Out and about ~ Quick review of 2011

This may be the last chance I get to blog ahead of Christmas.  It is easy to get out of the habit, but I have found it therapeutic in the past so one way or another I am sure I will continue.

It has been a strange year in some ways for Tina.  I guess I haven’t got out and about quite as much as in previous years, but managing maybe half a dozen major ones and one or two ‘odds and sods’.  As a reminder to myself, I have just looked through my photo albums. When your memory is as bad as mine you need photos to remind yourself and if you write a regular blog then so much the better, but on that score I have fallen down.  So New Year’s resolution, blog more often.

Anyway, lets see where I have been and what I have done.

• Just the one outing to Fabuliss in February and as I have mentioned, that sadly is no more;  and you can’t really count Linda’s funeral even though I was able to go as Tina.  At least it was an opportunity to remember Linda, be with the Fabuliss girls and at the Fabuliss location, but such a sad day.

• Just the one visit to Folkestone to see my friend Barbara ~ I must at the very least ring her to wish her a Merry Christmas.   It was January last year that I went down to see her. Perhaps I could do something this year to coincide with the January sales….but it is a long trip; we shall have to see.

• A couple of trips up to London, the first a fantastic outing with my wife and friend Penny to see Priscilla Queen of the Dessert.  I guess that was the highlight as it was a fantastic night out.  More recently we had a quieter occasion in London, when we just met some friends in Gordon’s Wine Bar and had a nice meal afterwards.  Always good to get up to London.  My wife and I will always stay up there, go up for Saturday lunchtime, which this time gave me the chance to dress and join the rest of the group late afternoon.  We usually stay at the Barbican Thistle, as in the past it has been a great place to return to at the end of your evening.  But this time they had close the main bar.  Big disappointment.

• Of course I should have managed two capital cities this year but having organised Paris in the Spring and having full permission for dressing on at least one full day in the 3 day break, I then ‘chickened out’ or at least didn’t take the opportunity that I was given.

• No Sparkle in Manchester this year.  I think after the previous 5 years it is getting a bit samey and its a long way to travel for an event.  Still it was always a good place to go to meet up with friends.  If you don’t have that, you need to create other events.

• Two trips to Brighton this year with a group of friends from Portsmouth.  The 1st one organised by Katie the firefighter.  The last one by Nena with quite a few others, like Rachel and Sophie Cockayne.  They are a group that see each other regularly but they are always keen to include anyone with a sense of fun on their outings.   By the time you include the odd local there are usually a dozen or so.  Again these are stay-away trips (both times without my wife Ann-Maria) but we had a really nice time.  A little shopping, some nice food, a few bars and some late night clubs.  I didn’t quite have my dancing shoes on this last time or maybe I’m getting too old for the heels I was wearing.  The trouble is you probably dress at 7 and can be out till 2 or 3.  I usually wear my comfy boots in such situations and wish I had again.  What I really need are some wide-fit, UK size 8 (continental 42),  3 inch heel (but with a pair of flexi slippers to pop into my bag for later.   Now that might be something for me to buy in the January sales!!  I reviewed the 1st Brighton trip here and Penny had an interesting story to tell of the 2nd trip here .

•  Aside from that, I’ve been down to Portsmouth for an hour or three in the Old Vic pub, once maybe twice, again to meet with the Pompey (Portsmouth) girls, but I don’t seem to have ventured out on my own as much as previous years.

Both Susan Miller and Shirley Anne   two of my favourite bloggers talk often on the importance of friends.  Without friends you would do nothing.  Fortunately I have my wife as my ‘best friend’ but I have made other good friends along the way of my Tina life.  You will have heard me often talk of Astrid and Davina and I am pleased to say we have an organised Christmas meal at a pub in Theale on Wednesday where I will see Davina along with around 50 other tgirls!!  Penny and Gabby are both lovely and it is good to see them maybe two or three times a year, but neither are quite on the doorstep and Penny does have problems getting her ‘girly pass’.  It does make me realise how lucky I am.  Of course there are those such as Gabby & Erin who are TS and now post-up, others that are part the way there and out to all, but the majority of those I know are just trannies/ occasional cross-dressers that need to organise time to be out.  And I guess going anywhere far afield takes a certain amount of organising.

Strangely, I do like to have a certain amount of time organised, and I used to love the monthly Fabuliss meetings, but it is also good to have impromptu, spur of the moment or last minute outings.  For that I’d probably be better off in Portsmouth, but we could definitely now do with something closer.  Maybe one day, Fabuliss will be reborn………now there is a thought.

I don’t hide this blog, so any that search for me may find it, but I no longer (via Facebook) publicise it to my friends so few that I know read it.  But to any that know me in the flesh, those that read me regularly as fellow bloggers or to the casual passer-by, may I wish you a great Christmas holiday (however you celebrate it) and Health and Happiness in 2012.

Hugs Tina x

(picture was from Brighton, by the way, in glorious pink 3d specs ~ well at least that is what I thought they were!)