#i realised i actually have very little written down anywhere ab them and that it's all in my head

[its-called-a-hyperfixation-honey]

(Do it)

>:D

well. well. well.

firstly i suggest you go thru the tag... my favourite tag in the whole entire universe on this hellsite: #mungotoria

then this!!!!!!!! this!!!!!! (you've maybe seen it before! but! this!)

now..... i can begin......... >:D

originally my entire idea of mungotoria came from this one moment in the jellicle ball where he helps her down from the tire and it was like a shit turned on in my brain! it was! just mungotoria!!!!!

anyway i take my characterisation of mungo from the 2014 london palladium production, where he's older and more mature. he's a more senior tom in the tribe than the rap tap tapper, who looks up to him and all that jazz. not so much the kitten or young adult he's portrayed as everywhere else.

anyway. anyway. anyway! vicky's relationship with plato implodes (well, explodes? it goes terribly horrendously wrong) and she is a lil messed up and that but! mungo is so sweet and they take their time and it's all slow burn and kinda angsty and!!!!! they!!!????

but anyway they're so cute and they build this fragile, tender and gentle and slow relationship from the ground up and it takes a while but it also happens really fast? they intend to take their time (and they do, in a way?) but after a hot minute they go "oh i actually trust this cat with my whole entire soul and being" and they're very.... ugh words! on each other's side and all from the beginning (of the relationship). they face a lot of mistrust from some of the rest of the tribe at first (which is hard! especially for vic! she grew up with these cats!_ bc they think it's a bit suspish that both of the mates vic'shad either work for macavity or did in the past.

anyway they live in my head rent-free and they are just adorable and squishy and gentle and sweet and yeah..............

(here is one of my favey posts ive made ab them)

(and here is my favourite piece ive written ab Them <333)

[kpopimaginings]

“Are you nervous?” - Jackson Wang (NSFW)

A/N: Happy Birthday to Jackson. Our energy. Loveable Wang Gae. Please enjoy this completely self-indulgent smut I have written about him and let me know if you enjoy it <3

After a busy day hanging out with the GOT7 boys, you found yourself sat on the sofa with Jackson. He was the reason you were friends with the other guys, and you counted him as one of your closest friends, if not the closest.

“Jacks,” you said suddenly, while you were leaning on his shoulder.

He simply hummed in response, cueing you to keep talking.

“You know you’re like my best friend,” you started.

“Yeah, and you’re mine.”

“So I can tell you anything and you won’t judge or tease me about it?”

“Of course,” he told you, “Especially because you sound super nervous about whatever it is. This is a safe space, promise.”

“Ok, well, it’s partly me opening up, and partly a potentially weird and awkward question that we can definitely pretend I didn’t ask depending on how you answer.”

He adjusted your positions on the sofa so you were facing each other.

“Y/n, you’re rambling,” he said softly, placing a hand on your cheek. “It’s ok, you can be open with me, and if you end up wanting to forget the conversation then we will.”

“Well,” you said, taking a deep breath. “I’ve never had sex with a guy,” you admitted. “I guess, I’ve just been waiting to find someone I can trust. Someone I’m completely comfortable around, and I’ve been thinking…”

Jackson’s eyes widened slightly as his mind started to wander, wondering where this conversation might be going. You saw him swallow hard, however, he was holding eye contact with you, nodding understandingly and never interrupting.

“I feel completely comfortable around you,” you told him.

He didn’t say anything, wanting you to finish talking, and actually say the words before what he suspected was about to happen happened. He knew there was no way he’d be able to say no if you asked. Keeping his face in check was hard, as he fought back the boyish grin that wanted to spread across his features. Instead, he simply rested his hands on each of your thighs, letting you know he wasn’t going anywhere.

“This might be completely crazy, because we’re just friends, but I trust you completely, and you hear stories about people doing it with their friend the first time because it’s just more comfortable and relaxed that way, and maybe you’d like to be that friend for me?”

“Are you asking me to be your first?” he asked, carefully controlling his voice.

“Yes,” you told him, your voice coming out much stronger than you felt in the moment.

