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. 

 

Two Coasts, Four days, Six dresses

The school summer holidays started on the 21st of July for us, I had booked a static caravan for a week at a nice site in Hunstanton, Norfolk. The park is Searles, we had stayed there previously a few years ago and loved it. 

With the additional room available in the wife's new car, it was the first holiday where there would be room for additional bags of female attire and the vast array of makeup and shoes required for some en-femme days.

The holiday itself was really good, we did an amphibius seal tour on the sandbanks around Hunstanton, a narrow gauge railway ride to a holy village, and a ride in an army truck around a military museum - as well as the usual beach days, over eating and drinking too much of the local beer.

En-femme in King's Lynn 

I only managed one en-femme day in the end, that was on the Sunday. It was only my third time out with the family. 

We headed into Kings Lynn arriving just after midday.

I chose to wear a vintage 80's 'Mollie Haw' dress, it was suitably summery and nice and light fabric. 

On arrival we found a café and had a drink. Then we did the museum, then popped into Boots as we both needed something. 

Then we started looking for food places, and ended up in a pub. I had a really nice pork belly roast.

After this we had a 5 minute look around inside the cathedral, then onwards to the docks. They have some kind of mammoth trail thing going on, so I got a photo next to that too.

We then popped into Costa for a drink before heading home. We were wandering around for about three hours in total. 

It mainly went well , both kids called me dad once, and my wife asked one of the them to double check what 'daddy' wanted while she stood at the bar in the pub. But given it's not a regular occurrence they all did really well.

I am always a bit worried about getting negative reactions while out with my family, if I'm on my own I only have myself to defend - or more likely just laugh off, or get myself away from it. I do feel more conscious of the potential for my loved ones to be upset, and feel guilty about this.

We didn't seem to get any that I noticed thankfully. 

After we got back to the caravan park, I headed out alone to the beach - I had dreamt of doing so for a long time. I had a bit of a paddle and took some video's of me messing around for Insta. It was fun !

The wind was not fun with my wig, and some of the other photo's I took didn't turn out so well.

Blackpool - Friday

We returned from our holiday on the Thursday night, which meant that I then had a free weekend to do some more en-femme adventures !

I had four options, Hull Pride, Nottingham Pride, the 'Seasiders' meeting at Bridlington, and also 'Blackpool Chix'. I chose the later, I knew people at most of them, but I had been itching to do Blackpool for a while.  I had heard many good things about it.

On the Friday they meet up at the Dragon Fly BnB at 8pm, and on the Saturday it's LuLu's at 8pm.

I found a cheap BnB online, which was very near both meeting points and booked that. It was a gay friendly place, as it seems a lot are around that area : https://www.habberlyhotelblackpool.co.uk/

Turns out the owner had been on "Four in a bed" , the hotel review program ! - but at his previous hotel.

I set off around midday, stopping to charge at Birch services around 2pm, and arriving at just before 4pm.  I had a sandwich at Birch. Got booked into the hotel, and carted my bags up 3 flights of stairs to the attic room I had booked.  It was very cosy ! - the loo/shower was a shared private room one flight down, just for the two attic rooms.  It had a Velux window, and I could see the sea if I poked my head out 😁 - I did have a sink at least. 

The event didn't start until 8pm, so I did some wandering up and down the front, got some photos, and then found a café where I had a jacket potato.  My digestive system wasn't very happy, too much beer over the previous week I think.

I headed back to the hotel and got changed for the evening. I was feeling a bit bloated, so went with my Shein summer dress which is quite forgiving around the waist. Had really nice comments the previous time I wore it out too. 

I walked the short distance to the Dragon Fly and had to wait a short while until someone came to answer the door bell, as the inner door was locked.

Once inside I was directed to the bar where I found a few of the other girls. I had known that Justine would be there, so there was once friendly face. But was soon talking to a
number of others too. It and the next venue were cash only bars, fortunately I did have a £10 note on me for emergencies !

We headed to LuLu's next , which is more of a proper LGBTQ+ cabaret bar, but also a hotel too, rather than a BnB.  It has a DJ and is much bigger downstairs. 

