Callie Update, next instalment

En route for Mulhouse

The short drive from Luxeuil-les-Bains to Mulhouse is spectacular, I may well be looking for an excuse to go back and drive it again, only without having to resort to ear plugs! The French National Motor Museum is well worth a visit for any petrol head, or indeed anyone interested in beautiful things and design in general. The collection of Bugattis is very special, but there are plenty of other interesting cars as well. I certainly had no problem staying interested for the major part of a day.

I parked up as close to the main entrance as possible, and got a gratifying amount of attention, even with Callie in somewhat less than prime condition. Although ear shatteringly loud inside no pedestrians seemed to care. I have noticed that where ever I go in Callie people smile. When I have had other classic cars they have got attention but never so many smiles.

The museum is very largely still based on the Schlumpf collection so is mostly Bugattis, Bugattis, and more Bugattis ~ I'm not complaining!

This is my second visit, the last one must have been about 1990 with my Brother, at that point they were celebrating the Royale and had all the Royales still around on display, I failed to be disappointed by only one this time!

I left the museum, tired but content, and went off to find my hotel, after finding a parking spot and unloading my luggage, I found a lovely bar and enjoyed a few nice cold local brews! 

Although Bugattis are clearly the stars of the day I can't leave without at least one photo of a bright yellow MGB GT, and one that mercifully behaved herself all day

Callie update

 I'm very aware that I've not really mentioned my adventures with Callie, the last post I left you with a list of jobs I had done and the promise of a fairly major journey in the pipeline. Well, the very next day she went into my usual garage for her MOT, all was going fine until the brake test, not only did she fail this, but was totally immobilised in the test bay! Going for the emergency stop test the brake servo split in half, leaving no braking at all! Fortunately I have two cars so I could drive across London to pick up a new servo, which they could then fit, complete the test and free up the testing bay. All could now go ahead for my trip to the French National Motor Museum in Mulhouse.

Waiting for the ferry at Dover

The first day went well, the drive down to Dover was pretty boring, but the crossing was quite nice and I picked up a duty free bottle of Ballantine's! I got away from Calais quite briskly but avoided the "payage" sections of Motorway, and had a quiet night. The next morning I quickly discovered that the overdrive had decided to stop working, I had a quick look under the bonnet for a lose wire or blown fuse but couldn't see anything. As the main purpose of overdrive is to make high speed cruising more relaxed I decided that I would just carry on, but avoid the motorways and major dual carriageways.

This meant I was driving on much more entertaining roads, and I will admit to enjoying the experience of driving an old fashioned GT on some great driving roads ~ until I found myself enjoying the experience a bit too much, and came upon a very unlevel "level crossing", I'm pretty sure I made air but I definitely grounded out, a quick check didn't show any obvious damage, until about fifty mile later when the exhaust broke in half. I still had one box left attached to the car, so I put the other half in the back and carried on!

Route Departmental 66

The lack of exhaust didn't seem to effect the performance, or upset other road users so I just picked up some ear plugs and carried on, I thought I could sort this out when I got home. That night I stayed in Luxeuil-les-Bains in Lorraine after some more fantastic driving roads through the Vosges. By the time I got to my Hotel I was in need of some rest, some food and a glass of wine - not necessarily in that order! ~ and yes I did have quiche for dinner!

Advent Calendar XX

 

Tomorrow I fly off to warmer climes for a few days, I don't know why but when ever I go away it seems to come as a surprise to me and I'm never prepared. This time I have actually thought about what I will want to wear while I'm away, and I've tried to make sure that it is all clean! That for me is a major achievement! On the other hand I find that I still have a well stocked fridge and just generally too much food. I hate waste, but at the same time there is no way I can eat all of what I have before leaving at silly O'clock tomorrow morning. I know I can put the bread in the freezer, the milk will have to go but the cheese should be OK until I get home. My next job is to try to find out if I can freeze eggs (not mine! unfertilised hens eggs), I've already frozen some home made soup and some sausages and had an interesting breakfast of mixed fried mushrooms, spring onions and bacon with toast.

