Booking badminton

Me: I'd like to book a badminton court for next thursday please.
Woman at Sports Centre: Sorry, I can't take any bookings until 9:00 AM.
Me: But it is 9:00.
Woman: My wall clock says it's 8:57 and I have to go by that.
Me: But there are spaces right? You say on your site that you can't book slots earlier than 9:00 AM the week before?
Woman: Oh yes, there's slots.
Me: Okay, I'll phone back in 3 minutes.

Five minutes later.

Me: Hello, I'd like to book a badminton court please.
Woman: Sorry, they're all booked.
Me: Oh fiddlesticks! Some enterprising chaps have got in during the last few seconds and managed to book the whole 8 courts. Ho hum, I guess I'll just have to be quicker next time. Cheerio!

/me hops into time machine and goes back to three minutes earlier

Me: I'd like to book a badminton court please.
Woman at Sports Centre: Sorry, I can't take any bookings until 9:00 AM.
Me: That's okay, I'll hold.

...

I swear that all happened. Except the stuff with the time machine. Oh, and I didn't say "fiddlesticks".

Explaining my actions

I wasn't going to blog about this, but I decided I should explain why I outed Lana as a fraud on my Flickr stream. In some ways I feel guilty for doing it, but I can't deny a huge sense of satisfaction at the same time.

I might have outed her less publicly if she hadn't once written in her blog:

"[I hate] people who look at your online photos and ask 'Is that really you?'----well hello, why would anyone bother promoting someone else's photos and not their own.Asking this question only shows how insecure or jealous the Enquirer is anyway."

That comment was probably aimed at me. I'd contacted her via messenger just before, and asked some pointed questions along the lines of "how do you manage to look so good, when you say you're not a model?"

The blog has gone now, it disappeared last night along with her MSN space and Flickr stream. So if you're unsure what pictures I'm talking about, you're too late to find out!

There was something far too-good-to-be true about Lana's pics. They were almost all expertly lit and photographed, wearing fab clothes with perfect makeup. Even the "grungy" ones had a knowing, staged quality. Every new picture posted to Flickr was greeted with a flood of comments from other trannies praising her beauty and style, which she was all too happy to accept. But I started getting more and more trannies in my neck of the online woods privately asking "is Lana for real?".

It was difficult to prove, because the person (or people) Lana chose as her "avatar" wasn't a well-known model. I scoured loads of sites showcasing fashion models (I freely admit that I got a bit obsessive about it) but nothing turned up. Then, weeks after I'd posted it, someone replied to an message I'd left on a fashion forum, asking if the pictures on Lana's stream were of a known model. They included a link to the profile of a model called Amanda Jo. Jackpot! Once I knew the name, it was quite easy to find other pics of the same model to confirm the profile's validity.

I realise that this sounds like crowing. I suppose it is. Let me try and explain why I got so obsessed by it.

The thing that galled me about what Lana was doing was the fact that she was, perhaps unwittingly, making a lot of trannies feel in some way inadequate.

It took me a great deal of time, money and effort to get to the point where I got pictures I'm pretty proud of. And then I'd look at some pictures of other t-girls and think "boy, if only I could look like that", knowing deep-down that I didn't have the figure/face/budget to ever pull it off. That's the luck of the draw. I envy the t-girls who do it better than me, but at the same time respect them, because I know that it doesn't happen by accident. You might have a feminine face or figure, but you'll still look like a guy if you don't work hard to emphasize it.

I also respect the t-girls who'd are even less blessed in the face and figure department than me, if they've obviously made the effort. Other trannies will say the same thing, I think: no matter how you look, if you've made the effort you're welcome in the club.

Actually, that's probably the ultimate answer to the dumb question I'm sometimes asked: "how do I become a transvestite?"... Make the effort.

When someone decides to skip all the hard work, find some pictures of a person (or persons) they'd like to look like, and publishes them as their own; that's wrong. It's mocking me, and it's mocking every other t-girl who dared to put a real picture of themselves en-femme online and say "this is me".

The nominations have closed...

... and now it's time to vote for your favorite tranny movies of all time!

Voting is open to everyone, and you can vote for up to 10 films from the listed nominations. If it was nominated on the official form, and it was film that appears on the IMDB database, then I listed it on the long-list. So no complaining that your favorite film isn't there, or that the films that are there are rubbish! ;-)

Please click here to vote, and get your friends to vote too, so that the result is as definitive as possible. Thanks!