We spent a while in there, then headed to Galleon, which is a straight music bar - really nice in there. They had a live band on, and we met up with some women who were on a 50th birthday weekend. They were quite tipsy but very friendly and lovely. 

There was some fab decor in here too - the downstairs loo was through a Tardis door !!  - and there was
all sorts of Dr Who memorabilia inside.

After this we went to the Flying Handbag which is an LGBTQ+ venue , very big, air conditioned with a drag host . It had a pool table, big dancefloor and quite a lot of seating. We got in for free with out Blackpool Chix card too ! - saving us the princely sum of £2.

I decided to call it a night after midnight, I had been on soft drinks to try and help with my digestive issues, and also wanted to try to be fresh for the next day which was really more the main event. Alas this was not to be.

Blackpool - Saturday day time

I had not had a good night, there was heavy rain at 2am which on the Velux was really loud and woke
me.  Then at just after 4am a guy who had the other attic room arrived back, and fell asleep on his bed with his light on and door open.  He had somehow managed to set an alarm on his phone which was really really loud and woke me up.  

Unfortunately he was so absolutely hammered it didn't wake him, and it kept stopping, then going off again every 10 minutes.  So I chucked a dress on and went next door and shook him till he woke up - he did attempt to turn it off, and apologised 'sorry mate' - but he clearly failed as it continued to go off for another 30 mins. 

I didn't want to interact with him any more in the state he was in, so I just shut his door and put my emergency earplug in - I carry one in my purse for loud clubs, one ear buzzes when music gets too loud.

I did manage to get back to sleep, but he had clearly set an alarm for 7am too, an hour before I wanted to get up. I just got up at 7 and had my shower. It was still going off an hour later when I finished putting my makeup on.

I had my breakfast, but didn't feel too great after it.  I met up with Justine who was eating breakfast at a café just over the road and had a tea in there while she ate hers.  Then we headed towards the shops and met up with the two other girls, Stephanie and Catriona. We did a bit of shopping, and we had a drink at a coffee shop.

Catriona decided to go have a sleep, and the three of us did some charity shops for a few hours. I really wasn't feeling too good at all, so I decided I would also go for a lay down. 

Hadn't had any lunch yet, and some pills I got from Superdrug said they needed to be eaten after food, so I went to Sainsburys and got a ploughman's sandwich and some ginger tea.  I spend the rest of the afternoon napping.  

Blackpool - Saturday Night

I really wasn't sure if I was going to feel well enough to go out, but a message from a friend
Arabella who actually lives in Blackpool and wanted to meet up pushed me to make a decision and I got ready and gave them a call to arrange meeting with them too.

Really glad I did, it was a fab night in the end.

We met at LuLu's , spend quite a while in there. There were a few more girls, perhaps 10 of us in total. After this we went to Galleon's again, it was much much busier, and we were standing for a while.

There was a couple of bands on, who were really good. We eventually managed to steal an entire corner of the bar and a few tables to make our own trans area 😂

The tipsy 50th party women from the previous night turned up, and one of them was being very entertaining again.  A lovely CIS girl ended up being our official photographer and took quite a few group shots of us all, none of which I have yet though.  She even lost her seat in the process which seemed a little unfair.

Arabella met us in there, and we had a bit of a catchup in between people trying to flirt with her 😂

There was also another fairly drunk young couple who wanted us to dance. She was very keen to tell me how inclusive they were bringing up her kids, and that she saw us as women, and was very complimentary about our look.  They were both nice, but a bit handsy ! 

We were in there quite a while, but eventually a number of us decided to head to the Flying Handbag. Me and Arabella joined them.  We spent another hour in the handbag, did a bit of dancing. Arabella headed home and soon it was just three of us left at about 1am.

This ended up with just me and Emily, who decided we should try a very 'down to earth' bar before heading back to our respective hotels. It was called 'Garlands'  - it had a drag DJ , flags and such. 

The clientele were a little rough looking, and some were very worse for wear.  We ended up on a table with some lovely older CIS couple who had been out drinking and had a bad experience in another bar with an aggressive drunk lady.  They offered some seats to us as we were standing at the bar. Emily wowed them with some slight of hand magic which they found amazing.  

