Plumbing the depths

Thursday Night  - Nottingham Chameleons 

I was in two minds as to come, as I would be driving Josephine to a car show near Birmingham on the Friday, and wanted to be fresh.  But I figured if I made sure to leave by 10:30pm I would likely get a good night sleep.  

There was also a chance that Sue might be popping along, so I didn't want to miss her if she did. 

Anyway glad I did, it was a fun night, some newbies there to talk with, a full house nearly.  I might end up sat on the tea trolley if it get's much busier. 

Was in what I had been working in all day, a tunic top and leggings, very practical 😊

I was chatting to Charlotte mainly, who had not been out much and was possibly a bit overwhelmed. But she seemed like she enjoyed the night.

Was fab to catch up with the regulars, including Ann and Sally who I would be meeting up with on Saturday too.  Lynn had done some nice posters which likely made the staircase of doom seem more inviting to the newcomers.  

Was nice to see Joanne back too, on her electric bike, which was a bit of a struggle to get up the stairs.

Several new biscuit options were passed around, which I did my best to resist.  My diet isn't going too badly at the moment, which is nice.

I did manage to bid farewell roughly when I had hoped, and got home around midnight.

Friday - The drive to Daventry 

I had to pack in the morning, as I hadn't had chance the previous night. I had lunch and headed off around 1:30pm

The A1 seemed like the better route, I prefer having a hard shoulder for emergency's.  It wasn't a bad trip, it took around 2:30 , it was about 120 miles.  Mostly sat in the left lane and found other vehicles to site behind (at a safe distance).

I didn't stop on the way down, so was in need of the loo by the time I was there. 

There was clearly an event on at the hotel when I arrived, some desks in reception, possibly a conference of some sort.  They had given me a room quite a trek away, possibly out of the way of the other guests perhaps.  It all seemed a bit tired, and was a bit disappointed with it. 

Had a pizza and a beer in the bar after 6pm.  There was meant to be a pool, but it wasn't open, so spent the evening relaxing in my room. 

Did sleep too well, there was a dog barking somewhere, not sure if it was tied up outside, or was in one of the rooms.  I had to get up at 6:30am to be ready to get to the show as well. It was about 30 minutes away, but wanted to get there fairly early to be assured of a spot with the Women's Drivers Social Club girls.  Also my friend Alice was meeting with them for the 1st time too.

Saturday  - 'Rustival' car show 

It was quite cold in the morning, and I wanted to let the car warm up a while before setting off.  I had to
use my USB fan, on a camera mount pointing at the windscreen to stop it misting back up - she had no heating system or inbuilt fan, a somewhat poverty spec car  😂

By the time I was ready I was behind schedule, but did still manage to get there around 9am , with about 30 mins to spare before the official cut off time for the parking area we were in. We had managed to bag 'Vanden Plas' parking, which is meant to be the best area, and you have to apply early for.

On arrival we were directed to the appropriate row, and I spied Alice and her Land Rover, and ended up parked next to her !

We spent a little while chatting to some of the group, then headed off to get coffee and food, then around the event to look at the 100's of cars that were there. So many nice ones,  it's a real mixed event - Dubbed 'The friendliest car show'.

I got lots of compliments on my Doc Marten knee highs but don't actually have a picture of me in them :)

Elaine - A friend from Uni had been taking a break in the local area for a few days, and so I had invited her over to the show, she arrived mid-morning.  We also looked around most of the cars, before re
joining Alice and heading into the Museum buildings to look around their collection.  

We had some lunch in the café inside after this, and then did a bit more looking outside too.  She headed off mid afternoon, and I stayed for another hour or so.

Alice and myself were going to meet up with Ann and Sally in Derby, and have a meal out and drinks that evening.  I think it was 3ish that we headed off, the event hadn't officially finished, but we wanted to get going. 

The drive to Derby wasn't particularly eventful, other than I was getting quite low on fuel, and did panic Alice when I disappeared from behind her into the services for some really expensive E95.

I actually managed to get to the hotel before her, as she had stopped at the next services to message me, but I didn't hear it come through.

Saturday Evening - Derby 

Met Ann in the car park of the hotel, she was unpacking her car as I pulled up, I was confused as to why I had beaten Alice there, but she turned up a few minutes later. 

We had a meal booked for 7:45, but wanted to do some pubs before hand. So we didn't spend long getting booked in and changed.  The rooms had their heating turned up really high and the windows only opened a crack, so it wasn't the most fun place to be hanging about in either.

