My third anniversary

Today is a special day. It was three years ago that I first went out in public as Sue.

The event was the Angels 10th birthday party, held at Pink Punters in Milton Keynes.

I booked into the Campanile hotel opposite the club and took a good four hours to get ready. Although I’d been practising makeup at home, this was the first time that it needed to pass muster. It wasn’t perfect by a long way, but I think it was adequate.

I was nervous as hell as I opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hotel corridor. Supposing I met another person? The corridor was empty and I walked down it, the longest walk I’d ever done in high heels. Don’t misunderstand me, I’d worn heels almost daily for years and years before this, but there’s a limited amount of space in one’s own home, and this corridor was long. Fortunately for my nerves, I met no-one. I went out of the hotel door, ignoring the glances of the idlers there, and felt the cold night air on my legs before walking into the bar. I had visions of being like the stranger in a Western town walking into the saloon, heels clacking like a pair of spurs, the place falling silent as the new girl was eyed up by the regulars. I felt my Colt bulging reassuringly in my handbag... But instead, nothing happened and my nerves calmed immediately as I recognised a whole bunch of girls from their avatars on the Angels website. Within moments I was introducing myself to Emma Walkey, Evie Starbuck, Tiff George, Gayna Starr, Wilhelmina Gluck, Davina Williams, Sarah Cat and saying hi to Ange Palmer whom I already knew. Funnily enough, these girls have remained among my closest T friends ever since.

In the Campanile bar just before heading to Pink Punters. l-r: Sarah, Ange, me, Wilhelmina, Tiff. Photo by Emma Walkey.

I was too hesitant to go out to a restaurant to eat so a few of us had an indifferent meal at the hotel before changing our outfits and heading to the club, which is only across the car park and the road beyond. It was a great evening, the place packed with TGirls. I made friends with several other girls there, Lucy, Gillian, Jenny, Susan, Stacey…, said hi to my mentor, Jodie Lynn from the Boudoir who complimented me on my look, and espied the great and the good from the Angels empyrean, their divine radiance being too dazzling for me to approach. I chatted, danced a bit, used the Ladies for the first time.

My first night out … and I survived.

I can’t believe it was only three years ago. I seem to have packed a lifetime into the intervening period. Well, in some ways I have: a whole new life, and a very fabulous one at that.

It seemed appropriate to put a post up on Angels tonight to encourage other girls to spread their wings, and to thank that site for the help it gave as I was growing.

Sue x