Darkness Descends

Updates

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I had laser on the Tuesday before the Sheffield beer festival. I had the owner this time, who seems significantly more thorough than the normal person I get. It hurt quite a bit more than normal, but I was actually glad - felt like it was working better.

She wants to switch me to an 8 week schedule now, as she thinks will give a better result now we are going after the more stubborn growth.

My wife hadn't been reading this blog, so I did eventually point out to her that I was on the hormone gel now. We had discussed it previously, and I had sent her information to read, but she hadn't noticed I was on it. She isn't that happy I am on it, but she said would never stop me.

Adventures

This weekend was Whitby Gothic Weekend, my in-laws were up visiting from Wednesday to Friday night. They were in a hotel thankfully, but still meant I had to hide a lot of things. 

I was also a bit concerned there would be negative comments about my hair, but other than it being likened to a 60's look it wasn't mentioned.  

I wasn't able to go to Chams because they were here, we went to a local fish and chip place for a meal instead.

Thankfully they decided to pop over and take my kids to their hotel for breakfast on the Friday morning, which mean I could get changed here, and get on my way dressed. I would have gone in man mode otherwise.

Day 1 - Friday

My outfit of choice was a Miusol dressed purchased from Lynn from Chameleons some time ago, with fishnets over normal tights, and my big black wool coat, and my biker boots. I had spent a while practising some gothic eye makeup and did a reasonable job even thought I was stressing about getting away in case my father in law came back earlier than expected.

I took the leaf, and stopped to charge at Malton, taking the opportunity to get some selfies. 

The rest of the journey was pretty smooth, not much traffic, and I was parked up in a rather wet looking Whitby just after midday. 

The sports centre I was parked in coincidentally was one of the three venues for the alternative/gothic markets that were running over the weekend. 

So I popped in there first to have a look around. I bought myself a new more gothic brolly, as the Velcro on my trusty amazon one (purchased for Whitby last year) had stopped fastening.

Next I went to find lunch, and settled on 'Jet  Black Jewel' which was a very nice little place, with cool decor.  I had : 

MAHARAJAH'S SHAKSHUKA EGGS BOWL (V/VG) :  A brunch fit for a king: tomato and bean chilli topped with a poached egg, feta & mint and smashed avo.

Also had a hot chocolate with cream, sprinkles and marshmallows, because I am a child :) - it was fantastic, and the food too.

Then I proceeded to head all the way to the opposite side of the town, and up the 199 steps to the brewery opposite the Abbey on the cliff top.  It was raining fairly badly , so I got some use out of the new brolly. 

I had researched online before going, and wanted to try a half of their 'Black Death' gothic stout, which was 6.66%  - so I ordered one of those, and asked some people if I could sit on the end of their table as it was very busy in there.  I also tried 'Whitby Whaler' which is a bitter.  Really liked the stout, wasn't so keen on the bitter.

After this I headed back down into town, had a wander down the pier and had a pumpkin spiced latte in a coffee shop, then went to go find my friend Arabella as she was due to arrive soon. 

Met up with my friend and we checked into the Air BnB and I got my bags out of my car. We popped into the sports centre again so she could have a quick look too, but they were closing up so not all the stalls were still open.

She did a quick outfit change back at the BnB, and I  swapped to some more gothic looking boots and then we headed out to do some pubs, and get some food.  

We tried :

• 
  The Arch and Abbey
• Beer O'clock
• The Esk Vaults

Shared a gorgeous pizza in the Esk Vaults, then headed to a cocktail place where an online friend of Arabella had told her she would be.  We had a nice drink in there, ended up talking with some random girls on another table who were very interesting - personality wise I mean !

Then we headed to the Pavilion where the main music event was being held. 'The Mission' were playing all night, and we spent a while there -  I had never heard their music before, but I really enjoyed it. Arabella managed to end up next to someone who was a senior manager at the place she worked at too, which was a bit of a coincidence.

I think we got back at a fairly reasonable hour, all in all a very nice day !

Day 2 - Saturday

I had decided to wear a 'Punk Rave' black moon detail lace dress, and attempt to do similar makeup to the previous day.  

By the time we were both ready in the morning, it was getting on for 10:15am , so we had more of a brunch than a breakfast.  I had told my friend about the 'Jet Black Jewel'  and she seemed amiable to going there, so we headed in there first.

I had a 'Hand of Glory' breakfast, which had sausage, egg and black pudding and potato, but all diced. It was rather salty but I still enjoyed it.  I had a cup of chai too. 

Then I took her for a stroll back up the cliff on the steps again - she was a Whitby virgin so I had to get her to do the stairs at the very least.  She isn't a beer bore, so wasn't that fussed about the brewery,  or the Abbey either. 

But we did end up having a wander inside the church, and had a cup of tea and a brownie in there, Arabella was having fun chatting with some vicars who had been called in to assist with the influx of visitors on the Goth weekend. 

 There was a funny moment when a visitor asked one of them if they were a 'real' one, as it seems like there had been instances of people dressing like them for the weekend.