Apologies in advance

Oasis have announced a year-long tour playing every cut-price supermarket in the UK. When asked how they would complete such a gargantuan task, singer Liam said: "Lidl by Lidl".

©2006 Becky EnVérité

It shouldn't happen to an announcer

I pity the Channel 4 announcer tonight who, at the end of Richard Dawkin's anti-religious diatribe "The Root of All Evil", was required to say:

"... and the religious debate continues on More4, where Historian Michael Burliegh argues that the modern world's rejection of faith has led to the collapse of the fabric of society. Next on Channel 4: Celebrity Big Brother."

Quite.

Great Ideas in the History of Hospital IT, Number 124: Energy Efficiency

Regular visitors to my blog with remember the debacle surrounding the customised screensaver my department were cajoled into writing to give everyone in my hospital guidance on hand hygiene. The fun doesn't stop there.

We have a person at the hospital who's responsibility it is to promote energy efficiency within the organisation, and spot where electricity is being wasted. I wasn't present for one of his recent decisions, but it must have gone something like this.

SCENE: A large but almost deserted office at lunchtime. There are a dozen or so computers around the room, and they are all switched on and displaying lurid screensavers. Enter ENERGY EFFICIENCY MAN, clutching a clipboard. He looks around the room and then goes over to MISS LONE WORKER.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY MAN: Is everyone at lunch?

MISS LONE WORKER: Yes, I'm working through my lunch hour. Can I help you?

EE MAN (PROUDLY): I'm Energy Efficiency Man! It's my job to promote energy efficiency within the hospital, and spot where electricity is being wasted. Whenever a light is left on in an empty room, I'll be there. Wherever a window is left open next to a fan heater, I'll be there. Whenever a member of staff has a question about energy efficiency... I'll be there!

MISS LW (EATING A SANDWICH): That's nice.

EE MAN: Tell me, citizen. Why are all of these computers showing pictures of germs and suchlike?

MISS LW: It's some kind of health promotion. About 3 minutes after everyone buggers off to lunch, the computers all start showing these posters about remembering to wash your hands. But no-one ever reads them because, well, they're at lunch.

EE MAN: So, all these machines sit here all lunchtime, not being used?

MISS LW: Yes.

SFX: A SMALL AND RATHER DIM ENERGY-EFFICIENT LIGHTBULB APPEARS OVER ENERGY EFFICIENCY MAN'S HEAD.

EE MAN: Energy Efficiency Man has an idea! Pass me that phone!

MISS LW HANDS EE MAN THE PHONE, AND HE PUNCHES IN SOME NUMBERS.

EE MAN (INTO PHONE): Hello, is that the Computer Department? It's Energy Efficiency Man here... Yes, really... No, they don't give me a special suit... Look, could I speak to someone who knows about screensavers and stuff?

EE MAN LOOKS UP AT MISS LW AND SILENTLY MOUTHS "THEY'RE GOING TO GET HIM". MISS LW IS MORE INTERESTED IN HER SANDWICH.

EE MAN (INTO PHONE): Hello? Yes. Energy Efficiency Man here. I have an idea. An amazing idea. An idea that could only be thought up by someone with a background in energy efficiency promotion such as myself. Be prepared to write this down, citizen... ready?

You know how all the computers in the hospital sit doing nothing during lunch-hours and just display a screen-saver about remembering to wash your hands?

Well... could you also make it say "don't forget to turn the lights out when you leave a room"?

Thou shalt not flounce

That single-handed Vicars and Tarts party that is Selina's blog has a fascinating and provocative piece on transvestism and the Bible today. Go lookie! :-)

Birds

Oooh... I love Look Around You sooooo much!

The first series expertly parodied the "science for schools" television programs of the seventies. It was a heady mix of nostalgia and surreal comedy. I remember sitting semi-patiently in a darkened assembly hall as the blue-and-white spotted clock on the screen counted down to zero, and then marveling as the narrator explained the uses of sulfuric acid in hushed tones.

The latest Pizza Hut adverts are an unfunny version attempt to copy the style.

The second series was studio-based and parodied populist science magazine shows like "Tomorrow's World". The episodes were longer, but not quite as funny as the first series, in my opinion.

I've had the Series 1 DVD in my collection for a while, and series two is now out. The extras include this superb film, which returns in many ways to the style of Series 1...



Very grateful to Kim for finding this.

Thanks Kim.

Thkim.

