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.

Long Weekend

Saturday sees madame and I off to Oxford Street, she is taking something back to M&S as we have a 20% off voucher so she can buy it again. I see a rather nice cardigan, Limited Edition. We decide to pop over to Primark and if nothing is purchased return. Well of course that goes by the board in the end. Primark gives madame something and me a new swimsuit. We return to M&S and the cardigan is purchased.

Saturday night and we are off on a vanilla night in Camden and Lock17. Our daughter is being given a night out by the security firm she works for. I do however have a problem. Drunks are not exactly my favourite people and I have little or no patience with them so I approach the night with trepidation. We are on a balcony so I can observe the bar below. It is quite incredible, the average for a round of drinks is £15 and the four bar staff have problems keeping up with demand. After inquiring I find out how much they earn and I mean earn and considering the amount of money going into the tills they are extremely underpaid. Waiting for the night bus Camden takes on a new light, the drunk and incapable are few and far between which is not the impression you get when driving through.

Sunday sees us off to M&S at London Colney and after a rather nice vegetarian breakfast I succumb to the yellow frock and another rather splendid offering, one with 20% off and the other 50% !



Monday we are off again, Oxford Street and M&S, again! madame gets herself a pair of shoes and so do I, a pair of Autograph white summer shoes. Unfortunately they don't have my size in stock so we order them and will be picking them up tomorrow from Brent Cross.

Xmas

So here we are post New Year. Xmas and its latter celebrations were exhausting. The wind up to Christmas was not too bad as we food shopped early in the day to avoid the pushing and shoving. A mere ten to lunch xmas day so the turkey got cooked xmas eve. Madame and I opened our presents prior to any arrivals....



Plus an Elliot Rhodes belt and Ted Baker handbag!

Lunch and washing up out of the way and it was time to get the glad rags on and off just out of London to a friends, just nine of us in all. Silly games ensued and much naughty food was consumed.

Got home around 10 am Boxing day morning and straight into lunch preparations for twelve today! With that out of the way the daughter decided that the flu symptoms had got too bad and up the hospital madame went. Luckily they saw her quickly and sent her home with antibiotics and within two or three days she had recovered.

Met up with an ex work colleague during the week for lunch so much gossiping and merriment ensued. A couple of visits to Brent Cross one of which resulted in finding a bargain in Lipsy. As an aquaintance once said... I love Lipsy but would it love me back? Well this one does......



New Years eve brought a nice surprise. All prepared for a quiet night in a late afternoon text from a friend resulted in a trip out to Dolenta's and saw us getting home at 10am New Years Day. I had no sleep at all, 30 hours of it. Peter and Sarah were there, Dolenta got Peter plastered and he went to bed at about 12.30 am in the bed we were to use. Sarah moved him to Dolenta's bed. Dolenta then went to her own bed about 3 am with Peter in it then unbeknown to us he went to the loo and got back into the original bed but he didn't know that madame was in it ! We only found that when Andy went to go to bed about 4.00. Sara and I were going to have the double lilo but decided that 2 or three hours sleep was going to do more harm than good so sat up and chatted and did the washing up !

Not content with all this gadding about the day after New Years Day we are off out again to see friends. More very naughty food and convivial chats sees us in bed at 1.30 am ! My goodness we need a holiday to get some rest.

Spending

Sunday sees madame and I off to the London Fetish Fair in deepest Vauxhall. Not been to the LFF for some considerable time, its a new venue and parking is at a premium so we show up early and snatch a space. We manage to get in early, stands still being set up. We say our hello's and have a wander. Oh dear corsets hove into view and madame is off and running and trying one on. Her mind almost made up we find a seat and refreshment and settle down for a gossip with Anita and Spike. Madame goes on a wander and the next thing I know she arrives in a Velda Lauder corset which is rather splendid. With the passing of Velda two of the girls are selling off the remaining stock. Madame parades round and soaks up the compliments then disappears only to reappear in another, an underbust in black and white stripe. Needless to say both get purchased.
On one of my excursions I slip out for a quiet smoke and get into conversation with what turns out to be a tranny pornstar who has been working in L.A. ! Well what an interesting life mine is LOL. As the Velda girls are only taking cash madame has to go in search of a cash machine, the local Sainsbury's in Wandsworth Road and while there manages to get us some lunch as the venue does not do food :-(
We take our leave around 5.00 and are homeward bound, a thoroughly enjoyable day.
Monday of course has to be photo day, well there is last weeks purchase, the yellow frock and I have to try on madame's new corsets ;-)