A fairly old guy with came in, with an even older guy with a walking stick - he looked very frail. They ended up getting a table next to us.  The really old guy seemed to be shuffling closer and closer to me on the bench seat, the couple I think spotted this and moved to give me a bit more room. I thought he was going to end up in my lap at one point. It was a bit strange.  I was half expecting to be groped when I left, but he didn't.

I waked back towards LuLu's with Emily, and we passed some very dodgy looking characters, who I wouldn't have wanted to meet on my own for sure !  We got a comment 'Fuckin ell'  not sure if it was an insult, or compliment, but didn't stop to find out.

We parted ways at the pedestrian crossing which took me over the road to my hotel. I think I met her at Nottingham Invasion last year - it was the slight of hand magic that made me twig. She did some coin tricks in the pub next to the shopping centre.

Sunday 

I had to be out by 10am, I got down to breakfast at 9am and had the place to myself with the two partners serving / cooking for me.  Felt hungry so did manage to eat more than the previous day.

Journey back was nicer, I did it in about 2:30 , charging once at the Rivington services on the M61

It seems to be a new tradition that I pop into the local shop while still dressed from an adventure, so I did Asda too !

Feeling a bit better today, but still quite tired.

Summary 

All in all, a fab couple of nights, was great to meet and get to know more people, I will definitely try to get back to more of them. It's so much cheaper than Leeds or Manchester too. 

Definitely one to do if budget is the primary concern. The drive there and back isn't fun - but it's doable. The train might even be an option !

The bars are more like the ones I love in Manchester, but just spread out a bit more. 

It doesn't feel as safe as either Leeds or Manchester, it's a much more deprived area, so I wouldn't want to be walking back to my BnB in a bad state on my own for sure.

Was great to be able to visit both coasts En-Femme for the first time too, and in the same week !  Didn't get to paddle in the sea at Blackpool though, I will have to do that next time.

 

Super Haircut

Monday 

Before

I had booked the Monday off work after Sparkle, so I could have a nice day to myself.  I had planned to perhaps go to the Supercuts in Wakefield for an en-femme haircut. I had been there previously many months ago in man mode, but explained I was aiming for a female cut. It was left that I needed to grow it a lot longer before much could be done, but they tidied it a bit.

When I check the online booking portal for Wakefield it seemed they were quite busy, so I decided to head into Leeds instead.

I washed my hair and got dressed, and did my makeup. I didn't think I should put any hairspray on, so I just used one of my hair bands to try and keep it under control. It didn't feel that I looked that great and I felt a bit self conscious really. 

I got there just before lunch, and was the only person in the queue. They were just finishing with someone else so I didn't have to wait too long.

After

The lady I got was called Jade, it was her first day there - but clearly not her first day as a hairdresser. I went for a Level 4 'supercut'  which is a shampoo, condition, cut & blow dry. I had never had anyone wash my hair sinc
e I was a child, so it was all a bit new !

After the wash and condition we moved from the sink to the chair to d
o the cut. Then she got the straighteners out and got it under control.

She was asking questions about what I wanted, I ended up going for a single length bob. She took some weight out of the sides, but without taking any length off, and also tidied up the back a bit, got rid of some of the curls.

There was a bit of chit chat, but I suspect she didn't really know what to say - but she was still very nice. It cost £38.50 all in, which is the most I've ever paid - but still not that much for a female cut.

Different angle

I was very happy with the result, I do still need to grow it a bit longer, but with the parting further towards the middle it does look quite feminine now.  

For boy mode I can still part it further over to the side, and it seems vaguely plausible - although I have no sideburns at the moment. More about that later !

I also  went to the MAC counter at John Lewis and had a foundation colour match, and spent some money in there, I won't say how much, but more that I should have.  I still haven't tried any of it on yet, perhaps at the weekend I will.

I had a coffee and bagel in Flamingo's and also looked around the Corn Exchange then headed home before the traffic got too bad.  There was a bit of rain so I got more brolly practise, but it was a fun day !

Wednesday - The work do - Alton towers

I didn't go en-femme, but I will, one day , I'm sure.

