The doctor

 

Addendum to previous post 

I forgot to talk about the rest of the bank holiday weekend in the week before LFF !

Sunday I went to the Yorkshire Air Museum near York with my wife and youngest son.  It was really good, had a nice lunch in the café. We spent a good few hours wandering around. 

On our way back we popped into the designer outlet, and I got some dresses from Joe Browns, and also some active wear from M&S. My wife even picked out a dress for me in Joe Browns.  It was really good to be out with them, and felt very natural.

I went running En-femme on the Monday which in many ways was much more scarier than the swimming. I was out on secluded footpaths, potentially at the mercy of vagabonds, teenagers and burly dog walkers. 

I didn't see that many people, but being out alone isn't something you see women do a lot of, and I didn't feel as safe as being out in a town.

I had bought a pink top from M&S the previous day, and I had on my boy mode cap, jogging bottoms and a grey running top. Minimal makeup similar to swimming. 

I have since purchased a pink running jacket to femme up a bit, and some shorts with an inner lining - they are quite baggy so hoping will disguise any lumps ! The shorts won't make an appearance until it get's much warmer though.

Doctors 

I blocked out my work calendar the hour before to ensure I had enough time to put some makeup on. I had chosen skinny black jeans, a tunic top and a leather jacket, paired with my high heeled docs. I feel safer in the docs :)

I parked in the Aldi next door to the surgery, and walked over. The receptionist was on the phone, but the nurse came over and talked to me, she was very friendly - I told her in as quiet a voice as I could, that I would be down on the list as Andrew, but would appreciate if they shouted out Isobel.  

I was in the waiting room for what seemed like forever, I think half an hour or so, but eventually my name did get called - I was just waiting for them to screw it up, but thankfully they didn't.  Kept my head down and didn't really interact with anyone. Nobody seemed to be paying me any attention.

The doctor was nice, he did use my male name , but I don't think I had actually told him my preferred one so he couldn't really have used anything else.  I explained what I wanted - well I led with the GIC referral. He wanted some history, and he had a bash at asking the sort of questions that I got from Gender GP  -  earliest memories , when did I start dressing, did I feel like I wanted to be a woman etc.

He was happy to refer me in the end.  I had a bit of trouble giving him the name of the centre, as it's called one thing on the website and another on the referral form, but I think I gave them enough.  I've also emailed over the form I partially completed for them.

I also asked for blood tests, and he's given me the paperwork to book those, but I haven't done so yet.

All in all a very positive experience ! I came out feeling very happy - I kind of wish I had done it sooner, but I seem to take a while to build up the confidence for some things.

Adventures 

Milton Keynes 

I couldn't face the drive to Nottingham, then back, then back past it in the morning, so I decided to give Chams a miss - I could have got a hotel I guess, but I really need to spend less.

I charged at Donnington Park on the way down, only adding 20% or so, I just needed a bit of safety margin. 

I arrived to meet my friend at the train station for 1pm , left my car charging at the old bus station. We did a short drive to an area with lots of bars and food places.  Had a few drinks and a game of pool at a Brewdog, then onwards to Weatherspoon's for a cheap lunch.

After food I drove us to the hotel, where we freshened up for bit, then headed out around Fenny Stratford in search of a decent pub.  We looked in a few, but settled on 'Chequers', which was rather quaint , but friendly and did real ales.  We only had the one in there, before heading back to the hotel to get some food.

I had gammon and chips, and Bennie got them to do her a jacket potato which wasn't on the menu but wasn't an issue.

After this we got changed for the evening, and headed back to the hotel bar - the Karaoke guy was
setting up, and the room gradually filled with other girls.  We got talking to a number, a lot of them new Bennie, but I didn't really know many at all.  One of them on the table next to us was itching to do Karaoke, but didn't want to monopolise the floor, so was very pleased when Bennie decided to go up - she did Buck Rodgers by Feeder.  I stood next to her and filmed it :)

I had enough lubrication by this point to consider doing it myself - I can't sing and had never done Karaoke, so was totally qualified.  We decided upon Paradise City by Guns and Roses, I don't know why it's quite complicated and goes on forever. It was quite a while before it was our turn, and I was a bit nervous, but we did go up and 'perform'. 

I was truly awful, I do have an audio recording, but nobody is ever hearing that ....

After 10pm the club opens, and we headed over there.  The evening was spent taking selfies, drinking cocktails and schmoozing with the southern girls.  Bennie and a few others did some more Karaoke, but I didn't join in this time.  We had some cheesy chips about 2:30am - they were not that good, it was
more cheese on chips, than cheesy chips. It really should be melted cheese on top !

I think we left at 3:30 ish, and it was 4am before was in bed - luckily it's not much of a walk !

We had booked breakfast for the morning, so that really only gave  us 4 hours of sleep before it was time to put the makeup on for that !

We did manage to get up, and get ready by 9am, and had a nice breakfast. We popped over the road so I could get some footage of the Routemaster in the Pink Punters car park, then had a bit of a lay down for an hour.  My friends train wasn't till 1pm, and we didn't have to be out of the room until midday, so there was no rush.

I drove us to the station, and parked up, then we headed to a café for a tea as we had half an hour to
wait still.  Said our goodbyes and I hit the road.

The journey back up was fairly uneventful, aside from a charging issue at Donnington, It charged fine, and I went in to get some food, but after I came out and disconnected the car was not happy.

