More Presents

I have already written about a couple of the fabulous presents I got given at Christmas, they were particularly welcome as I tend not to get many, so presents that had so much thought behind them are even more treasured.   As I say I don't get many presents now and the ones that I do get tend to come in bottles, and so tend not to last well.

However every now and then I get presents for no reason, in many ways these are the best.

All three of these pairs of earrings were presents, the sparkly ones on the left from a friend in my band, she was one of the friends I came out to well before I started playing with the band as me. I think part of reasoning was as a tangible way of showing support and acceptance.

The Pearl ones on the right were from a special friend who made them. I treasure them as much for who made them as for the gift.

The ones in the middle however are all together very special.

On one of my recent ~ but not Christmas ~ trips to Cardiff my Mother yet again observed that I had my ears pierced, not with disapproval just as an observation.   She is aware that I do not just wear the same studs all the time as I do mix them up a bit, one day plain gold coloured, another day pearls or maybe a something a little sparkly.

At one point my Mother decided that she should give me a pair of her earrings this pair was my choice, I remember my father buying these for my Mother on one of his business trips to Saudi Arabia.   He was so pleased to be able to buy something that nice in the bazaar, they are gold and pearl, but although they are valuable, to me they are precious.   I also really like wearing them, after all practically all of the rest of my jewelry is costume rather than the real thing.

Since then I have often wondered about my Mother's motivations, was this just a generous gift to her child, or was there something more.   I know that she can be lucid at times despite the Alzheimer's and I'm sure that she must remember some of my earlier forays into femininity, so I wonder, I wonder is this my Mother's way of saying, "I know and it's OK" without actually having to talk about it?

Concert Dress XI ~ Your Slip is Showing!

There are things I didn't say about Saturday night in my last post, not least what a fun concert it was.   Some of the choices of music were ambitious, 1812, William Tell, Hymn of the Highlands, but I think we got away with it.   This band is not like my main band, the Croydon Symphonic Band, where the emphasis is on musical and technical excellence, giving the best performance it is possible for us to give, All Saints is much more about entertaining the audience, and if that means a few musical compromises then so be it. Whatever, the audience were definitely entertained.

Because it was to be such a dress up occasion my preparations actually started the day before, with a manicure, when I got a glittery gold gel coat polish to go with my accessories.

I had some earrings I wanted to wear

I managed to find some rings and a bangle to match

And as for the shoes!

We had a run through before the concert with a break to have something to eat, and then time to change, as expected I needed all of the time available.   I had of course had a trial to make sure everything went together OK, but I did have to buy a new strapless bra, I don't know whether it was the new bra or some temperamental fit by the zip, but it took three people tugging away to get me into the dress.   I was worried that I wouldn't be able to breath, but I managed OK even if it did feel a better fit at the end of a very long note!

I like the dress, I like how it makes me look and I like how it makes me feel, I do hope I get another chance to wear it.

After the concert I got changed back into some baggy white linen trousers and a casual top as I had to take some of the percussion back to the rehearsal room in my van, after loading up we joined some of the others at a local hostelry, I ordered our beer, twice, since the poor lad serving was having some difficulty, and then the beer we wanted had gone "off".   After he managed to get everything sorted he added it all up and told me how much it would be, adding "Sir". I just looked at him for a moment before he realised what he had said, he then turned bright red and fell into abject apologies.   As we walked over to a table to join our friends I heard him saying to his boss, "Oh no, I've just said the most awful embarrassing thing ever" ~ in all honesty I don't like it but I have had worse, and I am rather glad to find somebody who is embarrassed by their slip.

Pearls Girls and Monty Bodkin

Ever since I had my ears pierced just over a year ago I have been in the habit of wearing some sort earring pretty much all of the time.   Most of the time it will be a simple stud of some sort.   In truth I have altogether far too many studs, sparkly ones, pearls of all colours, simple metal spheres, hearts and flowers.   It is one of the ways that I assert my femininity even when the situation will not allow me to be more obvious.

Yesterday I was wearing a pair of (cold water cultured)  pearl studs which, even though very cheap and cheerful, I rather like, when I got home and got changed I found that one of them was missing, I was disappointed but not bereft.   I put the remaining stud to one side and the matter out of my mind.

