Baby Guinness

General Updates

I have recently signed up for a new trans health care provider, 'Pride In health'. It was one a friend had suggested to another friend - they were were not an option when I first looked. They seem to be a lot cheaper, and I am hopeful they will be more interested in my well being.  GenderGP is not proactive at all.

I have ordered a home blood test kit - a fancy one, that sucks from your upper arm ! - I have tried finger pricks before, and didn't get on with those.  This is a stop gap to get me some hormone levels until I speak with a doctor to ask for a free test. It was that stressful dealing with them over the NHS App, I have not wanted to go back until recently.

I tried cutting my fringe yesterday, it had started to annoy me, getting over my eyes. It doesn't look too bad, but it far from perfect. My next appointment is on the 28th of this month, so i may need to do it again before then.

I have been for laser today (04/03/2025)  , it was not fun, hurt quite a bit.  I had sent pictures of a few days growth so she could target the worst areas.  You have to shave before the session, so it's hard for them to tell.

Work is a tad stressful, there is a re-org going on, I am unaffected by it really, but my own department move is still ongoing.  I have a new laptop at least, and I got some praise for saving the company some money by doing some work in house rather than pay our contractor. 

Swimming - I managed 48 lengths on the 2nd !! 

Adventures

Catch up with an ex-colleague - 14th of Feb

I went to Leeds in the morning for brunch with an ex-colleague who I have been friends with for quite a while. We had some breakfast bagels at a place I didn't know existed down a narrow passage near the
cat café. 

It was a pleasant couple of hours.  She did ask if I had done more with the voice training, which I haven't done at all.  She also thought I had lost weight, which I haven't - possibly my face might look thinner with the hormones ? that is about all I can think of. 

Blackpool - 14th / 15th Feb

I drove to Blackpool straight from Leeds, I was staying at my friends new house, and she wasn't meant to be getting away from work until 6pm.  So my plan was to dump the car on her drive, and then go for adventures. 

I had been looking at real ale places near where she lived, and had seen a Micropub I quite fancied.

My friend was very impressed I had dared venture there alone, as it was in the roughest part of town ! and is something she wouldn't have considered.

But anyway, there were no issues.  It was a bit cold inside, not very big.  The barwoman was OK with me, but not overly friendly.  I tried a bitter which it seems was nearly done, so not at it best. 

I sat for a bit and did some social media, but got bored and put my phone away. An older chap who was nearby took this as a sign that I was open to conversation, and we had a bit of a chat.  He was into real ale himself, and had been all over in the past. 

I had a pint and a half more while we talked. Nice fellow, we never exchanged names though :)

My friend messaged to say she had unexpectedly got off early, so I said my goodbyes and walked back to hers. 

I got the guided tour of the house, which was very nice indeed.  It had a lovely garage with a rollup door. Unfortunately my friend is not into cars, so it will never likely receive an oil stain 🥲

We popped to Lidl after a bit, but ended up popping into another pub - once she had been in 20 years
ago, but had never expected to go into again. It was OK, we had a drink, then went
to Lidl to buy breakfast items.  Shopping in Lidl after a few beers is dangerous however, and I bought some cheap metal taps and dies from the isles of temptation :)

After dumping the shopping back at hers we drove into town to find somewhere to eat, ending up at the Abingdon Street Market.  I had a disappointing curry, but it filled a hole.

We had a look at some bars, but they were quite noisy, so ended up going back to hers and watching some telly.  

The next day we did Lytham St Annes in the morning, mainly the charity shops - I didn't get much, but they were nice shops.  I picked up a corgi Morris Minor, series 2 but in Lilac. Not sure that combination ever existed, but it was only £2.

We lounged around the house in the afternoon, then had some of the food we had bought the previous day.  There was a gig at a rock pub nearby  - The Waterloo Music Bar , which started about 9pm, and ended up going to that.

The bands were not that good, but it was a great venue, full of memorabilia - it has one of Lemmy's bass amps !  (behind a cage).   I had a few Guinness's and enjoyed the ambiance. Lots of weird looking people there, so I fitted in :)

We didn't stay too late, and got home at a reasonable hour.

I left pretty early in the morning, I wanted to beat the traffic, so was back by lunchtime.

Hull - 28th Feb

A hull meetup had been organised by Cindy, I know a few people from that area so was keen to go.  I had done it for New Years Eve, but not really been to any other bars in the city centre. 

