Photoslam!

This is a shameless plug for the next big photography event that Rachel is organising: the Leeds photoslam on 30th October 2010. I think this is about the third or maybe fourth photoslam that Rachel has organised and it's essentially an opportunity for photographers and models to get together and cram many different shoots, looks, outfits and a large amount of fun into one morning/afternoon, or in this case a whole day!

For anyone that's read my earlier posts about previous photoslams, you'll know that they're quite a challenge; from a photographers point of view you really have to think about what you're doing, trying to get the best from the pictures you're taking and thinking on your feet. For everyone it's a great opportunity to learn and teach at the same time; there is so much that goes into making a fantastic picture and being able to work with some fabulous and experienced models, make-up artists, and stylists is an education.

You can see pictures from the previous shoot we did at the Leeds Corn Exchange, the venue for the photoslam, over on my website.

Snap Happy!

My hobby is getting a little out of control!
I have been spending an awful lot of time taking pictures and processing the resulting images and, if the purchase of new L-series lenses wasn't enough of a clue, I'm getting rather obsessive about it all! That said I'm really enjoying myself and hopefully getting pictures that other people like as well. The one above is of Jaymie, and below Caz.
All of the pictures are going into galleries on my website which was originally intended as a dumping ground for everything I couldn't fit on here but which now seems to have taken on a life of it's own and which probably needs a bit of a re-purpose and clean-up!

Here's a few of the recent galleries and shoots I've done in the past month or so, I still have several hundred images still to process and upload but that is a very time-consuming task so need to just attack it a bit at a time work and life permitting!

• Jaymie - Portfolio pictures
  
• Manchester Pride - Pictures of people from the weekend, still need to processes the parade shots!
• ASK York Shoot - Caz and Holly with make-up by Natalie, in the ASK restaurant in York

Hopefully I'll get the other sets of images in the queue processed by the end of this weekend ... but then I'll probably have even more pictures to deal with!

It really is an all-consuming hobby at the moment but I'm really enjoying it so much and think the investment in time and money is worth it for the amount of fun I'm having :)

"Oh, what a night ..."

... and day!

I should first cover the sacrifices made for the day/night to be so good; my feet for a start (think those shoes needed wearing-in first!), and the screen on my N900 phone (though the camera survived me dropping the bag which I am immensely relieved about obviously!). Will have to put in an insurance claim for the phone and rest my feet!

Okay, now the good stuff: Afternoon at York races curtesy of my fabulous and stunning friend, Jane who invited me along. This was the, sometimes dreaded and infamous, girls-day-out, comprising Jane's sister, cousins and friends. I mentioned what I was doing to (male) friends at work and they immediately decided that York was not the place to be on Saturday!

But the group was just fantastic and while we were definitely loud, drunk, and sometimes pretty boisterous and maybe even verging on crude and more unruly than some of the guys, we looked gorgeous and just had soooooooo much fun! I think only Jane won anything on the horses and the ones that the group picked all failed to make it across the line first (though there were some that were close ... sadly this doesn't appear to count, oh well, live and learn lol).

I've never been to the races before and it was a wonderful experience that I completely enjoyed! Just a nice atmosphere. I took quite a few pictures (could have taken more there was so many stunning people and outfits) which I'll have to add to the pile I need to process so don't expect an update anytime soon.

One rather irritating thing was some particularly obnoxious guys who kept pestering our little group. They were just annoying, making comments, staring, pointing and being generally the mindless and laddish in every possible bad sense of those words. Really, this is not the way to impress the ladies, it just shows what an idiot your are. Thankfully after Jane had a little word with them they left us alone. Considering the guys we met later I can only conclude that these idiots were childish little boys.

So, moving onto the X factor performance - there was a stage they'd set up that became the focus of attention after the racing finished. Everyone seemed to know who the people were that sang but I've lost interest in the X Factor so I had no idea. Was pretty entertaining and we had a good dance (more photos of course), and were joined by a lovely group of guys who turned out to be quite photogenic and fun (can you have phonetic alliteration?). See above for contrast by the way!

