The Gathering - Manchester

Over the weekend, we were pleased to be able to meet up with Karen, down from Scotland and our good friends, Kate, Mrs Kate, Dianne, Tina and Mandy. This time, for the first time, my wife and I had booked in for two nights at The New Union Inn right at the bottom of Canal Street.

Due to work commitments and traffic, it was past 8-30pm when we arrived in Manchester and on booking in at the hotel, I got the distinct impression from the guy that he was wondering whether we knew the area and that the pub/hotel normally had a large gay clientele!

Contacted by Kate who was out already with Di and Karen, I hurriedly got ready mistakenly advising Kate that we would be ready in 10 minutes. Well, 1 hour later! (Tranny time obviously!)

I decided on my LBD over my strapless corset, black tights and heels and made our way downstairs to the bar where we ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio and contacted the girls.



Having finished the bottle, we joined then over at Edens where we had another bottle of wine (we had a lot of catching up to do!)

It was good to be out and about with friends again in Manchester. The weather was warm enough to forgo a jacket and from there we crossed the street and had a drink upstairs on the balcony of Manto

Finishing the night at Napoleons, we had a reasonably early night after my wife was spooked by a guy whilst I was away at the toilet.

The following day, it was dressed for shopping, white jeans (M&S), white top(charity shop) and brown heels (purchased from Next in the Arndale centre over the weekend of Sparkle), and my new beige corduroy jacket (E-bay).



We picked up our car from Charles Street and drove to Cheshire Oaks where we had a late breakfast at the Brasserie Egss Benedict - we only just got in while the breakfast menu was still on!).

Being Saturday, the Oaks was packed and we did a slow circuit of the shops starting at M&S. I purchased a new jacket (3/4 length bright red! and skirt which matched my light beige corderoy jacket from M&S after trying them on in the changing rooms, and some more lipsticks from Revlon,(I have a thing about lipstick and shoes for that matter!) a new black bra from the Playtex shop, whilst my wife picked up new underwear from Playtex and La Sensa, and a beautiful new dress from Jane Norman.

I picked up a gorgeous dress in Jane Norman's only to find the front showed way too much flesh which I would be unable to do without a great deal of effort – I was gutted. I even successfully entered and left the Kurt Geiger shoe shop without buying anymore shoes! Wandering around shopping dressed with my wife in a bust=y environment was just great. I don't think I ever stopped smiling.

We finished off our trip by visiting Teela’s who was finishing off a 5* makeover session with a local girl who's name I cant remember - sorry! where we enjoyed a coffee and I picked up some bits and pieces including a halter neck backless black dress with silver sparkles! It fit really well but I will need to pick up a new bra before I wear it. My wife helped herself to a beautiful purple nylon nightdress.

Back in to Manchester, we barely made the quick change for the evening – our meal was booked for 6pm at Velvet and so being only 15 minutes late was pretty good for me! We joined Tina and Mandy, Mrs Kate and the others downstairs having descended the spiral stairs (difficult in 5" heels and a tight skirt!) after sampling a cocktail at the bar - Sour Ammaretto for my wife and a Mojito for myself.

I had chosen to wear my gold patterned dress over a tight clingy black skirt, black stockings and gold heels with peep toes (nothing too ostentatious! (trying out my outfit for PP on the 9th)

The meal was good as usual and the “low fat” desert was something to die for!

Moving on, making the most of the early start, we proceeded to visit some of the remaining bars in Canal Street that we normally don’t have time to go to, starting at Churchill’s and then moving onto Spirit.

I must say that in Spirit, other than our own group, there were not many signs of any “girls” there and most of the people we saw were mixed groups including two hen parties.

Both my wife and I enjoyed the place and we stayed there for a few hours during which we met and chatted to a bunch of girls and two couples up from Leeds. Moving on, we again ended up chatting away to another bunch of girls out on the street before making our way to New York, New York. My wife was somewhat peeved on the way as I had my bum smacked by a guy and she didn’t!!!

