A Girl And Her Governess

 

Slippering, Sunshine and Other Joys

Hi folks! It is a blindingly sunny day here in London and hopefully it is just as great wherever you are too. I didn't get to go to the beer Festival at Camden Town Hall in the end so I had to be satisfied by making up for it with a few beers yesterday whilst taking my mother out for Sunday lunch - it was 'Mother's Day' all mother or Mothering Sunday, as it is sometimes called. I had taken along my netbook computer and had hoped to get a few pages typed up while awaiting her arrival but as it turned out she arrived only a few minutes after I got the thing booted up - and that was that. I've only got a couple of free hours in which to get some writing done today so I'm going to go on with it in a moment and so I will keep this short and sweet for now. I just wanted to use this opportunity to tell you about a couple of blog I have just today come across and an 'Imagefap' user profile that is chock full of interesting pictures and artwork based around our favourite subject. The chap calls himself Mr Tawse and you can get to see his collection, such as the picture top left, by clicking on the link I have provided in the right-hand side bar - listed as Mr Tawse (amazingly) - under the 'Useful Resources' category (I know I have posted this pick before, but I just love it anyway). The two blogs are called 'Dr Fetish (Medfet's WebBlog)' - a medical fetish / medical restraint blog, well worth a visit and 'Simply Slippering' (does exactlyy what it says on the tin). Quite amusing, that latter one, as the other half seems to think that she invented the term 'slippering' - no, really, LOL! Now it's back to the grindstone; I'm so full of ideas that moment that something is going to go bang if I don't get them down on paper quickly. Meanwhile, click on either blog title to visit or look for the relevant link in the right hand sidebar blog roll (the Imagefap thing can be found listed under Mr Tawse in the 'useful resources list - also in the right hand sidebar ). Check out the nurse; just perfect, I pinched her from Mr Tawse's collection (well he's pinched a couple of my scans by the looks of things). She looks well worth a visit too (her site's URL can be seen on the picture - just click for a larger version). How I would love to be able to use her photo on the cover of the new book when it's finished - what could be more apt? Wishful thinking of course, but...wow!

Of London Parrots and Nurse-Spanked Schoolgirls

As you know I Don't usually make an entry on a weekend - especially if away from home, as I am this weekend. Not that I am very far from home geographically, just a couple of miles or so north and staying in an area called 'Bounds Green' - an area largely filled with late-Edwardian housing and a million miles away culturally from the crime-ridden grimness of Woodgreen and Turnpike Lane, perhaps a brisk 20 - 25 minutes walk away. Anyway, the 'other half' does a bit of teaching (fashion marketing and journalism and that sort of thing) and is bogged down marking student assignments which will take a couple of hours or so. There is not long enough to do much - though I should just have time enough to integrate some of the stuff I have written in the past week into the main body of the new book and perhaps do a little initial proof-reading / rewriting of some of the early sections if I do not spend too long here.

But having booted up my old trusty laptop - that I keep stashed here for just such opportunities - I thought I'd have a quick look at the blog and a read through of my email. Having spotted the record of my past fortnight's correspondence with Lulu (through whom I publish) and irritated by their lack of response to my latest email to them as regards the option to purchase my work as an electronic download being so obscure on their redesigned site (click here to read my previous gripes), I decided to try to do something about it myself. Accordingly I have just reconfigured the sidebar links to INSTITUTIONALISED volumes 1 and 2 (click for vol 2) on Lulu so as to take the potential reader straight to the electronic download page whereupon the volume concerned may be purchased for £3.75 - rather than the £8.95 plus postage they charge for a print copy.

I also thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you a few of the latest pics sent me from the 'Regulation Knickers' site (currently my only affiliated account - I have to pay the rent somehow) - mostly because the set looks right up my street but also because it fits in so well with the storyline developing in the new volume - the majority of which takes place before the events outlined in INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1. It's also nice not only to see a woman in a nurse's uniform (or governess?) in an authoritative position but also to see a school uniform in brown, as an alternative to the hackneyed navy-blue. It's as if they could read my mind!

On a completely different tack: While walking in Trent Park (Cockfosters - North London) this morning I heard - and on one occasion saw - several ring-necked parakeets. Now, I know that South-West London is chock full of the things (as was Kensington Gardens / Hyde Park, in the vicinity of the Serpentine, the last time I visited in late summer) and there are increasing numbers on Hampstead Heath in the Kenwood House area. But this is the furthest north I have come across them in London. I just wondered just how wide-spread these birds have become in London...so if you live in London (or elsewhere in the UK - I know there are communities around Margate and also in the Midlands, but where else are they?) and have come across what is apparently the world's most widely-distributed parrot please let me know. Now for a bit of real work - see y,all later.

