Luxurious Leeds

 

Since previous post .......

The last post was the bank holiday, I had returned from Lincoln on the Saturday, and did very little.

Sunday was a pub lunch out with my wife's family in Culcheth, it is only worthy of note because I was really worried how my hair would go down. I feel fairly obvious now !  I removed my earrings for this reason. 

I got compliments on the hair, they said it suited me !

On the Monday I went out with the family (boy mode) and two friends from university around Clumber Park, it was a nice sunny day and had a great time. I did have the option of going en femme, one of them knew about me, and the other is friends with Joanna so would have only perhaps been surprised.

Trans-Wakefield

This was at the Café, my hair spray nozzle had gummed up, so I put a wig on for this one. 

It was very well attended, the biggest turnout I've seen - with 4 newbies. I was sat next to a really lovely NB called Kris, and a trans girl called Quill and had a nice talk with them. I think Kris was similar age to me, there was another too who seemed a similar age but I didn't get much of a chance to talk with her.  Perhaps next time !

We popped into the pub for a quick drink, but they sat outside again. I had a long dress and a jacket, but was quickly too cold with drinking a cold 0% beer. So I left pretty early.

Leeds First Friday

I was staying in the Premier Inn this time, as it was better for the walk back from
the Ball on the Saturday night.  It was a bit more of a trek from the car to the hotel, and from the hotel into the city centre and back, but Alice was staying there too so made sense.

I drove in before lunch, met up with Ann at the Marriot where she was dropping her bags off, then we headed out for a coffee at Costa. We did some mooching around the shops, and I bought some higher black heels for the ball. 

I met Alice while Ann had gone to check in at her hotel, and then we all ended up in Tapped which is a microbrewery / real ale place that does pizza. Jessica joined us in there too.  We had some pizza and beer in there.  I chose some weird halves  for fun, a fruit beer, and a Tiramisu one :)  (couldn't finish it, it was a bit strong)

Once it was nearer 3pm myself and Alice headed back to the Premier Inn to check in , via the car park for the first load of bags. She was having a makeover in the hotel so I went for a wander around the area to investigate a garden built on a bit of an old viaduct. Got some pictures of that, and went back to the car to get the last remaining bags - I had a big dress back with my ball gown options.

I then changed into a different dress for the meal of course 😊

Then it was time to head back to the pub - the Bankers Cat, where we had a couple, then onwards to an Indian place we had failed to go previously - "Tharavadu".  We had a fab meal in there, I chose a lamb dish with plain rice. The portion size was just right, and it was really tasty.

Then it was back to the hotel one last time to change for the evening, I got my steps in that day for sure. I was really chuffed with the dress I had chosen, and looking forward to wearing it all week. 

I needed to be at the Bridge for a newbie event at 7:30pm sharp , this was because two of the Chams massive were attending for their 1st time !!! -  Andie and Sasha. 

They were driving from the coast, so timings were not able to be exact, and I wasn't in there long before I got a message they were nearly there. I walked up to the car park to meet them and guide them back to the Bridge. 

They both looked fantastic, but there was certainly a bit of 1st time nerves, and one of them was driving so couldn't take the edge off with a refreshing beverage. I introduced them to Grai the lead coordinator, and Alice, Ann and Jessica. 

We moved on to the Viaduct next. It was a bit pants in there really, the cabaret wasn't the best I've seen, and they are terrible at telling you it's about to start when it's actually going to be 20 minutes later. I also struggled to find people I knew that were not already deep in conversation to introduce them to. They survived the trip to the loo's at least. 

We moved to 'The End' bar next which is very nice, it was quiet so we were able to get some tables which worked out well. Had a good chat in there, and met up with a few more of the girls.

Then we headed to the Smokestack, which tends to be the actual end venue for the evening for a lot of us. I did some dancing in there, Sasha did too, and seemed to really enjoy it.

It was getting quite late, and given they had to drive, Sasha and Andie headed off sometime after midnight. Alice and myself left a little after this - I wanted an early night so I could be sure would enjoy the ball the next day, and Alice was fairly gone by this point too. I didn't fancy a long dark walk on my own !