I arrived at a friends house in the early afternoon, and it was about 3pm before we made it into the city centre.  Ended up at a few real ale pubs, and played some pool.

The others had gone to check into their hotel, and so met up with us a bit later in a tapas bar.  We had some lovely food, then ventured to the gay quarter.

It's not a huge area, only really four bars, two owned by one person, and two by another. But they all seemed to have their own character, so was still nice to move around them.  We did encounter a drunken bloke who took a bit of a shine to Sally, but we did eventually lose him !

Persuaded a few of us to try Baby Guinness's - got a shot of me trying to do the old 'small and far-away' comparison 😁 

We decided to leave this area and go to another gay bar which was about 10 minutes away.  Unfortunately they were charging to enter, and nobody seemed to have an appetite to pay - but I spotted a pub called The King Edward, which I thought sounded like a good idea, as pubs named after potatoes must be good !

Had a couple in there, then decided to call it a night, and got a taxi back to my friends house. It was a fab night, and would definitely go back again - I believe Saturdays are more lively though. 

Fringe achieved, international travel enabled

Thursday 23rd of Jan - Chameleons :  

Spoke a lady who I assumed was there for the 1st time, and was perhaps only just coming out. But it turned out she had been over a decade ago, and despite having her surgery had been living in ambiguous mode for a few years now.  I am not sure if she will return, hopefully she does.

Saturday 25th of Jan - Wakefield :

I decided to get on with sorting my passport out, as I felt I had lost a bit of momentum with my legal transition. I didn't like my drivers license photo that I did in a booth at the Co-up up the road, so I went into Wakefield to a 'Max Spielmann' I had been recommended before. 

It was all over in an instant, and he didn't take the million shots I would normally do, before choosing the best - but it looked better than my driving license one.

I had also wanted to book a hair appointment, so I was brave an went into 'Scott Banks' which looked quite posh.  The lady was very nice, and got me booked in for the following Friday, which was one of my days off.   

I went to the Black Rock for a refreshing beverage to celebrate my successes. It was rather full, and mostly of the older generations, but I didn't get any bother from anyone. Although one chap was definitely keeping an eye on me. 

 

26th of Jan  - Swimming Bramley baths  :  

I equalled my PB of 42 lengths , Only Mars bars in the vending machine !

31st of Jan - Wakefield Hair Appointment :

I arrived , they offered to take my coat, and asked what I wanted to drink !  I am not used to this, it was nice.

I was introduced to Lucy and ushered upstairs.  

She sat me down, brushed my hair a bit, and we discussed the plan, I had wanted a fringe - it is meant to be a good trans option, to hide the vast expanse of my forehead, which I have a bit of a thing about.

We agreed she could take a bit off the ends to tidy them up a bit, and it was determined that with a centre parting, I would need about 1 inch off one side, and 2 off the other ! 

After that we went to the washing station, where I was treated to a weird massage by the chair as she washed and treated my hair.  Back to the other chair, and then had the blow dry.

At this point she double checked I really really wanted a fringe, and she did a rough cut to take off most of it.   Then spent a good while refining it. 

It was all done in an hour, a nice and relaxing experience.  I must admit I wasn't 100% sure I had done the right thing with it, it just didn't look like me in the mirror. But I have grown to like it a lot. 

I wear it a lot with a pony tail for work, and really only wear it as per the photo when I go out. 

I do have to spray and blow dry my fringe for a few minutes each morning, but that has been a lot more simple that many of the YouTube videos seemed to make it out to be. So hasn't really added a great deal to my getting ready time.

Was advised that 8 weeks would be a good interval to aim for with the next cut, so I have booked one for the end of March.

Comments on social media seem to indicate that I look nice :)

4th of Feb - My passport arrived !! : 

It was very quick - I got the supporting docs back the next day too, I was amazed

Friday the 7th of Feb : LFF 

I had avocado and feta on toast for lunch with Benni, before heading to Pints and Straws for the afternoon bar crawl.  

It was a lovely afternoon,  met some newbies who really seemed to enjoy it too.  There were quite a lot of us, which was a bit unexpected.

We ate at the Botanist , there were 5 of us there.  I had a hanging kebab, which was delicious. 

After this we headed to the main meeting bar, the 'Bridge End Social' , where we caught up with people for an hour or so, then onwards to a cocktail event in Farands.