This morning it took me a while to get started, I am finding that is happening more and more, I hope that my holiday will help, but I am finding it very difficult to work up the enthusiasm to get started on anything these days. Anyway I did eventually manage to get my act together and made a sandwich and a flask of tea, put on my work wear and went to put on my shoes to leave home, but found something in one of my shoes.   Assuming that as so often happens it was a bit of stone I just shook the shoe out over the path, only to find that my pearl stud fell out.   How it got from my ear into my shoe I will never understand, but I am very pleased to have it back.

I should stress that these are not "proper" pearls, they are way beyond my pay scale, but fresh water ones, from chinese muscles rather than South Sea oysters, and as for Monty, well there may be more about him later........................

Ear today

Tomorrow my A-Z challenge starts, I have done very little thinking about this yet, and absolutely no planning at all.   I have been think that I may just carry on with my usual ramblings and just add a title in alphabetical order, but somehow that smacks of cheating.

In the mean time I am enjoying my new earrings courtesy of my friend Joanna, I am in awe of multi talented people like her, an excellent violinist and teacher, and designs and makes jewellery.

She made these specially for me with stones to match my favourite colours, just having these makes me feel a bit special.

Not a Natural

I was chatting with one of my customers earlier today ~ I was chatting because, lets face it, with this weather I can't actually get on with any work ~ and showed her a couple of photos of Paula.   She asked about my clothes, had I many? where did I get them? that sort of thing, she also observed that "A Girl Can't Have Too Many Clothes"

Well sometimes I wonder, I actually think that I probably do have too many clothes.   When I was less out and couldn't wear what I wanted when I wanted, one way to affirm my femininity was to buy feminine garb.   I suspect that I have become well known in one or two of our more local charity shops.   The end result is that I have far more clothes, many of them items that I will rarely get an opportunity to wear.   I like to dress well, I like elegance, so I have quite a lot of dresses and a few suits (again mostly dress and jacket suits) these are not the sort of thing I can wear for work, or a evening in the Pub or at rehearsal, there's a bit f me that says I should have a cull, but there is nothing there any more that I can say I will not wear.   I just don't necessarily know when.

I also look at all those clothes and think about how much I have spent over the years building up this impressive wardrobe.   For what it is I have spent very little, but with work being so difficult at the moment money is in short supply and the profligacy offends my inner puritan.   I have actually tried doing a bit of on-line trading through e-bay, but have so far singularly failed to sell a single item.   Perhaps I made the mistake of trying to trade in items I would like rather than thinking what others might want to spend their money on.

I am sell (or rather not succeeding in selling) stockings and ear studs maybe I should stick to what I know.   It looks like I will be stuck with a lifetimes supply of era studs, and will be wearing stockings for the next couple of years.

Hair Brained

After my haircut I wanted to get my eyebrows threaded, it's not that I enjoy pain I just think they look so much better tidied up and I am lousy at plucking them myself .   I had originally planed to drive straight into Croydon, but on reflection I decided to go home grab a coffee and then go into Croydon by Bus.   I have been reluctant to use the bus as the stop is right outside my house, and I know I will be very visible to my neighbours while waiting.   But having come to the conclusion that they must all either know or not care by now I plucked up the courage and used the bus.

When I got on the bus I noticed one of the youth from our Church, not one of the most pleasant or discrete young men I know, I avoided making eye contact and sat down I front with my back to him.   A little later in the journey an older woman sat next to me and engaged me in conversation, I was quite grateful as I was in conversation with her when the young man in question got off.   I don't know if he recognised he but it would have been difficult not to, more to the pint I don't know who if anyone he has said what to.   I suppose I will just have too wait and see.

Arriving in Croydon I had to walk over to the Building Society first to draw some cash, then down to House of Fraser just in time for the Girl on the Shavata counter to be going to lunch.   I arranged to go back after her lunch, and wandered off around the shops.    I have to admit that I'm not very good at window shopping, that's probably why I ended up spending too much money on things I didn't really need, just liked.   One day I will develop some self restraint, but this certainly wasn't the day.   Getting back to Shavata after a little wait I did get my eyebrows done.   A bit more expensive than the other times I have had them done, but I am a lot happier with the outcome, better shape, more balanced and a little less rawness.

One of my purchases was a new ring from M & S, it is just a cheap bit of dress jewellery, but I like it, it is definitely "my style", I like the sparkle, and the twist.   Having had a couple of rings that I like quickly lose their plating and turn a bit brassy I have given this one a coat of clear nail polish, a tip I picked up from my new friends in Kings Cross.