Anyway, there was minimal notice of my appearance, which I always get stressed about.

One of the speakers did use an example of a gay man asking about a companies inclusivity in an
interview - she was making the point that in many ways the interview process is a two way thing these days. People will often choose to work for a company that offers the best work life balance and culture, not just the biggest salary. 

It was the first time I had heard anyone mention anything at all to do with LGBTQ at all in the 4 years I think I've been here.

I had decided not to stay the night, and partake in the evening drinking, and headed off as soon as I was allowed.

On the way back I stopped in at a friends for a cup of tea, I hadn't realised they were 3 mins away from the A38 on my route home ! That was nice, broke the journey up a bit.

Thursday - Nottingham

Andie and Sasha were planning on heading to Nottingham before Chameleons to have a bite to eat, and had kindly invited a few of us along.  In the end only Joanna, Ann and myself could join.

I had sneaked off work early - most of the company was offline due to over indulging at the work do, plus they were travelling back during office time, so I didn't feel too guilty.

I had laser in the afternoon at 3pm, my face then torso. It went OK, but I think there was a problem with the cooling tip on the machine, it was a bit warmer than normal. They rang me a few days later to check on me as they had discovered the issue. I was finished by about 4pm and headed straight to Nottingham afterwards.

I met Ann at the community centre that hosts Chameleons at a bit after 5pm, and I gave her a lift into the centre, saved on parking. I like to park at the Victoria Centre North so I can charge my car. I got that going, then we walked to Revolucion de Cuba on Market Street.

Andie, Sasha and Joanna were already there, it was nice inside, loved the décor. I was the only one in boy-mode  (due to the laser) , so it was bit odd from that perspective, but still nice.  Andie was in a very fetching dress, I can't remember the brand but she did tell me.

We had some mocktails, and ordered our food. Service was a tad slow, and we had to be proactive to get extra drinks.

The food was really tasty though, I loved it - I had a deal 3 dishes for £15.  A few of us had coffee's for desert, and they were so slow making them, that they gave us them for free.  

It was a very nice few hours, good conversation, really enjoyed it.  I felt a bit left out that I had to use the gents though :)  - there was a couch in the ladies !!

We headed back to the community centre to join the rest of the group, and the pleasant evening continued.  Turns out Lynn was also not able to dress, so the two EV owners were letting the side down on that front 😆

Someone had brought coconut macaroon biscuits, they need to come more often, I loved them.

I got some nice comments on my hair - which wasn't as fully femme as it can be, I hadn't moved the parting, so that is encouraging !

I caught up with a few people, it was great to be in the company of other trans folk again, I left very happy. I didn't stay too long as I was working the next day, so I was back around midnight.

Saturday - Pub time

I was not quite like a caged tiger, but I was certainly suffering from a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out)  on Friday, Ann and Gemma had gone out drinking,  Benni was out in Birmingham, and I was trapped at home as my wife had a work do.

So on Saturday I decided to go for a long walk, and pop into some pubs I had been meaning to scope out for a future en femme visit. I still couldn't shave due to the laser, so en-femme was out of the question anyway.

It was a bit windy, so I had my hair pulled back with a metal band. I do feel a little self conscious with it like that, but it's brilliant from a practical perspective. I think I look a bit ambiguous though.

The pubs I visited were both by Newmillerdam which is a lake with a park around it. 

The first one was 'The Dam Inn' , it was pretty nice inside, only seemed to have one real ale in there. I ended up with an IPA from a pump though.  It didn't seem anything special as a pub, but good to try it.

While I was drinking my beer I was on Facebook and added someone I had met a few times before, but didn't know that well.  Turns out they must have been in a mood to chat as they messaged nearly straight away, and we ended up messaging for a bit until I was ready to go to the next bar. 

Then I somehow butt dialled her on the short walk to the next pub, and we have a lovely video chat in the pub car park too.

The next pub was the 'Fox and hounds' , I had 3 pints of Propper Job in there, and ordered some chips to nibble on too. It seemed like a nice place, I think there were some gay guys in, and the atmosphere seemed quite friendly. The beer was better too, more real ale. 

