Recent Entries

• Ariane does normal

  by Ariane Durand October 25, 2023
  I love Waitrose. I do a lot of cooking and buy all my ingredients there. In fact I spend so much time in Waitrose that it feels like a second home.   So today when I decided to live a normal day as Ariane, it was natural to visit my favourite supermarket. I drove about 10 miles to the Haslemere Wa...
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• If you go down to the woods today…

  by Ariane Durand October 12, 2023
  …You'd better go in disguise!   I have had some time as Ariane for four days in a row. This must be a record for me. But today was the first day that Ariane was able to leave home. I drove about 15 miles to Alice Holt Forest near Farnham. This is very popular with families at the weekend, but on a...
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• Ariane in Guildford

  by Ariane Durand October 5, 2023
  Another day home alone… so I became Ariane quite early on and drove off in search of adventure. My first stop was the Surrey Pride Hub in Woking. I parked in the multi-storey and walked to the venue. Unfortunately it was (again) closed during advertised opening hours. What is it with this place? May...
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• My Ukrainian friend

  by Ariane Durand October 4, 2023
  I was home alone today so Ariane came out to play. At first I was thinking, shall I drive somewhere and go for a walk in the countryside? Then I texted my Ukrainian friend Inessa to ask her how she was. It turns out she is now unemployed. The Guildford department store where she worked four days a w...

• Woking meet

  by Ariane Durand September 22, 2023
  Today Ariane drove to Woking to meet Penny B, a Tgirl that I met online. She had posted a general request asking to meet up with anyone, and as she’s near me in Surrey, I thought I’d respond.We arranged to meet at the Surrey Pride Hub in Woking. This is a welcome and recently-established one-stop se...

• Out and about

  by Ariane Durand September 21, 2023
  Yesterday Ariane took further steps (literally) towards normality and acceptance. In the afternoon I dressed in some more sensible clothes – a midi dress and ankle boots – for a walk round Manchester city centre. No one gave me a second look. First I went to see the statue of the suffragette leader ...
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• Back on the street

  by Ariane Durand September 20, 2023
  Well Ariane finally made it to Manchester. This is a dream location because I can indulge my twin passions of following City and being a girl. The boys in blue delivered on the pitch last night with a 3–1 win over Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League. Then back to Velvet on Canal Street, where ...

• All good things

  by Ariane Durand September 10, 2023
  It seems so long ago that I went into Guildford for a make-up lesson and bought lots of cosmetics. Ariane has had be very patient to try them out, and I don’t do patient. I have so little time on my own.   First one of my aged relatives came to stay with us. She’s lovely, but she’s 90, and she’s i...

• Trans and Orthodox Jewish

  by Ariane Durand September 7, 2023
  I came across this moving short video on the Guardian website today. It tells the story of an Orthodox Jewish trans woman, Talia Avrahami, who started life male and transitioned to become female. She was working as a teacher at a school in New York City when she was outed in 2022 by a group of paren...

• LGBT Christians

  by Ariane Durand August 11, 2023
  Please don’t take it the wrong way when I say that I am a Christian. I am not trying to convert anyone to my way of thinking. The Christian way makes sense to me. But everyone must find their own way in the world. As it happens I believe that leading an ethical life is more important than which reli...
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