It had an error on the high voltage battery, and wouldn't do anything other than beep at me.

I googled the issue, and people seemed to suggest that the charger had left the car in an error state, and that leaving it for 10 mins would help, others suggested disconnecting the 12V battery. I looked at it, but I had no tools to remove the connector. 

So I figured I would try reconnecting the charger, and attempting to start a charge and then stop it again.  It wouldn't actually charge, and the unit showed an error communicating with the car. But when I removed the cable and tried the car again it had cleared the issue on the car.  

I haven't actually attempted to use a fast charger on it since, as i've only needed to top it up on my home one, but I will do this week, as I need to ensure it works fine for other trips I have planned for this month !

  

Heavy metal

 

General Updates

Have managed to get a new prescription from Gender GP, the changes to the their online systems were a bit concerning, as was an extra charge they had said they were adding to send it off to an online service (£5).  But I don't seem to have been charged it yet.

I have been on them for just over 6 months now, so this batch will take me to 9 months.

I spent a while last night filling in the GIC referral form for Nottingham. I am giving this to the doctor tommorow, in the hope it will get through his in tray a lot quicker. 

I have decided upon a tunic top, jeans, and my high heeled DM's for the visit, although I reserve the right to panic and change my mind at the last minute.

I will need to revert on my return, as I will be on a video call with 300+ people.

Adventures

Thursday - I was out around Wakefield with my friend Bennie, we had one drink at a pub near her house, then got an Uber into town and headed to the 'Sofra Turkish Grill'.

I had the 'Turkish Sausage' which was in a tomato sauce, followed by a 'Lamb Beyti' which seemed to be parcels of meat. Really enjoyed it, and my friend did too. 

We did a few pubs afterwards, Black Rock, Polka Hop and Luis bar, it was a pleasant evening.

In the morning we went to Gems café for a breakfast, then headed into Leeds.

Friday - Leeds

Pints and Straws was at 'Friends of Ham', 'Head of Steam (Mill hill)'  and 'Tapped'. We had a record
attendance, 16 I think in the end. I made sure to try and speak with a couple of newbies, but didn't get around everyone. We got a lovely review of it on TvChix.

It was quite amusing in that one of the newbies could only attend as they were on strike - they were a train driver :)  Quite a few girls had been unable to come due to train issues though.

For food I had a pizza at Tapped - ham and mushroom.

I wore a fab Phase 8 dress I had got from Vinted for the evening, it got a lot of compliments, and I was very pleased with how it looked on me.

In the evening we did :

• Bridge End Social 
• The Bridge Bar - where there was a 360 video service setup for us !
• The Viaduct
• The End
• Smokestack

I headed to bed at 1am ish, no cheesy chips this time. 

Saturday 

Met up with Bennie, Jen, Alex and Jade at the Bridge End Social for breakfast. I was nice, a bit too
much seasoning for me, but I will ask for less next time.

Had a nice chat with the other girls over drinks and the food.

Due to a fairly late start time, and quite a long cooking time we didn't actually finish breakfast until quite late, so it was soon time for us to head off.  Myself and Bennie had got a group on deal for axe throwing near Kirkstall at 1pm.

We got an Uber there which didn't take that long. The staff there were very friendly, once we had filled in the fairly long waiver we were shown to our lane and given a quick guide on how to throw.

I picked it up quite well, and we getting some decent scores pretty soon. It was not Bennies first time,
so I thought she would be beating me, but she had terrible luck with them not going in.  

We were there for an hour, I think we must have got about four games in - I had my new 360 camera recording for some of it, and I got some video which I have uploaded to YouTube.

When our session was over we walked to the brewery which according to my friend was only 5 minutes
away. 30 minutes later we arrived !  We had a few beers in there, and then got another Uber back into the city centre. 

After changing for the evening we went in search of food, and stumbled across 'Pizza Punks' where we had some nice Pizza.  Then onwards to Whitelocks, but we didn't like the look of it, as there was nowhere to sit. So we decided upon Northern Guitar.  

We watched some bands setup there while we enjoyed a drink, but the soundcheck was too much for my hearing, and we swiftly moved on before they actually began playing.

Banker Cat was the final pub of the day, and partly because it was nice in there and we got a seat, and partly because the heavens had opened we stayed in there for a couple. 

I was quite tired so was in bed before midnight again.

Sunday 

I should have tried to find something more healthy for breakfast, but we ended up at the
Weatherspoon's, and I had to try their cheap full English.  It was OK for the money, did feel a bit strange being in there so early with people drinking pints for breakfast though !

We didn't hang about long after breakfast, and set off for Wakefield. My friends train home was after lunch, so we went to a café for a drink to kill some time first.

I headed home after this. 

Did a bit of adulting in the afternoon, and then I headed out at 4:30 to another trans swimming session in Leeds. This was with a different group to the last time, and I was treated to an induction and a run through of their rules when I arrived. 

The other people were not as friendly as the previous group, and seemed to be mainly FTM. There was one person who seemed to have a few mobility issues, but enjoyed doing handstands under water. They got in the way a bit, and I had to swim around them a lot.

My friend Alex was there, but she was on a mission to swim her mile so we didn't talk. I managed 32 lengths at 22m each, so 704 meters, so 0.43 miles. I will try and get to the half mile this Sunday, which would be about 37 lengths.