After that the next challenge will be trying to get everything in my case, I know I will still forget something but I do want to take what I have remembered I want. As this holiday is a little different to others we have taken in Malta (we are staying in an hotel rather than self catering) I suspect I will want more outfits per day and definitely a couple more presentable outfits. I usually only take one nice dress as we will go out for a nice dinner at our favourite restaurant at least once - but this time I anticipate a few more "posh nosh" meals. I also suspect this may hit the old credit card a little harder. Then I will water my plants! Last time I went away I forgot and spent too much of my time away worrying about my plants, especially the asparagus fern, of course they were all OK, but I don't want to put myself through that again.

Then, and only then will I allow myself to start thinking about tonight's concert. It is a bit of a strange one in so many ways, we (Croydon Brass) are only one of a few "Community Groups" performing', we start the second half, and provide the main musical backbone of the communal finale. That musical finale is Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas" I have had to create an arrangement of this just for tonight, my starting point was a very poorly arranged Brass Quintet that would actually be impossible to play. I have spent so much time on this that I now plan to expand it into a full band arrangement, hopefully ready for next Christmas!

Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

My diary tells me that today is the first day of Autumn, and going out this morning with a mist settled over everything I was quite happy to believe it. For me it has been quite a change, for the last coupe of weeks in Malta I have been enjoying day time temperatures comfortably in the high twenties, often touching the low 30s more than a few times. Getting back to London even here the temperatures were still in the mid twenties and very pleasant. Then this morning it felt like quite a sudden change with the temperature a good five or six degrees lower than yesterday.

Of course autumn is a time for harvests and as the saying goes fruitfulness, but for those of us less directedly connected to the land it is a time for fresh beginnings as well. It is the start of the new school year, and along with that many bands and orchestras start their new season in September. On Friday it was a joy to get back to rehearsals with the Phoenix Concert Band, it is great to see old friends, to make music together and to introduce a couple of new members into our midst. A new season also means new music, so it is pretty exciting all round. This is going to be one of our busier terms with a Remembrance Parade to play for as well as a couple of Christmas Concerts, that means a very wide selection of music to rehearse.

To some of us autumn has yet another meaning, something that I look forward to all summer ~ the chance to wear boots again! ~ yes I really am that shallow! Clothes have always been important to me and now I revel in wearing things that I couldn't before, and boots come very high on that list. Many of my favourite outfits include boots, leggings and a jumper, and it will soon be time to get them out again.  

This photo is about five or six years old, and at least a couple of stone (28 pounds or around 15 kg) ago. I still have these boots, and the leggings and tee shirt ~ there's no way that I'd look this good in them now, I think it is finally time that I made a concerted effort to lose some of my excess weight ~ perhaps I should give myself the target of a stone before Christmas?

"The season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness" is the first line from John Keat's "To Autumn"

A time for Everything

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens

a time to be born and a time to die
a time to plant and a time to uproot
a time to kill and a time to heal
a time to tear down and a time to build
a time to weep and a time to laugh
a time to mourn and a time dance
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them 
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing
a time to search and a time to give up
a time to keep and a time to throw away
a time to keep and a time to throw away
a time to tear and a time to mend
a time to be silent and a time to speak
a time to love and a time to hate

a time for war and a time for peace.

For those not in the know this is a quote from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes (Chapter 3) one of the "Books of Wisdom", and one that perfectly illustrates so much of my life. As I approach yet another big change in my life it feels even more pertinent than ever. Often in my life I have tried to do everything, all at once, all together ~ it simply doesn't work! Often through the years I have found that by trying to do too much I am not doing anything as well as I should. Trying to play rugby the afternoon before a gig is a good illustration!

Conducting Phoenix Concert Band, Sutton

The last few years I have been trying to play, conduct, arrange, and even write some of my own original music. I have been trying to keep up with the requirements of my garden maintenance business, look after my failing levels of fitness, my flat, my family and started out on a motor sport career! It's all too much for me now. So it's time to change. I have decided to retire! Of course I will not be stopping my music involvement, music is what defines me, but I will stop my gardening. I will be closing down my business at the end of November, or earlier if my customers can find a replacement! The last few months it has increasingly felt like hard work, and I am finding it much more physically arduous than before so I think the time is ripe.

