Let me take you by the hand…

…and lead you through the streets of London. In a way that was the highlight of the weekend for me. Late on during Trans-mission night Pippa and I went for a walk outside. We walked for about half a mile until we came across a very drunk bloke on a street corner, then decided that would be a good time to turn back. Most of my nights out so far have been at the Village in Manchester, so for a country girl like me to get out dressed and walk through the streets of London was quite special, in a very ordinary normal thing to do sort of way. Hard to explain, but it’s just nice to be all tarted up and feeling part of the big wide world. It was lovely, relaxing, and not a sheep in sight.

But lets go back to the start, for all in all, it was a great weekend. I got up pretty early (for me) on Friday, got made up, dressed, and set off to Pippa’s house. Nobody saw me leave, or drive through town as far as I’m aware (shame). Picked up Pippa and continued southwards. We stopped for lunch at services on the M40, just a small place, not many people around. It was a hot sunny day so we sat on the grass and had a little picnic. I guess a few people glanced in our direction but no-one seemed to blink, so it was no big deal. On the road again, next stop Sarah’s several hours later. We reclined on the sofa (see photo in Lucy & Pippa’s album) while Sarah fixed us drinks and pottered about in the kitchen. Wonderful food arrived, roast duck – one of my favourites, with stir-fry vegetables and noodles. Cold Chardonnay (she knows me well) accompanied, and v&c’s ensued, plus of course lots of girly chat and good music. It was a lovely night Sarah, thank you so much for putting us up, and putting up with us.

Rather than take over Sarah’s bathroom for half the day, we decided to have an early(ish) start and get to the hotel early afternoon. We decided to travel to London in drab, to save time. Pippa had forgotten to bring men’s shoes so just wore socks, I had remembered mine but travelled in my girly ones anyway, still with my nails painted. I must have looked a sight, but it felt like some sort of statement. Not sure what I was trying to say but anyway…

Met some of the girls, also in drab, at the hotel, and Nena very kindly gave me some loose face powder, the one thing I’d forgotten (I told you there’d be something). Now that must have looked even stranger, me emptying white powder into a plastic bag in the hotel foyer, but no-one called the police. Thanks Nena, you saved my life, or at least my make up from running, I owe you one babe.

It was another hot day, and a long, slow journey from Sarah’s so we were both quite fatigued by then. Pip had a kip, while I bathed, shaved and did all those things that a girl doesn’t need to talk about in her blog. I was glad we’d got there early, gave us plenty of time to relax, make-up and fiddle with our outfits (you can also see those in Lucy & Pippa’s album, plus there’s a pic in my own album, just for the record).

Shortly before 8 we went downstairs and bumped into the rest of the girls again and got taxis to the Extra Time Bar. It was my second time here, but Pippa was a London TM virgin, I wished I could have made the first time better for her. It was fairly quiet when we arrived, it was still early, so we had a few drinks in the bar downstairs, whilst the place gradually filled up. Upstairs for a boogie or two, once again, the music was ok, danceable, but not really floating my boat. I like songs that have words and a tune you can sing along to (god I sound like my granny), well actually I like all sorts of music, but pop makes me want to dance. So we mingled about, flitting upstairs and downstairs, and believe it or not, drinking sensible amounts of vodka. Somehow the atmosphere was different this time, it seemed to be busier downstairs most of the night, but I enjoyed being there nevertheless. You get a wide cross-section of trannies, from those who are, no offence, obviously not bothered and just chuck on any old skirt and top, to those who really go to town to look glamorous. I’m pleased to say that all the Trannyweb girls made sufficient effort and we all looked smashing. I loved my outfit and felt great, and Pippa’s outfit was so good I just wanted to rip it off her. Time for some fresh air I think…

Which is where I began. We bought a bottle of water each (see – sensible) and headed off down the street, taking a couple of pics on the way. By the time I got back I was ravenous, for food that is, so we stayed for a while longer and left about 20 minutes before the place closed. All the take-aways near the hotel were closed, but we managed to get room service with 3 minutes to spare. It was much needed, a fiver for a ham sandwich – but it had to be done. Not least because with food inside me I could now drink some more, without getting poorly. I decantered some vodka into a small bottle of coke and we went down to the bar to join those girls that were still standing, though only just in some cases!

Terrorising the norms is how Jules describes it, terrorising is perhaps a little strong; although I do enjoy being the cat amongst the pigeons, I want them to realise that they need have nothing to fear. On the whole I get the impression that people are genuinely interested in us and what makes us tick, but there was at least one guy there that night who wasn’t, in fact you would have thought we were terrorists by his attitude, even though no-one mentioned the war. He was German, with two compatriots, one who was quite friendly, one who hardly spoke English, all of them drinking lager, of course, they’re Germans. Anyway I may have missed something, or maybe he was getting worried about the girl in the corner cracking the whip (I think she was just practising), but he got his two friends to stop talking to us and move away to a different part of the bar, where incidentally, all three of them still couldn’t take their eyes off us. On our way out I said goodnight to the friendly one, who chatted briefly, and to the other who responded in a friendly manner, then to the non-friendly one, who sat stony-faced, staring straight ahead with his arms folded, and reluctantly said "guttnightt" in his best German accent. "You don’t like us do you?" I said, "and I never even mentioned the war". He remained set in stone. I gave up and went back upstairs with Pippa, where we closed the bedroom door on our weekend, and this part of the blog; too many details…

We drove home in drab, both of us with our nails still painted, getting more funny looks like that than we had done all the time we were dressed, but there are gender barriers to be broken down. Ah yes that’s the statement I was trying to make the day before; men can wear nail varnish too, and girly shoes if they want, though this time I had men’s shoes on, better than none at all though eh Pip?!

Got home, ate, checked pics, spoke to Pippa and Sarah briefly, then slept for hours, like a large, heavy, very tired log. It was a good weekend.