“You want to have sex with me?”

“Yes. Is that strange?”

“No,” he blurted out, maybe a bit too quickly. “I mean, I don’t mind. Look, you are my closest friend, so I want to help you out, and I’d be lying if I said you weren’t attractive to me, but are we sure about this?”

“I am,” you told him. “This isn’t just out of the blue, I’ve thought about it.”

“Well, it’s your first time, and everything should be on your terms. I’m honoured that you trust me so much you could bring this up, let alone want to share such a special moment in your life with me.”

You let out a breath you didn’t realise you were holding. “Are you saying yes?”

“Yes,” said Jackson. “As long as you are sure this is what you want, and I have your consent the whole time. You change your mind at any point, you tell me.”

“And that’s why I choose you. I know you’ll stop if I want, and I know I’ll be able to tell you stop and not feel any pressure.”

Jackson, now happy that this was what you wanted, cupped your face in his hands and pressed his lips to yours.

“Bedroom?” he asked, when he pulled back again.

You nodded, as you stood taking his hand and heading to your room. Once there, Jacksons lips latched on to yours again as his hands started to explore your body, running up and down your sides, before venturing down to your butt. Cautiously, your hands snaked under his shirt. There had always been part of you that wanted an excuse to get your hands on his abs.

“If you’re uncomfortable, stop me,” he reminded you, as he swiftly pulled his shirt over his head, before reaching for yours.

With both shirts discarded, he pulled you back in to a kiss, his hands heading for the clasp on your bra. You flinched ever so slightly and he stopped his movements.

“What?” he asked quickly.

“Nothing,” you said.

“Y/n, are you nervous?” he asked, eyes looking deep into yours.

You smiled softly. “Is it weird that I’m more nervous about the getting naked than the sex part right now?”

Jackson then smiled too. “I’m sure you look as great without clothes as you look in them. But, if you’re that worried about it, get under the covers and take your own clothes off,” he told you, just trying to work out how best to make you comfortable.

As you jumped under the sheets, he followed suit. Before you knew it, you were lying naked in your bed next to your best friend. You quickly leaned over to connect your lips again as his hand ventured down your body. His movements were slow and gentle, giving you plenty of opportunity to stop him if things got uncomfortable.

You tensed slightly just before his hand reached your most intimate part causing him to hesitate.

“I’m just nervous,” you told him. “I want this, keep going.”

Your words were all Jackson needed to continue his movements. By the time his fingers had reached their final destination, you were already wet. He simply smiled at you before bring your lips together again, and gently sliding a finger into you. Your breath hitched at the unfamiliar sensation, and Jackson briefly pulled away from the kiss so that you could stop him if you needed to. When you didn’t say anything, he closed the distance again and began moving carefully in and out of you. You already found your hips moving in time with him involuntarily.

“Is this ok?” he asked.

You just nodded as you stared into his eyes, your hands now playing with his hair.

Once he was confident that you were happy and comfortable, he added a second finger, continuing his actions. You stifled a moan at the new feeling, and Jackson smirked.

“You don’t need to stay quiet, there’s no one else here to hear you,” he reminded you.

You bit your lip, eyes avoiding his shyly.

“You don’t need to be shy or embarrassed about moaning,” he encouraged. “It lets me know you’re enjoying this, so I can keep going and pleasure you.”

“Ok,” you said, quietly, smiling up at him. “Jackson… I think I’m ready now.”

“You think?” he queried, raising an eyebrow.

“Please…?”

There was no way Jackson could deny you what you wanted when you gazed up at him like that, your body still automatically grinding against his hand.

“Oh, wait!” said Jackson suddenly getting up.

You whined loudly, wanting him to come back.

“Alright, just a second,” he said, fumbling with his discarded trousers. “Yes! Ok, important lesson: condoms,” he said coming back to you with the little foil package in his hand. “I don’t care if you’re on the pill, condoms should still be used, ok?”

You nodded obediently at him, a little smile on your face at how sweet he was being for you.

“Right, I’m ready, are you?” said Jackson once he was settled next to you again, now with a condom on.

