Rolling to a halt

 

Things that have occurred since the 4th of July 

9th of July, my eldest got the bus to college for an induction day, I parked up nearby to make sure it turned up and he didn't require a lift - all was well thankfully 😌

11th of July - East Yorkshire Thoroughbred  Car Club show at the Humber Bridge. I was staying at Charlotte's for the weekend and took Josephine to show.  My brother and my friend Alice were attending too - 1st time had shown at an event with my brother present, and first time he would meet any of my friends.

Aside from some horrific detour due to the M62 being closed by an accident, it was a pleasant if slightly shorter evening.  My brother seemed at ease with my friends - it was nice for him to see I was not the only T in the village 😀

The next day I took Charlotte out to a country house in Josephine,  but we ran into problems half way, the clutch actuating rod snapped in half, leaving me unable to select any gear while moving - which is sub optimal.  

We were on a fast A-road coming off a roundabout, and going slightly downhill when it happened, so luckily I managed to roll her into a large concreted field entrance. 

I have breakdown thankfully, and after 40 mins to so a man with a recovery truck arrived to take us back to Charlotte's. He was OK didn't really speak to us after picking us up.

After arriving back, we had lunch - as had intended to eat at the cafe at the country house. Then we spent the afternoon bodging - we headed to B&Q to purchase some bolts and a bit of metal I could use to join the remainder of the rod and a new bolt.  The fix worked well and did get me home fine the next day.

In the evening  we went around some bars on Newland Avenue in Hull - by coincidence a friend that is usually otherwise engaged was free, and another was going to visit her. Plus some of Charlotte's trans-hull friends were around, so there ended up being quite a big group of us.  The last bar shut at midnight, but I was a bit merry and gave Charlotte little choice in going to the gay quarter in town for a few more G+T's. 

I was not so well in the morning 😢  - but did get home OK.

 

18th of July  - Due to inset days, and my eldest being finished with school now his exams are over, i found myself with a day off and both kids at my disposal.

So decided to be good, and make the most of it.  I took them both to see my parents in the morning - they don't get to seem them that often.  Then afterwards to McDonalds for lunch to treat them a bit.  Then popped into Sainsburies on the way home for something for me - I am giving gluten free a go, as it does seem to help with my digestive issues.

In the afternoon we took their drones to the playing field and had a go with them - they had not used them in ages. It was a fun half an hour or so, we tried shooting some video from them which worked quite well.

19th of July - Day before Leeds Pride, I had suggested to my friend Benni that we get a room the night before pride, as well as for the evening, as we were meant to be going to see one of the LFF admins speak on stage at the pre-form up event. 

I got into Leeds by 3pm , she wasn't arriving till 5ish and there was no point going earlier as the check-in was 3.   We met up at 5ish, and went for Pizza at Tapped, I had a nice GF ham and mushroom. 

We did a few bars afterwards, then headed to an LFF organised cocktail event hosted by Lucy.  We had a really nice time , and some nice cocktails. There were 6 of us, as at least 4 didn't turn up - which was a shame.  

After this we decided to try the roof top bar of the hotel we were staying at  - The Hyatt. It was nothing special, so we got some photo's of the view (mainly ourselves in front of the view)  then had a fairly early night.

 

20th of July - Leeds Pride 

We had breakfast at the hotel, which wasn't as nice as the last time I stayed there. Got ready and walked the fairly long way to the pre-parade event near the city museum. We stopped on the way to buy poncho's as it was already raining, and looking like it was going to get worse.  

We got our water confiscated on entry which was annoying, and then found out that Kandice who we were going to watch speak had been moved earlier in the set list, and we had thus missed her.  But we did manage to meet up with everyone else who was parading and get our lanyards.

After a while we walked as a group to where we were meant to be in the parade - quite a few groups had already formed up, so it was a bit of a squeeze to get us all  in.  I had been promoted to a banner carrier due to a no-show. 

It took a while for us to move off, I had put my poncho on, as I wouldn't be able to to with one hand on the banner once we set off.   Unfortunately we barely made any progress before a group (unseen to me) had blocked the parade as part of a protest about some of the corporate sponsors.  It took a while for the police to move them - I didn't see more than 15 or so when we did have to walk past them kettled up against some shops by as many officers.