We had a look around - but it was rammed, hard to get anywhere the tiny cobbled streets kept coming to a standstill whenever anyone stopped to take a picture.  

We popped into the Co-Op on the way back for some chips, as we were planning on making use of the oven at the Air BnB to save some money on food. 

I did a quick outfit change into a Roman Raspberry dress, which had a fab black lace outer covering - seemed suitably gothic to me.

Then we headed back about out.  Tried the 'Abbey and Arch' again as we had liked that the previous night, and it was close. It turned out the ladies from the Wakefield job centre were there on a night out, and we got chatting to them - they were lovely, and we had a fun time talking with them. They got the pronouns wrong a few times, but not maliciously. Was most amusing to have come so far and ended up next to people from the nearest town.

They had told us about a fab cocktail place, so we went to that next, and I tried a French Martini - Arabella got a Pornstar one, she was dressed in PVC so it was quite apt :)

Then we headed over the river where we tried 'The Dolphin' then onwards to a place on church street that had a cheap cocktail deal on. I think we had Mojito's in there.

After this it was time to go back for some food, then onward to the Pavilion to see the bands for the evening.  The Abbey was lit up for an event, and we did stop to take some pictures of it - along with the full moon too on the way back.

We had some burgers and chips at the BnB, and walked the short distance to the Pavilion.  We were both pretty tired though, and we didn't spend a vast amount of time there, there was nowhere to sit down and it was quite painful to stand.  So we didn't get much value from our tickets that night.

We did see a few songs by 'The March Violets' though, who seemed good. We took the mutual decision to call it a night and I think we were back at the BnB for 11pm

Day 3 - Sunday

Another rainy day, so lots of brolly usage. 

Arabella had a 4 hour drive to get home, and my parking ran out just after midday, so we had agreed we would do some more mooching around the gothic stalls at the other two venues we had not already done, then head home after lunch time. 

We also had to get out of the Air BnB before 10am as well, so there wasn't a lot of time in the morning, and we both just got dressed in something fairly casual. I actually felt more comfortable like this, I like the goth look, but it's more of a costume than my day to day 'me' look.

We had got some croissants the previous day, so had them for breakfast, then dumped our bags in our cars before heading out again.  Firstly to the Pavilion where there were stalls in the lower section that were only open during the day.  I was good and didn't buy anything other than some chocolate covered coffee beans :)

Then we popped into the 'Cranberry Swamp' café for a hot beverage, I had a chai latte which wasn't OK but not the best I've ever had.

Then we went to the Brunswick Centre which was in an old chapel, and fab inside. There I was tempted by some Goth Soap !  and also a handbag which also had a massive clock on the front, which I just had to buy. But I did get 10% off, which is something.

After this it was time to depart, my parking only had 30 mins left on it, so we walked back to the sports centre and said our goodbyes.

I had a good run back, I had charged in the sports centre, but I would have barely made it home, so I did stop at Malton to give me an extra 20% safety margin. I think I was home by 3:30pm 

All in all a very fun weekend, and am already planning on a look for the next one - it doesn't matter what I wear or look like, I always feel underdressed compared to many other people who attend 🤣

Sheffield floods

 

Life updates

My dad seems a bit better, but kidney issues may delay his treatment. His taste seems to be coming back at least.

My in-laws visit on Wednesday, which I am not looking forward to, there must be comments on my hair this time. Not only is is much longer, but it's dyed now too. I'll probably try parting it further towards the outside of my eye, rather than the inside of my eye - which is a more male look.

I will also have to de-Izzy the downstairs, find all my shoes and get rid of any cosmetics on my computer desk in the kitchen. 

Don't think I mentioned it before, but I put a hole in one boob after returning from Lancaster, covered it in wide tape, it's not holding that well. It's on the back side. Shame as I thought these might last until I needed to buy smaller ones when I fill out more.

Hormones

I have used up my first Oestrogel 'Pump-Pack' canister - they sent me three of these. I first used it on Wednesday the 13th of September, but I did miss at least two days.  This is 38 days , so minus two makes 36 days of use.

According to the notes on the side, there should be 64 'pumps' per canister. Which should be 32 days, as I'm on two pumps a day - so it would seem to be pretty accurate. I guess I will ask for a new prescription when I start on the third canister. 

I've decided to start taking a photo of a nipple every so often with a 20p coin beside it to judge any changes. I won't be posting these in case this worries anyone 🤣

Someone had posted their prescription details on Instagram the other day, and I noticed they were only on three pumps a day, so perhaps my 'micro-dose' isn't actually that small !  Or is at least on par with a starting dose. 

Social Activities

I was at Sheffield Beer Festival at Kelham Island Museum Thursday until Saturday morning.  Unfortunately the heavy rain caused the venue to be closed on Friday, so I only got to enjoy one day of the festival.

I could have stayed there today, but would have had to fork out for another night, and I really should try to minimise my spending.