I had a Black Velvet, which was Guinness and champagne based, it was OK, not too overpowering. Then I decided to have a Zombie - they didn't do flaming zombies there (my favourite drink at the sadly recently closed Shed bar).  So I took it upon myself to recreate one, by fishing out a t-light from a table decoration, much to the alarm of my friends - Nobody died, or had their fringe burned off.

We ended up in the 'end bar' :)   -  didn't do much dancing, the friend I was sharing with wasn't feeling that great, and we were in one quite a walk away, so ended up going home about 1:30am ish. 

Ended up watching an episode of LoveJoy while eating a pot noodle when we got back - very rock and roll :)

Saturday the 8th of Feb : 

I didn't sleep too bad, but my digestive system was not happy with the cocktails, or cheese, or hanging kebab, beer, or all of the above.

We didn't manage breakfast, but I did try a pasty from the pound bakery.  I only managed half.  

Spent the afternoon with Alice and Rebecca, we did the armouries which was OK, then tried to get a table in a pub - this was problematic as all the  pubs were rammed. We assumed it was football related, but it continued to be extremely busy well beyond the match time, and hardly any football clothing spotted.

We had to walk a fair way out of town to find a pub to eat in during the evening. We managed to find a table at the 'Midnight Bell'.  I had a pheasant starter, followed by a chicken and chorizo cassoulet . It was lovely.

After this we went to 'The Hop' at the Granary Wharf, and had a relaxing few hours.  I was pretty tired so we ended up going home before kicking out time.  It was a bit of a trek to the Vicar lane Travelodge.

Sunday : 

Breakfast at the Travelodge was achieved, it wasn't too bad, only scrambled eggs, but nice sausage !

I got home before lunch, which I didn't have. I ended up having a nap in the afternoon.  I got an email from a YouTube subscriber who had offered me a free gearbox, and I followed up to see if he would mind if I picked it up that evening - he agreed.

Went to swimming, only managed 32 lengths, but I was trying to swim harder, and I think I got a good workout.  They had restocked the vending machine !!! so I could have a twirl.

After saying goodbye to my friends, and expressing a hope that I wouldn't get murdered, I travelled north to meet the guy who has messaged me.

He turned out to be really nice, and even insisted on carrying it out to my car. It was a bit dirty, but seems to turn, so hopeful it can be used.

I returned home pretty late and hungry, with the swimming, and missing lunch. 

It was a very busy weekend !

  

Women's motoring

 

General Updates

Have got some better passport photo's , paperwork to send off on Monday !

I have also booked a haircut with a posh stylist in Wakefield for Friday morning. I am going to give a bangs/fringe look a go !

I had a call with my new boss on Thursday, my move to IT is actually happening, it all sounded positive. There is a team meeting (video call) on Monday, so I will need to remember what I am working on for that.

Women's Drivers Social club meetup (Winter Warmer)

This was in Bicester. which is about 150 miles south of my location in the grim north :)  .  I had been preparing Josephine over Christmas, but as always was still working on her the night before to get her ready.

I had taken her for a test drive, and all was well, aside from her desire not to inform other road users that she wanted to turn left.  Which is unusual, as it was usually turning right that had the issue.  So I bodged up a spare generic indicator stalk in addition to the one already fitted.  This was required as the original stalk does the horn, and this generic one doesn't.

The meeting was on Saturday, but it's a long drive, so I decided to go down the day before and stay at Banbury. I found a cheapish hotel the 'Whately Hall Hotel', which looked to have a nice car park - which is clearly more important than my own comfort.  It turned out to be quite a nice place, the room was good, although a little noisy during the early evening as it seems the main road gets a lot of traffic.

Friday 

I arrived around 2pm, having stopped for a sandwich on the way down at some services.  After checking in, I had a bit of a wander around Banbury, it was quite dead really, but not as depressing as some places.  I found a tap bar in a shopping ce
ntre and had one stout in there.  Possibly losing a penguin earring in the process.  Then headed to a pub nearer the hotel, where I had a couple of pints of bitter, and ham eggs and chips.  It was a nice place, seemed actually interested in her job, and was good at remembering what had been previously ordered.

I had noticed the missing earring in there, so did re-trace my steps, but couldn't find it.  So went back to the hotel. I was going to chill there for the evening, and get an early night, as the plan was to do the Womens Drivers event, then drive to Birmingham for a Trans night out in the evening.

Saturday

I had been upsold breakfast when I checked in the previous day, so I got up at 7ish to be ready for 8am when they started serving,  The were only a few of us in there that early, a table with some tourists and then myself on my own.

