Modernist experiance

Executive Summary 

So this weeks adventures consisted of the normal Nottingham Chameleons meeting on the Thursday evening, with an overnight stay nearby, then a day out around Milton Keynes with Ann, and evening excesses at the Pink Punters LGBT club - with another overnight stay. Then a return drive on the Saturday. I would be dressed for all of this as per normal Izzy Corp operating procedures. 

I had been preparing for all this earlier in the week, and had shaved my legs, done my nails and packed my bags so I could get down to Nottingham without a lot of stress.

Chameleons

The wig people were in ! - this is good, not only because there is the chance to possibly pick up a new wig - but I also love how it changes the group dynamic. People nipping to the room of change to try on new ones, coming back in for opinions - it gives more opportunity to mingle and move around a bit. The fuddle we have at Xmas also has this effect.

Not that I don't like other times where we don't have distractions - but it is nice to mix it up every now and then. No one meeting is ever totally the same.

There were some new people, two quite young, but they left fairly early on. Some old faces back too, they had been absent due to their partners health issues. Danielle returned, still with her cast on, but hopefully it will be off by the next one.

Spirals are fun

Lynn had a lovely top on - I don't think I mentioned it at the time.

I needed to check into the hotel, so we left a bit more rapidly than normal, but it was still getting on for 11pm I think.

Ann got there a bit before me, and I met her in reception just as she was ordering a refreshing beverage, so I got one too. Chucked my bags in my room, and we sat and chatted for a bit over the beer. It was a nice end to the evening. They had a spiral staircase which looked quite funky so I got some pics on that. I do love an interesting backdrop.

It was a Days Inn hotel, it was pretty good, all through my window seals were a bit perished and it let a lot of road noise in - but didn't sleep too badly.

Journey down 

We needed breakfast, and Ann knew of a biker café nearby, so we had agreed to get ready for 8:30am and head to that first. It was only about 10 miles away - "FactoryHeads café " near Donington Park.

We had a nice cooked breakfast in there, then we headed to the services at Donington Park so I could charge my car. I got it up to 80%, then we agreed to meet up at Northampton services, where I would need a final charge to get me within range of the hotel. 

We had a coffee some cake and a loo stop in there while we waited for the electrons to flow.

It absolutely chucked it down shortly after we got back on the motorway, but thankfully it only lasted a short while, as we were down to 50 mph with not much visibility. 

Managed to follow my sat nav mostly correctly, and after what seemed like 100 roundabouts we ended up at the hotel we were staying at - just over the road from the Pink Punters club. It was only 12:30pm. so we then abandoned my car and headed into the centre of Milton Keynes in Ann's car. 

National Film And Sci-Fi Museum

I had suggested a visit here as I had seen they had a Dalek, so it had to be good 😊 , although upon entering I wasn't 100% we were going to get value for money. 

But I was pleasantly surprised - it had a lot more exhibits than I expected. You were not allowed to take photo's of a lot of it, they made that very clear when you bought the tickets, and there were signs everywhere. But there were a few 'selfie stations' where you could.  I assume this is for copyright reasons.

There were props and models from all sorts of classic shows, costumes from some big films, some of them signed. We spent about an hour looking around, not sure you could spend much more, but it totally seemed worth the price. 

After this we did a bit of a mooch around the shopping centre, then onwards to the "MK Gallery" :

MK Gallery

This was a short walk out of the back of the shopping centre, it was very pleasant inside, and there was a friendly lady there to rob us blind 😊 - it was a bit more than we were expecting, but still thought was worth a punt.

We headed in, and spent about 30 mins perusing the sculpture, some of it was very involved and I really liked. There were a few bits that I don't really consider to be art to be honest. But they did at least provoke discussion, and we got some amusing bemused look selfies out of it.  

We wandered out of there , and decided that we should probably get some food next. The gallery was coincidentally right next to the chain restaurant section of the city - it was quite well organised !

Bella Italia seemed like a nice place, so we headed in there. The male server seemed a bit off, but he was probably off with everyone. The food was nice, I had a Chicken, Ham and Mushroom pizza, Ann had Ham Hock & Scamorza Carbonara.

After this we did a bit more shopping, not buying anything, and headed back to the hotel to check in.

Hotel Campanile

We chose to stay here, as it's literally over the road from Pink Punters, and as such the hotel bar is used as the meeting point for everyone to get together before the club opens at 10pm.

Bar outfit 1

It does have a bit of a reputation for being a "90's hotel experience" , with some friends describing it as a bit like university halls of residence. Certainly the carpet in my room appeared to have soaked up a large number of stains over the years.

