Sarah's Transition Diary .. weeks 333 - 336

.... is for those who might want to contact me about my diary.

Day 2325. Thursday 21st April 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

08.00 .. We get up to start getting ready incase we need to go and get Claire ..

10.25 .. I don’t want to waste a day .. so I make a start on the garage ..

12.45 .. Karen and I head for Waitrose to get some shopping .. some for my mum .. mostly for us.

14.15 .. We head for home, not believing how long we’ve been out ..

14.40 .. Lunch is served ..

15.10 .. We head around to the Barbecue Shop on the A30 between Bagshot and Sunningdale, with what I think is a clear view of what we want .. intending not to spend more than £350.

Once in the shop, which is attached to a garden centre, it’s clear the situation isn’t that clear .. a smooth talking Canadian man talks us into buying a brand other than Weber .. apparently the Weber 25 year warrantie is incredibly limited and flimsy .. we should buy one of the OMC ( Original Manufacturing Company ) brands, either a Broil King or a Sterling .. he strongly recommends the Broil King machines. OK there is one for £350, it’s quite basic and has a few plastic parts.

“Do you like spit roasted meat” he asks .. we do .. so he drags us away from a Monarch unit to a Crown unit, which is bigger .. this has a special burner at the back for spit roasting, and comes with a battery powered rotissery unit .. he demonstrates .. it’s noisy, but the mains powered option ( plus £25 ) is quieter.

Is that the end .. noooooo .. the basic Crown 70 has plastic side flaps .. could be damaged by hot items if you forget .. “ but we have this .. the Broil King Crown 70 Stainless .. the painted steel and plastic on the basic machine is replaced with stainless steel .. ( plus £50 ).

Ok we surrender .. I don’t want to build it myself ( yes coward ) so £15 seems a bargain .. plus if anything is wrong, they can’t blame me !!!

“Your going to need a gas bottle .. we suggest a 13kg charge one .. £30 bottle deposit and £33 for the 13kg of gas”. I negotiate some money off of the delivery charge .. and pay.

16.00 .. We are home .. I return to the garage .. 

18.00 .. I’ve had enough .. time to clear and clean up before going out.

19.00 .. Karen and I head across to a neighbours house for a meeting to plan what our little group of houses in the middle of the street are going to do on the Royal Wedding day. Gosh the lounge of this house is just the way I’d like ours .. a lot of white and Purple .. Karen and I love it .. it’s only short coming is no hi-fi .. the husband spirits up some “music” from his remote .. clearly low bit rate MP3 through this 5.1 (?) dolby system .. gosh my ears hurt after a few seconds, and not because it’s loud, no it’s quite quiet. Looking at the satellite speakers this system is clearly video optimised.

We seem to agree on an English high tea starting with jugs of Pims at 14.00 .. moving on to tea about 15.00 .. we all have our jobs .. I volunteer to supply some music.
20.35 .. Karen disappears for a while to call Claire, saying she’ll be back soon ..

20.55 .. Karen returns just as the meeting comes to an end ..

21.10 .. ish .. We are back indoors .. 

21.25 .. Dinner is served .. it’s a ham salad .. with a little cheese ..

A chat with Tony’s girlfriend Nikki about what we’re going to eat at hers on Saturday night.

23.25 .. I finally climb into bed .. nightie night.

More to come ...

Day 2326. Friday 22nd April 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

07.55 .. Karen gets up for a comfort break and returns with tea ..

08.23 .. Up and at it .. the BBQ man should be here soon after 09.00.

09.15 .. Karen informs me the BBQ shop have just called, our machine will arrive about 16.20 now .. excuses .. they shut at 16.00 today and will deliver immediately afterwards.

09.35 .. I head out to the garage .. time to start again .. day 2 of the clear out from the left hand side !!

13.15 .. Karen and I head for the tip in 2 cars .. Red & Violet .. to deliver garage junk.

14.15 .. Lunch .. toast and duck pate .. some cheese, crisps and dips.

15.45 .. I dig out my massive Marantz HD770 loudspeakers from the garage and try out Bob’s (my) Marantz 2385 with them in the drive .. ruddy hell .. gosh that goes .. the neighbours heard it I’m sure .. they will next Friday afternoon. Only thing I need to do is clean the volume pot and a few switches .. I’ll tackle that tomorrow .. maybe.

17.02 .. I call the BBQ shop .. our new barbecue is now 30 mins late, I suspect it won’t becoming again .. but the phone is answered .. they’ve just managed to close the shop and now they are going to deliver ours .. “see you in 15 minutes”.

