Sad state of affairs

 

Well I didn't see any of the last few weeks events coming, so it's been a bit of kick in the guts. 

I am alternating between feeling numb, angry and scared really.  I am trying to avoid the news, it just gets worse every time I see something new.

I am aware that no laws have changed about which loo's I can use, but the media has been effective at spreading the lies, and I am in no doubt that a good percentage of the populous now believe it to be true.

I must be feeling a bit like disabled people do when they need to go out somewhere, got to know where all the accessible toilets are going to be in advance. Emailing places to check on access etc.  Certainly feel more trapped and restricted.

I can't say I will never use the gents, but it would need to be the absolute last resort.  I don't really want to risk being confronted in the ladies either. So if there are no gender neutral facilities, it will have to be the disabled.

Radar keys can be acquired from a neurodiversity shop in Hull apparently. I have had friends get them off Amazon only to find they didn't work. But a friend has vouched for these ones. 

Transition Status 

No immediate change to my plan at the moment, but if things are going to get significantly worse then the pipe dream of emigrating may require some genuine thought, and reservation of funds.

I am going to progress with the laser hair removal down there, I hadn't planned on contacting the surgeon till much later in the year anyway. 

I've had my medical interview with Pride In Health this week - it went well, and she seemed pleased with my progress.

It was an hour long call, but for some reason the calendar had messed up at her end and she was 10 minutes late.  We spent about 45 minutes in the end, which was good as I had a work call 5 minutes after it ended.

We covered my dosage history, what effects physically and emotionally I had experienced, and  what effects I was still hoping to see. She was happy with my last blood test results, but needs to see a full health check with Liver Function Tests to see how my liver is coping with the blockers before she will prescribe.

I have 6 months of everything left at the moment, so it seems no rush at the moment.

Not had my letter from her yet with a summary of everything we spoke about, but should get it by the end of the week.

 

Social Activities : 

I did go out at the weekend, and I did still have a good time, but the issues were at the back of my mind, and I should have been more happy than I was. It did help to be out though.

 

Riding Lesson

My friend Charlotte had suggest that I might like to try riding a horse ! she was planning to go on the Friday afternoon, and had offered to pay for me to try it too. 

I do like to try new things, so was quite excited.  I had taken Josephine over too, partly as a bit of a shakedown drive before my wales trip in early May, and also to make sure she and Charlotte got on , as she is joining me on that trip and has never been in her.  There is very little passenger seat adjustment, and she is quite tall.

So I drove her to a pub for some food to achieve that aim. We ordered a fish goujon sandwich, which sounded light, but was basically a massive piece of fish in bread. I didn't finish it all !   - as it was before some of the more recent press garbage I still felt OK to risk the loos, nobody said anything.

After returning to hers, and swapping to her vehicle we headed to the yard in Beverly.

I got equipped with a helmet, and asked to fill in a disclaimer form, with emergency contact details etc !   I have a small head apparently, and there was disbelief I was in my 40's - she thought I was a lot younger.

I had to wait for my steed 'Gordon' to return to the yard, he had been out in public with a young lady on a bit of a ride and hadn't returned yet.  They wanted to give me one that was size appropriate, and also very well behaved given I had not ridden before.

Gordon seemed nice, the young instructor led him into the riding area, and I had to walk up some box steps so I could mount him.  

She taught me how to do the basics, start  , stop left and right turns.  I got to do some maneuvering, they have letters on the fences around the area, so she would tell me to A for example, then to B.  

We did try some faster riding, where I had to try and stand on the stirrups - that wasn't so much fun for me, I think I should have untucked !  

Anyway I was told I did really well, and that she didn't really need to be helping me - at least with just going around at walking pace.

I would like to try again some time, but I would prefer to go with my friend, and it's in Hull so may not be something I do often.

 

Beat the Clock - Vinyl disco

Sally, Rebeka and a few of Charlotte's friends were meant to be coming, but her friends sadly pulled out, so it was just the four of us.

Sally, Charlotte and myself went to a Pizza restaurant first, then met Rebeka in a bar afterwards. 

The disco was in a room above it later on in the evening, it's a semi regular retro vinyl disco, playing obscure music from the 60's 70's and 80's  -  it was nice, but I had hoped for a few more popular ones. 

There were no loo issues, the cubicles were all self contained with sinks and dryer off a central corridor and were not gendered.  

We did some dancing, and drank some refreshing beverages - I had a lot less than the others though, as was being good.

I think we left after midnight some time. 

Hornsea

I had decided to stay an extra day since the weather was nice, and I had Josephine on hand, I suggested we go to the seaside to get some nice air.

Had a nice pootle out there, and a bit of a wander around town for a bit.  I bought a warmer coat from a charity shop as it was quite bracing near the beach.  We had a light bite at a little cafe near the Boat Launch , then proceeded south down the beach to look for fossils and such.

