Hello dear readers, happy New Year. I hope that 2024 is a good one for you. We could do with something good now as, let's face it, the last few years have been difficult for everyone.
Summing up 2023
I don't propose to sum up 2023 in much detail. For me, it was a bit of a transitional year (not in a surgical sense!) but I am looking ahead to a better 2024. So, by way of summary, I'll just link to the four posts that attracted the most views last year.
Fittingly, more people read my tribute to my lovely friend Kate Collins than anything else. Kate's death from illness was a shock to the trans community and I hope I did her memory some justice. Kate Collins - a tribute. Rest in peace, beautiful girl.
As a followup, Kate's widow is at least deriving much joy from her 18-month old grandson; they seem inseparable, and that's some consolation.
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| Kate Collins |
By complete contrast, nobody commiserated with me when my bra exploded. It is an ex bra; it has ceased to be. Stop laughing, you insensitive people! The day my bra exploded.
I live predominantly as a woman - that's been the case for over a quarter of a century - but I've never gone full-time female for various reasons. So occasionally I have to be male and put away my feminine things. And that's not just clothes. Hiding stuff again.
I commented on what looked like becoming the big trend of 2023, all-over pink. In the pink. (I think the idea of all-over cerise or magenta petered out pretty fast, but peach fuzz is now in.)
Future plans
As for the future, in as much as anything can be planned in a world gone unstable, I recently completed what I think is the final stage of my residence in Italy and confirmation of citizenship. I moved to Italy partly for health reasons - the grey skies and cold winters of the UK were literally killing me - and partly because I work internationally and Britain isolated under Brexit is not the place to do that. Originally, I had planned to spend summers in the UK and winters somewhere warmer like the Canary Islands, but that idea was killed by the chaos that followed the Brexit vote in 2016. So I am essentially here to stay now, with only occasional time in Britain. To that end, I have been putting feelers out to Italian trans groups that are about trans living and hope to start again by making friends in the trans community here. I could do with getting out again, but I feel I need some support to start with. It was a decade ago that my trans life outside home ended abruptly with a bout of eczema that prevented my wearing makeup, so I'm definitely out of practice.
Despite the excesses of the Christmas and New Year fortnight I am only a little over the weight I was in mid-December so I'll be back on track to get into my healthy weight range by the spring.
As for my blog, the posts I started writing last year about trans art and photographic exhibitions, about trans films and theatre, about support for trans people from outside the community, proved very popular. I hope to do regular monthly updates on the creative scene as it applies to trans life. Posts discussing fashion and the latest items in my wardrobe are popular, too.
All the best for 2024.
Sue x
Dear Sue, I hope you started well in 2024. And may it be a good and healthy one for you. Yes, the weather should be more sunny and warmer in Italy than in Britain - and you will turn from Sue to Susanna, LOL, It is always a sad thing to hear of the death of a beloved person.
ReplyDeleteAnd your story of the exploding bra was really funny....for readers.
Thanks for your nice visits to my blog and your nice words.
I appreciate this very much.
Have a good time and all the best
Violetta
Thank you very much for your kind words, Violetta. A happy and successful 2024 to you too. I always enjoy your blog and the lovely photos in it.
DeleteI am genuinely thinking of Italianising my name to Susanna, at least for use in Italy. I'll write about that if I do.
Sue x
Good luck for 2024, Sue. I hope your plans to find other trans folk goes well, and you find yourself another (and closer to home) set of friends.
ReplyDeleteYes, the curse of the B word. Other than a few die hards, it seems an unspoken thing that considered a complete mess and failure. The bugger question is if anyone will be brave enough to acknowledge the shift in the public mood and amend things. Certainly there's the wrath of the press barons to contend with.
In better news, good to hear Mrs Collins is doing well and with her grandson too. I hope it's okay to say that I think Kate would have been very moved by your kind words.
Thanks, Lynn.
DeleteThe UK seems to have shifted to a position where magnates with offshore holdings now hold all the cards and 99% of Brits take the consequences. Brexit was way more extreme than the Leave camp in the referendum ever imagined or campaigned for and it's not in ruling interests to go back. The Brits have to learn to change their relationship with their rulers and with the rosy-tinted myths of their past. Until they do, they're stuck. Brexit has been extremely damaging to me, but only in the short term; the long term consequences will be worse for every other Brit. I'm sorry, hon. :-( As a dissident, I'll keep fighting them.
Sue x