This month I will start getting my state pension, and my "Bus Pass" so financially I will be no worse off, it does still feel like a big change, and a little intimidating as does any big change. But, this is not an end, it is a new beginning, I will have more time to devote to music, and to Motor Sport!

Photo credit Tunbridge Wells Motor Club 

I know I will miss my customers and much of the work, I will miss the reason to be outdoors in the sun, I will not miss the need to go out when I really don't want to, I certainly won't miss the aching muscles and sore back, neither will I miss storing the tools or having my car full of garden waste!

I note that only once before I have used the "Motor Sport" label, and that wasn't about me! I am now only a couple of meetings away from my second season of Sprinting. It's nothing too high octane, I am sharing a car with a friend so we can split some of the cost but it is great fun, and I think I might be OK at it. There are only three of us in the class for my club championship so it is hard to tell.

Manchester Gold!

This weekend I will be travelling again ~ I seem to have been doing quite a bit of that recently with a trip to Paris a few weeks ago, then after that a trip up to Lincolnshire to see my good friend P. I don't think I've seen her since she retired and moved. Although I think her husband may have got a bit fed up with our constant natter it did make me realise just how much I had missed our chats and our lunches! It also made me realise just how far I have come over the last few years.

But getting back to my upcoming trip to Manchester, this is a very different type of excursion, I will be traveling with my band ~ Croydon Symphonic Band ~ to play in the finals of the National Concert Band Festival. This will be our tenth appearance at the finals (which are by invitation), of course just being there feels pretty prestigious, but in many ways the level of award says even more. So far we have received (I think) at least six awards at Gold or higher standard, so in some ways getting anything less could be seen as failure! One aspect of being a community band is that we are non-selective, and in the case of CSB whoever turns up plays ~ this means that we rarely have a stable band for even an entire season, the instrumental balance is more down to demographics than musicality, and we never know what standard we are going to be at, all this makes the job of our Musical Director rather challenging and must add to his stress levels. It certainly says a lot for his abilities and his musicality that we have been able to play at such a consistently high standard for so long.

With Big Shiny after playing
at the 2015 finals

As well as a musical challenge the weekend should be a lot of fun. The plan is to travel together by coach, all stay in the same hotel and eat dinner together before some free time to find a suitable local hostelry. Sunday will be devoted to music and the return journey. I'm really looking forward to spending more than a couple of hours with my band friends, it's on trips like these that we build on our relationships, and it's those relationships that make bands work well together.

Another reason why I am so keen to enjoy this trip is that if our Government follow through with the changes to the Equalities Act that were telegraphed last week, and which I wrote about here this could well be my last chance to enjoy this sort of thing legally. Given that the journey is likely to take about 5 hours, there's no way that I could go that long without a "comfort break", these proposed changes would make that unviable, I would be breaking the law if I used the "Ladies" and it wouldn't be safe to use the "Gents". With no guarantee of there being any provision of a gender a neutral facility  I simply would not be able to make the journey.

Then of course I don't know what provisions are made at the hall. Many venues provide separate men's and women's changing rooms, it would be illegal for me to use the women's changing room, instead I would be expected to use the men's ~ fine, unless anyone, including me, needs to use them as a changing room! I would be put in this type of invidious situation every time I left home regardless of having obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate and had Gender Confirmation Surgery!

So, if you haven't already, please sign this petition, with over 130,000 signatures the Government is already obliged to hold a debate, but the more signatures we can get, the more support that can be demonstrated for trans people the better ~ the more we can move trans rights away from being a debate!

A Island of Contrasts

A land of contrast

Regular readers will know that I have a great affection for the small Mediterranean islands state of Malta. Malta actually the largest island in the Maltese archipelago and so gives it's name to the nation. It is a Country of contrast, the ancient capital city of Mdina, Valletta the current capital and World Heritage Site, ancient megalithic "temples", archaeological remains from the Punic and Roman eras ~ alongside ultra modern developments almost obsessive road building programs, and ever more and more tourist developments. There is a history of small scale corruption left over from the British colonial period, but now some observers feel that this has now spread to government and senior members of "the establishment".

