Progesterone blues

 

Medical updates 

I had a few packs of Progesterone left, and figured I should give it another go. Partly because I was having sleep issues, and it did seem to knock me out a bit the last time i used, but also some boob envy of one of my friends !!

 Unfortunately they were of no help with my sleep, i have been told that the blocker i am on acts as a stimulant and could possibly be affecting me.  But I don't want to stop those.

 Anyway, i went back on the P for a while, a few weeks - boob sensation did increase, which was nice, but I had digestive issues.  They seemed to resolve themself when I stopped taking it, so I am pretty confident that it was the cause.  So I have stopped taking again.  Convinced my nipples are a bit bigger in recent months. My boobs certainly seem to be.

I haven't made any more progress with pride in health, they wanted a full blood test, but I haven't made an appointment to see my doctor to ask for those yet. I am in no rush I have supplies to last me till the end of the year currently.

I have also started to split my E dose, doing 2 pumps in the morning, 2 at night - i might revert this see if it helps with sleep.

 

Exercise  

I'm trying to get back into running, i've only been out twice in the last month, but so far seems to be going well. I had stopped as I had a recurring injury with my right foot.  I am trying to keep my distance low, and perhaps try and go out more often. Rather than stress my foot out too much with a long run.

The previously mentioned boob growth has led to issues with running, my sports bra is just not up to the task, and it now hurts.  So I have ordered a 2nd hand posh one off Vinted. If it works much better I will perhaps get a new one.   

Still doing the swimming, I managed 46 lengths last week - they are not letting us in early anymore, so it's a struggle to get to 50 and have enough time to change.

I have been horse riding again, I was on Bob this time - I seem to get a different one each time I go.   I had a proper work out on him, trying to trot, I did seem to make progress towards the end, but I was considering ending it and getting off at one point, it was soooo warm and it was getting tired and worried I might faint !

 

Adventures

21st of June - Blackpool :

Stayed with my fiend Bella, just for Saturday and the evening.  We went to Lytham St Ann's during the day for some charity shopping. It was incredibly hot and humid, and I really didn't feel that great at all.  We only had an hour and half on the parking so I didn't suffer too long.

She has a fab garden room with a projector and sound system and a nice sofa, so in the evening we just chilled and watched a film. Had a lovely pizza from Lidl. It was a relaxing night, neither of us fancied going out to the pub.  

 

26th of June - Hull  

I visited Charlotte in Hull, we watched some Murderbot on Thursday night - I loved the books, and got Apple TV just to watch this.   

Friday morning we did some Charity shops, had a drink in a coffee shop ( I had a very seedy berry thing !! ) then we headed in to the city center for lunch.   It was a bit smokey due to a ship fire in the harbor, but we thought nothing of it.  We went to a museum in the art gallery for lunch, but were evacuated before it arrived.  

I have the receipt, but there was only a number to call, and I just couldn't be bothered to try and get my money back - too stressful.   

In the afternoon we went riding - as per exercise section.  

Saturday we had a pleasant walk around a nature reserve, and popped into a farm shop. She cooked us a lovely fish pie which had with her middlemost, then I drove home in the evening. 

 

 

4th of July - Leeds First Friday

I enjoyed this one a lot more than the previous, I made sure I ate a decent sized lunch at home before heading into Leeds.

I met up with the lovely Ann, and we attempted to buy Pride VANS , but apparently they don't come out till this month - which seems a bit odd.  I ordered some off Vinted instead.  

She hadn't eaten so I took her to a nice place and she had a steak - but she didn't seem to like it that much.  Chips were overdone.

We headed to Friends of Ham which was the first bar on the Pints and Straws Itinerary, and met up with the usual suspects, Benni had brought a CIS male friend along for the experience ! 

The afternoon progressed as normal, beer and chatting, it was a good one.  I was having such a nice time i even managed to leave my mobile at one of the bars !

Got it back ok though :)

I checked into the Hyatt during the last hour at the North Taproom - it's very close.  Very impressed with the hotel, first time i had stayed. 