The food was good, aside from the sausage which didn't have much texture to it - but for £10 it was OK.  

I had to be in Bicester for 10:30am, so there wasn't much of a rush after I got back to my room.  Josephine started fine, but on attempting to use the windscreen washers the pump died, didn't think much of it until I I was on the move and realised the dashcam had switched off - so i must have blown a fuse.  I was able to swap the dashcam to a power bank without stopping though.

I arrived on time, there were quite a few other ladies and cars already there, so I got a space nearer the car park entrance. We were meeting a garage that specialises in keeping classics on the road - not a place that does full restorations.  Classic Collective

I do feel a bit of imposter syndrome when around the other ladies, but they are very
welcoming, and other than a few short periods where I was looking a bit lonely I had a fab time. 

There were about 20 of us there, so quite a crowd really, 518 members on the FB group, but there seem to be not that many that go to real world meetups.

There was a workshop tour, a bit of a sales pitch on some fuel stabiliser, free hot drinks, and just some time for us all to chat. I got some video of the workshop of course :

At around 1pm we all headed to a pub for some lunch. It was a 15 minute drive away, so we did a convoy, and arrived together.

Not by design I ended up on a table with a trans woman who I had seen but not really spoken to much before, and also her partner, and some other ladies.

Had a really good talk with them, and had some nice food. The service was a bit chaotic, so we all ended up getting our orders way after others - I was lucky and got mine first. 

It was around 4pm when I decided I should make a move - a few others had left so I wasn't the first by any means. I said my goodbyes and headed out for the next leg of the adventure.

Birmingham 

I think it took me about and hour and a half to get to Birmingham, it was quite cold and I had to stop
for a wee, and also fuel on the way.  I put an extra dress on at the services to try and stay warmer for the remainder of the journey.  It got dark while I was driving as well which made it less fun too.  

I think I was at the hotel by 5:45pm  , It took a while for me to find a parking space in the multistorey I had chosen for her.  The Travelodge was only a 5 minute walk away and I got checked in quickly.

One of my friends from Leeds / Hull had heard I was going and wanted to join, so had booked in at the same hotel.  After a quick refresh of my makeup I arranged to meet her in reception so we could go get some food.

We had decided upon Wagamama's as it was close, and we were going to change before heading to the pub for the social event around 8pm.  

I can't say that I had been that impressed with them previously, but I did manage to find something I really liked at this one. It was a rice bowl with chicken - "Shu's Shiok Chicken'  - was very nice, and only 478 kcals.  With the breakfast and pub meal, I didn't want anything too calorific.

We headed back to the hotel afterwards and spent another 30 mins or so getting ready for the evening. I went with a gothic-ish look, which suited the biker boots and leggings I had kept on because it was just too damn cold !

Transcend 

This event was previously called 'Birmingham Belles' but had been re-named to make it more inclusive for trans-masc and non-binary people. The lady that runs it is a regular at LFF and comes along to our Pints and Straws event regularly too - had been meaning to go for ages.

We met in the Equator bar , and spent a good hour or s
o in there. I liked it, it had a nice atmosphere and did at least have Guinness.  We ended up talking to a couple who were going to LFF in February, so will be looking out for them  at that.  

My friend wanted to dance, so we decided to go investigate other venues,  we had a look at 'Missing' but it seemed like there was a queue, so ended up at 'Sidewalk', where we felt very old. We had a drink in there though, then moved to 'The Fox' where we ended up back with the rest of the gang.

It was a fun place, there was a pool table and some banter going on around there, I did play my friend but lost :(  

I can't remember the exact order from there onwards, we did 'The Village' , possibly 'Sidewalk' again, and 'Missing', before finishing back at the Fox.  They kicked us out of there - I think 1am , 2am something like that, and we wobbled back to the hotel :)

All in all a very good night, some really nice friendly venues - I was struck by the number of non-T rainbow people in them - LFF it doesn't feel like there are many other members of the community out with us, it just seems a lot more straight in Leeds.  This was more like Manchester in that regard.

The long drive home 

I was a bit hungover, but nothing a paracetamol couldn't mostly fix.  I wanted to get off early, so that I was in less traffic getting out of the city centre.  It wasn't a bad drive, but still quite cold. I stopped off at Woodall for a loo stop, but other than that I just kept going.  

I was a bit tired on the Monday, but was well worth it, was a very good weekend ! 

An actual update !

