Life in Italy in the Age of the Virus

I've been very touched by the number of friends who've messaged or phoned or emailed to see how I'm doing here in Italy in the Age of the Virus, and I would have posted here earlier but I was replying to them.

Well, everyone in Italy is staying at home as advised, which must be hell for the kids (and their parents), although a lot have been doing homeschooling and people are working at home. You can go food shopping and go to the chemists, and go to work if you are in food, manufacturing or distribution. You can walk the dog. Large banks and main post offices are open but everything else is shut. So no cafés, bars, cinemas, clothes shops, hairdressers, libraries, cemeteries, offices, leisure centres and so forth.

Fortunately I don't get easily bored and have plenty to keep me amused at home. There seems to be very little incidence of the virus here in the Province of Imperia and let's hope it stays that way.
However, with no new clothes and no haircuts, we're all going to end up looking like dishevelled Flintstones before long! I also suspect, with so little to amuse people at home, that there'll be a lot of December babies this year!

I don't like this word "lockdown" bandied about by the English-speaking press. Here in Italy, self-isolation and business closure is mainly voluntary. And people are doing it through a sense of community and to protect the most vulnerable. It's always the way: legislate all you like and people will do what they can to avoid paying their taxes or complying with the law; suggest a community approach and people jump to it.

I am delighted that people here are checking up on their elderly, disabled or sick neighbours by phone or entryphone without needing to be asked, doing shopping for them or walking their dogs, to minimise the risk they are exposed to. If this situation arises in your country too, please don't hesitate to make sure that people around you who would otherwise be very isolated get what they need: practical help and daily contact.

I'm also delighted that a company here on the coast that makes sails, for which there's no demand right now, has voluntarily turned its machines to making surgical masks instead.

But there are negatives. Many years ago I used to work in the British ministries, mainly on sickness policy as it happens. Making public policy involves taking as many factors as you can into account and weighing them carefully. There's usually no perfect balance or answer, and the overarching policies of the government you have will sway the approach. The long-term effects of this isolation policy on economic life, and on public health and social coherence could potentially be worse than the problem being dealt with. Staying at home is all very well in order to avoid infection, but getting less exercise increases obesity, already a major problem; social isolation greatly increases mental health problems and there has already been a rise in incidents of domestic violence here. Economic failure increases diseases associated with lower income, and suicide. So let's hope this drastic policy to protect the most vulnerable does work. This is the humane approach, the moral one, even though it is at the expense of the economy. However, the package of financial measures to help busineses and working people who are not operating is quite impressive. The next few days are critical and will show if the virus is being beaten or if failure means the government changes tack and we have to learn to live with the bug.

If I were to give one piece of important advice to individuals it's to take heed only of what reputable medical organisations are suggesting you do. Do NOT take advice from amateurs on social media, stuff in the papers (especially tabloids and magazines), or suggestions from leaders of dictatorial or dubious regimes (and that includes Britain and the USA). The World Health Organisation, the relevant health ministry or reputable medical and scientific journals should be your only source of advice.

Another piece of advice is to watch out for scams such as people offering to disinfect your home, people selling you face masks (most are of little use against viruses) or quacks offering remedies. I suspect people will soon be offering to do your shopping, take your cash ... and vanish. Never underestimate the dishonesty of some people who profit from situations like this. If you don't know them, don't trust them.

Also, learn to interpret statistics. An 8% death rate among diagnosed cases in hospital does not mean that that's the overall death rate, because you haven't taken all the other cases, including undiagnosed ones, into account. The fatality rate is much lower - still not a good rate, but don't spook yourself by misunderstanding figures that show only part of a picture.

It's weird times we're living in but human kindness and consideration are all it takes. You might even enjoy living at home for a bit. Here I can see families clearing years of accumulated junk in their garages, painting the house, spring cleaning, practising music and doing online courses. I've always loved working from home myself. Of course, if you don't live full time in your preferred gender then now could be a wonderful opportunity. I can tell you that my nails have never looked prettier! Enjoy the weirdness, friends, keep yourselves well by following good advice, and look out for one another and the more needy.


Sue x

Women's clothes are so much nicer

It's that rarest of days, February 29th.

Having pretty much recovered from my various seasonal illnesses, and not yet apparently having caught coronavirus, it's time to celebrate healthy womanhood!

First, here's one thing I hate: I hate having to shop for men's clothes. There was an era when I spent so much time living as female and buying only women's clothes that in the end I forgot my sizes in menswear. I'm having to live officially as male at present as I go through the huge number of formalities needed to live abroad. (Incidentally, those who say that moving about within Europe is easy - or rather too easy - have no idea what they are talking about.)