But aside from that one thing, it was really nice, the staff were super friendly, the bar was nice, beds and bathroom clean. Everything you would expect in a cheap hotel really.

Once we had checked in, we headed to our rooms to change, and decided to meet up in the bar and have a few before the evening got going. There were a few other people in there, and several seemed to be trans people in male mode (from overheard conversations).  Someone who Ann had talked to at LFF arrived and we got chatting with her.

One of the popular makeover artists and her partner arrived and were very chatty. There was also an older trans woman called Gloria who had not been out in years, she was really nice.

As it got towards 8pm, we decided to head back to our rooms and put on our evening outfits, and both of us switched to blonde wigs too - just to confuse everyone we had met so far 😊

There was a old gentleman with white hair and a bushy beard who Ann identified as a likely chaser, but I put down as a confused local - I nicknamed him captain Birdseye.

A karaoke / disco guy started up, and put on some 80's tunes that I was quite enjoying. It was quite loud, but it was still OK to chat at the far end where we sat.  I met a few people who I had talked to online before, Judy and Katie.

It was soon getting towards 10pm, and we decided to head over the road to the club - it was raining but Ann had a brolly, and we both had jackets on.  

Pink Punters

When we got across the road we chanced upon Rebecca, who we know well as she is at a lot of the events, and she offered to show us around. So we headed down to the security gate with her. 

They are very keen on ensuring the safety of everyone, so they generally want to take a copy of some photo ID, and then also take a picture of you. He was obviously unphased by having my male drivers license and my female pic, as at least they could then hunt me down if I did anything bad !

There were lots of different areas once inside, a long outdoor area with a bar and fire pits. An upper area with a coal fire, a Karaoke bar, Cocktail bar with selfie room, main dancefloor (with it's own bar), and a dinner selling burger and chips and such - last order for which was 5:30am !!

After a loo stop, we headed to the cocktail bar, and I had a White Russian, Ann had a Mojito.  We met a few other LFF's in there, did some chatting. I think we did the Selfie room next, this is a very famous backdrop and many trans Insta people post pics of themselves in here. 

We tried some of the other areas, ending up in the Karaoke bar to hear our friends Dee and Gabby do something famous which I'm sure they sang at LFF last week, but I can't remember the name of.

Ended up back in the cocktail bar and had some beer with tequila in it, which tasted weird. Met up with Judy and I got some more photo's with her in the selfie room.

Some dancing was done at some point too, I forget the order of events. Then by about 2am I was getting tired and suggested we get some food and call it a night. We were both keen on not getting too tipsy, due to the long drive back in the morning.

We had a burger each and some cheesy chips to share. While i was waiting for it to be cooked, I nipped to the loo and a really lovely cis girl awarded me with a flower garland for having nice hair 😊

I do recall that the wall of the dinner was vibrating very badly with the bass from the dance floor as we ate.

We headed back after we had finished, and agreed to meet up for breakfast at about 9am. 

All in all a very pleasant and successful evening !

Breakfast and Return Home

I had a shower, got dressed and met Ann in the bar for breakfast - had another chat with Gloria too.

Then did a bit of packing, then headed over the road as I wanted some pictures with the Pink Punters route master bus which is in their car park. 

I think it was about 10:30 am by the time the car was packed and I was on my way home.

I needed to charge at Northampton or Watford Gap, tried both - no available charging points. Went to a holiday Inn one junction up from Watford Gap - that was in use, I had about 18 miles left by this point and was getting a bit annoyed. Looked on Zap Map and located one at Rugby golf club 7 miles away. 

When I got there it was thankfully unoccupied, and functional, and I didn't need an app to use it !! yay.

I was however down to less than 10%, so it did mean sitting in the car for nearly 40 mins. This was still not enough to get me home, so I figured I would try Trowel next - this has two Gridserv machines, each with dual charge ability.

When I got there they were all occupied, so I parked opposite and waited for a bit. 

I needed to use the left machine as it had CHAdeMO, the right machine was dual CSS, so no good to me.  Fortunately all three cars seemed to end at the same time, and after some kerfuffle where the BMW driver blocking the bay I needed was unable to disconnect, I was finally able to pull forward and charge.

I popped into the services for a tinkle and to get a takeaway Costa, and in hardly any time I was back up to 80% and I could do the last stint home. 

It was about 3:15pm when I got home, so a pretty long trek - but totally worth it, it was a really really good weekend.

  

Excessive fun

The Work Week

Well it's been a busy week at work, been given a fun assignment to do, really getting my teeth into that. 

This gave me an opportunity to play with ChatGPT - I was using it to assist me with coding problems, I'm a bit rusty with my PHP and a framework I haven't used in a while. 

