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 !  

 

 

 

 

 

A foresaken beauty

 

13th of June ,  East Yorkshire Thoroughbred Car Club

I was off to Hull that weekend, and it turned out there was a free to attend classic car meet at northern car park of the Humber bridge.

Did need to register prior to turning up, which was a bit of a pain as it didn't like my primary email, so had to do it twice. I invited my friend Alice to come along too, as she is not that far away, and does invite me to some herself.

It was quite a hot day, so driving from mine to Hull wasn't that pleasant, but i made good time.  I went to Charlotte's to pick her up, and also wait for her friend Danni who is also a classic car enthusiast - she has a pride flag on her car roof !! 

We got to the car park fine, and Alice soon joined us, along with another lady who I have totally forgotten their name.

I was a really nice show, there were loads of cars, some nice food vans, and of course an ice-cream van.  We had some food there, and looked at plent
y of cars.  It seemed like every Vauxhall Nova still in existence was there, several of us commented that we hadn't see so many since the 90's.   

There were some friendly members of the GCCG  (Gay Classic Car Group)  that came and talked to us a bit - it's open to LGBTQ+ members, i had seen their stand at the NEC last year. 

It didn't go on too long, and it was starting to look a bit sparse by 8pm, and we said our goodbyes.  

 

14th of June, Spurn Point 

Myself and Charlotte had been talking about doing Spurn for a while, it is somewhere we both like exploring. I had tried to take my wife and kids a few years ago, but they were put off by the sand blowing across the exposed section of spit, and had turned around before anywhere near the main part of the point. I continued and had a lovely afternoon while they were bored at the visitor center ....

We drove there fairly early, and was parked up by about 10:45am.  I had applied loads of sun cream - but it seems not everywhere ! 

 I had only gone in a light dress, as it was expected to be hot that day, but some cloud cover and wind made it a bit cool for the first half an
hour or so. It did eventually become quite warm later on.   We walked down the seaward side of the beach, to start with. The aim was to get to the lighthouse - which serves cold drinks and ice cream and has benches - where we would eat our packed lunches.

The sand on the beach was a bit hard going so it took a bit longer than i had anticipated, but we still managed to get to the lighthouse just after midday. 

We got some drinks from the friendly lighthouse attendant, and sat on the bench outside. We were very careful not to touch any furry caterpillars, as they can cause skin irritation and breathing difficulties !

After sandwiches, and crisps and such we headed back into the lighthouse to pay to ascend it.  It's 128 ft high with 3 floors and the light area at the top.  There were some displays and things of interest to look at on the way to the top, but being able to get into the top of it is the primary attraction.  You get a fab view, almost 360, there is a small bit that is blanked off.

The steps to the top are very steep and they recommend you treat it like a ladder on the way down. 

We stayed up there quite a while - there were not that many people on the point it seems that day.  We did meet one chap who was ascending but there was room to pass on one of the walkways. 

After this, we headed towards the end of the point, using the path down the middle as it was easier going.  We did some investigation of things along the way, eventually getting to the abandoned RNLI accommodation and cafe area. We discovered that the loo's still existed and were operational - although one was a bit wet under foot.  Met a nice lady in there who was very friendly to both of us.

We decided to try and get right to the end, so after a dead end due to a dangerous path that had been closed, we did make our way further on. We passed by the ruined gun emplacements, but didn't try and get in any. It seemed more closed off that my previous visit, lots of boards up.

I was using my 360 video camera for this bit so didn't get any photo's but we did get there. 

We walked onto the beach, and then took a right to head down the inland side, but only for a bit as that side of the point is not so good for walking down.  We eventually ended back at the RLNI station and used the main path to go back.  

We did meet a lady who from a distance inquired something along the lines 'how far to the end ladies'  , but then who seemed to be confused by us as she got closer. It was a bit odd, but not upsetting. 

Popped back into the lighthouse for more water, as we had drunk
our supplies and we were both quite hot by then !

I was quite tired, and the trek back for me seemed a lot more arduous than my leggy companion. But we still had enough energy to try and walk on all the bits of the road that had been washed away on the exposed part of the spit. 

Was very glad to get into an air conditioned car for the drive back to Hull !!

 

14th of June, Beat the Clock Disco - Hull

Yes after a day of walking, we were off dancing !! 

