Goodness me

Goodness gracious it been ages since I posted anything, how time flies. Well I 'spose the best way is to work backwards to a point where I can't remember.

Yesterday (Tuesday) wa a trip out. Madame was busy so I took advantage and went out myself in red and black jumper and my new black and white hairy coat, nice thick black tights for warmth with the new mini kilt which madame had made for me and the Dune suede boots. Off on the bus and off at Pret in Baker Street where I'm now well known :-) Post Pret breakfast and thanks to the traffic I managed to keep up with the 74 bus and catch it outside Selfridges and it was off to the V&A. A lovely stroll around the V&A although slight disappointment finding that while they said the cast courts had reopened there still was one part closed for refurbishment. In fact there is quite a lot in the V&A closed off because of the reconstruction work. They seem to be spending massive amounts of money on new additions while many galleries are in dire need of updating especially in the display of items. Most disappointing is the silver gallery, it is so depressing. Aaaanyway stroll finished it is off for a quick tour of Harrods. Again a part of woman's fashions under reconstruction, not my day was it. I don't know but I am quite put off by Harrods, it just seem to exist for tourists these days. Quick tour finished its on the 74 bus back to Oxford St. As we round Marble Arch we are right behind my bus and of course I miss it at the next stop so I decide a look in Selfridges only find my bus about to do its turn round so its back to the stop and five minutes later I'm homeward bound. A quick lunch and I'm off again to Brent Cross in the afternoon and coffee and a bun in John Lewis where I am getting quite well known.



The week before sees me out again, Oxford Street of course. Breakfast in Pret and then a walk round M&S then opposite into Selfridges which is quite my favourite store, its light and airy. Having window shopped thousands of pounds then its out and onward. I call into Elliot Rhodes our favourite belt shop in St Chrisopher's Place to see our friend Vlatko who has neve seen me 'dressed' and he just doesn't twig until I come up to the counter and have to out myself. His face is a picture and he holds my hands and just says fabulous, fabulous !!. Then its off to Boots by Bond Street where I get clocked by an assistant, "well hello" they say with a lovely smile, so I return the greeting and smile which seems to make his day then its off to John Lewis for a stroll round.

The week before I am out a couple of days with madame on the Paddington Bear hunt around Paddington itself and then over to the city. The other days she is gadding about I am of course out and about, including Liberty's ;-)



We are now into jumbled memories so forgive me if things get out of sequence. The week previous, around the middle of November Stephanie and I are having a professional photoshoot. I meet Stephanie in Pret feeling a little naked with little makeup on.
We arrive at the photo studio and while the girls are doing our nails and makeup I get complimented on my nails and eyelashes and then she says and we have all seen your legs !! We have a fab time only marred when they tell us how much it would be if we had all the prints, £5,120 !! Needless to say we didn't take them up on that but did spend just about all the money we had. Nicest compliment came when I got home. Madame looked at the pictures appreciatively and said she preferred the way I did my owm makeup :-)



Monday saw madame and I off to Westfield at Stratford, she is after a pair of Timberland boots that are an Office special. We have tried various Office branches without success so she settles for a different colour. Apart from some makeup that is all we manage to buy thank goodness.
Saturday it is off to The Old Crown pub in New Oxford Street for the London Fetish Scene reunion. Unusually madame doesn't seem to mind being out with me 'dressed'. We travel down to Tottenham Court Road about 2.00pm and walk down to the pub returning about 9.00 including a meal. She is pleasantly surprised that I draw no attention. My goodness prices in tourist areas are a little steep, a large Rose wine and a coke is just short of £10 !!. A fab time catching up with old friends. Quite a few turned up, well over 30 of us.
Friday was a mega window shopping day, we had gone out to get the above boots but were unsucessful. Arriving at Pret in Baker St about 9.30 am we got home around 6.30 pm totally shattered! I did however stock up on makeup.
Thursday I'm off out with Stephanie. No Sarah so take ourselves off to the British Museum for a wander then off to lunch at Pizza Express in Marylebone High St as I have a 25% off voucher then a wander around Selfridges.
Wednesday sees the return of madame who has been off to see a friend for 11 days. This of course meant I had spend the whole time dressed, a real treat. It was really nice to be out almost every day.

Long time no see

Well off we went to Palma Mallorca early September for a week in the company of Dolenta, Andy and his cousin Stephanie. An early Sunday start the taxi picking us up at 4.00 am and taking us all the way to Gatwick as there were no trains except the Gatwick Express which would have proved more expensive in the end. Uneventful flight out and we arrive in sorching sunshine just after midday...



We get to the Hotel Saratoga our home for the week at about 2.00pm, a slight delay as the room is not ready but then check in is at 3.00. We have a little wander for 30 mins then back to unpack etc and off out.