It was a very good evening - I only tripped over the dress a few times, have to remember to lift it while doing stairs ! Thankfully I don't think I damaged it.

Saturday - Mooching around

I was feeling a bit more refreshed than Alice that morning, we messaged and agreed to meet up for breakfast a bit later on.  

I decided I would go without the wig during the day, but needed some hair spray to tame my hair a little  So I nipped to the little Sainsburys and got a cheap bottle of hair spray. Then I had a bit of a stroll down the canal to kill some time. It didn't look too bad without the spray, but I wanted it for walking around the city centre mainly.

Met up with Alice and we walked to the Cha Lounge which is over the river from the freedom quarter. My eggs were cold again, they don't seem to be able to time things properly, which is a shame as everything else was really nice.

Ann met us in there to say goodbye and deposit some beer for my birthday which was most kind of her.  After this I walked back to the hotel to put that in my room, and Alice went to get her eyebrows done in Primark. 

We met back up at Flamingo's for a coffee a bit later on, then to the Foleys for a few drinks - met up with Gemma and another trans woman who I've totally forgotten the name of !  I didn't want to get tipsy, so I was on soft drinks. 

Gemma had to go get ready for her night out about 3pm, so Alice and I went shopping for a dress for a wedding she had coming up. She got a fab (but expensive!!) dress in Hobbs.  Then we popped in to Tapped again for one last drink before heading back to the hotel to change for the ball.

I think it was about 6:20pm I decided to double check the time the ball started, and it was 30 mins before we had thought it was !!!  So we
walked back to the room at speed !

Due to this we had to cut some corners unfortunately, I managed to put my eyeliner wings on , and refreshed my foundation, but didn't do any eye shadow. I also put my low heels on, to improve walking speed.

Alice had forgone wings and her fake lashes. I still had time to take a photo though of course.

Out Together LGBT Ball

We arrived about 15 mins late, at 7:45 , but we were not the last, and there was plenty of champagne still there 😄 It was really nice tasting, I wish I had got another glass.

It seemed like there were not many other trans people there, so seemed like we might be representing ! -  I joked we should be well behaved.

We made sure to get some pictures, but some turned out a bit blurry. Probably for the best 😂

There was a seating chart we had to use to locate our table - we had made sure to ask to be sat on the same one when booking our tickets. Ours was table 8 .  

We made our way into the ball room and found our table.  We were soon joined by other people. 

They were all from the same legal firm, and as it turned out one of the main sponsors for the event !!

I was feeling even more like we should behave ourselves at this point, but I needn't have worried, they were really nice, and  soon Alice was talking easily to half the table. I only had one lady next to me and then a gap, but managed to chat quite comfortably with her. 

The first entertainment was an Abba tribute, with two singers which was really good.

Then there was a Mermaids dance performance thing which seemed to go on for a while too long. 

Next a heads or tails game which cost us £5 to play, where we had to guess heads or tails then sit down if we guessed right. The last people standing played for a prize.

The food came out after this, it was butternut squash soup, followed by chicken in a sauce with veg, then sticky toffee pudding to finish. We had some singers to entertain us while we ate - they were really good.

I think we managed to use to correct cutlery and glasses, there was some debate if we should be eating the bread roll to the left or the right of our plates, we chose left.

After food there were some speeches about the charity and the importance of the funding they got from this. I think partly to tee us up for the charity auction later. But they explained the work they did and such. We bought some raffle tickets too.

I think there may have been another set from the singers, then they did the auction. I bid on some back stage passes for Leeds Pride but it got a bit too steep and I gave up. There wasn't much else I was interested in. 

It was Christine Talbot a newsreader from ITV who was co-hosting with a guy who I had not heard of. They were quite a good duo, and funny.  I think it was the raffle next, I didn't win anything.

They had a posh haircut prize, it obviously ended up being won by a bald guy ! Table 13 seem to have spend all their wages on tickets and won 5 or 6 prices at least.