Tuesday, Wednesday

Tuesday sees Stephanie and I off out and about. No photo's this week. A little snack in M&S and off to Selfridges, a peruse of the Lulu Guinness handbags, Karen Millen and Ted Baker and into Oxford Street and a bus down to Oxford Circus, cut through into Great Marlborough Street and into Liberties. I haven't been there for simply ages. It was the programme on Channel 4 that reminded me. Aaaaanyway we peruse the ground floor then the first and second floors which while interesting didn't exactly fill us with desire.
We depart and go to John Lewis for a wander and meet up with madame in the shoe department. A little chat and we part company Stephanie and I intending to be very brave and go to Primark which we know will be sooo rammed but when we arrive we change our mind and its homeward bound, the remains of Stephanie's cold getting the better of her.
Wednesday and we are off to Westfield at White City, madame and our daughter have already departed to Westfield at Stratford. We arrive and have a quick snack in M&S then wander. We find a lovely assistant in Dior and we both ooze over a fabulous red day frock at a mere £2,500. Miu-Miu have a wonderful black coat but knowing how far it will be out of my price range I don't bother to enquire. We take a light lunch on Byron's and get our usual chatty waiter. We take out leave around 3.30 which puts us just ahead of school chucking out time. As we exit the station I hear... oh no not you, it is madame and daughter who have arrived back from the opposite direction at the same time !

How delightful

Well a fab few hours at the LAM yesterday. Met up with Penny and Natacha, Russell and Sarah, nice late breakfast in Pret and a shared pizza in Revolution later. Nice to see loads of people and even nicer to be the one providing a gobsmacking moment when I tried on a fabulous bright yellow halter neck latex frock, (pictures later). I must admit it was the response from the crowd that decided me to actually buy it. I've neve had sooo many compliments !!! Madame looked stunning in her red plaid kilt and matching corset so the infamous pair are back with a bang!
Sad to hear the latest rumor that Club Colosseum in Nine Elms could be closing so they can provide even more flats that no one can afford. What will happen to Pedestal then one asks. So many of the larger clubs closing for redevelopment is making this a sad city. Ministry of Sound, Pulse, S.E. One, Mass,to name but a few.

Exhausting

Well that was a fairly exhausting weekend, for a change. Off Saturday to see Dolenta at her new Breathless premises in Euston. Just one of those trips, out the house, and the bus arrives at the bus stop as we get there. Off the bus and the train is waiting for us, the whole journey couldn't have taken more than 30 mins. So we arrive at about 1.45 to see Ugo touching up the exterior paint and we are inside. A smaller shop but only just. Within minutes Andy arrives so now we are five. Next is Dave and Yvonne who we haven't seen in about four years, followed by Andy's cousin Stephanie and her son making nine of us. Customers come and go all saying 'is there a party in here!, no its just a typical Saturday in Breathless is the reply.
Masses of catching up and gossiping when all of a sudden its time to close the shop, its six o'clock! Off up the road to a Mediterranean restaurant called Romance eight of us troop and an excellent meal it turns out to be, quite, quite delicious but as far off the diet as its almost possible to be. By the time we leave and take a quiet stroll to Euston Station, hop straight onto a train and only have to wait a couple of minutes for a bus we are indoors by 9.45, not bad for a non-shopping trip!
Sunday sees us off to the London Alternative Market to meet friends, starting earlier than usual we manage to find a parking space near to the venue in America Square. Pop into Pret in Crosswall for a late breakfast and put on the silly shoes and meet up with Penny, Natacha, Russell and Sarah then cross the road to the venue and spend the next five hours perusing and gossiping. I did see an absolute dream of a latex frock which I just have to have from Lady Alluras but its not on her website and some dreamy corsets from narcissus-rising. All in all a fab weekend.

Never throw things away

I should cocoa ! The frock fits again! The Berkertex black with white spot cocktail frock. You remember, the size 12. That is size TWELVE, read it and weep my dears, tight where it is meant to be tight etc, etc. Pictures will follow. Oh the made to measure Stan the leather man leather kilt fits perfectly too !

