before, is now ready to go through almost anything rather than receive further cuts across her backside from that cane lying readily to hand on the table in the foreground. And surely at this particular moment she would welcome any form of covering rather than suffer further the feeling of naked defencelessness that undoubtedly fills her. If she were to be led to a changing room right at that moment, perhaps puzzling as to the fact that her clothing has been left out on the shop-floor, eyeing the young female assistant, barely older than herself, nervously, she might well react in dismay at the sight of the green and white, candy-striped, school blouse draped over the assistant's arm and the short-bodied bottle green 'bum-freezer' blazer waiting on a hanger at the rear, but would she have the temerity to voice her objection? Isn't it more likely that under the circumstances she would be welcoming of any form of covering, however humiliating it might seem? And even if she did balk, perhaps dismayed as the light catches the proffered blouse's satin fabric - seemingly more appropriate if incorporated in a bridesmaid's dress - and she realises that she can make out the shop assistants fingertips through the sheer fabric, perhaps noting for the first time the high, stiffened Eton collar, the equally stiff long cuffs and the childish subtly-puffed shoulders, she knows that the cane is still there waiting. A few wickedly burning strokes landed across her bottom in full view of the young shop assistant would soon have her fingers fumbling with the buttons, her cheeks burning and even deeper shade of red as the skin-close fit becomes apparent; the fitted in-sweeping side-panels curve notably inwards along the contours of her torso and the clever darting at the bosom allows the buttoning to nestled deep within the separation of her bust, tending to exaggerate her already quite generous feminine attributes. I can well imagine that if created by the mind behind this store, then she would find that the collar would button as tight as to seemingly threaten strangulation - even before the diagonally striped, green and gold, school tie is knotted about her neck - and would be as restrictive as to oblige her to keep her chin raised.

The school tie can only add to this sense of restriction. Nestling in the valley between her melon-thrusted breasts it acts to draw the eye to her cleavage, just as the short blazer, buttoning only at the waist by way of two buttons and thus open the front, seems calculated to draw the gaze inwards to where the thimble outline of her nipples can clearly be seen through the thin fabric, raising this already naturally shy girl's self-consciousness to a new level and conversely sending her self-confidence crashing. The form fitting blazer, with its broad lapels drawing in the eye, reveals more than it covers - indeed, it's more a showcase than a covering.

Perhaps a full-length slip might ordinarily have been called for, certainly if she were to leave wearing the gym tunic that has been supplied, but this woman has other ideas for her charge and for today a white nylon waist-slip has been considered sufficient. The thick nylon petticoat has been styled as if a pencil skirt and its reinforced hem girdles the girl's upper thighs allowing only the daintiest of gaits -there will be no more unsightly and feminine striding out for her, nor running about, nor any other activity that might be considered too 'boisterous'.

Beneath that, the bloomer-style interlocked-cotton school knickers fit as closely as if a sprayed-on second skin. Their latex inner lining clings intimately to her flesh and embarrassingly so in all the wrong places. Their frilled leg-cuffs, reaching down and dimpling prettily the lower part of her thighs, are adorned with bottle-green nylon satin bows at the sides; the ribbon being striped with gold so as to match the school tie, the ribbon trim around the lapels and detailing of the blazer and the ribbon bows that will later dress her hair, it is clear that this feature is very much designed to be on show, charmingly peeking out from beneath the hem of her skirt as she walks. As for the latter, the skirt is a conventional enough circular sunray-pleated affair realised in bottle green or light blue as appropriate, perhaps even a pastel shade - a full school uniform realised in soft pastel pinks and baby blues could be an interesting departure don't you think - flaring markedly out from an overly tight, perhaps belted, waistband and coming to its hem at no more than mid-thigh at most. Long coltish legs might perhaps be thought best left bare, perhaps finished off with white frilled, turnover ankle socks, the tops decorated with a dainty ribbon bow at the front or back on the outer sides as preferred and in a suitable colour so as to match skirt, blazer and shoes or perhaps striped so at to match the school tie, the ribbons in her hair and those at the leg-cuffs of her knickers.

As if this were not enough to crush the sturdiest of spirits, then a single glance at the badge emblazoned on the breast pocket of the blazer, mirroring that embroidered on the breast pocket of school blouse beneath, should do so, most assuredly - it would certainly do nothing to ease the girl's discomfiture, promising as it does, a suggestion of her future. Two wicked looking crook-handled canes are depicted crossed over an open school textbook and surmounted by the words: 'St Anne's Reformatory' and a legend curving beneath reading: 'chastisement, discipline and obedience' in a curling embroidered copperplate. That the named establishment does not formally exist is neither here nor there, it is the intent that it implies that matters here - and the confidence-undermining affect that the woman intends it to have on her charge's mind.

Now suitably subdued, our young lady is led away from the store. But perhaps not back to where she headed out from so cheerily that morning, perhaps a new home awaits - but of this latter development she is presently blissfully unaware. As of this moment, she feels that little could be more humiliating than her present circumstances – she couldn't be more wrong. There is much waiting in the wings that she is destined to feel more humbling than this – how misguided she is if she considers this to be her absolute cringe-worthy limit. But then of course she has yet to be sat in the barber's chair: “She wants a nice trim – side-parted and as short as a boy's. Isn't that right dear?”.

And she still has her appointment with the orthodontist specialist to look forward to: she isn't at all sure that she needs braces on her teeth, and most would agree. She certainly isn't looking forward to it, nor viewing the result in the mirror. Her anxiety is well founded, despite the constant reassurances – unbeknownst to her the ironwork has already been chosen and there is nothing modern, lightweight and discreet about it! But then again her guardian is a woman well known as nothing if not a perfectionist, Shes is also not one to squander a pretty penny on cosmetic dentistry without the promise of a good return. It is the all-in-one efficacy of the treatment that has attracted her attention: Perfect that near perfect smile, do something about the petulant brat's overwrought vanity and curb her incessant chatter, all in one...Perfect. Idiotically impeded speech the girl might well be cursed with as a result, but her guardian has set great store on that velvety tongue of hers not being so impeded that it can't be later educated to serve and to please in the correct manner. That day might still be someway off - perhaps still too far off to properly plan for – but that day will come. One that day one uniform will be swapped for another and the girl will find that a promising academic career will have been swapped for lowly service, the pen for the dustpan and the office chair for the kneeling pad..

So there you have it, an unashamedly rambling example of how a single pic can lead one thought to another and yet another.