Day 1

I arrived at lunch time on Thursday, and met Alice for a Pizza in Rudy's.  Aside from a trip back to the hotel to check in, we largely remained at the beer festival venue for most of the rest of the day.

I had gone in a fairly goth look, as I wanted to try out my look for the Whitby Goth Weekend at the end of the month. It was also going to be raining a lot, and I would be wearing my big long winter coat for this reason too. It was a bit warm though, so I ended up leaving it at the hotel when I checked in.

I met the lady who had signed me up at Stockport, she is lovely.  We got talking to a few chaps, and Alice caught up with a fair few people she had met at previous events.  

I had a Cheesy sausage for tea - wasn't as nice as those at Peterborough, but chap was friendly. Later on I had an Indian Samosa box, which was gorgeous.

The big steam engine was run at 7pm, it was huge and made the floor shake - it's the biggest engine that still runs, and well worth a visit. I will upload a video to my YouTube at some point.

I tried some porters and stouts initially, but switched to ciders - there was a lovely Marmalade one by
'Seacider', which was my favourite.   Nell Gwynne  by 'Celtic Marshes' was very nice too. Both of these are described as medium, so perhaps I shall concentrate on these going forward.

 I was mainly drinking 1/3rds or 1/2's and also having water too, so I didn't really get that tipsy. 

Think we left just before 11pm when it shut. It did start to rain.

Day 2

It was raining really heavily for the majority of the day, which caused there to be a flood risk at the beer festival site. 

We went for breakfast at a nice little place called Marmadukes on Norfolk row, where all had poached
eggs on thick cut sourdough toast , cooked really nicely. They only do full english on a weekend, but was still quite filling, 

After this we parted ways for a short while as Alice wanted to look in a few clothes shops, and I needed to get more foundation as I had run out getting ready. 

We met back up at the Emergency Services museum, and had an hour wandering around that - with my trying on every hat available, and getting photo's with any props :)

The plan was to leave there and head straight to beer festival, but as we were leaving we got a message to say it had been cancelled.  So we went to meet Gemma in the Harlequin - which was a pretty wet
walk away !

We had a few beers in there, then headed for lunch at  the 'Chop Shop Bar & Grill' which was really nice food. They had a two burger for £20 deal on, and they were really nice.  

After this we did the 'Kelham Island Tavern' where some famous female Gogglebox star took a picture of us - we only found out when the guys on the next table told us after she had gone.

Then we went to the 'The Furnace Bar & Restaurant'  for our evening meal -  I had a lamb kofta with coconut rice which was fab. Then a very sweet Salted Caramel Chocolate brownie to finish.  

After this we went back to the hotel to change, then to the Weatherspoons, where we had a truely awful flat pint that neither me or Alice could finish. Cindy's lager was OK i think though. 

We ended the night at the 'Two & Six Micropub' which was a lot nicer, and we met back up with some of the beer festival staff in there. I tried a 'Back to the future' themed IPL (India Pale Lager) which wasn't too offensive, but I mainly got because of the BTTF reference :)  - then a chocolate porter which was really good.

Then it was back to the hotel.

Day 3 

The Beer festival was definitely back on, but I had not had a brilliant sleep, the guy above had been doing Riverdance at 4am, and I had struggled to get back to sleep. 

Managed to get enough dregs out of my foundation to not need to open the new bottle.

I did have the option of finding another room and spending and extra day, but I wasn't really in the mood. I probably would have been fine after a few beers, but it would have been an expensive night as rooms were scarce due to a football match.  Gemma and Cindy were partly only going to the expense as their trains were cancelled due to the flooding, so had to anyway.

So I did the breakfast at Marmadukes with Alice and Cindy, and decided to go home.  I walked back to the hotel with Cindy and we bumped into Gemma on the way which was nice, so did get to say bye to everyone. 

Got home OK, and haven't really done much all day.  I did go to the Co-op while still dressed to get some food. I feel safer going there still.  

Frogs Legs

 

Things of note

My dad is still in hospital, suffering from chemo after effects, really horrible to see him like this. But he did seem to be getting a bit better this last time I visited. We are getting my mum in there as much as we can between us all.

I dyed my hair again on the 3rd of October, I went darker, still using Clairol Nice'n Easy, the shade is :  4W 'Dark Mocha Brown' . It has a few dark ginger tones which I wasn't expecting, but I am fairly happy with it.

Brief Summary of Events :

Thursday the 5th :  Trans-Wakefield

I met up with the group in the Café and had a bit of a chat, but Bennie and Ann were in around as had come up the day before LFF, so I sloped off to have a few drinks with them. 

We did 'Luis Bar' and then to 'The Polka Hop' where i had a fab scotch egg ! - I had skipped food to get to the group on time. Loved the Polka Hop seemed like a nice quirky and friendly place. Then we headed to the New Union mainly to see if any of the group had gone there after the café, then headed home after a soft drink in there.

Friday the 6th : Leeds First Friday 

I helped host an afternoon pub crawl around some real ale pubs with Ann and Alice. We did three pubs ,Tapped, then Bankers Cat, finishing at 'The Brewery Tap'. I think we had 12 people attend which was fab. Hoping to do it again in November.