“Yes, I am.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Jackson, come on!” you said, with a hint of a laugh in your voice. He was just being so typically Jackson, and exactly the type of person you needed.

He rolled over so that he was hovering over you, one arm supporting his weight while the other lined himself up at your entrance. Very slowly, he eased in to you, his eyes watching yours, full of concern. One of your hands came up to rest on his cheek, before guiding his face down to yours bringing your lips back together.

A few times you gasped into the kiss as he slowly stretched you out, nothing felt painful enough that you wanted to stop him, but the fact that you would occasionally stop kissing him back made him pause.

“I’m ok,” you told him.

“You’re not,” he responded. “Be honest with me, or this isn’t going to work.”

“I mean, I’m not in pain it just feels…” you trailed off unable to find the words to explain this new sensation.

“Different?” Jackson offered.

“Yeah,” you smiled shyly. “Go slow?”

Jackson nodded and bit his lip in concentration, constantly reminding himself he was there for you and not his own pleasure. He continued to edge in, bit by bit watching your face for cues on when to slow down, or stop, or starting moving again.

Once he had pushed in as far he could, he stopped with a low gravelly groan.

“Are you still good?” he asked you, his voice now shaking slightly with pleasure at the sensation of you wrapped around him.

“Yeah,” you nodded, already starting to feel breathless and overwhelmed.

“Good, me too,” he moaned, before remembering himself. “Are you happy for me to start moving? I’m less likely to keep stopping and checking in on you then,” he warned you, knowing that once his own pleasure completely took over, it was going to be harder for him to stop.

“I’ll tell you if I need you to stop, I promise,” you assured him. “Ready when you are.”

Jackson pressed his forehead to yours, a smile on his face as he began moving his hips, slowly at first, thrusting gently in and out of you. You were about to bite your lip, when you remembered what Jackson had said about not stifling your noises, so instead you let out a moan, spurring him on.

“See, such a beautiful sound,” he cooed.

You hid your face, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious.

“Hey, no need to hide,” he told you, but making no effort to move your hands from your face. “I thought you felt comfortable around me.”

“I do, I’m not used to being complimented on my sex noises,” you pointed out.

Jackson laughed slightly, before passionately pressing his lips to yours, instantly relaxing you again.

Gradually his pace increased, and he started groan himself. You could tell instantly why he didn’t want you to stay quiet, hearing the sounds he was making only turned you on more, and you arched your back, starting to circle your hips against his. Jackson buried his face in the side of your neck and began kissing and sucking the tender skin there as your hands reached for his  back, feeling the muscles there rippling under your touch.

As everything started to consume you, Jacksons hand reached down between your bodies once more, and as his fingers brushed just the right spot you whined, clenching around him. This time Jackson’s breath caught in his throat as the sensation you had just created.

“Oh God, Y/n, that felt amazing,” he moaned out.

“Touch me again,” you managed to whimper softly.

He was more than happy to oblige, as his fingers went to work. You felt your whole body starting to tense as you got louder. Jackson dropped down so that his weight was now supported by his forearm, meaning his body was pressed closer to yours, increasing the pleasure you were feeling.

With cries of his name spilling from your lips, you finally came undone, a blissful release washing over you as breath shook. Jackson’s movements started to stutter, as he grunted into your shoulder, eagerly chasing his own high, now that he knew you’d reached yours.

Once he’d finished he rolled off of you and lay next to you in the bed, both of trying to regulate your breathing.

“Thank you,” he said and laughed slightly.

“I think I should be the one thanking you,” you pointed out, “You were perfect.”

“I mean, I’m a guy, I’m always grateful when a girl lets me have sex with her,” he explained and you laughed again. “But this was something else.” He turned onto his side so that he was facing you. “The fact that you trusted me and actually sought me out to be your first time is amazing to me, and somehow made the sex even better, so thank you.”

You then turned to face him too, gently running a finger along his defined cheekbone and jaw line.

“And thank you for proving me right, and being exactly the person I wanted to share this with.”

Jackson simply smiled, before leaning over and pressing a kiss to your forehead. This was definitely a moment neither of you was going to forget.