We had a pizza, some wine, a shower and got changed, then got a taxi to Princes Avenue, arriving at HOi for about 20:45 

The disco was upstairs, but it doesn't really get going till later, so we had some drinks in the bar downstairs first.  I had a baby Guinness, some actual Guinness and then discovered they did my favorite flat cider brand 'Seacider' - i think it was Bakewell Tart flavor - it's gorgeous.

We headed upstairs about 10pm, and I got some seats.  Gemma, Emily and possibly Danni were expected to come along later, but they were attending a comedy show 1st so we were not sure when they were due.  

We did a fair bit of dancing, even with tired legs - it was pretty good music. They do 60's 70's and 80's but try and steer clear of all the 'best of' type hits that get overplayed. It's all on original vinyl too.

The others did eventually turn up, but were not there that long.  We we thinking about heading off just after midnight, so i booked an uber for us, and we waited downstairs in the bar for it to arrive.

It was a fab night, i really like that event and venue, and excellent company too of course  🤣

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sad state of affairs

 

Well I didn't see any of the last few weeks events coming, so it's been a bit of kick in the guts. 

I am alternating between feeling numb, angry and scared really.  I am trying to avoid the news, it just gets worse every time I see something new.

I am aware that no laws have changed about which loo's I can use, but the media has been effective at spreading the lies, and I am in no doubt that a good percentage of the populous now believe it to be true.

I must be feeling a bit like disabled people do when they need to go out somewhere, got to know where all the accessible toilets are going to be in advance. Emailing places to check on access etc.  Certainly feel more trapped and restricted.

I can't say I will never use the gents, but it would need to be the absolute last resort.  I don't really want to risk being confronted in the ladies either. So if there are no gender neutral facilities, it will have to be the disabled.

Radar keys can be acquired from a neurodiversity shop in Hull apparently. I have had friends get them off Amazon only to find they didn't work. But a friend has vouched for these ones. 

Transition Status 

No immediate change to my plan at the moment, but if things are going to get significantly worse then the pipe dream of emigrating may require some genuine thought, and reservation of funds.

I am going to progress with the laser hair removal down there, I hadn't planned on contacting the surgeon till much later in the year anyway. 

I've had my medical interview with Pride In Health this week - it went well, and she seemed pleased with my progress.

It was an hour long call, but for some reason the calendar had messed up at her end and she was 10 minutes late.  We spent about 45 minutes in the end, which was good as I had a work call 5 minutes after it ended.

We covered my dosage history, what effects physically and emotionally I had experienced, and  what effects I was still hoping to see. She was happy with my last blood test results, but needs to see a full health check with Liver Function Tests to see how my liver is coping with the blockers before she will prescribe.

I have 6 months of everything left at the moment, so it seems no rush at the moment.

Not had my letter from her yet with a summary of everything we spoke about, but should get it by the end of the week.

 

Social Activities : 

I did go out at the weekend, and I did still have a good time, but the issues were at the back of my mind, and I should have been more happy than I was. It did help to be out though.

 

Riding Lesson

My friend Charlotte had suggest that I might like to try riding a horse ! she was planning to go on the Friday afternoon, and had offered to pay for me to try it too. 

I do like to try new things, so was quite excited.  I had taken Josephine over too, partly as a bit of a shakedown drive before my wales trip in early May, and also to make sure she and Charlotte got on , as she is joining me on that trip and has never been in her.  There is very little passenger seat adjustment, and she is quite tall.

So I drove her to a pub for some food to achieve that aim. We ordered a fish goujon sandwich, which sounded light, but was basically a massive piece of fish in bread. I didn't finish it all !   - as it was before some of the more recent press garbage I still felt OK to risk the loos, nobody said anything.

After returning to hers, and swapping to her vehicle we headed to the yard in Beverly.

I got equipped with a helmet, and asked to fill in a disclaimer form, with emergency contact details etc !   I have a small head apparently, and there was disbelief I was in my 40's - she thought I was a lot younger.

I had to wait for my steed 'Gordon' to return to the yard, he had been out in public with a young lady on a bit of a ride and hadn't returned yet.  They wanted to give me one that was size appropriate, and also very well behaved given I had not ridden before.