17.25 .. The Barbecue Shop man arrives with our new BBQ. He sets it up, putting the gas bottle in the bottom and leaves it with us .. Karen tells me to finish with the drive and garage ..

17.45 .. I’m back in the garden .. the drive is clear .. OK the Sparkle full load of Bob’s stuff is now in the garage, but despite all the clearing the garage is still stuffed. I’ll have to work down the right hand side tomorrow and see how much I can dump from that side.

Karen’s open a bottle of white wine .. and we drink it while looking at the new BBQ .. A Broil King Crown 70 Stainless .. it’s massive compared to our ancient ex Argos charcoal burner that will be heading to the tip tomorrow.

To help the wine down, we open a pack of the Thai made rice spicy chicken corn snacks that I bought home from Brunei .. Karens unsure to start with but is soon chomping through them.

18.45 .. Eventually we give in, or I do, and we decide to start simple, given the time .. it’s going to be sausages ..

19.20 . .The sausages are ready to eat .. they accompany a salad, they taste really nice !!. Dessert is Strawberries and ice cream.

22.30 .. Time to head to bed ..

23.02 .. I get into bed and cuddle up with Karen .. there is something we need to do, well try .. and tonight might as well be the night .. << smiles >>. Need less to say, my first efforts aren’t very good, I’m sure with practise things will improve and what I want to achieve will happen.

00.18 .. I turn the light off, nightie night. 

More to come ...

Day 2327. Saturday 23rd April  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I really didn’t sleep well at all, worried that what’s just happened has changed things here for the worse ..

09.10 .. Karen returns with cups of tea .. I’d nodded off again ..

10.15 .. Up and at it .. it’s the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 12lb .. I sort the kitchen routine and then head back upstairs to shower.

11.40 .. I head of out to do what I need to do .. to the dump to get rid of two bags full of garage rubbish .. then on to Camberley. I’m delayed at the dump, I follow a truck into the lane to the dump .. so I’m stopped from entering while it sorts itself out.

12.10 .. I’m in Homebase at The Meadows .. to buy some plastic storage boxes. I also find some 5 packs of rather nifty clothes hangers .. black velvet covered so clothes don’t fall off, and have a novel pressed hook formed in the top of the hanger so you can hang a load one below another .. brilliant !! .. I bought 2 packs. I bought 5 small and 5 medium lidded storage boxes.

12.45 .. I’m inside M&S to get a pint of skimmed milk and the free pack of luxury hot cross buns with the token out of today’s Daily Telegraph newspaper .. but end up picking up a few other goodies too.

13.18 .. I’m home.

Well the storage boxes are just spot on .. two medium size boxes are filled with Bob’s old Riobamba log books .. thinner volumes 1 - 26 in one box, thicker volumes 27 - 47 in another. Log 47 for year 2010 I thought might be devoid of my name .. but Bob had logged the delivery trip from Port Solent to Gosport Marina .. so my name is there.  The log books might go in the loft, but they are seriously heavy .. so I can see them going in the garage, when I’ve cleared some more out from the “inner” wall side.

Lunch is served .. cold sausages from last night wrapped in hunks of M&S “rustic” wholemeal “French” bread

14.55 .. We head for my mums .. I need this to be a quick visit to be honest .. I want to get back and do my drudgery before we go out tonight ..

15.09 .. We are in mum’s flat .. Karen gets mother full on, and apart from asking me what I’d like to drink I have little asked of me .. fine by me.

16.10 .. We finally leave mothers flat .. 20 mins later than I wanted, needed .. such is life .. we head for the Shell garage in Egham 135.9 for ordinary unleaded .. this is criminal !!!

16.33 .. We are home .. I give Nikki a call to see hen she want’s us around .. 18.30 !! .. we agree on 19.00 but that doesn’t give me time to do the drudgery .. maybe tomorrow night when we are back from Claire’s.

17.40 .. ish .. Nanda pops up a Skype message box, asking if I’m here .. so I call her. She’s a bit bedraggled having been out on her bike, but it’s a relief to see her so much happier than the last time we spoke on web cam.

18.15 .. I head to the bathroom to freshen up and change before going out ..

18.59 .. We are on the road to Nikki & Tony ..

19.09 .. We arrive outside Nikki’s house .. wow .. once in through the electric gates it’s even more impressive. However as I’m manoeuvring the car she steps out .. it turns out not all the house is hers, she has a wing attached to her parents house .. but it’s still impressive.

