Re-evaluation

I've kind of been thinking about the title of my blog; 'Kate's journey'. Ok, so it uses an inappropriate apostrophe but that's not the issue. I've not really been making much headway in my 'journey'; so much so, I thought of changing it to 'Kate's Place'.

I did that test again, to see where I am now compared to about 12 months ago. No change, still in no (wo)mans land, caught between both worlds - although the score is putting me ever so slightly more on the girly side of centre. But I'm not so surprised with this result (no one should take these results too seriously - it's just a bit of enlightened fun), it certainly reflects what I feel at the moment, which is the best of both worlds.

But to h*ll with all that!

Moderately encouraged with Diana's recent use of a bargain special epilator from Asda, I bought one myself (less than £15 here!). I thought that if Di could manage to do her chest with one of these things, doing my legs should be a cinch ..... WRONG! ..... these things are nothing more than a post-modern torture device; they really, really hurt!

It made my mind up though; shaving my legs at least once or twice a week is not so bad after all; Di, you're a braver girl than me ;-)

This week - met up with Diana, Karen and Sandi - a girl who rarely has the opportunity to 'escape' her Bob world. We had a nice meal in Eden, especially as one of the staff tried to give us two main courses! - apparently there is a whole world of difference between a Mushroom Brioche and a Mushroom Risotto.... apart from size, both looked the same to me! .... but the Risottos were destined for a table nearby - lucky for the Waiter that we didn't start tucking into them!

Afterwards we went to Manchester Concorde to see if Diana could win the raffle (Lisa won it last week, I won it the week before - each time Di's number was 1 digit away so it must be Di's turn?); hard luck again for Di, her ticket was 2 digits away from winning. After here, Sandi and I decided to call it night, by way of Di's overnight pad and then onto AXM Late - which was busier and darker than when we last called in when Mrs Kate was with us.... mind you, I think they slipped with the smoke machine, it was coming down the stairs when we arrived.

After the quick look-in at AXM Late, Sandi and I made our way back to the car park - leaving Diana and Karen to party-on late into the night. My journey (and the same for Sandi as far as I saw as she passed me on the motorway!) was thankfully uneventful; Karen had sadly been subjected to a torrent of abuse from some twonk as she made her way back to her hotel. Despite the freedom of expression that Canal St. engenders, there are still bigoted jerks around that at best need our pity; but it's Karen that gets the admiration prize for simply ignoring this character and not letting him get to her. Good on you girl, don't give in to the bullies!

Need to have a word with Bob

Had a lovely evening out yesterday, with Mrs Kate and the gang. Met a couple of new acquaintances (is that the right word?), Bev and Sarah - lovely girls whom I couldn't get a word in edgeways if I tried on account of Mrs Kate!

But the ever so regular Wednesday trip to Canal St. was nearly ruined by Bob who got home quite late from work. He was supposed to arrive back by no later than 6pm, but didn't return until just before 7pm. Fortunately the girls were still waiting patiently for us in AXM - so understanding of us arriving nearly hour later than intended.

The evening was rounded off by Mrs Kate insisting she wanted to go dancing - I think she had had too many Cokes when we were in Taurus and was quite hyper by the time we arrived at AXM late - scene of the now infamous 'Magic Theatre' (non) event during Sparkle. AXM Late had been decorated some more since Sparkle; and you could still smell the fresh paint!

And Mrs Kate got her dancing in, insisting on dragging each of the 'gang' up to disappear into the smoke and loud music of non-descript origin. Mrs Kate had asked the DJ for some 80's music... the nearest he managed to find was Bronski Beats version of 'I feel love...' by Donna Summer .... and did I dance? - no way, not in these heels and not after Bob had already been on his feet since 6am! I really must have word with Bob, how can a girl go out and have fun if he spends such long days at the office?

Friday to look forward to; having a bit of much needed time off and perhaps some shopping with Mrs Kate.

A good hair day?

..... Or at least a change.

Mrs Kate had her first visit to 'Tea with Teela' held at Transpose. It turned out that she had a hidden agenda of her own to have a look at what wigs Teela had in stock - you see it's not just us t-girls who like a bit of escapism, Mrs Kate wanted to see how a long blond wig would look .... and she found one that looks pretty good on her. So not wanting to be left out, I tried on a few too before selecting a longer and a little more lighter, perhaps a touch more on the red side than the brunette I've become used to.

But the big surprise came for Mrs Kate when Lisa turned up - in 'Bob' mode. The week before whilst we where out at Via Fosse, Lisa had indicated that she would be coming to Teelas but in 'Bob' mode and on learning Mrs Kate would have her first visit we planned a little surprise - to see if Mrs Kate could spot Lisa. Lisa duly arrived late-on, and chatted with a few of the girls before making her way towards and past Mrs Kate. Mrs Kate failed to notice Lisa, it was only when Lisa tapped her on the shoulder and said 'Hello' when a very startled Mrs Kate turned blinking with surprise and then exclaiming 'it's Lisa!' when she recognised Lisa's voice - much to the amusement of the rest of us.

And as for my new wig - well it seems we are best of friends! It didn't need much taming and Mrs Kate approves of it. Apparently she felt I looked too much like my sister with the brunette one .... and we can't have that can we! So my new wig has been out with me 3 times now; I think it really likes me.

Blame it on 'Bob'

I found my carpark ticket!, the one I lost in March. It seems that Bob, in a moment of absent mindedness hid it in his wallet; .... well actually.... I think he did it on purpose to embarrass me.