Friends, Romans........

So, a carpenter is working on the ground at a building site when one of the roofers working above him drops a slate, the slate falls straight down and slices the carpenters ear clear off his head.   Knowing the wonders of modern surgery everyone gathers round to try and find the carpenters ear in the mud.   Someone finds an ear holds it up and says "Is this your ear" the carpenter says "No, mine had a pencil behind it"

Well this ear is mine, yesterday I went into Bromley and had my ears pierced, in some ways it seems incredible that I have managed to get to the age I have without having this done before.   The whole experience was a lot less traumatic, or indeed painful than I had imagined and only took a couple of minutes.   Surprisingly, even though just put in the studs were more comfortable than any of the clip ons I have, they are very small with just a little bit of a sparkle, I suspect that they will be barely noticeable.

I have to wait for six to eight weeks before I can start to wear "proper" earrings, it is only three weeks to the next LGSO concert so I will either have to go without or wear some clip ons next to the studs.
While there I checked out several charity shops and even resorted to Primark at one point, I am currently looking for two things, a pair of "riding" style boots and a casual jacket, preferably leather.   The only casual jacket I have for cooler days is blue denim and I am never quite sure about double denim, especially if both bits are the same colour.   I found a jacket I did like in Primark, but the queue for the tills was so long I thought I would over stay my parking.   Walking back to the van I saw three girls wearing the exact same jacket I had nearly bought!

After that it was just a relatively boring trip to the supermarket, although while there I did have a couple of conversations on one occasion about how to cook sea bass and a general chat with another lady while we queued up for the checkout.

I was just dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, with a denim jacket and some Cuban heeled boots, all items I have worn while in drab, but there could be no confusion as to how I was presenting.   Where ever I went during the day I was treated as the woman I am, I was particularly pleased to hear one lady tell her husband that he was "in that lady's way"   In many ways I suspect that I am more accepted when I dress to blend rather than for "Glamour".

Rings

I always wear my wedding ring, the only times I have taken it off since we got married was when I used to regularly play Rugby.   As intended it is a constant reminder and sign of our wedding vows, a signal to others and a reminder to self.   Along with a watch as "him" it is often the only piece of jewellery that I wear, as Paula I still wear it, but with more.

I like to wear at least one other ring, an "engagement" ring under the wedding ring, but the one I have been wearing is fairly cheap costume jewellery and the gold finish is beginning to wear off.   I have one or two much more dramatic sparklers for when I am glamed up, but it does seem to be quite difficult to find something that looks nice and won't turn my finger green.

It would be nice to buy a proper decent ring from a proper jeweller, but there is no way my budget will allow for such things, the cheap stores, Matalan, Primark etc. don't have anything appropriate so I must just keep my eyes open and grab the opportunity should it present itself.

You need Hands

Next Sunday I will be playing in the LGSO concert, I am sure I have mentioned this before (several times) and I have to say if any of you are at a lose end on Sunday evening it will be a great concert with some stunning music in a fantastic setting, so please come along.   On this occasion though that is not my main point, the thing is I like to look good when I play, this will only be the third time that Paula will have been on the concert platform, so it is still a special experience for me.   I have already worn two of my black dresses which means I only have two more to go (plus trousers, skirts satin tops etc. so I don't think I will run out of things to wear just yet).  

The dress I plan to wear on Sunday is I think the nicest, it is a little longer than the others with an asymmetric hemline long sleeves made from a lovely clingy jersey material with a polo neck and a waist sash belt, this is definitely the most demure of my back dresses, and as my friend B is coming to the concert that may be a good thing.   But again not my point today.

I think my hands are my most naturally feminine feature, so I like to show the off, this means one or two rings and nail polish.   I want my nails to be nice, a nice shape, a nice length and a nice colour.   At the moment they are just about at the optimum length, maybe a millimeter shorter than perfect, but how am I going to get through a full weeks gardening work without damaging any of them?

I have already applied a protective coat of clear lacquer, and managed to get through Monday wearing gloves, all I can do is be careful but it is very hard to do manual work and protect nails.   But then that is really rather the point as the original attraction of long finger nails came from it being a sign of not having to do manual work.   So my main concern is to try and keep my finger nails nice, my secondary concern is a little different, the dress I will be wearing has a high neck, a bit like a turtle neck but with buttons at the back, should I wear a necklace outside the dress or leave it plain?   I will be wearing sparkly earrings, rings and bracelet and maybe a sparkly ankle chain, is that too much already?

