Lindum Colonia

 

Life update 

I haven't made any further steps with Gender GP as yet, I have had a lot on, and so has my wife, I may get chance to have a chat this week. 

Adventures

Once again the planets had aligned, and I had been able to plan an extended multi-day en-femme adventure by going to a beer festival with friends the day after my normal Thursday Chameleons meeting. 

Chameleons - Thursday Night

My boss had once again failed to turn up for my weekly Thursday 4pm teams call at work for perhaps
the fourth time running. So feeling a little put out by this, I decided I would finish early and get ready. So even with having to pack more bags than usual I was still down at Chams super early.

I had also borrowed my wife's spangly new petrol car, which meant I could go a bit faster, and not have to worry about charging over the weekend.

I headed in, and upon a brief look in the mirror in the loo's realised I had missed some hairs on my arms and needed to sort that, so got my razor from the car to do that.  

Ann turned up early a bit after this, so I could chat to her without putting Lynn off her makeup :)

There were quite a few people there this time, it's really nice to see so many, hope it continues. Chatted to Debbie a bit, and Renee too. It was a most pleasant evening. However I had to cut it short as I wanted to get to Lincoln to check in at the Premier Inn, ideally before 11pm so I could get a good sleep.

I think it took just over an hour to get there, the roads were pretty quiet and the sat nav wasn't too bad. 

On arrival I had to wait for some other guests to open the door for me, as it's card only access to the foyer after a certain time, fortunately some were right behind me.

Attempted to use the automatic check in, but it didn't want to print my room key, so I had to press the assistance button and wait for someone to come.  Two of my friends arrived back from the 1st day at the beer festival while I was waiting, so I got to say hello to them and chat a bit while they sorted me a key. 

Lincoln - Friday Morning

Alice was feeling a bit rough in the morning, so it took a bit longer that expected for her to get ready.
So I went for a bit of a walk around Lincoln to get my bearings, and to look in a few shops. I had put tights on, but realised pretty swiftly that I would be more comfy without them. 

So I headed back to my room before meeting up with Alice to go for breakfast. She wanted to try the 'Moonraker' canal barge café, as had heard they did good breakfasts. Unfortunately they didn't do full breakfasts any more, I ended up with a bacon butty, and she had a toasty.  Cindy tracked us down and joined us in there too.

Ann had recommended a museum, so we decided to head to that first, it was just at the start to the steep hill, and not that far away. We had a look around there, making sure to get some selfies, and avoiding a school tour. 

We didn't spend that much time in there really, but we did spy an art gallery next door, which was also free of charge, so headed in there next.  That was more up my street, there were some nice sculptures in there. 

After this we popped into an antiques shop where Alice bought another oil lamp for her collection, then we walked halfway up 'steep hill' to a café as myself and Alice wanted a hot drink, and Cindy needed some fizzy refreshment. We passed a charity shop on the way and I bought an orange statin dress that was in the window.

By the time we had finished in the Café the beer festival had started again, so we popped back to the hotel for a quick outfit change, and headed to the Drill Hall - it's only over the road from the hotel.

Afternoon drinkies

I somehow became an honorary Camra member when I paid to get in,  no idea how, but it saved me £3 and I got a blue armband instead of purple - neither matched my outfit, but I felt a bit more special 😂

I went and got my glass, and headed to the long rows of taps to find something suitably weak "Elvish Fury" was my first - I didn't bother getting any pics of the others.  We then headed to the other side where there was a food counter selling portions of pie amongst other things.  I had a steak and onion pie with peas. It was very nice.

We passed the afternoon consuming beer and cider, ending up outside, until a weirdo started talking to us all, and we headed back in for a bit. We were not planning on eating our evening meal until 7:30pm , and Gemma wanted to go put her makeup on mid afternoon. 

Cindy had some other things to do for a bit too, so I went for a coffee with Alice for an hour or so, to try and sober up a bit. I had not been matching them all, so wasn't too bad.  I had a peppermint tea.

We headed back in for a few more beers, then eventually left to go back to the hotel for a final outfit change for our evening meal.

Evening meal, and pre-bed drinks

We had a tapas meal booked for 7:30pm at 'Ole Ole Tapas' , unfortunately it was right at the top of the hill, and we were a bit late congregating at the hotel, so it was a bit of a quick march up a very steep hill to get there on time.  