How not to email me

You remember that "how to be a tranny" email I got the other day which I selflessly, tirelessly, and with a great deal of humility (one of my many fine attributes) replied to? I sent a long reply because a) the person had written a nice letter and b) they flattered the hell out of me.

I wanted to give you an example of the other end of the spectrum. Got this email a few days ago, presented here in full, with only the address changed.

hi i would like how i can become a tranny please email me back at alazytimewaster@hotmail.com with all the info thanks.

"With all the info"?? I thought about getting Evil Becky to send a suitably pithy reply, but even she couldn't be arsed.

More fun in today's paper

Reading further into the Independent I came across this article on Yindies; apparently a new class of half-yuppy half-indie types. It includes a silly quiz to ascertain whether you're a Yindie or not, with this question which caught my eye:

7. If you could only read one thing, it would be:

a) Heat.

b) A scurrilous blog by an anonymous cross-dressing lifestyle columnist.

c) Horse and Hound.

Now, do I count as a "lifestyle columnist"? If so, yay me! I'm a Yindie icon!

Or, do you actually have to write in a newspaper to be a columnist?

If so, does this blog exist? Is it one of the blogs I already read?? Come on, own up, which one of you is a lifestyle columnist in real life?!

Blame Dionysus

On a whim, I picked up a copy of The Independent this morning, and was rewarded with an interesting article on the history of cross-dressing in entertainment.

It feeds into the poll I'm conducting to find the Best Tranny Movie, but it also makes an interesting comparison between cross-dressing in the context of the theatre and screen, and the cross-dressing that transvestites partake in:

The distinction between transvestite and theatrical cross-dresser is an important one, however. Essentially a 20th-century medical definition, many transvestites say their choice of dress is designed to please them alone. Grayson Perry, the cross-dressing potter and Turner Prize winner, says: "The perfect transvestite experience would be traipsing along the street with someone holding a gigantic mirror in front of me so that I could see myself the whole time. As I can't, wearing crippling shoes or being a tad cold reminds me I'm in the wrong clothes."

On the stage, screen or television, it is about pleasing the audience. And it's been doing that for more than 2,000 years.

MacEarth

Finally! Google have released a Mac version of Google Earth. To my Mac friends: I suggest you go download it now, and then get lost!

(...in a fantastically detailed interactive satellite map of the planet.)

An open letter to newbies

I get a lot of emails from new trannies wanting to know various things about how to get started with boobs, hair, etc. If the sender has gone to the effort of writing a polite letter and used joined-up words and stuff, I usually get round to sending a reply. I sat down today and churned out a reply to a particularly long set of questions from a girl called Kate and realised "hey, maybe it would be more efficient in the long term if I blogged this stuff."

So I have.

Over to you, Kate.

Your website is the greatest and you look just fabulous.

That kind of opener earns you a full reply. :-D

What do you do to your facial hair so it isn't noticed? Do you use some special type of makeup?

I shave really well, which helps! All the makeup in the world won't cover a full beard. ;-)

Other than that I tend to use a good pan-stick foundation that matches my skin tone. I use one called "TV paint stick" which you can buy from tranny makeup shops and theatrical makeup specialists. I've flirted with "proper" foundations but I just can't get on with them. Rule One with makeup: experiment as much as you like, but when you're in a hurry fall back on the things that you know will work. And when I'm getting ready for a night out I'm always in a hurry!

What about the hair on the chest and stomach area, any
special product to remove it?

Not for me, just a trusty razor. I use a Gillette Venus because I found men's razors cut me too much. Don't bother with shaving creams or foams, just buy cheap-ish cream bubble bath, and have a good soak in the bubbles before you attempt to shave.

I noticed a ad link for the padded panty, do you use that for your female curves?

Nope, I'm wide enough as it is! So when I need a bit more curvature I tend to take away rather than add. I sometimes use a good basic corset to trim the tummy and present a more feminine figure. Another good purchase is a stout pair of plain ladies control knickers, they might not be the more feminine of undergarments but they do the job when it comes to controlling your shape, especially "between the legs".

As an aside, I never endorse any of the products that appear in my Google Ads zone on my pages. They're simply there to pay for the hosting of the site.

What do you us for breasts?

Trained kittens. Although since the RSPCA crack-down I've invested in a pair of silicone ones from Doreen Fashions. I visited the shop itself, rather than buy online, as it really helps to "try before you buy" to get the right size. They're a little expensive, but last for ages if you look after them. Heck, they'll even last for a fair while if you piss about with them, like I tend to.