I was staying at the premier inn this time, so didn't do many outfit changes due to the walk. 

Was a bit tired for the main event in the evening but we still managed to get around quite a few places, including the Tiki Bar above 'Call Lane Social'.  

I stumbled across a first timer in the Viaduct who was looking a bit lonely, and introduced her to
Gemma and Emily's pose as they were showing another two girls around - met up with her later on seemed like she was having a fab night.

We ended up in 'The Shed' later on, did some dancing with some CIS girls to Metallica and a few other rock songs, but was quite tired and headed for bed about 1am. 

Saturday 7th : 

In Leeds for an additional day with Alice, Lexi and . We had breakfast at 'Bills' which was fab, did some shopping, had a few beers in the afternoon.

Flamingo's was rammed so I suggested the cafe in the corn exchange.

At 5pm we headed to the 'Skybar' on top of the Double Tree Hilton where I had some champagne, and we got some nice photo's.  Then we had a fab meal at Goucho's.

I tried the fillet steak this time as I wasn't feeling very good the last time I went, and just had a burger. So it sort of evens out in cost terms now :)

We ended the evening in Northern Guitar, was a really nice day.

The next day instead of getting dressed, I left Leeds in boy mode, and headed straight to my mums to take her across to see my dad. 

Thursday 12th : Nottingham Chameleons

I had wanted to attend as I knew I would have to miss the end of month meeting due to my parents in law being up. It was a nice night, I chatted to a few people, mainly Amber. 

There were a few faces missing but it was still a fairly full room. Got some nice compliments on my hair. 

Lynn attempted to get me to pose in professional fashion, but I failed, so have a comedy one instead :)

I was a good night, but I was really quite tired towards the end, so went home a little earlier than normal. I got back just after midnight

Saturday 14th : Lancaster Music Festival.

My friend Arabella from Blackpool was free for the Saturday, but didn't fancy going around her home
town, so we had decided upon Lancaster.   I had been searching for things to do there, and had not come up with , but entirely by chance noticed a band was on at one of the pubs. With further googling it became apparent that there was quite a big music festival on that weekend, with most of the pubs and bars hosting live acts !

I managed to get a room in the centre at a three star place for a fairly reasonable price - given there was a big event on.

One of our friends had recommend a nice French restaurant down by the river, so I booked that as well to make sure we had something planned for food.

We both arrived around midday, and coincidentally met at the car park pay machine. Had a swift half to refresh ourselves after our journeys. 

We spent the afternoon going around different events, one on a stage in the middle of town, others dotted around in pubs and bars.  There was a busker in a wine bar that was quite fun, I had never done a proper wine bar before, they had two menus 'Wine' and 'Not Wine' , we had a special guest red.

Did a bit of charity shopping too, I got a big green coat. We did also go to a café for a bit of cake and a non-alcoholic beverage as well.  

Around 5pm we walked to the restaurant which was down on the riverside, 'Quite Simply French'.

I had frogs legs to start, followed by duck leg, with some champagne - I may have developed and expensive taste.  My friend had some lamb ball things, followed by beef shin. We were quite full so shared a mini desert and a tea for afters.

The food and service was fabulous and we both really enjoyed it. 

We went back to our rooms to freshen up, and met up a little later to go back out. We did a several more
pubs in the town, and met a lady and her daughter who recommended on a bit more out of town down the canal.  So we decided to go there.  Was really good, but rammed. After a while we got fed up with being barged by random blokes, and found a table at the far end to sit for a bit.

Then we headed back towards the final bar of the night which was just across the road from the hotel. My friend really likes Ska and wanted to see a particular band.  They were called Peloton, and performed some Ska classics (so i was told, I didn't recognise them) plus some ska style covers of popular songs and some of there own. They were fab.  

We left about 00:30 I think, both fairly tired by this point.

There were quite a few rowdy people going back to bed later on, and the plumbing wasn't the best, so I didn't get the best nights sleep. But the view from the room was nice at least.

In the morning we met up for a full English at a local café, and headed off home.  I was taking my mum over to see my dad on the way back. 

All in all a fab event, would seriously consider going back next year. 

A mostly wigless month

 

Updates 

My dad has been in hospital for his 1st round of chemo to treat a blood cancer, and is likely to be in there for a number of weeks more as it didn't go as planned. So I have been doing my share of taking my mum to visit him.  He seems to be doing OK at the moment.

Hormones, it's been a few weeks - not sure if anything I've been feeling is actually due to them or not. I had thought it had changed my sleep pattern, I seem to be waking up during the night a lot less. No problems noticed at least. Not sure I feel any different emotionally, which I assumed I would. 

I am at least remembering to apply the gel every day !

My hair looks a bit of state in both modes, I have been trying  Frizz Ease conditioner which seems to work a little.  I need to dye it again really, I am thinking darker for the Goth weekend.