Misrepresentation

It keeps happening, surely it comes under the trades descriptions act. Obviously not seeing as who is at it. What I hear you ask. Well now I take far more interest in my appearance it is apparent there is a marked difference between an item of clothing hanging on a rail in the shop and when it is put on a mannequin in said shop. The other day I espied a dream of a frock in John Lewis on a mannequin so went in search of it. Once found I noticed it was rather straight, no shaping at all quite unlike the version on the mannequin where it fitted rather snugly at the waist. Further investigation resulted in finding at least four inches of spare fabric taken in with pins at the back ! John Lewis is not the only culprit. Once warned twice shy I find M&S at the same malarky of alteration. Now to me and anyone else I hope, this changes the item, it makes it an entirely different thing altogether. Surely this is wrong?

Odd isn't it? Not really

It has been mentioned to me that I never notice when people are looking at me. Now I am fully aware that I pass through life almost completely oblivious to what is going on around me, especially people. It happened again yesterday I troll off to post some letters and am observed by madam. When I return she says, what is it about you that everyone just stops and looks? Well that is bye-the-bye, the fact is I didn't notice them looking and then of course I realised why. They do it after I have passed them and without eyes in the back of my head how on earth am I supposed to know? I can't can I, although I did notice one woman as she reacted most favourably as she came towards me, it was a sort of oooooooooooooo :-) I 'spose there are things about people that they, because it is normal for them, forget but come as a surprise to others. Is it the newly acquired tan? Is it the very short bleached hair? Is it the tattoo's, the way I walk etc, etc or a combination. I dunno but all these things and more, are well, part of me so I forget them. Perhaps one day I'll catch someone at it and have the courage to ask them. Of course when I say that perhaps I should spend more time in a frock as people don't seem to notice me then that of course is met with a negative response ;-)

Just a few

Of course new clothes means....... new pictures, the candy striped trousers and the red frock.

Delivery

Damn, popped into Primark in Bournemouth and they've had a delivery. So I exit with a zero bank balance and a super tight pair of candy stripe trousers and a super tight off the shoulder red frock, oh and some bangles for the wrists.
Most excellent lunch in Debenhams, roast pork and all the trimmings. Well I'm on holiday so the diet can go hang until we get home tomorrow. Yes we extended our stay by a day, well it seemed a shame to waste nice weather by going home.

Holday shopping

Another successful shopping trip. Yesterday sees the kitchen almost finished at about 8am when madame asks if I would like to accompany her to Oxford Street so its down tools and out by 8.30. Straight to Primarni and a pair of el cheaperoonry, dare I say it, male shorts are followed by a pair of denim girlie ones plus a pair of white sandals. Now as you will find later Primarni sizing is total crapola. The denim shorts are a size 12 and fit like a dream. Thinking we are to be homeward bound I pop into Superdrug for some clear nail varnish. This magical elixir has proved a real nail saver. Well over 600 tiles stuck to the walls, ceilings and paintwork washed and painted and not a broken nail in sight. So much so that I am considering trimming them post girlie days on Sunday and Monday.
Aaaanyway I digress, nail varnish bought madame asks if I fancy a jaunt down to the Kurt Gieger shop in Covent Garden. It seems the flat shoes I was after a while ago are in the sale, £120 down to £39. So off we trot whereupon madame spots a pair of low heels and a rather cute bag to go with the flats she bought recently. Suitably weighed down we trek home only to find the sandals do not fit. Well they do and they dont. Everything is fine except the ankle strap is not long enough, in fact not long enough for madame who is at least a size smaller then me so they are marked for return. Back home its lunch and a quick nana nap in the garden and back to the grouting and excess grout removing.
Up with the lark again this morning to get the last of the excess grout off and to wash the inside of a cupboard then paint it. As I am painting the last door madame appears and I say when I've finished I'll go with her to return the sandals. We get to Primarni about 9.00am and she returns the sandals while I have a mooch around. Well by the time we finish I have a new frock in a 16, a long white top and a long legged multi-coloured playsuit in a 16. See what I mean about sizing?. We stagger out with our collective purchases and into M&S where I need two pairs of, ahem, dangly bits flattening knickers. These bought we drop into Pret for a late breakfast, well late for me that is, as it is about 10am. Post face stuffing madame returns to Primarni while I elect for a stroll around Selfridges. We are soon homeward bound and post liquid refreshment on our way to Brent Cross where I manage to find a nice pair of sandals in M&S, £19.50 down to £12. So that is two pairs of shorts, a long white top, sandals, playsuit, frock, knickers all for around £50 and holiday shopping complete !!