The rest of the parade was as normal, just a bit damper on occasion - spectator turnout was still very impressive, and lots of love and support on the way.  I was looking out for Charlotte and her kids to wave at them on the route, as they had come to spectate too. But due to the poor accuracy of the map pointer on our shared locations on WhatsApp, i was looking at the wrong side of the street. Apparently they were screaming at me, but with the rest of the noise from the crowds I had no chance.

After the march had ended, I sneaked off before the rest of the LFF crew went to do a group photo - instead heading back to where Charlotte and kids were - the tail of the parade was still passing them by the time i arrived back.

I spend an hour or so with them, we went and found a nearby cafe to grab a drink. After walking back to the pride area, and car park that Charlotte was in, I said my goodbyes and re-joined Benni to check into our next hotel.

We freshened up then went to a food place where LFF had booked a section for us all. Unfortunately not much GF food, so I could only order gnocci which was a little salty, but better than nothing,

After an hour or so mingling with other LFF'ers we headed off with Alice and Rebekka for a drink, with Bella joining us too for a bit.

Then myself and Benni went back to the main pride area to watch Liberty X, then a Chappell Roan cover band.  The cover band was excellent, really enjoyed it - although only knew a few songs.

I hadn't had much to eat all day, so got some chicken and chips from a food stall, then we went to the Bridge End Social for a few frames of pool - which I lost 😔

Then on-wards to Tapped to meet up with Alice for one last drink ! 

I had booked the morning off work, so was not in a massive rush the next day. We had breakfast at the hotel,  then I headed off after rush hour had ended.  Didn't get much done at work, but was at least signed on and available !!

It was a very nice weekend ! 

 

 

 

 

I'll be back

 

Cyberdyne Systems prototype model 69  'Isobel' proved unreliable in service, preferring to eat kebabs and drink beer rather than kill humans

What have I been up to  ( aside from not writing a blog )  :

• Leeds Pride -  21/07
• Chameleons - 25/07
• Family Meal  - 26/07
• Emley Moor -  28/07
• LFF - 01/08 - 02/08
• Walking In the Dales -  03/08 - 04/08

Leeds Pride 

It was really good, just did the Sunday this year as it wasn't tagged on the end of an LFF weekend.  I had my 360 camera on a 3 meter selfie stick and got the march.   The turnout was big, and it was such a nice atmosphere.  We had fun times in a few pubs afterwards, then onwards to the 'Boom Battle Bar' where there were games to play - they did Axe Throwing !!!! 

...but they were blunt axes , not sure if by design, or just lack of maintenance.

It was fun, but Rebecca won, I came 2nd at least.

Chameleons 

It was a good night as always :)  

Family Meal 

Myself, my wife and kids went to an Estabulo Bar and Grill in Barnsley - it's only worthy of note because it's not something I have done a lot of really at all.  Most of my outings over the last few years have been with my friends.  We haven't done a vast amount of outings as a family with me dressed.  This is clearly now going to change now.

It went well, and we had a nice time in the restaurant.  Afterwards we went to superdrug for some hair dye, then to the indoor market.  I bought a couple of dresses from one of the stalls on the upper level. 

Was a very pleasant afternoon.

Emley Moor

I was taking Josephine to the Dales in the few weeks time, and had been working on her, replacing the fuel tank and fuel line.  Decided to go for a pootle out to Emley Moor mast to make sure all was well before such a long journey - also I had never been before.

LFF

Benni and Ann were up the day before so we ended up meeting  up on Thursday night, eating out at Las Iguanas.  I had a few cocktails, and some spicy food - this was likely not the best idea I've ever had.  

I wasn't feeling great the next day, but got through till midnight, mostly drinking water - but I actually still had a really good time.  I wore a 'romantic' style dress , which was quite short for me, and my rainbow heels.  But I had to go change after a few hours, as the heels were killing me.

Pints and Straws was good, numbers were back up again.   I had gone in Josephine as I was taking her to the dales for a walking weekend with Alice, Rebecca and Olivia the day after.   Was a bit worried about leaving her in the car park, but nothing bad happened.

Dales Walking

I had breakfast in Leeds at Riveresque , met Olivia in the car park at Level 8 - she was very hungover. The journey over was OK aside from breaking down going up a steep hill on a windy road.  I had to change the ignition coil at the roadside. 5 or 6 people stopped to assist, but I didn't need them.

She managed to get us to the pub fine, but I was taking it a bit slower than normal, as had lost a bit of confidence in her.

Alice and Rebecca were already there when we got there , and had ordered lunch. So I did the same, and gave Oliva (who was still suffering) some of my chips.

