Heels of Doom

Trans Wakefield

This was pretty standard as the meetings go, Philippa was there and still seemed a bit under the weather from the cold that she was coming down with at the Halloween do at the previous weekend. But she seemed in good spirits, and had been given some potential options for treatment.

Michelle who I had met at the weekend didn't show up, which was a shame. Perhaps she will come along to a future one.

I did the pub quiz with Zoe who seemed to be on a mission with rum and coke, we didn't do very well, but it was fun.

One of the girls mentioned a local laser hair removal place, which is really near me and I didn't know of. I think I shall try and get an appointment booked soon, at least for a test session. 

I want my face done as the priority, but torso would be fantastic. I'm not bothered about arms or legs, or anywhere else that I can easily shave.

J32, Castleford Friday Shopping

I had booked the Friday off to give me options to go shopping before LFF.

I got ready at a leisurely pace and decided upon J32 at Castleford, mainly because I had never been there dressed.

Chose a fairly warm dress I had bought early in the year at a charity shop in Doncaster, that I had never worn out of the house.

I put on most of my going out eye makeup except for eyeshadow - I figured I could add that before the evening do. My intention was to come home, do minor touch-ups and change before going out in the evening.

But I didn't want to look over the top for wandering around the shops.

I had planned on eating out, and I heard an advert for Starbucks on the way to the outlet, and coincidentally I would be passing a new one on the way.

So decided to pop in there for lunch.  I had a Caramel Waffle Latte topped with whipped cream, and a ham and cheese panni.

Managed to consume both without removing all my makeup, and not eating too much of my wig.

Headed to the outlet and parked up out of the way with the intention of getting some nice shots of my outfit. These turned out to be rather blurry, the selfie camera on the phone is useless, even with it on my selfie stick configured as a tripod.

I have since worked out a cunning plan that involves screen mirroring to an old phone, so I can use this is a view finder and use the main camera on the new phone without being able to directly see it's screen.

Anyway, after wasting 5 mins taking useless photos, I headed to the shops. 

There were a lot of old people around, as previously blogged about I am more nervous around this age range than any other, and maybe it put me on edge a bit.

Did Quiz first, but there was nothing that jumped out at me. Walked around to the next shop and a woman was muttering as she walked towards me, not sure if was about be, or my paranoia was at play.

Tried Clarks next - I had lost most of the end of a heel of my brown Chelsea boots months ago, so was on the lookout for some replacement brown boots.

Ended up in Select, where I found some brown pull on ones, with one pair in my size. Also grabbed some sparkly hoops on the display of temptation next to the till.

Had a look in the mirror shop, I quite fancy having a stand up full length one, but I probably can't justify the expense really. Good place to get a selfie though !

Looked in Roman, Crew clothing, Kurt Muller , Weird fish, nothing too exciting was seen - nothing cheap enough anyway.

The last clothes shop on the loop of shops was Next, where I found a bargain long blue ribbed blue dress for £20. I even went and tried it on. I think this may have been the first time I've ever done so.

I've been in changing rooms before to help a friend get out of one she was stuck in, but had never dared do it myself.

The lady attendant seemed a bit cold with me but other than that was fine. 

Anyway it fitted and looked really nice, so will no doubt be appearing on here at some point soon. Forgot to get a picture of it on.

Then I headed into Beauty outlet, was just going to take a quick look, came out £30 down - exciting new nail varnishes, some 'pout bomb' and a lip liner and some 'mega blush'. None of which I used in the evening !

With all the shops exhausted I headed for home.

Leeds First Friday

I was excited to go as normal, but perhaps a bit more due to not having anyone I knew for sure would be there to meet up with. It would force me to try and find some people to hang out with.

I had chosen a yellow dress that I had got from Everything5Pounds on a sale - was only £2.90 - I had worn it to Chams once, but never out in public. 

This was paired with some purple tiger stripped heel boots that I got from a charity shop in Huddersfield for under a fiver, some rose gold tights and my platinum blonde wig with blue highlights. 

Plus my black leather jacket and black handbag with studs. The heels are a little too small for me, but I really love the look. 

I didn't bother touching up my makeup, I got ready, looked in the mirror and thought 'yeah that will do'.

I didn't get off to a great start, and ended up sat by myself looking lonely - not for long though, a couple from London on their first visit (older CD + CIS wife) beckoned me over to join them. 