I changed into my cat circuit board print dress, partly as it was a lot cooler to wear in the room :)

We did a few real ale pubs on the way to the restaurant, meeting up with Sally in one of them. She had designed a new game called 'trap your jacket in your handbag zip' , which kept us amused for at least 10 minutes 😂

How many trans girls does it take to free a jacket stuck in a handbag ?  two as it turns out ! 

I only had a few halves as didn't want to be bad the next day as driving the Morris with a hangover is much less fun than a modern car.

The pub Ann had booked for the meal was really nice, and we all enjoyed the food. I had a hanging kebab which is always a fun option :)

We did some more pubs on the way back to the hotel, Sally had been in some new heels and wasn't able to walk that fast in them at all.  We managed to find one pub still open near the hotel, and stayed in there till last orders.  Then we all went back to the hotel, and Sally got an Uber home from there.

It was a very pleasant evening.

Sunday - Victorian Pumping Station

Despite not drinking much I wasn't feeling that great in the morning, tummy troubles mainly.  I did manage to eat some of my cooked breakfast - it was buffet style so I didn't waste it, just didn't get much. 

The plan was for myself and Alice to head to Clay Mills Victorian sewage pumping station near Burton upon Trent. https://www.claymills.org.uk

They allow you free entry to the museum if you take a classic vehicle along to display, so we got to park in the main compound rather than the car park.

Alice was nearly taken out by an insane Kia on the dual carriageway on the way, going from the outside lane to a slip road for a filling station right in front of her. Thought she was going to do a bit of impromptu off-roading !  unfortunately I wasn't directly behind her so have no footage. 

I made sure to get some nice photo's of us with the cars before we looked around. There was a lot to see there, 4 huge beam engines arranged in pairs, 2 of which we saw running. Other ancillary static engines doing minor roles, also one powering belts for lathes etc.  

There was a 'land girls' singing group in one of the sheds, and we listened to them for a while until a load of motorbikes arrived and we decided to go look at them instead.

There was a fire engine rescue demonstration too. 

It was a really fab place, I got some nice video but not uploaded any yet.

We headed home about 1:30 ish, we were going mostly the same way up the M1 for a lot of the journey, so I stayed in convoy as much as I could.  Got home after 3pm.

I was meant to be swimming at Bramley baths at 5ish, but I was very tired, and didn't bother.

I couldn't be bothered to go into the office on Monday morning, choosing to WFH instead 😂

In-laws, graves and house viewing

 

I am once again terribly late in writing, this occurred on the 14th of September.  A meal out with my brother in-law, his two small children, his wife, my kids , wife and the mother and father in-law.

It was at Culcheth, a place with a bit of a stain on it's name in  due to the murder of Brianna Ghey !

I had chosen to wear leggings and a tunic top, which has become my de facto work and casual look of late. I do like wearing dresses, but I feel slightly conscious of not fitting in with what a lot of women wear these days.

The tunics are good at hiding my modesty, and the leggings are much more comfy than jeans as they have elasticated waistlines. 

We arrived around midday, and parked at the brother in laws, as the pub is only a short walk away and we were a bit early to go there.  I was a little nervous, but received a normal greeting from everyone.  There was no real awkwardness.

We ventured to the pub after a short while.  The meal was nice, I had gammon with an egg and chips.  My first egg in a while as I had ditched them thinking they might be bad for my cholesterol.

I wasn't particularly talkative,  but I never was before around them - not sure if they took this as me being upset. My wife had a message after we got home that suggested they thought I was.  But I wasn't.

There were no major errors with name / pronouns , and they seemed embarrassed and keen to correct themselves when it did happen a couple of times ! which I found very encouraging.

They did a lot better than my own parents actually, which is a shame but they are not too bad either,

We stayed quite a while, before heading back to the brother in-laws house for a little while longer.  We left about 4:30ish, I wasn't in a massive rush to leave, but I had hoped to pop into my parents as we would have passed them on the motorway, but we got a text while driving to say they were under the weather.

I was very pleased with how it went, and quite relived to have done it. It will make further meetings much less stressful now.

Other things :

Hair

I dyed my hair again, it was meant to be 'Cranberry Bliss' but it sort of turned out a bit ora
ngey ! It quite like it, but it was not want I wanted.  I have a purple one to try next time, with my luck it will probably turn out green though 😂

Grave visiting

I decided to go for a walk on Sunday afternoon, heading to some wood about 4km away down a disused canal.  They were once part of an estate owned by Charles Waterton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Waterton)

The woods are public now, but the house is a hotel, and other parts of the grounds are a golf course. His grave is on private land in a wood in the golf course.  I decided I would do a bit of trespassing to go visit it, it made the whole thing a lot more fun as I was being naughty.