The post title? follow the link if you haven't already got it.

Still Wednesday

After my trip to the opticians I popped home for some lunch, as you would I had to try on the new suit properly, you know heels, full makeup jewelry and wig.   Then once I was all dressed up I thought, well now I've just got to go out.   So I went over to Banstead to check out the charity shops there.
I picked up a couple of pairs of earrings, a lovely watch with interchangeable straps and trim, and some rather posh seamed stockings, and a nice wrap around grey wool skirt, all for less than £20 in total   I did have a little trouble with some irritating young children but soon managed to get rid of them.   I fear that I was a little obvious being dressed like the mother of the bride while everyone else was looking ready for a hack in the country.   I would have liked o stay out fully dressed like this for longer but I did have another appointment, with my osteopath.

As I mentioned here and here, I have been teasing him a bit with what I am wearing when I go for our sessions, he is far to polite to say anything but I am trying gauge his reactions from the way he carries out the massage.   Well today I upped the anti quite a bit.   I was wearing some nice but basic high leg white panties with butterflies on, a pair of sheer mink trouser socks (pop socks) pale pink pearlescent nail polish on my toes nails, and he pretty pink lacy cami I had on earlier.   I also wore one of my "gold" chains.   There was no way that he didn't notice, it was so obvious what I was wearing.   After I was stripped down to my panties he had to ask me to remove the chain, so I was totally naked apart from my panties.

Laid out on the bench it must have been so obvious that my entire body was shaved clean, and my toe nails polished, there was no comment, but there was time spent on my feet, legs and lower back.   This meant that he had to roll down the top of my panties at one point, and was above the leg line at another.   I have always enjoyed my visits, but think that maybe I should show a little restraint before things get out of hand.

Glasses

Tomorrow I should finish the major job I have been engaged on most of this year so far, it will be good to finish so I can get on with my regular maintenance work, but also so I can pick up the final cheque, which is the one with some profit in it.   Some of this profit will be put aside to pay my taxes, but I have also promised myself that I will get an eye test and some new glasses.


I know that I either need new glasses or longer arms, yes the time has come for varifocals, so far I have got away with single lenses for my short sight, now I need help reading as well.   I have noticed that a lot of the chain opticians advertise a buy one get one free, or two for the price of one type deal, I plan to get a normal pair of male glasses, and something a bit more fem.   Currently I have two pairs one male and one pretty neutral, but I think I will go a bit further this time ~ looks like I'm not the only one

Replacements

Where I am working at the moment there are not a great deal of shops but there are a few charity shops so yesterday I decided to have a quick look around.   I needed to replace my nail varnish remover as I will be with my osteopath this afternoon and I thought the cherry red polish might be a bit too much.

Well I had some success I did manage to pick up a couple of pairs of nice clip on earrings and a pretty brouch, in the shape of a leaf with pink sparklers all over it.   I also bout a pair of next trousers, they are black with a sort of mole skin finnish but nice and lightweight to wear, they are a first for me in that they have a smooth front and a side zip, of course no pockets.   I shall have to be carefull when I wear them that I too have a smooth front.

Of course having restarted my collection I find that I have nowhere to keep them as the case was also stolen, so now I need to get myself a jewelry box as well.

He pinched my boobs!

It has been something of a mixed weekend, Saturday was great, as well as having a lovely outing on Saturday night I managed to fix a lawn mower and get lots of other jobs done, most of them like the mower have been waiting for my attention for ages.   From there it changed, when I went out to m van on Sunday someone had driven into the back denting both the back doors and making it rather difficult to open, but worse was still to come.

This morning as I went to the van to start work, I noticed that the side door wasn't properly shut, on investigating I found that it had indeed been broken into.   Even though I had quite a few tools in the back the only things that seem to be missing are my large drill / concrete breaker and my pair of angle grinders, and oh yes a load of Paula stuff.   I had some things in aluminium cases and a holdall with shoes and a few items of clothing which I had left in the van after Saturday night.