We had a nice chat, and seemed like would end up giving them a guided tour. But then some people I knew arrived, and after I introduced them to each other they said they were off to take some photos and assume they found someone more interesting to talk to :)

But they seemed nice, and I have some TvChix names for them, I might log on and add them if my account still works. I mainly only use it for the events page, it seems a bit seedy.

I spoke to Dee and Gabby for a bit, then noticed Alice at the bar, I had spoken to her a few times but didn't know her that well. She tends to stay in the Marriot bar rather than leaving with a lot of the others as they migrate to other clubs and bars. 

She prefers the less noisy environment so she can chat. Turns out she fancied some real ale, but her usual friends wanted to go do the clubs, so she was planning on going to the Foleys Tap House on her own.

It's about half a mile away from the Marriot, totally away from the Freedom Quarter where all the LGBT+ bars are, and my shoes were not really well chosen for the task, but figured would be worth the pain to get to know her better.

So we walked up to Foleys, narrowly avoiding becoming a hood ornament for a bus - turns out I can run in heels if I am fearing for my life.

We had a good talk on the way, and over a few pints (I had halves as was driving) for a couple of hours. It was really nice, there were a lot of very similar experiences in our childhood with regards to mothers 'storing' dresses in our rooms. Coming out to our parents, and the fear of being disowned. Future plans, transition options, coming out at work. It was really nice to get to know each other more.

We left after last orders, I think it must have been midnight, and headed back to the freedom quarter, she was going around York the next day so didn't want to stay up too late, 

but wanted to come to Smokestack with me for a lemonade before retiring. I had a coke in there as I was already up to what I would consider safe to drive on. 

It's not easy to talk in there, and there were no seats free, but I did manage to go talk to another Insta person who I recognised and Alice had gone to talk to someone else too.

I nipped to the ladies and couldn't find where she had gone when I returned, I figured probably bed, and thought that was probably a sensible idea too - my feet were really hurting by this point. She had sent me a message saying she had lost me, so hadn't scared her off :)

I drove home and checked the damage when I got in, a burst blister on my right little toe. But not bad considering how far I had walked.

Cooked a chicken burger and then went to bed at about 1:30am.

Still woke up at 7:30am though, damn body clock !

Welsh Week Off

Think a mixture of things have got me a bit down in the dumps today. Last day of my holiday, a rainy afternoon, and feeling a bit tired from being out last night.

But thought I best write this, otherwise I will start to forget things :)

Holiday

We were on a family holiday at Tenby in south Wales for the last week, via a friends in Bristol on the Sunday to break the journey up.

Seem to have got into the habit of visiting her in October the last few years.

Our petroleum powered car is not big enough for me to take female attire, as I don't travel light - but I can manage a week.

I last blogged about being in Nottingham on the 21st, I drove back home on the Saturday, then spent the rest of the day packing and getting ready to go.

We left for Bristol about 8am on Sunday, and arrived around 1pm. Had lunch and lots of talking and tea then a roast dinner, and then more talking before bed.

It was very nice. We left just before 9 on the Monday, my friend works from home, so we needed to get out of her way before then.

We got to Tenby 1ish I think, the caravan was meant to be available by 2pm, but had been done early which was nice.

I had ordered a 'Silver' one , which usually means 'not tired' but this was brand new, and verrrry nice, and seemingly nearly new.

We had a nice week, Monday we just explored Tenby, and the island fort. Tuesday we did Pembroke Castle, and then an zoo type thing the next day. 

Thursday the kids wanted to do another animal place, so the wife took them there, and I had the afternoon to myself pottering about Tenby.

Friday we drove home, A roads most of the way through Wales, some lovely scenery. Grabbed a nice lunch at a nice little greasy spoon café in Welshpool.

Didn't get home until late afternoon.

I think I confused the Mrs one morning by being a bit amorous. I think she had resigned herself to me perhaps being just be friend going forward. I am a spreader of uncertainty, which doesn't feel great. 

But It was a nice break, good to see the kids happy.

 

Saturday Night

I was itching to go out, and there was a Halloween event at the local bar in Wakefield. 

I had a spiderweb detailed dress from Voodoo Vixen that seemed appropriate - I had got it months earlier.

Did seem to squeeze some bits of flab out the sides of the sleeve holes though, so put a back knitted shrug on too. 

Also my forms were quite visible, so went with the modesty camisole too.

Went with a more gothic makeup look, dark blue lipstick, and smoky eyeshadow with some blue to compliment the lipstick. 

Decided to go with the normal wig, as I still wanted to be recognised, and it was that or a cheap long black one really.