Some non-social event details for a change :)  -  plus a random weird photo from NYE 😀

Legal transition status:

Pensions finally got all that sorted in late December.  For some reason Scottish Widows required a certified Deed Poll - which cost me a £5 , I was very annoyed, they were the only company that needed one, and it was totally pointless because all she did was photocopy the original and sign it to say it was a certified copy.  I could have fabricated the whole document, she was only saying that it was a copy of the document I provided her to sign. Even after sending them this, It took them several weeks, and me chasing them to get it actually changed.

I still have some investments to sort, I am also on companies house for the estates management company under my dead name. 

Passport - it's £55 I think to get a letter from GenderGP stating that my transition is likely permanent -  I would use my own GP, but despite several requests, and having an appointment, nobody had got back to me.   One of my friends has done me a letter, their qualifications should meet the passport office requirements, but they are not a GP so I don't know if it will work.  I need to get a better set of passport photo's done, that make me look vaguely feminine.  I might go into a photography shop in Wakefield to get those. 

Medical matters 

NHS App - I do now have access to my medical records again !! however they don't seem as good as when the GP was using their previous service.  I does seem like I can get my hormone test results though, which I was getting quite upset about losing access to. Gender GP seemed fine to provide we with meds without me giving them test results, but it's not ideal to be medicating blind.

My oestrogen levels in October - which I have only just got access to were a bit disappointing, lower than previously, and my T was higher. So I have decided to increase my dose by one extra pump a day, then I will ask my GP for another blood test and see what GenderGP say.

I stopped taking Progesterone before Xmas, when I was ill and I think I will stay off it a while, i feel sharper off it, and my breast tissue is still tender, so the Oestrogen seems to be working fine without it.

Work

I haven't really had much contact with the team I am meant to be working under now, there are lots of changes going on in the company, and I suspect I am not a priority one, so I am just keeping my head down and cracking on with my work.  Trying to do more development, and throw basic hands on stuff to others I have trained on it.

Home life

My Wife just got a head of department job at a different school, so it's step up the ladder with a pay rise  - which is nice. Hoping she enjoys it, and it's not too stressful. But good for her to go for it, she was very pleased to have been successful, having failed to get other roles in her current trust.

Not much else is changing, we have our usual routines, she goes to things on evenings during the week, and I get to go out on a Friday and sometimes Saturday.  Kids are doing well, they have been a bit ill recently, I think possibly the bug I had or something similar.

My parents are not doing too bad, I saw them last weekend when I went swimming. Managed 42 lengths again :)

Josephine

I did some welding on the drivers side inner wing area over Xmas.  I have been on adventures in her this weekend - I will post about that some other time probably.  I think I will have to take the gearbox back out again, it's noisy in neutral, I think a bearing has gone on the input shaft.

I also need to swap the axle casing and differential, the current casing has a few perforations I fixed, but the final drive ratio is too low - it was intended for it's original engine, and I have a replacement that should allow for lower RPM at motorway speeds which will please my ears, and her engine :)

Noticed the rear passenger side door is rotten at the bottom, so that needs sorting - and the drivers side rear looks a bit weird, doesn't look to fit properly.  The drivers door also needs some shims to align it too. 

Lots of fun to be had this year then :)

Christmas day and New Year Eve

 

Christmas Day

Christmas day was at my parents, given my dads health issues over the last year we thought was best to spend it at theirs. I hope it's not our last together, but you just can't tell what is going to happen.

Anyway, it was a nice day, my mum had done her usual spread, lots of different things to tuck into. She did manage to burn the stuffing balls, but that was no serious issue :)

My wife had bought me a xmas jumper with a Penguin on it, which was lovely, but my parents tend to have the heating quite high, and with all that food I figured it would be better to wear something thinner.

We helped with the washing up, and spend the afternoon on the sofas.  Watch a bit of Dr Who - a bit pants , but watchable.  Then headed home about 6ish.

All in all a nice day, and my 1st as myself of course. There were quite a few name / pronoun slips, but they are trying, and it didn't ruin it. 

My wife and kids enjoyed it too, mostly - youngest had a bit of a melt down trying to do a really hard jigsaw we had bought him.

New Years Eve

One of my friends lives in Hull and was attending an 80's themed New Years Eve party there - Charlotte. She hadn't realised I wasn't doing anything,  and so asked me if I wanted to go - an offer of a free room sealed the deal. There was a prize for the best dressed, which sparked my interest too. 