I should really have taken a hammer from the car, but forgot they had them down there. It was a pleasant walk, there was a paraglider taking advantage of the sea breeze to fly up and down over the edge of the cliff.

On our return we headed back into the centre and grabbed a drink at a cool gaming cafe, then we went to a deli and grabbed some traditional saveloys which we planned to have with pasta for tea.

Then we headed back.  The saveloys were really nice, we had with spaghetti and a spicy tomato sauce.

Headed home the next day, Josephine seemed happy, which was nice :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diagnosis

 

Diagnosis :

Well I've finally got myself a formal diagnosis - It was part of the signup process for Pride in Health  a new service I have signed up for : 

As per today’s assessment, Miss Isobel <Redacted> fulfils the criteria and holds a diagnosis of gender incongruence according to the ICD-11 classification HA60 ‘Gender incongruence of adolescence or adulthood':

“Gender incongruence in adolescence or adulthood is characterised by a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual's experienced gender and the assigned sex, which often leads to a desire to 'transition' to live and be accepted as a person of the experienced gender through hormonal treatment, surgery or other health care services to make the individual's body align, as much as desired and to the extent possible, with the experienced gender”.

Gender incongruence is associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, as highlighted in Miss Isobel <Redacted>’s gender history. She wishes to affirm her gender identity through hormone replacement therapy.

I had previously been 'assessed' by GenderGP, but I didn't get a four page PDF signed by a Psychologist at the end of it.

So there you go, I wasn't just going through a phase for the past few years 😂 

Other medical matters : 

The blockers seem to be doing something, I won't go into detail but I definitely am less testosterone driven. This is good !

I am not taking the dose I am meant to be on, as it seemed excessive compared to my friends. So I am mirroring them. I will be reviewing my dosages with Pride in Health when I am fully onboard - one more interview to go with that.

In preparation for the possibility of  surgeries downstairs, I have been consulting with those that have already been there and had that done.  I have concluded that Tina Rashid seems to be my preferred option. She is UK based, and in the London area. I have not approached them for anything yet.

I have also started hair removal down there - which I have not been looking forward to, but it seems is recommended before you get assessed.  Had my first session last week, it was a bit awkward, but the lady is very professional and my dignity was mostly maintained. I didn't realise but the package also included rear removal !  I am sort of glad as I would have worried more.

Anyway there was very little pain, compared to the top lip anything else you get done is a walk in the park really. I got 6 sessions for the price of 5,  £550 in total - https://www.laserluxxe.co.uk/ 

I went to the doctors to ask for blood tests at the start of the month, he was super friendly which was nice - he wasn't my usual doctor and i am sure he was a bit grumpy with me the last time i saw him maybe 7 years ago.  But anyway he was fine to give me the tests.

Not sure if he will be forced to stop doing them in the though, I hear that dear old Wes Streeting has been telling the NHS not to do them for kids, and he's likely angling for the adults too. What a lovely chap.

 

Social life 

I've been to LFF of course, Indian Street food was had at Bundobust followed by an afternoon of drinking in the bars.  In the evening we ended up at Behind Closed Doors again, an underground bar with a seedy theme, but not a place where seedy things happen.  

They did a cocktail where they clip a condom to your glass, we had a few of them - which reminds me I really ought to throw them away, my wife might get the wrong idea if she looked in my handbag right now 😂 - I think it was called Kitten Mittens. 

We finished the night sharing cheesy chips with sauce on, which was nice.

The next day myself Sally and Benni were out in Wakefield. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling up to another heavy night, but we had a nice time. I left about 10 ish - was meant to be staying over in Wakefield but just needed my own bed.

I've made it to the last two Chameleons which is good. I did leave a bit early last Thursday, as I had the day off the next day and I needed to get my car finished. So it gave me an earlier night to get a good sleep.

Met a newbie last time who seemed lovely, hoping they will come again although it seems their work might get in the way.

I am going to Hull for a disco night next Friday, and I have swimming again today - went last weekend too.  So I am doing well with the mingling (as normal I guess).

 

Josephine

Many many hours have been spent removing, rebuilding, re-installing the gearbox. Then it didn't sound good, so I had to do it all again 😢

Anyway attempt two seems to have gone well , fingers crossed.  She is back on the road, and seemingly ready for my camping adventure in Wales in May with the Women's Drivers Social Group !!

Proof of this is below, I drove my wife into Wakefield to pick up her car that was having an MOT :

I have since washed her 😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deploy the emergency penguins

Trans Updates

I have a call booked with Pride In Health for next week, i think they are still lacking a doctor, but I will get a formal diagnosis I believe. With this I should be able to go to a 3rd party endocrinologist that i know of, so hopefully can bin off GenderGP and get some
proper care. 

