Should have used Duracell batteries

It's taken the best part of a week to recover from our outing to Leeds and Manchester... well actually a combination of Leeds, Manchester and that weird bug I came down with just into the New Year.

Friday - it must be Leeds
Much has been said by Mrs Kate on her blog, so I won't repeat that except to say we (Diana, Karen, Emma, Mrs Kate and myself) ventured over the hill to Leeds for 'First Friday' - a self-proclaimed 'award winning' event held the first Friday of every month for the girls on the easterly side of the Penines. I guess we might be a bit spoiled with having the Village nearby, but if you don't have a lot else available near you, most events will appear to be 'award winning'. But it was a good atmosphere, packed and very hot - despite the outside chill. A number of girls we recognised, some on first name terms and others we recognise from their occasional visit to Naps.

So after showing our faces there we went to try a few other bars in the area; The Viaduct, where we sampled the delights of a DJ that kept talking over the music and just one drink before crossing over the road to the Queens Court which had a club I think was called 'The Loft'. The Loft was a bit like Naps in that us (T) girls got in for free whilst Mrs Kate had to pay - each of us getting a letter stamp on the back of our hand that would later prove that only the best of makeup removers could shift!

It seems that like most establishments in the 'Pink Triangle', it catered for the Gay community but not so much for T-girls. Most folk were nice and polite but there was a subtle territorial inference, particularly from the lesbian side which it seemed The Loft was as likely their turf. Music was pretty good, drink prices weren't bad and I even got molested in a nice sort of way by a group of young lesbians on the dance floor; their MO was to check whether my falsies were indeed false or not - actually 50-50 or so I confirmed (verbally of course!). The ladies powder room was not upto the same par as the main establishment - mostly down to the number of available cubicles (only 3) of which one of them was being used for the 'how many girls can you get in and have a bust-up' competition. Mrs Kate and I ended up having to share one between us; and on leaving, to check neither of us was doing the Andrex puppy bit with loo paper stuck to the bottom of our shoes.

Saturday - it must be Manchester
Woke up to a grey and rainy Leeds which following breakfast, the unanimous decision was to get back to Manchester to do a bit of shopping - 'cos as likely it would be sunny; and so it was..... something we can often experience with differing weather systems each side of 'The Hill'. So back to Manchester we went, and a bit of shopping around the city centre.

For a change we thought we would check out Aflecks Palace, and without thinking, it was full of Goths and Punks - one of which could have easily been No.1 son since he was also in Manchester for a major Goth event of the year (I guess 'dressing up' must be hereditary!). Alsorts of outfits can be found in there - nothing that wouldn't look out of place in Naps though!

The evening started off with a meal in Velvet, followed by a tour of Spirit before moving onto Naps. But I don't recall an awful lot of the evening after Velvet as I became tired about halfway through the meal, to point of being grumpy. I think it was a combination of the past evenings events in Leeds, and coming down with a cold or something - indeed when we got back to our accommodation for the night and removed all the concealing makeup, underneath my face was a bit flushed to say the least. I don't know what time it was when we gave our excuses and left Naps, but it was certainly earlier than usual.

Sunday - recharge the (solar) batteries
Woke up Sunday morning to a bright cloudless day; it looked warm and inviting and outside our hotel room window we could see one or two people out and about, some waiting for buses and going places. Feeling a bit delicate from the major power drain the night before, we checked out our hotel and put our bags in the car before going on to find breakfast. It was as we were going through the lobby that we experienced our negative situation, similar events that the others had experienced in various ways over the last couple of days. The hotel lobby was busy, mostly young male guests just hanging around; one in a group of which decided to have a go by directing 'Oy John' at me to gain my attention. As a one does, I just ignored him - until we were outside when I gave him a hard stare through my sun glasses and a few lipped choice words.

That behind us, we went to get breakfast - Witherspoons was Ok for the simple bacon butty and a coffee; followed by a mooch around the Arndale and the shops before sitting in the sun in St. Annes square. And it was warm in the sun, but in the shade - that wind just went right through you. So we ambled back to Taurus, met up with Diana and Karen, had afternoon tea and cake ; and then headed off home for a hot bath and a snooze.

Epilogue
Leeds was Ok, cobbled streets were hard work for the heels (thank you flatties!), Travelodge was warm and comfortable. Di was foxy in her leopard print figure hugging dress, Karen was elegant in her newly acquired red dress. First-Friday was Ok but too crowded and too hot, the lesbians in The Loft were a scream and I had fun dancing with my flatties which have made friends with me since I promised not to subject them to the shoe stretcher again. Saturday; I think was going downhill from mid-evening onwards and struggled to keep up with the conversation all-round (and felt I missed out on something as a result). Ibis hotel was cold and some of the clientele disrespectful - won't be staying there again if I/we can avoid it. Thanks go to Emma for being chauffeur and ferrying us to Leeds and back; sorry I was tired and grumpy on Saturday night!