Initially we sit outside in Nikki’s part of the garden, probably only a 1/4 slice of the whole, but probably 5 x what we have at home. Karen’s agreed to drive home and tomorrow to see Claire .. so I can drink. Tortillas and bread chunks provide transport for a couple of dips that Nikki has made .. lovely.

20.15 .. ish .. We move into the massive kitchen dinner .. and the tomato and mozzarella starter is served .. tasty .. with a shared side of roast dried tomatoes and very black olives .. delish !!. 

The main course, can’t remember what it was called .. a rice dish with meat and mushroom stew .. and some salad .. really nice.

The dessert was an apple tart tatin, with home made vanilla and caramel ice creams .. wow .. did that hit the spot. Nikki had made a second dessert .. an Eton Mess .. which was also very nice.
                               
We talked about all sorts .. especially home improvements, which Tony is in the midst of and what Karen and I need to get into.

We make a loose arrangement to go and do a tapas at Domingo’s in North Fields in a fortnights time.

23.13 .. ish .. We head for home .. once we’ve sorted things at home we’ll have to return the favour ..

23.23 .. We are home .. Karen heads up to bed while I decide to sort the laptop for tomorrow. In hind site this probably wasn’t a good idea as I decide to boot our two old backup laptops too .. which need multiple updates and re boots. Sadly, it seems, the new battery pack I bought for the smaller laptop 16 months or so ago has died .. I wonder if it was that long ago .. I’ll have to try and find the related emails or paperwork .. it had a years warrantee.

00.24 .. I head up for bed ..

00.58 .. I finally climb into bed.

More to come ...

Day 2328. Sunday 24th April 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept pretty well, well after all that wine last night, it’s hardly surprising ..

07.50 .. I wake up as Karen gets up .. she returns with tea for two ..

08.35 .. Karen gets up and tells me to go shower ..

10.07 .. We are on the road .. apparently it’s only fair that I sit in the back .. Robert’s only 2 inches taller than me, he could easily fit in the back ..

10.21 .. As we join the M25 I boot the laptop and use my 3G dongle to look at my 2 Facebook accounts .. the traffic is really light.

10.43 .. We join the M1 .. it’s running very smoothly ..

11.29 .. I look up from the laptop just as we pass Northampton services .. so we are about half way ..

12.10 .. We’ve arrived at Donington Services .. a bit to early to eat really .. so after a quick discussion we doo a drive by and head for the M&S services near J26 .. 

12.24 .. We arrive at Trowell Services .. a quick comfort stop and then lunch in the car on various M&S goodies ..

13.01 .. Back on the road, 20 minutes before we are with Claire .. I try to finish off yesterday’s diary ..

13.22 .. We arrive at Claire’s home ..

Well it’s not a good situation we find Claire in .. she’s refusing to get out of bed again ..

I / We spend a lot of the time in Claire’s lounge watching “Dirty Dancing” .. hoping the sound will tempt Claire out of her bedroom .. that fails.

Karen lays a path of foil wrapped chocolate bunnies and hearts leading from Claire’s bed to her chair in her own lounge. At one point Claire does leap out of bed to get the bunny nearest and returns to her bed.

At one point Karen is at Claire’s head end and I’m massaging Claire’s feet and ankles. I notice a horrible build up of very lumpy dry skin on her heels that must really hurt to walk on. I get a course emery board from my hand bag and attack both of her heels. The emery board is soon wrecked, but both heels feel and look a lot better .. I rub some cream into her feet after I’ve finished.   

16.20 .. A tearful Karen pulls away from Claire and goes to talk to the staff .. telling Robert and I to say our goodbye’s with Claire .. I leap in and go from sitting on the side of Claire’s bed to laying alongside her and cuddling.

Claire keeps crying and saying goodbye, but after a while she’s got her face half buried in my chest and really calm, I’m sure she dropped off a couple of times. We lay together and talk about her coming home and the things we can do while I stroke and caress her back and head .. see Granny, have Pizza for dinner, have a barbecue and have a Claire sandwich.

Every now and again, I get a few sobs from Claire, she keeps asking “where’s Lucy” .. this is a problem often Claire renames people, so everyone is trying to fathom out who Lucy is .. but clearly it’s causing her distress.

A Claire sandwich is when the three of us lay in our two woman beach tent in the garden, it’s a bit of a squeeze but Claire likes it .. and so do I.