Gordon seemed nice, the young instructor led him into the riding area, and I had to walk up some box steps so I could mount him.  

She taught me how to do the basics, start  , stop left and right turns.  I got to do some maneuvering, they have letters on the fences around the area, so she would tell me to A for example, then to B.  

We did try some faster riding, where I had to try and stand on the stirrups - that wasn't so much fun for me, I think I should have untucked !  

Anyway I was told I did really well, and that she didn't really need to be helping me - at least with just going around at walking pace.

I would like to try again some time, but I would prefer to go with my friend, and it's in Hull so may not be something I do often.

 

Beat the Clock - Vinyl disco

Sally, Rebeka and a few of Charlotte's friends were meant to be coming, but her friends sadly pulled out, so it was just the four of us.

Sally, Charlotte and myself went to a Pizza restaurant first, then met Rebeka in a bar afterwards. 

The disco was in a room above it later on in the evening, it's a semi regular retro vinyl disco, playing obscure music from the 60's 70's and 80's  -  it was nice, but I had hoped for a few more popular ones. 

There were no loo issues, the cubicles were all self contained with sinks and dryer off a central corridor and were not gendered.  

We did some dancing, and drank some refreshing beverages - I had a lot less than the others though, as was being good.

I think we left after midnight some time. 

Hornsea

I had decided to stay an extra day since the weather was nice, and I had Josephine on hand, I suggested we go to the seaside to get some nice air.

Had a nice pootle out there, and a bit of a wander around town for a bit.  I bought a warmer coat from a charity shop as it was quite bracing near the beach.  We had a light bite at a little cafe near the Boat Launch , then proceeded south down the beach to look for fossils and such.

I should really have taken a hammer from the car, but forgot they had them down there. It was a pleasant walk, there was a paraglider taking advantage of the sea breeze to fly up and down over the edge of the cliff.

On our return we headed back into the centre and grabbed a drink at a cool gaming cafe, then we went to a deli and grabbed some traditional saveloys which we planned to have with pasta for tea.

Then we headed back.  The saveloys were really nice, we had with spaghetti and a spicy tomato sauce.

Headed home the next day, Josephine seemed happy, which was nice :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deploy the emergency penguins

Trans Updates

I have a call booked with Pride In Health for next week, i think they are still lacking a doctor, but I will get a formal diagnosis I believe. With this I should be able to go to a 3rd party endocrinologist that i know of, so hopefully can bin off GenderGP and get some
proper care. 

I have started on blockers, I have had them for ages, but had not bothered. Only had two doses so too early to tell. My plan is to do another blood test in April, see how I am doing.

 

IT Changes

In light of the issues over the pond, I've been attempting to move as much of my IT from US hosted services to UK/European ones.  

I am Microsoft free for my laptop and PC now,  Linux Mint on the laptop, Manjaro on the PC. 

I found a cloud provider in Norway which I have used to replace OneDrive (https://jottacloud.com/en/ ) this has a CLI based client for Linux which does what I need.

I have a new email and domain hosting provider in the UK ( https://www.fasthosts.co.uk/ )  , but not changed my email address on a lot of things yet.

Coincidentally, Skype - who I have been using ever since they binned MSN Messenger, is due to be closed down in May. So my Uni friends and I have prepared a Discord server to use after it's demise.  

This blog may get moved at some point, I did a backup a while ago, I might do another soon just in case.

I've also binned off my Amazon Music and Audible accounts too. I had binned off Tw@tter a long time ago. 

Still got my Insta, Youtube and Facebook - I would be upset if they went, but they don't cost me anything, so no need to totally throw my toys out of the pram :)

I don't expect they will starve just because I reduced what I spend, but if enough of us do it then it will convey a message.

 

March Social Events:

Leeds First Friday - 7th 

Had a pizza at Rudys with Benni on arrival. We headed to Pints and Straws afterwards, it was a pretty good turnout. Fun times were had :)

Sally turned up towards the end, which was nice.

We ate  at Bundobust before the main event, it is an entirely vegetarian Indian streetfood restaurant with craft beer.  I really liked it, had a fab burger.

In the evening we met up with Gemma, who I don't get to see a lot of these days.  After the usual Bridge End Social visit, we did cocktails at the viaduct, then I think we went to Behind closed doors which is a fun place I think will try and add to the schedule next month.

