Ripley First Wednesday

There is a pub social event in Ripley on the first Wednesday  of every month. I had heard about it from my friend Danielle, and it had sprung to mind when thinking of places that Joanna could go to too

Insta friend cropped for privacy 

Most of the larger social events take place on Fridays and Saturday nights, which are off limits to her.

It took a bit of mutual encouragement for us both to commit to going - not a great deal, but I was glad when Joanna said she wanted to go. It's in a normal pub, and I'm still not as confident as I could be at walking into a place like that on my own.

It seemed likely wouldn't be seeing Danielle for a while as she can't come to the next few Leeds events due to other commitments, but I did know she has been to this one before, and was sort of half hoping she would be along - but wasn't there in the end.

However someone who I had been conversing with on Instagram happened to be there (Ann) - we had met briefly at the last Leeds do, but it was a bit awkward somehow, she was talking with other people. So it was good that we got to sit together - had a really good chat, and perhaps I now have some more options on people to hang around with at Sparkle at Manchester next month.

From post event analysis, it seems like Joanna had really taken one for the team, and had not had such a good time sat opposite someone new to the both of us. Which is a real shame, I had hoped it would be a fun night for both of us - in hindsight I should have been more concerned about certain signs she wasn't having such a good time, and really sorry I didn't put more effort into finding out why on the night. The appearance of the notebook and some scribbling was one of those.

If it wasn't for her blog I might not have known - but she is fully committed to accurate honest record keeping, which I do respect - so the blog gets all the juicy details. 

On a more positive note we did all get an invite to a BBQ by one of the leading figures Dee - (at least to me), in the trans social scene. She was partly responsible for encouraging me to go to my first Nottingham invasion. She seems to go to every event possible ! I think it's a Friday though, so if I do go then perhaps would be solo.

We ended up being the last of the trans people out of the door, so it was a late return - but with the Jubilee weekend starting the next day I didn't have to be up early.