16.45 .. I look over at Robert and mouth at him to “get mum” .. Karen soon arrives and I roll away, my left shoulder is agony .. what follows seems to be a happy Claire, half crying half giggling agreeing to come home next week as we say a final goodbye .. time will tell, my money would be on a stale mate still.

I’m hoping to get to Whitby for the couple of days over the bank holiday to visit my friend Christine, to help her celebrate her birthday on the Tuesday, so I might end up doing a dash in to see Claire as I zoom up the M1 .. Claire would be just over ½ way to Whitby.

16.51 .. We’re back in the car, heading for home ..

17.06 .. We join the M1 at J26 .. “follow the M1 for 101 miles” the TomTom is giving us an ETA of 19.29 with 4 minutes of delays en route .. but it seems Mrs Schumacher is out of the cage again, and the ETA is winding down.

18.41 .. After some delays in M1 road works we finally join the M25 .. it’s not bad .. ETA now 19.25 .. but Mrs Schumacher is back out of the box ..

18.46 .. We are out of the M25 roadworks .. next stop home, though a fuel stop in Egham is on the cards I suspect ..

19.02 .. We leave the M25 at J13 .. ETA now 19.20 ..

19.19 .. We are home ..

20.00 .. Time for nibble .. crisps left from lunch time and the last of a salsa dip.

20.15 .. Dinner is served .. a baked cheese and caramelised onion tart with a salad and garlic bread, dessert is a portion of “chocolate trifle” .. all washed down with Sat Vaast Chardonnay ..

Post dinner I do some web updating of my diary .. and create 4 months of new pages ..

More to come ...                                   

Day 2329. Monday 25th April 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Sorry .. I've been lax with my note keeping ..

More to come ...       

Day 2330. Tuesday 26th April 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Sorry .. I've been lax with my note keeping ..

More to come ...

Day 2331. Wednesday 27th April 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

Sorry .. I've been lax with my note keeping ..

From my Facebook account ..

"Following this mornings visit to the doctors and telling him what I'm doing he's quite pleased, but need to not let my heart go too fast too soon ..:-( .. for my age, in good health my max should be 165 BPM .. but not yet !!!"

More to come ...

Day 2332. Thursday 28th April 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Sorry .. I've been lax with my note keeping ..

More to come ...

Day 2333. Friday 29th April 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

From my Facebook account ..

"What a day .. been really good with the street "party" today .. everyone commented that the music was good and made the day .. sadly due to stupidity on my part .. I overheated one power amp in my Marantz 2385 .. lucky I had a spare pair of Marantz MA5's Mono Blocks in the loft, not used for 20 years .. which took over and did the job."

01.02 .. I finally climb into bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2334. Saturday 30th April  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

07.30 .. The alarm goes off ..

07.42 .. Up and at it .. a quick pit stop then I go down and do the Saturday morning weigh in .. 15st 0 3/4 lb .. well that’ll be down to the gross over eating yesterday.

07.53 .. I’m in the shower ..

08.17 .. I’m in the bedroom to get dressed ..

The kitchen routine .. is not easy this morning, the kitchen is cluttered with stuff from yesterday .. doh ..

09.05 .. Karen phones the home .. it’s mixed news .. Claire’s happy enough but refusing to leave ..

I print off a form from the government web site to cancel the VAT registration for the company we dissolved 2 years ago .. better late than never .. then fill it in.

10.02 .. Karen calls the home, they are struggling with Claire .. things aren’t very hopeful by the sound of it ..

Karen and I go out and pack the gazebo back ito it’s holder .. the wind is blowing a bit so care is needed.

10.30 .. back in the lounge .. a cup of tea to destress.

11.03 .. The phone rings .. it’s the home .. they’ve managed to get Claire out and into a car .. she’s on her way .. but they’ve left it ten minutes before calling us ..

11.07 .. We are on the road to Northampton services in Sparkle .. Karen heads for the M3 as this should be the fastest route .. I suspect Mrs Schumacher is coming out .. soon proves to be true.

11.47 .. We join the M1 ..

12.31 .. Despite the holdup on the M25 we’ve made record time .. but Claire is refusing to get out of the homes car. We soon discover the possible reason for Claire’s bad mood, they’ve just had a Macdonald’s meal in the car and she’s been given Coke !!!! “Coke” is something Claire should never be given, stupid carers.

We play all sorts of games to try and persuade Claire out of the car .. all fail.

Karen moves the car round to the other side of the homes car .. so Claire can see it and i’s open door.

I put the Enigma CD on in our car .. Claire want me to turn it up .. I do for a short while then turn it down .. she wants it loud .. come to our car .. that fails ..