I found it brilliant - I mean it's not getting you any answers you couldn't google yourself, but it does so quickly and with fairly high accuracy. 

I also tried asking some questions on Excel , then decided to quiz it on opponents to the existence of Trans people. It got rather cagey with me on those questions, and complained that I was asking it thinks which violated the terms of it's use. It seemed less bothered about listing anti LGBT people in general than the T group specifically. 

It's better when I'm busy at work, as I can distract myself from other matters, as such I have nothing to report on those !

Thursday Trans-Wakefield, 'Our House' Café / LGBT centre.

There was a £5 cake and coffee deal, the cake was some sort of cookie dough affair mixed with Nutella, a very generous wedge. I couldn't finish it, nor could 3/4 of those that tried it ! but it was really nice.

The leader brought some cards with common trans terms and gender identities, and a matching set of definitions of those. There were three sets and we grouped up to try and match them up. I was with Nicole, it was fairly trivial to match them up, but the discussion of the answers afterwards did spark conversation.

The road outside the café was still shut from the gas leak, when leaving the police were in the pub opposite sorting out a fight - a typical Wakefield evening :)

We went to the New Union pub afterwards for a drink as the centre shuts at 9pm. I left about 10pm, as I wanted to get home to pack for LFF.

Friday Leeds Daytime 

My usual posy was not coming to Leeds this month, as they are bored of me, or had family
commitments, or couldn't afford the silly bank holiday hotel prices :) 

Fortunately Alice never misses one, I've got to know her fairly well over the last year and she was very welcome to me joining her for the day.

We met up in the Trinity shopping centre in New Look, I was buying a new jacket as my current leather one was a charity shop find and looking a bit tired. She got a couple of nice Quiz dresses from there, then we headed to the Travelodge to meet up with Lexi and Gemma who wasn't in girl mode, but I don't know her boy mode name, so she will be referred to as Gemma :)

We walked the short distance to Rudy's Pizza - never been before. I had a white pizza, Goats Cheese with toasted pistachio, sliced red onion and rosemary - was really nice. 

Then we headed to Foley's for some afternoon drinkies - I went on 0% lager as was trying to be good at that point. 

We had a good time in there, and then myself Alice and Lexi went for a quick look in Roman near the St Johns centre, and then back to our rooms for a quick freshen up before some tapas.

I decided to change into another dress, as I had brought it along, might as well, this was the size 6 dress I had bought by mistake in Next the previous week - fits really well I think.

Cindy was joining us for the tapas, and we met up with her in the Marriot and walked down the calls to that. It was really nice in there, they recommended 3-4 dishes, but Alice suggested 2-3 is usually enough. I went for two, but then ended up eating leftovers from everyone else :)

After this it was back to the hotel again, for my final outfit more suitable for a nightclub !

Leeds First Friday - 15th Year Anniversary

We met in Fibre, but didn't bother to get a drink as there was an unveiling of a commemorative bench
outside for one of the LFF organisers who had sadly died the previous year. Met a few people in there that I usually look out for - and also one of the Trans-Wakefield group who I had not expected to see. She looked gorgeous, had some fantastic green sparkly lips !

We stood outside for a bit while the bench was unveiled, it was a really good turnout, they had three speakers, all but the third one seemed to know how to use a microphone.

Afterward we headed back into Fibre for a bit, but there wasn't any beer on tap, so Alice and crew decided to head over the road to the Viaduct, where oddly we ended up drinking cocktails. It was two for £10. 

I had a 'verry cherry', which had whipped cream, it was verry nice ! We had a few more drinks in there, we watched the cabaret.

My friend Danielle had joined us by this point, and we lost Alice for a bit, so headed to the bridge to watch the karaoke for a while.  

Then manage to find where Alice had gone via Insta messaging, and headed to the Bankers Cat - a straight pub not that far outside to freedom quarter.  We had a few in there, then onwards to 'The End'.

This is where I lost all sense, and had an Espresso martini - I seemed to stop taking photo's shortly after this point, a good measure of me being a bit too gone.

After this it was 'The Smokestack' and people gradually went to bed, as I should have done too ....

Anyway soon there was only me and Cindy left, and we were being booted out of the Smokestack, so I paid us both into the New Penny - the only place still open. I do remember speaking some people in there, but it's a bit fuzzy. 

Then the floodlights came on, it's was apparently 5:30am, and the bar staff wanted to head to bed. So I staggered back to my room.