Managed to get there without shredding my legs too badly, but there wasn't a path from the direction I
was coming from, so had to wade through some brambles and spiky brush to get through. Started raining hard as I arrived, so had to switch to my bright yellow waterproof that didn't exactly help with camouflage.  

Got back out a slightly easier way I hadn't seen on the way there, but did end up being spied by some golfers.  

House Viewing

I did a house viewing on behalf of a friend last night. She wants to move to Wakefield, but lives in
Croydon at the moment, so hard for her to do viewings.  I was quite nervous about this, meeting people who don't expect me to be trans, and who's views I can't easily predict I guess.

Anyway the lady owner who showed me was lovely, and very friendly, and the viewing itself went fine. My friend has put an offer in, and she hopes to hear back tommorow.

Weekend Plans

This weekend I have a car show, and then a night out in Derby afterwards. It's been 3 weeks since I last had a drink ! which is probably not a bad thing. I am looking forward to it !

Cutting back on the sausages

Life Updates

Things are not too bad at the moment.  My dad was in hospital with gall bladder problems a few weeks ago, but had thankfully returned home. There were a few visits to hospital to keep him company in the evenings. He has since been back for day visits for an issue with his mouth swelling, but that also seems to be on the mend.

I have a family meal with my in-laws and my brother in law and his family booked for Saturday, I am a little worried about this, but not massively panicking.  It will be the first time meeting any of them as me, but at least it's only an afternoon, and there will be alcohol. 

Finally got around to updating my CV - a colleague who recently left seems to think her new business would be a good fit.  It took me some time to do, as it had been so long it was sat on a hard disk in a pile of hard discs in a dusty cupboard ! 

Work is not too bad at the moment, but I would still very much like to win the lottery. 

Medical Matters

I have finally updated my details with the doctor, this will result in a brand new NHS number. It seems the ladies in the office had to print off all my letters, redact my old name, and then scan them all back in again, so I actually feel a bit guilty. I might take them some chocolates. 

They have been really lovely, spoken to one in person, and the other on the phone a few times.

I also got the results of my latest blood test - it wasn't for hormones though, it was a normal health check one.  Unfortunately my cholesterol is a bit high, so I need to cut back on the fry ups, cheesy chips, sausages and such 😐 - there were no warning labels on the menu's , it's clearly not my fault. 

I also managed to wangle some more tests for my hormone levels, which I shall book shortly.

Peterborough Beer Festival - 22nd / 23rd August

I had a blood test first thing on the Thursday, but had tea and toast in a café in Barnsley before setting off on the drive - didn't feint which is a bonus ! 

There were a number of 1st timers that came along, Benni and Jo had never been before.  Alice , Cindy , Rebeka and Gemma were all back from last year.

There were lots of nice beers on, the weather was pretty good. The layout of everything was almost exactly the same as the previous year, with even the food stalls being in the same place. The loos were a bit closer, but didn't seem to be as many of them !  There were 20+ queues in the evening.

I didn't try anything too strong, as I didn't want to ruin the Friday, or be too hungover to drive back. Apparently there was a very strong peanut butter stout that did sound intriguing, but had run out. 

There were some really good bands on, almost worth going just to watch them, most covers. There was a really good punk band did a number of classics that got a lot of people dancing along. 

I had a lovely deep fried soft shell crab at the Thai place on the Thursday that was worth of note. We also had a fab breakfast in a café attached to the Theatre on the Saturday morning. 

Leeds International Beer Festival - 6th September

This was in the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, it was very photogenic, but I didn't get that many photos :)

It was organised by the council, not Camra so was a lot more commercially focused, with each brewery or business had it's own stands and employee's, rather than barrels and volunteers. 

It did make it a much more slick looking event, with neons and logo's and such. But it came at a cost, it was £15 to get in, and all you got for that was a pint glass.  They also kicked you out between sessions, so you couldn't simply pay to get in on the afternoon, then stay for the evening.

I didn't do the evening, but some of my friends had done the night before, and the abbey was really nicely lit, it looked fantastic in the photo's.

I was there for about 4 hours, we got an Uber from the city centre. I had been helping my friend empty the remnants of the furniture of a house she was selling into a skip the night before, and on the Friday morning, so we had got in a bit later than normal.

