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| The morning after |
I had set the alarm pretty early, I think for 7:30am, as the guide for meals in the room said that between 8-9am was the ideal time if you wanted a relaxed experience. So i hadn't slept that long. Anyway got up, had a shower got the bare minimum makeup on and headed down for breakfast.
It was buffet style, had a cooked breakfast and a seeded croissant and a few coffee's. The cooked stuff was a bit luke warm, but still nice. Got a good view of one of the squares opposite the hotel.
I had a Panadol for my head, then decided to try and go look at the venue park, I hadn't had much success in finding a timetable, one of the ladies I was out with the previous night had said she thought it was 10am. So I walked down canal street then over the bridge and spoke to two security staff at the park entrance who said it didn't open until midday, but there was a lovely tea room just down the road - and they were not on commission for it :)
I had previously done some research on things to see in Manchester, and found 'Vimto Park' which has a sculpture of a Vimto bottle, this was only a short walk, so decided to head there to take a look.
It was a nice little park, I sat on a bench for a bit, and thought it might be a good idea to get a bottle of Lucozade to assist with any remaining fuzziness. But this turned into me walking into the city centre to the Arndale centre.I was still slightly annoyed with myself for chickening out of the lovely dress for Friday night, and the one I had planned for Saturday was also lovely, a short khaki one with gold print flowers - but not excessively sparkly. So I did wander around looking for something a lot more out there - but found nothing - not even in Quiz !! I had hoped for sequins. I didn't see many trans people out and about, only one I think.
I then went to the Tesco express to get a sarnie and drink, as I figured with the park being in a security cordon I would be trapped in there, and at the mercy of burger van prices.
I ate the sarnie in the hotel, then headed out of my room to the lift to go back to the park. A chap followed me into the lift and said something along the lines of 'do you mind if I tag along I think we are going to the same place'. I was a bit confused at first, as thought he meant he was going to the same floor as me, but then realised he meant sparkle.
Turns out he had been dressed yesterday - by a professional makeup artist, but he didn't have the skills to do it himself, and was also feeling very overwhelmed by everything. He was lovely, he gave me both names Martin/Lara - which I had to put in my phone, as remembering even one name is a challenge.
So we ended up as Sparkle buddies for a while, we went back to the venue, talking along the way about our circumstances etc. We had to queue to get in, and had to have my bag searched for booze. They let me in with Lucozade, it could have been half vodka for all they knew.
We did some of the stands, got some free badges and wristbands, and then we realised that one of the stalls was doing free makeup, this seemed like a golden opportunity for Lara, but she needed to go back to shave. I did see her leave, but not sure if she did come back and got her makeover, I didn't see her around the bars later - I should have got her number. I might track her down on FB.
I also got speaking with one of the admins for the Birmingham belles social group - I didn't know she was it came up in conversation, so I joined the FB group for that - another way to worm myself into the scene. She was nice, also called 'Bell' I think.
There were some nice acts on, and it was nice to be in an environment like that where everyone was happy and proud and such.
But there were not many people I knew at the day event, or was able to strike up a conversation with, so I did lonely wandering for a while. I did say hi to a few people - Gaby was there briefly, but it was really sunny and there was nowhere in the shade for me to sit, and my feet were killing from the previous night, so I went back to the hotel pretty early. Turns out I had got sunburn, so I have a red triangle around my neck.
I also had one of the new fangled anti-hangover pills I had ordered, meant to get rid of the alcohol in your gut before it's absorbed, reduces the symptoms somewhat.
Put on my green short dress, and some posh sandals due to feet woes, and told myself I wasn't going to chicken out again, and strode out of the hotel confidently, chin up, chest out into the totally ambivalent masses.
Managed to find everyone again, it was REALLY busy though, and I don't like crowds that much, so it did take me a while to get back in the mood.
I don't think I really had as much as a good time as Friday, but it was still really good.
I was accosted by a fairly drunk lady in New York bar, who said some really nice things, but was also a bit negative - I will talk more of this in a later post.
There was a bit of an incident where one of the more flirty ladies I was with ended up with a 'follower' who we then couldn't get rid of and became a pain, but he lost interest eventually.
The music wasn't as good as the night before, but we did a lot of bars, I was on the shandy still, so wasn't getting very drunk, but was still doing some dancing.
We went to the chippy sometime after midnight, and had some much welcome grease to assist with how we would feel the next morning. I had a saveloy and chips, and gave half mine to another lady who seemed to be content to pick up everyone's scraps :)
We ended back in the New York bar, but it was rammed and I was ready for bed, so I just used the loo's in there and said bye to the leader of our merry band, and told her would likely see her at LFF.
I had a load of water when I got back. Didn't sleep too bad, but again I wanted to be up early for breakfast. No hangover at all really. Not sure if I can really say that was down to the pill, given I also had chips though.
Got up early on the sunday, had a shower, did my makeup, had breakfast, drove home. I could have stayed for more events. but i've had lots of fun, and was pretty tired.
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