The Morning After

I managed to get up with just enough time to check out and head to breakfast as the Cha lounge - however I wasn't able to stomach my breakfast, so my friends cherry picked some of it. The coffee was very welcome. Alice headed off afterwards, and I went along with Cindy to watch Gemma get some
drone shots of the river which was fun. I am tempted to get one !

I was still nowhere near sober enough to drive, so ended up dumping my bags in my car, then mooching around Leeds with Cindy for a bit. We had a tea in the Corn Exchange, I went to the wig shop to get a couple more of the strong wig caps, and Cindy got some nail files from Superdrug, 

Cindy and Gemma were staying over the Saturday night, and had agreed to meet at Foleys for 1pm, so I joined them in there for another hour, sipping coke until I felt well enough to drive again.

I got home, then caught up with my sleep, didn't manage to do much, or eat much else that day.

Sunday

I was productive with housework in the morning, then we had a nice family lunch at my mums.

 Nothing problematic came up. I was worried my hair would get comments. But other than my mum offering me some hair dye, as I had said I wanted to look to get rid of the grey, and she's decided to go natural with hers, nothing about my appearance was mentioned.

A fairly visible week

 

Blue Monday

I was feeling pretty down on Monday morning, the usual guilt of being me. But one of my wig purchases came in the post - a 2nd hand but hardly used brown one, and this gave me the impetus to dress in the evening. I did three outfits in total. The first being a vintage satiny blue one, assuming likely 80's as it has shoulder pads.  

This really lifted my mood - it's odd that I don't sometimes realise how much it will, it shouldn't be so surprising. But I do sometimes feel so down that I don't want to dress, even when I have the opportunity to do so. 

I used to feel the same about social events, even though I knew I would probably enjoy it when I got there, the getting the will to go was the hard bit.

The blue dress was purchased from eBay in 2021 pre coming out, the last period of purchasing after a purge the year before. The other two outfits were Everything5 Pounds purchased last month, I had got four, and three of them were lovely, which given the price is a very good result ! - I have already worn the best one out at LFF earlier this month, check previous post for that.

Anyway I was a lot happier on Tuesday morning.

Wednesday 

I went for a walk to Aldi in the evening, partly for the exercise, partly for interesting meat.

I'm on another diet, trying to cut out sugar, and increase protein to get me feeling less hungry and liable to snack. I am also trying to fast after my evening meal.

So I'm having a boiled egg for breakfast, a tin of posh beans for lunch (Heinz 5 beans), this is carb and protein heavy to keep my going until the evening meal. 

Then I am doing some form of meat and veg , and fasting for the rest of the evening.

So having some nice meat is good. Aldi do nice venison steaks - but they had none when I got there.

I had lost 1.4 Kg over the week by sticking to this ! 

Thursday - Trans Wakefield

Ann had messaged to say she was going to be in the vicinity due to attending a work event that day, and was keen to come along, which was very nice and fortuitous as she was really good at the pub quiz the last time she came.

We managed to get a couple of games of pool in before the quiz started, she was very unlucky to lose one by accidentally potting the black, and the next one I won but it's wasn't that decisive. 

We teamed up with Zoe, who I have joined up with on some previous occasions, and we actually came 2nd !! We did get quite a few wrong, but not as many as some others it seems. We did good on the picture part of it, which was 'famous sayings'.

I got us some posh buns £2 each !! - the profits were going towards the Longboat LGBTQ charity run by the committee members which are all bar regulars, and Ann kindly shared some cheesy chips with me.

It was a very pleasant night. 

Friday - Trans Day of Visibility - Doncaster

The fact it was TDOV didn't really influence my day time activities, I would have been going out dressed anyway, it was my day off, and that's what I tend to do, but perhaps it did lend a small feeling that I was doing something positive. 

I had been hoping I could get out in the Morris Minor, don a 50's style dress and go somewhere nice for a cake, coffee, and photo's and such - but the weather was against me, it was a grey wet day, and the car is about as waterproof as a sponge so I binned that idea.

So instead I decided upon a shopping trip to Doncaster - I like the shopping centre there, it's not as big as Meadowhall, but has the main shops I like, and you also then have the rest of the town centre and markets to explore, and charity shops should I desire them.

I got there around midday, and decided that food should be first aim.  I didn't want to eat in the shopping centre, I like to give my business to more down to earth independent's where possible. 

I had been to one the last time that was very nice - I found it again and had a look through the window but it looked pretty rammed, so decided to look elsewhere. 

Went through the market indoor bit, there were some fresh baked pies that smelt divine, but I wanted to have a proper sit down meal.

I exited there and went down a side street and found another place that looked nice, but again was very busy. Kept going a bit further from the busy parts, until I stumbled across a place with four people in it.