Mrs Kate and I escorted Mandy on her first escape to the Village this week. She was awfully brave, her first outing ever (apart from Teelas) and in daylight... and in mentioning the weather, very warm and not very makeup friendly... but Mandy braved all this and had a thoroughly good time!

Sparkle!

A number of girls have asked of me the question, 'What did you think of Sparkle?', usually from a perspective of whether I shared their view or not. The views I think might range from 'absolutely fabulous' to 'damn embarrassing'; but being my/our first, we can't really comment on how this one compares with past events.

In a nut-shell, I generally enjoyed it for a number of reasons that really had nothing to do with the events that took place; I was able to be myself for the longest time ever - quite literally chucking 'Bobs' clothes into a corner of the bedroom on Friday afternoon, only to pick them up again Sunday as we prepared to return home; and of course be with Mrs Kate.

There were a number of events that Kate and Mrs Kate only found about afterwards, despite having one of those handbag sized leaflets. Whilst there were a number of activities, I felt it was hard to identify with them; probably as result of how it was all organised - a lot was going on but not much co-ordination between them all.

Big disappointment was 'The Magic Theatre' what ever that might have been; it was to take place in AXM Late which translated as being the old Hollywood Showbar that Northern Concorde used to meet at (I only ever visited that once when it was the Christmas get-together). Mrs Kate and I gave up all hope of the elusive entertainment shortly after midnight; returning to our apartment for much needed rest.

But on the upside, we met many familiar and new faces; some interesting sights - some of which made me feel better for my efforts at trying to be myself!

Here's my 3 tips for attending future events :-

• Map out what you want to see before you go - there's more going on than might be apparent.


• Keep an emergency Mars bar in your handbag - waiting for girls to turnup so we can sit down and order a meal is likely to be about an hour after the agreed time.


• Expect it to be noisy, crowded and this goes on into wee-hours - so choose your hotel/apartment carefully (oh! and no thanks to the dipstick who set the fire alarm off by burning their toast in the morning).

I think the most fun we had was Sunday afternoon whilst it was raining very heavily; we decided to stay in the apartment and I tried on a few of the outfits that I had brought along but daren't wear in public (mostly the ubiquitous 'little black dress' and a couple of mini-skirts). A couple of pictures might still be on here.

Epilogue - would we go again?; not sure, possibly, well maybe, .... where else can you have the comfort of being out in public with your life-partner, have a little fun etc. without the shackles of established society?

Bye bye brolly

Well, you see, it was like this.... Mrs Kate had her second outing a couple of weeks before Sparkle. June Collins was visiting again and we agreed to meet up in Eden and have a meal. Kay joined us and afterwards, seeing as it was a Wednesday, we popped along to the Rembrandt to see the girls at Manchester Concorde.

It was on leaving the Rembrandt that it happended, most of the evening the rain had been a bit on and off, and as we left, the weather was without exception - for Manchester. But just as we rounded the corner by the Rembrandt to cross over Canal St, a strong gust of wind blew our brolly inside out and then snapped it off the handle.

That was the last we saw of brolly, making for Portland St and skittering about avoiding any passersby in case they should capture it - for one I wasn't going to go after it, not in my heels!

Mrs Kate makes her debut outing

It's always a bit awkward referring to ones other half whilst out - 'Mrs Kate' makes it easy for some of the other girls to quickly introduce themselves; of course it's also hard for Mrs Kate (or 'D' as I refer to her on here) to not call me by my birthname!

For Mrs Kate, it was a last minute decision to come out to the Northern Angels monthly get together, quite literally deciding about an hour before I planned to leave. I wanted her to come along and see what Canal St was all about before Sparkle; the May outing was as likely to be the last before the big event, to introduce her to a few T-Girls without the head-on impression that Sparkle is likely to engender.

But I needn't have worried, Mrs Kate took it all in her stride, the other girls made her feel very welcome and she said it was lovely to be out with girls that were warm and friendly. Mrs Kate has for sometime visited the Angels website and is an avid follower of some of the girls blogs; so she was quite prepared and enjoyed the evening.

The meal was held at Villagio's and attended by a number of new faces - Paula, Penny, Simon, Diana ... (er ... run that by me again 'Simon' ?) and others that have visited before; June and Lisa. 'Simon' was very entertaining - although Lisa did try to explain why 'Simon' (I guess we've gotten used to expecting girls names when we're en femme!). Afterwards we paid our usual respects to Mary and the girls at Manchester Concorde where it was 60's night; with some very 60's outfits - miniskirts were obviously mandatory for the era - although both Mrs Kate and I are a little young to remember that time - (we were both still at primary school by the end of the 60's!).

Of course for the uninitiated being taken to Naps on your first outing to Canal St is a rite of passage. We only called in to see what it was all about - so at least Mrs Kate could say she's been there, done that; then it was off home before we both turned into a pumpkin (personally I had been up and about since 5:30am!).

Mrs Kate thoroughly enjoyed the evening and has been buzzing about it ever since. She's booked a hotel for Sparkle so we don't have to travel between days and between us we've bought some new outfits - she was especially excited when she found some lovely shoes in M&S, she sent the picture to me via her mobile phone exclaiming that she had found her Sparkle shoes! .... whilst on the subject of shoes, for outing to the Village I wore my new sandals which by the end of the evening were in complete disagreement with my feet .... yeaow.... !