A place to think

 I have a special place where I go to have a think. Big thinks, like: should I change career? should I buy this house? and the like. My own thinking space happens to be Salisbury cathedral close because it's green, quiet and inspiring. Sitting on a bench by the lichen-encrusted wall looking at the cathedral spire soaring up into the blue is the place I go to to gather my thoughts far away from my normal busy environment. Although I don't even live in England any more, I found it cathartic to come here during my latest trip and sit and have a think. 

Salisbury Cathedral 2025 from my favourite bench in the close. Built very fast for a medieval cathedral, between 1220 and 1258, it benefits from having a uniform style. The exquisite spire, the tallest in the British Isles at 404 feet (123 m), is a landmark for miles. The cathedral close, full of ancient houses and green spaces behind a high wall, is still locked at night, and is quiet and peaceful by day even when full of visitors. An inspiring place.

 

Sadly, although I brought a small case of skirts and dresses, I had a lot of appointments that I had to do in male mode as that is still my official reality and so I wasn't able to get time out as Sue.

I did, however, have time for a delicious Thai dinner with one of the first trans women I ever met, Chrissie, who is looking beautiful and very feminine a decade or so after her surgery. Chrissie was one of the girls I accompanied to Charing Cross Gender Clinic when I first started going out publicly to see if formal transition was right for me. It was for her; for me the decision is still pending ...

Also sadly, I wasn't here when the local trans group had their monthly meeting but the Wig & Quill where they are said to gather is a very nice old pub with outstanding food. I also enjoyed the New Inn with its beautiful, secluded garden, and the Rose & Crown right opposite the flat I rented, with its terrace on the river. British pubs are much improved from what they once were - just places to drink warm beer - now that they serve food, allow dogs and even children, and no one smokes any more.

The lovely flower-filled, tree-lined garden at the New Inn, Salisbury

 

The garden of the Rose & Crown backing onto the River Avon

One thing that amuses locals and might also please my readers is the fact that the bishop's robing room for grand ceremonies is now in a women's boutique. We know that secretly great men can't resist slipping into something long and flowing, right?

 

I also confirmed what I have felt for a long time: that Britain is a grossly expensive place. I mean, not just house prices and travel costs as always, but now even everyday food, goods and services, especially after Brexit and Covid. As for tourist things, let me give you two examples. 

In the 1990s-2000s I used to go to Salisbury a lot and enjoyed going  up the cathedral tower. You would meet the guide under the crossing and pay him two or three pounds and climb up the 330 steps and enjoy the view from the top. Today you have to buy a ticket that costs twenty-four pounds! For the privilege of climbing stairs. 

A friend once went to the nearby ancient monument of Stonehenge and photographed a toy dinosaur in a way that made it look like it was eating the stones. So I thought I'd do the same. But just to get the bus to Stonehenge costs twenty pounds and the entry fee is thirty. Fifty pounds per person (!!!) to go see a ruin that you can see just as well from the road. The explanation for the high price is given by English Heritage, who manage the site, as the cost of maintaining a major monument. Look, Stonehenge has been a ruin for over 2000 years; in the 18th century the local inn rented chisels so tourists could chip a piece off the monument as a souvenir. What precisely are you maintaining now, English Heritage? I first went to Stonehenge when I was six and you could wander freely among the stones for a few pence. Now you can't get near and they charge you a fortune. This sort of cynical ripoff is one of the worst traits of British officialdom.

So here's my disappointed dinosaur terrorising Salisbury Cathedral visitors instead. Entertainment for free!

 

Anyway, the decision I made was to retire permanently abroad now, where I've been since 2018 anyway. The quality of life, the climate, the costs, the food and the less toxic politics count for a lot in that decision. I've closed a couple of UK bank accounts whilst here and will be rewriting my will under Italian law. I'll still write a trans blog for English speakers but I'll be trying to see my many friends and family in the UK before the change becomes permanent. I say this but with the world in a chaotic mess now it's hard to know if any plans can work properly, but that's the idea anyway.

Still, I was lucky with the weather, as you can see. 

Next stop, the beautiful city of Bath.

Sue x

Successful surgery, and Cleopatra's beauty regime

 Just checking in to my blog briefly to say that I flew into London on Monday and saw a friend of mine after her gender surgery. It was a total but wonderful coincidence that the trip I planned months ago was at the same time that Roz got called in for her operation.

After landing at London City Airport (and there are some spectacular photos below of Nice's Bay of Angels and London's Tower Bridge as we pivoted round the Shard skyscraper) I checked in at my hotel which happened to be just a few miles from where Roz was recovering. I arranged to see her early evening with Grace who lives in the area. 

I'm pleased to say that Roz looked well, said the op had gone to plan, her daughter Ele was with her and we had a nice catch-up as I hadn't seen her since last year in Scotland. 

Her gender clinic is on the edge of Wimbledon Common and as we are of a certain age there was a lot of reminiscing about the Wombles, too, who were a cultural phenomenon of 1970s Britain and the "Keep Britain Tidy" campaign. Small furry creatures who did meet, though, were Roz's ubiquitous Beaver and Ele's Topsy the Triceratops whom I introduced to my Lugubrious Crab from Monaco who is accompanying me on this trip. It might cheer him up! I won't post a photo of Roz in bed in her hospital gown but she looked well. Instead here she is at my home with Beaver in 2022.

 

Hospital visitors 2025

 

I brought Roz some presents from the Riviera, including characteristic soap from Nice that's made of asses' milk, just like Cleopatra used for her beauty regime! 

 

Well done, Roz, and wishing you a full, successful recovery at home.