After the last PNS pub, I headed to Tapped to get a Pizza - I had been invited to go for a Thai but I was being careful with my digestive system.

I had a gluten free ham and mushroom which was lovely - coincidental two other friends had the same idea so I ended up sat with them, and another two people i knew turned up later on too.

Went back to my room to change after this, then headed to the Bridge End Social for the main event.  It was a fairly busy crowd which was nice. Played a game of pool with Ann and caught up with some others - Sally turned up there too which was nice.

After this we went to Northern Guitars for a bit, sat out the back which we took over. Then on-wards to Behind Closed Doors.

I feeling a bit gassy towards the end of the night, and Ann had given my hiccups with some jokes about farting in lifts, so I decided to call it a night after this one.  It was just after midnight before I got back to bed,

Saturday morning 

Didn't sleep too well unfortunately - but this did mean i was up early for breakfast - which was good, really liked the sausage and black pudding, they were not cheap ones.

There was a gothic market on at the markets, but nobody was up as early as me, so I had to wait for them to get a move on.

Met up with Benni and her friend Mike at the Corn Exchange -  we had a bit of a look around there, then headed to the market.  

I managed to get two pairs of my favorite cat/bat earrings that I have previously lost twice ! 

We spend a good hour looking around there I think, then went to Bridge End Social for a drink, as I needed to get back home. 

All in all, a very nice weekend !  

 

 

 

 

 

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 !

 

Two pumps a day

 

Updates:

Gender GP - my appraisal pathway is now complete,  I have been recommended the following treatment:

Estradiol 0.06% gel - Apply 2 pumps a day (1.5mg) - once in the morning - Supply 3 x 80g bottles

I am now awaiting a message from 'Clynxx' who will be handling my prescription and delivering it !

Other health

I seem to have lost hearing in my right ear, this is sub optimal. Colonoscopy for my bowel issues tomorrow evening, so I have to starve for a bit, I've eaten my last food today at 3pm, won't get any more until 7pm tomorrow.  

Adventures:

Peterborough Beer Festival  - Day 1

I went to this on the Thursday and Friday last week with my friends Alice , Gemma, Cindy, Rebekah and Trisha.

Alice had booked a table for lunch at a really nice micro brewery pub , so I had to set off fairly early to get there for midday. I was in the Leaf as didn't want to be worrying about the Morris getting stolen, as there was no secure parking nearby.  

 I charged at Markham Moor Starbucks on the way down, I popped in for a croissant and a drink while it charged - I recall feeling a little more unsafe than normal, as I couldn't hear out of my right ear, which gave me less situational awareness !

When I had parked near the hotel, and plugged my car in for a slow charge, I headed off into the city centre in search of the others.  I met up with Alice, Cindy and Rebekah in the central square, we did a bit of shopping then headed to 'The Brewery Tap' for lunch.  

This turned out to be a Thai place, which I was not expecting, but was a pleasant surprise. I had squid to start, followed by neck of Pork with some boiled rice.  It was really nice, good beer too, I tried JHB.

After this we headed back to the Premier Inn for a mandatory outfit change, then onwards to the Beer festival venue just over the road.  I stayed with my real hair as was worried I would be too hot, and put on a long dress with a nice slit up the side.

It was a very very long bar with hundreds of beers in a big long marquee. I can't remember how many I tried that evening, but I was taking it steady as didn't want to be ill for the next day. I was drinking
halves and having plenty of water in between too.

I had a German cheese filled sausage from a food van outside to help soak up some of the alcohol, and a beef and stilton pasty towards the end of the night.

It was a really good night , we had some nice comments from some people. No bad interactions at all really. Felt very safe and welcome. 

It closed at 11pm and we were herded out of the tent, and headed straight back to the hotel. 

Peterborough Beer Festival  - Day 2

We met up at 9 and had the usual cooked breakfast, then I headed out with Alice, Rebekah and Cindy to explore Peterborough.  We did the Cathedral first which was very impressive, but had the back half closed off for a Star Wars exhibit that we were not really fussed about. 

