Having booked the day off work, I made my way to Manchester finding just how frustrating it can be on our road network in the process. A journey that I regularly make in less than 2 hours took almost 3 ½ hours.

Nevertheless, with no fixed agenda, or critical times I just chilled out and watched the scenery and the drivers around me as we slowly wended our way.

The New Union where I was staying organised my room so that it was vacant which gave me the opportunity to book in at 1030am and gave me the chance to be changed and out for 1130ish. As I was intending to go shopping in the Arndale Centre, I decided on a skirt suit and blouse, black opaques and black kitten heels. Over the top I wore my ¾ length woollen coat which protected me from the cold but was a touch too warm in the shops and the Centre. You just can’t win!
Making my way from the hotel up into town, I felt totally at ease and relaxed. I noted that my choice of clothing was one shared by a lot of the women I was walking with and reduced me to just another woman in the lunchtime pedestrian traffic.

My first port of call was Superdrug where I picked up a new mascara and whilst there tried a few different lip colours. One which I tried was a lip stain from Max Factor. Even now some 24 hours after trying it on the back of my hand, the colour remains. I think I will have to be particularly careful when I use it for real! It is a nice experience being able to pick up, examine and try out make up without attracting strange looks when you try it as a guy.

Out of the shop and making my way to Primark, I received a text message from Karen that she had just arrived at Piccadilly, I sat down on one of the benches outside Primark to reply. Suddenly this woman came over and asked me for directions to the station. I got up and told her indicating the way and that was that, not a single sign of concern just a pleasant thanks and she was on her way. I know it’s not exciting but it is such a nice feeling of acceptance in a busy city centre.

Having contacted Karen, we agreed to meet back at Taurus and I made my way back there. It was the first time I had met Karen in guy mode and we spent a short time sipping our drinks and catching up on the gossip before walking back to my hotel where she made use of my room to get ready (her hotel room would not be ready for a couple of hour yet). Sitting at the bar, I made friends with a couple of guys and spent a pleasant half hour in their company before the call of the shops became too loud and off I went again.

I made my way to Debenhams looking for a nice necklace, possibly new flats and a pair of fancy tights. Whilst making my way through the beauty hall I was accosted by a young saleswoman and I ended up buying a couple of make up presentation boxes which will be nice Christmas presents for our daughters.

Upstairs, I found the tights I wanted only to find they didn’t have any on the shop floor in my size. Having asked one of the assistants, we ended up in conversation about a wide range of topics as I also was interested in replacing my Spanx full slip with the next size down. I did manage to pick up a nice chunky bracelet in red which I was pleased with. At the Faith franchise I managed to miss the seat when sitting down to try on a lovely pair of ankle high boots! Other than my dignity I was ok and the girl and I had a laugh over the incident – just hope it doesn’t feature on u-tube!

Before leaving the store, I needed to use the toilets and followed a couple of women into the ladies, grabbing the last free cubicle I did what I needed and then discovered at the same time as the woman in the adjacent cubicle that there was no toilet paper! Luckily I had a couple of packets of tissues in my bag and was able to help her by passing one of the packs to her which she was grateful for as we afterwards stood next to each other washing our hands.

From Debenhams, I decided to seek out a jeweller’s to look at buying a silver necklace. I have till now always made do with cheap costume jewellery but was fed up of my neck turning green! Passing by Beaverbrookes I decided to risk it and popped in. I asked one of the assistants to show me their necklaces and that I needed a 20” chain. We found one I liked and I added the letter E to it. I was then offered a coffee while she then produced a pair of matching silver hoped earrings which I also decided to buy – hard sell or what! During our conversation she casually asked me if I was on my way home from work!

Paying for my jewellery, she asked me for my details starting with Miss, Ms or Mrs. At this point I realised that with my address, I may end up having catalogues addressed to Emma Walkey arriving at our home and trying to explain that to our youngest so I hurriedly asked her to change the name to that of my wife. She just looked at me blankly at this as if not understanding. Either she was a very good actress and saleswoman to boot or I was passing better than I thought. I assumed the former but she certainly had me going for a while. Who knows! She soon recovered and I left the shop feeling good about myself.

Meeting up with Karen again we strolled through the Centre, window shopping and in one shop whilst Karen was picking a top, I got chatting to the sales woman. I was admiring the white roll necked pullovers and mentioned to her that trying to stop them getting make up on them was near impossible and so for me the jumper was remaining on the rack. We then chatted about how the sizes varied shop to shop before moving on, Karen having finished her purchase.
Approaching 4pm, we entered the Mac shop and I asked one of the girls to help me. Guiding me to a stool in the middle of the shop, I removed my coat and sat whilst explaining what I wanted. Basically, I was looking for a base/concealer for under my foundation to neutralise any shadow, a replacement foundation and fixing powder, some ideas for my eyes for daytime, evening and party and a suitable red lipstick which would suit my colouring.