NAVIGATION  |  GOT7 MASTERLIST

[goodproofingwater]

Wildfire Records - Chapter Thirteen

Word count: 2547

Andy awoke with a headache that he was increasingly getting used to. He used to be able to get away with drinking half bottles of tequila, had stood by the coke sobering him up a little, a fact he still maintained to this day despite so much evidence to the contrary, but it seemed that that tactic was no longer working. He knew that he had to slow down with the drugs, that he needed to pull it back to just parties and gigs again at least but it was hard when it was so easy. His dealer was only down the road and had even delivered to him previously when he had been working on tracks that he didn’t want to leave.

The events of the last few days had shown him a new side to the world that he hadn’t yet experienced, something that he should have known being a 26-year-old who had lived on the other side of the world for a good sum of his life - his actions had consequences, and they were not always the ones he had anticipated.

Although he had not treated her right, he had been enjoying his time with Victoria. She had an attitude to life and a determination that he found more intoxicating than any drug, and on top of that, the sex was incredible. She had been the perfect mix of submission and resistance, and although he had gotten them a spot on a radio show through his actions, he was starting to think that having sex with that other girl (so named because he couldn’t remember what her actual name was despite texting her since that evening) was not the best move.

Still, he arose the next morning and showered, his hand slipping between his legs as he remembered how Victoria’s lips had moved on him so perfectly in that very shower, and then met her eyes in the reception room with a longing that he would never honestly let show through. God how he wished he could bury himself between her thighs one last time, have her whimpering his name as he edged her so close she could taste her orgasm and then denied her to make it all the more intense later on.

“Coffee?” Danny’s voice snapped Andy out of his stupor, and he cleared his throat as he nodded

“Yeah, thanks man..” he took the mug from his friend, blowing on the steaming liquid and switching on the tv to stop himself from glancing at the redhead who was speaking to Juliet, the red head’s pyjamas somehow both cute and sexy.

“Yeah it was amazing,” Victoria spoke, the smile that Josh called from her still settled on her lips, “there are so many different types of studios in there, and Josh got to play this super expensive guitar..”

“I bet he loved that,” Danny grinned as he sat down at the breakfast bar opposite where Victoria was standing, Juliet topping up his coffee and the curly haired boy kissed the top of his girlfriend's head.

The couple warmed Victoria’s heart more than she would ever let on, their sudden and ongoing affection for each other making her believe that maybe love was actually real. Although, Josh had gone a long way to prove that not all men were shit the previous day.

“He did, he sat there playing for a while, I think we held up the tour actually..” she grinned, and Danny raised a knowing eyebrow at her. The man was either incredibly intuitive, Josh had already told him about their affection, or it was written all over her face how much she liked him. She suspected it was the latter.

The rest of the previous evening had been a dream. They had sat on the roof drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, watching as the sun set behind the skyline. She had rested between his legs on the couch and fallen asleep, and had woken in her own bed in the hoody that he had wrapped around her to keep her warm once the night’s chill had taken over.

She had curled up in bed with the smell of him around her, but had chosen to leave the hoody downstairs for fear of being teased by the others. That and she wasn’t sure she was ready for Andy to know that she was moving on with his best friend. Usually she wouldn’t have cared, but she was walking a very fine line considering they both lived and worked together.

As if thinking of him had summoned him, Josh walked over to the breakfast bar rubbing tired eyes in nothing but pyjama bottoms, and Victoria hungrily took in his body. He wasn’t as chiseled as Andy, but his abs and the delicious V lines that always made her weak were well defined. She was glad for Danny igniting a conversation about the camping trip to take her mind firmly away from the gutter it was tumbling towards.

“I checked the prices for that lee valley place,” the youngest boy spoke, his hand absentmindedly running along Juliet’s arm, “it’s super cheap and King has already ordered a couple tents..”

“A couple?” Victoria’s eyes darted to Juliet’s, and the small smirk on her face told the younger girl that the brunette knew exactly what she was doing.

“Yeah, it was cheaper to buy two two-man tents than one four or six-man one…” fucking unlikely. Victoria mouthed to her friend who pretended not to see.