I think it worked quite well, I was by no means the best dressed however - there was a prize for best dressed, and some had gone all out with costumes and fake blood :)

Philippa

But anyway I did at least look like I had made an effort. Better than the group who all came as where's wally.

Some of the Trans-Wakefield crew were there, I hadn't checked their discord so didn't know they were going. 

Philippa was there who I had spoken of before, she is really lovely, we had a good chat - she was just back from a mini cruise. We did talk of her cancer, but only briefly, she doesn't like to bring the mood down.

Even managed to get some photo's with her. She may be attempting to pop along to next Friday's LFF, which will be nice for her to experience. 

She certainly won't have been in a room with so many trans folk at the same time before. She was feeling a bit under the weather so left early. 

Michelle

I had spotted a trans person walking around and looking a bit lonely. 

I had been waiting for an opportunity to go talk, but she found a friendly chap outside when vaping who brought her over and introduced her to us instead.

Her name was Michelle, had only been dressing for 3 weeks, but she looked really good. 

She ended up sat beside me, and we spent a few hours talking - a Wakefield local, within walking distance of the bar. 

It also came up that she was also thinking of LFF on Friday, so I may now have two to show around !   

Should see her before hand at the Thursday trans-Wakefield group too.

I was getting a bit tired so I did my usual trick of disappearing at midnight. Michelle seemed to be feeling very huggy, think it was all quite emotional for her to connect with the group. 

While waiting for the car to demist, I had a young lad politely knock on the window of my car to ask if I was single. I was already a bit nervous and had locked my door before he got close. 

It was quite unexpected. Once I told him I was married he apologised and left, a bit odd.

I told a friend later, and they asked me if I dragged him into the car, clearly I have a reputation !

Eyebrows and social updates

Eyebrows

These were something I really worried about when I was first starting to go out. Using glue to cover, and templates to draw back on. I have plucked mine fairly drastically, and had been free styling drawing over them with a brown eyebrow pencil and wavy felt tip with 5 points to simulate hairs. 

But I wasn’t that pleased with them. So I have been looking at different techniques, and stumbled across this video demonstration. The lady they did it on had fairly bushy eyebrows and it didn’t seem that good, but when I did it on my own I was pleased with the results :

https://feminizationsecrets.com/feminize-male-to-female-eyebrows/

Trying to do this from now on, will see what feedback I get. I also need to experiment with making the ends more pointy - I've bought brushes and powder but not tried yet.

I also did try some more discrete nail varnish, it's sort of stone coloured, doesn't stand out much at all. Wore it in man mode to Asda without even thinking.

Saturday Night (15th Oct)

I felt the need to be sociable, so figured I would try the Wakefield bar that the
Trans-Wakefield meeting is normally held in, perhaps just go for a few drinks and see if could engage with anyone.

I had been once before on a random night, but it turned out to be a birthday party for the group leader that night, and so ended up with the group again. Not that I am trying to avoid them, but it is nice to talk to non-trans people too.

I got a drink and then sat down on my own, and ended up on my phone. Realised I had a big credit card bill to pay, so ended up sorting my finances for a while.

After a while one of the regulars had noticed me, and decided to come over and talk to me, a lady called Magenta – she loves Rocky Horror :)

So began my welcome into the group of regulars, she took me under her wing and made me feel very welcome. We chatted for a long time, about her youth and coming out as a lesbian at school, and myself about my own situation. It was really nice.

There was a drag act on that night too, with some lip sync battles, I was thinking of heading off, but she had been roped into performing, and wanted me to stay to watch – so I did. She was quite good, but she didn’t seem to think so :)

So I was still there at 1am when the bar stopped serving. The older drag queen came over and chatted, and did invite me to go to a club with them all – but I figured I best go home, as was pretty tired. Definitely going to try and stay out longer with them next time.

Thursday (20th Oct)

This was the normal Trans-Wakefield meetup. It started pretty slow, the people I would normally talk to were not there, so I had to try and talk with some others. They are all mainly a lot younger than me, aside from the leader and one other lady. So I don’t find it that easy.

We ended up sat around the corner from the main bar, playing an online game that involves a statement with requires one of more rude - or not politically correct answers from a set of virtual cards you are dealt. ( https://cardsagainstonline.com/ )

It was quite fun – but did mean we didn’t participate in the Quiz, or mingle much with the regulars. So I didn’t get much chance to talk to Magenta again, although I did wave. I am thinking of going back this coming Saturday night.