After the dancing fun it was time to get some junk food to soak up some alcohol and then head into town on the extremely over-subscribed shuttle buses; the queues being fueled by the torrent of people streaming from the race course. Feet got a bit of a rest at this point and once we got off we all realised that, while our shoes may look fantastic, they aren't designed to cover the miles in comfort! Several shoes ended up having a little rest as feet got to feel the slightly cold (and damp - brief shower) pavement.

Found a bar (Varsity as it happens) and got more drinks. Ended up talking to a guys out on a stag night who couldn't decide if they were Fireman or bin-men or both. Either way they were lovely to chat to and we ended up following them to Reflex which is an 80s bar, where the remainder of the stag party and Jane and I danced solidly from when we got in until when we left (the guys carried on, I finally succumbed to my feet's wishes so we had to leave). Thanks guys, we had a fantastic time x

Back home by taxi, then time for bacon sandwiches before crashing into bed. Up at stupid o'clock this morning (Jane had to get away and I'm genetically cursed with waking up early irrespective of when I go to bed). Thankfully I'm not hung-over but I suspect I'm going to be very tired later on; today is therefore a 'duvet day' and I'm going to chill in front of the telly!

Now, just a note for regular reader(s): I've mentioned guys lots here so I better clarify; no, I'm not turning straight of anything like that, I have no interest in men apart from as friends. However, I do really, really appreciate guys who are polite, respectful, and charming. I would happily go on a 'date' with a nice guy who would be a total gentleman (I've even got a mental list of people who I'd pick given a choice - it mainly includes actors and the likes but there are some others on there). Guys do get a bad press (because of the f***-wits I described earlier) but really most of the men I encounter are pretty much normal, nice, fun, interesting and just wonderful human beings.

Anyway, I best get on with chilling out and having a relaxing Sunday. Final word: to Jane and the rest of the girls, THANKS LOTS you're all FABULOUS xxx

Chinese New Year

Sunday was spent in Manchester with my son seeing the Chinese New Year celebrations. On the plus side we had a good time, managed to see some of the performances (the Dragon for example), took a few pictures and ate some nice food. Ultimately though it was rather over-crowded and we didn't stay into the evening to see the fireworks.

It was lovely to see my son again and I must mention what really made the day extra special. For a start I was able to pick him up from his house rather than meeting somewhere else. This in itself is an amazingly huge step and I am thankful enough for that alone. But I also got to stay for a while when I dropped him off and got to see the wonderful home in which he lives and also his bedroom.

I know that sounds a bit silly, it's just a room after all, but it had changed so much since I was last there and ... I really don't know how to explain it. It was just something I wanted to be able to share in and be able to picture in my head when I talked to him on the phone.

When I left I was close to tears I was so grateful and happy, I really can't describe how much it meant to me. All I can say is Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, Thank you.

Empowerment Through Style

Friday night was the event that Rachel had organised at Stonegate Yard in York, "Empowerment Through Style" brought together several independent, local, boutiques as well as the Body Shop, to show how feeling good about yourself isn't always about fashion but simply putting together your own look that you can be confident about. My friend Jen (see earlier post with her posing in a red corset!), very kindly, offered to act as a model for clothes and make-up (the picture above is Saskia from the Body Shop doing her make-up which looked amazing!).

We all had alot of fun, the clothes, as provided by One (Responsibly Gorgeous Clothing) were fantastic (so much so that Jen actually bought the outfit she was wearing) and everyone mingled and had a good chat. One thing that really stands out in my mind was trying on the corsets that Sarah from Elizabeth Wells had brought along. They did look fab but I wasn't initially thinking of actually having a go myself but I'm so glad I did!

I should say first of all that this isn't the best picture of me, nor of the corsets that Sarah sells, in fact I'll add a second picture below of Hannah who looks so much better than me anyway and utterly amazing in the gorgeous white corset (I tried this on as well but no pictures of that unfortunately).

The black corset I'm wearing isn't full size, though it's slightly on the large size for me apparently (didn't feel like it) and Sarah didn't fasten it very (relatively) tightly but it still did give me more of a figure and actually was very comfortable. Yes, I know that doesn't sound right but really I didn't feel like I couldn't breath or that I was being painfully squashed, it felt fine and also made me sit straighter and with much better posture. It also made me feel pretty good as well.