From my visit in 2014

I first visited the island back in the 1980s, at that time there were still a lot of signs of the disused British military bases, the EU funded developments had barely started and outside of St Paul's Bay the tourist industry had yet to industrialise. I simply fell in love. I love the food, the culture, the architecture, the people I meet are always open and friendly, and of course the weather helps.

Today I read an article in The Times of Malta about the Maltese Parliament deciding to tighten their laws banning conversion therapy for LGBT+ people, Malta was also one of the first European countries to introduce self ID for recognition of trans people's legal gender. Despite being a culturally profoundly Roman Catholic they are one of the most open and accepting communities I have come across, yet another area of contrast.

The Island is very different now from when I first visited all those years ago, some of the changes are for the better, some are for the worse, but it does strike me that somehow this tiny country (the smallest in the EU!) can enact and act upon really progressive inclusive legislation, while my own United Kingdom seeks to do the exact opposite and restrict the basic rights of Trans people at every opportunity.

I have just been through the laborious process of going back through the many years of this blog to add the "Malta" label to previous posts about, or from the Island ~ looking back I see lots of fabulous photos and lots of fabulous experiences which are now fabulous memories.

And a Happy New Year

 We returned to the UK in time for New Year, with a short chance to reflect before another set of celebrations. One of my reflections is that I'm really not very good at packing. It doesn't seem to matter much whether it's for a long holiday, a short break, or just an overnight at a friends place, I always seem to get it wrong. I will often stay over night at a friend's place to allow me to have a drink, it has become a standing joke that I always leave something behind, a toothbrush, a sock, or a sweater there always seems to be something.

Valletta Christmas Tree
Maltese Parliament building on the right
Burger King on the left 

Last year when we spent Christmas in Malta I took all the wrong clothes, I was expecting it to be much warmer so didn't have enough sweaters or a warm jacket with me, so I spent much of the week either too cold or too warm (in my UK overcoat!). This year I thought I would do better packing lots of sweaters, warm skirts and tights. Of course that meant that this year Malta enjoyed an unseasonable warm Christmas! I could really have done with some shorts and a light weight jacket. But this last trip I managed worse than just not anticipating the weather.

After unpacking I realised that instead of the two pairs of jeans I thought I had packed I had actually brought one pair of jeans and a pair of jeggings, hardly the end of the world, until I put on the jeggings and the zip broke, then when I put the jeans on instead, a small split opened up so neither were wearable. This ended up meaning that at least one of our expeditions to Valletta was spent looking for a new pair of jeans ~ yes Valletta does have a Marks & Spencer and yes I did buy a pair of their jeans. Even this was not the end of my inadequacy though. I also managed to forget to take a pair of proper shoes for Christmas day.

I had packed a nice pair of court shoes, then unpacked them so I could wear them the day before we flew off, but forgot to repack them afterwards ~ so I was faced with either wearing trainers for Christmas lunch or having to buy some more shoes. Once again I opted for the expensive option and bought some new shoes, they are lovely, but being new did manage to run up a small blister on my toe. I find it hard to believe that at the age of 64 I might ever learn to get any better at packing, but maybe that should be my new year's resolution ~ to learn to pack!

In Answer

 In answer to my earlier question "where am I" the answer was quite specific, yes I am at my home from home in Malta, but those photos are from the ancient capital city of Mdina, ~ the silent city. 

While we were there we enjoyed a cup of coffee and some cake on the ramparts.

I will be celebrating tomorrow but probably not with cake. 

Where am I?

 A few photos from "my office today"

Nice knockers! 

For context, they are on this door 
Which is about 10 foot high! 

Advent Calendar XXIII

Here in Malta Christmas is still very much a Christian festival, of course as I showed yesterday there are all the lights and decorations. Even in the middle of the Mediterranean we have lots of stalls selling mulled wine and ginger bread, but we are also offered more traditional Maltese celebratory dishes, timpana, imqarets etc.