Need to spend some time watching some video's I think, work out if there is something simple I am missing in terms of styling. 

Despite this I haven't actually worn a wig (other than for some pics at Chams) for most of the month, even though I've been out quite a few times - which I think is an achievement. Might wear one to the next LFF though :)  

Adventures

Thursday 21st

Instead of my usual Wakefield group night, I had a drink with a friend - I was in drab, I mainly mention really as it was in working men's club and I'm a bit self conscious with how my hair looks in 'man' mode. There were no issues though.

Saturday 23rd - Blackpool

I didn't have any big meetups planned, but a friend in Blackpool had was unexpectantly free and asked if I wanted to visit. I got there at lunch time and they made me a nice meet free burger, then we went to a retro video game arcade.

You pay to enter, but all the machines were then free to play. It was really good, they had Time Crisis, Mario Kart,  lots of really old machines like 1942, Galaxian etc:  https://www.arcadeclub.co.uk/blackpool/  

We were in there a few hours, had a really fun time.  Afterwards we had an ice-cream at Notarianni , which I was told was the best ice cream in Blackpool - it was certainly very nice. We did some charity shops and I got a nice black dress for £6. 

While waiting for some pizza's to be delivered,  we watched a very funny but also terrible film : Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse !  Which I would totally recommend. 

Then we got changed and headed out into the town for a bit of a pub crawl, we did Galleon's , a soul place I've forgotten the name of, then back to Galleons. We were not really on a drinking session, just taking it steady.  

I stopped for a roast dinner on Sunday then headed home in the early afternoon. It was a very relaxing weekend, and a change from some of the more hectic things on the calendar, and really great to catch up with my friend.

Thursday 28th - Chameleons 

I wasn't able to sneak off work early as had a lot on, so by the time I had finished faffing with my fake lashes it meant there was no danger of me being early.  This unfortunately meant I wasn't able to meet up with Ann at the outlet before hand, but she was going to Chams afterwards anyway.  

I had been looking forward to going with a more autumnal look, as I don't have that many summery dresses and I feel I had gone my money out of most already this year. So went with a 'Kurt Muller' dress I got from Barnsley market last year. 

I stopped off at Tibshelf on the way down for snacks as I had neglected to bring biscuits, got a smirk
from a tradesperson as I walked in, but if that's the worst I get I am very lucky. 

There were already a few people there when I got to the centre, and the room soon filled up. 

It was nice to see such a good turnout again, and the room was full enough that we were able to fragment into smaller groups. Was really nice to catch up with the other girls. 

There was the additional fun of a charity used clothing and accessory sale, which meant we all had fun trying things on and messing about a bit. Got to poke some rather unconvincing boobs for instance :)

Lynn had tried on a wig which looked quite retro 80's and I decided to have a go with it too - I quite liked the way it looked so I put some funds in the donation box for it.  I posted the pics on Instagram and it went down quite well ! 

Anyway it was a very enjoyable night, certainly in the shortlist for the best Chams meeting of the year :)

I was in the Leaf so I had a more relaxing journey home, I had the day off the next day too, so it didn't matter it was quite late when I got back. 

Friday 29th - Bolton Abbey

I had planned on not doing anything at the weekend again - there was a beer festival, but I've been
spending a lot of time away, and the hotels are quite expensive, so instead I plotted a solo adventure day trip.  It was a dual purpose adventure in that I would be using the Morris as well.

I got ready at quite a leisurely pace, and it was fairly late before I set off. But I managed to get to Bolton Abbey for about 2:15pm. The drive itself was nice, no major issues, Josephine appeared to be in a good mood, not much crunching of gears or idling issues. 

The lady at the car park kiosk complemented my on my vehicle ! - which made me smile :)

I headed for the Café first and got myself a cheese and onion pasty, a hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream, and a bit of cake. All of the major food groups, fat and sugar.   

After this I headed over the river and down the opposite bank to where I had parked towards the stepping stones which would take me to the abbey.  It wasn't the nicest weather, I had taken my brolly just in case but didn't need it. 

I did some photo's at the stepping stones, but I couldn't actually cross as several had been swept away by tree's hitting them after being washed downstream in a storm. A bit of a shame, but I can always go back later. 

I had a brief look around the remains of the abbey, and the church next to it, then headed back to the car. Overheard a few people commenting on her as I was faffing around getting ready to leave, she does attract attention. 

My shitnav took my back through the middle of Leeds, which wasn't very relaxing, stop start traffic is no fun with no hydraulic assisted clutch and a crunchy gearbox. But we got home OK.

It was good to get some more miles under my belt, and fab to have a nice day out too. 

Oestrogen aborbed

Updates:

The Oestrogen gel has arrived late last week. I administered on Wednesday and Thursday mornings  -two pumps to outer upper arms. I did feel a little odd afterwards. I'm not sure if that was because I was expecting it to, or maybe placebo response. It was a bit like after having a strong coffee, I felt a bit more on edge that normal.

I was going away for the weekend and forgot to take it with me, so I didn't have any on Friday and Saturday. Started back again on Sunday morning. This time I went with inner thighs. 