We did 'The End' then 'Smokestack' after this. I was getting tired and Sally was done for the night too, so I walked her back to the Leanardo, then headed back the Travelodge.

Chameleons - 13th

I had missed the last two Chameleons, partly due to stress at work leading to a lack of
motivation, but I knew I wouldn't be missing this one, as it was an overnight stop on my way down to Milton Keynes the next day.

Ann was there which was nice,  it wasn't the busiest of nights, but not a bad turnout.

There was a talk planned by a guy who runs a dance company, who it seems grew up not far from where i live. 

It was a nice night, I enjoyed the talk and presentation, but he hadn't expected to be talking so long so he ended up rushing off :)

I stayed over at the Premier Inn near the tram station not far from the community center. It was undergoing some building work, but it didn't end up disrupting me too much.

Pink Punters -  14th

I couldn't decide on anywhere fun to go on the way to Milton Keynes, so decided to go
straight there. It was an uneventful drive, I had charged fully at the church next to the community center the night before, so got there fine.  

I pottered around the main shopping center for a bit , couldn't find anywhere I fancied to eat so ended up with a Greggs meal deal.  I was meeting Benni at the train station later in the day, so I could give her a lift to the hotel. I had hoped to go around the art gallery again, I liked that when I did it with Ann one time, but it was not open that day.

After picking up Benni and checking in, we met up with Sally in the bar and had an early meal there - nothing special, just to get us ready for the night!

Then we went to a local real ale pub for an hour which was nice, they had some good beers.   

We went back to the hotel - via an off-license where a local recommended a tonic wine for us to try ! we got a small bottle each, and tried them back in the room. It was drinkable, and fun to video our reactions, but I wouldn't want it again too soon :)

It did help fuel me for some Kareoke in the bar after we changed, I ruined 'Breaking the law' by Judas Priest. 

We went over to the night club later on, and mostly stayed in the cocktail bar. I didn't drink that much really. I went to bed a bit earlier than the others, had some tea and water and watched a bit of TV before going to sleep.

We all met up for breakfast in the morning, it was pretty good, but wasn't feeling 100% so ended up laying down for a bit afterwards.

I drove Benni to the station before heading home.  Was having difficulty finding a free
charger again, but I noticed one not at a services I had never seen before on my google maps, so headed there.  

Turns out I had a quite a big charging complex all to myself !  

 

Hull - 21st 

A visit to Hull to explore some more real ale pubs with Charlotte.  We were also going to try a Brazilian restaurant (meat on a stick type place).

It was a very nice afternoon, we did two new ones (new to me) and then one we had done the previous month. One of them was where the plot that started the civil war took place !

We stopped for a tea at a little gallery on the way to the restaurant, just to sober up a bit :)

The Brazilian restaurant was really nice, but we probably had too many drinks to fully get our moneys worth.  You had a card that you flipped over to stop or start the delivery of meat, and a salad bar. 

 

Swimming

I did attend on the 2nd and 9th , I think I managed 42 on both !

 

Baby Guinness

General Updates

I have recently signed up for a new trans health care provider, 'Pride In health'. It was one a friend had suggested to another friend - they were were not an option when I first looked. They seem to be a lot cheaper, and I am hopeful they will be more interested in my well being.  GenderGP is not proactive at all.

I have ordered a home blood test kit - a fancy one, that sucks from your upper arm ! - I have tried finger pricks before, and didn't get on with those.  This is a stop gap to get me some hormone levels until I speak with a doctor to ask for a free test. It was that stressful dealing with them over the NHS App, I have not wanted to go back until recently.

I tried cutting my fringe yesterday, it had started to annoy me, getting over my eyes. It doesn't look too bad, but it far from perfect. My next appointment is on the 28th of this month, so i may need to do it again before then.

I have been for laser today (04/03/2025)  , it was not fun, hurt quite a bit.  I had sent pictures of a few days growth so she could target the worst areas.  You have to shave before the session, so it's hard for them to tell.

Work is a tad stressful, there is a re-org going on, I am unaffected by it really, but my own department move is still ongoing.  I have a new laptop at least, and I got some praise for saving the company some money by doing some work in house rather than pay our contractor. 