Trying on the full size white corset was amazing! I wasn't brave enough to do this will no t-shirt or bra on, which I should really have done, and I've kind of regretted that as it would have been fantastic. I am definitely going to get a proper fitting and try on a few different corsets when I get the time (and the money) to do that. Really I'm not sure how to describe how good I felt with the corset on - it's not anything kinky (though I can fully understand why people like them for that reason) it just feels really amazing to have that shape and feeling of being so poised, stylish, feminine I guess. And it affected everyone there, loads of people wanted to try them on and everyone was thrilled once they did. Really I haven't got the words to describe it!

Anyway, a fantastic night was had by all and I really hope Rachel organises something similar, only bigger, better, and starting sooner and finishing later, sometime soon!

Dressing up!

I don't really remember doing much dressing up when I was little, I maybe did go through that usual phase when I was very young but it's not something I can recall. I do have fairly clear memories of NOT wanting to dress-up and being quite embarrassed about costumes and the like, certainly I never went to any fancy dress parties!

But things do change and access to a rather interesting wardrobe of 'dressing-up' clothes, courtesy of Rachel (items she's used on photoshoots before) and of course her, armed with camera, to record the results, has opened up quite alot of possibilities! The picture below being an example of this:
My friend Jen came round on Friday night, originally for a girlie night in that was to include food, endless chatting and equally limitless alcohol. Rachel and I had been talking about photoshoots to Jen and we just suggested we could do a few pics to practice ...

... well that's when it got out of hand! We essentially turned the sitting room into a studio with proper lighting (those big lightboxes you see on the pro shoots, wish I'd got a picture of the setup it looked very impressive). The pictures here are just a few samples, most were taken of Jen on her own (she's alot more photogenic than me) and I'll add a link to those once Rachel has processed them properly (they will likely be on the Random Acts Webzine so keep an eye on that).

For anyone who is a little scared of having their picture taken I have to say this: don't be! It is, once you get into it, sooooo much fun! Really just go for it! A good photographer like Rachel will be happy to work with you to get what you want and delete images you really aren't happy with, or, if you want it, do a little touch up work in PhotoShop if that makes you happier :)

Really, and truly, a photoshoot is fantastic fun!

Happy Girl

While I was driving back from York yesterday I was listening to one of the three 'happy songs' CDs that I have in the car - these are mixes of cheerful music that I made to keep me up-beat while on journeys that are long because of distance or delay (I have an equivalent play-list I use on my phone's mp3 player for cycling up big hills).

One of the tracks is Happy Girl by Martina McBride which is fantastic to sing along to and just make yourself feel happier and cheerier. The lyrics do actually apply well to me and it got me thinking that, with everything I have been through over the past few years, I am still very much a happy girl and in fact always have been. I think I've mentioned this on the blog before but it's worth pointing out again.

There are times when I do feel low and there are certainly posts on the blog which sound like I may be upset, angry, bitter, and depressed. My inarticulate writings may not be able to convey my feelings properly and it's quite possible that I come across as more negative, insecure or down-right insane than I actually am. The reality is that I am a positive person. I'm also approachable, open, friendly, and not in the least bit scary or indimidating. In short, I'm just a nice, happy, normal person.

This line of thinking brought me to the idea of stereotypes: I'm constantly surprised and intrigued recently by people who don't conform to my built-in set of expected behaviours from certain groups. I started to come to the conclusion that I shouldn't be basing my amazement at contradications to stereotypes but instead should approach everyone who is interesting from an individual perspective. This seemed akin to the view of "Wen the Eternally Surprised" who is a character in the Terry Pratchett book Thief of Time.

For example, I passed a large, elegant car (something from maybe the 70s that gently suggested 'classic automobile' and hinted that the owner had this from new and had looked after it well) on the motorway driven by an aged, white-haired Indian gentleman, wearing I suit or similar smart attire, and also occupied by several elderly ladies who appeared to be knitting and gossiping. Obviously the contrasts in terms of culture and skin colour, all based on stereotypes, were striking but I think just as individuals all the occupants of that car, and the vehicle itself would be amazingly interesting in their own right.