Then spent some time wandering around the outside of it in a warren of old streets. After this we headed to the museum , which was really good. We had a drink in the café there, and wandered around for a bit. 

They had a Victorian operating theatre on the top floor which was very interesting.

We then went back to the hotel for our afternoon outfit change 🤣  - but before heading to the beer festival venue we went to Charters, which is a restaurant/bar on a bit barge moored on the canal. 

Here we met up with Gemma - who was in fab drab mode, and we had a beer and some chips to keep us going.  They were serving a beer called 'Slack Alice' which we all found amusing.

Then we headed back to the beer festival, and stayed there for an hour or so, it was pretty quiet. Then back to the hotel once more for our evening outfits. I had been drinking coke as I was nodding off in the afternoon sun :).  Gemma was glamming up so wasn't with us until a bit later.

I put on my silver wig, and a shinny dress and touched up my makeup a little bit, and we all met in reception just before 4pm.

We had some beer, and chatted to a few nice people. We did a walking video from one end of the tent to the other - which turned out really well. 

It was getting a lot busier , due to people going there straight from work, and it soon got quite hard to move. 

There was a guy ( not pictured) who did a really bad job of sneaking a photo of us, he was sending it to someone and I managed to peer over his shoulder and start to read the message, but Cindy interrupted him and I only got to see a few words.  He was describing us as hot i think, but he acted very embarrassed when confronted, not sure if it was going to be a 'lol' at the end or not.  He moved away pretty quickly.

We did get some nice comments again, the general theme for them was always along the lines of "well done for doing what you are doing, and looking fabulous". We had at least one guy come up who was a closeted dresser and wanted to
introduce themselves - which is quite brave  !

Towards the end of the night, my feet were killing due to standing up for so long - even in my comfy sandals. We did manage to find a table outside for a bit. But it was getting quite cold out there, and started to rain a bit, so we went back in side.  

We watched the band for a bit in the entertainment tent, they were really good.  We had decided to leave a little early, to avoid the rush, and go back to Charters which stayed open much later.

We had a really good time in there, there was a DJ playing vinyl singles, he didn't seem that good to start with, but his choices got steadily better, and was really loving his set.

Had some nice interactions with a few people, some girls told me about a really good charity shop which I noted down for the morning. The beer was good, and I think I actually drank more in the last few hours in there than I had the whole afternoon :)

I can't remember what time we got in, but I made sure to drink loads of water. 

Peterborough Day 3 

This was a heading home day, I had breakfast with all those still able - Alice was dying :)  

Then I did some packing while Cindy was looking at Gemma's VR headset. 

After this me Cindy and Rebekah headed into the centre to do some charity shops. I got 7 dresses, but unfortunately three don't fit me. Might take them to chams perhaps.

I also bagged a hand crank Bakelite insulation resistance tester !  which was nice. 

We had to check out by midday, so we headed back and I packed the car and departed.  Stopped off at Markham Moor on the way back to charge, they have some fab Shell ones there, 4 chargers. 

I had said I might pop into Lincoln to go to the Steampunk fair, but I was too tired and it had rained while I was charging, so thought I best just go home.  

Spent the afternoon fixing the Morris. 

It was a fab few days, and really enjoyed it, I have booked a hotel for the Sheffield beer festival in October :) 

Making progress

 

Life Updates :

So a quick summary of key events in the weeks since Leeds pride :

GenderGP: 

I have started my monthly £30 subscription, this means they will send my application off for final review, and I should hear back from them in a few weeks. I should get my prescription at this time, and be able to start on the microdose Estrogen. 

A link in case of interest to anyone :

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

A small but significant step.

Hair:

I think I forgot to mention in my last post,  but I dyed my hair, this was at the end of July just before LFF. I used Clairol Nice'n Easy colour 6G (Light golden brown). The colour is still good, I can start to see some grey on my roots now. 

