Friendship Observed

A quiet weekend by normal standards, but I think I made progress being out and about locally and with a long time friend.  

Saturday

Finally got the nerve to go dressed for a drink with an old friend, one of the first people I came out to.

He had only seen a few pictures of me I had shown him at the time, we were both very drunk when I did the deed initially.

We tend to go out around Wakefield, just the two of us, meetup just after lunch and then get our wives to pick us up around tea time before things get too messy.

I also took the opportunity to try out some more pubs, I was hoping for some weird beers to try and did manage to find some nice ones.

I did pre-warn him that I would be dressed in a manner that he doesn't normally see me, and he replied he was fine with that. I didn't want to shock him - he asked me to wave if he didn't spot me. I wish I was so good at makeup that he might not recognise me !!

I ended up in the pub on my own waiting for him, as he is always late - despite him already delaying the start time, he operates on his own time zone :)

I grabbed a seat in an upstairs area as there was no room downstairs where the bar is. A lady came and asked if I was expecting anyone else, as she didn't want to intrude by sitting near me if I was. Overheard her refer to me as a 'young lady' to her husband when he came up and asked her why she had sat so far away - that was nice :)

He arrived after 10 mins or so, he did spot me unfortunately. It was really as if there was no difference, it was all nice and normal and not awkward at all. We spent a good 4 hours wandering around Wakefield, this is the pub list :

• Luis Bar - Favourite Real ale place, our normal starting point
• Polka Hop - One I had been to before, quiet but has a few nice beers on
• The Black Rock - Really good, had an amazing Chocolate porter
• The Calder and Hops - Bit like a Weatherspoon's, sub tropical temps, no ale
• The Talbot and Falcon - We were the youngest people in there aside from the staff, no ale
• The Lockwood - Motown, no Ale, even the Guinness was from a can !! 

I was pleased that didn't get any negative treatment in any of these places, aside from one of the staff calling me 'mate' when ordering, but I can forgive that. 

Going out so close to home is still a lot more nerve racking to me that being somewhere far away for some reason.

I had a KFC on the way home, and some left over pizza from the fridge too. 

I got a nice Txt from him to say that he had enjoyed it, which was also good !

Sunday 

Following up on my success of the previous day, I had intended to go for a local walk in the countryside
- but the weather was not great, and despite owning enough pairs of boots to fit out a small army, none of them are really great for mud.  

I rectified this, but splurging on vinted, a red waterproof coat and a pair of black wellies with a spot detail are on the way.

Again being out close to home does make me very uneasy, but some of it is that I am not that confident even in man mode.  Being out in the middle of nowhere on a towpath or disused railway line, you just don't know who you are going to run into, and there might be nobody around to help. 

But I really want to try and make sure I am happy doing the things I previously was able to do in female mode.  Coincidentally there is a Trans-Wakefield walk planned for December at the lake I walk to sometimes, next to the real ale pub I walk to sometimes.  I hope to walk to the lake, might get my wife to pick me up.

I was also experimenting with my makeup, cutting it down to the bare minimum, foundation and colour corrector on the lower half of my face only, no fake lashes. I wore my jeans, black knee high boots, a jumper and my male waterproof. 

In the end I decided to walk to my local Aldi, which was something I had avoided doing, as - and this may sound snobbish, but there are more down to earth people shopping there, and I was worried I might stand more chance of getting negative reactions.  

The world didn't end, and I got some lamb for tomorrow, even the group of kids I passed on the way back didn't say anything. I really don't feel that feminine in jeans, and the male coat and beanie didn't help. But I guess it's less likely to attract attention than flouncing about in a dress. 

So that's all the supermarkets done now :) , I guess I should do the few charity shops next. 

 

Vertical Food and Parakeets

 

Last weekend was Gainsborough beer festival.  I went for two days 

I was meant to be staying at the Travelodge, but they had water issues when I arrived, so I booked some rooms above a pub very nearby.  I  was supposedly one of the roughest pubs in Gainsborough, and my friends were a little concerned. But there was no trouble.

I've left them a nice review on TripAdvisor.

The festival was at Gainsborough Old Hall ( https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/gainsborough-old-hall/ )

I was pre-warned the main part would be unheated, so I needed to dress warm.

Day 1 - Friday

I decided on a halter neck peacock print dress, with my new DM's and a big fluffy green coat I got at a charity shop in Lancaster the previous month. I also had my steampunk clock handbag too.  