They left my handbag and makeup bag and as far as I can tell at the moment most of the shoes and clothes.   My expensive wig was chucked in the back, but there.   What I do know is missing all my jewelry including my two favourite watches, my "second best" (or only other) wig, all my nail varnish and remover, my scent, wipes and various bits of makeup which wasn't in the bag; and in some ways worst of all my forms.   I have acquired this lot over a period of at least a couple of years and won't be able to replace much of it.   Nothing was particularly expensive but now it has all gone I will need new earrings; necklace; rings before I can go out again.

I should be cross, but mostly I just feel very sad, but I console myself that it could have been a lot worse.

Worth a Second Look

Although it is only a week it seems like a long time since Paula went out ~ maybe it is because I am so busy with work and stuff ~ I am also pretty tired much of the time so I find I am not even thinking as much about going out as I have at time in the past.   A few times recently I have thought about shaving my legs and painting my toes nails ~ but then I think about it a bit more and decide that since I have no plans to be going out I won't bother.

When I do go out I like to look as good as possible, I like to make sure that all my jewelry matches ~ either silver or gold.  I select my eyeshadow according to what I am wearing, make sure that my whole look is an ensemble rather than just what I happened to put on.   Don't get me wrong I am no fashion model I just try to look as good as possible.   I do this when in drab as well, I will spend longer selecting a tie than my wife will spend choosing her whole outfit ~ for her most of the time it is just a question of what is clean.

Now what this is all leading up to is that I am conscious that quite often I get a "second look" I normally put this down to my height, my heels and my hemlines. certainly when wearing longer dresses or trousers the looks come less often.   In short I try not to look like a parady of a woman, I am not in drag, I am not dressed liek a hooker, I always try to be well dressed.   I am quite sure that I am "read" all the time I am out I am also sure that I don't get the second looks for the same reason as Kim over on travelling transgendered.   Note it was also Kim who coined the phrase "travelling pretty"

Time for a coffee

I have been a bit down lately, it has probably shown in my posts, largely I have been very busy and most of the time pretty tired, well today was very cold and I had an odd selection of work lined up.   Yesterday my customer threw me a real googly, and changed her mind about the whole job, what was going to be decking would now be paved, and add in a new fence, as long as the price was right.   So first off I had to load up the van with a load of hardcore which went to the builders merchant, where I could start sorting out my prices.   By the time I had sorted all that out and given the customer the bad news, I just didn't fancy doing hard labour in freezing conditions.   So I decided to pop out for a coffee.

When I say pop out to be honest I was already out, but before going for my coffee I got changed.   For various reasons I did have some clothes with me and I was already wearing tights (for warmth) and panties (for fun), however due to the limitations of what I had with me I didn't really end up with a terribly appropriate outfit.   What I did end up with was a purple top, the black leather mini skirt thick grey tights and my black high heeled boots.   I had all my makeup, jewelry and a wig with me so did my best to make myself presentable with relatively subtle jewelry and makeup, then covered up as much as possible with my long overcoat.

I only had an hour or so as Paula so I just had a coffee and did a little bit of shopping (all boring stuff nothing fun in the shopping basket today).   The staff at Superdrug were helpful, the girls at Nero's were friendly, I might have got a couple of second looks as I was walking around, but wearing those boots that's hardly surprising.   I was aware of a few glances in Nero's (coffee shop), but then again my heels were high and my skirt short.   Although I was still wearing my coat, with the buttons undone I was showing quite a lot of leg.

It was only when I used the facilities prior to leaving that I had a chance to properly look in a mirror, this was when I realised that I had a little chest hair showing, not much but if you looked you could see it. So either everyone was being very polite, or not very observant.   Not much of an adventure, but it still managed to considerably lighten my mood, now I find I have a barely controllable urge to paint my toe nails.........

My New Ring

I mentioned that I had bought myself a new ring the other day.  Most costume jewelry is rather large and flamboyant, I prefer something a little more restrained, something that looks like the sort of thing that a lady of my age would have, and wear.   Also as you can see in the photo, I need to have a ring to accompany my wedding ring.

Too Girly?

Today (Tuesday) I am working from home, as the weather is foul and I can't do much outdoors I am spending the morning on data entry - a monthly contract job I have - on my own.    More accurately perhaps I should say that Paula is working from home.   After my wife left for her office I decided to get dressed, as I am sure you are aware this meant shaving, foundation garments, make-up, nail polish, jewelry (just some "pearls") a dress and "proper" shoes.   So about 90 minutes after I started getting ready I am about to start work.