So I needed some new trousers (shudder!) and when I got to a suitable shop I was delighted to find that some women's trousers had been mixed in with the men's. And in my size. So I did buy a pair of horrid boy trousers, but also a pair of black skinny jeans. I wish I knew why men's trousers are so horrible, always rough, stiff and misshapen. These women's jeans have lycra and fit perfectly as a result. And, they make me happy, as clothes do only if they reflect my reality, not the demands of the world.

Anyway, I returned a few days later and bought some blue jeans, some leggings, some sneakers and a hoodie from the jumble of clothing. Styles are often unisex these days anyway and all these items, even the leggings, could be worn by men or women pretty indifferently. Which suits me perfectly right now.

I did go more feminine than this recently, including proper care over my makeup and hair, and remembered to take some photos out on the terrace. I'm on the top floor part way up a steep mountainside so the views are pretty impressive and I've tried to capture some of that in the photo above.

As in my previous post, I have also, and not before time, updated my blogroll. Must try to get a suitable index or system of links to help navigate.

Sue x

The blogroll revolution!

It always used to be an awkward chore changing items in one's blogroll but Blogger now seems to have made its system more user-friendly. As I recover from flu I am spending time indoors and so have been able to do some much needed weeding and planting in my blogroll (which is low down on the right), and do it swiftly for once!

My friends Ann Drogyny, Roz White and Helen Turner stopped blogging at least a year ago and so I have now removed their blogs. The same for the "Rhiannon Rambling" blog. I did enjoy all these very much, but obviously people have their priorities. Helen essentially uses Flickr as though it were a blog and her trans life is very positive, her wife, daughter and parents being very accepting and she having a very active time as a woman (https://www.flickr.com/photos/52912530@N04/). She's also very pretty!

Mandy Sherman and KD have started new blogs ("Mandy's Miscellany" and "K.D.'s Life and Ramblings") so I've now added these but am still keeping links to their earlier blogs for the time being since they are still interesting.

I've added a couple of new blogs: the excellent "Femulate" (that, frankly, should have been up here years ago) and "Shadows of a Dream (on my Travels)", which is the blog my friend Karen Cameron writes about her adventures with other girls in places like Manchester and Leeds.

Of course, the blogs for those super bloggers Lynn Jones ("YATGB"), Bobby Sox, Lucie ("The Girl Who Should Know Better"), Jonathan ("Male Femme") and the tour-de-force who is Hannah McKnight are still there, as they have been for years, and make fascinating and useful reading. T Central remains the main umbrella blog here for the trans community.

Enjoy these. I certainly do.

Sue x

A run-in with viruses

In ancient Rome, the seventh of February was traditionally the first day of spring, when the favonius, a gentle westerly breeze began to blow, bringing warmer air to the Mediterranean. On the eighth day after that, February 14th, that same tradition said that birds began to choose a mate for the year, and hence the origins of Valentine's Day.

It's certainly pleasant here in Italy with warm sunshine and light breezes and, by and large, it's doing me good. Three weeks ago I went to Milan to conclude some administrative business and probably because of suddenly being thrust into the bustle of a big city in winter at the height of the flu season, squashed onto public transport with bug-ridden commuters and having to spend time in health authority facilities, I picked up a vile winter vomiting bug that left me unable to move for days and took over a week to recover from and start eating again. I escaped from the city as soon as I felt able, but not before picking up flu which left me pretty feeble for another week and I've been coughing ever since.

So the moral is, stay isolated and don't mix with people! Not really, but it just goes to show how the crush of the big city is perfect for spreading germs. The coronavirus threat from China has become a source of hysteria - Chinatown in Milan, which is Europe's biggest, was deserted because in the public mind any oriental person is a vector of death (and white folk cannot distinguish between Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese and so on). Human stupidity and prejudice know no bounds.

How do we kill the viruses of racism, discrimination and stupidity? They seem to be very prevalent at the moment.

Sue x

Big anniversary

This Wednesday, 22 January, was a big anniversary. It marked ten years since I was first in public as a woman.

The occasion was the UK Angels tenth birthday party, which was held at Pink Punters, a well-known LGBT nightclub.

Prior to this I had, of course, been acting on my trans nature since I was very small, but only ever in private. In 2004, other trans people online recommended I go to the Boudoir dressing service to be properly made up, which I did. Jodie the proprietor in turn recommended the Angels forum as a good way to get to know other trans people, and to get information and advice on trans life and on the trans scene in Britain. She was right and a very good forum it was. It's still going  https://www.angelsforum.co.uk/phpforum/ although I haven't been there for some years.