The only odd thing is that one of the serving girls seemed to emphasise 'sir' when handing the chips over, it was a bit odd, as I wasn't trying to look femme as such. I wondered if perhaps the hairband and long hair, and lack of sideburns had made her think I was attempting to present female. I hadn't shaved so I had a load of stubble too. 

I had consumed a few pints, and could well have been a bit paranoid, I don't know.

I am tempted to go back en femme, see what reception I get.  I like the idea of trying to make local non-trans friends, I don't know anyone locally at all. I hardly speak to the neighbours.

Aside from a potentially over emphasised pro-noun it was a nice afternoon, and great to be out of the house.

Work Week

It's been a busy one, no major news.

I've had the 3D printer out to make an LED heart for my handbag so I can perhaps join in with Gemma when we go out around a beer festival or clubs.  I want a little taste of attention myself, but not so much I am competing  - more to join in really.

It was also fun to play with the printer again, it's not been out for ages.  I have some cool ideas for improvements already, but hope will be able to use it a pride. 

 

Damp Sparkle Weekend

If anyone reading this hasn't heard of the Sparkle weekend, it's defines itself as the "world’s largest free-to-attend celebration of gender diversity", it's held in Manchester each year in July. It's on for three days Friday to Sunday, and this year I would be staying two nights then coming home on the Sunday afternoon.  I would be hanging out with two of my friends Ann and Gemma.

Friday

I had the day off on the Friday, which meant I was able to get into Manchester for lunch time, Gemma was getting in a little later as she was working in the morning.

I met up with Ann on canal street, we took a few photo's then headed to her Air BnB to get her checked in. Then we had a quick drink and sandwich and headed for a real ale bar near the railway station to meet Gemma. She was in fab drab, as only tends to dress for an event, and is always very glamorous when she does.

After this it was time for Gemma and myself to check in to the Premier Inn, so I went to grab my bags from the car with the assistance of Ann, and got checked into my room. 

While Gemma was getting ready myself and Ann headed out to do a bit of shopping in the Arndale centre. Ann got some bra's and I got some perfume. Found another mural to get a pic next to too.  

Then we headed back to Canal street, and decided to try 'The Thompson Arms'  , where I had a
Guinness, for medicinal reasons of course.  When we were done we headed back to our respective hotels to get changed for the evening. 

Gemma's posh room had an iron and board, so I nipped up to hers to iron the two metallic dresses I had brought for Friday and Saturday evenings.

I had found a nice Peruvian place online, which was very close to Canal street, and had booked a table for 7pm, so  we were all aiming to get glammed up for the evening meal, and then carry on into the evening from there.

I wandered up to Gemma's room (she had a posher on on the top floors)  for some photo's before we left
for the restaurant, and we did a corridor walking video - I really like these they are lots of fun, but the fickle people of Instagram don't seem so keen 😐

The meal was at Peru Perdu, it was very nicely furnished with old cassettes being used to decorate the bar. I had "Pollo Tigre de Leche"  which was a spatchcock chicken in a citrus marinade. It was very flavoursome, really enjoyed it.

After this we headed to Canal street, did some schmoozing outside Via.  We hung out with a few people on the tables outside. They were being a bit strict with the glasses - I'm sure last time everything was in plastic ones. This time we had glass ones, but we were not allowed to stand holding them, they had to be on a table when not being drunk from. It was a bit weird !

Also they seemed to have a curfew where they removed all the tables after so long, probably for noise reasons - not sure if this is new too, I don't recall it last time. 

After a while we headed to Bar Bop, 'New York, New York'. Then I think we did Oscars. 

I was mainly on halves to try and not overdo it on the first night. I did a bit of dancing in 'New York, New York' , they had some good 80's music in there. 

We were not out that late really, I think it was about 1am I got back to the hotel.

Saturday 

We all met up at the Premier Inn for breakfast, unfortunately Gemma had not slept at all, so she went back to bed straight after this.

I was feeling a bit rough, my digestive system was not happy - a common theme on multi day events. This was despite me being fairly restrained the night before.  I hadn't had masses of sleep either. I was having temperature issues, hot one minute, cold the next, so I decided to go without a wig for better cooling :)  . I don't look as good without one, or feel like I am 'blending' as well as normal, but I feel fairly comfortable without one now. 