Setting to with gusto, the scary bit – I had to remove my current make up! She was very complimentary about my make up before we started, which made me feel good. (The more cynical of you out there may note that this could have been part of a sales pitch – I also thought that briefly and then decided no – I would go with the flow, we all need compliments don’t we) For the next 2 hours Holly showed me how to achieve the various looks I wanted and we tried all sorts of colours. It is a wonderful feeling having a professional applying your make up and one I would recommend wholeheartedly. I finished the session with the evening / party eyes including a pair of false lashes added. It was funny whilst sitting there in full conversation with Holly that none of the woman around me even bothered to check me out! The only funny looks I did get was from a mother who in between giving her student daughter some grief over choosing a suitable foundation and lipstick, looked me over a few times.

Having parted with a substantial sum (this being a woman can damage your wealth!) I walked back to Taurus where I met up with the rest of our party for the evening meal. Sharing a bottle of wine during happy hour we caught up with news before moving onto Eden’s and then making our way over to Villagio’s for our meal. We were to have been joined by two “new” girls but they didn’t show. We decided on only a main course this time to allow us to visit the Manchester Concorde girls over at New York New York.

As I wasn’t dressed for the evening, I quickly departed for my room and changed into a short dress, (and I do mean short!) fancy tights and new shoes before rejoining the girls around the corner. Passing Via I elicited some complimentary comments about my legs from a couple of business guys leaving the bar as well as some voiced suggestions which even made me blush under my make up, though it did make me smile.

At New York, New York we caught the end of the quiz and then stayed for the music, meeting up with Claire, Mary and Bev amongst others before moving on again. The others then decided to go direct to Napoleon’s but I wanted to go elsewhere, so we parted company and I walked down on my own to Tribeca and sat down with a bottle of wine. Surprisingly the place was really quiet and I ended up chatting to one of the bouncers until leaving.

I finished the night at Napoleon’s and got back to my hotel late, waking up the next morning having missed my 5-15am alarm call by a few hours! Never mind, I made up the time at work in the evening finally getting home at turned 9-30pm that night, absolutely tired!

Looking back on the day, I believe as I get out more and more as Emma, my increased confidence, experience and better presentation skills all seem to reduce the incidence of adverse reactions from those around you. I certainly no longer have any problem interacting with anyone when out these days (call me gobby if you like!). For those who still have doubts, try relating to me – a 5ft 9”, 16stone rugby player in a dress! If I can do it, so can anyone of you.

Birthday Celebrations in Manchester

My wife and I had been invited to join our good friend "Mrs Kate" to celebrate a significant birthday in Manchester on the Saturday.

Whilst my wife continues to be very supportive of Emma, she has reduced the number of times we go out together as she still feels uncomfortable. However, this occasion was one which she wholehearted wanted to join me in and so with our “story” established we left our youngest mid morning on the Saturday to drive up to Manchester.

The idea was to drop some stuff I was selling at a friend’s in St. Helens on the way and book into The New Union mid afternoon. On arrival, the room was not quite ready and so as we were enjoying a quiet drink at the bar, when who should join us but Di who was also staying at The New Union.

When given access to the room, we unpacked and my wife made her way into town for some shopping whilst I got ready. The weather was warmer than I had expected but I decided to go with a long t-shirt top over my stone washed jeggings and favourite mid height heeled shoes. On top I had my black ¾ length coat which is very warm. Ready, I made my way up to the café in Debenhams where we had agreed to meet, just another woman amongst the throngs of shoppers.

Meeting up with my wife, I sat down and we enjoyed a cuppa and some fruit cake whilst organising where we wanted to go and what we needed. My immediate requirements were a new pair of glossy patterned tights for the evening whilst my wife was looking for some replacement needles for her cross stitching hobby and some gel inserts for her heels. Ideally I had wanted to visit the Mac store but as money was tight I knew I would spend too much there so refrained. We did however spend an pleasant hour wandering through the clothes section at Debenhams, examining dresses, tops, coats and skirts for both of us. We find it very useful to be open and truthful about clothes and we both take great delight in picking out clothes for each other and respect each others comments.

However, as time was moving on, and money was tight, we both found what we wanted and then made our way back to the hotel through the crowds of workers and shoppers on their way home. Again, no issues with the rest of the world, I was taken as I presented.

Back at the hotel, whilst Jackie went up to get ready, I sat and had a beer during which Dianne came down ready for the evening and introduced me to Katherine, another friend of hers.

