Brighton ~ 10 days after

 

Anyone remember the band ’10 years after’?  Now that’s a different story and it shows my age!  Well this is only ’10 days after’ I did the Brighton trip, but it’s been a while.  It’s not always possible to blog straight away and then you get wrapped up in work.  Still it does give you the advantage of perspective, looking back at what was important to you.   Actually there are a number of issues that came up, but I think I will deal with this over several blogs.

So it was a Saturday 10 days ago.  There were about 20 of us descending on Brighton from different parts of the country.  Most from the Portsmouth/ Southampton area, a few from London, a few even from Cambridge.  The whole thing was coordinated by Katie Jordan who is a bit of a star.  These trips now seem to be every few months, but I noticed the last one I had been on ‘with the gang’ was back in May 2009!!

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Back to Saturday morning.  I was having work done in the garden erecting a shed, so it made sense for me to leave well before 10, even though I wasn’t planning on being in Brighton before about 2:30.  My wife doesn’t mind me leaving the house dressed as we are largely un-overlooked but she likes me to be discrete and certainly didn’t want the danger of me bumping into the lad who was doing the work for us.  Anyway, I guess I was 90 minutes getting ready and all packed, and just as I was preparing to leave, a car arrived in our lay-by.  “Richard’s here “- I whispered to my wife, who was lying in bed, “you will have to divert him in the back garden, while I leave out of the front door”  As it happens it wasn’t him, but A-M was not happy being startled so.  And I think the whole thing of me getting ready even though I had put out as much as I could the night before, had ruined her lay-in.

Anyway, I left in jeans and smock (as per last blog) and knew I had about 5 hours to kill on what was really only a 1 1/2 hour journey.  So I spent an hour in an Asda Wal-Mart, then drifted down to the coast via Chichester and Bognor.  Then taking in various stoney beaches along the way (boots off, pumps on for a walk along the beach).  I ended up taking the coastal road through Littlehampton, Worthing and Shoreham, then on to Hove and Brighton, places I hadn’t been to in years.  I stopped for petrol and a quick snack as I said I got out a couple of times, but I seemed to fill the time meandering along to Brighton and by the time I had found a car park to the Jury’s Inn Hotel in Brighton and walked up the rather steep hill, it was 2:30pm.   I was just in time to meet up with about half the gang who were checking in, mostly in bloke mode.

Well actually Sophie Cockayne is a gg and she was to be my roomie so we took 15 mins to freshen up and unpack the cases.  There was a double and a single.  And she knew Emma who was also sharing (and a gg) so that was one possible conflict overcome.  Sophie is a bright bubbly bundle of fun.  We had met once at Georgia and Nena’s BBQ last year and she remembered me as well as my wife because she had exploded a can of beer over her!!  Oh well, that was one for later!

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For those that don’t know, Brighton is on a hill and we were on the top of it and needed to get down to the coast, well Charles Street pub is very close to the pier.  The idea was that we would meet others and get more food, so changing back to pumps (very astute), we walked down through the lanes which is always good fun.  Lots going on, very busy, buskers, street jugglers, lots of small shops. I was the only girl dressed, but that didn’t matter.  Later more joined us in the bar, two young girls 21 and 19 who I believe only recently discovered they were gay.  Sophie Hants in male mode, but with son and daughter in their twenties.

We were to return here at the start of the evening when there would be the full complement, which included several other gay couples, the tgirls I had mostly met before and a couple of guys we tried to hook up together.  I guess we were in Brighton gay capital of the world and going to gay bars and clubs, so it was no surprise that we had such a mixed complement.   And that just added to the fun of it.

So far as I know, my roommates were straight, but I know Sophie was just out of a relationship with a tgirl, so whatever.  We were clearly a mixed bag of straight and gay, male and female and at different ends of the transgendered spectrum.  It matters not a jot, but I mention it to give you an idea of the cosmopolitan flavour of the group.

As I was sharing with 2 others, I was glad to have travelled en femme, as although I needed to clean up and add to how I was looking make-up wise, it didn’t take too long and fortunately the room had lots of large mirrors a pre-requisite fo the tranny.  Well my outfit I won’t describe (as there is a pic above!) and of course I changed my hair ~ day-time short to evening long!  We 3 girls all took pics in pairs to remind ourselves how good we looked before we got wrecked (more pics on Facebook).  A quick drink downstairs before a cab, well 4 cabs I think, back to the Charles St bar.

