Wednesday, 27 November 2024

Stealthy conspirators, kitten cuddles and bone rattlers

 As an agent of the gender bender agenda to turn everyone in the world trans (as the righteous, true and oh-so-noble phobes insist) I need to meet with fellow conspirators from time to time so we can plot domination. So when I was holidaying in Britain in September, as well as Brighton, Bolton and Manchester, I went to the East Midlands to catch up with a couple of trans friends, Emma who has featured many times in these pages, and Lynn of YATGB and Nottingham Chameleons fame. What is truly sinister about us trans agents is that we don't always present in our preferred gender and can disguise ourselves as bona fide 'normals' and no-one can tell. We're that good at disguise. How can the anti-trans police deal with us 'pretenders in suspenders' if we won't make ourselves known at all times? It's a fiendish plot, eh readers?

Anyway it was very nice to catch up with these two stalwarts over brunch in a café in Leicestershire. Lynn mentioned this meetup at the end of this blog post of hers (and it took her less time to report back on it than it's taken me ...what? I've been busy!) It wasn't all trans plotting, of course, but chat about music, comedy, and other things of mutual interest. I hope to be back in that area again soon.

I also went to stay with a family of friends in Nottingham who have just acquired three very sweet kittens, and the kittens and I got along very well. It's not always easy to drink a mug of tea when you are the new designated kitten mattress, or you are trying to dress but the kittens are turning your bedroom into a playground, but we managed somehow.

I took a trip with my friends to Derbyshire. Cromford is a charming village with a mill pond and dramatic scenery, and a bizarre multi-storey bookshop, Scarthins, more or less built of bookcases groaning under the weight of tomes, including one case that turns to reveal a secret room behind, like the sort you'd find in some Scooby-Doo haunted mansion for Velma to fall behind. In this case the secret room is the café (with garden) where they cook a fine homity pie (potato, leek, onion and cheese). It's mad and fun. And, appropriately enough, the manager is one Mr Booker!

A short distance away is the National Tramway Museum where a large number of historic trams are nicely preserved in tramsheds and several double-decker bone-rattlers trundle up and down the tracks for visitors to ride. You get an old penny as an entry ticket, hand it to the uniformed conductor and they give you a proper ticket in exchange.

This was a lot of fun and in addition to riding the old trams there are some rather nice paths through the woods, a sculpture park and a 'village' with pub, post office and shops. 





My journey back to London the next day was appalling, with long train delays and alternative routes required and I lost a lot of time which prevented my doing some things I'd been planning to do which were rather important. Although I did get a full refund on my ticket from East Midlands Trains - and good on them for that - it doesn't compensate me for the overall losses. I have honestly to say that I think UK transport systems are broken. In the four trips I've made there in 2023 and 2024 barely any of my travels around the country were trouble-free. Even the taxi to the airport the day after picked me up thirty minutes late and the security staff at London's Heathrow Airport were their usual officious, abusive, contemptuous, racist selves. It's certainly the nastiest airport of any I've ever been to, even more so than New York's JFK which employs the second most unpleasant staff in the world. I had hoped to maintain a presence in Britain but I honestly feel it is a lost cause and so I am winding down there. It's a great shame but political, societal and systemic failures there need to be addressed very seriously and swiftly.

That concludes my description of my trip to England in September. It was a joy to meet up with old friends and, for the most part, be out fully femme or be seeing trans friends in stealth mode. Thanks to everyone who met up with me and I'll try to catch the ones I missed next time.

Sue x


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