“Plus,” Josh added, “do you really want to share a tent with those love birds? We’d have to get earplugs as well as noise-canceling headphones…” he smirked over his coffee and Victoria grinned at him as both Juliet and Danny protested.

“We’re not that loud!” Juliet spoke, and Victoria couldn’t help but chuckle at her friend.

“Not true..” Andy called from the couch, “I had to wear headphones all day yesterday..”

Josh and Victoria looked between each other as they chuckled, and the man couldn’t help but smirk as he watched the redhead's eyes dance over his body once more. He would be lying if he said that it wasn’t a deliberate move considering how she had looked at him the last time he had appeared shirtless. As her eyes met his he could see lust dancing the waltz with logic, and as much as he knew she wouldn’t let his preference lead, he couldn’t stop his own eyes clouding over with lust of his own. Images of her hands and her lips running the path that her eyes made down his body made him lick his lips, and he knew he had to think of something else before it came more obvious just how much he wanted her.

“Oh shut up Andy,” Juliet chuckled, and Danny through a piece of toast across the room that barely reached halfway. “You can barely talk, we had to stay in my room almost exclusively when you and Vic were fucking”

Victoria had not expected the comment, her stomach lurching and she felt sick for a moment before she realised that Juliet was doing her best to normalise something that was now firmly in the past. Andy met his former lover's eyes and he grinned, “Yeah, well that was mostly her..”

The girl looked down for a moment and bit her lip as memories of how good their sex had been ran through her.

“And who’s fault was that?” She quipped, sipping her coffee and trying to ignore the darkness that came over his eyes at her comment. The glance that housed the same look he had given her before he had hiked her up on the sink and fucked her into oblivion.

“You certainly weren’t complaining at the time..” he turned to face the TV again with a smirk and she let out a sigh of relief, glad that he seemed to have gotten the message that she was no longer interested. The relief was more than she had thought, and she glanced at Josh who was busying himself making fried eggs, hoping that she hadn’t stepped over the line.

“Anyway…” Danny spoke, a grin on his lips as his mind darted over the mischief himself and Juliet had gotten up to while in her room, “it’s gonna be like $10 for a pitch fee but that’s between all of us…”

“You’re going camping? Here?” Andy spoke as he walked over to the kitchen counter, placing his mug down and reaching for the pot to pour more in. Caffeine seemed to be the only thing that was helping his hangover.

“Yeah,” Danny started, “Wanna come? It’s not too far away and it’s—“

“Dan I appreciate it, but when have I ever gone camping?” Andy asked with a grin, and Josh looked up from placing eggs on his plate to smile softly at Victoria.

“I don’t know why you hate it so much..” Danny shrugged and Andy looked between Josh and Victoria for a moment, noting the affectionate looks between them.

“I’m not going anywhere I have to shit in a bucket.” Victoria almost choked on her toast at the bluntness of the comment, and she couldn’t help but laugh. Andy grinned over at her, glad to have given her something to smile about after she had done nothing but scream in his face. It was nice to be getting back to a point where she would look at him again. Maybe she would even forgive him enough to give him another chance. After all, she did seem to enjoy the sex just as much as he did.

“They have bathrooms, dumbass” Josh chuckled, munching on the crispy bacon that Danny had made before he had come upstairs.

“Still, I’m not doing it. Wilderness and this hair don’t match.” The boys rolled their eyes with a smile, the same reaction they had each time he said almost exactly the same thing when they were in Cali.

Victoria hadn’t been surprised that camping wasn’t Andy's vibe, too much space and not enough clean surfaces to do coke off of, and she was glad that she would be able to spend a few days away from him. It was more comfortable today than it had been, but the fact that he had tried to touch her in the kitchen the previous morning still played hard on her mind.

“Well don’t wreck the house while we’re gone” Josh spoke, “keep the party up here and don’t set fire to anything, yeah?”

Andy rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee once more, “I think I’ll manage. Anyway, sit down guys we need to talk about some business.”