It turned out that two of them were just there to chat , and the other two were the owner and cook - and the visitors left when I arrived, so I had the place to myself. Which was a bit weird - I did want quieter but not that quiet !

He was very chatty, apparently had owned it for 10 years, but it seemed like passing trade was dwindling due to the big shopping centre causing nearby shops to close. 

I possibly chose badly from the menu, I went with lasagne, which I had expected would be one that
they  had previously made and then frozen, but from later conversation between the two of them likely came from Iceland !

It was very small but still tasty. They did a jacket potato for me, as I said I didn't want chips (attempting to be healthy). It also had salad and coleslaw and beetroot with it too. The latte I had with it was nice.  He kept up the conversation while I ate, nothing too heavy, asking why I had come out that day etc. It was pleasant enough.

They didn't accept card, which threw me, but he said I could just do a bank transfer. He asked my name, and I told him Isobel, but said it wouldn't come up as that on his bank. I'm not sure if he actually needed to know for the payment, or was just curious. Anyway I told him my male name as he seemed genuinely curious.

He said he had 'lots of people like me in' , and was very open minded. It was a bit odd, but in a positive way.  I would go back - perhaps choosing an all day breakfast or something next time. 

However if all they are getting is socially awkward trans people, they won't last another month. 

After this I headed back towards the shopping centre, I didn't really see any shops on the way I wanted to go in, but had a number of chain shops in the centre I wanted to look in.

First I went into TK Max, they sell cookware now, I don't recall ever seeing this before, but couldn't see any clothes I liked, so only stayed long enough to get a mirror selfie.

Found a lovely handbag in a leather shop, very colourful, but £70 , and I resisted.  They were nice in there and said if I wanted to look at anything they would unlock it - the leather jackets and such were chained up !

Then I went into Next and found two dresses in the sale section. I decided to go try them on, they both seemed to fit really well, so bought them both. The black one was £18 down from £42 I think, and the patterned one was £11 down from £20. 

Although on getting home it turns out that the patterned one was on the wrong hanger, it's actually a size 6 !!!! - but very stretchy. So although it does fit, the pattern is perhaps a bit off what it should look like on a stick insect. I still can't believe it's a 6.

I had a look in a few other places, and found some shoes in Select I liked, block open toed heels with pointy metal studs. 

Then I saw a perfume counter in the middle of the walkway - I had been given a sample by the same people at the Nottingham shopping centre and quite liked it. So I ended up sampling 5 or 6 samples there, before deciding to buy some ! She was lovely, didn't bat an eyelid, a sale is a sale I guess.

After this I looked in a few more places, then figured I best get home, so headed to the car. It was a nice afternoon out.

Friday - Trans Day of Visibility - Wakefield

The was an art event at the 'Our House' LGBTQ centre in Wakefield - I wasn't 100% sure it would be on, as the was a big gas leak just outside it the previous day and the road was closed and police making sure nobody got near it.

I checked our group chat and all was well, so I did an outfit change and lipstick refresh and headed out
there. The shoes I had chosen were a bad idea, I wore them out to Chams once, and I could barely walk in them, but I had clearly forgotten they were so bad. I just can't point my foot at the angle required.

The short walk to get there was a bit downhill which made things worse, but I managed it OK.

Once there I spent a few hours chatting with many of the other TW group members that had also come along. There was a competition to name a painting by one of the artists who was there, my effort came 2nd ! but there was no prize for 2nd.  The 1st prize winner got a print of a dragonfly painted by the same artist.

This is the painting :

I had suggested "A spectral vison" , the winner, (also a TW attendee) came up with "Reflection of Pride" - which to be honest I prefer.

It was a nice evening, it finished at 8pm ish, and the others walked back to the car with me as they were also parked outside the pub we go to. 

They were walking very slow, and I was hobbling at maximum speed , nearly fell over once :)

Today, there is an event on in Leeds for TDOV, I may well go to that this afternoon !

But I will post this now, as we are already getting very  long.

Hair bands

 

Hair Update

Well it's not magically grown a lot since last week, but I have started experimenting with hair bands, and also trying a centre parting too.  

Ann found me a selection of them on Amazon which I bought, all metal ones with different profiles. I've worn one out on my run this morning, it worked well, stopped it all flopping in my eyes.

Also bought some hair spray, which seems to work great in keeping the centre parting too. A lot less messy than wax or gel and it doesn't look oily or wet either. I've never really had long hair before, so it's all new to me.

I will need to look at dying it, it seems like more grey is showing the way I am wearing it now.  I shall investigate options, watch this space !