After lunch we went up a hill which was very very steep and rocky , I was immediately feeling quite out of breath and not up to the task, and Alice was powering upwards at great speed - she has much longer legs than me.  But thankfully, the terrain became less vertical, and the walk much more enjoyable.   

It was a warm day, but we all had plenty of water with us. I got lent a walking pole which really did
help too.   We stopped at a pub after 10 km or so, and had a beer as well.   I was holding everyone up a bit on the way back to the pub we were staying at, but not bad enough to cause friction.

We had some lovely food - fox pie (didn't contain any fox, was chicken and shroom), and more beer in the evening, I was feeling very tired though, and ended up going to bed fairly early.

The next day we met for a fab fried breakfast, then headed out on another walk.  This one started off fairly leisurely, but we were going over a really big hill to another village with a pub, then the plan was to go back over the hill a different way back to our base pub.   This was not a fun hill, but we did make it up,

We had packed lunches from the pub which we ate at the highest point we got to - I happened to have a trans flag with me, so we also got some photo's of us all waving that :)

While descending into the next valley, Rebecca twisted her knee, and was in a bit of pain. We got down fine, and had a refreshing beer at the pub there. However she wasn't confident she should get back up the big hill, so we ended up going around the hill on the road, which was a lot longer in terms of
distance.  My feet were not good at all, and I was way behind at some points, But we did make it to civilisation eventually.   There was a pub in a village about 4km from where we were staying, so we had a couple in there to recover.   

The last 4km I had to go in front to set the pace otherwise they would have been stopping every 5 mins for me to catch up.  But the beer did help numb the pain a bit.

I was very glad to be back, and also to be on time for the evening meal we had booked.  I had a beef roast, which was fantastic.  I couldn't drink much more beer though, ended up on soft drinks,

My digestive system was most unhappy with what I had been putting it though, and I had a really bad nights sleep. 

Did manage to have breakfast the next day, and get home dropping Olivia off on the way. It was a really good weekend and so glad I did it !

 

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 :)

 

Leeds Pride Weekend

I started this a few days after the weekend as I had been suffering from quite bad post event comedown. I had a lovely video call with a friend on the Wednesday night and chatted to a few other friends on Instagram too which really seemed to help though.  

It's always quite jarring to go from a few days dressed, back to being treated as the male me. Not sure if it was just that it was such a good weekend that it's been worse. I was also quite tired from it all I guess.

I'm going to skip the full on adventure description this time, I will summarise the other days at the end for record keeping purposes. But for context:

• Thursday Night :  Trans-Wakefield, overnight stay in Wakefield (Holiday Inn Express)
• Friday : Leeds First Friday Social, staying at the Marriot until Monday
• Saturday : Leeds shopping / adventures , evening drinks
• Sunday : Leeds pride parade / after party
• Monday: Return home 

The main event  - Sunday Leeds Pride :

I walked in the Wakefield pride last year, I had watched Manchester's big parade too last year, but I had
not walked in a big one before this weekend. I had been off the dancing juice most of the weekend to ensure I felt really good for Sunday, for me the main point of the weekend was to enjoy the parade.

My friend Arabella had assisted me in the morning with medical tape to create a very convincing illusion of cleavage, so I ended up wearing a secondary dress choice due to it having a lower cut than my original choice.

My shoe choice seemed sensible, but I had failed to break them in, so it didn't go well, but they looked really nice. 

I was considering going with my real hair, but I chickened out and put my silver wig on. I just wanted to look my absolute best, and it's my favourite look.

Most of my friends were in the Marriot, and I arranged to meet up with Alice and Rebeka outside at
1:30pm , we needed to assemble at 1:45pm , and would be walking shortly after 2pm.  Alice had gone with a wedding dress, and had a fab trans umbrella, she always looks amazing. 

Our group was told to meet on Great George Street by the 'Be at One' bar. We seemed to spend quite a while gathering, and shuffling around a bit, we had ended up a bit further back than we should have been.  

I Chatted to a few friends, and I spotted the Trans-Wakefield group a bit further behind so I went and said a brief hello to them.

I think it was around 2:20 when we started to move off, we went down the side of the art gallery and turned left onto the headrow. The crowds were huge, packed all along both sides, I felt very humbled to be there.  I was waving my flag around, trying not to bash anyone.  I mainly kept towards the centre, so didn't do much hive-fiving, didn't feel quite confident to start doing that.