Monday madame is set on buying some Mallorca pearls and we go a wandering to compare what the shops have to offer. We find her favourite and decide to leave it until later in the week in case she ses something better. Back to the hotel for a wash n brush up, slap on and out to dinner with Andy and Steph.
Up with the lark the next day, well not exactly it doesn't get light until around 7.30 which to me is half the day gone. Grab the camera and I'm wandering...



Back to the hotel to get the slap on and then all of us, minus Dolenta meet up for breakfast at BeeWi opposite the hotel, a lovely little cafe which has free wifi! We all go our seperate ways and meet up for lunch later then its the hotel pool on the roof



Post breakfast its going to be a beach day. As Dolenta's mother and father and friend Lola and her two girls are to join us. Madame, Step and I get a cab to Illetes and grab a slice of the beach. My god its hot and its not long before I'm in the water.



Luckily we get a lift back with Lola to the hotel and we get ourselves ready for dinner.
Tuesday we are off to buy madame's pearls, just the two of us.....



The afternoon is spent with Dolenta's mother and her excellent Paella at the end of which we all doze off :-) Post snooze we all attempt to walk it off and descend on a local material shop before madame and I wend our way back to the hotel finding this sign along the way....



Wednesday madame and I return to the material shop, she has her eye on a few fabrics. A slow stroll up Avenue Argentina, across Plaça Madrid and up Carrer Francesc Martí i Móra to the shop where she selects three fabrics and off we go again. All too soon it time for holiday beer and lunch, such is the life of the holidayer. The afternoon is spent at the hotel pool where we meet six female forty somethings on a break and very welcoming they were, well after their initial discussion over whether I was female or not and the result was that... 'it is her husband' LOL. Still the result was that I got my bum felt which I enjoyed enourmously. All of us out to dinner that night at a decidedly upmarket restaurant for tappas to belatedly celebrate Andy's birthday. Another fabulous exhibition in the gallery above the restaurant.



Thursday is the obligatory tourist bus trip around the island, a non-femme day. Well sitting on the top deck of a bus in blazing 90+ temperatures with makeup sliding down your face is not a good look is it.



The evening is spent at Momo, a restaurant owned by a friend of Dolenta and his partner who is rather taken with me ;-) Aaaanyway after a fabulous meal we crawl our way home around one o'clock in the morning.



Friday is another beach day, this time we catch the bus, a 1.5 euro journey each as opposed to 15 in a taxi! After much splashing about in the water madame, Andy, Steph and I repair to the bar leaving the rest to the sand and sea for the afternoon where we prove quite a hit with the lady that runs it. Madame and I have an evening wander alone window shopping and wind up almost getting lost in rapidly darkening and emptying streets until we find our way back.




Saturday and our last full day, things to buy, bags to start to pack etc etc. It's back to Momo for dinner and all too soon its over. We say our goodbyes and crawl back to the hotel.



An uneventful journey home apart from nearly missing the plane and that was that, until next year.

Proud

So we went off Proud City on Saturday night, a friends birthday which started as a group of ten but turned into a group of eight due to illness. Aaaanyway I thought mmm, City of London, wanker bankers and more money than sense which was right and wrong at the same time. The upshot was I elected not to 'dress'. A good decision as I would have been the only 'trans' and I was seated with my back to the stage runway less than a foot away which would have guaranteed me being dragged onstage. A lovely meal and all things considerd not too expensive as it was a Groupon offer at £29 each. I must admit burlesque is not really my thing, yes it is entertaining but its just not me. That said the young lady with the hula-hoops was excellent but my personal highlight was the compere, Joe Morose, funny, witty and a great voice, luckily he was onstage in total more than anyone else. The crowd was surprisingly well behaved especially as it consisted mainly of hen nights, must have been six of them. It gladened my heart to see so many real girls struggling to cope in heels before they got to the drink let alone after and as for appropriate dress to their size, mmmmm perhaps not.



Sunday saw Stephanie over for some photo'sthen off to Brent Cross. Poor Steph, she realised her outfit error too late, a little too short and flimsy, ooop, or she said to me, if I do this again tell me not to.

Backtrack

Last update 1st August! Good grief how time fly's. Sooo, yesterday evening we get a call from the daughter, she is security at Lock 17 and it's Camden Crunch night, do we wanna go. Mmmm mild fetish night, why not. There I am thinking its just a few peeps in a corner. Nope, at its maximum its about 250 of us and only a paltry £2 to get in, not that we had to pay. What to wear, what to wear? Well after a cool day I think rubber? Oooo no too cold so I elect the leopardskin frock that just about, if it tries, to cover my difference and semi-sensible shoes. Madame of course dons her black and white Velda Lauder harlequin corset and a short skirt and very nice she looked too. We arrive and straight away see our son who is gobsmacked to see us and this of course causes great amusement to our daughter. Aaaanyway a rather nice evening. Of course it got rather warm, almost too hot for rubber, perhaps next time together with silly shoes.