The friend that had booked had asked for an outside table, as they were really warm inside when they last ate there - but it was a bit cold, so a few of us had goosebumps !  The food was really good, they messed the orders up a bit, but the service was fairly quick.

I only went with two dishes, and had Patatas Bravas, followed by Chorizo al Vino, which was enough for me.

Some other girls were given blankets just as we were leaving, which was a bit annoying, perhaps they asked for them. 

We were a lot slower to get down the hill than we got up it, partly due to our heels, and we were not in so much of a rush. Gemma and Emily had decided to go on a tour of the local bars rather than returning to the beer festival, so it was just the four of us heading back there.

I think we got back there for just after 9pm. It was a lot quieter there, quite a few of the beers had run dry already.  Last orders was 11pm, so we only had a few hours to use up the remains of our pre-paid tokens.  I had a couple, but switched to soft drinks, as I didn't want to be too hungover to drive home the next day.

We were ushered out sometime after 11pm, Alice was complaining that the ceiling lights were spinning so it was well timed. I got my makeup off and was in bed before midnight, making sure to drink a few pints of water and take a Panadol. The rich food at the tapas place, plus all the beer had left me in no doubt I would be having digestive issues in the morning.

Saturday - The return home

I didn't feel brilliant, mainly my tummy, but I managed to get up pretty early and get ready. I was in one
of those states where I didn't know if eating would cure me, or make it worse. 

Did eventually get down to breakfast, and I managed a sausage, some bacon and beans. I didn't feel too bad. 

I joined Alice in a walk to Wilko's as she needed some cutters as someone had knocked her drivers side wing mirror off in the car park the previous day. I think it was 11am before I left, wasn't a bad drive home, a nice sunny day.

I was hungry when I got home, and couldn't be bothered to cook, so I changed my dress and drove the Co-Op, my preferred shop for my village en-femme shopping, as I've never seen my neighbours in there. 

I was dressed for the rest of the day, didn't really feel up to doing much though. I could have gone to a retirement party in the evening, but was too tired. 

Post Event Thoughts 

It was all a lot more relaxed and less macho than I was expecting, I didn't think there would be a lot of trouble, but I did expect more funny looks perhaps. Everyone was really friendly, the staff were brilliant. I would certainly go to another - Peterborough has been mentioned, that's in August. 

Was really good to get to know some of the girls more, I had spoken to some at LFF, but it's easier to chat at an event like that where there are only a handful of you.

The Other Half

Since I did a short post last time, I figured I would just post the other half of the week, I have quite a lot planned for the bank holiday weekend, so that one will quite likely be an epic one anyway😄

Hopefully in a good way !

Thursday Trans-Wakefield

I was keen to get out - given the earlier events of the week, and I was due to go to my usual Thursday night meeting in Wakefield.  I had to check their discord as we are alternating between the pub and the café now. 

Turns out it was the café, I decided to wear the same dress I had used on my call with GenderGP, as it seemed like a fairly warm night and the café can get a bit warm. 

I put my makeup on, and liked the way I looked without the wig, so I decided to just go out without one. I did put some hairspray on to keep it swept over. It felt really nice. 

My wife was on the phone, but I did my usual twirl for her and got a surprised looking thumbs up.

I was perhaps a little more self conscious walking from the car to the café than normal, but overall it felt very liberating, and more natural. 

It seems they have started doing a new thing, where we all sit in a circle of chairs, and go around giving a short update on our life's events - positives and negatives. I obviously got to mention the GenderGP stuff, but also pointed out the lack of wig. I got some nice compliments.

I also posted the pic on my social media and didn't seem to lose any followers for it 😂

One of the cis partners of a member recommended some posh shampoo that they said did wonders for their partners hair when they starting presenting with it "Plantur 39 Caffeine Shampoo". I have ordered some, and will give it a go.

It was a really good night overall, I nipped to the pub for a quick drink after they booted us out of the café, but they wanted to sit outside and I was a bit cold without a jacket, so headed off.

The Weekend  

I could have gone to Notts Invasion on the Friday, but didn't feel in the mood. 

My wife had plans on Saturday so I took the opportunity to work on my car. I am putting a new clutch in. I was getting crunchy gear changes from 1st to 2nd. 

I spent Sunday afternoon on that too, then did a 13km walk in the evening.