I did feel very happy to be involved, and it was fantastic to see how much support there was. Great to
be experiencing it with my friends too. I did take some photo's and video, but was trying to stay in the moment as much as I could. 

It was quite a long route, I think it was past 3pm before we got to the freedom quarter.  My feet were pretty sore, I took a lot of skin off them, they still have deep gouges a week later !

After we arrived back at the freedom quarter, we visited a few of the stands, but soon decided it would be better if we went and found a straight pub to sit in, as everywhere would be rammed.  So we went to the Bankers Cat. 

A few of the girls who hadn't got a place on the march met us there, so we ended up taking over quite a few seats.  We have a few in there, and then headed over the road to 'Tapped' because they also do fab beer, but also pizza !

As it got later we seemed to fragment into different mini groups, and I headed off with Arabella and Benni back to the freedom quarter.

Benni left after an hour or so to catch her train back, and we ended up trying a cocktail place before calling it a night.  We were not really out that late, but it was a tiring day and neither of us really wanted to get very drunk.

A brief  mention of the rest of the weekend :

Thursday:

My parents in law were visiting early Friday, which meant I could not easily escape to Leeds, so I ended up getting a cheap room in Wakefield at the Holiday Inn Express/ 

I went to the trans-Wakefield group at the 'Our House' café as normal, then met up with Ann in the New Union - she had also decided to come up early. 

It was a nice evening, had a good chat with a few people, and nice to catch up with Ann again.

Friday: 

It was largely spent with Ann and Benni. It was Flamingo's for lunch , some time in Tapped in the afternoon. 

I was wigless, and in a black and white wrap dress. I had only taken my silver wig this time. 

We ate tapas at Revolution De Cuba in the early evening.  Then headed back to the hotel to change. I had a teal dress, and matching shoes on. I did end up changing the shoes as they were not that comfy !

We spent some time in Fibre, which had the penthouse reserved for us all. Then met up with Alice and the gang in the Bridge, the Packhorse and finally Northern Guitar. 

I was taking it very steady to ensure I didn't feel ill over the weekend - so didn't really drink much.

Saturday:

Mainly with Arabella and Benni.  I took Arabella for a visit to the armouries in the morning, then met up with Benni towards lunch time.

We did some shopping, then the LGBTQ stalls at the museum. We had cake at an LGBTQ event at the Age UK building.  

For our evening meal we ate at Pieminster. The pies were gorgeous - it was really slow service though.

In the evening we headed to the Viaduct Showbar, we paid to get in - they had converted the road outside to an event space, with a stage and bars and covered areas. It was really fun, we did lots of dancing. 

Arabella had helped my tape my chest up, so I had a cleavage, which I was very pleased with indeed :)

We ended the night with a visit to some cocktail places outside the freedom quarter.

Monday:

My feet were ruined, and so I was not best pleased when my car fob didn't work, which meant a walk to Poundland for a new battery.  

Thankfully I could still get in with a key to dump my bags in it - but it did set the alarm off doing it that way.

I was in man mode, as I had originally planned to pop to my parents to see them on the way home, but it would have been near enough lunch time when I arrived, so decided to do it another day.

Aside from that it was a good journey back home.  I managed to get out and cut the front lawn, but didn't' get much done for the rest of the day. 

 

The Pride of Manchester

I didn't use to mind a pint of 'The Cream of Manchester' but I understand it never tasted the same after they moved production out of the city....

This is largely a record of events over a weekend, and will be a wall of text. I have done a small summary for those with less free time :)

TLDR:

Insta friends on march day

I had a really good time, lots of walking, and a few hours of intense dancing meant my feet hurt for days afterwards - bit too busy though. Sparkle was a better size, but good to experience, and I'm sure will be back next year. 

Met some Insta people who it seems are quite likely to become good friends with. Already booking future events where we can meet.

Was great to see the massive level of support, there were so many very spectators along the route ! 

---

An Insta friend (Hannah) who I had not met in person messaged me the previous Sunday asking if I was going to Manchester pride - as she knew I was fairly active around these parts. 

I was keen to meet up with them, they seemed like a really nice - so on the spur of the moment I booked a room for Friday, and got a ticket for the Gay Village, and put a leave request in with my work, and ordered some dresses ..... 

Later in the week another Insta friend (Romile) asked if I was going, so I ended up with two meetups planned for the pride weekend.