New York, New York was heaving and whilst I enjoyed the cheesy sort of music and the atmosphere, it didn't appear to be to the others nor my wife’s taste and so we moved on once more, ending the night in our usual haunt, Napoleon’s.

Unfortunately, whilst at Napoleon’s one of our party was subject to the unwelcome attention of a guy which took the gloss off a little. The atmosphere in Napoleon’s seemed a little strange for some reason I couldn’t put a finger on. I think that the more and more I get out in the normal world, the less comfortable I am becoming in places like Napoleon’s.

As we needed to be away early on the Sunday, and I was flagging somewhat, we retired at 3am back to our hotel having spent an enjoyable two days in Manchester with our Angel friends.

I am next out on the 5th with Mary in Cambridge which I am looking forward to. We are thinking of visiting a country pub for a meal and a few drinks this time or failing that I quite fancy going to the cinema followed by a late evening meal.

Last night, while my youngest was out I tried out a few combinations for my evening in Cambridge and packed an overnight bag.

We will be meeting up with a number of you at PPs on Friday and am looking forward to the meal beforehand in Milton Keynes. My wife has just received her gold dress and what a picture she looks - I am so proud to be married to her.

It's amazing really. Since introducing her to Emma in April, her confidence has increased and she has taken to going out in more and more prettier clothes and making more effort with her appearance. We have great fun choosing clothes together and when out shopping either as me or Emma we bounce ideas off each other and have the confidence to try clothes she would never have considered before.

Some of the day to day conversations we have are pretty surreal and on more than one occasion in company she has raised her eyebrows to me when our friends are talking about something relevant. For instance, at our friends the other evening, my mates wife and her friend were talking about high heeled shoes, comments I could really relate to and to which my wife smiled that knowing smile whilst I continued chatting to my mate about rugby.

A Rainy Night in Cambridge

Once more I arranged to go out in Cambridge with Mary who this time had arranged to also meet up with a woman friend she knew.

All week the question was – what will the weather be? And so I tried to cover all eventualities with what I packed.

In the end, it turned out to be a wet and windy evening and so as I booked into the Days Inn, I had already narrowed down my choices to trousers / jeans, top and jacket with umbrella for the rain.

I wore a new pair of chinos in a light brown with my favourite top over a spanx cami (I know its the same top I wore last time out in Manchester!) and a woolen jacket from Roman Originals. On my feet I wore a pair of caramel brown heels (purchased from Next in the Arndale Centre whilst at Sparkle) and finished off with a brown shoulder bag.

I picked up Mary on the way into Cambridge and having parked the car, near the Punters walked to the Pickerel Inn where we were meeting her friend.

Walking into the pub from the light rain outside, we found the place quite busy and whilst Mary looked for her friend I struck up conversation with the barmaid who we had spoken to on our last visit as she was finishing her break.

Once again, no one gave us a second glance as we sat down accompanied by Mary’s friend chatting about a wide range of subjects. Not once was the way Mary and I were dressed mentioned or raised in conversation. Shortly afterwards we were joined by a bloke who was helping Mary’s friend with her web site – she is a singer and song writer and sells her own work on the internet. Again, the guy took us both in his stride and we had an interesting discussion about travel.

As time was marching on and we had missed last food orders at the Pickerel, we left looking for somewhere to eat. This time we decided on Italian and the three of us (the guy had left by now) sat down to a very tasty meal and a bottle of wine at the Italian Restaurant over the road. There were a couple of families and a large mixed group eating around us and not a raised eyebrow between them. It was a good feeling.

Despite the weather which was now quite blustery and raining, we decided to have a drink in the Eagle and made our way there along quiet deserted streets. The Eagle itself was very busy and as we took our seats we were struck by the looks of a pretty girl on the next table. Striking up a conversation with her, she turned out to be Portuguese and we asked her about the clothes she was wearing (sounds strange now but at the time it seemed pretty natural as they were very pretty and original)

Unfortunately, The Eagle still has pretty strict closing hours and at 11pm we made our way back to The Pickerel for last orders. On closing, we made our way back to my car and I gave Mary and her friend a lift home before heading back to my hotel.