Thursday was a photo shoot for Claire and Prong Jewellery which became an all dayer, quite exhausting.

Wednesday see Stephanie and I off to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. Bus down to Swiss Cottage station then the Jubilee to Waterloo. God help poor tourists, we come out of Waterloo station and I see a sign in the semi-distance pointing to the museum so off we trot. We get almost to the Elephant and Castle and I think nope I know its not down there, that's the way we go to the Magic Theatre and we don't pass the museum. I accost a guy outside a shop, mug of tea in hand. 'S'cuse me. He is taken aback. can you tell us the way to the IWM? This bucks him up, all we have to do is retrace our steps 20 yards and turn left.
We are early, well 5 mins early so sit in the sunshine and let the queue go in. Tea and a bun is first on the list. A good choice actually as it got very crowded later. Very interesting but their big failure is the lack of information on exhibits especially in the aitrium. They need to visit their other museum at Duxford. We take our leave and walk back to Waterloo, over the bridge and wind up at Pizza Express for lunch in Bow Street as I have a 25% off voucher then its a bus from Charing Cross to Oxford St and the bus home.



Last Saturday off I went in male mode, a little wander few pictures, oh dear did I pick the wrong day. Transport all to cock because of some cycling event :-(

Friday Such a busy day, quick shop at Tesco then makeup supplies at Boots Brent Cross where we can't get the daughters hair stuff sooooo its off to Westfield Stratford where we draw a blank and into Straford Centre where we strike lucky. Back to Westfield and its a bargain frock in Forever 21, late lunch in John Lewis, then get new frock material and home followed by pattern cutting.

A lush day out

So Tuesday I decide I need more photographs for backgrounds so off I troll to Covent Garden, nice summery frock and away I go. My goodness it is deserted, admittedly it is only 10 'ish but where is everybody? I troll round for about an hour and a half and wander over to Leicester Square for a sit down and watch the kids playing in the fountains. Its wonderful to watch their delight trying to escape getting wet until of course they get a little damp then it is a case of 'oh well in for a penny in for a pound' and they get themselves soaked on purpose. By now those fabulously comfortable Gabor sandals have raised a blister on my left big toe so its down to The Strand and into Superdrug for a plaster. I must have either got something trapped in there or as I found later a tiny bit of extra thread. Aaaanway as we all know once it gets bad enough to feel its too late. Freshly plastered I wander back to Charing Cross Road and think I'll be a bit naughty and dive into Byron's for lunch, a blue cheeseburger, fries and one of their vanilla shakes. Hardly any customers results in me getting far more attention than I deserve ;-).
Repast finished I'm off. Down to Charing Cross and catch a bus up to Oxford Street and a wander round Selfridges. As I'm examining a rather nice frock in Karen Millen I am accosted by a rather pretty young assistant and we get chatting about tattoo's and of course once she see the leg she just has to call over a rather nice young man. Go on show him she says to me. I don't flash my legs to any man you know I say. Well he says I noticed your legs just now, ooo sooo cheeky. So of course up comes the hem, well it would be rude not to. I take my leave and have a wander. A tour of the shoe department then up on the third floor where I see the most fabulous frock in Reiss, one that gets filed away for future reference. A tour of the designer fashion dept on the second floor results in me being accosted again. Goodness knows what label they were selling, very wierd and wonderful and black, we have a little chat and she says to me how she loves my necklace and asks where I got it. Zara I reply. No she says, well it must be the way your wear it. Now that is what I call a compliment !

Of course most of us have 'something' that calls attention to us, we may be tall, short, fat or thin but these things are with us all the time and we tend to forget them. So when I analyse what it is that causes people to stop and look I cannot say what it is. Of course I am a bloke in a frock but is that always why? I'm not exaclty in the first flush of youth but refuse be dowdy. I have tattoo's and in this weather they are plain for all to see. I have a tan that cannot be called anything else than dark so little wonder I get looked at and lets face it that is the name of my game. I don't want to hide in corners.

So there madame and I are wandering the west end the other day, a visit to Selfridges to show her the frocks in Karen Millen and Reiss and then down to dear old John Lewis for some haberdashery when she wants to pop over to Collectif in Spitalfields. So off we go. As we turn from Bishopsgate into Brushfield Street a slender young tall girl comes out of a building. It is obvious to me she is female even though she wearing a white shirt, tight black jeans and a rather nice pair of cream brogue shoes. I point out the shoes to madame as she has a panchant for them. When we have passed madame says to me, she was very male looking. Really I say. Very androgynyous she says, just like people think you look female.