Friday

I was out at Chams the night before, and as a result I wasn't able to pack everything in advance, as the makeup was needed for that.

I did at least pick out some outfits on the Wednesday night. So as normal I was running around like a headless chicken trying to get ready and pack.

I go for hard mode adventuring these days, no man mode fall back, go out dressed, come back dressed.

Hannah was going up for the full weekend, Thursday to Sunday, Romile was only coming for the Saturday late morning to late afternoon.

My plan was to get to Manchester before lunch on the Friday to perhaps have it with Hannah, but someone had broken down in the fast lane of the M62 which put me behind schedule, my friend had already eaten by the time I arrived and was shopping with their mum, so I went and found somewhere to eat by myself.

I also had a bit of a panic while driving, I suddenly realised I may not have packed my foundation or lipstick. 

Found a nice plant based restaurant in the northern quarter - Purezza, was really nice inside, I had courgetti spaghetti with pesto 

and a Lychee Zen Zero mocktail. It was so nice I gifted them my jacket as a tip  - I remembered and came back for it later :)

They were very friendly, they had a special pride bottomless brunch on they were keen to tell me about, pride flags in the windows etc.

I had a quick rummage in the car before I went for food, and confirmed I couldn't see the foundation, so I headed to the Arndale centre to try and buy some.

I looked in a few expensive places with makeup counters, but as usual they didn't seem to have many people on to come and help.

Ended up in Superdrug , where I found a lovely young lady who was brilliant, and helped match up some L'Oreal foundation for me, cheap too !

Randomly picked a lipstick up too.  

Then messaged to my friend to see where they had got to, and turns out they were not far away. We decided to go to canal street for a look around, and on the way back

I realised I wasn't overheating badly - and then remembered the jacket, so we took a detour to retrieve that :)

I showed her around canal street, we took some selfies outside the New Union pub (has angel wings mural) and got a beer in there. Got chatting to really friendly gay guys for a bit in there.

Then we decided to go get a picture next to the Alan Turing sculpture in Sackville gardens, but it was fenced off because they were setting it up for the evening - so we did the Vimto sculpture instead.

At that point my hotel was available to check in (3pm)  , so she offered to come back to the car park and help me take my bags. It's 10 minute walk, I like that one because it's only a few turns off the main road, so easy to get in/out without doing the city centre.

On arrival, we were offered free gin !! I thought it was flat bubbly at first. Once I had my room key card, they also gave me a brown paper bag with 2 more cans of G&T, crisps, water and chocolate bars !

We went to the room, and used the facilities, then headed back to canal street.

Had a few more drinks there, then headed to meet her mum for some food as it was getting past 6pm, and really needed some food before having much more to drink.

Ended up at Pizza Express, had a nice margarita in there.  Then we went back to her hotel so she could do a quick change, then randomly we decided to go visit a filming location for 'Life on Mars' scene where Sam Tyler get's run over. It was a bit of a trek, but it was fun. Then we went back to my hotel so I could change, then back to canal street.

I certainly got a lot of steps in that day !

I had noticed a massive queue inside the Gay Village cordon while we walked past it to get to my hotel, and I had joked I hope that's not for the arm bands - spoiler , it was :(

We got a drink when entering the village and I corned a random reveller to see where the arm bands were, and he pointed me where I had hoped he would not. We only spent about 20 mins queuing, it was really long, snaking back and forth, but moving quickly, and we were at least two of the sensible few who had brought a refreshing beverage to queue with :)

It was absolutely rammed outside on the street itself but it wasn't too bad in the clubs.

We did a number of different ones, due to some miscommunication with a really cute bar man, I ended up with a G&T in one hand and a pint of summer fruits cider in another, which made dancing harder :)

We moved next door, and then I spotted some friends that I have hung around Manchester and LFF and Nottingham before dancing on the stage - I didn't know they were also coming. 

So we met up with them and did a couple of other bars.

It was getting on for 11pm by this point, Hannah had come with her mum, and she had promised them not to be out too late as she was worried about walking back to her hotel which was about 10mins away towards the other railway station.

I felt a bit responsible for her, so I confirmed my other friends plans, and decided to walk her back to her hotel. She was very thankful - there was no trouble, she would have been fine but I would have worried. Of course I am totally invincible after a few beers, so I had no worries about walking back myself ..... 