Friday (21st)

This was the Nottingham invasion, I had a hotel room booked for the first time –
the Premier on Goldsmith street. Normally I drive, sip coke all night, and then head home sometime after midnight. But I fancied giving it a proper chance as a night out, and having some social lubricant. It was a pretty good night. Ann was coming along too which was nice, as she is lovely to talk with – and also she had recovered my charging cable too, so I needed to get that back.

I got ready pretty quickly, and go down there for 7:30pm, and managed to get checked in OK. The premier inn wasn’t that far from the venue, so was able to get there for 8:00ish. Met up with Rebecca, and Ann and a new girl Sophie who I had not spoken to before. Simone, Danielle, Dee, Helen and Gabby showed up a bit later.

We had a few in there, then Simone had decided to get a few of us out invading, so a group of I think 7 of us ended up going out to a few pubs. The first place was the “Six Barrel Drafthouse” a sort of hipster place, IPA’s mainly, the bar man was trying to be nice – he asked us what it was like to be a woman ….. how do you answer that really.

Then we did a walk into the centre and went to a sort of clubby type bar “Revolution Cornerhouse”. It was a bit hard to talk, so Ann and myself left a bit early, and went back to the New Foresters via KFC. I hadn’t eaten much so was pretty hungry. It was really slow service in there.

I stayed at the pub for another hour, then decided to head back to the hotel, said my goodbyes and got back without incident.

Had a nice cooked breakfast in the morning, then decided to have a mooch around the town centre for a bit, partly to make sure I was OK to drive. Had a look around M&S for tights as I had laddered my black ones the previous week, but didn’t see any I liked.

Set off home around 11am, stopping off at the “Hickorys Smokehouse” at Nuthall to charge my car.

Foxxing Chargers !!!

Thursday night was Nottingham Chameleons night -  I was hoping to sneak off work early to get ready, but I had some important things to fix before I signed off for the week so wasn't able to in the end.

Had a shower and shave, and did some basic makeup. I had a Vinted delivery in the morning which I was excited to wear out - another jumper dress, but with blue on it, which I though would go well with my blue suede boots

Got there fairly early in the end, and then had the fun of attempting to get the charging app to allow me to start a charge. I failed for 5 minutes, then thought I would just plug the car in, then continue from the comfort of the meeting room in the community centre.

I did eventually get it to start charging....

The meeting itself was a bit different, as there was a guy in from Nottingham NHS's Sexual Health Services. So he had the floor for the first hour. It was mainly a fact finding mission for him to get ideas on how to make their services more accessible. 

He seemed to be getting a lot of good things from the members, but he wasn't writing anything down, and seemed to want us to email him with everything discussed. But he was nice enough, and seems likely we will see him again.

Once he had left it was tea and chatting, and fairy cakes to celebrate Val's birthday, which were very nice indeed. I made a point of going to chat to a younger looking new girl who seemed quite nervous. I'm not so good at that sort of thing, but did chat for a while, we didn't seem to have much in common, but she seemed to appreciate it. I hope to get better by practising :)

Also managed to chat to another newbie who had arrived later, but it was just as everyone was getting ready to leave. It was her first trip out of the house I believe, Sophie. She had gone to a lot of effort with her makeup, I think contributing to her arriving late. She seemed really nice. 

Wandered back to the car, and attempted to unplug from the charger. But it seems it really really really loved my cable and didn't want to give it back. So after lots of messing, I had to leave it there. Fortunately was able to unplug from the car, so wasn't trapped there.

I managed to get through to someone at the church this morning, and they say it happens about 25% of the time and is possibly because I didn't stop the charge on the app before attempting to unplug, and they are getting some instructions drawn up. Getting a friend to collect from them tomorrow, which was very kind of them to offer. 

I have an even slower 13amp plug charger I can use in the meantime, so not a massive issue, but it's worth about £100 so I need my normal cable back.

I don't think I will be using that one again......

Work this week has been OK, I had to go to Burton on Wednesday just to show my face, as we are all expected to do office days occasionally. It would be fantastic if the days where it's good for me to be there coincided with Chams, but this has only happened once so far.

There is a pub meetup in Ripley on the 1st Wednesday of the month, I may also see if I can do an office day for that, then get changed to attend that one. I've done it once before, it wasn't a bad meet. 

Other things this week - a lovely lady had found this blog on the Chams site, and has been reading through, and we have had a few nice emails back and forth. I may have a pen pal !

Don't think she is at the point of coming to a meeting yet, but maybe I will get to see her one day too.