The girls looked between each other in shock - Andy had never been the one to suggest they have a serious conversation, had always been the one trying to get away from meetings and although it seemed out of character they soon found out why it wasn’t a meeting called by them.

“I’ve been speaking to uh..” he looked down at his phone, scrolling for a moment before he continued, “Lizzie, and she has managed to get us a slot finally.”

“Who’s Lizzie?” Juliet asked, but Victoria stared at her plate, jaw clenching as suspected she already knew the answer.

“She’s the girl from the show, right?” Victoria looked up, eyes narrowing as she looked at the other redhead. The way he was avoiding her eyes all but confirmed it without him having to say anything.

“Yeah.” He spoke, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, an uncharacteristic move that quirked Victoria’s eyebrows a little, “She um.. Well we’re booked in on a 6pm slot day after tomorrow. It’s a prime time slot on prime time radio, she’s really done us a favour.”

Victoria looked down as the words hit her, the fact that his terrible actions had elicited such a positive thing made her feel sick, and all she could do was switch to work mode to stop herself from losing control of her emotions in one way or the other.

“Have you got a track mastered for it?” She spoke, her voice dripping with poison, the room so thick with the tension between them you could practically taste it.

“We had the Uppercut EP mastered for Spotify at the start of the year,” he spoke, “she said that Spotify master is fine..”

Victoria nodded, “Well let’s just hope she’s right. Would be shit for you to go to all that effort of getting such a great slot for you to have a track on the radio that doesn’t sound the best.” The sarcasm dripped from her voice, and the other three at the table looked between the two parties, not wanting to say anything that could make it worse. She sipped her coffee and glanced up at Juliet who was still in silence at her friend’s remark “What?”

Andy cleared his throat, looking up at all of them before he sipped his own coffee, “We need to be there for 5pm at the very latest. They’re gonna interview us and then play a track of our choosing from the EP. I think it should be Uppercut, just because it’s the one the crowds seem to like the best.”

“The crowds like Red the best at the moment actually,” Victoria sighed, “But I suppose we don’t have that recorded.”

Josh smirked a little into his coffee, enjoying how sassy the girl was being. Of course he wanted there to be peace, but he was glad that she wasn’t letting Andy off easy.

“I think we should go with Uppercut..” Danny spoke, “It’s the only one on the EP people really go crazy for.”

“And it is a good song..” Juliet spoke, nodding and taking a bite of her toast, the bread now cold as she was too nervous to make too much noise when Andy and Victoria had been having their silent battle. “It has that really cool intro with the feedback and stuff, it will mold well into the broadcast.”

Victoria nodded, clearing her throat and sitting forward. “Are Juliet and I coming?” She questioned, wondering if she was going to be able to hold herself back from slapping the girl in the face if she saw her again. Of course it hadn’t been her fault, how could she know that Andy was seeing anyone? But the bored look on her face when Victoria had been so upset would have made anyone's skin crawl.

“It would be cool if you came but you don’t have to be..” Andy spoke and Victoria nodded, finishing the last of her coffee and standing from the table to grab more from the kitchen

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to stay as far away from the two of you as possible.” She sipped the lukewarm coffee, cringing a little at the bitterness before she poured the rest of the liquid in her mug down the sink, “Muscle memory might kick in and I’m not sure you want me slapping you in the face on air.”

A bitter smile crossed her features and she placed the mug down, making her way down to her room to shower and get ready for work.

[papaculture]

Ivor the Engine

There is a moment in most parents’ lives when their children discover trains. Having been a budding trainspotter myself — and briefly, if less glamorously, a bus-spotter — I’m at a loss to fully explain the magic that things on wheels possess. To be honest, I’m still slightly magicked.

Most magical of all trains is, of course, the steam engine. With its belly of fire and snout of steam (the mechanics of which appear reasonably and appealingly explicable to a young ‘un), it’s the closest most kids will get to coming face-to-face with a mythical beast.

Trains are also all about rules. While cars and trucks are unwieldy and unpredictable, capable of going anywhere, a train (and to a lesser extent, a bus) is confined to a fixed course. I suspect there is a comfort in that.

