Oestrogen aborbed

Updates:

The Oestrogen gel has arrived late last week. I administered on Wednesday and Thursday mornings  -two pumps to outer upper arms. I did feel a little odd afterwards. I'm not sure if that was because I was expecting it to, or maybe placebo response. It was a bit like after having a strong coffee, I felt a bit more on edge that normal.

I was going away for the weekend and forgot to take it with me, so I didn't have any on Friday and Saturday. Started back again on Sunday morning. This time I went with inner thighs. 

I didn't feel as much of an effect yesterday, and not much today (Tuesday) either. I did wake up a bit grumpy today which doesn't normally happen.

Adventures:

Weekend before last - 

I went out in drab for a drink with my brother on Saturday, took the Morris Minor to show him, he's never been in it.  It was a nice couple of hours in the afternoon.  

I had thought about going En-femme but decided against it. I had got as far as shaving for it though. Sort of regret not doing so.  But we've agreed to meet up in a month's time, so I think I will set that as a thing to do for next time.

Since I had already shaved, I did do a bit of makeup practise in the evening, but the look I went with didn't really work. 

I was getting withdrawal symptoms from not being out dressed, so I headed into Leeds on Sunday for some shopping, and another excuse to take the Morris out. It was a nice afternoon, I visited a CAMRA pub - 'The Ship Inn', seemed like a bit of a dive really, but one off the list. I was driving so I only had a half, and made sure to have it a few hours before intending on leaving.

I tried a fish and chips place in a shopping arcade, it wasn't that brilliant - I couldn't find a café that didn't look rammed. Went around the corn exchange, did a few of the charity shops and had a drink in flamingos.

It was really good to get out though.

Weekend just gone - Midlands Morris trip :

I had three things available to me near each other for Thursday / Friday and Saturday, so I planned to stay overnight and make a weekend of it.  Thursday was Chams, Friday was Nottingham Invasion, and Saturday a friend invited me for lunch in Lincoln.

Chams 

I was popping into the East Midlands outlet on the way down, as Ann and Amber were meeting there for some pre-chams shopping, and was going to have a drink with them.

On attempting to merge onto the M1 , there was another Minor to my right , we waved at each other as he went past and I merged in behind him. It was a pale green two door.  I figured I would be able to get details off the dashcam , but unfortunately it records on a loop and I did too many miles this weekend, so it's gone. 

I made good time, and managed to get to the outlet in time to have a drink and a toastie at Costa with Ann and Amber, then we headed to Nuthall for the meeting.

The meeting was really good, really great to catch up with people, I think I had missed the last two meetings, one because my wife was doing something, and another I went to Wakefield as I just wasn't in the mood for a late night.

Met a new person - well they had returned after a very long absence, she was nice - might end up seeing her at Invasion too perhaps. Caught up with a few of the regulars. We had a quiz which seemed to work really well, broke the evening up a bit. There were enough there for it to split into lots of smaller conversations which was nice. 

I left a little earlier than normal, as I wanted to get to the hotel before 11pm. I was staying at the 'Days Inn' off the A50 near Donnington. It's about the cheapest place with a roof and bed you can get nearby. I was a bit worried about the car, but I had installed a GPS tracker, and removed lots of ignition components, nobody touched it though.

Derby / Nottingham daytime fun

Ann was free for a little while in the morning, so we arranged to meet up in Derby at a McDonalds for
breakfast. The breakfast at the Days Inn came in a bag apparently, so wasn't too appealing. 

We met up at 9ish I think, had a nice chat over our unhealthy food, then parted ways - I had decided to go into Derby to do some shopping. The Morris was not 100% right, it had developed a random vibration, and I didn't want to do too many miles in her, so shopping seemed more sensible.

I parked in the Derbion centre, accidentally choosing the entrance with the corkscrew route instead of the more pleasant ramp Ann had suggested - I got some good video of it though :)

I had decided to go visit the 'Museum of making' first, which was a little walk from the shopping centre. It had some nice exhibits, but wasn't that big so I didn't spend a vast amount of time there. There was a jet engine and an exploded car to look at. It was free so can't complain - nice loo's too :) 

I wanted to buy some hair straighteners, as I had failed to pack them as well as my brolly and my oestrogen due to rushing about at the last minute.  I had brought a wig for the evening, but that was more a plan B.  Unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere that sold them.

