Daylight!

For some the 'trannie season' is over; with the clocks going forward an hour and the welcome approach of summer, the evenings are becoming lighter. Which means that Aprils outings are in daylight - at least for getting there!

Teelas monthly get together seemed a little slow at first but by the peak of the evening there was quite a reasonable turn out. Kay brought along new girl Diana which their journey had proven to be quite memorable for her. Apparently Diana had changed at Kays before they both started the journey fully dressed. On the way they got stuck in rush-hour traffic, and as what often happens in these situations, drivers start looking at the other cars and drivers around them as the lanes of vehicles crawl past each other at different speeds. By all accounts it seems the occupants of one vehicle took great interest in the girls and tried to maintain a parallel position alongside them as their lanes moved forward at independent speeds. Fortunately it was the other road users behind these rude folk that forced them to move with the traffic and stop harassing the girls.

Despite this rather 'baptism by fire' for Diana, she appeared confident and comfortable - once she had her first cuppa at Teelas!

As for my journey to Trans-Pose? - it was not as eventful as Kay and Dianas, but I was a little selfconscious given that the journey was made in bright sunshine and full-on into the approaching sunset. I looked at myself in the rear-view mirror a few times; despite a reasonably close-shave and liberal application of foundation, I could still see some of the 5 o'clock shadow. I tried hiding behind my sunglasses but that only made matters worse - they're not girly enough ..... mental note: must get some sunglasses!.

Still following the thread of last months somewhat rushed outing to the Village, I've decided I really need to allow more time to apply the makeup; this month was no exception, I spent a little more time putting the makeup on which meant I was left a bit later than I intended in order to meet Lisa and the girls in time. But I didn't need to rush, which was fortunate too; just after I joined the M62 at Birchwood a police patrol car joined the motorway at the Glazebrook service exit. This resulted in the traffic slowing and hanging behind the patrol vehicle.

The patrol vehicle continued into Manchester and just beyond the end of the motorway the driver pulled the vehicle over as though to let all the traffic pass him; as I was the last car to pass, he pulled out behind me. After this, all the cars in front where carefully watching their rear view mirror to see what the police might do next (me included). Despite it being a40 mph zone, the driver in the car in the next lane to my right and ahead of me decided she was in a 30 mph area and tried to precisely maintain that speed. Which meant that as she slowed and occasionally dipped below 30 mph, I was at the risk of passing her on the inside and that would have been a reason enough for the police to pull me over ... and I could do without that!. Fortunately, I was able to shadow this car from a little further back and at the next set of traffic lights I was able to legitimately pass on the inside.

But this didn't offer any comfort, after passing the slower car it moved into the same lane and behind me - fortunately they were more preoccupied in watching the police car behind them and being nervous.... especially shortly after this as the police car pulled into the vacated lane and overtook the both of us, only to come to stop alongside me at the next traffic lights. I didn't dare look in the drivers direction, the police vehicle towered above me and I'm certain he was looking at me (ok, so I'm a little paranoid - but give me some slack here, it's only my second outing in daylight!). But as the traffic lights turned to green, it became clear he had no interest in any of the vehicles nearby as an approaching police vehicle with lights and sirens did a u-turn in front of us and the pair then proceeded away at speed to respond to some emergency which later proved to be a minor accident on the raised section of the mancunian way.

But if the thought of the police following me wasn't enough, as I approached the turning for the carpark, I noticed a few youths unloading instruments from a transit van by the pub on the corner. I just knew I would have to walk past them and as likely run the gauntlet of some quips and comments. So after I parked my car and checked that my hair was on straight at least a dozen times, I gritted my teeth and made the best approach I could without tottering around too much in my heels on the cobbles. As I passed the group, I just focused on as near-perfect stroll in heels one can get and walked past and around the corner. And was there any wise-cracks? - not one.... which was either down to that they never noticed (yeah, right! - blend in yes, passable no!) or they were polite enough to not to pass some derogatory comment out loud; what a relief! ..... which really goes to show that most of the angst we have is in our own mind and 'incidents' though they might arise from time to time are rare.

The meal at the Eden restaurant was nice; at first it seemed that due to other commitments there might only be 3 of us; Lisa, myself and June Collins who was visiting from her home in Ireland, but Jaime managed to join us just in time for orders. After this we paid a visit to Northern Concorde which it seems is no longer (politics!) and only that evening had they announced the new group of 'Manchester Concorde'.