There is also a reminder of what we are celebrating, it us not just the churches that display a crib scene but all of the towns and villages, and most homes will have a crib next to their Christmas tree. These photos are of the main on in the capital city Valletta. It is in the main square near the prime ministers residence, the Opera House, and the Foreign Office. 

Advent Calendar XXII

Arrived at our destination to find lots of Christmas decorations around, lots of public buildings with lights, and generally the whole place looking very christmasy, (if that's not a word it is now!)

I'm so looking forward to spending time on my favorite Mediterranean island at this different time of year, I've only been here in summer and autumn before. 

One thing is for sure, I won't be having a white Christmas, possibly a rather windy one but definitely not white.

All today's photos were taken in Valletta yesterday evening. There's a tremendous variety of lights and decoration a winter fayre and Christmas Market all in a space no bigger than a square mile.

Almost up to date

My last post I wrote about my travels and my adventures last summer. It really was quite a summer lots sun, a lot of music, a lot of time with friends. Maybe not as much time as I would have liked with family but a high point was the weekend in Amsterdam with my Daughter.

At the beginning of the Summer I went on a short tour with the Croydon Symphonic Band and then towards the end of the summer I had my trip to Amsterdam. Last year for the first time in decades I took out an annual travel insurance. Again for the first time in decades I had a fortnights holiday to come in September. Two weeks in Malta was a bit like a dream coming true.

Valletta, capital of Malta and 2018 European City of Culture

I have a sort of time share there for one week a year, I have carried a week forward for a couple of years so last year we had a whole fortnight. I love Malta, the place, the people, the food, and the architecture. having that extra week meant we could take our time, just chill out in a bar or by the pool as well as making our cultural and tourist trips.

We made some friends there and generally had a great time, we had some wonderful trips including a round the island cruise and a couple to just spend time in Valletta and Medina. With one thing and another we didn't get to Gozo and Xlendi Bay this time, so the plan is to carry forward another week and have a fortnight again in 2020.

Xlendi Bay in Gozo, one of my all time favorite places

A couple of posts back I wrote about my dealings with the GIC (Gender Identity Clinic) it is was only in the last quarter of the year that everything started to go right. Indeed it was while we were on holiday that I got a phone call from Parkside Hospital to tell me they had received a letter of referral from the Clinic ~ 13 weeks after the appointment where I was told I was being referred. It was very refreshing to deal with people with the time and inclination to be helpful. I had my first appointment with them a few weeks later, the second a couple of weeks after that. Indeed exactly ten weeks after that first phone call I was in Parkside hospital preparing to go into theatre for surgery. Just to reiterate that ~ It took Parkside three weeks less to process, explain, examine and operate than it took the GIC to type and send a letter.

It is now only five weeks since that surgery (it will be another six before I go back to work) I feel as though I am making an excellent recovery, I'm still sore but getting better and feeling very happy with the outcome so far. As far as I can see things are just going to get better!

Next time I shall be looking forward!

Hamster Jam

I've been told off for not writing enough, for being absent, for disregarding you, my loyal, loved readers ~ well something like that anyway.  Am I allowed to admit that I have been distracted, much stuff has been going on, I have been out and about, I have been acquiring and disposing of vehicles, I have played concerts and seen some fabulous things and some which unfortunately I will never able to unsee.

TransPALS goes to Amsterdam

Last weekend the London Gay Symphony Orchestra went on a short tour of Amsterdam, a short tour because we actually only played one concert. It was an excellent concert with lots of highly emotional lush romantic music, in a wonderful venue with excellent acoustics. We even had a large appreciative audience.

Large in two ways, we had quite a few people there, but since most of them were Dutch that also meant they were very tall. The Dutch are the tallest people in Europe, and it was quite noticeable walking around just how tall. For me it was rather nice not to be the tall one and have all the attention that goes with it.

The trip coincided with Amsterdam Pride (I suspect that may have been a consideration in the planning) so the Saturday was largely spent watching the floating parade, the associated evening activities did not appeal to me much so some of us went back to our Hotel and had dinner, and maybe a couple of drinks there.