I came back, but found a lot of places now had really long queues, and they were also charging entry. So I picked the one I thought was most likely they would end up in. There was a nice guy in the queue

who was worried that I was on my own, and offered to let me stay with his group of friends while I waited, but I really just needed to sit down, so I went and found a barstool to rest on.

I had done so much walking and dancing that night my feet were pretty bad - I even had trainers on !

Anyway they didn't turn up, so I decided to go get some sausage and chips and go to bed. I didn't want to be too hungover for watching the pride march, and I had a really good night by this point already, so though might as well get some sleep.

I think it was only about 1am before I had got all my makeup off and finished my chips.

---

Saturday 

I got woken up by police sirens at 5am, so didn't' have the best sleep, but still managed to get up at around 8am. Had a shower and a shave and did some 'it will do' makeup - in the process finding the foundation I thought I had left at home.

So I've not even unwrapped the new one yet .. doh 

Breakfast selfie

Did breakfast which was a bit awkward as he couldn't find me by surname on the list , then he double checked my first name in less than discrete volumes - not on purpose he was a nice friendly guy, he just wasn't thinking. 

I book under my real name to avoid payment issues.

Also there were no beans !! 

But I will let them off all this for the free gin, which I still haven't drunk and are in my fridge.

I had to check out by 12am, and my other friends train was due in just before 11, so I checked out at 10:30ish, and took my bags back to the car, which wasn't far from the Piccadilly railway station.

Managed to meet up with my friend outside there. You couldn't miss her, big dress, petticoats, blond wig and purple beard. She is certainly a challenge to those that fear the middle ground of gender identity.

She was also lovely - I knew she would be, we had talked a lot on Insta.

We headed back to canal street and once again I did my best tour guide impersonation, we got some nice selfies, aided by random members of the public. Then we headed out of the other side to find a good place on the pride march route to observe. Ended up opposite the Subway shop on Portland Street. Had a really good chat about where we both were and our circumstances.

We took advantage of the closed road to do some pictures, and some of the friends from last night who I had lost saw me and came over to say hi, which was nice. 

Hannah met up with us there too.

I had bought a trans flag the day before from a vendor for a million pounds, so I put that around me like a cape and fastened it with a hair clip which sort of worked.

I also had bought a trans belt from Etsy which I put on.

Got talking to a lady who had brought her kids to watch it, she was dressed up for it, it was a 'Peace' theme, she was really lovely.

We chatted for a bit, then watched the march come past and enjoying the atmosphere - Romile was getting a lot of nice shouted comments, and hive fives from the people marching past about her outfit and look, must have been in double digits at least.

I think she was getting a bit embarrassed by the attention. There was lots of whooping, and cheering and clapping. I wasn't that keen to be really close, more of a 2nd row person. 

There were a LOT of groups, it got to the 100th group and I was getting a bit tired and my legs were not happy at all.

By the 200th group I was in real pain. I'm not sure how many there were in the end, as hannah was also feeling it, we must have been stood for 2.5 hours by this point, and she 

decided to call it day and go meet her mum for a coffee, and I decided to tag along. Said out goodbyes to Romille who wanted to stay longer, then we had to cross over through a march group

to get to the Arndale centre. It was at an angle so in effect i did join the march for several meters at least :)

I had a nice sarnie and coffee in the Arndale Centre Pret and said my goodbyes to Hannah, then headed home. Stopped off at a McDonalds on the way back to use the loos and charge my car.

Was so tired, really wanted to get home and rest. I think was just after 5pm I was home. Reverted back to male mode when I got it, was too hot. 

But I put a thin dress back on a bit later after having a soak in the bath to ease my legs - I don't normally like presenting as male and wearing one, but it was a lot more comfy and easier than putting male jeans on.

Catching up with Wakefield

I have missed load of Trans-Wakefield recently, and was feeling a bit guilty. So with pride being on on Sunday the 14th, I thought I could not only go on my first pride march, but also catch up with the Wakefield gang.

I had hoped that they would be marching, and in my head I had imagined meeting them in the pre-march formation, but it turns out that they were mainly at the pub. So I was just in the tail end with a group of random people - some of whom had chosen to make it a more difficult experience by doing it on roller blades.  I think it was only 0.6km in the end, but there were lots of supporters all along the way, and it was a fun experience. 

I wasn't wearing the best shoes, I was running late so grabbed some sandals, but I hadn't worn them before and turns out they don't fit that great. Also it appears from later conversations one of the Chams group had worn the exact same pair to Darlington pride the day before :) - Amazon's finest fashion.