It seems I had been subconsciously building an outfit for the last couple of years and hadn't realised. On searching through my cupboard I found a genuine vintage dress that was very likely 80's , and I also remembered the really curly wig I had got in a charity sale at Chams ages ago.  ( A mostly wigless month )

I really only needed to perfect some 80's makeup , and also get some accessories - some neon fishnet
gloves of course 😁 

I got ready during the afternoon after researching some vintage makeup looks of the era. I was really pleased with how I looked.

Drove over the my friends house with the makeup, but my own hair and a more comfortable dress, managed to get there about 5:30.  We had some lovely lentil stew she had made, then I got shown to her sons room which I would be borrowing for the night  (he was at his mums)

We were ready for about 7:15 ish , with a taxi booked for 7:30 , got a few photo's while we waited of course 😊 

Due to the horrible weather that day, (high winds with rain) we were not going anywhere before hand, but we did end up arriving a bit early before it had opened, so sought refuge in a tapas bar opposite to wait for the rest of the gang to turn up. 

The ticket included a glass of prosecco on entry, we managed to get some seats next to the dancefloor as well.  Gemma , Emily and Rebeka were already there, and was funny to see a few double takes when they spotted us - I haven't worn wigs in ages, so wasn't as recognisable.

Another trans woman and her cis wife turned up a bit later, had not met them before but they were nice, and also a guy that was friends with Gemma and Emily came along too.

There were quite a few other women who had gone to a fair bit of effort, so it swiftly became clear I wasn't a contender for the best dressed prize :)  -  I need a shorter dress and pink legwarmers next year I think.

The music was fab, spent a lot of time on the dancefloor, everyone had a great time.  Charlotte had pre-booked us a taxi back to her house at 00:30, so we didn't hang about after midnight.  But we had some White Russians back at her place when we did get back.

Probably not the best of ideas, it took me a while to feel sober enough to come home in the morning 😁

It was a great night though, and I hope to go back there next year ! - I hadn't seen much of some of the Hull crew for a while, so was great to catch up with them as well.

Glasgow Third Friday

 

Glasgow Third Friday - 20th of December

I had been wanting to do this event for a while, partly because it's somewhere new to explore, but also as Susan who has come to a few LFF and Pints and Straws events runs it, so it's nice to reciprocate and show some support.

Ann had decided to come too, and even offered to drive, which did make it a lot easier for me 😊

She had stayed over in a hotel in Wakefield the night before, so we were able to get on the road quite early. There were weather warnings for winds, and it was raining a bit, so it wasn't the best of trips, but not too bad in the end.

After parking up we went to an Italian place that she has been to before - it was my 1st time to the city so was happy to go somewhere she knew was good.

I had a pizza and she had a huge lasagne, it was very pleasant.  

We did a bit of mooching around the general area Susan had suggested, getting some photo's then went looking for a pub. The beer choices were not huge, so I was mostly on Guinness in a lot of places. Around 3pm we checked into the hotel and then went back out again. We headed to a Christmas fair in a big square, it had a beer tent - but no Guinness, so I had a lager !

We left there and went to another place which seemed to have the generic red theme that at least one bar in any city will have.  We had a couple of drinks in there, sat at the bar as were no tables.

The chief LFF coordinator Grai was also attending, and sharing with Ann, so she left me in a very gay, gay bar to wait for Susan while she headed back to the hotel to give her a room key. It was a really friendly place, but was glad when she arrived as I was the only T in the room 😄 

We left there after a while, and I nipped back to my room to change my dress for the evening.  Then we were back out to the 'St Johns St Speakeasy'  which is the starting - and for those that don't venture,
the only venue of the night.  

It was really fab in there, the Guinness shortage had hit this one, but there was an ale of sorts that wasn't bad.  They also served pie and chips !   so I got one of those for tea. 

We got to know some of the regulars and had a nice time in there.

Susan was given a surprise thankyou by the regulars for her work organising the event, which was nice to witness.

After this we went across the road to Katies bar, which was in vaulted cellar, it was quite a fun place - it clearly was the sort of place that could get a bit messy, they had a female toilet attendant on hand to ensure single occupancy, and she was clearly someone you wouldn't mess with. 

Then we headed to the final venue of the evening, which was like several bars in one building, a bit BNO ish, it was called 'Polo Lounge' - there was a club downstairs with two rooms - one a more standard one, another that had a bit of an S&M vibe. The main upstairs are was more like a gentleman's club, posh tables and chairs, and then a separate posh bar off to one side. 