Signals and junctions and forks and turntables provide kids with a whole language of control. As a six-year-old, I used to plot extravagant courses with marker pen and butcher’s paper and run my Matchbox trains to a strict timetable. Clearly, I had issues.

Thomas the Brown Noser

For Child One, the train obsession really took off when she was two. It sprang from her early love of books. We found a beautiful volume of Thomas The Tank Engine stories in a Chapel Street op shop, which tickled her bibliophilia and my nostalgia bone. While One enjoyed the stories (except the distressing one where Henry was bricked into a tunnel), it didn’t take me long to realise the Thomas stories are pretty seriously unpleasant.

Leaving aside the issues around gender representation (the later books attempt to redress this somewhat, but even then it’s often a female engine a) causing trouble or b) trying to prove she’s almost as good as the boys), there’s a real well of nastiness to Thomas.

The engines are constantly bickering and attempting to “pay each other out”. Their sole purpose to is to become “really useful engines” — rather literal cogs in the machine. The Fat Controller is a cruel headmaster figure, frequently delivering extreme scolding and punishments.

If you went to an English boarding school in the 1950s, it would likely feel grimly familiar. Likewise if you went on to work in a bullying corporate environment. I quite enjoyed a recent theory that argued that the Isle of Sodor is actually set in a dystopian parallel universe.

Ivor the Engine

Looking to cater to One’s new obsession with steam, I remembered Ivor The Engine. As a child, I’d had two Ivor books — The Elephant and The Dragon. Written by Oliver Postgate and illustrated by Peter Firmin (the duo behind Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog and Clangers), these lyrical tales are a perfect antidote to Thomas’s brutal world of bureaucracy, backbiting and workaholism.

In one of the stories, Ivor and his driver take the day off to go fishing. When Thomas tries his hand at angling, it nearly kills him and he learns to keep his mind on the job.

Ivor doesn’t have a face or a voice. He doesn’t even have a name (Ivor is a nickname because “the  Locomotive of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited… was a long name for a little engine”). But through his whistled interactions with driver (and interpreter) Jones the Steam, he is given more depth and humanity than any of Awdry’s trains.

Ivor lives in rail shed attached to a railway in the top left-hand corner of Wales, a branch line that is described as being neither long nor important. When he proves himself useful, it’s as a member of the local community rather than through ruthless efficiency. He helps lure pigeons from a villager’s roof, assists a wounded elephant, saves lost sheep and runs packages to the needy up and down his branch line. When hunters threaten the lives of a local family of foxes, Ivor and Jones effect a clever escape.

While Thomas and “friends” are in constant competition to prove themselves the fastest, prettiest or most efficient worker, Ivor instead takes pleasure from his surroundings, his friends and, well, just being alive. There's mindfulness for you.

POOP POOP POOPETY-POOP went Ivor’s whistle as they rounded the bend above Llaniog. He wasn’t whistling a warning. He wasn’t whistling a signal. He was whistling for the joy of being alive and steaming, for the joy of seeing the cows in the fields and the sheep on the hills and the big wheel of the Pit spinning in the sunshine.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to see a touch of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milkwood to the writing here, which embraces its Welsh setting through a conversational style peppered with colourful turns of phrase. Even if a parent isn’t bold enough to attempt a Welsh accent, these books are a joy to read aloud.

Rail Against The Machine

Bureaucracy is often the enemy here. In the first story, Ivor decides he wants to join the local choir, so Dai the Station has to check if it’s against regulations. (Head office ultimately sign off on it.) In The Dragon (star Idris is “not one of your lumping great fairy-tale dragons… [but] a small trim, heraldic Welsh dragon, glowing red-hot and smiling”), Dai tries to force Ivor’s scaly new friend out of his firebox and into the “proper container for carrying livestock”. Later, Idris is forced to flee from the railway after an “investigation” is launched into his existence.

“NO!” cried Idris. “No! Dragons are mythical! No, I must not be investigated! No! No! No!”

Thankfully, the local community come together to shield Idris from the excoriating gaze of authority.