Do you use any type of special face creams or hand creams to make them look and
feel softer?

Nope, not regularly. Everything I try just gives me spots. I do some basic things: I never use regular soap, and I try not to do the washing up without gloves on.

I take it that you pluck your eye brows. When your in male attire does anyone make comments about your eye brows?

I did it gradually, so most people didn't seem to notice. People probably have noticed, but they haven't said anything to my face, so I don't worry about it.

If so, what do you tell them?

I have a disease where if my eyebrow hairs are allowed to grow for too long they burrow into my brain and make me go crazy. More crazy.

Do you do anything about the hair on your arms?

Yep, I shave them now and then. A lot of trannies I know don't bother. Then again, neither does the pretty check-out girl that served in Tesco's last night. She had arms like Robin Williams. So it's a personal preference thing.

Can you think of anything else I should know about cross dressing that would help me in my appearance?

Spend more than you think you need to. Don't cut corners. Don't be put off by early failures. Remember when "putting on a face", it's the law that you start looking worse before you start looking better. Always remember that it's not about how cross-dressing makes you look it's about how it makes you feel.

And above all, enjoy it!

The Worst...?

Something that Katya asked about the nominations for the Best Tranny Movie ever:

"Could you do a worst Trans* movie in the world ever too, with the most cliched and damaging portrayal of Trans characters ranked? The list would be endless."

I've thought about it, and it depends how you define "worst". Yes, there are some terrible examples of cliched portrayals of trannies as psychopathic killers (where the cross-dressing nature of the murderer is used as short-hand for their "weirdness") or sexual deviants or worse.

The Silence of the Lambs is a prime example of the "tranny = weird loner" cliche, but at the same time I'd argue that it's a good film. It's genuinely scary, tense and disturbing; and I enjoyed it a lot when it came out. The fact that the killer is a "transsexual" didn't detract from the film for me. I don't think it coloured my opinion of transsexuals. Even when I first saw it I realised that Buffallo Bill was no more a true representation of a TS than Bugs Bunny is a true representation of a rabbit.

Alternatively there are films like "Just Like a Woman", which by most yardsticks is pretty bad. Plodding plot, bad acting and the most tacked-on action ending ever. But simply because it was the first mainstream film I ever saw about "normal" British transvestites makes it an influential film from my childhood.

Films with trannies in serve multiple purposes. For "new" TG's they provide role-models, and good old-fashioned tranny jollies. For "educated" TGs, they're a talking point and maybe in rare cases offer an insight into their own "Tranny Condition". The most recent movie that "spoke" to me as a TV was Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with it's powerful idea that "putting on the wig" was a way for Hedwig to protect herself from the real world, even if in the end she realised she didn't really need it.

So I know that the results of the poll won't really be a definitive list of truly great films about transgenderism. Some of them will be box-office clangers, and others will feature hopelessly cliched TG portrayals. What I'm hoping is when I publish the list people will talk about what the films represent to them, and that might just tell us all a little bit more about what being a tranny means.

There's still time to nominate, if you'd like to take part!

Close to home

Congratulations to Miss Celia Macleod, due to start as the latest Gyno consultant at my hospital in the Autumn.

I've worked on and off with Miss Macleod (formerly Colin Bone) and wish her all the best in the future. I might even get the job of re-doing his email addresses and user's account.

I'm so glad the BBC have printed his new name in full...

I would've felt awful ringing him up to ask him if he was going to lose the Bone.

I can't believe I just wrote that. Sorry.

While I'm at it, can I just go on record that I have absolutely nothing to do with my hospital's website? It was taken out of my hands many years ago and given to the boss's son. Coughnepotismcough!

No, I'm not going to post a link, you can get to it from that BBC article above if you want to see it's true awfulness.

The Best ...

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the initial stage of the first ever poll to find...



This is the nominations stage. I want to find out what you think are the top tranny films. And "tranny" is used in the broadest sense of the word: it could be any film that features a male character dressing as a girl, or just a film that trannies really love.

But you don't have to be a tranny to enter, nominations can come from anyone and everyone, as many as possible! You just have to enjoy films.

Once I've compiled a long-list of nominations I'll ask you all to vote on your favorites, and then use that information to compile the more-or-less-definitive list of the best tranny movies, ever!

So I urge you to nominate your choices now, please!

Knock them off

I'm backing the campaign to get Transformation off the top spot for Google searches with the Anti-Transformation Google Bomb!