Susan hadn't been feeling too great - vertigo, so she left at about 1ish I think. I decided to head off shortly afterwards.  I didn't want to be feeling poorly in Ann's car on the way back in the morning.

I think she stayed out for a while longer and got a kebab with Grai.

Not sure if I swindled the Premier Inn out of breakfast for us both in the morning, I don't think I paid for it - but the lady crossed me off a list. 

We headed back shortly afterwards - it was a lot windier on the way down, so it wasn't the most fun of drives. We stopped off at the services near Lancaster for a sausage roll and a drink.  

I treated Ann to a coffee at the local Starbucks on the way to my house, as she had another hour and a bit of driving to do after she dropped me off.

All in all a very pleasant evening, I may perhaps go again in the summer, but maybe book two nights to make the most of it, it's a long drive just for one night out.

Xmas events

 

Leeds First Friday

Had been really looking forward to this one, as normal.  Someone I had been talking to on Instagram for a few years was making the effort to come all the way from down south to visit, plus the turnout for the Xmas one is usually very high as well.

I met Benni for lunch at Rudy's near the train station around midday, then Charlotte joined us at White Cloth Hall which I wanted to case out for possible future use. After this we headed to Tapped to start the Pints and Straws bar crawl.

The bar crawl went well, we had lots of people join, I had to pre-book a table in 'Friends of Ham' and pay a no show deposit for this privilege - turns out I had underestimated by a fair number, and a number of other patrons re-organised themselves to allow us to use some other nearby tables to keep us all together. Sally joined us in there.

Head of Steam was very busy, but there were no issues with the other patrons. I checked into the Leonardo between there and the Tetley which was the last venue.

We had a table booked for food at 6:15  at Bowers Tap , for 6 of us.  I had a burger, it wasn't bad food and came out pretty quick. Everyone seemed to enjoy it - including the 1st timer.

After this we headed to our hotels to do a quick outfit change before heading to the Bridge End Social for the main event.  It was pretty busy in there, we stayed for an hour or so. 
Moving on to 'The Shed', and then the 'End Bar' and finally 'The Smokestack'.   The 1st timer wasn't keen on the loud music in the End, so they did have a bit of an early night, but I have spoken to them since and they enjoyed it overall. 

I think it was about 2am before I got to sleep, did seem to wake up a lot with a dodgy tummy, but felt OK in the morning.  There were 6 of us that knew each other staying there, so we met up for breakfast together at about 10am.  I managed a small fry up.

Checkout was a bit earlier at 11am than I am used to , so it was a bit of a rush - our keys had already been disabled by the time we tried to get back into our rooms from breakfast, so we had to get a cleaner to let us in.

Overall it was a lovely night, it didn't exceed some of the previous Christmas ones, but it was still good.  I guess the more I do, the less of a novelty they become :)

Swimming

Unfortunately swimming was cancelled, but it was probably for the best !

Lurgy

I started coming down with flu like symptoms on Sunday, eventually ended up being sick overnight. Monday was a complete write off, I emailed work to say I was sick - something I rarely do.  I spent all day in bed.  I had woken up on Monday with a bit of a black bruise under my left eye too !

Tuesday, felt a bit better, was able to work (from home) , my eye was worse, a much bigger bruise. Wasn't feeling very hungry and didn't eat much.

Wednesday, I went to the walk-in centre about my eye, they took some convincing that I hadn't been punched, or had fallen over.  The nurse thought it might be burst blood vessels due to straining, or coughing, but nothing likely major.  That was after a 2 hour wait :(

I had a Bupa video call in the evening, and she recommended A&E, I decided to wait and see if it got worse. 

Thursday, eye was no worse, so decided to leave it, and it's not been any worse today. 

I am eating a lot more at least now. 

Unfortunately this did all mean I wasn't able to go to Chams on Thursday night - I had been going to bed early all week due to feeling very tired, so a long drive didn't seem possible. Plus I didn't want to infect anyone there !  I am still coughing.

Was also meant to go to BNO in Milton Keynes tonight, there was a birthday meal booked as well, felt really bad cancelling my attendance to that, but that is a bit of a trek ! 

Other Plans

Myself and Ann are visiting Glasgow for the Glasgow Third Friday event next weekend (fingers crossed and all that )  , so we do have one more opportunity for xmas trans fun at least :)

She will be driving as well, so less stressful getting there and back for me, hopefully.