Most frighteningly, Ivor himself is threatened when the owners of his railway decide to sell off to a national company that plans to replace him with a diesel. (Not quite as frightening as when Thomas’s cronies are threatened with the scrapyard.) His salvation comes not by proving himself a vital asset to the functioning of the marketplace, but rather as repayment for his past kindnesses.

There is a joy and a magic to these tales that doesn’t undermine the background texture of social realism — the mines, the gasworks, the fish and chip shop. Thomas might depict society as it often is, but Postgate and Firmin offer a glimpse of community as it should be. People who delight in their interactions, who tolerate eccentricity and who find pleasure in their work but are not crushed by the weight of material aspirations.

Compassion and Contentment

The real star, Ivor aside, is Jones the Steam. He is a man in his element, happy in himself and his work and seemingly wanting nothing more. He doesn’t aspire to be a station master or to run his own railway. Although he enjoys performing his errands, Jones’s greatest pleasure is making his morning cup of tea from Ivor’s boiler.

He is compassionate and sensitive, always keen to help, and blind to his own quirks. It’s left to us to decide whether Ivor has an intelligence (I think he does) or whether Jones merely ascribes one to him. Other characters rib him for talking to Ivor, but affectionately so. There is no cruelty here. Only once do we see Jones lose his temper, when dealing with a truculent elephant.

I first encountered these stories as books, without realising they were sprung from a television series that originally screened in the 1950s and 1960s. (The books are far from the usual afterthought cash in, each story lovingly rewritten and reillustrated by the original team.) 

The colour episodes are available on DVD and were some of the first television we showed to Child One. There is an enchanting simplicity to the cut-out animation and a leisurely pace to the storytelling that makes them feel very much like a picture book brought to gentle life.

Postgate does most of the voices himself. He is a perennially comforting, sedate presence. As Charlie Brooker once wrote: “there is no more calming sound in the world than the voice of Oliver Postgate. With him narrating your life, you'd feel cosy and safe even during a gas explosion. It floated above all these stories, that voice; wound its way through them.”

The episodes are also available (in pretty terrible quality) on YouTube and, thanks to Postgate’s tender narration, make for delightful audiobooks if you leave the screen off. By a stroke of luck, I recently found a copy of ten of the stories on vinyl.

BOOKS

The Ivor books are all out of print, but readily available via eBay or Abe’s Books.

Ivor The Engine Storybook (published 1982). This is the perfect starter, containing four tales. The First Story, Snowdrifts, The Elephant and The Dragon. Hardbound. Each story takes about 10 minutes to read.

The First Story

Snowdrifts

The Elephant

The Dragon

Ivor’s Birthday

The Foxes

All released in hardback in the early 1990s.

DVD

The Complete Ivor The Engine (Universal Pictures, 2006, 186 minutes)

All the colour episodes of the classic Sixties and Seventies children's series. Enjoy once again the adventures of Welsh steam engine Ivor, Jones the Steam and the good people at the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company - not to mention the dragon and his chestnut barrow!

AUDIO

Ivor The Engine And Pogles Wood by Vernon Elliott

Not sure how much the kids will enjoy this, but it’s pretty delightful. Woodwind and brass score, which (like the sound effects from the TV show) has the benefit of being easily imitated by non-musical parents

MERCHANDISE

Not a lot. There’s a board game I haven’t played, some resin models of Ivor and — perhaps most tempting — a plush Idris the Dragon (not baby safe). Etsy has a few handmade treasures.

THE SHORT STUFF

Age and stage: 2+

Gender stuff: not great. There's a female vet, female shopkeepers and a batty old woman or two, but that's about it. I tend to read the dragon as female, but he's described as being male.

Drama: minimal, with few moments of tension. When younger, Child One was only distressed by the fox hunting sequence in The Foxes (spoiler: the fox lives).

Outdated bits: leaving aside the old school tech and above-mentioned gender issues, it's hard not to feel uneasy about the stereotyped Indian elephant keeper. There's otherwise a distinct lack of diversity.

Themes: community, individuality, compassion, anti-bureaucracy, mindfulness, tolerance, contentment, mythology, the wonder of steam.