It also made me consider that the stereotypes concerning transgendered people may also be the background against which those who have not personally encountered anyone of this nature before view my comments. I'm not sure what the general view may be, I'm obviously biased, but certainly for the available documentaries and news stories of 'ordinary' transexuals we could certainly be perceived as complex, pushy, emotional, sensitive, obsessive, glamourous (I wish!), unstable even. I think almost any group portrayed on TV actually comes across like this, which says more about that medium than about the people being viewed through it!

Being trans myself I take a different perspective which I think is the one that, after the initial coverage of the gender stuff, is more amazing: it's everything else about someone that makes them truly interesting. I certainly use to enjoy the friendly curiosity of others concerning my trans nature, it made me feel special in some way, but now I realise that that attention is fleeting and also there are things about me just as there are about others that are much more worthy of discussion.

There are many examples of the other interesting aspects in peoples lives I have friends who, as well as being trans also; have a model railway shop, can sing and play guitar (and publish videos of themselves doing this - they would say they aren't that good, I just think they are brave and that alone is amazing), work as escorts (this may tend to a bad stereotype of trans people but it's nevertheless interesting), have a job as a welder, are financial experts, run restaurants, work in IT ... actually that last one is generally accepted as quite common lol!

The point is, we are all normal human beings, not extreme in any real sense, friendly, approachable, and fascinating ... just like almost everyone else you are likely to meet in the world. So, lets all try and throw away our stereotypes and see that we are all individuals ("Yes, we are all individuals!" ... "I'm not"), and all amazing, intriguing, and fascinating in our own right. There is so much to learn and experience out there, lets concentrate on that.

Botany Bay

With all the excitement about the new job and general manic week of packing and sorting things out, I've not got round to posting pictures from the weekend. There was a night out on Canal St to meet up with friends I've not seen in a long time (including Lucy and her girlfriend H) followed by a trip to Botany Bay to take photographs - it was the closest place that I could think of that had the kind of backgrounds that we wanted.

While writing this I was hoping to find some explanation of why this visitor attraction attraction near Chorley is named after a a bay in New South Wales but there doesn't appear to be anything in the 'about us' section. Oh well, more research.

Anyway, here are just a few of the shots that we got:

Rachel looking very fab and sexy here! I'm taking credit for the boots and skirt though as they are mine - rather annoyingly she looks MUCH better in them than I do!

One problem with dating someone who is good at photography is that the images are very clear, focused, sharp and show every imperfection and blemish! Expect there to be less photos of me in future lol! However, I need to take more photos like this one (on Rachel's 500D camera):


And one final one against a huge pile of rubble. It is quite strange that, while hunting for locations for photographs that it's possible to get excited about such bizarre things: "Wow, a huge pile of rubble ... lets take a picture!". I think I'm picking that up from Rachel and trying to think of my own ideas for what would make an interesting scene. I suspect that the only way to really get good is to learn from all the fantastic photographers out there and practice, practice, practice.

Inspiration

Well I guess the thing that inspires me most at the moment is Rachel!

That was a rather obvious statement and a rather cheesy prelude to what is a shameful plug; Rachel and the rest of the team, notably Jo and many contributors, have put together the alpha version of the webzine that will form part of Random Acts family of sites.

So, please do have a look at http://www.i-zine.biz to see the start of something fab!

Also Rachel did another photoshoot on Sunday and the pictures from that are available from the DeviantART site under the Tigg-Stock user. The new photos are the ones labelled "Urban Mystique" and "Court Mystique". Here are two of my favorite ones:


Urban mystique 8 by *Tigg-stock on deviantART


Court mystique stock 16 by *Tigg-stock on deviantART

Single Mother on the Verge

This is kind of an intermediate review since I'm only about a quarter of the way through the book and I suppose there are lots more pages to go. But I really am having such an enjoyable read that I thought it was worth mentioning it now.

I have to admit that I had put off reading this as I was concentrating on books that fit more into the fantasy genre for a bit of much needed escapism and fun. I have enjoyed the more biographical titles in the past but I guess I have to be in the right mood.

Anyway, I wish I'd got in the mood for this book sooner; it's funny, interesting, and written in a really accessible (couldn't think of a less pretentious word) style. It's so easy to read, it's almost like each word is carrying so much meaning and imagery that a few sentences are enough to complete make you feel like you're there.

I would highly recommend the book to anyone who wants a witty, interesting, and above all fun read!