GenderGP Update

I had an email this morning (Tuesday) about the session I attended :

"Dear Isobel,

Thank you very much for filling out your Appraisal Pathway form. :) Thank you for attending your Information Gathering Session - I can confirm that we have now received the report and no concerns have been raised."

So I guess I have met some minimum standard for sanity and trans-ness with them - yay !  

The next step (once I have talked to my wife) , would be to pay the monthly fee, then I can discuss what I want from them.

Causing hurt

Well it's a bit grey and miserable here, and I'm not feeling that happy to be honest. 

I had been pondering hormones for some time, and I happened to be on the GenderGP site just to get a link for a friend who I had been chatting to on Facebook about it.

Anyway, I was feeling very motivated, and ended up signing up. I told my wife later that day and she is less than pleased with me.

GenderGP itself wasn't the whole problem, more that I didn't talk to her before doing it - although I had mentioned the possibility on here before. We probably don't talk enough.

But I also mentioned I was thinking about going full time next year. I had thought about this timescale in terms of my facial laser being largely complete by then.

I'm very lucky to have the freedom I've got at the moment, but not sure it will be enough.

I've spoken to a lot of people over the last year and a bit, and heard their stories. Some have said that it just needs to get done, sod everyone that stands in your way, they have regretted not doing it earlier.

There are plenty of others who have sacrificed their own needs for the sake of their family.

Clearly the needs of my kids should come first, but had the marriage been on the rocks for any other reason, would it still be best to persevere for their sake. We are not opening arguing in front of them as yet - I hope we can proceed calmy if anything does need to happen.

She had previously suggested being classified as separated, but still legal married and living under the same roof, I don't know if this is still a possibility.

We lead very separate lives already, so to be honest aside from what we were classified to those outside the house, I don't think much would change.

I am very torn, I really don't want to hurt anyone.

Gender GP 

You sign up online, there are pages of questions they ask you, they give you a list of all the side effects.

On completion, you pay the fee, they organise an information gathering session with a trained counsellor. 

10 minute Izzy

I had my video call yesterday (Wednesday), I did partially dress for the occasion, I put a wig some lipstick did my eyebrows and put a dress on.

She was really lovely, we talked about my childhood, my crossdressing, current relationship status. Part of it was going over the questions asked on the forms already. I told it as it was, was very honest and open. 

When it ended she congratulated me and wished me best of luck on my journey. I was feeling very euphoric at the time - it reminded me of how I felt driving back from my first Chams visit, and being out dressed for the first time.

It felt like a bit of a leap forward had been made.

Once she has typed up her report, I should get contacted by the medical staff to discuss the treatment I wanted. This was a micro dose of estrogen - to take thing slowly, not really HRT as such. 

https://www.gendergp.com/hormones-and-microdosing-does-it-have-to-be-all-or-nothing/

Vintage fun

Early Week

Monday was a bank holiday,  I did a 15.4km walk that day too, really trying to get the weight off. I was working Tuesday to Thursday as Friday was my scheduled day off.

Chams

I wore a brown wig -
not this one

Thursday was Chams, I went down in the Leaf, which was a more refined journey, but not that much fun. I had bought a fab safari style dress last month, and really wanted to wear that out. I put my fairly high brown boots on, which I can just about walk in OK.  Probably should have shaved my legs, they didn't look too good on close inspection.

I got there a bit early as usual, and had a nice chat with Lynn while attempting not to put her off the makeup too much. 

It was a lively night, Danielle had brought along a young friend who was very bubbly, and joined in as if she was a regular. There were also a few other youngsters back. A brand of trans specific underwear was mentioned which I should look into at some point - https://zoah.shop

Friday - Doncaster Shopping Adventures

I like trying new places, and I noticed there was an outlet village near Doncaster I hadn't been to yet, which was also next to a scenic lake with a war memorial on an island. So I got ready and headed out for the day - I decided upon my red boots and a matching red dress, with chocolate tights and the brown jacket. Maybe a bit too red looking back, but it's not too bad.

I arrived near lunch time, and after wandering the length of the outlet to see what was available, I chose a nice looking café. It was pretty busy, which was a good sign. I ordered a jacket potato and a latte, and found just about the only small table left. 

The server was really nice, I can't remember exactly what she said but it was nice. The food arrived very quickly and was really good.  

After this I wandered around the shops, got a new denim jacket from M&S, along with a top and a pack
of tights. I tried the jacket on in the changing rooms, as I wanted to check the arm length.