I then joined my wife to get ready whilst Dianne ad Katherine made their way up to Taurus where we were to join them later.

For the evening, despite having brought three different alternative dresses, matching shoes and bags, I resorted to an old favourite a sparkly LBD and matching heels over which I wore my genuine rabbit fur coat (E-bay bargain last year)

Make up refreshed and darkened for the evening, a slick of lip gloss and squirt of perfume, we gingerly made our way down into the bar and then up Canal Street to find our friends. My wife looked stunning as we popped into Taurus but didn’t see them (we later found out they were in the alcove), followed by Velvet where my wife got chatted up by a guy as we were looking for Di and Katherine. It was quite funny listening to the conversation whilst standing there next to Jackie in my heels etc!

Moving on we finally came across Mandy and Tina as they were walking up the street and we decided in the absence of any agreed meeting place to drop into Churchill’s where we enjoyed a bottle of wine between us.

It was good to have the opportunity to chat as it had been a while since Jackie had been out with me as Emma and all too soon we had to up sticks and make our way to the venue where we were eating – Velvet.

On arrival we found Di, Katherine and Bev and her wife there already and so with fresh drinks awaited the arrival of birthday girl and Kate which duly happened.

The bar was very busy and standing in 3” heels not quite so much fun as its’ made out so when seats became available, we made a beeline for them. Shirley and Kate both looked stunning and with all of us in a party mood, the rest of the evening looked like it was going to be good.

Making our way carefully down the steel spiral staircase to the restaurant was, as usual, fun, wearing a tight dress and heels adding to the “excitement”

Taking our seats, cards and pressies having been handed over, "Mrs K" handed out little badges and masks to get us in the party spirit, mine was Miss Boozy! – is someone trying to tell me something!

The food as usual was very good and the “low fat deserts!” something to die for.

As the night was young we decided to visit Spirit first where we met up with the girls again after I had revisited my room to change my shoes and leave my fur coat behind.

For some reason the atmosphere in the village early on appeared quite threatening with lots of groups of guys wandering around the “village” and there was quite a lot of verbal comment. Probably Man United having been at home didn’t help. Nevertheless, we didn’t let this detract from our enjoyment, we just were somewhat more careful than usual.

Gradually our friends made their way from Spirit until myself and Jackie were left sitting on one of the beds on the mezzanine floor. We took time to have a great chat about just about everything. My wife and I for the first time since the night I was attacked, actually held hands and cuddled. This was a massive step for my wife in accepting me as Emma out and about and both of us felt really comfortable.

(The night I was attacked, my wife had for the first time since going out with me as Emma held hands – I know it doesn’t sound that great but believe me this was a massive step for my wife and I, and she thought (wrongly in my opinion) that this lead directly to me being assaulted that night.)

From Spirit, we sauntered across to Eden’s where we continued cuddling and chatting until a young girl on an adjacent table beckoned us over to join her and her friends. She was an 18 year old hairdresser from Manchester and we passed an enjoyable hour answering questions, chatting and generally getting on really well with no unease whatsoever. Her young friends and herself were totally accepting and showed a genuine interest in us. When you think she is only a year older than our youngest daughter! We took advantage of educating them which I believe they were largely ignorant of in the first place. Jackie and I smiled as we fielded some of the standard first time questions and the fact that we were happily married with three daughters didn’t fail to impress on them that any preconceived perceptions they may have had were not necessarily correct.

Before moving on finally to Napoleon’s, I needed the loo and entering in front of another girl grabbed the one available toilet much to her “disgust”. Having finished my business, I washed my hands, repaired my make up and brushed my hair at the mirror before being joined by the girl who had followed me in. She smiled and laughingly commented that following me in she thought I was a woman but was cool about it and asked me if she could borrow some lip gloss. She was a 21 year old who confessed that, whilst she touched up her lips and I refreshed my perfume, she was trying to ditch the guy she was with.

Rejoining my wife, we briefly had a chat before we parted company and walked over to Napoleon’s. By now it was well past 2am and my wife was buzzing. We rejoined our friends downstairs for a chat and final drink or two.

Getting up to buy a round of drinks I bumped into Justine at the bar and we caught up with life etc (we last met at Sparkle though we keep in touch via facebook) and the fact that she and her wife now had a baby to look after.

Finally as the clock was approaching 4am we bade our farewells and made our way back to our hotel and sleep.

Jackie has since then reiterated how she had a really wonderful time out and about with Emma and all our friends and we have penciled in further dates for us to both go out. The fact that Jackie has been able to embrace me and allow me to engage in normal physical signs of affection whilst out as Emma is a massive step forward in acceptance and one I really appreciate.