We had some lovely Indian burgers shortly after arriving, then I was mainly on the ciders.  I did have a couple of strong stouts, as it would have been rude not to :)

After the bars were told to stop serving, I managed to flutter my eyelids at the guy running the cider stall, and he let me buy a half :) 

We got an Uber back after this, then checked into the hotel. Pizza was booked for 6:30 at 'Pizza Pilgrims' near the Marriot. I changed into my evening outfit before we went for food - a gothic look, but not particularly gothic makeup.

I had an American inspired one, that had sliced hotdog sausages and chips as a topping ! it was OK. There were 8 or 9 of us eating there, it was fun.

Leeds First Friday - 6th September 

We headed to the main meeting venue 'The Bridge End Social' straight after the food, and met up with other friends. It seemed quiet again, which was a shame - I had become used to it being quite busy, I
hope this is just a lull before the xmas season.

I ended up leading a number of us, first to 'The End' , then 'The Shed' , then 'The Smokestack' , skipping the Viaduct again.  I only had a couple of drinks the whole night, a Long Island Iced Tea in the End, and a flaming Zombie in the Shed.  I had consumed enough during the day. 

Didn't feel like I needed any cheesy chips, so skipped the call of Big Bites, and headed to bed shortly after 1pm.   It was a nice night, but nothing special realy.

I wasn't feeling too great in the morning, my digestive system was not happy with me - I blame the
flaming Zombie.  I didn't manage to eat much of my breakfast at Riveresque - I had gone with a veggy one this time.

My friend needed a lift back to the house we had been clearing fairly early, as there was a man with a van on the way to collect some mattresses, so we didn't hang about.

I spent the rest of the morning helping her with a few last bits and pieces, and took some boxes of things away with me to store for her - she is hoping to move up here again soon.

Swimming 

Sunday night I had swimming booked at Bramley, and a few LFF friends had also booked. So I actually knew a few people, which made it nicer.  We did still manage to do a few lengths in between chatting.  Although one of them is a much stronger swimmer and was literally twice as fast as me.

I was a fab ending to the weekend, and nice to get some exercise in, my foot is still not right from the walking over 2 months ago now ! 

I have booked another session on the 29th, and one on the 6th.

Women Drivers Social Club

 

Saturday the 17th was my first meet up with the club. I had learned of it's existence when I had posted a picture of my car on the Morris Minor Owners Club Facebook page.

The trans flag grille had got mostly positive comments, but a few negative ones that people challenged on my behalf.

Anyway the largely positive reception had given me confidence to join the Facebook page for the WDSC, and I received a nice welcome on there to my introductory post.

There was a southern meeting of the group, which involved camping and a bit of a drive around to some motoring attractions earlier in the year, but I had already made plans for that weekend.

So when a northern event was planned I made sure to book tickets for that one.  The itinerary was
officially a Saturday/Sunday event, but it seems that quite a few people turned up the day earlier - so I did miss out on one evening.  

The meeting point for the Saturday was the NY500 café near Pickering ( https://ny500.co.uk )

I had been packing the day before, so was mostly ready to get going, just needing to gather up my makeup and mirror and wash bag.

I didn't have any breakfast, as the plan was to eat brunch there.  The drive over was pretty uneventful,  I did video snippets of it, in case I wanted to do a video later.

NY500

I arrive bang on the 10:30am meeting time, to find I was the 1st there - there were plenty of bikers
around, I got a nice comment on the car.  I decided to have a sausage sandwich and a tea while I waited.

I think it was around 10:45 before everyone else turned up, they were in convoy as had come from the camp site.  They had clearly seen the car, I had parked right out the front, and when they parked up they had left a gap for me to move mine into, so we had them all arranged in a line, which was nice.

They were quite a friendly bunch, and I did manage to talk to most of them.  I sat with a number of them while they ate their breakfasts indoors.  Another group sat outside, it was quite a nice morning so was still pleasant out there. 

One of the girls was trans, which I had known about before I came, and was nice that there was
someone else there - although I didn't really want to get talking to her about that aspect, as I didn't want to throw up a divide between ourselves and the rest of the group as such,

The café itself doubles as a showroom for a small number of classics, and also a bit of a museum. There are chopper bicycles arranged around the upper walls of one part.  It was quite a nice place, and friendly staff too.

We were intending on leaving the café for a drive around the moors, towards Goathland, where we were supposed to go for a wander and more refreshment.  However one of the attendees had not yet arrived, and there was news they were limping in to the café shortly.