Spanking in Crete? (And the Rest of that Gymslip / School Knickers Punishment Photo' Set)

Probably not, unless the room maid falls down on her job - who knows? In short: I'm off to Crete - Agios Nikolaos to be more exact. I am Leaving tomorrow morning and will be away for eight or nine days thereafter, but I'll be staying at a friend's place for the rest of today and tonight so I guess this will be the last posting for around a week and a half or so, what with one thing or the other. I'm hoping to get some writing done while away, so I'll let you know on my return. Now for the rest of that photo' set I have been baning on about (see above) sorry if the layout is a bit rough and ready, but I am in a bit of a rrrrush! The holiday is all a bit 'last minute, you see...I mean really last minute!!! The pics are not too brilliant, I know, and a bit tame in today's world; but nevertheless at least I can be sure you wont have seen them before... Or at least I'm 99.9% certain - let me know. And how often do we get to see those great old baggy school knickers! Actually I have just discovered a few more of this set but i am not going to try to add them right now - I have had enough trouble trying to arrange these! Since 'upgrading' to Explorer 8 I have had nothing but trouble with the formatting on Blogger. Any ideas?

More on Home Schooling, Victorian school uniform and Other Stuff

Hi folks! Well, what can I say; despite my best intentions for the life of me I couldn't get my wireless 3G Internet thingy to work sufficiently well to satisfactory update my blog while I was away travelling. I'm back in London for a few days and having done a fair amount of writing wall on the move I shall be concentrating on scanning various items from my collections that have inspired me over the years and at the same time looking for further inspiration for the two upcoming volumes that I outlined last time.

In particular I will be researching into the designs and styling of school uniforms of bygone ages, especially the Victorian era. As I said before; without giving too much away, the premise behind volume 3 is the idea of a pair of late-teenage sisters being schooled at home, having been removed from the conventional education system just prior to taking the final exams that would undoubtedly have opened the door to university placement and Independence. Their guardian’s original expressed reasoning being that, in this way when they did finally take those exams the grades they would achieve would be far superior - thus their placement that much more prestigious - seems belayed by the fact that some two years on, educationally they are still no closer to that goal, indeed if anything they are further than ever from it. The governess employed to rule over them, placing the greatest emphasis on discipline above all else, is of the opinion that there is little point in her attempting to further their education until such a time that she is satisfied that she has them both properly under her control, by which term she means living under - and accepting - what she calls ‘good boarding school discipline’. Two years of written impositions, line writing, parrot fashion rote learning of nonsense rhymes and meaningless tables of numbers - all under the constant threat of the cane or the strap - have undermined their expensive education and eroded their self-confidence.

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By the time we first meet them they are both completely and hopelessly under her domination and the question then is - under those circumstances, can either Susan or Meredith, joining them to make up a quartet for the summer, hang on to any semblance of Independence and self-reliance and will either be able to stand up for herself when at the end of summer she is handed documentation to sign there will effectively return her to the incarceration of the institution of experimental psychology? I feel it would be likely that, freed of the straitjacket of convention, any guardian or governess given totally free rein over a small select group of late-teenage girls in such a situation, particularly given the predilections of the particular woman discussed above, would expend no little imagination or effort in the design of a suitable school uniform, for what other form of attire could be more apt? Assuming that to be true, as the creator of the character, I too must expend a similar amount of effort and creativity.

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For example; in the situation where a girl is largely confined to the home or at most her excursions are limited to a very occasional, closely supervised and guarded stroll in the secluded and high-walled grounds of the house; three from prying eyes and well-meaning busybody interference I can well imagine elements that would normally be associated with so-called ‘shame clothing’ being Incorporated in her dress -I would certainly expect an emphasis on restriction in the design, as I have said before. Why the emphasis on Victorian school uniform? Well, the entire wing of the house in which the two sisters are pretty much incarcerated in one way or another has not one modern contrivance - even the lighting is by way of gas lamps - and it is furnished almost as if a museum exhibit of the Victorian era. Indeed by the time we meet the sisters their governess, along with her nursery-nurse assistant, is beginning to get them into the state of mind wherein in some ways they are actually beginning to believe they are really living in the 19th-century, so isolated have they become from the outside world under her influence.