Got there by lunchtime at Friday, and had a beer at the festival, then had to sort out alternative accommodation with a quick Google, as my friends had told me about the hotel issues.

I had a KFC while I waiting to check in at the pub. Then back out to the beer festival.  We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking, I was mainly on stouts and porters, as my tummy seems to deal with these better than fizzy IPA's.

We ate at 'The Clockhouse' where I ordered a hanging Kebab, which was different - fairly nice, I enjoyed posing with it as much as eating it. 

We tried to get back into the beer festival, but there was a limit of 200 people in the venue, and a queue had formed, so we went to a pub nearby, had one in there, then headed back to find the queue gone.

We left when they chucked us out at 10:30pm :)

Getting to my room at the pub was uneventful as there was a separate entrance I had been given a key to, it was very lively in the bar so wouldn't have wanted to go in that way.

Day 2 - Saturday 

We were aiming to meet for breakfast at a café at 9am.  I hadn't slept that well - not due to the hotel, they had left me earplugs.  I had a few cups of tea while plastering my face, and that revived me. 

I ended up following a friend at a distance, I didn't feel confident at shouting in my manly voice to attract their attention.  

The breakfast was really nice, the sausages were locally produced and the best I've had in a long time. Got a nice photo of us by the river after breakfast. 

On the way back to the hotel, we passed through the market square where

there were people fundraising for the poppy appeal.  I got a fab selfie with a Parakeet while there :)

The festival didn't start until midday, and I had offered a room to Cindy as she had not intended to stay the Saturday, but I had a twin room and nobody using the other bed, so had offered it to her.

So we got her bags from the Travelodge, then decided to go around town and look  for bargains in the charity shops. I was getting quite a few nice comments about my handbag around town which I enjoyed :)

I had been a bit cold the previous day, so I was on the look out for a hat, and found a sort of  Russian looking one that I really liked the look of. So bought that, and also a necklace too.

Cindy and myself had a drink in the pub we were staying at, which wasn't that crowded during the day - there were a few people still dressed in uniform for the vintage fundraising going on in the square. Felt safe and friendly enough in there.

We headed to the beer festival shortly after.  I was on cider for most of the day, but was flagging a little in the afternoon, and had a few more teas.  Also some sausage rolls and crisps, as we didn't really do lunch. I had a fab Ginger beer - it was very strong tasting, nobody else liked it.  

We went for a Pizza at Prezzo's around 6ish, which I was most glad of.  Then to a pub for a final drink after that.  I think we were back in the hotel for 9pm , we had all run out of steam by then. 

Day 3 - Sunday

I had slept a lot better thankfully, but we were still up fairly early.  I had a shower and got dressed and packed, then headed to the car with my friend. My plan was to drive us both just around the corner to the shopping centre, where I could charge the car, and we could have breakfast in one of the cafes.

Turns out only Greggs was open, so that limited the choice, but we had a nice bacon roll each, and a hot drink.

I headed home after saying my goodbyes to my friend - it was a very foggy return journey, but no issues. I was home for 10:30am.  Spent the rest of the day dressed and catching up on a bit of housework.

All in all a very nice weekend, and it did help chase some of my post LFF blues away ! - This is likely to be the last Beer festival for a while, so glad it was a good one.

Minimal changes

Updates

There haven't really been many things of note, my dad was sent home from hospital for a bit and he seems to be doing OK aside from feeling the cold a lot more than usual.

Had been feeling quite down post the latest LFF -  Friday the 3rd of this month, and hadn't felt like posting anything. So we are now fabulously late with reporting on that one.

I had to miss Chameleons as it was parents evening last Thursday night, but I was at Gainsborough beer festival Friday afternoon, to Sunday morning, so am socially topped up at least. I will post about that separately to ensure nobody falls asleep half way through reading.

The title eludes to not much happening, and also a reduction in the need to change my outfit a billion times a day on the last few socials. 

Leeds First Thursday

Two of my friends Alice and Rebecca were doing Thursday / Friday  this time, so I decided to join them. I was sharing a room with another friend on Friday night so ended up booking the same hotel for the Thursday - Travelodge Vicar lane. 

It's a bit further out, and in a bit more of a dodgy area, but was fairly cheap - the markets car park was also really cheap, so it did save some money on that too.