With Mary Francis

All in all it was a fun trip and I have now added Amsterdam to the list of places I have toured but must go back to for a proper visit!

I though about getting Croydon Pride to pay my expenses as research, instead I settled for wearing my tee shirt with the Croydon Pride logo!

Amsterdam was my fourth Pride this summer, in many ways it was the biggest, it was a joy filled popular event, there were lots of straight supporters, lots of the shops, bars and restaurants were joining in, and there were rainbow flags everywhere, however it was very noticeable that there were virtually no other flags.  I could count the number of Trans flags I saw on the fingers of one hand, and there were no others at all!  At Croydon, and London (despite the problems) Pride was a truly inclusive experience for all of the LGBT+ community, Trans, Bi, Pan etc. are all included, affirmed and celebrated, I definitely got the impression that Amsterdam was very much a Gay Pride ~ something I had hoped we had left behind us.

Sorry

I haven't been around here much recently. To be honest I have had other things on my mind, I have been more interested in living life than written about it.   Having said that I have missed blogging and my "Blogging Buddies" so having had a bit of break and returned refreshed I am back at Paula's Place ~ I hope that I have been missed.

Lots has been going in my life, although nothing major, so I may well simply not even try to cover all of that but just jump back in with observations and comments as it occurs to me.   Right now I will just observe that I have had a fabulous holiday in one of my favourite places with one of my favorite people. I did take a few photos but until I sort them out I will simply share this one taken on my phone ~ somehow it seemed appropriate.

I've done it!

I've only gone and booked a holiday! It feels as though I have been complaining for ages that I need a holiday, well now I'm going to have one.   I have a week booked somewhere nice and warm, where along with a couple of day trips I plan on doing a lot of lazing around in the sun next to a pool.   I may even get into the pool and do a little swimming!

I shall have to set myself up with a few easy reading novels, some music on my phone and lay in a stock of sun cream.   I also think that it might be a good idea to make a real effort to lose some of that weight I have been complaining about.

I won't say that I need to make my body bikini ready as that would take a lot more than a few weeks of careful eating, more like major surgery or a magic wand!   But it would be nice to be able to fit into some of my "Holiday clothes" and not frighten the natives too much when I am sun bathing.

I have just weighed in at twelve and half stone (175 lbs or just under 80 kg) I think I'd feel a lot happier if I can drop half a stone and get down to anything under the twelve stone mark ~ maybe I should start by laying off the booze for a bit, or at least putting slim line tonic in my gin!

You are what you eat?

I have often heard this platitude trotted out, and it certainly comes to mind has I munch my way through a pork pie for my Sunday lunch, after having a very nice vegetarian meal with my Daughter last night.   In theory I want to only eat good food, organically grown ingredients prepared with love and presented with style.   Unfortunately time and finance do tend to impose some limits, I would love to be able to afford to be as fussy as I would like to be, but alas it is not to be.

I can however make some simple choice, I have been making a point of buying organic eggs recently, and I'm sure they taste better as well as providing the hens with a better life.   I like a tuna salad but at least I can be selective about the fish I buy and go for line caught.

Now I just need to start thinking about the calories I take on, maybe a few less cream cakes, maybe a little less beer and I might start to lose a bit of fat around the old tummy. I don't expect to be wearing a bikini any time soon, but if I do manage any holiday it might be nice to lie out on a beach and not get Green Peace coming along to push me back into the sea!

Memories and Remembrance

The other day I wrote a post, but when I read it back it seemed so gloomy and sad that I decided not to put it up here.   Enough to say that not everything is rosy at the moment, which is a great shame as I had such a good holiday!

This costume, but not this body!

It really was a great little break, and much needed, we did some sightseeing and some sun bathing, on Sunday I was lying next to the swimming pool in just my swimming costume, then on Tuesday morning I was scrapping ice off the van windscreen.

Although we had a self catering apartment I think I only prepared a couple of meals all week, and they were just sandwiches when we had had a big meal already earlier in the day. We enjoyed some good local food ~ the food in Malta is for me one of the many attractions, lots of fish including one of my favorites, swordfish steaks! ~ Quite a lot of local beer and wine and plenty of sun.