I didn't feel as much of an effect yesterday, and not much today (Tuesday) either. I did wake up a bit grumpy today which doesn't normally happen.

Adventures:

Weekend before last - 

I went out in drab for a drink with my brother on Saturday, took the Morris Minor to show him, he's never been in it.  It was a nice couple of hours in the afternoon.  

I had thought about going En-femme but decided against it. I had got as far as shaving for it though. Sort of regret not doing so.  But we've agreed to meet up in a month's time, so I think I will set that as a thing to do for next time.

Since I had already shaved, I did do a bit of makeup practise in the evening, but the look I went with didn't really work. 

I was getting withdrawal symptoms from not being out dressed, so I headed into Leeds on Sunday for some shopping, and another excuse to take the Morris out. It was a nice afternoon, I visited a CAMRA pub - 'The Ship Inn', seemed like a bit of a dive really, but one off the list. I was driving so I only had a half, and made sure to have it a few hours before intending on leaving.

I tried a fish and chips place in a shopping arcade, it wasn't that brilliant - I couldn't find a café that didn't look rammed. Went around the corn exchange, did a few of the charity shops and had a drink in flamingos.

It was really good to get out though.

Weekend just gone - Midlands Morris trip :

I had three things available to me near each other for Thursday / Friday and Saturday, so I planned to stay overnight and make a weekend of it.  Thursday was Chams, Friday was Nottingham Invasion, and Saturday a friend invited me for lunch in Lincoln.

Chams 

I was popping into the East Midlands outlet on the way down, as Ann and Amber were meeting there for some pre-chams shopping, and was going to have a drink with them.

On attempting to merge onto the M1 , there was another Minor to my right , we waved at each other as he went past and I merged in behind him. It was a pale green two door.  I figured I would be able to get details off the dashcam , but unfortunately it records on a loop and I did too many miles this weekend, so it's gone. 

I made good time, and managed to get to the outlet in time to have a drink and a toastie at Costa with Ann and Amber, then we headed to Nuthall for the meeting.

The meeting was really good, really great to catch up with people, I think I had missed the last two meetings, one because my wife was doing something, and another I went to Wakefield as I just wasn't in the mood for a late night.

Met a new person - well they had returned after a very long absence, she was nice - might end up seeing her at Invasion too perhaps. Caught up with a few of the regulars. We had a quiz which seemed to work really well, broke the evening up a bit. There were enough there for it to split into lots of smaller conversations which was nice. 

I left a little earlier than normal, as I wanted to get to the hotel before 11pm. I was staying at the 'Days Inn' off the A50 near Donnington. It's about the cheapest place with a roof and bed you can get nearby. I was a bit worried about the car, but I had installed a GPS tracker, and removed lots of ignition components, nobody touched it though.

Derby / Nottingham daytime fun

Ann was free for a little while in the morning, so we arranged to meet up in Derby at a McDonalds for
breakfast. The breakfast at the Days Inn came in a bag apparently, so wasn't too appealing. 

We met up at 9ish I think, had a nice chat over our unhealthy food, then parted ways - I had decided to go into Derby to do some shopping. The Morris was not 100% right, it had developed a random vibration, and I didn't want to do too many miles in her, so shopping seemed more sensible.

I parked in the Derbion centre, accidentally choosing the entrance with the corkscrew route instead of the more pleasant ramp Ann had suggested - I got some good video of it though :)

I had decided to go visit the 'Museum of making' first, which was a little walk from the shopping centre. It had some nice exhibits, but wasn't that big so I didn't spend a vast amount of time there. There was a jet engine and an exploded car to look at. It was free so can't complain - nice loo's too :) 

I wanted to buy some hair straighteners, as I had failed to pack them as well as my brolly and my oestrogen due to rushing about at the last minute.  I had brought a wig for the evening, but that was more a plan B.  Unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere that sold them.

Looked around some charity shops, got a few bits of lingerie from Primark, and decided that getting to Nottingham might be a good idea, so headed there.

The sat nav took me in a rather unexpected route, and through some of the city centre which wasn't ideal as she is not fun in stop start traffic, but got there OK, not much in the way of the vibration issue.  I filled her up with fuel and parked in the Victoria Centre North car park.

I bought some straighteners on offer in Boots for £30, and also some heat protect spray, having looked in a number of other places first. 

A drink in the the 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem' was now top off the to-do list, but I needed food first. Randomly walking around looking for a nice café didn't work, so I opted for a Gregs sarnie, then headed to the pub. I suppose I could have eaten there really ....

Anyway, had a nice half in there, and sat out on the benches outside, I didn't want to drink too much as would be doing so in the evening. By the time I had finished my drink it was time to check in to the hotel, so I wandered back and did so. I was in the Hilton, which although is very expensive is very convenient for the car park and the Invasion starting/ending venue.