I should of course state (as mentioned in a previous post) that a friend of mine actually knows the author (Maria Roberts) and was actually there at the launch event in Manchester so I guess I am ever so slightly biased.

Change Your Mind

I LOVE this song!



Question: What film is the song from? Answers on a postcard!

Music not to give up to

Following on from the previous post I thought I would list some of the music that inspires me and helps keep me going, hopefully it will have the same up-lifting affect on others.

• Never Give Up On Me - Jann Arden, Blood Red Cherry
• Breathe - Michelle Branch, Hotel Paper
• Believe Again - Brinck, Eurovison 2009
  
• Collapsed - Aly & Aj, Into the Rush
• Never In A Million Years - Cara Dillion, After The Morning
• Should've Been The One - Debbie Gibson, Electric Youth (and a few other songs on that album too!)
• Just Like You - Jeni Varnadeau, Something Changed
• My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson, All I Ever Wanted
• This Love - The Veronicas, Hook Me Up

Weekend

I'm still waiting to hear definitively about my job and it may not be until tomorrow now that the final decisions are made which isn't ideal. Feel a bit run-down and pre-occupied obviously so wasn't going to post anything but felt I should keep up with what's been happening - particularly after my comments about going shopping!

So, Friday I decided enough was enough, I wasn't going to wait until Saturday as planned but wanted to go look for a new suit as well as see the new Harry Potter film. Add to that the fact that I just love being in the Trafford Centre as it's so busy and alive, it's certainly better than sitting at home all alone with no-one to talk to (now if only I could be given an unlimited credit card to shop 'till I drop, I'd be in heaven - assuming someone else was picking up the bill obviously!).

Managed to find a suit in M&S without much difficulty at all - their clothes always fit well, look and feel good, and generally seem to be value for money as well as being perfectly acceptable in terms of you feeling like you bought something fashionable and not 'cheap' (yes, I know the stuff you can get from Primark can be just as good but there is just that fashion snobbishness that is built in by all the magazines, adverts and life in general).

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was a good watch. Certainly a long film, but that was to be expected, but it kept the pace up and the interest going - no clock watching for sure. The characters now are very well developed and everyone seems to be very natural, I loved the exchanges between Ron, Hermione and Harry and was really pleased to see Luna Lovegod being completely sureal and strange. Also nice to see an appearance of Tonks as well, I liked her in the previous film. Overall very good and I think I need to re-read the last two books as I clearly don't know them as well as the others, I got the feeling there were a number of departures from the original story with some being obvious but others I was less sure about.

Saturday I had laser, which was the penultimate one for this lot and at this late stage I have discovered about Emla cream as the beautician doing my treatment mentioned it when I asked about ways to minimise the pain (I'd heard of other places that used anesthesia of some sort). I was (very kindly) given a free tube of the stuff so I will give it a try for the last laser session and see how things go with that. I will certainly need more treatment in the future so worth experimenting now.

Rest of Saturday consisted of more shopping (get several suits and a new bag from the Next Sales) before finally going over to see friends for the evening where I got a chance to catch up on their life (they have a 4month old son who was very entertaining) as well as reminisce about past work places and colleagues. It was all really good fun and surprisingly I didn't have a hangover in the morning, even after downing a whole bottle of red wine!

So, all in all, a good weekend. And one final thing to make it better was that B phoned me about our son who is on holiday with his grandparents, seems he's having a fantastic time which is good to know and nice to hear about.

Sparkle 2009

I didn't go for the whole long weekend this year, I had other commitments (seeing my son) and couldn't afford the hotel costs nor the seemingly never-ending stream of alcohol. So instead I opted to just pop down on Saturday afternoon and see who I could bump into.

I think I got down there around 3pm in time to hear some of the music on the stage in Sackville Gardens - caught "Mustang Sally" which I love! After watching that, wandered along and quickly bumped into practically everyone I wanted to see in the space of 20mins! Had a quick drink and chat and then went off to meet Kim in Albert Square at the festival pavilion. Just as an aside I really should keep up with current events, the Manchester International Festival had been going on since 2nd July (finishes 19th) and I had no idea about it!