Oh my days forgot

Of course you don't know do you. Well my daughter does security in lock 17 in Camden and at the Black Cap. The other week there just happened to be an event at the Black Cap where she provided security for one of the performers, Bianca Del Rio, the winner of Rue Paul's Drag Race 2014. We managed not only to attend but got VIP meet and greet tickets too. Such a lovely 'girl'. The show was fabulous and we managed a chat with her and got to meet the Family Fierce. Madame had gone the previous week and got to meet Bianca and she wants us all to meet up the next time she is over. Although there were many compliments on the night the best came from Bianca.... there is a word for people like you.... popular :-)

Oh my, oh my, oh my

Goodness me nothing since Pride, almost a month how remiss of me. Well I suppose it would be best if I work backwards then I might be able to remember things. Not a lot happened this week, no visit from Stephanie as she was busy with home type things. Thursday saw the lucious Penny and Dave come to dinner, unfortunately Natacha didn't come as she hasn't tried travelling and quite honestly I think she made the right decision. As I said to Dave sitting on the underground in that heat having your makeup slide down your face is not a good look and they had been out and about all day. A nice cool salmon salad starter followed by lamb tagine with fresh fruit and creme fraich was a little off diet but nothing compared to the following day.
A lovely lunch on Wednesday I think it was, with Abigail who I used to work with and Madame and the daughter joined us as it was her birthday the following day. The new comfy sandals, a white with black leaf design frock and the white summery wide brimmed hat and of course the Dior sunglases completed my outfit oh and of course the Lulu Guinness patent handbag.



A nice pub in London Colney, The Colney Fox. Of course the whole thing was soo off diet it wasn't true. Battered Mushrooms, Chicken Breast in a bun with BBQ sauce (a little dry for my taste) and Churros and ice cream with caramel sauce, still it only put on a pound which soon came off again. Lovely chats and gossips but we have both left our common place of work there is no gossip from that direction as we have no contact with anyone from there. Anyway it just happened that there is an outlet centre a coouple of hundred yards down the road and we popped in there on the way home. A nice couple of frocks in New Look suprisingly enough, in their sale, so that was two summery frocks for £25.

The week before Stephanie and I decided to take a walk, oh dear that turned into a bit of a hike, all 4.5 miles of it. Beatiful sunshine we met up at Baker Street Station and walked up to Regent's Park, through the park to the Inner Circle and I found the park within a park that I'd lost ages ago. After a few photo's in there it was back into the park and down the Broadwalk to the Marylebone Road taking a cycling accident along the way. One cyclist turning right without indicating and the other trying to overtake her. Well he gave her a nice lecture. Across the Marylebone Road into Park Crescent and down Portland Place, Langham Place and into Regent's Street turned left into Great Castle Street and right into Great Portland Street into Oxford Street. We strolled along Oxford Street and turned right into Poland Street, partook of lunch there and carried on down to Great Marlborough Street where we turned right and onto Carnaby Street, down there into Kingley Court which has become almost exclusively eateries and back out again and turned left into Beak Street and right into Upper James St to Golden Square, across the square and left into Brewer Street, across Wardour Sreet and into Old Compton Street then right into Charing Cross Road. We strolled down until we got to Cranboune St and into Leicester Square, had a little sit down then a diagonal walk across the square into Swiss Court and into Coventry St to Picadilly Circus and up Regent Street for a walk around Hamley's as Stephanie was after looking at something. We left there and continued up Regent Street to Hanover St, into Hanover Square then Harewood St into Oxford Street and thence the bus home. Phew 4.5 miles and all this in a new pair of sandals by Gabor for the first time of wearing. Quite the most comfortable shoes I have ever bought.
The previous week was the London Fetish Fair. A lovely hot day made all the worse by some sporting event which extended our journey by an hour ! A rather nice What Katie Did black and white spotted basque and matching thong and clear silly shoes and that was it basically which went down rather well :-)



I did rather pig-out for lunch opting for a baguette with fried egg, three rashers of bacon and a sausgage !. Had lovely chats with Master Keith and Joy. Wished the lovely D a happy birthday and a nice catch up with Jed Pheonix. The previous week was the London Alternative Market which we didn't go to as we were sans Penny and Natacha and Russell, shame but money saved.
The other week Madame and I dropped off two latex skirts at House of Harlot, to be altered, too big on the hips. This Saturday we went off to collect them. Luckily we are the same size so the skirts fit us both. We take breakfast in Baker Street and have a wander in Selfridges and make our way over to Harlot via Spitalfields Market and a quick chat with Lulu with her hats. Leaving Harlot madame says she requires lunch so we partake of an Indian in Brick Lane.