Great to know that other people are reading this though, and getting something from it, I really only have the presence of a comment to know for sure that anyone has read it, so I was most pleased to find others had, and enjoyed.

Lamb Nihari

These events are from the first week of the month, I have been lax at posting again.

Thursday the 6th of October was meant to be Wakefield in the evening, I just wasn't in the mood again. I had a days shopping with Ann planned for Friday, followed by the big Leeds social in the evening, and I figured would prepare for that instead.

On Friday I got ready and by looking at the time I took a car park selfie, I was in Leeds for 10:30am, which isn't bad for me. I tend to do my 'evening do' eyeliner on a morning in the comfort of my home so I am not panicking attempting to do it at the hotel.

I had tried something new too, a two tone look, with blue on the lids, and pink above - stole the idea from an Insta person I follow, was pretty chuffed with the look.

We had our routine Costa, and a cake - I was good and chose the lowest calorie one I could find. We decided to mix it up a bit and do some Art, as nice to do other things than look at expensive clothes we shouldn't buy. So we headed off looking for the Tetley, which is a sort of pub/cafe/art gallery in the old Tetley offices at the Brewery Wharf. 

It was raining pretty heavily, and Ann's umbrella was really not up to it, so we got to see how well our waterproof mascara held up to the elements - pretty well as it turned out. So we were a bit damp when we got there. I can't say that I was too impressed with the exhibitions, but they will have new ones every now and then so will likely go back at some point. 

The venue itself seemed nice. Quite photogenic , lots of wood panelling and an impressive stone staircase with railings.

After we had finished in there we headed back over the river to commence some retail therapy, stopping at a music shop on the way, partly to get out of the rain, and for Ann to browse shiny harmonicas.

Did a few shops, then went to the Flamingo's LGBTQ+ friendly café in the Central Arcade for lunch. I had the same bagel as I had the first time I had visited there, still lovely. Pastrami and Emmental cheese, and a cup of tea.

I had planned to wear a silver mirrored dress  (sort of square sequins) for the evening do, but it was a bit sheer so I wanted to get a black slip to go under that, my current one was white and a bit long. I also wanted to get some silver heels - I have a pair but they are too big for me and very loose, so they only ever get used for Insta.  We spent the afternoon heading around our various usual places, from John Lewis at one end, all the way back to the hotel. 

I managed to get a slip in M&S and shoes in New Look. It was getting towards 5pm by the time we were done, so we headed back to our rooms to change for a meal. Got to go through at least three outfits in a day, or you are just not trying hard enough :)

Took the opportunity to give my new autumnal dress my wife was kind enough to purchase for me from Barnsley market when we went a few weeks ago - I was in man mode.

I had seen an Indian place on google that I wanted to try, https://www.nawaableeds.com that wasn't too far away. So we walked over there, fortunately the rain had largely stopped by this point.

The restaurant was as nice as the pictures suggested, and really nice service, the food was fantastic. I know Bradford is more known for it's curries, and I've been to some of the famous places there, but this seemed just as good. We both ate far too much, Ann was defeated in the end.  The title of the post is what I ordered - Lamb Nihari.

We headed back to the hotel to change for the evening do. I was feeling fairly pregnant due to the curry, and just couldn't even contemplate putting a corset on. So I wasn't looking as thin as I can do - which isn't that thin :) - but was still pretty pleased with how the dress looked.

We met up with Della in the bar, one of Ann's friends who was doing LFF for the 2nd time, but hadn't stepped outside the hotel before.  So we decided to drag her around a few places, as she was still not really in her comfort zone.

We did the showbar and watched some of the drag acts for a bit. Then headed over to Fibre. This wasn't as good as usual the top bar was closed, so a massive queue for drinks downstairs. Also some numpty knocked a pint over my legs. 

This gave me a good excuse to take Della to the loo's as she had never actually done female loos before and was really nervous. But I really didn't want her attempting the gents, that is not a good idea. She didn't get any photo's of me doing weird poses in front of the hand dyers trying to sort my legs fortunately.

We met a lovely lady visiting from Ireland, totally forgotten her name, she was gorgeous. Della had seemly had enough alcohol by this point, and took herself back to the hotel. So we decided to try Blayds bar , which was the quietist I've ever seen it - normally just walk in, turn around and go somewhere else. 

Then we did the Smokestack , met up with Alice in there, and Fiona.

Then finally we went to the New Penny, where Dee and a few others were, and we did some dancing for a bit. Can't remember the exact time we left, I don't think it was too late.