13.50 .. We've done it .. Claire's in our car and we are on our way home, via my office .. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-).

14.38 .. We are back on the M25 .. now heading for my office to drop off the mixer I borrowed for yesterday’s street party .. Phil might need it on Tuesday or Wednesday when I’m off work.

14.47 .. We exit the M25 at J17 and head across country to my office ..

15.03 .. We are outside my offices back door .. I nip in, put the mixer on Phil’s desk, grab a couple of cold Kit Kat’s of mine out of the fridge, one for Claire for being good, one for Karen and I to share .. love is.

15.04 .. Sorted .. on our way home .. the security man must be wondering what we are up to .. Claire makes quick work of her Kit Kat.

15.27 .. We leave the M25 at J13 and head up the A30 to home .. Claire’s now asking about going to see granny .. something else to worry about a little later.

15.44 .. We are home, Karen and I are starving ..

More to come ...

Day 2335. Sunday 1st May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

07.48 .. I’m bone dry .. I need a drink and my glass is empty .. I sneak downstairs for some water .. but Claire’s heard me .. DOH .. I return to bed but not for long ..

08.03 .. I’m out of bed to help Karen with Claire .. things are no better than last night .. in fact they seem worse ..

10.50 .. I have to sort the kitchen routine .. my oestrogen tanks are very low for this time of the morning .. Karen showers while I keep an eye on Claire using “Claire Cam” from the lounge TV ..

11.32 .. I head for the shower ..

11.50 .. ish .. I’m in the shower still as Robert arrives .. we organise my escape t the bedroom and then down to dry my hair ..

12.15 .. I fire up the barbecue .. another attempt at bribery with Claire ..
                   
13.11 .. It's total hell here this morning with Claire .. she's still in bed, refusing to move.

14.15 .. Claire .. she's still in bed, refusing to move, this is the nightmare that concerned me before getting her yesterday. Should have been on the road for Alfreton by now, then on to Whitby to stay with a friend .. I don't think International Rescue could get us out of this one .. :(

15.15 .. ish .. Karen asks Robert to call her sister Tracy .. to try and persuade Claire into action ..

15.20 .. ish .. Tracy arrives .. in a way this increases the tension for me knowing her transphobic / hostile attitude towards me ..

After a while tracy manages to persuade Claire out of bed for a clean up .. and then down stairs on to the settee .. half way out.

16.10 .. ish .. While I’m in the drive preparing the car they manage to get Claire to the kitchen door, but allow her to bolt back in.

17.08 .. Got you .. as Karen, Robert and Tracy leave the lounge for me to muscle Claire out Claire gets up to close the patio door .. she had to step outside .. I was right behind her unknown to her. It took little effort to nudge her forward away from the door and shut it behind me .. now she has to walk round to the side door and the waiting car.

17.11 .. With Claire secured in the back sea, child locks on .. I drive off in Violet .. going for the fastest route via the M3.

19.53 .. We arrive at claire’s home ..

20.52 .. We left Claire's home, she nor us are very happy with how today has gone .. a night mare of epic proportions .. stopped for a quick bite at a KFC on a M1 services .. ok it's not food, but was comfort .. ETA home 23.56.. :(

21.22 .. I pull off into a services .. can’t remember which one, but the first KFC one after M1 J26 going south ..

21.59 .. Back on the road again, with Karen driving so I can do some “tip tap”, £20.01 of fuel taken on to ensure we get home .. 108 miles to go .. ETA 23.56 ..

I posted a link and a comment on facebook, on my real name account, to an Independent Newspaper article about police arresting 55 people and then only charging 50 .. my comment was this is typical police miss use of power. An ex colleague from my Jazzfm days, whose now a policeman has taken exception to it .. well that’s not a surprise. He says the breach of the peace arrests are fully justified .. even if no charges are made later .. tell that to a few transsexuals arrested for same when they are the ones being threatened .. and for using the correct loos .. according to Home Office and police guidelines. Hmmmm !!!

23.39 .. We leave the M25 at J13 ..

23.53 .. We are home ..

01.22 .. I’m finally in bed ..

More to come ...                                   

Day 2336. Monday 2nd May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

10.20 .. Up and at it ..

11.48 .. I arrive at the garden centre at Bagshot .. gosh it’s hell .. the car park is over flowing ..

Once inside it’s no better .. I find some flowers for Karen and for Christine .. then queue ten back from the tills to pay.

12.45 .. Well that was a mistake .. gosh the queue out of the place is enormous too.