I was up early next morning and dressed in a skirt business suit, I walked out to the services next door and sat in the cafe with a coffee and some toast and read the newspaper. I did feel a little vulnerable at one stage as a gang of workmen came in and ordered drinks just across from me and I certainly was eyeballed! but not sure exactly for what reason!

Back to the hotel I put Emma away once more and making sure all vestiges of my make up and perfume had been removed, reverted to Bob mode and drove the 6 miles to work.

Looking forward to meeting up with Karen and the rest of the gang on Saturday the 19th – have booked into The New Union Inn. If I can persuade my wife, I am hoping to get across for an extra night on the Friday which will give me a chance to do some shopping at the Arndale Centre on the Saturday.

The following Saturday we are going to Suzanne’s birthday party at Pink Punters (after our 1st league game) and then on the 9th October we will be at the BNO at PP with some of our Northern friends.

Just need to know when the Christmas meal is planned for Kate.

19th August - My last Wednesday for a while

As it was to be our 26th wedding anniversary the following day, we took the Wednesday and Thursday off work and made our way North for a night out with our friends in Manchester.

We had originally planned to visit Teela’s but as I usual we were running late and instead went directly to M&S at Gemini Park where we had arranged to meet up with new girl Nikki (in drab) for a coffee.

As usual in these sort of situations neither party knew what each other looked like, however, we did manage to meet. Nikki is just at the point of going out for the first time and since our meeting has had a pleasurable time over at Teelas, some of the pictures I have seen are very good and despite her misgivings, she would fit in fine especially out with us for one of the Wednesday meals run by Kate.

On our way out of M&S I couldn’t resist the temptation and bought myself a new top in black and white – very clingy and a heavy material.

Booking in at the Travelodge, my wife disappeared to the café with a magazine whilst I got ready soon joined by Tina. Once more I changed my intended outfit and ended up wearing one of my favourite net style cream top over a spanx cami and a summery pink and white skirt. With summer quickly running out I took the opportunity to go with bare legs after having applied fake tan etc and finished if off with a pretty pair of bright multicoloured ballet flats.

This was the first outing wearing my new forms and I was very pleased with the look and feel of them. For later, I took a top (the new one purchased earlier in the day) and a short black stretch skirt and black heels.

Tina was ready before me and so proceeded into Manchester followed by my wife and I some 20 minutes later.

Parking up at the top of Canal Street, we made our way down to Eden’s where we met Tina. As my wife volunteered to drive back I was able to enjoy a bottle of cool white wine to start the evening sitting on the “boat” outside Eden’s people watching.

We saw a number of T girls before one of them came over and presented herself to us – Susan C from London. At the set time, we up anchored and made our way to Velvet where we met up with the rest of the party for our evening meal.

Once again the meal was very good and the company exemplary including as it did our own Irish “dancing queen” June.

Running quite late we snatched a few minutes at the Rembrandt where I took advantage of the changing facilities to change into my “clubbing “ gear!

Joining up with Kate and Mrs Kate we made our way to Napoleon’s and with Tina, Claire passed the time upstairs adjacent to the dance floor where we were later joined by Dianne. I actually recognised a couple of songs but failed miserably in getting my wife up on the dance floor.

All to soon our evening came to an end, fatigue, drink and the late hour all contributing. Walking back to the car in the cool evening air I was feeling somewhat sorry due to the knowledge that now I was working in Cambridge, these mid week meals out in Manchester were no longer practical.

Back at the car, we were the subject of unwanted attention from an Asian guy in what may have been a taxi. The guy drove round twice before stopping next to our car before we had opened the door and asked our names. My wife responded and he drove off out of the car park.

I understand from my wife that I managed to guide her out of the City before falling asleep for the rest of the trip, waking only as we came off the M6 at the services. With Emma stripped off and back in her suitcase, I crawled into bed sometime after 3am, the following day being our anniversary.