Anyway I thought it was best to keep active and try and power on through, so me and Ann decided to head off to explore Manchester, aiming for the Science and Industry museum that Gemma had recommended 

The museum itself was partially closed, only the main building was open - but it was free. It was nice
inside, they had a lot of interactive exhibits upstairs, some very interesting old machinery in a hall downstairs, and some cool computer exhibits. 

We were just about done in there, and would have probably nipped into their café for a drink afterwards, but unfortunately the fire alarm went off, and we were all ushered out of the building. We were largely done by this point so headed back towards canal street.

It was starting to rain, but we had brought brollies so were OK. We stopped off for a drink at a little coffee shop just as it started to come down hard.  I had a ginger beer in a can to try and assist with my tummy - which did help, I think ginger is meant to be good for that.  

Then we headed to the Sackville gardens to take a look around. The first act was coming on as we were
queuing to get some pizza from one of the vans there.  It wasn't really our cup of tea , nor the vendor who could barely hear us.

We didn't stay long, it was raining, and not many people there. We had a mooch around the stands, and the stalls outside the garden, but we were largely done in 30 mins or so.

Next we headed to the New Union, where I had a J20 .  We were both a bit tired by that point, the lack of sleep catching up with us. Ann actually fell asleep briefly !  

So I decided I would head back to my hotel for a lay down, try and get refreshed for the evening. We
ended up doing our own things for food that night, I went to a Sainsburys local and got a sandwich.

After which I donned my 2nd metallic dress of the weekend, and popped up to Gemma's room for photo's and another corridor video !

It was raining quite hard, so we did wait in her room for a bit for it to lessen a little before taking our brollies and walking quite fast back to Canal street.  

It was raining quite hard all evening, which meant no outside drinking, which was a shame as it's so much nicer being sat outside - easier to see people you want to meet. We did some bar hoping, but not much as we didn't want to risk not having a table anywhere. 

We were quite lucky to get one in Via that was not directly under an aircon unit - our 1st one was, and
we were feeling a bit cold !

I think we did Bar Bop next, where Gemma got some fab interactions with a girl attracted by her LED handbag and belt, which was nice.

We ended up in 'The Church' which used to be called 'Churchills' . We met a few people in there, but we were a bit out of sync with many of the others I would have liked to have talked with. 

It was still a great night though.  It wasn't as bad walking back as the rain had mostly stopped by that point. 

We were back at the hotel before 1am I think.

Sunday 

Ann was leaving early so didn't meet up at the Premier for breakfast, so it was just me and Gemma.
After which Gemma had a little time to kill before her train home so we did a bit of exploring and took some footage of an interesting, but rather smelly canal underpass !

Soon it was time for her to leave, so we said our goodbyes, and I checked out of my room and did the short walk to my car to dump my bags in it. I moved it down to the bottom floor to put it on charge, then headed back to Canal street for one last time. 

The park was still flooded due to the rain so it wasn't going to open until midday, so I did some exploring of the sculptures and the gardens of the university near the railway viaduct to the south of the gardens. They have a Vimto sculpture there which I like to get photo's next to. This time there were a group of street people drinking out of cans there, but they didn't say anything to me.

The park was still not open by this point so I headed into the tea rooms next to it "Richmond Tea Rooms"  for a drink, they do really posh cakes and food too.  

I ended up on a table next to Simone who is a regular at Nottingham Invasion which was nice. We had a bit of a chat while I had my tea, they were just finishing their breakfast so departed before me. They had mentioned a cool little indie shopping centre which sounded fab,  so I decided I would go take a look at that.

This was called "Afflecks"  https://afflecks.com  it has a load of independent vendors selling all kinds of retro, steampunk, alternative type things.  It had three floors, but not everything was open. I think I spent at least half an hour in there.  Didn't buy anything though.

After this I popped into a big junk/curio shop which had all sorts of random stuff in it - and also an adult section which I found quite funny. It was around a corner with a big warning about there being things of an adult nature beyond. Nothing too bad, but they did have physical porn mags, all in plastic covers. I guess people collect them too !