But therein lies my problem as to date I found very little pertaining to Victorian school uniform, although I have come across one or useful sources dealing with the early part of the twentieth century. An example is the drawing on the top left dating from the 1920s; not likely to be particularly influential in my thinking - I'm thinking along far more fussy and restrictive lines - it is food for thought nonetheless. If anybody comes across any suitable pictures or descriptions or has any suitable ideas and inspirations please feel free to let me know either as a comment or by direct e-mail to yours truly.

Now last time I promised you a couple of links and here they are, albeit somewhat delayed (sorry). If you're interested in restrictive clothing as pertaining to discipline of the female than it's worth visiting Retroxotique (just click the pic on the left or site title to visit the fashion links - but I've also added it to the resource list in the sidebar). As well as vintage pictures they also have stories so click HERE for the site's story page or HERE to check out the story link list.

By the way, if you just can't get enough of those vintage spanking magazine covers and can't find enough of interest in my own album (see Picasweb album list in sidebar on right) then you'll be interested in a YahooGroup I recently came across that has literally masses. It is where the cover picture on the above right came from so just click on it to visit, or look for the link in a YahooGroup list in the sidebar (of course you have to join yahoogroups first).

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You might also like to visit The Woody Back to School Unit an interesting little blog I have neglected to mention some how (embarising considering the owner was kind enough to congratulate me on the publication of INSTITUTIONALISED Volume 2 on the pages of his blog!

A Follow Up to the Strict Governess: More Scans from Janus

As promised I've taken a look through my folders of scans and come up with more from that strict governess photo story that was published in Janus all those years ago and that started me off down the whole strict governess story route in my approach to writing.

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I sketched out several storylines based around these images most of which had been long lost in the mists of time but the bare bones have survived to be incorporated within the INSTITUTIONALISED series in one form or another. For example I have plans for one of the characters from volume 1 and a new character introduced in volume 2 to be placed, together, in the hands of a rather special governess for a period of time and at least part of that particular story arc is based around one of the vignettes that I spun around this photo series. (Quite what is so special about her is all tied up in how she goes about handling recalcitrant charges and the somewhat unorthodox techniques she brings into play - beyond that I can say no more without giving too much away except, perhaps, to say that her charges tend to have a somewhat dreamlike air about them).

Another inspirational spanking photo set published in Janus at around the same period was that featuring the delicious Sarah Jane in a wondrous school uniform set piece. I long ago sold that particular edition and stupidly neglected to scan it but I have just come across it on Richard Windsor's most excellent spanking photo' site. (Click on Sarah's name or pic to view the set or select link from the resource list on sidebar). She has just the look to bring out that cruel side of me; I can't think of a better candidate for the kind of psychological study outlined within the pages of volume 1, take a look...what do you think, what would you do with her??? Lets not just stop at a caning - You could find your suggestion used within the pages of the next volume of INSTITUTIONALISED.

Strict Governesses, Uniforms, Canes and Gymslips

Some uniforms look so much better with cane in hand (Click here to see the article with the original of the blue dress - look at the bottom of the page when you get there)

Others appear as if designed to invite the sting of swishy rattan - below - it seems the natural order of things, at least to my mind

(and those that inhabit the INSTITUTIONALISED universe of course).

Another inspiration, influence and a governess

Another influence on my work was a letter, apparently published in response to a previous edition's questionnaire or some such thing, that I came across in a very old magazine that I had found amongst a batch of dogeared old magazines and stuff that I'd bought at a boot-fair. That was way back in the 1980s and all I have now is an old photo copy that I've scanned for the blog. I have absolutely no recollection of the title of the magazine it originally came from, other than that it was from a letters page (too many beers over the years I guess).

The pic on the left comes from a 980s catalogue issued by Garoulds of London, And now-defunct uniform manufacturer that used to have a shop the Edgeware Road, London W1.

Their range of styles, that I still vividly recall from the 1960s and 70s, have played a great part in influencing the design of the more institutional uniforms that I envisage (and hopefully manage to depict) in my writings. The 1960s styles, particularly those of the early 1960s, tended to incorporate long sleeves with buttoned cuffs, more defined belted waists and somewhat flared skirts. The front-buttoned belt seemed a feature of many of their styles throughout the period. Despite the above being a 1980s version I can still somehow imagine it worn by the writer of the letter above. It's not perfect, but it provides a fair illustration nonetheless. I leave it to the reader to make the necessary mental adjustments to envisage an early 1960s version, perhaps in a hard wearing navy blue nylon fabric, the woman casually toying with a heavy leather strap, her charge tightly bent over a stall or across the arm of a sofa nearby.