The idea is to "Google Bomb" the Wikipedia entry for transvestite with links labeled simply with the word "transvestite". Google should hopefully see all the links for that word pointing to Wikipedia and count it as a more authoritative source of information. We're not sure how many links it will take, although a conservative estimate is 30.

If you have a blog or a web site, and you support the campaign, please copy and paste the code in the box below into your blog. You'll be doing trannies of the UK and around the world a favour!

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transvestite" title="transvestite">transvestite</a>

If you'd like to use this entire message in your own blog to help promote the Google-Bomb, you can download it here. But please edit the message a little to personalize it to yourself, as Google will spot duplicated text and not count the link.

Perspective

I'm basically agreeing with what everyone's saying. :-)

I know everyone's had their go at Transformations, but I hadn't put it from my point of view. So I did. That's all. Maybe someone will visit my site and read that before they go to the Transformation site, in which case I've done some good.

And I do promote other services. I link to them on my site and I advise trannies daily via email. So I'm doing my bit.

I could do more, if I had the time and inclination. But I could also do more to fight world poverty, or global warming, or childhood leukaemia, or AIDs awareness. There's a lot of things I could be doing. But I can't be arsed, for a given level of "being arsed".

When you put things in that kind of perspective, a few thousand men being fleeced by a little company in the UK seems a little small-fry. Important, but small-fry.

My point is that we all have a finite amount of time to dedicate to "other people", and we all make a personal moral decision about how much time/effort/money to spend, and who to spend it on. Some people dedicate their entire lives to the betterment of others. People like me and I suspect most of you, are more selective in their charitable works.

My concern about Transformation runs out at about "having a good rant", I'm not going to do much more than that. Apart from wholeheartedly lend moral support and publicity to anyone that does, of course. :-)

In prosecution of Transformation

Responding to Siobhan's post today.

I hate Transformation with a passion. And it's not because they sell overpriced, shoddy products. Not that they prey on transvestites and generally treat us like an brainless market niche that's there to be bled dry. I hate them because they've deliberately made themselves a dead end in the tranny community.

By some clever marketing over the years, Transformation have managed to position themselves at the forefront of the companies providing services for trannies in the UK. Ask nearly any British tranny the first tranny shop they heard of, and it will be Transformation. Somehow they're even the top hit on Google for the word "transvestite".

That's fair enough. As Siobhan rightly points out, they're a company and companies are there to make money. If they're savvy enough to make the name of their company ubiquitous to the market they're aiming at, then they deserve all the profits they make from doing it.

I too was one of the many British trannies for whom stepping into a Transformation shop was the first time they'd publicly shown their hand as a tranny, ever.

In my case it was the shop by Euston Station in London, I was a wet-behind-the-ears Civil Engineering student up at Hatfield Poly. I took the train down one day, walked up and down the street about 15 times until it was as empty as a London street ever gets on a weekday, and went through the door.

Two hours later I emerged, clutching my purchases (a really shoddy maids outfit made of black satin that was basically a rectangle with holes cut for the head and arms, and a couple of "TV interest magazines"), and over two hundred pounds lighter of pocket.

The magazines were basically selling Transformation's other services. The snake-oil creams and the "changeaways". And that's part of my problem. They only sell their own services in Transformations.

Take a trip to many a tranny venue in the UK and somewhere on a counter or side-table you'll see neat piles of fliers for other tranny venues and services. To some degree there's healthy rivalry, for example tranny and gay clubs don't exactly go out of their way to promote their rivals, but mostly you'll find information about all kinds of services available to you in the wider community.

Not so with Transformation. They want to keep you in the dark. Only tell you about their products and services. It may have changed, but I know that the Transformation shop in London wouldn't even stock copies of the Way Out Guide (the nearest thing to a Rough Guide to British trannying there is), for fear that trannies discover that there's Another Way.

Take a look at the links page on the Transformation web-site. A first glances it appears to be an altruistic offering by the company, pointing trannies at alternate places to buy their wigs, shoes, etc. With my consumer detective hat on, I went searching the WHOIS databases...

Yep, every single site is owned by the same company... Mapleleaf Holdings Ltd. The same company that owns Transformation.

If Transformation had set themselves up to be a friendly, welcoming first port of call for transvestites and transsexuals finding their feet in the community, I'd have no problem with that at all. But all that Transformation have done is set themselves up to be the friendly, welcoming introduction to their products and services.