I headed back to see if the park was open , and did eventually get in there.  I met a few people I had missed the previous night.  I had told my wife I would be back early afternoon through, so I didn't spend too much time in there again. Wish I had done now, would have been ideal to get to know a few a bit better while I had them to myself.

I headed back to the car at about 1pm , and I must have been back home 2:30ish.   I popped in my Co-op while still dressed on the way back to get some food supplies, and remained dressed for the rest of the day.

In Summary

It didn't feel as good as last year, I think I met less people, and spent less time in the actual event really. 

The weather was mostly to blame for this, and you can't control that. I think I will always look back on that first one with more fond memories than any future ones anyway, it will be a hard one to beat.

But it was fab to spend more time with Gemma and Ann, and I did have a really nice time.

Ketchup post

Mainly details of adventures in Leeds at the end of last month which I neglected to do earlier !

Leeds First Last Friday

The date had to be changed for the big Leeds social as it overlapped with Sparkle in Manchester. 

I had decided to go for two days this month, to join my friend Alice, and also Rebecka who I didn't really know, but was friends with Alice and Gemma.

The Friday:

Got into Leeds before lunch, and bought some more foundation from boots straight away as it ran out

while getting ready that morning. I had to use some cheap Amazon stuff I had kicking around. I then met Alice and we shared a Pizza at Rudys.

We did some shopping, had some beverages at Flamingo's.  Then we headed to a 'Northern Guitar' which is a guitar shop on the 1st floor, and a pub on the ground floor - sells real ales, really nice atmosphere in there. They had a fab beer in Motorhead branded glassed 'Roadcrew' which was very good indeed.

Rebecka met us later for food at a curry house we have used before "Tharavadu". I had a green chicken curry which was very nice indeed, and I ate too quick.

Was feeling very fat for the rest of the evening, we went to the 'Newbie' event at the bridge, just to show our faces.  We met Mandy in there, and she joined us when we went onward to the main meeting point at the Viaduct. Danielle found us in there, and we became 5 for a few hours.

I felt a bit sick with too much curry when we did Tapped, but I managed a half in the Brewers Cat. Then we headed back over to Northern Guitar and had a few more in there.  Mandy got her bus home at 11ish, and Danielle was driving so she didn't last too much longer.  The last of us were kicked out sometime after midnight when they closed the bar.

As we were out the next day, we walked back to the hotel - the three of us were all at the Premier Inn.

Saturday:

My digestive woes continued, and although I managed breakfast, I was a bit delicate for a
lot of the day. Did have a toastie at lunch. We pottered about a bit, there was a gothic event at the markets, I bought a spiked collar which will compliment my rock chic look. 

We had a few beers before our evening meal, which seemed to help get things working again. We were eating at a posh steak place 'Gouchos' as Alice does like to treat herself.  

Unfortunately she herself feeling a bit ill when we arrived, and it put her off her food somewhat, and put a bit of a downer on the evening.

I attempted to cheer her up with another real ale pub I had located - we had bad news that our usual afternoon haunt 'Foley's had been shut by the brewery, so we were actively seeking replacements.

We also tried "The Brewery Tap" which was opposite the curry house we ate at on Friday, which was not bad.  Not sure if a cis lady was having a go at my being in the ladies loo's in there, and there was a bloke giving me funny looks though.

We met Stephanie in there, she was going down to London for bottom surgery in a weeks time, so had been excitedly counting down the hours on Facebook - and she somewhat dominated the conversation for a while. She is really nice though. We did a lot of people watching in there, it's on the main route for people to get back to the train station, and there were quite a few hen parties wobbling their way back.

We headed back to the hotel sometime after 11pm I think.

Sunday

I needed to get back home as my wife was going to church, I had breakfast with Alice and Rebecka then went straight home - then went to the Asda dressed for the first time , as per previous post.

It was a nice weekend somewhat marred by respective health issues, but still really good.

Cat Food

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

Being 'Out'

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway, feels like another small step forward.

Hormones - Micro-dose 

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

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

Temptation to come out at work

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

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

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

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