It struck me how much longer than my wife it took me to get ready for work, she takes about a third of that time, and then I thought about what she wears for work, normally just trousers and a top, along with the essential undies.   No jewelry other than (maybe) ear rings and watch, no make up, ordinary shoes and socks, in fact pretty much what a lot of blokes would wear.   (When I regularly worked in offices I always wore a suit and tie so actually took longer to get dressed than my wife).   I should point out that although my wife is not particularly "girly" she is definitely feminine.   This led me to the thought is what I am struggling to obtain femininity or elegance?

When I have the chance do I glam up to show how feminine I am or to be as elegant as possible?   It is nice to go out in (fem) jeans and a top but that is in comparison to going out in men's jeans and tee shirt, it is more fun to go out wearing a dress.   Now is this because it is more feminine, or more elegant? or maybe it is just that like many of you I so rarely get the chance to wear something pretty that when I do have the chance I grab it.

Well the photo shows me today wearing my new dress, looking quite festive and feeling quite elegant..

Shopping

As I start to write this post (Monday evening), I still have some of my Christmas shopping to do.   I have very little to do, anyway as I only plan on presents for my Wife, Daughter and Mother.   I have something for my daughter and something for my wife, but would like another couple of things, for my Mother I have nothing,   If I were Christmas shopping for Paula, I would get silk stockings, lacy lingerie, maybe some new sparklies, but the other ladies in my life have more prosaic tastes.sparkler's

Somehow I shall have to set aside some time to browse the department stores and just see what I can find, maybe a scarf for Mum, some spraklies for wife and chocs for Daughter - see I've no imagination at all.   No one will be buying Paula a present so there won't be any, unless she buys herself one.

By the by, I did pop into the Grape and Grain with a couple of friends last night, like everything else we fear, no one noticed or recognised me

Travelling Pretty

As planned I travelled down to Cardiff en femme, not that anyone is too bothered on the M4 at 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning. not wanting to be too out of the ordinary I opted for my M & S ladies Jeans some nice low heel pumps and a floral blouse.   I did stop a couple of times for a coffee, and then a comfort break.   I was almost disappointed at how little attention I received.   Even when I arrived in Cardiff too early for my Mother and went to do a little shopping no one gave me a second look, or thought as I browsed through Matalan, Lidle and then Sainsbury's.
I managed to pick up a few things I had been after, a couple of new costume jewelry rings, some eye make up as I had left mine in London, the tights I hadn't been able to get at my local Lidle, and lunch.   As my Mother is not familiar with my usual wardrobe she is quite happy to accept more or less whatever I wear, so I was able to go through the whole weekend wearing all female attire.   This was a great relieve, I keep my nice little chrome ladies watch with a blue leather strap on all the time, and didn't have to worry about wearing my tights under my jeans or the fact that my jumper is a ladies roll neck.   Indeed my mum commented on how nice it was to see me wearing a different colour - lilac.   It's funny He tends to wear a lot of autumnal colours, browns, plum reds etc. yet Paula likes back, grey mauve and lilac.......

Tonight

Tonight it is going to be close, on time, but I am hoping t be able to get to join the girls from the Croydon Trans Group for the end of their Christmas dinner.   I have had a few occasions just lately when I could g out as Paula, but they have all been day time.  In deed nearly all the occasions Paula has had to go out have been day time.   On the whole this is good, safe and fun, but it also means that I don't get to wear the posh frocks.

I have this lovely slinky black sleeveless high necked cocktail dress that has been waiting for over a year too have an outing.   However for me it very much for evening wear, I intend to glam it up with some sparkly earrings, necklace and bracelet, and absolute killer heels.   Again I have had these shoes for a while and have just been waiting for an opportunity (excuse) to wear them out.   If I can get there in time, tonight will be the ideal occasion, since I won't have to wear the shoes very long, and I suspect that the extra height over anything I am used too could be quite taxing.   I am a little undecided what to do about my hair, at the moment my own hair is quite long (longer than in the photo) and I might be able to get away without a wig, but this would also mean I would be much more recognisable, I think I will take my blond(ish) wig with me and make a decision on the hoof.

I am also hoping to get to the opening of a new boutique in Streatham today.   I have never been into a Trans Boutique so this will be a whole new experience, oh yes and if I do the logistics are just so complicated that I would have to be in drab.