It's a beautiful day.........

A lovely day in prospect and a days rest from decorating and a girlie day. Nails done, eyebrows plucked so its off out or is it? Not decided, in for photo's or out and about, hmmm, decisions, decisions. Of course with such a lovely day it does seem a shame to waste it and it would mean a pretty summer frock, if I can get into it but then again which one?. Have I lost enough weight? Only time will tell.

Now I know I do not have a lot of patience with whinging trannies, well whingers of any sort really but I must take issue with the BBC and their report on yesterday's Pride march. Well not so much the report but the byline on one of the pictures. Two drag queens with the byline "MPs are currently considering the Equal Marriage Bill". What is it with people who assume all T-whatevers are gay? True all the 'drag' performers of my acquaintance are, but these aside I personally know they stretch across the complete sexual spectrum. I have no problem with being perceived, because I wear a frock, or even when in drab as gay it is just that the statement, if that is what it is, is not true. To me being perceived as gay has more upsides than down. Women, my only preference, are more friendly in the main and straight men tend to shun me which again suits me perfectly. Gay men on the whole never pester me one way or the other, after all it takes one to know one if you get my drift.

Simply ages

Oooo this tiling is taking simply ages, it not having enough room to swing a cat. Have to cut the tiles outdoors as the noise is unbearable too, so its in and out, in and out then there is the measuring and the pattern matching or should I say random placing which is more time consuming than pattern matching.
The son and wife came round yesterday afternoon as it was his birthday too but by then I was sooo tired I'd stopped work for the day. At least I didn't have to cook yesterday, just make salads although I did recover enough to do the ironing in the evening. These 50's style frocks and skirts are all very feminine and lush but oh my do they take an age to iron! So much material, but it is worth it.
Two days now without any pounds disappearing, just the one stone lost. Getting impatient again, I thought I'd be well on the way to the second stone gone ! I must admit I am enjoying the diet, all fresh food, none of this additive and half cooked stuff anymore and I do actually feel better for it. Of course it could be the weight loss or it could be a more healthy diet... or both.

Not thirteen just one

Dear Ted,
Mr Baker why is it that I enter your concession emporium in Fenwicks Brent Cross and find a lovely frock with mark you, a matching handbag and then fail to find it on your website? This is not the first time this has occurred. Now I know that there are many places that list more on their websites than they have in their shop, I can see the reasoning, I can see the financial implications and the issues of space but why have something in a shop you cannot buy online? To the best of my knowledge, and believe me I look almost everytime I go out, these items are not old stock.
It is also a shame that you have another rather large outlet that disposes of old stock at Bicester whose stock you hide from view on your website?
yours etc, etc

Walking the walk

Oooo we didn't half walk the other day. Met a friend outside Primarni 'bout 11.30, we strolled through and came out again. Down North Audley Street, popped into Stabucks for a drink then down to Grosvenor Sq then down South Audley Street. Left into Curzon St, right into Half Moon St, across Piccadilly, across Green Park, across the Mall across St James's Park, had a sit down for a chat. Across Birdcage Walk, into Queen Anne's Gate, into Broadway along Victoria St to Parliament Sq, across Westminster Bridge, into Belvedere Rd which runs behind the embankment into Jublilee Gardens onto the Embankment, under Waterloo Bridge and got a sandwich in Eat on the South Bank. Along the South Bank to Tooley St, through Hays Wharf and back on the Embankment to past Tower Bridge, through the wiggly bits to Clink St and stopped at Shad Thames. Stopped for an ice cream and back to Waterloo Bridge, across Waterloo Bridge, along the Strand and up into Covent Garden. Through there to King St and got a drink in Tesco's then into St Martins Lane up to Long Acre and into Charing Cross Rd. Crossed the road into Little Newport St and up to Shaftesbury Avenue, across there into Soho up Frith St and along Old Compton St, crossed Wardour St and along Brewer St then into Sherwood St and across Golden Sq, along Beak St, across and up Regent's St into Conduit St, across Bond St and into Berkeley Sq, surprised Stephanie at work then up the square into Davies St, into Brook St and then Duke St to Oxford St. Into Selfridges for relief, along Oxford St. I left her at Primarni and she went to get her bus home and I popped into Primarni and got two long vests which make ridiculously short size 14 frocks, one yellow and one deep pink at £3 each ! Then I waited ages for a bus and home around 8.15. That's around 9-10 miles that is.