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It’s a very lively place in the evening.  We grabbed maybe 8 seats around a round table and, for the rest of the time spent there, rotated those who were sitting with those who were standing.  When you are in heels you cannot stand all night, unless you get a lot of practice!  Drinks are pub prices.  I had had a couple of Southern Comfort looseners back in the room, but otherwise had been drinking non-alcoholic J2O since.  For the evening, I mainly drank Smirnoff Ice or Wicked.  The virtue of alcopops is that they are relatively low in alcohol, so each one is rather like half a bitter, and Tina certainly doesn’t drink that.

It was good to have a place to catch up for chat.  I hadn’t really spoken to Katie, Georgia, Nena or Rachel in an age and they are all such different personalities.  Katie, a firefighter, had recently told half the fire crew and the other half were to find out the next week as Katie had gone public in an interview in the firefighters’ internal gazette.  Very brave.  But it’s all about respect.  And I think that if you have the respect of your colleagues in life-and-death situations then surely they won’t lose respect because you come out as a t-girl.  And I gather the reaction from the first half of the lads had been very good.   Katie is 100% hetro and I hope someday she finds a gg who fully accepts her as she is, in both male and femme guises.  A lovely, really genuine person.

Georgia has also told most around her, so was interested in my own recent episodes with my own kids.  The difference though, as my wife would say and I totally agree,  is that a lot of those that do tell have already split up from their wives.  I know some within a marriage do tell, but telling the kids and your family when you still have a relationship you value is a very tough call.

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At 11, we switched venues, just up the road to Legends, which while just a bar upstairs had a nightclub and lotsa dancing downstairs.  Again no entry fee and pub prices, so pretty full from the outset and they were still coming in as I left about 3:00 am.  It’s not possible for a group of 20 to stay together in such circumstances and you wouldn’t want it.  Some want to sit, some stand, the smokers want to go outside.  Others to dance all night.  I was happy to flit in and out of conversations, to dance for half an hour.  Sometimes I would join the smokers, ‘outside’ to cool off (even though I don’t).  Actually some of the more interesting conversations were to be had there.  For a start you could hear yourself!  Secondly, I think you are more likely to mix and chat with your neighbour.  I had some really deep conversations well after midnight, with a 41-year-old lesbian who had just finished a 7 year relationship.  She couldn’t believe that I was married and hetro and asked surely if I flirted with you, you would be interested.  “Sorry I’m afraid not and besides you are gay’ I said and ‘wouldn’t be interested’.  I do have to admit though that go to a gay nightclub and you do see an awful lot of pretty girls.  The stereotype ‘dyke’ was hardly represented.

I also had a good half an hour with a 31 yr old gay drag queen, although he was not dressed that night.  He was just a really interesting guy and regaled me with tales as to what he did, what he wore, where he bought the stuff and how the kids of his partner just loved him in fancy costume.  Now I’ve never spoken to a drag queen before, but this guy was so totally unaffected.

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Lots more dancing before any thought of leaving.  Nena suddenly decided she wanted to go,  and I guess a shared taxi ride is a cost halved.  I knew I would be up in the morning for breakfast so my thoughts were let’s be sensible.  Sophie & Emma had stayed so my plan was to clean up, change back to male and get a few hours kip.  Well the girls had other plans, lol.  They were last out of the club at 5, so were back shortly after.  Coming into the room, they were very excited at the fact that Will Young had arrived at the club with his partner shortly after I had left.  No he didn’t want pictures, but yes they did have one!

Next thing we are joined by Sophie Hants and all were attacking the bottles that were in the room.  When Sophie’s son arrived 15 mins later, I asked how long the party was going to continue.  Eventually they came to bed, but couldn’t get to sleep.  I was then to find out what real girls do to try to fall asleep and that is talk.  Talk about everyone they know.  Now I did learn a lot I didn’t know that night even though I didn’t get to sleep.  Well at least not much.  Emma got up after a while and went walk about, then came back and announced others were going down to breakfast. I tell you, I’m too old for this lark.

Anyway breakfast was good.  And on the way back home I was listening to my football team in a very important relegation battle. I had to stay out till the end of it, and thankfully we scored in the last minute.  But  anyway it did mean that when I returned A-M’s guests would be away and there would be no awkward questions.  Well I was supposed to be on a golfing trip, but my clubs were in the airing cupboard, lol.

If that was golf, it was some trip.  Thanks to Katie and everyone that I spoke too.  I had a really cool evening being me.  It just felt natural and nice and I am grateful for the chance to do such things.  It’s just a shame, I take so long to recover!!

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Finally, a thought for Linda at Fabuliss, who is again not well.  I wish her strength and good fortune.

If you have been, thanks for reading.

Hugs TinaCortina x