Looked around some charity shops, got a few bits of lingerie from Primark, and decided that getting to Nottingham might be a good idea, so headed there.

The sat nav took me in a rather unexpected route, and through some of the city centre which wasn't ideal as she is not fun in stop start traffic, but got there OK, not much in the way of the vibration issue.  I filled her up with fuel and parked in the Victoria Centre North car park.

I bought some straighteners on offer in Boots for £30, and also some heat protect spray, having looked in a number of other places first. 

A drink in the the 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem' was now top off the to-do list, but I needed food first. Randomly walking around looking for a nice café didn't work, so I opted for a Gregs sarnie, then headed to the pub. I suppose I could have eaten there really ....

Anyway, had a nice half in there, and sat out on the benches outside, I didn't want to drink too much as would be doing so in the evening. By the time I had finished my drink it was time to check in to the hotel, so I wandered back and did so. I was in the Hilton, which although is very expensive is very convenient for the car park and the Invasion starting/ending venue.

After checking into the hotel, and getting my bags from the car I had a bash with the straighteners. I was pretty pleased with the outcome.  I have not used them that often at all, but it looked a lot better than when I started.  I also put some 'Bed Head' shine spray on to make it look a bit more glossy, and a bit of hairspray to hold it in place a bit. I went back to a side parting, I had been rocking a centre parting during the day.

I put on my dress for the night, and some heels and headed out in search of food - I had googled for nearby restaurants and found an Italian place that looked nice.  I did feel a bit self conscious as it was still quite early - about 5pm, and not many people were dressed nice at that time.

The lady at the restaurant was really welcoming, she asked if I wanted to sit at the back - I wasn't really fussed about hiding away, maybe she thought I would be !   I opted for a three meat lasagne, still not sure what the three meats were but it was nice. Not huge though - I think the one I had at Gino's in Leeds earlier in the month had swayed me to expect a big one.  

I wasn't that full so I decided on a desert - Tiramisu, which I had spied another patron having and it looked nice, and it was ! 

It was only  just after 6:30pm when I finished, and another few hours until there would be anyone at the pub, so I went back to the hotel for a little lay down.

Invasion 

On entering the Foresters I spied a trans lady I hadn't met before sat on her own, I waved and went and got a drink and joined her. She was friendly enough and we chatted for a bit until some of the other regulars turned up. I think there were 9 of us in our bit, and a few more sat by the dance floor.  

We were in there for an hour and half or so , then moved onto the 6 Barrels just on the other side of the shopping centre.  Had a nice pint in there, and then we moved to the Lord Roberts.  

A few of us departed at that point, so we were down to six of us.

The Roberts had an event downstairs and the pub was a bit empty compared to normal but it did mean we got some nice seats.

They refused to serve Jennifer half a snake bite and black - would only do pints of it, so she wrote a poem about it, and I think i got a mention :)  - she's not posted it anywhere yet though. 

It was past midnight when we left, they were all heading to back to the Foresters, but given I was going to Lincoln the next day, I decided to be sensible and head to bed. 

Lincoln

Not sure if it was the food or beer or both but my digestive system had not been too happy overnight, but breakfast helped - went to McDonalds next to the hotel for a bacon roll.

Getting to Lincoln was fairly uneventful and was parked up near the Brayford pool by 10:45am. The meal wasn't until 1pm so I did some wandering.  Looked in a few charity shops, headed up steep hill to see if anything was going on.

There was a market at the top, and some people looked to be doing some rope climbing training, or a
demonstration on the big arch you walk through to get to the Cathedral.  I had a quick look inside the Cathedral but had been before so didn't fancy paying for the privilege and headed out.

I popped into the museum just to use the loo, and then sat out on a bench in a park at the back of the art gallery for a bit. It was soon time to go meet my friend so I headed back down to the restaurant - The Botanist.

Met Alice and Helen outside and we were shown to a table upstairs. Neither of us had met Helen
before, so we did the usual sort of chat about our past, and journeys. It was very nice. Food was pretty good too - I had a spicy chicken burger. 

After the meal myself and Alice did a few more shops, then I decided I should probably get back home so said my goodbyes.

Got home fine, didn't do much driving over 60mph which is better for the fuel economy too. 

All in all a very nice day and weekend !