Monday

Took the Morris for a spin out to the local Sainsburys (in man mode) , and filled her up with some petroleum on the way back.

Had never driven it at night before, the headlights seemed to be pointing where they should, it was good to get it out !

Thursday - Chameleons 

It had been a while since I had done full makeup, and my left eyeliner wing did not go well at all, I
think I wiped it off and re-applied at least three times. 

I had chosen my outfit the previous night to speed things up, which was my Popsy dress - a firm favourite as it does well at hiding my tummy - I am feeling fat again. I paired it with my popsy chocolate tights, which are fabulous, I might order some more, and my flat black sensible boots. 

I was still ready fairly quickly, and didn't spare the horses on the way down, so I arrived pretty early. 

Ann was also there early too as she had been shopping at the outlet before coming, was good to see her again, it had been quite a while since had met in person.  

It was a very good night, well attended, my friend Danielle who I often see at LFF and Invasion turned up too, with a broken wrist though. I think she had come the previous week, but I had skipped that one due to covid. 

There was a new person who seemed very friendly, seems like she enjoyed herself and is likely to come back. 

I ate lots of biscuits which had been kindly purchased by Ann, but I had been pretty good that day with a slim fast for lunch, so hopefully didn't do too much damage. 

Did some photo's at the end for a few people, Lynn included, and managed to get a selfie of us both,

I gave Joanna a lift back on the way home, didn't end up needing to charge so it was a fairly quick journey, although I did stop at Woodhall has I was sure the car was making a weird noise - but nothing seemed awry. 

The Weekend

Friday I could have gone to Birmingham, but I was really tired still from Chams, so I decided it was too much. 

I've not done a lot over the weekend, a but of adulting and messed with my cameras. I want to do more video's for Insta / Youtube, but haven't had much practise. I think I will do a driving one first, in the Morris Minor, in my 50's ish polka dot dress.  

I've been a bit naughty and bought two more wigs, but they are the same as some I already have. I got a brand new version of the platinum blonde with blue highlights, and a slightly used version of my go-to brown one off ebay. It was a bargain, so hoping it is OK when it arrives.  Even with my own hair becoming an option, I still think I will want to wear them for going out.

Walked to Aldi yesterday, partly for exercise, partly for some variety on food, our local Asda doesn't really have much of a selection. I got some venison burgers to try. 

I went for a run this morning, my ankles were not that happy, but it was good to get out. 6.6km in total, but I maybe only ran 3km of that.

Ribbon Cutting

Hair update 

2/3rds of my ears are now covered. It's getting in my eyes a fair bit, and windy day's aren't too fun. 

I need to get something to keep it under control I think.

Thursday 

It was a bit of a busy day. My car MOT had meant to be on Friday, but they called it move it to the
Thursday due to the MOT tester being unavailable that day - this was the one already re-arranged due to snow.

I also had laser session around lunch time, and then Trans-Wakefield in the evening. 

The garage gave me an automatic Juke , which was horrible to drive, really hard to pull out of junctions fast compared to the leaf.

The laser went well, but again was very painful. I asked for a quote to get my torso done, and received a fairly cheap price £450 !

But it turned out she had got it wrong, as she sent me an SMS later apologising, it was actually £750 - which was more in line with what I was expecting.

So I start that next month. It will take my session time from 15 mins to an hour, so will be more difficult to fit around work.

Trans-Wakefield, I was going in man mode due to the laser, but I had a good time. Phoebe who had come for her first time a few weeks ago had returned, and I roped her and another regular into forming a quiz team. We did poorly, but had fun doing so.

I indulged in cheesy chips, and a Guinness to pre-celebrate St Patricks day :) 

It was a bit quiet a few missing, but still enjoyable. I felt comfy in man mode, which hasn't always been the case. 

It was mentioned that the LGBT community centre/café was having it's official opening on Saturday morning, and we were invited to attend to show our support.

Friday

This was my scheduled day off, and normally would have been an adventure day, followed by Nottingham Invasion in the evening, but with the laser being moved to this week I couldn't do either.

So instead I decided to make a concerted effort to replace the leaf springs in the Morris minor. I was successful  - managed one side, and started on the other, but managed to break 3 nails in the process. 

I ended up just trimming them all, but I have a few weeks before I will be going out so they will look OK by then I expect.

Saturday

I got up early to ensure I could get to Wakefield for 10am to be at the ribbon cutting ceremony. 6 or 7 of us from the group turned up. We got one free coffee, which was quite strong, they had teamed up with a company to get a proper machine. 

At 10:30 we were ushered outside to see the group leader Christine and the centre manager cut the ribbon together - both did a short speech. 