I looked in a few others but didn't find much, got some chocolate for my wife and kids from the Cadbury's shop. Then ended up in the discount makeup place and got a load of different nail varnishes.

Finally ended up in Next, where I nearly bought a dress, but talked myself out of it.

Then I decided to have an amble around the lake, it was a nice walk, I think it was around 2.6km around it. The memorial was nice, was just a shame it was a bit overcast. It was around 4pm by the time I got back to the car, so decided to head home.

In the evening I took some pics in some new dresses for Insta.

Saturday - Air Museum 

Decided to have a family day out, and I had seen someone I follow on Facebook had been to the Avro Heritage museum near Stockport, so decided to go there. I was not en-femme , I just wanted to try and get out with the family for a bit, as we've not been out for a while.

Had a cockpit tour of a Lancaster mock-up , then a light lunch and we spent a good while looking around the museum, and the Vulcan which was the star attraction, parked outside. 

We popped into my parents on the way back, partly as we were passing, but also because we were in my wife's new car, and my dad likes to look at such things. It was OK we didn't stay too long as it appears we were interrupting the preparation of their dinner, 

It was a good day out, boys seemed to enjoy it.  On our return it was Eurovision, which I couldn't be bothered watching, so just talked to my friends online.

Sunday - Church open day and Vintage vehicles

My friend Alice had posted about an open day at her village church, where there would be cake, and also a display of some of her vehicles. I quite fancied the idea of popping along in the Morris Minor. Cake friends and cars are a winning combination for me :)

I donned a dress appropriate for vintage motoring, and headed into deepest darkest Lincolnshire. It was a foggy start, but it soon burned off, and became a very warm day. I was a bit dehydrated by the time I got there - just before lunch. My friend had heard me coming, the distinctive sound of a vintage car approaching :)  

I bought some cake and jam from the church stalls, and we had a bit of a look around inside, then headed to a local café for some lunch - I got to ride in one of her land rovers. I had ham and pickle sandwiches, which were very nice indeed - on very ornate plates. The owner and staff were very welcoming indeed, Alice eats there a lot, I can see why.

On our return I got to see some of the work in progress vehicles in the workshop, and a tour of her veg garden. It was a most pleasant afternoon - and very peaceful location too, not much traffic, mainly bird song. 

The journey back was even warmer, but there was a short downpour that cooled things off for a bit. I got back before 5pm I think.

I got some video of the journey, so will have to upload that to YouTube at some point ! 

Coronation Weekend

Since last time 

There was a charity classic and American car show in Wakefield last Sunday, I had been chatting to a local LFF regular Jane on Instagram and mentioned I was going, and they decided to come along too. I was there earlier than them, and had looked around and gone for a coffee at the LGBT café before they arrived.

It is nice to start to get to know some local trans people nearer my own age, the member of the Wakefield group are mainly much younger. We were both in male mode, for this, so only nice pics of the cars unfortunately. 

We spent an hour or so looking at the cars. There were a few Morris Minors, only one older than mine, but all looking more shiny and pampered after :)

Monday was the bank holiday, I went for a fairly long walk in the afternoon. Iwas working Tuesday to Thursday, so nice to have a short week !

I should have been at my Wakefield group on Thursday night, but I wasn't in the mood to rush about, and it was LFF the next day, so I decided just to stay in and pack my bags for that, and do my nails. 

I do a 'Nailkale' base coat, two colour coats, and then some rapid shine on top, and it can take a while to put that all on, as I don't like to use UV lamps.

It was 'Sun Street Passage' by Nails Inc, a sort of Neon pink. 

Leeds First Friday

There were going to be quiet a few of my friends coming along to this one, Benni , Hannah and her
girlfriend, and unexpectedly Ann, who had booked a room and forgotten she had 😊 

Decided to be brave and go with leggings, I do fear the showing of bumps with these, but aside from them slipping down a bit, they were fine.

I arrived before midday shortly before Ann. We needed to go to the hotel to steal some Wi-Fi for a work matter at first, and met one of the makeup artists called Gordon. I might have to give him a go one time, he specialises in more of a natural look. I introduced myself to a few other girls who I had been following on Insta for ages too.

We then went for a coffee at Starbucks (costa was rammed) while we waited for Benni's train to arrive and she joined us when we were nearly finished - then we headed to the Flamingos LGBT café for lunch. 