I have started on blockers, I have had them for ages, but had not bothered. Only had two doses so too early to tell. My plan is to do another blood test in April, see how I am doing.

 

IT Changes

In light of the issues over the pond, I've been attempting to move as much of my IT from US hosted services to UK/European ones.  

I am Microsoft free for my laptop and PC now,  Linux Mint on the laptop, Manjaro on the PC. 

I found a cloud provider in Norway which I have used to replace OneDrive (https://jottacloud.com/en/ ) this has a CLI based client for Linux which does what I need.

I have a new email and domain hosting provider in the UK ( https://www.fasthosts.co.uk/ )  , but not changed my email address on a lot of things yet.

Coincidentally, Skype - who I have been using ever since they binned MSN Messenger, is due to be closed down in May. So my Uni friends and I have prepared a Discord server to use after it's demise.  

This blog may get moved at some point, I did a backup a while ago, I might do another soon just in case.

I've also binned off my Amazon Music and Audible accounts too. I had binned off Tw@tter a long time ago. 

Still got my Insta, Youtube and Facebook - I would be upset if they went, but they don't cost me anything, so no need to totally throw my toys out of the pram :)

I don't expect they will starve just because I reduced what I spend, but if enough of us do it then it will convey a message.

 

March Social Events:

Leeds First Friday - 7th 

Had a pizza at Rudys with Benni on arrival. We headed to Pints and Straws afterwards, it was a pretty good turnout. Fun times were had :)

Sally turned up towards the end, which was nice.

We ate  at Bundobust before the main event, it is an entirely vegetarian Indian streetfood restaurant with craft beer.  I really liked it, had a fab burger.

In the evening we met up with Gemma, who I don't get to see a lot of these days.  After the usual Bridge End Social visit, we did cocktails at the viaduct, then I think we went to Behind closed doors which is a fun place I think will try and add to the schedule next month.

We did 'The End' then 'Smokestack' after this. I was getting tired and Sally was done for the night too, so I walked her back to the Leanardo, then headed back the Travelodge.

Chameleons - 13th

I had missed the last two Chameleons, partly due to stress at work leading to a lack of
motivation, but I knew I wouldn't be missing this one, as it was an overnight stop on my way down to Milton Keynes the next day.

Ann was there which was nice,  it wasn't the busiest of nights, but not a bad turnout.

There was a talk planned by a guy who runs a dance company, who it seems grew up not far from where i live. 

It was a nice night, I enjoyed the talk and presentation, but he hadn't expected to be talking so long so he ended up rushing off :)

I stayed over at the Premier Inn near the tram station not far from the community center. It was undergoing some building work, but it didn't end up disrupting me too much.

Pink Punters -  14th

I couldn't decide on anywhere fun to go on the way to Milton Keynes, so decided to go
straight there. It was an uneventful drive, I had charged fully at the church next to the community center the night before, so got there fine.  

I pottered around the main shopping center for a bit , couldn't find anywhere I fancied to eat so ended up with a Greggs meal deal.  I was meeting Benni at the train station later in the day, so I could give her a lift to the hotel. I had hoped to go around the art gallery again, I liked that when I did it with Ann one time, but it was not open that day.

After picking up Benni and checking in, we met up with Sally in the bar and had an early meal there - nothing special, just to get us ready for the night!

Then we went to a local real ale pub for an hour which was nice, they had some good beers.   

We went back to the hotel - via an off-license where a local recommended a tonic wine for us to try ! we got a small bottle each, and tried them back in the room. It was drinkable, and fun to video our reactions, but I wouldn't want it again too soon :)

It did help fuel me for some Kareoke in the bar after we changed, I ruined 'Breaking the law' by Judas Priest. 

We went over to the night club later on, and mostly stayed in the cocktail bar. I didn't drink that much really. I went to bed a bit earlier than the others, had some tea and water and watched a bit of TV before going to sleep.

We all met up for breakfast in the morning, it was pretty good, but wasn't feeling 100% so ended up laying down for a bit afterwards.

I drove Benni to the station before heading home.  Was having difficulty finding a free
charger again, but I noticed one not at a services I had never seen before on my google maps, so headed there.  

Turns out I had a quite a big charging complex all to myself !  

 

Hull - 21st 

A visit to Hull to explore some more real ale pubs with Charlotte.  We were also going to try a Brazilian restaurant (meat on a stick type place).

It was a very nice afternoon, we did two new ones (new to me) and then one we had done the previous month. One of them was where the plot that started the civil war took place !

We stopped for a tea at a little gallery on the way to the restaurant, just to sober up a bit :)

The Brazilian restaurant was really nice, but we probably had too many drinks to fully get our moneys worth.  You had a card that you flipped over to stop or start the delivery of meat, and a salad bar. 

 

Swimming

I did attend on the 2nd and 9th , I think I managed 42 on both !

 

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 :)