12.55 .. I give Karen her flowers, but how to keep Christine’s Lillys fresh .. I find an old Paul Masson wine carafe from the garage to stand them in with water .. I pass the bunch through an old plastic coat hanger first, then stand them on the seat, with a plastic bag stuffed in around the stems as they leave the carafe .. an anti splash seal. With coat hanger clipped to a head rest, and seat belt passed through that .. all is secure and the flowers will stay fresh.

13.59 .. I’m finally in the car on my way to see Christine in Whitby ..

Being early on a bank holiday I’d have thought the roads would be kind to me .. but they aren’t.

18.50 .. ish .. I arrive at Christine’s .. the welcome is warm as usual ..

More to come ...       

Day 2337. Tuesday 3rd May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

07.40 .. The alarm .. I call Karen before she heads of to work.

18.45 .. Christine’s guests, well friends, start to arrive ..

More to come ...

Day 2338. Wednesday 4th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

07.40 .. My alarm goes off .. I call Karen ..

13.55 .. I say goodbye to Christine and hit the road ..

18.46 .. I am home from Whitby ..

More to come ...

Day 2339. Thursday 5th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

08.22 .. I’m back on the road again ..

More to come ...

Day 2340. Friday 6th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.15 .. The alarm ..

06.25 .. Up and at it .. hair wash day ..

08.12 .. I’m on the road ..

08.54 .. I’m in the car park ..

10.25 .. Seb helps me with a system fault that has had it’s roots hanging around for a while .. except one faulty monitoring panel has become 4 ..

14.25 .. I finally stop for lunch ..

15.30 .. It’s all working except there is an intermittent fault on the original faulty panel .. clearly it’s a dry joint .. I’ll have to strip the unit and do some soldering. Inside, the front panel board is one piece, end to end, I discover the problem ..

16.45 .. ish .. I’ve finished with the monitoring fault ..

17.10 .. Boss Jon comes in to tell us we can go home .. well I’m the only one left here so I guess he means me .. so be it.

17.18 .. I head for home .. 
   
More to come ...

Day 2341. Saturday 7th May  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I didn’t sleep well, thunder outside disturbed me several times .. and I got very hot and thirsty ..

08.55 .. Karen gets up for a comfort break and returns with cups of tea ..

10.10 .. Up and at it ..

It’s the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 10 1/4lb ...

13.12 .. I head out to Woking to get my mum’s bits ..

14.52 .. I’m home .. as Karen makes lunch I get a hacksaw out of the garage and cut the iron stand off the new ironing board for mother .. it’s the only way to make this shortest possible ironing board short enough to go into mothers alcove in her hallway !!

17.18 .. We arrive at my mums ..

18.20 .. We head for home ..

18.38 .. We are home ..

Karen phone’s Claire’s home .. seems like the news is still good .. we can only hope for next weekend ..

19.10 .. ish .. I order the Chinese ..

19.35 .. I’m back with the food ..

Lychees and fortune cookie time .. my fortune cookies read .. “HAND THAT TOUCH THIS SLIP BE SAVED FROM MISFORTUNE” .. the second one .. “BE KIND TO PIGEONS. A STATUE WILL SOME DAY BE MADE OF YOU”. Hmmmm.

Post dinner we sit on the settee and cuddle ..

20.52 .. Karen goes to make the tea .. I dive on the PC and add some diary notes quickly .. 

22.02 .. I’m in bed .. some nice moments of tenderness ..

23.22 .. Nightie night.

More to come ...

Day 2342. Sunday 8th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

Despite the wine last night, and those lovely moments before we went to sleep, I didn’t sleep that well .. worrying about something I have to do later today ..

09.00 .. ish .. Karen makes some tea .. some nice cuddles follow, but I also have some weepy moments .. deep love can hurt, well it does me. 

10.45 .. Up and at it ..

12.55 .. I head for Waitrose ..

Post Waitrose I drive down to the local Esso garage clutching my 3p a litre off voucher from Waitrose .. only to find yesterdays special 136.9p has finished .. it was a one day offer apparently .. but with 3p of the now 139.9, it’s cheaper than Shell in Egham.

14.15 .. ish .. I’m home ..

16.25 .. I head up to do the drudgery ..

16.57 .. I’m in that position ..

17.25 .. I’m seriously starting to dread doing the drudgery, I have to stop and head for a comfort break .. in doing so I fail to make sure the dilator is standing on it’s base properly, it falls .. so I have to go clean that before I can start again.