After checking into the hotel, and getting my bags from the car I had a bash with the straighteners. I was pretty pleased with the outcome.  I have not used them that often at all, but it looked a lot better than when I started.  I also put some 'Bed Head' shine spray on to make it look a bit more glossy, and a bit of hairspray to hold it in place a bit. I went back to a side parting, I had been rocking a centre parting during the day.

I put on my dress for the night, and some heels and headed out in search of food - I had googled for nearby restaurants and found an Italian place that looked nice.  I did feel a bit self conscious as it was still quite early - about 5pm, and not many people were dressed nice at that time.

The lady at the restaurant was really welcoming, she asked if I wanted to sit at the back - I wasn't really fussed about hiding away, maybe she thought I would be !   I opted for a three meat lasagne, still not sure what the three meats were but it was nice. Not huge though - I think the one I had at Gino's in Leeds earlier in the month had swayed me to expect a big one.  

I wasn't that full so I decided on a desert - Tiramisu, which I had spied another patron having and it looked nice, and it was ! 

It was only  just after 6:30pm when I finished, and another few hours until there would be anyone at the pub, so I went back to the hotel for a little lay down.

Invasion 

On entering the Foresters I spied a trans lady I hadn't met before sat on her own, I waved and went and got a drink and joined her. She was friendly enough and we chatted for a bit until some of the other regulars turned up. I think there were 9 of us in our bit, and a few more sat by the dance floor.  

We were in there for an hour and half or so , then moved onto the 6 Barrels just on the other side of the shopping centre.  Had a nice pint in there, and then we moved to the Lord Roberts.  

A few of us departed at that point, so we were down to six of us.

The Roberts had an event downstairs and the pub was a bit empty compared to normal but it did mean we got some nice seats.

They refused to serve Jennifer half a snake bite and black - would only do pints of it, so she wrote a poem about it, and I think i got a mention :)  - she's not posted it anywhere yet though. 

It was past midnight when we left, they were all heading to back to the Foresters, but given I was going to Lincoln the next day, I decided to be sensible and head to bed. 

Lincoln

Not sure if it was the food or beer or both but my digestive system had not been too happy overnight, but breakfast helped - went to McDonalds next to the hotel for a bacon roll.

Getting to Lincoln was fairly uneventful and was parked up near the Brayford pool by 10:45am. The meal wasn't until 1pm so I did some wandering.  Looked in a few charity shops, headed up steep hill to see if anything was going on.

There was a market at the top, and some people looked to be doing some rope climbing training, or a
demonstration on the big arch you walk through to get to the Cathedral.  I had a quick look inside the Cathedral but had been before so didn't fancy paying for the privilege and headed out.

I popped into the museum just to use the loo, and then sat out on a bench in a park at the back of the art gallery for a bit. It was soon time to go meet my friend so I headed back down to the restaurant - The Botanist.

Met Alice and Helen outside and we were shown to a table upstairs. Neither of us had met Helen
before, so we did the usual sort of chat about our past, and journeys. It was very nice. Food was pretty good too - I had a spicy chicken burger. 

After the meal myself and Alice did a few more shops, then I decided I should probably get back home so said my goodbyes.

Got home fine, didn't do much driving over 60mph which is better for the fuel economy too. 

All in all a very nice day and weekend !

 

50's Seaside fun

 

Updates

GenderGP  - they have provided me with a link to an online Pharmacy which will fulfil my prescription. There is a payment problem, but hoping I will get my gel through the post soon !

Laser - I got sunburnt at the weekend, and they didn't want to do my face because of this :(  . But they are not going to charge me for it, as I did manage to get the unaffected parts of my torso done.

Think I am feeling a bit down, didn't want to attend my group tonight. Some of it was due to the heat and the fact the café can get very warm. My social calendar is looking a bit sparse this month too, not much to look forwards to for a while, probably some post event comedown too.

Adventures 

The previous weekend was a very good one, it was Leeds First Friday as normal, then off to Morecambe for a Vintage event for the Saturday and Sunday. 

LFF 

I was trying Roomzzz for the first time, which is a 'Aparthotel' - so it's like a bedsit.  It was really good, had a little kitchen and seating area, dishwasher and washing machine too. It wasn't really much more than I would have paid for a hotel room. 

I did some shopping, met up with Alice and the gang in the afternoon, and was joined by Arabella for a few drinks before I checked into the room.  

Had a fab Italian in Gino's in the Marriot for evening meal with Alice, Cindy and Lexi. I had a lasagne, it was very filling, tasted like proper pasta, lots of layers.  I was hoping to hate it, as they were there reason why we lost access to the Marriot bar when they bought it, but it was all quite good. 

Service was a bit slow, but I think we broke their system by not wanting to order drinks before food.

After food we joined the Newbie event in the Bridge - we didn't want to change into our final outfit of the day, in case we looked a bit intimidating 🤣

Met some nice people in there, one from Scotland who runs a Glasgow event, and who I can't remember her name now.

After a while I nipped back to my room, which was visible from the pub window to get changed into something a bit more adventurous.