We finished at the pride venue which was a big fenced off carpark, with a main stage, lots of loo's and inadequate number of alcohol vendors  - at least for everyone else, as I was driving. But this worked for me in the end, as I had figured that they would likely want beer, so it might be a good place to find them, and it worked !!

There were only a few there, as the Trans group is based at a pub, which it turned out had it's own stage and acts away from the main pride venue. So we watched the dignitaries open the event, and then went to the other venue via Greggs.

It was very hot day, and sitting out in the sun was not fun even with an expensive trans coloured hand fan I bought. Also the other venue also had beer queues to rival the march itself.  But I mingled with other members of the group for a bit, treated myself to a couple of shandy's, and left later on in the afternoon. I did say to them that I would be along to the next meetup which was on Thursday night , the 18th.

Thursday was a bit of a sh*t show with work, so I nearly didn't make it, even the car was against me, it wouldn't detect my key - but I got there in the end, 10 mins late, but they hadn't started anything.

There has been quizzes, killer pool, darts etc on these nights, but it seems only the quiz was going that night.

It was fun, did manage to play pool for a bit, and won despite potting all my balls, half of his and numerous whites. He was a bit tipsy though .....

I did also finally get chance to have a word with the leader - she normally takes people to one side on their first visit, but there were two of us on my first, and it just never happened. Turns out she was conscious of this and had been meaning to on my next visit. 

She is a slightly older trans lady, with a great deal of experience with assisting with the medical side of things. Her main aim was to find out where I was now, what my plans were and what she could do (if anything) to assist, and to ensure I knew that the group was there for me as a whole if I needed anything. It was really nice - I sort of already knew this, but nice to be told :)

It was nice to catch up with everyone else too, a very pleasant evening.  I expect I will be back again in a couple of weeks.

Pride Barnsley

Main stage - right at the start
before it got crowded

I have never done a Pride before so was keen to give one a go, and I knew the Barnsley one was this weekend. It clearly wasn't going to be the biggest one, and I knew it was fairly static, no marching.  But seemed like it would be similar to Sparkle, set in a big public garden.

It was quite a hot day, and I was still burnt from Sparkle, so lots of sun cream was applied. I also put on one of my longer wigs to cover the neck, and a dress with a fairly small neck aperture, and a hat :)

Trans Barnsley stall

I didn't park too far away, and it was a very short walk to get to the park. Security was quite lax, there seemed to be two 'proper' entrances with door staff, but then a big gap in the fence where anyone could just wander in. I had a quick scan around to see what stalls were there, and soon spied the flags for the Trans Barnsley group.  Went there first, and got talking to the guys on there. Spoke with the leader of the group first, she was really nice, explained how they got the funding , what the group was like etc. I got introduced to their social media expert, so I took the opportunity to get a photo with them - so I could post on Insta and perhaps give them some exposure. She was also very nice.

Jumbo sausage !!!

Sitting in the shade

Also got speaking with a third one who was an older trans woman, talked a little bit about Sparkle, but someone else came along.

After this I sought food, and spied a street food stall that was doing hot dogs, managed to not cover myself in too many onions.

I sat in the shade and ate, but this was really far from the stage with the stalls in between so was not a good spot.

I headed back to see if I could find a shaded spot to watch the stage but all the good ones had gone. I did get a seat but with no view, so I just crowd watched for a while. I was half hoping I might see someone I knew, but didn't. 

Then I went to look for a drink, the pub looked crowded, I was there on my own so driving, so settled for a coffee from a stall instead. 

Stood a bit nearer the stage under a tree and drank that. It was getting quite hot, and had been there a few hours so decided to head off.

I popped into the small art gallery on the way back to the car, I don't think there was anything new in the downstairs bit. There was some architecture upstairs, but when I got up there it seemed to be being used for painting LGBT banners of some sort. 

Went home and did some Insta shots of some new dresses I have not worn out yet, drank a number of cans of summer fruits cider :)

All in all, it was nice, got some more local trans contacts at least, and may well go to that group on Thursday. But would have been better if had friends to go with - so aim is to make some for next years :)

Oh and I did Chams on Thursday, had been a month since I was last there as I couldn't make the last one. It was nice, Maria (I think got her name right) was there, and looking gorgeous, very jealous of her figure and look.

It wasn't that busy, I guess the heat and light nights, and cost of living etc won't be helping.