The straggler was in a Hillman Imp, which had a potentially disastrous petrol leak.  After it arrived and promptly died in the middle of the car park, it was pushed into a space, and the ladies got to work on disassembling and re-assembling the carburettor.  Other than spotting and picking up a gasket that had made an escape attempt, I didn't do much to help.

A lot of them were very much more experienced than me, some doing it for a living. They eventually stopped it pouring petrol in the ground, and converted it back from an external combustion engine to an internal one :)  , and it was able to start.

Saturday Drive Out

We headed out in convey shortly afterwards.  The drive was fun, lovely scenery, the roads were a bit
more vertical than I remembered, we did some 30% hills, both up and down.  There were a few fords, but unfortunately dry so no fun with the water.

Unfortunately there was a village fair at Goathland, which meant the place was packed and nowhere to park. So the refreshments and village tour was skipped, and we drove on continuing the senic route. We stopped for some photo's briefly.  

The route took us back to the NY500 café, where we re-grouped, as had got a bit fragmented in traffic on the way back.  We got a few more photo's then headed for the camp site.

Camping

We were staying here:  https://www.valeofpickering.co.uk  which was a really nice place.  It had it's own café and shop, and really good toilet blocks.  Would definitely go back again.

After checking in, and setting up my tent , I joined the others who had gone to the fish and chip van which visited the site on certain evenings.  Ended up holding a place for a lady who needed to get her toddler back to her caravan, we had a short but nice conversation - everyone seemed very friendly.

We gathered our camping chairs around and ate the food together, and then we sat around with what alcohol we had all brought along and talked.  

The organiser Becca had brought a friendship bracelet kit, and was sat making one, didn't realise everyone had one, and she was making one for me :)  - I was most touched
by this !

It was getting a bit cold , so I was eventually sat with leggings, a dress, a hoodie and a jacket on by the end of the night :) - was also quite tired.

I think it was about 11pm when I said goodnight, I wasn't the first one to head off, and I don't think they stayed up much longer.

Sunday 

I didn't sleep too well, I was quite cold, had a thick nightie on, and my hoodie in the sleeping bag.

I ended up needing the loo at 1am, which didn't help.  Did manage to sleep a bit at least.

The on-site café opened for breakfast at 9am, so I had got up around 8am to get ready - made a cup of tea on my camping stove and did a cold shave in the tent, and put on my makeup.

The breakfast was really quite good, high quality ingredients - I had a full English of course.  I had made sure to be there as soon as it opened, as it didn't have many tables, so was served pretty quickly.  Most of the other ladies seemed to join us over the next hour or so.

Had a nice chat with a few of them over breakfast as well.

Those that were heading home that day , myself included packed up our tents as best we could and got them in the cars.

Group Photo

Before we set out on the days drive to the coast, we were going to do a group photo with all the cars arranged in a bit of a semi-circle, and us all stood around. I lent the nominated photographer one of my 3 meter selfie sticks to help with this. They turned out pretty good !

Coastal Drive

We were going to Filey , then back inland to stop at Thorton-le-Dale to explore and visit the famous Mathewsons Auctions - ( from Bangers and Cash TV show) , and get some food.

The drive to the coast was nothing special , the one the day before was a lot more fun - but it was still good to be in convoy and enjoying the cars.  We pulled up on double yellows along the seafront for a cheeky photo, and then drove back out of there - which was a shame, I thought we would get an ice-cream at the least :)

At Thorton-le-Dale we did the same illegal park to get a picture of us outside the auction house, and then found a car park.  

We had a look around some trinket shops, and a chocolate shop, and then onwards to the gift shop at the auction house. I got a mug for my dad who is a fan of the show :)

There was a nice picture of us with our friendship bracelets outside there too.

I had only put an hour on my ticket which had expired by the time we had left there, and was quite
tired. So instead of heading with them to a tea room, I decided to call it a day and start the drive home. It was only 1hr 30 mins away, but I also needed to find E5 petrol, as I had heard rumours the local garages only had E10, and I don't want that muck in her !

I had popped back into the chocolate shop to get gifts for my wife and kids first, was worried they might melt on the way home, but was assured if I kept them out of sunlight they would be fine.

I got back just after 4pm, feeling very tired indeed.

In Summary

 A really fab experience, and so lovely to be accepted as one of the group, it felt so nice. So glad I joined, and made the effort to go !  

There is another meetup in September although don't think there will be camping at this one. I am looking forward to going to this too.