I had largely been on shandy, so I wasn't hungover the next day. We met up for breakfast in the morning, and I think I was back home before my wife was out of bed in the morning, so I was not in her bad books this week ! 

All in all a really nice day / evening yet again.  I don't think Ann can make the next one, so I may be back to bumbling around trying to latch onto some others. It will be fun I'm sure, I probably won't drink for that one. Hotels are expensive.

A Second Chance for a Last Dance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Random week off

I have been terrible at booking leave from work, partly due to the extra Friday's I've been given, and also due to generally being in the habit of not booking much in the first  half of the year.

So I ended up with the last week off, which I seem to have mainly used for Izzy time.

• Monday I did some adulting, a bit of spring cleaning. 
• Tuesday I went to Huddersfield.
• Wednesday I did Meadowhall with my friend Ann
• Thursday - was feeling a bit down, didn't do much
• Friday had an Insta day, playing with my new phone, and trying on outfits.

Huddersfield

I had aimed to park at a specific car park off the ring road, but it was completely full, so ended up driving back around to park at a big shopping centre car park I had seen on the way.

I have not been there in over a decade I would think, I don't remember the big shopping centre being there at all.

I hadn't been in a rush to get ready so was lunch time when I arrived, so after having a quick look in a couple of shops in the centre I headed down the main streets to look for somewhere to eat. I found a place that sold jacket potatoes - seemly my adventure food of choice - I eat a lot of them as Izzy. 

Next I did ShoeZone, and got a cheap pair of knee high boots. I already had a pair, but I had bought them before I was going out shopping en femme from Amazon, and they are a bit too big for me. Will perhaps have to offload at Chams, I think there will be people who will need 43's - I seem to be more 42 for boots, 41 for heels.

Then I did a few charity shops, I was very chuffed to find some purple animal print high heels, that go perfectly with a dress I bought some time ago. Only £4.99 too.

I had a look around a few more places, then decided to go find the art gallery, but googling it's location I discovered it was closed on Tuesdays, so went in search of the covered market instead. They had a 2nd hand market that day, which was mainly junk not worthy of sale really. 

So I headed back to the shopping centre, and had a nice coffee and some cake at the Costa there, before heading home.

So nothing too exciting really, just a nice relaxing day out. 

Meadowhall 

My friend Ann was also at a loose end on the Wednesday, and I really wanted to go buy a new phone. I thought there was an issue with the selfie camera on my current one. 

So we arranged to meet up at Meadowhall.

Actually managed to get there at a reasonable time, I got up early and did a quick job of putting my face on. We met up by the charging points, and headed inside for a coffee and some breakfast at costa.

Had a good wander around drooling at many things we loved but had price tags beyond hope of us buying. Got a few ideas for Vinted searches though :)

We did buy a few bits in Superdrug - I got a compact mirror.

Got my new phone from Argos, in a more stereotypically feminine peach colour. Post purchase I discovered another trans friend has the same same phone in the same colour ! 

The we did lunch - it was Ann's treat as I had done some data recovery for her - an old NAS hard disc that was in Linux format and unreadable by PC without much faffing. 

We ended up in Weatherspoon's, where I once again I had a jacket potato :) - This time with chilli. It was lovely. 

It was soon getting on for 3pm, and I wanted to get home to make sure the boys were not alone for too long, so we headed off. 

Again a nice day out ! 

Thursday 

Thursday I was feeling a bit down, so didn't end up doing much productive at all. A bit of laundry. 

Possibly brought on by the old demon of guilt at being me. Upsetting my parents, being a bad parent for indulging this side of me, and not concentrating on the wife and kids etc. 

I only mention as it didn't leave me in the mood to go to the Wakefield support group, so I skipped it. Not for the first time. 

Had some gin and a nice bath instead.

Friday

Really wanted to try and get some good photo's for Insta, and also needed to try on some prom dresses from my collection for the prom in Nottingham tonight. I had 5 options for the prom, but hadn't tried on most of them for a while. I had originally planned on using them on a future LFF night, I haven't bought anything specifically for this event.

I also needed to master my new phone, which it turns out was equally bad at taking photo's with the selfie camera :(  - in the end I resorted to screen mirroring my phone to a laptop, then using the front camera to take the picture instead.  I have a Bluetooth button to trigger the shot, but had been using the phone screen as the view finder previously. Clearly this isn't possibly if you turn it around. 

I think the gold one has it at the moment, the pink one I do prefer, but it's an open back, and bra options are limited.

I will be painting my toenails shortly, and charging my car.