CHIMNEY SWEEPS






I had my chimney swept today.

Oh sorry! Is that not politacally correct? Perhaps I sholud rephrase that.I am not homophobic.
In fact I admire the confident ones who party just as hard as anyone else and take great pride in their appearance. But to get back to my post...


As I love chatting ( almost as much as I love Julie), I engaged in social conversatio with my chimney sweep. (Why aren't they called chimney sweepers? Is there such a thing as a chimney sweepee?) It turns out that he has read about his profession ( no - the day one!) and told me that parents sold their boys for £2, when £2 was a grand sum of money. They would work very long hours in dark ( obviously) and horrid conditions and sleep on bags of soot.

I pondered:' I wonder ( or ponder) what would happen to the boys when they were too big to climb inside chimneys'. To which sweep ( or was it sooty?) said ' They just threw them out onto the streets. Now, I remember from reading Dickens that they fed the boys very little to keep them weak and to stop them from fighting back. They were fed a nasty potion which tasted revolting and kept their appetite down.

So they wouldn't have grown too big too quickly and would not have been capable of very hard manual labour, so perhaps they turned to crime or begging or joined the army.
Sweep then said 'Most of them died of lung cancer'. That's something that I hadn't thought about. It was a very sobering thought. They were just pieces of meat bought to do a job then cast away. Child slavery was ripe in Victorian times but when people like Dickens tried to change things it didn't happen overnight. The vested interests had their way and child slavery existed for a long time after that.

If this sounds like a history lesson then I apologise . Yet, I know that nothing has really changed in human nature. Unscrupulous employers will still try to make as big a profit as they can without regard to the health or safety of their employers. In other countries child labour still exists. What pressure do we put on those countries? It's not for the benefit of the vested interests.

I am not a political activist, but if I were, I'd probably be a petticoat revolutionary.

Julie
xx

Go on, take the shirt of my back, why don't you?

I bought a new shirt and wore it a few weeks back for a barbecue. It is a man's cream cotton shirt, military style, with woven cream and brown flowery designs on the bottom front and on the back. I was waiting for the comments to come as I'm never en femme in public.

Eventually the comments came-"Where did you get THAT!", "It's a bit too Country & Western for me". Other guys didn't comment but I kept thinking :"They think I'm gay".

I had teamed my shirt with cream casual trousers and a rather fetching pair of unisex sandles. My head is shaven and as I was sitting down on a blanket one of the (genetic) girls said I looked like a Muslim on his prayer mat.

Then there was a general discussion of my shirt and my daughter said I think it's really nice and most of the girls agreed. Maybe next time I will add some lipstick and really raise some eyebrows.

I often wear use lipseal anyway so what's the big deal- for any homophobics ( is there such a thing as a transgenderphobic? ) out there , reading my blog, wishing you could dress up in heels and some pretty clothes. Try it. You might like it.

By the way- I love Country and Western: Hank Williams,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/folkcountry/rams/ghank.ram Johnny Cash, Dollie Parton

( Julie shifts into melancholy mode:)Those were the days, saturday morning pictures, 6d to watch Roy Rogers singing a Cowboy song with Trigger doing the chorus


Julie takes guitar,straddles the settee and sings a few bars then falls off Trigger...

Scardy cat


I am such a scardy-cat.


When I'm dealing with life's crisis I can be a real lion and tackle just about any situation. Yet when I had a chance to go out for the first time where I knew there would be trannies - Pink Punters in Milton Keynes.

I managed to go there by myself but I was too scared to go as a girl so went en drab. I spotted some other trannies dressed en femme yet I didn't have the courage to speak to them.I am sure that they would have been really friendly but I just couldn't get myself to approach them.

Until the end of the evening that is. I managed a few words with a trendy Tgirl in a denim skirt- She looked really good by the way- but as she was talking with a guy I didn't get to tell her I was a trannie.

Still, the place was great. I love Pink Punters now. Very friendly staff including the bouncers, a friendly lively crowd and a mixture of gays , lesbians, transgendered and heterosexuals mixed in a blur of club classics and pop videos. I must go again.



ROAR!!!

In all walks of life

I took my car in for a major repair job after a local farmer hit me with his 4x4 whilst I was stationary. Honest!

He admitted liability but wanted to pay without affecting his no claim bonus. So he is paying £1,450 ( about 2700$). Show me a farmer who pleads poverty and I'll show you a rich conman.

On the way I noticed there was a lorry and a smart blue van in the layby close to home.

I didn't arrange for a lift back so I managed to get a bus which only comes once an hour, to take me within three and a half miles of home.
It was a sunny day so I decided to walk back. It was a pleasant walk past a village with thatched cottages and horses along the way.

Then, about a mile from home I passed the same blue van in the lay-by. The van had tinted glass but I was still able to see inside. Being an inquisitive person I could see there was a bloke with a craggy face having a cigarette in the van.

As I passed I took a closer look. He was wearing a French maid's uniform. Honest! I thought of chatting to him but he may not have wanted my company as the van had been there earlier about an hour and a half previously.

Who was he ? Why was he dressed in a French maid's uniform? What was he doing waiting in the van ?

Coque-au-vin ? Anybody?

Julie
xx

Things I wouldn't have if not for my partner:

Copying a theme from Jackie
http://jackietown.blogspot.com/

Blue veined cheese- smells and tastes of cheap soap.

Any hair products-My head is shaven

Paper towells- a sponge does the job better and lasts so much longer.

Little wooden or plastic garden figures- waste of money, they look awful and are annoying.


Cushions - settees are specifically designed to sit on, so why load them up with twenty cushions?

Her shoes - they don't fit me and I'm very jealous about them

Things my partner wouldn't have if not for me

unsalted butter

books on history, biographies, soccer,cooking, military history, classics

guitars

pot plants

files in my office

standard lamps

antiques which don't look newish (!!!)

loud music,- rock, flamenco or classic

My heels, my skirts, my blouses, my bras and my panties- they don't fit her and she wouldn't be seen in such classy/tarty clothes ( but it's OK for her to pinch my lipstick and other make up and use my Indian shawls for the furniture

Julie
xx