Yet another catch-up post

Post Dales:

The week after my walking weekend I had the house to myself and a few days off.   Benni was still in the area sorting her mums house out for sale, so I took advantage of this and a meal out with her on one day,
and lunch on another.

Her mums house is only 20 minutes away from me, I don't really have many friends close so it was a nice change to do more casual meetup rather than it being a weekend away.

I also did some work on the car to try and sort some niggles that had come up on the trip.

Dyed my hair

It didn't work as well as I expected, I think i should have left it on longer, but it's still a nice colour on top. 

It did work a lot better than the 'foan' type one I used before, I may give this brand another go, but leave it on much longer next time.

Brunch with Ex-Colleagues

On the Wednesday (the 7th)  , I went into Leeds to meet up with two work colleagues who had sadly been made redundant recently.  One was a long time colleague 10 years+ who had come with me from my old company when we were bought.  We didn't speak that much at work, but did try and have a natter once a week, and it was nice having her there to chat to if I did need to.   

She was one of the first people I came out to, a few years ago (after my wife) , and had been very supportive with my intention to come out at work, so it was a shame she left around the same time that I did.  It was the first time she had seen me in person dressed - we had been on calls, and I had shown her pictures over the years.

It went really well, and we had brunch in Flamingo's in the Central Arcade in Leeds - a LGBTQ+ café, that doesn't do bad food.

There was also a male colleague who was also very nice, and I had been working with closely for a number of years - that all went good, he did screw up pronouns once, but clearly not intentional.

I banged the rear passenger side wheel arch getting the MG out of the multistorey car park, which was a shame. So she is no longer pristine :(

Chameleons

Made sure to get to this one, as I knew I would have to miss the next one due to a clash with Peterborough beer festival.  Ann had brought a ball gown for me to try on, as unfortunately it was too narrow on her shoulders. 

It seemed to fit OK, but I think I would struggle to eat much with it, was a bit tight on the tummy. Would love to lose some weight, but my feet have not been happy since the walking, and I haven't done as much exercise as I should these last weeks.

I also got rid of a weird head that Benni was chucking out, I managed to palm it off on Sally - there was talk of it perhaps being cursed, but I haven't heard anything from her to back that up yet :)

Was fab to catch up with Ann and Sally, and I did manage to speak with a newbie for a bit too - emailed her some information on LFF too :)

Saturday - The Yorkshire Wartime Experience

This is an annual event where there are lots of vintage military vehicles, some on static display, others take part in parades around a central field and also partake in mock battles with infantry reenactors.

The weather wasn't the best, but it was still a nice afternoon.  I got some bits at one of the tool stores, and had a good browse on some of the stalls which sold vintage clothes and accessories too.  From rocket launchers , uniforms, to handbags and hats :)

Popped into the beer tent for one, just to be sociable too.  Queued for ages to get a pizza for myself and the eldest, wasn't too bad. Made sure to get an ice-cream too 

We went to my parents on the way back, as it was fairly close to them - this would have been the 1st time they would have seen me in a dress. My brother and his girlfriend were there.  It didn't go too bad, but my brother did deadname me which took me by surprise.  Not sure if it was due to my dad seeming to not want to call me by my correct name, or just a simple mistake. 

Will have to see what happens in the future - I didn't correct him.

Sunday - Wakefield Pride

Pride was good, I got to meet up with some of the Trans-Wakefield lot. They didn't seem very organised in terms of joining the march, so I ended up sneaking into the Leeds council group, as there were a few people I knew in that one. Someone from LFF , and a partner of somebody who had previously been in Trans-Wakefield but had been kicked out, or left depending on who you asked.

The march itself isn't very long, and you end up in a car park with a stage and stalls.  There was some decent beer on, but I could only have a few halves.

I did meet a few other LFF's there which was nice, had a brief chat with them.  I stayed for a few hours, the Cheeky girls were meant to be on, but there was no schedule and I couldn't wait all afternoon so decided to head down the LGBTQ+ café  'Our House'  to see who was there.  

I popped into a charity shop and got some sun glasses and a dress on the way :)  

Had a hot chocolate in the café and found a couple of friends to talk to for a bit, then headed home.  It was a nice afternoon, and glad I went.

I'll be back

 

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

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

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

Leeds Pride 

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

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

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

Chameleons 

It was a good night as always :)  

Family Meal 

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

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

Was a very pleasant afternoon.

Emley Moor

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

LFF

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

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

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

Dales Walking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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