Pic to the right is at Wakefield at the start of the month:

I ordered some cheap straighteners, and attempted to sort the curls at the back, but it's still quite short back there and wasn't too successful.  I did have a go on the rest of it, and it looked pretty good on that though. I used heat protection spray with them too of course.

I also tried some 'shine' product Bed Head by TIGI , which seemed to make it look nicer.

I've not been wearing my daytime wigs since really, swapping to the silver one with blue tint for my night time look.

Health:

I have been suffering with digestive issues, got booked in for a colonoscopy next week ! - such fun. My feet are still healing from Leeds pride, as long as I don't wear those same shoes I should be fine. 

The patch of skin I lost when removing the boob tape is better now, but still a red area. 

Events attended :

Wakefield Pride 

The weather was a bit poor, but I had a fab day out with my friends from Trans Wakefield at the pride. There were not nearly as many people lining the streets as my first Wakefield pride last year.  I was at least marching in the parade with people I knew this time, rather than tagging on the end.

There were plenty of people in the parade though, and the main event area was rammed with colourfully dressed people. There was some nice food on, I was quite hungry and had a venison burger, and a falafel wrap !

I hung around the main event for a while, and had half a flat cider which was very nice. 

Then a few of us went to the 'Our House' LGBTQ+ café for a beverage and a cake in the early afternoon. I departed after this, I wasn't drinking due to the tummy issues, and also I had to drive my wife somewhere in the morning.

Lincoln Pride 

I couldn't go down on Friday night as my wife needed picking up just after 5pm, and didn't see the point in going if I couldn't have the whole day there. So I went down Saturday morning instead. 

I took the Morris Minor, just to make life more interesting :)  

I was sharing a room with Lexi to keep costs down, Gemma and Cindy , and Jennifer and Justine were also coming. 

I wore a shortish summer dress, my trainers with the Trans coloured laces (got the laces free at Leeds pride), and my grey bag - there was an A4 size limit at the main venue.

I met up with Lexi, Gemma and Cindy around 10:30am by the arch thingy which i always forget the name of.  It didn't seem that well organised, they had to disperse the people waiting to form up to move one of the floats through.  Gemma was adorned with sequins and LED's so had been given a place on

the floats, but chose the back one as the front was rammed.

We set off at 11:30am, and did a short walk - interrupted by the railway crossing.  There were lots of people cheering us on, but possibly because it wasn't that local I didn't seem to feel as much for it all as the Leeds and Wakefield ones. It was still nice to be a part of it though.

I saw Jennifer and Justine in the crowd as we were past the crossing, and diverted out to grab them, and they joined us for the remainder of it.  

We ended up at the main event  just before 12pm , and had to queue for a while as they were searching everyone's bags. 

We did the stalls, got some drinks, and watched the performers on the stage for a few hours. Some of them were pretty good - mainly dancers and drag performers. They had the Viaduct show girls on for a couple numbers - but we didn't find them as impressive really. 

We left just before 3pm so we could check into our hotel room, Cindy came with us too.  Then had a quick pint, and then headed off to a quirky little pub called 'The tiny tavern' where we had another one. 

Then myself Cindy and Lexi did pizza at Zizzi's , before going back to our room to change for the evening. 

We met up with Gemma, who had glammed back up, and had a few in the Carousel, then we headed to
Popworld where we stayed until just before midnight I think. 

Jennifer and Justine met us in Popworld, and stayed for an hour or so, but they had tickets for the
official afterparty at 'The Scene' so left us to head there.

They had some very good music in there, and with the light up dancefloor and a few entertaining locals it was a very good atmosphere.

I did get described as 'a man' by one of the girls waiting for a cubicle in the loos, which stung a little. Never really had much of that, didn't really expect it - it wasn't an LGBTQ+ venue though. I guess it's much more likely to happen. 

But overall it was a really fantastic day, and evening, and great to catch up with the girls.