They took a group photo afterwards with everyone who wanted to be in it, I think I was the only one to abstain.

Went back in and had another coffee, and spent until midday chatting to the others. Sam who had visited with Trans-Leeds one time was there, had a nice chat with them. 

Had a nice chat with Christine on leaving, she seemed pleased we had shown up to support the event.

My wife was nipping out to McDonalds for lunch, so I drove back home to get my McPlant. I was on a bit of a caffeine high from the proper coffee, so I took advantage of this to finish off the other leaf spring on the Morris in the afternoon.

Sunday 

Today I've got a slow cooker chicken casserole on the go, and been for a run. I did forget to wear sun cream on my face, but it wasn't too sunny, so hope I didn't do any damage. 

Post LFF Covid

 So it seems I likely got infected with the covid the previous weekend. This was rather unfortunate as I had laser scheduled for Tuesday, and a nice visit to Chameleons planned for Thursday - although I would have been looking a bit non-binary due to not being able to shave.

My dress while working

It also decided to snow heavily on Thursday, meaning my MOT for Friday was cancelled. Both things have been re-scheduled for next week, but it will have a follow on impact of preventing me glamming up for the Nottingham Invasion on the coming Friday. Or adventures out during that day too.

I did manage to dress a bit during the week - well, I knew I was dressed but my work didn't as I put a male jumper over the top to hide the female clothes. It did feel nice to be dressed though. I might do it more often. The benefit of working from home, I only have what the camera can see to worry about. 

There was some positives though, I finally got around to organising a trip to Pink Punters in Milton Keynes for the 2nd Friday in April. Got a hotel sorted for that, and it's on one of my free Fridays so no holiday booking required. Really looking forward to that. It could be a busy month, LFF, PP, Invasion, and also possibly the 1st Whitby Goth Fest of the year too !

I also spied some Green Ginger Wine in Asda, which sounded intriguing so I got a bottle of that. A bit like ginger sherry I suppose, I quite liked. 

Did go out for a long walk yesterday, and a shorter one to Aldi this afternoon - I am going to attempt to go for at least a short walk every day going forward. 

  

Rapturous Lasagne

I've completely forgotten what I did at the start of the week, so can't have been too exciting.

So let us skip ahead to Thursday :

Trans-Wakefield, AGM - 'Our House' LGBT+ Centre

Apparently we hadn't had one for several years, due to covid and other matters. We needed to get one
done so that we could make things more official, and start applying for the funding that is available to our group.

This was a very quick process, with the chair resigning, being nominated and accepting within the space of a few moments. The the other officers were suggested and seconded and such. 

We also had to anonymously provide our real names (bits of paper in an envelope) so we could record who had been there and voted and such. 

There was a document with the aims and rules of the organisation that also had to be agreed. 

There was only one position that I could have perhaps gone for, which was to help liaise with the other Wakefield organisations over our pride involvement. I got some looks from people which suggested that may have hoped I would have gone for it, but I don't consider myself a brilliant people person. It went unfilled for the moment.

This all only took less than 30 mins or so, and we progressed into the usual chatting after this. I had a nice hot chocolate, and a can of Pepsi max , which was a bad idea as I didn't sleep too well.

Got chatting to a slightly older trans woman who I had only seen briefly at a couple of other meetings. She was really nice, and it turned out she was also an LFF attendee, so I would perhaps see her the following day at that.

There was also a new person from over my way, who had come out of the house for the first time, she seemed really nice too - I walked her back to her car as they were parked very near me. I think she will be back. I've forgotten her name already, so will have to hope she signed onto the group discord server.

It was a very pleasant evening, perhaps one of the best so far for me. They have tended to be less fulfilling, but a lot more convenient to get to. 

Leeds First Friday - Daytime fun

I'm feeling in a verbose mood, so grab your milk and settle on the story rug for a needlessly long
account of a day and a bit:

I got ready at a fairly relaxed speed, because I wasn't actually due to meet anyone until the afternoon really. Which was fortunate as the mail man turned up with four new dresses for me from Everything5Pounds.com !  Once again I had painted nails, but no makeup or wig so had to hide behind the door a bit. He's never phased.

I put on my evening eye makeup, as I have a habit of losing motivation, and lacking time between the day and evening events, so better I get it done in the morning.

Tried all the dresses on, only one was a bit of a disappointment, a bit big - but the one I ended up wearing on the night was gorgeous. A sort of patterned velvet, with pearl details. 

I got into Leeds around midday, and sent a message to Alice to ask if she had any lunch plans - she's always there early.  Turns out she had only just had a big breakfast, so I nipped to Flamingo's for a coffee and a bagel. I'm a creature of habit, had the pastrami and Emmental again. 