While here in the UK temperatures were well down into single figures in Malta we enjoyed temperatures in the high 20s one of the reasons I like to go in the Spring or Autumn is that in the summer it is just too hot!

Of course even if I am feeling a bit poorly and generally a bit under the weather the pages on the calendar keep on turning and we are rapidly approaching one of the most significant dates in our year. The International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is on Sunday the 20th November, but as is traditional in Croydon we hold our event on the nearest Saturday, so that will be this Saturday the 19th November.    Once again I will be leading the event which will be in the Community Section of Bernard Wetherill House in central Croydon at 2:00 p.m.

If at all possible please come and join us, this is the most important thing that we do each year as a group and support from the wider community as well as the Trans community means so much to us all.   This year we will have the Deputy Mayor of Croydon with us, adding a visible sign of civic support for our community.

Holiday ~ Looking back VIII, the final frontier?

Thursday was our last day in Malta, and it rained, pretty solidly all day.   Indeed I think I barely left the hotel all day, we had lunch in the bar downstairs and I cooked again in the evening.   Making use of all he bits and pieces that were left I managed a sort of traditional Maltese Pasta Bake, after that we decided that we really should have bought at least one more bottle of wine, and so were about to go down to the bar, when Bob realised he couldn't find his wallet.

Fabulous Pistachio ice cream complete with pink mini cone

After much frantic searching we went down to the bar and enjoyed a few rather expensive cognacs, back in the apartment I quickly found the wallet in Bob's flight bag, completed my packing and went to bed.

The next morning came all too early, I had arranged an early flight too ensure that I was home in time for a rehearsal in the evening, none the less I would have prefered another few hours in bed.   As I was bringing home a few mementoes for some friends on the way home I wore the hat that I had packed on the way out.   Otherwise I wore the same mauve Bodycon dress and pumps that I wore to fly out.

It was quite a windy day so all to early I made the interesting discovery that I needed one hand for my bag, one hand to keep my hat secure, and one hand to hold down the hem of my dress, I hope I didn't embarrass too many people too much.

Other than my problems with the wind the journey home was totally uneventful, just the way I like it.   After landing at Gatwick and reclaiming our bags the passport control hall was packed, the queues went on and on, but since I now have one of the new isometric passports I could go through the automatic barrier.   I have a natural dislike for automatic anythings, whether it's self service tills in supermarkets or gearboxs in cars.   However on this occasion I did use the automatic option and saved about ten minutes against Bob going through the old fashioned way.   It also saved the possibility of any questions about my presentation.

So this was the longest continuous period I have spent presenting as the woman I now believe myself to be, what have I learnt.

• Not to care what other people might think, most of them don't care.
• The longer I spent the more natural it felt, I wasn't dressing up, I wasn't "Dressing" I was just getting dressed.
• Officialdom really doesn't care.
• I was very sad to have to revert to Him at the end, it now feels more like cross dressing when I have to present male than the other way round.
• Don't wear skater dresses on windy days!

Holiday ~ Looking Back VII

My outfit for dinner on Tuesday

Well, while we had a lot more holiday left and enjoyed every bit of it there are not that many more stories to share.  Tuesday was a pool day, I did manage a little swimming but mostly exhausted myself working very hard on my tan.   At first I felt a little nervous stripping down to my swimming costume to sun bath, but was very comfortable very quickly, that evening we enjoyed a very good fish supper at one of the many local restaurants.   I have something of a weakness for fish and the fish in Malta is always good, one of my favorites is swordfish steak, simply presented with some new potatoes and a salad  lovely!

Wednesday was another day for sightseeing, as the see was rather choppy we couldn't go on the boat trip we really wanted, instead we booked onto a harbour cruise.   For the small time we were outside the protection of the harbour there was enough motion to be glad that we hadn't gone for the round the Islands cruise.    This was a great way to get a bit more of the history of the place and to see the harbour side from the best possible view point.

That evening rather than go out I decided to cook and made a local influenced pasta dish, including olives, capers and anchovies, with a bottle of local wine and the rest of the evening on the balcony, I was a very happy girl.