Lincolnshire Steam and Vintage Rally

My friend Alice was displaying her tractors at a rally just up the road on the same weekend - which was why she wasn't with us. So myself and Lexi had said we would pop over and visit on the Sunday.

The drive there was fairly uneventful, but the gearbox seemed more crunchy. We got to the show and wandered around and had a bacon sarnie and looked a few things while we waited for Alice to join us. 

We met her by her tractors, and I got a photo on one :)  , then an ice-cream - perhaps my first En femme public ice-cream #milestone  

Then we did the inside bit with the modelling section, some nice Mechano in there. 

Alice fancied a beer, and I had a 0% beer one from the tent and we sat on a table for a bit. It was sunny but not too warm as there was a bit of a breeze

There were quite a few Morris Minors for me to look at, but they were all mostly newer than mine and not of much interest to me. We watched them parade the miniature steam engines. 

It was getting towards 1pm and both myself and Lexi wanted to head home, so we wandered towards
the exit looking at a few things on the way. 

I said my goodbyes and prepared to get on my way.

Then my troubles started - she didn't start that well, and there was a metallic noise while running that shouldn't have been there. So I just moved her to a different car parking row and put the bonnet up to check.  Lexi drove past and asked if I was OK, and I foolishly said I was.

Turns out I wasn't - I thought it was coming from the starter motor, so I turned her off, whacked it a few times with a big wrench as I though it was stuck on. But when I came to restart it just span and didn't engage at all. So I ended up crawling under the car in my dress to take the starter off.

A chap offered assistance, but I thought I had solved it - but then realised I hadn't.

Messaged Alice to see if she could come and assist, and decided it was best to leave it off , get her running and pray it didn't stall on the way home.  We did try the starting handle, but it wasn't easy. We also tried a push start, with me jumping in at the last minute, but it was a rutted gravel track, and didn't work. Some chap took pity on us and offered a tow start, which did work thankfully.

I got most of the way home, then it died at a junction 1.8 miles away. Luckily there was a Irish , possibly traveller couple in a motorhome in a layby just by it. 

They were a bit scary, but helpful and gave me a push start -  it was on tarmac and with two of them it worked much better.

I got home rather flustered , but I got home :)

 

Cat Food

A short interlude from the adventure posts to talk about life progress - ok and show some outfit snaps 

Being 'Out'

Well I finally walked the very short distance to my local Asda dressed. It all was fine as I expected it would be - but it's something I have been hesitant to do until now.  

I'm a bit tired and I have much less f**ks than usual due to excessive weekend fun in Leeds. 

We were out of cat food, and he really doesn't care what I am dressed like, I had just got back home and I knew he wasn't going to leave me alone, and I intend to stay dressed for the rest of the day. 

The photo is from the hotel this morning, for Asda I had my black sandals, denim jacket and a new grey handbag I got from TK-Max yesterday. 

I am not really out to the neighbours as such, I don't avoid them, and they will have seen me in the car, but it just feels more scary being out to the neighbourhood. Distant towns and cities, it's not on my doorstep, so seems less 'real' - I have nothing to fear. I don't think I saw any of my neighbours there there though.

Anyway, feels like another small step forward.

Hormones - Micro-dose 

Finally got around to sending my wife the link to the Micro-dosing info sheet from Gender GP.  She is concerned about side effects. I will see if I can find anything more on that.  But seemed a fairly positive response. 

I hope to get the ball rolling with these this month.

Temptation to come out at work

We have a big company wide meetup next month at a theme park - we will be in a conference room for
most of the day. There are 300+ of us now, I don't interact with much more than 10% if that though in the normal course of my duties.

Anyway, I have been pondering going as me, they issue a dress code that says within reason wear what you want to be comfy. My pleated long dress is calling me....

They have to be wondering about my hair, if I were staying the night I could have done to the evening do En-femme, but neither of my two female colleagues who I normally go with are staying.

I will likely chicken out - it's probably not the professional thing to do, should tell my boss first.