They don't want to make trannies feel comfortable and open about who they are, they don't want them to be part of a "community", they just want to keep them thinking that the only people who think trannies are "okay" are the ones with the rictus grins and free cups of tea at a Transformation shop. Then once they have them corralled in their comfortable stable of services, milk them for every penny they can.

Emergency blog entry: Celebrity Big Brother

Good to see that Channel 4 have remembered the vital ingredient for a great Big Brother: gender-bending!

And why have one practitioner for Celebrity Big Brother when you can have two? Pete Burns and Dennis Rodman in the same house!

I have a feeling this is going to be car-crash television. :-D

Classy

Seems to be a bit of a theme amongst King's Lynn photographers to take snaps of the backs of Norfolk Green buses. This one was spotted by my fellow Lynn Flickr-ite, Davido.

Check out the camera being used by the model. Cutting edge fashion!

The best ____ in the world, ever!

Okay, it's January. It's miserable. We all need cheering up.

I have an idea. It's probably a dumb idea and it will more-than-likely bomb. But bear with me.

You know those Top 100 things they have on over Christmas? In the UK they're usually on Channel Four, and have subjects like "The Top 100 Best Family Films". They get the public to vote, compile a top 100, and then wheel out a bunch of celebrities to talk about the results.

It's telly-by-the-yard, and an no-brainer way for TV companies to fill barren bank-holiday schedules, but I actually quite enjoy them. Especially with a bottle of wine and someone to talk about the results with. As long as there's not too much Jimmy Carr involved.

So yeah, my idea: reproduce this in blog form! And instead of celebrities use hamsters trannies! Not just trannies, basically anyone who has a modicum of taste, and a appreciation for this genderism we call Trans (i.e. anyone who reads my blog).

The process will have several steps:

Step the first: I decide on a topic. Something with a tranny flavour.

Step two: I get you to email me with your nominations.

Step π: I produce a long list of the nominations.

Step delta: You all vote on your favorites.

Step E: I compile the top 10/20/50/100 whatever.

Step vi: I email out the toplist (in random order) to everyone who's taken part and ask them to provide witty comments and memories about items on the list.

Step 7: I compile a final version of the toplist, ordered correctly and including the best of everyone's comments, and publish an all-singing, all-dancing version on my website.

Step the last: Everyone is overcome by a wave of feel-good nostaligia which sweeps the world, solving the Middle East conflict and eventually bringing about World Peace.

Sound good?

I'm still working on the nitty-gritty. All I need from you now is a show of hands as to whether this is a Good Idea.

Thanks. :-)

Fun with forums

I don't know why it is. I never fail to get a kick out of doing this kind of thing. :-)

Happiness is...

...finally catching up with all of the blogs you stopped reading just before Christmas. My aggrator's unread tally is finally back to zero, that's such a nice feeling.

I don't suppose the next time I take a break from reading blogs you could all do me a favour and stop endlessly banging on about nothing, until I come back again? Thanks so much! ;-)

Top 20 favorites of 2005

I heard about this via the Flickr Blog. Basically you make a set of the top 20 of your most favorited pictures from 2005, make a mosaic out of them and them add them to this group.

The easiest way to make a mosaic is to use fd's nifty Flickr Toys.

It's a nice way to look back over 2005, starting with a trip to Liverpool, then Barcelona, that outfit of Jessica's, Halloween, Christmas, and New Years.

New Year Resolutions

I've chosen just two resolutions this year:

• 72 dpi (just to piss off this guy)
  
• Eres 2004/8 (big up to those Asian road networks!)

Here's hoping I can stick to them!

2006 and all that

Well, here we are. Another year, eh?

2005 ended as 2004 did: at a party at Sophie's house. The theme was 80s. Well, more correctly my theme was 80s because I seemed to be the only one who'd taken the stuff about a themed party to heart (either that or I'd missed a couple of memos). I think that I looked so heartbroken when I was told that most people wouldn't be bothering with the theme that Sophie and Charlotte dressed up 80s-stylie in sympathy. Jane was up for it all along, of course, and regressed to her 80s goth persona.



The reason I was upset was that I'd actually gone to the effort of creating my t-shirt from scratch...



An item that will shortly be available on Ebay. :-)

It wasn't, I must admit, the best night out of the year from my point of view. It was mine and Jane's third night out in a row (each one of which had involved a lot of driving) and it had all caught up with us somewhat. Still, it was great to see everyone again, and bring the year to a close in exactly the same place it had started for me.

Which made it easier to spot what had changed over the year. For the better, which is the main thing.

... and enjoy 2006!