Then nipped to M&S for some tights for Ann, and onwards to the Bankers cat for the first pint of the day. The weather was a bit weird and we had some hail while we were in there.  But fortunately had passed by the time we were done. 

After that we headed over the road to a microbrewery pub 'Tapped Brew Co', where we had arranged to meet Alice.

Alice and then Lexi joined us in there, and after a few more drinks and some chatting the afternoon was fast disappearing and  it was time to head to the hotel to check in, and also change for the evening meal. We were doing the Thai place under the Travelodge this time - it was meant to be a curry somewhere else but there was a problem adding more people to it.

I had been feeling a bit poor in the morning, so had been taking some cold and flu pills along with soft drinks instead of beer, so I wasn't particularly tipsy.

We got ready fairly quickly and headed to the restaurant, Hannah and her girlfriend met us there, so there were seven of us in total for the meal.

We had a cocktail on arrival, it was a bit like raspberry bubble gum. I shared a starter platter with Ann, which was quite filling, and I couldn't manage much of my 'Royal Lamb' main and rice. 

I asked a waitress to take a photo, which didn't come out too bad. I was wearing a posh Next dress I had got in a sale at Doncaster on an adventure the month before.  

They were a bit slow, and by the time we had paid, and gone back to our rooms for a final freshen up and outfit change, we had missed the official start time by a few hours. It was 8:40pm before we got to the Viaduct.  I wasn't really feeling that great, and just decided to stick with what I had on, and put some fresh lipstick on.

We spent about an hour in the Viaduct, then I figured it would be good to get Hannah to the bridge as she likes to do a bit of kareoke - this tends to divide the group as some can't stand the bridge, but we tend to re-group later.

Hannah sang Chubby Checker - Let's Twist Again, and had a good time of doing so !  I was feeling pretty done but it wasn't even 11pm yet, so popped another pill, found out where Alice and the rest had gone, and we headed to the Packhorse. 

This isn't in the freedom quarter, but is a favourite of some of the girls, and we have had funny and nice interactions with some regulars in there.

They must have ordered the bunting for a pub twice the size or something, it was everywhere  - they also had some nice selfie spots setup with 'thrones' and balloon crowns, which of course I had to take advantage of .

There were some rather worrying looking characters 'dancing' in there, so we didn't stay that long. One looked like he had wet himself, the other had their front teeth missing. 

Someone ended up following us while recording as we headed back down to the freedom quarter, I was at the front so didn't realise until I was told, most odd.

We ended up in the Smokestack where I got a bit of a 2nd wind, and did spend a bit of time on the dancefloor boogying to numerous oldies. I can't remember which ones. There is a Spotify playlist if anyone is interested Smokestack unofficial playlist

We found a booth on the middle floor around midnight. and I lasted until about half an hour past midnight before deciding to head back the hotel with Hannah and girlfriend in tow. Benni stayed for one more drink I think, and Ann was out for another three hours !! 😂

But it was still a really good night, despite my lurgy and I had a really good time, was great to catch up with everyone again. 

Coronation Day

We all managed to get ready and down to the lobby by 9am to wander over the river to the Cha Lounge. I wore my grey dress with patterned tights and the fab red suede boots I got from vinted. 

Fortunately we were there early enough to snag a table without pre-booking. It's quite popular and we saw quite a few people being turned away while we were there.

The coronation coverage was on a big TV, but with no sound, so we got to see some of it. 

I wasn't feeling hungover as had hardly drunk anything compared to usual, so had not problem finishing my breakfast , except for the beans. We must have been in there an hour or so. Alice and some of the others turned up a bit after us, they pre-book a table every month. 

So we got to say our goodbyes to them as well which was nice. Once we had paid, we headed over the bridge and went back to the hotel to go our sperate ways. I left at 11:15 and had a very nice drive back, the roads were pretty quiet due to people watching the coronation I guess.

I ended up going to bed shortly after getting home, didn't really watch any more coverage, and didn't do much at all for the rest of the day, other than a really long soak in the bath.

Sunday

Feeling a bit better today, after a nice long sleep, I have been for a 13km walk this afternoon, was very warm and sunny. I have been trying to get into the habit of putting sun cream on, as I am thinking all this laser is probably not doing my long term skin health that much good.

It's bank holiday tomorrow, but currently have no plans.