Swimming - I managed 48 lengths on the 2nd !! 

Adventures

Catch up with an ex-colleague - 14th of Feb

I went to Leeds in the morning for brunch with an ex-colleague who I have been friends with for quite a while. We had some breakfast bagels at a place I didn't know existed down a narrow passage near the
cat café. 

It was a pleasant couple of hours.  She did ask if I had done more with the voice training, which I haven't done at all.  She also thought I had lost weight, which I haven't - possibly my face might look thinner with the hormones ? that is about all I can think of. 

Blackpool - 14th / 15th Feb

I drove to Blackpool straight from Leeds, I was staying at my friends new house, and she wasn't meant to be getting away from work until 6pm.  So my plan was to dump the car on her drive, and then go for adventures. 

I had been looking at real ale places near where she lived, and had seen a Micropub I quite fancied.

My friend was very impressed I had dared venture there alone, as it was in the roughest part of town ! and is something she wouldn't have considered.

But anyway, there were no issues.  It was a bit cold inside, not very big.  The barwoman was OK with me, but not overly friendly.  I tried a bitter which it seems was nearly done, so not at it best. 

I sat for a bit and did some social media, but got bored and put my phone away. An older chap who was nearby took this as a sign that I was open to conversation, and we had a bit of a chat.  He was into real ale himself, and had been all over in the past. 

I had a pint and a half more while we talked. Nice fellow, we never exchanged names though :)

My friend messaged to say she had unexpectedly got off early, so I said my goodbyes and walked back to hers. 

I got the guided tour of the house, which was very nice indeed.  It had a lovely garage with a rollup door. Unfortunately my friend is not into cars, so it will never likely receive an oil stain 🥲

We popped to Lidl after a bit, but ended up popping into another pub - once she had been in 20 years
ago, but had never expected to go into again. It was OK, we had a drink, then went
to Lidl to buy breakfast items.  Shopping in Lidl after a few beers is dangerous however, and I bought some cheap metal taps and dies from the isles of temptation :)

After dumping the shopping back at hers we drove into town to find somewhere to eat, ending up at the Abingdon Street Market.  I had a disappointing curry, but it filled a hole.

We had a look at some bars, but they were quite noisy, so ended up going back to hers and watching some telly.  

The next day we did Lytham St Annes in the morning, mainly the charity shops - I didn't get much, but they were nice shops.  I picked up a corgi Morris Minor, series 2 but in Lilac. Not sure that combination ever existed, but it was only £2.

We lounged around the house in the afternoon, then had some of the food we had bought the previous day.  There was a gig at a rock pub nearby  - The Waterloo Music Bar , which started about 9pm, and ended up going to that.

The bands were not that good, but it was a great venue, full of memorabilia - it has one of Lemmy's bass amps !  (behind a cage).   I had a few Guinness's and enjoyed the ambiance. Lots of weird looking people there, so I fitted in :)

We didn't stay too late, and got home at a reasonable hour.

I left pretty early in the morning, I wanted to beat the traffic, so was back by lunchtime.

Hull - 28th Feb

A hull meetup had been organised by Cindy, I know a few people from that area so was keen to go.  I had done it for New Years Eve, but not really been to any other bars in the city centre. 

I arrived at a friends house in the early afternoon, and it was about 3pm before we made it into the city centre.  Ended up at a few real ale pubs, and played some pool.

The others had gone to check into their hotel, and so met up with us a bit later in a tapas bar.  We had some lovely food, then ventured to the gay quarter.

It's not a huge area, only really four bars, two owned by one person, and two by another. But they all seemed to have their own character, so was still nice to move around them.  We did encounter a drunken bloke who took a bit of a shine to Sally, but we did eventually lose him !

Persuaded a few of us to try Baby Guinness's - got a shot of me trying to do the old 'small and far-away' comparison 😁 

We decided to leave this area and go to another gay bar which was about 10 minutes away.  Unfortunately they were charging to enter, and nobody seemed to have an appetite to pay - but I spotted a pub called The King Edward, which I thought sounded like a good idea, as pubs named after potatoes must be good !

Had a couple in there, then decided to call it a night, and got a taxi back to my friends house. It was a fab night, and would definitely go back again - I believe Saturdays are more lively though.