We got some nice photo's in the Viaduct, and then I headed out around some non-LGBTQ bars with Arabella.   We did 'The Botanist' , then 'Rolands' for cocktails (next to Northern Guitar), then into Revolution De Cuba for 5 mins, before heading to 'The End' for a final drink. 

We were both driving to Morecambe in the morning, so didn't stay out late, or drink much for fear of being unfit to drive !

Vintage by the Sea 🌞🍹💃

I had been buying dresses and shoes, and a petticoat for this for a while before the event, and was really excited to be going. My friend Arabella attends lots of vintage events and had suggested it.

https://www.vintagefestival.co.uk/vintage-by-the-sea/

I had even contemplated taking the Morris Minor, but she has been a little unreliable of late, and initially we were thinking of only taking one car. The train strike put pay to that plan, and we both ended up driving in the end.

We both managed to get ready in good time, and after a brief stop at the Lancaster park and ride to get everything into my car (so we didn't have to pay to park two cars)  we headed into Morecambe which was rammed, but we were lucky and got a space within 20 mins or so.

We did a bit of shopping at some vintage stalls setup inside a theatre, and slowly made our way to the Midland hotel which was the main focal point for the event.  There were lots of vintage cars parked up in front of it, and had a good look around those - well I was mainly looking at the other Morris ones :)

Then we headed inside the hotel where there were more stalls - and we soon spied a bit with some hair stylists doing some vintage do's on some women. I probably wouldn't have signed up if I was there on my own, but with Arabella wanting to, I signed up too.  We had about 45 mins to look around before our slot, so we did a few more stalls and I got a bottle of coke.

The stylist was really nice, she asked me what I wanted and I said to make me look as vintage as possible, and we agreed on some curls - she was a bit unsure if my hair was long enough, but seemed to like a challenge.  I think it took about 30 mins, there were at least 6 hairpins, and lots of curly and half a can of hairspray, but I was really pleased with the results.

 Arabella didn't seem so pleased with hers, but I thought it looked really nice too. I was beaming for a while after we had it done, I was most happy.

We went to check into the Travelodge after this, as was past 3pm.  They were having the carpets redone and it all smelled like a carpet warehouse and was a bit grotty. The rooms were red hot too. 

So we didn't stay long, and headed back out to find food.

The woman on reception had recommended a pub, but it was a bit rough inside and we decided to look elsewhere.  Unfortunately didn't find anything great, so we ended up eating fish and chips on a bench in the park. 

We did a few more photo's next to a bus, then headed back for a bit of a rest , before changing into evening attire.  

I was in a British Retro dress, with Irregular Choice shoes.  I decided not to wear my petticoat in case I got too warm dancing in it, but still thought it looked fab.

We had bought tickets for the afterparty, which was in a big tent out the back of the Midland hotel. 

It was fairly dead when we arrived, but it soon started to fill up. 

The bar wasn't staffed very well, and it got progressively impossible to get served, so we didn't end up drinking too much !

We met some lovely people, Arabella is good at talking to random people, and attracts interaction so you are never lonely for long.  Met a middle aged woman with her daughter and son in law, had a really lovely chat with them. 

One of the DJ's was a famous fashion guy, and I ended up stood next to him for a bit, not having a clue who he was - Wayne Hemingway , he seemed like a fairly ordinary nice chap !

Arabella had some trouble with a few rowdy girls who tried to pick her up, which put a bit of downer on the night - but overall it was really good, and would definitely do it again. 

We finished the evening sharing a kebab and meandered back to the hotel. 

Day 2

The stylist had suggested that I sleep with a pair of knickers on my head to preserve the hairdo - it worked mostly !!!  There are no pictures of this fortunately. 

I did get Arabella to help smooth some loose bits - I had seen the stylist use a technique where she sprayed hairspray onto her hand, then rubbed her hand along the loose hairs to get them to stay. This worked when we tried it too, which was nice !

Having not worn the petticoat the previous day, I did feel the need to put it on, and was really happy with how it all looked.

After checking out and stuffing our bags back into my car, we headed back to the Midland and I got a photo with a fab lilac Morris Million !  Then we did the vintage stalls in the old station building opposite.

I had my first experience trying to go to the loo in a petticoat - I ended up taking it off and hanging it on a hook on the toilet door :) 

Had some nice chats with some of the stall holders, but I didn't buy anything, We had pizza from one of the vans parked out the front of that. Then I nipped to Morrisons for some supplies.

Arabella was meeting one of her friends in the afternoon, we wandered down the front with her and her little girl, and got some traditional ice-cream. Then I left them all to talk for a bit and wandered down the stone pier to see what was down there.

I met back up with Arabella mid afternoon and bid farewell to her friend, then we decided we had seen all there was to see and set off back to the car at 3ish 

I got home about 5pm, and realised I had been quite badly sunburn on my neck and chest and arms !! I hadn't felt it due to the pleasant sea breeze, and then the aircon in the car.

Silly me .....

But anyway it was a really fantastic event, and weekend, and hopefully worth the pain. I will be more careful next time.