17.35 .. Back in the position .. a little easier but still not a good session and I feel I’m fighting a losing battle ..

18.15 .. I have to give up, I’m so sore and not reached my depth for the n’th week running, it’s hurting, gosh I hate this.

18.55 .. I’m all cleaned up and sitting tenderly on the settee .. Karen gives me a glass of Pims to help me relax ..

19.15 .. Dinner is served .. a ham salad followed by English strawberries and ice cream .. << smiles >>.

22.15 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...                                   

Day 2343. Monday 9th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

From my Facebook account ..

"Left work at 19.40 tonight .. echo's of a previous job, except somewhat more often in W1H 6DL. Studio fault still there .. but at least I know where it is, 99% sure .. 24 x 24V gas filled gold contact relays to order tomorrow then another mega session when Paul can clear the studio for me for another day to install !!! Oh yes, the blood on the carpet in Studio 1 is mine !!"

19.40 .. I finally walk out of my office and head for home ..

20.17 .. I’m home !!

20.25 .. Dinner is served .. a ham and cheese salad, the free bee Waitrose mustard salad dressing is fab .. dessert is chocolate cheese cake .. Karen has raspberries with her’s .. mine comes with strawberries and cream.

20.50 .. Karen goes to make a cup of tea ..  

More to come ...       

Day 2344. Tuesday 10th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

From my Facebook account ..

"After spending so many hours scrunched up under a studio sound mixer yesterday, I ach like hell today, jogging was very painful, and though nearly a minute longer today it hurt a lot more .. :-("

More to come ...

Day 2345. Wednesday 11th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

09.13 .. I pass Tracy walking up the drive .. has she been delayed by the M25 too this morning .. LOL.

09.16 .. I’m finally in the office ..

17.34 .. I leave the office and head for Tesco’s in Gerrards Cross ..

19.22 .. I’m home ..

Dinner is served and notice Waterloo Road on BBC1 .. by the time we’ve finished eating the program has me in tears .. I’d had suspicions about a character earlier and later it was proved when “Martin” , a 16year old boy came out publicly as transsexual .. to say it had me moved as he talked to a friend and others about his feelings is an understatement.

23.21 .. Time for bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2346. Thursday 12th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

19.20 .. I post a message about last night Waterloo Road, ( Complimentary ) on the Points of View message board ..

19.50 .. We head for the pub ..

20.15 .. ish .. Mandy arrives ..

22.25 .. ish .. We head for home ..

22.35 .. I log into the PC and check the BBC site .. my message has been approved and is now on the BBC site .. I wonder if it’ll get mentioned on Sundays show ..

More to come ...

Day 2347. Friday 13th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

Karen’s quite unwell after last nights meal .. oo er .. she’s blaming going straight to bed with no cup of tea ..

06.35 .. I’m finally up and at it ..

08.20 .. I’m finally on the road .. I take a risk and head for the M3 at Lightwater ..

08.53 .. I’m in the car park at work .. amazing !!

09.45 .. ish .. The van has arrived for Mark and I to use Monday & Tuesday next week .. it’s a massive long wheel base, high roof Mercedes Sprinter .. brand new .. 192 miles on the clock

13.55 .. We head for our meeting in the conference room ..

17.00 .. Meeting finally over .. we head back to the office ..

We pack some more items into the van ..

17.22 .. Jon tells us we can go .. just as bigger boss Geoff appears and starts to ask questions about our meeting ..

17.38 .. I finally leave the office ..

18.43 .. I am home ..

19.22 .. ish .. I order the Chinese ..

19.48 .. I’m back with the food ..

20.20 .. ish .. Lychees and fortune cookie time .. my fortune cookies read .. “YOU WILL INHERIT A LARGE SUM OF MONEY” .. the second one .. “YOUR LUCKY NUMBER NINE WILL KEEP YOUR FUTURE FINE”. Well we’ve lived at number 9 for over 25 years, I’m guessing has sort of looked after us despite all the problems we’ve had.

More to come ...

Day 2348. Saturday 14th May  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

07.10 .. The alarm ..

07.35 .. Up and at it .. afer a pit stop I do the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 11lb ... a tad up on last weekends, I blame to exercise less days and yesterdays meals ..

07.50 .. Back in the bathroom to shower ..

08.23 .. I’ in the kitchen battling for space with Karen ..

08.40 .. Breakfast sorted .. I nip out to sort Red out for next weekend .. well at least wash it. 10 minutes with a bucket of water cleaning the door, bonnet and boot slams, and other area’s I know the car was misses, then head to the BP in Lightwater to use the car wash.