Had a good chat and people watch there for a few hours and then wandered back to Canal Street with Kim to grab some food from McTucky's - not exactly the healthiest option available to us but cheap and cheery and definitely filled a hole. Sackville Gardens provided a much more varied and colourful location for people watching than the centre of Manchester for fairly obvious reasons.
I think everyone was lucky with the weather through the day but it couldn't hold of forever and the skies opened later in the evening and it poured it down until the point where I left (at about 2am). It was a bit of a shame as it stopped people wandering around and meeting up, instead we were all a bit confined to only a few places, not wanting to get soaked by moving to a different location. Was a bit loud, cramped and warm in most places with everyone squashed in but people still seemed to be having a good time.

I obviously had good reasons not to be there for the entire weekend but in some ways I wished I could have done both nights and got to see more people and really make more of the time. Definitely need to have another night out on Canal Street at some point very soon to make up for it!

[Update: all the pics I took on the day/night are here. Was really impressed with the results from the SLR camera with built-in flash, might think about taking that again - even though it is a pain to carry around ]

What a difference a day makes ...

... or maybe a few days, and a fantastic weekend. Another appropriate aphorism would be "it is always darkest before the dawn". Essentially last week was horrible, not a pleasant time at all, but thankfully, things did get much better and the last few days have been amazing.

Last week was bad for several reasons; lack of access to my son, feeling down that I couldn't see my family, severe lack of money (my credit card debts having finally caught up with me), extra cost for my car repairs (every day seemed to bring more things that required fixing), and just generally lack of confidence and happiness in my life.

I guess the first thing to change was that my parents offered to help with covering the cost of the car repairs. That meant so much and was obviously a great load off my mind. While I don't use my car alot I do need it every now and then and there is no way I could afford to get another one and really didn't want to given that there was nothing really wrong with this one; everything that it needed was servicing/wear and tear, no actual faults.

Lucy had also said she was going to come up for the weekend to cheer me up and that was definitely something good to look forward to! So as the end of the week approached I was feeling a little more positive.

Then B phoned on Saturday morning saying my son wanted to come over in the afternoon and play a computer game I'd just got for him! It was actually my son that I spoke to (really hard to understand on the phone, bless him) which was fab! It was so good to see him and be able to spend some time with him and just be a parent.

Ironically, when he noticed the stars I'd put on the ceiling (more about that another time) and that Lucy was coming over (he's not met her but is nevertheless excited at meeting anyone new) he then wanted to stay over! After all the troubles of him being concerned about sleeping over places he seemed to be actively asking to do that! Kids!

Anyway, after that, Lucy, wine, trip to Tatton Park (again, more on that later), lots of chatting and just having my BFF (Best Friend Forever in case anyone is unclear on the acronym) I feel better and ready to face the week even if the good mood doesn't last that long!

Chill Factor!

I did think I could twist the title into something about being treated in a cold way or some other metaphor for having a bad time of things but frankly that would be totally pointless and a blatant lie as really there is nothing like that happening at the moment! So instead of the usual doom, gloom, and whinging from me, here is something that was just fun!

So, I didn't know what to do with my son this weekend, quite often we seem to just spend lots of time playing on the Wii and staying in (I could come up with pathetic excuses for this but ultimately I find it uncomfortable going out as the old me so I'm happier to stay in).

Anyway, I just thought it might be different and fun to go here: Chill Factor which is right next to the Trafford Centre (handy location from my point of view).

First two VERY important things that I learnt from our visit:

1. Book in advance! We turned up at around 12 and the earliest we could get in was 4:30pm
2. There are a few shops/restaurants there but really nothing much to do apart from the activities you pay for. So, if you didn't book in advance or just turn up really early you're likely to be bored pretty quickly!

Yes, I didn't really plan ahead so when we turned up we had a 4.5hr wait before we could get in to actually play in the snow and my son was absolutely distraught because we spent a good 10mins actually watching everyone have fun before we even went to get tickets! I'll definitely remember to book in advance for next time!

We spent, what must have seemed like an eternity at the time, wandering around trying to pass the time - really should have gone over to the Trafford Centre instead - until we eventually got our chance to go into the snowplay area! I had asked my son if he wanted to play on the tube slide but he said he didn't, just interested in mucking around in the snow!