I had forgotten to bring any perfume - realising on the way in, so I popped into New Look and got a bottle of cheap 'Scarlet Velvet' perfume. It's nothing special, but is a lot smaller than my current, might leave it in my makeup bag.

After this I headed to the pub to find Alice, she was in the 'Head of Steam' with Cindy, having already been in the Weatherspoon's before 12 ! 

Had a nice chat in there for a bit, then we went to the 'Bankers Cat' where Jessica joined us. Alice and
Cindy left after a while to check in. Hannah had arrived and checked in, so we went back to the hotel so I could too, then towards the bus station to meet Hannah's girlfriend who had come by coach. We were a bit early, so we browsed the expensive shops next to John Lewis for a bit.

Jessica and myself went for another drink while Hannah and girlfriend got sorted, it was the 'Bowers Tap' in the freedom quarter - was quite nice. A CD lady who I had met at Nottingham came in and we got talking to her and her wife. We got some gossip on who to avoid, and we talked about Blackpool as a venue. They also recommended a nearby Italian restaurant too. The lasagne was meant to be "Orgasmic". 

Having been told of this Lasagne, and being bereft of orgasms that day, we met up with Hannah and
proceed to the restaurant - it was just past the Bridge Inn, but before the bridge, Viva's I think.

Three out of four of us had the lasagne, but it didn't seem to have the effect as advertised :( - it was really nice though, thin layers. Best I've had for a while for sure.

Then we all headed back to the Travelodge, to get ready for the evening.

Leeds First Friday - Evening fun

I got changed fairly quickly, I did shave again but possibly didn't need to, more out of habit I think.

Didn't need to touch the eye makeup thankfully. Then we met in the foyer and headed to the Viaduct. 

I was meeting an Insta friend Bennie, who had come on her own - I hadn't realised for the first time, but she seemed in need of escorting to the viaduct from the Marriot, so I did nip back out to collect her after a little while. 

We spent a few hours in there, I spoke to the lady I had met the previous night at Wakefield, and to a few other Insta people who I try to catch up with. One who only get's out very infrequently, so was fortunate to see her - I did definitely miss a few though. 

We seemed to collect a young cis woman in there who had been chatting to Jessica for a while, and invited her to join us - but she was getting the last bus so didn't stay with us long.

We tried Fibre, but the upstairs was closed off again - or seemed to be. Really not sure what's going on with it. So we headed to 'The Bridge' as Hannah had expressed an interest in Karaoke. We stayed in there for one while she did 'Shotgun' by George Ezra - I think.  She has a lot of confidence, very envious of this. Don't think she will be giving up the day job though :)  

Then we did 'The End', which was a bit busy and had pants music, but we sat and chatted for a bit. Benni had chosen her shoes badly, and was in real pain by this point, but she just about managed to walk the short distance to the Smokestack. We ended up on the middle floor as the music upstairs wasn't too great this time.  Hannah and girlfriend left early, but I stayed with Benni and Jessica until about 1am. 

We had to take it really slowly getting back to the hotel as Benni's feet were fubar by this point, it wasn't fun for her at all. We walked her back to the Marriot and said our goodbyes. Then we went back to the Travelodge.  

I had mainly been on shandy so wasn't really tipsy at all. 

Saturday

I had not booked breakfast, so after getting up and showering I messaged Hannah and Jessica to see if they wanted to meet up, and told them of a nice café on the other side of the bridge I had been recommended by Alice. Hannah had been up a bit earlier to drop her girlfriend at the coach station. So it was just the three of us going there.  I checked out and put my bags in the car then met them both back at the hotel.

It was a short walk over the bridge and down a cobbled street, really nice place. They were taking table
reservations so was quite popular. We had a pleasant breakfast and conversation,  it wasn't a speedy place so we were there an hour I think. Wasn't that cheap, but tasted very good. 

After this we headed back towards the hotel, and I bid them both farewell - they were going to the train station, and I headed to my car. I got back just before 12.

I remained dressed for the rest of the day, but with the wig off, my hair is actually not looking too bad when I have the makeup on, so doesn't feel like I am a bloke in a dress as much as it did when it was short.

A very nice weekend overall, and great to get to know a few more people, and spend time with Jessica and Hannah too.

Today

Not done a great deal, I booked the Travelodge for the next two months. Signed up with a new social media app 'MeWe' as there is a trans social group on there - recommended by Benni. Seems very friendly, may give me access to some events in Manchester I didn't know about.

I went for a run, did a lot of catchup of comments on Insta, that's about it :)