Grace and I went on to Putney for an evening meal. At the Prince of Wales pub - and I have thought carefully before making this bold statement - I had the best plate of fish and chips I have ever had in my life. It was perfect - and proof that British food if done well can be really good. 

So that was a wonderful start to my trip to the UK.

Here is the Bay of Angels in the sunshine as we climbed out of Nice airport ...

 

... and here we pivot round the Shard in Central London towering over London Bridge Station, with museum warship HMS Belfast in the River Thames, Tower Bridge centre left, the Docklands skyscrapers and Isle of Dogs in the background, and the Thames estuary in the distance. An amazing view.

 

I'm in South West England now for the next couple of weeks. More on that next time. Skirts have been packed ...

Sue x

Broken heels

 No politics, just practical feminine dressing today.

The bottoms of my heels keep disintegrating on my floor.

It's a very hard floor indeed, made of ceramic stoneware (grès) but not much harder than a pavement, and I have pounded pavements and all that's ever happened to my heels is that they have worn down and needed re-heeling by the cobbler. One favourite pair of boots I had re-heeled four times I used them that much.

Here my heels have literally crumbled away suddenly, disintegrating in a matter of minutes into small lumps of plastic/rubber. This has happened three times now, the latest time being a pair of black pumps. Prior to that it was a pair of pink open-toed shoes and before that a hard-wearing, quite pricey and much-loved pair of ankle boots. The latter two had their original hard plastic heel tips but this latest crumble is on what I think is a rubber replacement heel and you can see its partner is just about to go, too.

 

I'm holding the pink ones on the floor and you can see that it's porcelain moulded to resemble maple boards.

I wondered if storage over the years might be the issue but it's not as though any of them have been subject to extremes of cold, heat, humidity or anything unusual and they were all bought at different times. The pumps were cheap, the others less so. I can understand that plastic, not leather or rubber, might have a certain shelf life.

So I'm puzzled as to why this issue has arisen only in my latest home. My previous homes had carpets not rock-hard floors so that's why I assume it's the floor. Though it does seem excessive.

Any ideas? Anyone else experienced the same?

 

Another delivery

News just in, about an hour after I posted. My lovely and beloved friend Roz had her GRS today and has just texted me to say she's awake and fed and waiting her all-important coffee. I'm teary now but they're happy tears for her. 

Happy re-birthday, dear Roz. 

Sue x

Trans+ History Week

 It's Trans+ History Week and trans people have had a very long history and will have a very long future, too. Trans deniers will do anything to overlook the fact that we have always existed but, try as you might to deny it, it's rather obvious that trans people have popped up everywhere, in every age, clime, culture and demographic. The trans conveyor keeps delivering. 

I have an especial interest in ancient and in early modern history and I have cited many examples of trans people, some from centuries ago, like Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria (1842-1919), or from millennia ago, like Roman Emperor Elagabalus (204-222), and even from legendary times. You can find many of these by clicking the History label from the list on the right.

 

Keep being fabulous.

Sue x

Worried about a trip to Britain

 I am going back to Britain the week after next, as I have done every six months since the pandemic ended, but I am very uneasy about it. The crass political situation there makes me sick and the anti-trans court ruling the other week makes me more determined than ever to remove my remaining personal belongings from there and complete settling in Italy. The same sort of sentiment regards my family whom I will be seeing but whose bigotry gets worse with time. The trouble is, any pensions I am due all come from Britain so I'll never be shot of the craziness and failure there, nor the loss in their value because of the low rate of the pound sterling they will be paid in. I was hoping to go out fully dressed when there but now I'm not feeling it. Not at present anyway. We'll see how I feel when I'm there. On the positive side, I will be seeing friends, too, including one who is having her surgery. I expect there will be some nice things to report back about my meetups.

[Add: I've just had a comment from Dee Williams, one of my very oldest trans friends whom I first met on my very first time out as Sue. Dee lives in South West England now and she's just started a blog, The Other Side of Life, which I have also added to my blogroll. She too is worried about some of the items I mentioned here.] 

You'll notice that I'm increasing my contact with other trans sisters in Europe and I've recently added Carla's blog (Pink Fog - Trans in Spain) to the list on the right. Carla is an English girl living in Spain. 

Other European TGirl blogs I recommend include Violetta's beautiful blog (Violetta Arden's World - this week she's walking in Austrian pastures) and Franzi's classy blog (Franziska Out and About) about crossdressing and culture in Germany.

I'd also like to mention a male friend in Portugal, also British originally, who's been a great trans ally and we've both supported each other in settling in Europe, but he has been struggling on and off with cancer for some years and I'm worried about him. Treatment works for a bit and he gets some respite and then it's back. I've lost so many friends to cancer these last four years that it's like the Grim Reaper has been flicking through my address book for ideas. 

And a shout out to poor trans woman Jen of travel vlog Jen on the Move who has suffered a stroke. I really hope she makes a good recovery.

I mention all these worrying things because my trans positivity resolutions at the moment include giving as much encouragement to other trans people as I can. If not in person, then online. There are so many trans people sharing their lives in one way or another on social media and with the attacks on our community at present I can't help feeling that even the smallest like or thumbs-up or share or encouraging comment can go a long way to helping each of us continue to live authentically and know that there's support out there.

The stats here on Blogger tell me quite clearly that my political posts are not as popular as posts about trans clubs, pretty clothes and girls meeting up so I will be getting back to the more popular themes of trans life. I have not been able to overlook the awful situation that the world is in this past month and its effects on our community as it makes me ill even to think about it. But something lighter hearted and more beautiful is needed and I'll be aiming to deliver that.

Pretty purple and pink chive flowers in my herb garden

 

Look after yourselves, dear sisters, and help one another.

Sue x