The price of the ticket includes hire of snow boots (just lined wellies bascially). On such a busy day they were a bit limited when it came to my size so the pair I got were a bit old and battered (and too big). You don't have to use their boots for the SnowPlay area, I should have just worn the walking boots I'd brought along. No problem with kids boots but wellies would have been fine again.

The tickets let you through the barrier to get to the snow (bar-code scanner) and they seem to be used to let you up the ski-lift as well (saw people going through a barrier using theirs) which could be fun if you end up falling over lots and getting a soggy ticket.

The SnowPlay area is quite big with big plastic penguins and polar bears (no-one really seems to appreciate the geographical seperation of these two species) to slide around on, as well as some of the tubes which are fab! I spent quite alot of time dragging my son around behind me are great speed (tiring) and he thought it was fantastic!

The snow is very fine and powdery so no chance of making snowmen (maybe I should be saying "snowpeople" or "snowwomen"?) or snowballs but still good fun to run around in and it's VERY slippy and slidey. Not really that cold in there either, claims -1.46 on the display over the ski slope, but after running around a bit you do get quite warm.

It cost £11 for 1hr of playing in the snow - it's £1/30mins for adult and £4.90 for kids - so I guess you could save a little by having one adult mind a few kids. 30mins isn't really enough and my son would have carried on a little after 1hr but I think that is the right amount of time.

Anyway, it was a really fun day out and, yes, we did quickly pop into the Trafford Centre to have a look around and buy some socks for my son 'cos he got his feet soaked playing in the snow (yes, wellies would probably have been better).

Back from ... the abyss?

Well, it's been a long time since I posted anything and quite a few people have remarked that they've missed my regular installments of garbage. So to them I can only say that I am really touched and suspect that you must also be if you miss all this gibberish!

So first, an explanation of the title since this is the 'bad' bit of the post: I don't like holidays, I get bored, I get introspective and obessed, depressed, and reclusive if I don't have things to do to keep my mind occupied and not worrying about stuff. And I don't like feeling like that and it can take a bit to get me out of that hole (abyss may be an exaggeration).

Anyway, thankfully, I have some fab friends and had some great times over Christmas and New Year and these helped keep me relatively sane and pulled me through a bit of a low point. Enough of that now, onto the fun stuff:

Well first off Christmas and Boxing day were spent with Lucy and her family which was just fantastic! Her folks were fabulous and I had a great time!Boxing Day included shopping in the sales which was good fun and resulted in a few bargains (which my credit card really couldn't cope with but, well, it was Christmas!)

I saw my son on Boxing Day also which was FAB! He had had a good Christmas Day, Santa had been very nice to him, and we had a nice relaxing day just chilling out and playing with Christmas presents.

The days between my son leaving and New Years I think we'll skip for the reasons already mentioned.

So, New Years Eve. I have to say I had been looking forward to this for a very long time and I was not disappointed in the slightest it was one of the best nights I have ever had ... in fact I guess in some ways I was quite sad when it was over and desperately want to repeat the experience ASAP!

We started by meeting up the the Ibis on Charles Street, affectionately known as Tranny Towers. I'd booked a room ages ago having decided that I should make an effort with New Year and not just moan after the fact that I didn't do anything fun! Anyway, things snow-balled a little and first Lucy said she would come along and then Selena ... "Three in the bed and the little one said ... 'the room is still spinning!' " or something like that.

Started on the Red Wine when we got to the room (my fault!) and then wandered over to meet up with Kate, Jilly and friends who had booked a meal at the Villagio on Canal Street. The food was great, the company was FAB, and there was plenty of drink!
This was me and Kate in Taurus which is where we all staggered to after the meal ... think I was still relatively sober at this point but it went rapidly downhill in terms of sobriety after that! There is a good picture that someone took of me and the others pointing drunkenly at the sky, I think at the little tea-light-powered hot air balloon, which illustrates the state I'd got into towards the end of the night!

Lucy and Selana looked fab and they had a good night and were a great help in getting me into McTuckys for some much needed alcohol-soaking-up food and also then back to the hotel without me falling over!

The morning-after-the-night-before was, as expected somewhat difficult given the excessive drinking but was helped greatly by Lucy cooking tea for the three of us! Sadly Selena and Lucy had to travel back down south after that so I took refuge in the Trafford Centre to have a look for a present for Kim, wander aimlessly around the sales, and also meet up with my friend Rob for a meal and a chat.