Good news at the BP, their buy 2 get the third free on car wash offer has been improved .. buy 1 and get one free .. Red gets the luxury of the full monty £6 one.

09.12 .. I’m home with a gleaming Red .. apart from the fading in places she doesn’t look bad for a 9 year old Jazz with 117K miles on the clock, as I proved yesterday going to work .. she boots well too !!!

11.16 .. We head of in Sparkle for Karen’s transphobic sisters house, in Lightwater, to collect presents for Claire before we head north ..

11.36 .. We join the M3 at Lightwater .. Karen has her foot down ..

12.07 .. We join the M1, at least at this time all the FA cup final traffic in the opposite direction won’t effect our trip North ..

12.17 .. We join a queue on the M1 just before J11 in the road works, just on que, BBC R2 announces  that there’s been an accident in the contra flow south, so they’ve closed a lane on our side to help them clear the accident ..

12.31 .. Short of the accident we discover an additional delay on our side, a van pulling a car on a trailer has broken down . Once past that we are back to 50mph.

12.23 .. We reach the scene of the accident in the contra flow .. there’s a 4 x 4 with the front offside crunched .. and behind it are miles of cars trapped, it’s a very long contra flo, some are football supporters in coaches, not in the contra flo but still stuffed, quite clearly .. not going to get to Wembley .. ho hum.

The queue’s of traffic heading south just goes for miles .. glad it should be cleared in 6 hours or so when we have to return home ..

12.43 .. Clear of that set of roadworks, Mrs Schumacher is out of her box .. 

13.41 .. We arrive at Donnington services ..

14.26 .. We are done .. and head for Claire ..

I do a quick check on the thread I started on BBC’s Points of View message board, there has now been 7 replies to my posting .. I really hope the BBC takes notice of the comments ..  ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbpointsofview/NF1951566?thread=8201190 )

14.56 .. We arrive at Claire’s home ...

18.16 .. I drive away from Claire’s home ..

19.43 .. We pull off the motorway into a services, Karen takes some photo’s of the rainbow and then we go in, the shared bucket of KFC is soon abandoned, as we head for the car and an Indian near home ..

20.46 .. We pull up outside the Indian Restaurant in the village ..

22.14 .. We are home ..

A flying visit to the Transgender_Outreach chat room .. Martha and girl from the USA are there ..

23.45 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2349. Sunday 15th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept well .. on and off .. woke a few times for drinks of water and to add and remove layers .. these night sweats are getting me down ..

09.36 .. Karen wakes me with a cup of tea ..

10.16 .. Up and at it .. I need my HRT .. so quick freshen up / wake up and head down to do Kitchen routine ..

11.10 .. ish .. Start a facebook chat with Lori in the USA ..

11.52 .. I’m in the bathroom, and do a full monty pampering session, epilator and all ..

12.45 .. I finally get into the shower ..

13.25 .. Lunch .. a bread roll with cheeses and pickle, olives, feta stuffed sweet chilli’s .. lovely .. I save half my torpedo roll for a good slick of honey .. did I mention the slice of cake.

14.05 .. ish .. I head for the dump to get rid of some garage junk previously bagged up, then head on to Waitrose ..

15.07 .. I’m home .. and put shopping into fridge and freezer.

Once home I run the extension cable out of the garage and hoover out Sparkle to capture something spilt on the dump run, then turn my attention to Red .. I want a nice clean car to take to Nanda’s next week .. inside as well.

16.45 .. I’m sorted with car cleaning .. so put everything away and do a quick check on Red’s vitals .. she still only needs a sip of Mobil One, 10k miles on from last service ..

16.55 .. I’m back in doors to watch BBC’s Points of View ..

17.15 .. Points of View has come and gone without mention of Waterloo Road, there is 12 comments now on my original comment on there message board ..

I head up to start on my nails ..

19.05 .. ish .. Dinner is served .. sausages, new potatoes and mushrooms in a cream sauce .. lovely .. followed by Strawberries and ice cream.

19.35 .. Back to my nail studio ..

20.20 .. A break for a cup of tea and a couple of squares of dark chocolate.

21.15 .. I’ve finished my nails .. I head down just as Karen’s come up .. I need to let my nails dry properly .. hopefully I can keep them good for next weekend at Nanda’s.

21.50 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...                                   

Day 2350. Monday 16th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

More to come ...       

Day 2351. Tuesday 17th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

More to come ...

Day 2352. Wednesday 18th May 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

More to come ...