I was really keen to wear my new peacock dress from 'Banned' that I bought in Sheffield the other week, matched with my patent boots. With my hotel being a bit further away, I wasn't planning on going back to get changed.

We did a bit of shopping then headed to Rosa's Thai in the Trinity shopping centre for lunch - I had another bubble tea, and a something fairly spicy but I forget what :) 

Had a drink in Bankers Cat, then I went to check into the Travelodge, and we met back up at Northern Guitar, then to Tapped, and onward to Tharavadu for 'Leeds best curry'.   I had lamb chops, it was delicious. After this we moved on to 'The Brewery Tap' where we met up with Steph, and lastly to 'The Shed' for one last one before heading to bed. 

We probably shouldn't have had that last one, but Steph had come into Leeds especially to see us, and felt a bit guilty about leaving her after one drink. 

Friday - Pint's and Straw's

We were going to give 'Farmhouse' a try for breakfast as one of our friends had been the previous month and really enjoyed it.  I put on a basic makeup look, and my favourite popsy peacock print dress - you can never have enough peacock dresses. 

The breakfast was immense and although I made a valiant effort it defeated me - although I managed all my sausages, unlike another friend. But I felt quite fat for a while afterwards.

I waddled back to my room and got glammed up for the rest of the day, as with the previous one my plan was to not come back until I needed bed, so I was a tad overdressed for the daytime activities perhaps. I was gothing up again, as I hadn't really had much use out of all the dresses I bought for Whitby. 

I had spotted some Doc Martens in one of their two stores in the centre the previous day, and found this gorgous high heel version with parent toe, heel and a strap on the top. They didn't have my size in the shop I spotted them in, but they were kind enough to phone the other one and they did. So I met back up with my friends and we went there first.  I tried them on and they fit really well, so I blew some daft money on them ! 

We had a coffee at Flamingos, slow service as always, they really do take their time some days. Our friend Benni joined up, and then we headed to Tapped as we were hosting our official LFF pub crawl starting at 1:30pm.

The pub crawl went well, we did Tapped, Bankers Cat then moved on to the North Taproom just south of the Central Travelodge. We didn't get as many attendees as the last time, only about 10 of us in total. But we had a good time.  There were some fairly strong beers in the North Taproom, and I had one that was 7% and one that was 10% - but only a 1/2 and 1/3rd respectively. 

Gemma who I had met at Chams and also Invasion came along for her first LFF experience and met us in there too. 

It was soon time for food - I was feeling quite tipsy by this point, and I wasn't really sure I could cope with food, but I needed something if I was going to do any more drinking. We had a table booked at Gino's in the Marriot so headed there. I had a pizza, and managed most of it, with a coke to try and sober up a bit too. 

Then I hung around the Marriot reception while the others changed outfits, and soon we headed to the Bridge for the Newcomers meeting.  Met a lovely young girl called Olivia in there, who was great to meet and talk to.  Caught up with the primary Gemma (LED Gemma)   in there too, who was also Gothing , and was unusually not lit up !

We went to the Viaduct for a bit, I had a cocktail it seems, thank god for selfies , then to Bankers cat for the 3rd time that weekend :)    , then Tapped again, and then for a bit of a long walk over the river to the 'Bridge End Social' where I tried a Yorkshire take on Baileys - which was lovely.

It was getting close to midnight and we had been drinking for 12 hours, so we decided to call it a night at that point.

I said my goodbyes near the Marriot, then walked back to my hotel - was feeling quite on edge, it was a fair way from the safety of the 'Freedom Quarter' and seemed to be attracting more attention than usual. Although nearer the hotel a man strode past me, he was wearing a bright orange suit, with matching orange leather shoes. So I did wander if everyone was looking at him as he walked behind me. 

Anyway I ended up following him into the hotel and we caught the same lift too, I did think it amusing that we were probably both thinking 'what the f*ck are you wearing' at each other - I was tempted to talk but was too shy.

I didn't sleep that well, as there was a loud pub across the road, and it didn't die down until about 3am.

Saturday

I walked to the market with my friend Arabella, and bought myself a glow in the dark necklace from a stall selling Uranium Glass objects.  

I don't think it's a uranium piece, but I may see if I can wave it near a Geiger counter at some point.  We had breakfast at a little place in the market, it was a bit more greasy than the posh place, but they did at least have size options, so you were not forced to buy a huge one that you really didn't want.

We looked at a few other shops, then I headed home mid morning. 

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