So there was going to be a party. And the people I had got to know in the forum were all planning to be there. Good opportunity to go out as a woman and make a lifelong dream come true? You bet!

Although the forum posts following the event have long since been deleted from the Angels forum for reasons of space, I can still remember that day as though it were yesterday.

I arrived at the Campanile hotel opposite the venue in mid-afternoon and spent nearly five hours getting ready. I've improved my routine a lot since then, but I needed time to feel that I'd got my hair, makeup and party clothes as right as I could make them.

I wore a sequinned black jacket, a silver lace skirt and silver top and my Tinkerbelle necklace (it was the nearest thing to an Angel I have!) My wig was my first, one I had bought from the Boudour. Perhaps rather '70s in style, but still a favourite. My makeup was what Jodie had recommended, based on Kryolan foundation.

And then came that heart-stopping moment when I reached for the hotel bedroom door handle. Although I knew that just about everyone in the hotel was there for the same reason as me, this was the first moment anyone was going to see me as Sue. Inevitably, I hoped I would (a) pass as a woman and (b) scrub up nicely compared to my friends. These are the kinds of worries we have to start with and later we allow to drop.

Tingling with nervous anticipation, it took a false start before I finally stepped into the hotel corridor and allowed the bedroom door to close behind me. And then I walked down the corridor, heart in mouth. Of course, I was well used to walking in heels. But walking the short distances in your own home and walking a long straight corridor are two different things. And being out of your private safety zone for the first time adds to the awkwardness. Supposing someone spots me, I worried. No-one did, but I did steel myself not to scarper if someone else entered the corridor. And then out the front door into the car park and the cold January air. I'd never felt the cold on my legs before, a new and weird sensation, but one that felt right. And then (deep breath!) into the reception block (don't look at the receptionists and they won't spot me!) to the bar where the girls were all meeting ... and right near the door I recognised several from their profile pictures. Safe!

What a crowd of TGirls! At least 50, I'd say. There I met Emma, Claire, Gayna, Wilhelmina, Justine, Bea, Louise, Dee and many others... all for the first time. And Ange was there, the one whom I'd met up with a few times before. There  was Jo and the other 'staff' of the forum, and Jodie Lynn from the Boudoir. I recognised several others but with so much to take in I didn't get to say more than hi.

There aren't many photos of me from this event, but my favourite is this one, which Emma took.

L-R: Sarah Cat, Ange P, me, Wilhelmina, Claire. Emma behind the camera. All still good friends.

I hadn't the courage to go out into town to eat in a restaurant so several of us had agreed to have a meal in the hotel bar. And then it was time to go over the road to Pink Punters. Again, several firsts: my first time walking in heels on tarmac, grass and down a muddy embankment, my first time in a public street, albeit briefly, my first time trying to avoid getting knocked down by fast traffic and still look dignified and feminine ... and again that breeze around my legs.

I don't recall the party itself quite so well. A club's a club and I mainly prefer to sit and chat to my friends with a pleasant drink in my hand and, with so much to exchange, the conversations went on happily for hours. I suspect there was dancing (I don't have much of an ear for music, rhythm or movement, so we'll call my motions dancing, to be polite). And then the return journey across the road and through the car park in the cold air of the small hours, tingling with the thrill of what I had just experienced. With so much adrenalin, I found it hard to sleep. But that didn't matter.

*
I can't believe this was ten years ago. It actually seems like a lifetime ago that this happened, but in a good way as I packed so much in afterwards. After this event, I returned to Pink Punters a few months later with some of my friends from that night. That was the first time I went to a restaurant in the real world as a woman. Gradually over that summer I went out more and more, for the first time locally and in central London, then to have makeup and wig advice in Mac and Trendco, and then to Sparkle in July 2010. From which point, a lifetime's worth of fear and worry about living authentically as a trans person evaporated and the period 2011-13 when I spent most of my time as a woman was the most amazing of my whole life - see the early days of this blog. It can be done, you just need that initial courage and, ideally, the support of the trans community to do it.

So many thanks to all my trans friends, to my friends who are supportive allies, to people who take time to organise events and support for trans people. Thanks to Jo and Kim Angel for setting up Angels and to all the great friends I made through that site. Thanks for reading this blog, too, and sharing part of my life as a trans woman. It all began properly that night ten years ago.