After this there were a couple of acts who were singing for us to dance to. I ended up on the dance floor for 3 or 4 songs I think. Even Alice was not allowed to sit, and got on there for a few.

By about 12:30am we were both feeling tired, and decided to call it a night. I think last orders was 1am anyway, so it wasn't going on that much longer. We got some hugs from the ladies on our table, and headed off back to the hotel, posing for some photo's outside of course.

It was a really lovely night, and would certainly do it again next year !  Very glad I went, and Alice was great company too.

Sunday

We met up for breakfast in the Premier Inn, then both headed home pretty soon afterwards. I was en femme of course, and spent the rest of the day so when I got home.

I did a bit of work in the garden, and on the car too - sans wig 😄

It was a really great weekend !

Yes I did buy a pink boiler suit specifically for en femme tinkering 😂

A Second Chance for a Last Dance

This was an event organised by the 'Friends Of Marian' which is a play on the 'Friends of Dorothy' but with the Marian robin hood character instead. 

It's aim is to allow queer people who who for a variety of reasons were not able to go to a 'prom' in their youth. We didn't really have proms anyway at our school, so I guess prom just means 'being glamorous'.

For example if you grew up under section 28 , or you just didn't come out until later life.

It's the first year they have done this, and it sold out. Seemed likely it will be happening again next year. It was held at 'The New Forester's' in Nottingham, which is the main LGBTQ+ pub in city. 

One of my Insta friends who I spent an afternoon with at Manchester pride a few months ago had let me know about it (Romile), and I had initially decided to go just to meet up with them really. There was another insta friend who lived in Nottingham who also decided to go too. I had also mentioned it to my friend Danielle, and she also turned up.

I drove down, and charged at Tibshelf on the way - I had got a new phone and I had a sudden panic I wouldn't be able to use the chargers in Nottingham if I couldn't get the app to work. 

I was nearly there and then discovered that the locals were having a Goose Fair, which made a total mess of traffic, and I spent 30 mins attempting a diversion I could see might work on my sat nav.

I was a bit flustered when I eventually arrived and parked. I walked briskly to the pub, which was a lot harder with the restrictions of the dress. 

When I arrived it just seemed like a normal night, but I was in a much fancier dress than everyone else, but it turned out the event was in some marquee's out the back of the pub, so I needed to go out the back door and down some steps. 

Was very happy to see lots of dresses, mostly more extravagant than mine, but mine was still on theme. 

I was glad I had taken my cheap gold jacket to give me some additional insulation, as it wasn't that warm. The dress itself was also really quite thick, a very odd stretchy material. It was one that I bought with LFF in mind.

I met up with one of my friends, and we got chatting with someone who had come all the way from the south coast. This was one of their first socials, they were very friendly and chatty. Danielle and Romile turned up a bit later, and we had a catch up. Romile had also seemed to have a friend with her, an older lady who was also on her first social outing.

Then we got ushered into the big marquee for some entertainment, a drag show and some burlesque. It was probably really good, but I am a bit of a dwarf, the stage wasn't very high, and I was at the back so I didn't see much. 

The 2nd half of the entertainment was similar - there was a raffle drawn at the end, with an amusing double act running it.  I didn't win anything. But it did seem like a lot of the winners were known to the organisers - I don't mean that it was rigged, more that it was evident that it was a community of people who knew each other. 

I am somewhat of an outsider to the LGBTQ+ community in Nottingham really, only ever really mingling with the T-Folk, so it was good to witness this, and feel a part of it. I do have a little bit of this with Wakefield, having done pride, and with their group being in the local LGBTQ+ bar.

We ended the night chatting in one of the marquee's - the music had to stop at 11pm due to noise restrictions, and we had all had enough. Did some hugging and said our goodbyes outside the pub towards 11:30.  I set off home, avoiding the Goose fair this time, and got home for about 1am.

I hadn't eaten much before I left, so I had cheese on toast before bed while feeling very overdressed for food preparation :)

All in all a nice night, and I didn't drink so no hangover to contend with ! Would definitely consider going back again,