Which brings me to the 2nd party in so many days: Kim's birthday party on the Saturday night. Another FAB time! Kim had invited some of her friends out for a quick drink followed by a nice meal in a Thai restaurant just above the pub in which we all met up - very handy staggering distance!

This was me with another, and much better looking, Fiona, one of Kim's friends and then, below, the birthday girl herself with Sarah.

A good night was had by all and copious quantities of alcohol were consumed!

So, that was my Christmas and New Year, there it was gone! I have to say that I did spend the time before going back to work desperately missing my time in Manchester and my friends - really must make an effort to get out as much as is humanly possible! Think I've decided I like city life afterall!

Anyway, to all my friends: Thanks for making Christmas and New Year such a fun time, you are all amazing and a love you to bits!

Saturday

Manic.

There may be better words to describe London but that's the one I would use, in fact I think it needs to be repeated for extra emphasis: manic, manic, MANIC!

Oxford Street was closed to traffic on Saturday so shoppers could wander up and down the roads, presumably so there could be more of them out and shopping to get us out of this financial mess we are in. Well I made a valiant attempt and Deborah and I spent some considerable time in Primark buying lots of stuff but in the end I had to retreat back to the hotel in the early afternoon because I was tired and hungover quite badly.

Mind you we did manage to have a nice lunch in the Food Garden at the top of Selfridges (I am such a snob it is untrue) which wasn't too unreasonable and had plenty of choice. I also managed to get the perfume I wanted (DKNY Delicious Night) as well as getting some gifts for my son and his mum.

Then I carried both mine and Deborah's bags back to the hotel so she could carry on shopping while I tried to sleep off feeling a bit under-the-weather!

Seemed to do the trick and by the time Deborah got back I felt alot better.

Cue extensive hair-straightening and getting ready to go out to see Eddie Izzard. I really need to allow more time for getting ready and need to include shower, complete wash of hair, and basically start from the beginning again. Trying to straighten hair that has had a day of being quite happily curly is 'challenging' at best.

So we rushed out, both quite dressed up, and in need of finding food and a taxi rather quickly - so of course we had the former in McDonalds and then rushed to the other side of Kings Cross to get the latter. Traffic also manic so ended up getting out of the tax at one end of Shaftsbury Avenue and walking (rather too briskly for the heels I was wearing - must get trainers for next time!) to the Lyric Theatre.

A friend had suggested that, when he went to see Eddie Izzard, that some of the material had been done before and that he seemed to have lost his edge a bit. The night that we went to see him seemed, to me at least, to be nothing like that; he was absolutely hilarious, I laughed and smiled so much that I had crease lines in my make-up!

Fabulous, just amazingly fabulous! As funny as ever if not funnier!

So after 3 hours (the set was over 2hrs 30mins, interval after about 1hr 40mins) of being in the, rather warm, theatre it was time to spill out on the busy streets of London to walk some more in a desperate bid to find a taxi! Finally Deborah spotted one and commandeered it! Got back after midnight still wide-awake and happy from the nights entertainment!

Ooooo, aaaaa

Fireworks time at the Trafford centre! I have been feeling down recently (this may have been apparent from the last few posts!) and I couldn't see a way out of it apart from actually just trying to do something and stop moping around and feeling sorry for myself.

So first off I watched the handy instructional DVD that came with the GHDs (and figured out what I'd been doing wrong), got myself out to see me friend Kim (using just letters was getting confusing, fullnames now, wow!) and then on to the Trafford centre for retail therepy.

Yes, I know I spend too much, I'm past caring at the moment. Was going to head back but decided, what the hell, and stayed to watch the fireworks and watch a film (Quantum of Solace, will post what I think about that tomorrow).

Okay, it would be better to be out with friends but at least I'm out and don't feel like a hermit sat on my own in the flat. I think that's one of the reasons I like being here, proves it's real and it's nice to be around people.

Get your skates on!

I must be mad!

I've just ordered myself some Rollerboots!

Obviously not going to use these in anger BEFORE the work summer party on Thursday, just in case I can't quite remember HOW to rollerskate properly, OR if my memory of actually being not too bad at it is a little bit of an exaggeration from reality!