Sue x

Warm January

The good news is that at last I have proper internet at home. They finally sent a young man who was far more on-the-ball than the cynical old technicians who'd come before and he identified the source of the problem within a few moments. I have confidence in the younger generation and I'm not sure we're handing the world over to them in a shape that they deserve.

The other good news is that this January I have been enjoying sunny, mild weather and am spending plenty of time outdoors. This is bliss and something I only ever dreamed of. I really couldn't take much more of British damp and cold. It's not that Britain in winter is all that cold compared to much of the Northern hemisphere - on the contrary, it's relatively mild thanks largely to the Gulf Stream - but winter goes on for so long. I used to wear a coat from September to May, eight months or so every year, which is too much, and I'd be shivering all the time, and covering myself in sweaters and thick tights and long woolly socks. At least the improvement in central heating systems in recent decades stopped me getting the chillblains I suffered from as a child. So, yes, I'm enjoying it here in the Med very much.

The perhaps not so good news, though very relevant, is that I'm suffering a lot of dysphoria at the moment and although I dress happily enough at home, I am missing the real life adventures that I used to have. I am still unsure of my ground in this wholly new environment but I have come across the local LGBT network where I live and am getting in touch for advice and support on living a more open and authentic trans life here. More info on that as and when it comes.

I used to make a point of changing my avatar on New Year's Day every year, picking my favourite photo from the previous year. Somehow, I can't be bothered to do that this year, what with the upheavals of 2019. But there'll be new photos of me soon, no doubt.

Sue x

Happy New Year

Wishing a Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2020 is fulfilling and satisfactory for you.

In the past I did a roundup of each year's events. But 2019 was such a strange and stressful year, involving so little activity as a trans person in the real world, that there seems little point in summarising it.

I haven't made any resolutions this year. But I am confident that 2020 will be more relaxed than 2019 and that I will be finding new friends and trans activities in my new home in Italy.

Best wishes

Sue x

Best seasonal wishes

To all my readers, let me send you best wishes for the time of year. I hope your year ends peacefully and happily, you get some lovely presents and that you also get a decent break from all the rush.

Love

Sue x

The troubles of a democrat

I am very troubled by what has happened in the United Kingdom politically, especially in the last year. I won't go into full details in this post but will explain in another why this is such a dangerous and frightening situation. A carefully balanced constitutional arrangement in Britain dating from the late seventeenth century has been wrecked and will be demolished shortly. That this collapse in even limited democracy should happen so fast and within my own lifetime shocks me. Not to mention the proposal to remove human rights. This from a country that was instrumental in promoting them, notably after the horrors of World War 2.

I started this blog in 2011 in an effort to show trans people that living authentically as themselves in Britain was not only possible but enjoyable. As a trans person - indeed, just as a person - I don't feel safe in the UK any more, and I won't return.

My efforts to settle elsewhere - currently in Italy - are progressing slowly but surely. I have my permit to stay under European rules, which doubles as a residence certificate. I now have an ID card, too, albeit in my boy name. From January, I can get a health card that enables me to use the national health service and can stop paying for private health insurance (required under European rules). I have put in my application for Italian citizenship, which I am entitled to do under an old law of 1912 that grants it to anyone who had an Italian ancestor. So if you can prove you were descended from Julius Caesar then you can be an Italian citizen, too. (OK, I exaggerate.) That's important to me as I'd rather live in a liberal democracy with human rights and a health service than under a dictatorship or oligarchy. Besides, they've got cool sports cars here and, well, what girl can resist that?

I am spending Christmas with a relative of mine (a Mr Caesar), so no pretty frocks this year. But at least I am enjoying considerably better weather than in previous Christmases in the UK. I'll post again before Christmas Day to send my readers greetings, but right now I remain troubled.

Sue x

Taking it slowly

Oh dear, my blog's a little bit neglected, isn't it? Blame the limited access to internet over the last year. I have been trying to get Wifi installed in my new home over the last two months and the process has become a farce. The fact that when the flat was modernised the builders plonked a new wall through the phone wire is not a problem that any competent engineer should be unable to overcome, surely?

This last month I have been doing very little - and believe me, that is a delight after many years of hard work and stress. My little collection of feminine articles makes me happy, as ever, and I have come across a trans support group locally, although I haven't made proper contact yet because of  these internet problems.

Despite the heavy rains all over Europe, I have been enjoying autumn sunshine and warmth, which were things that I always found very lacking in Britain. This better weather has already improved my health and general wellbeing. A typical outdoors temperature here on the Mediterranean coast this month has been 18C (65F). For the time of year, that's bliss.

Sue x