Archive for the ‘Leisure’ Category
Posted by Shirley Anne on August 29, 2010
I managed to get up early today. I normally do get up early when I have work to do but I usually try to have a lie in when I’ve nothing planned. So I got up and looked out of my bedroom window. It was raining fairly heavily and there was a strong wind blowing. Not much chance of that BBQ so I resigned myself to normal meals. Anyhow breakfast came first but by 1 o’clock it was very sunny although the wind hadn’t eased any. It is late afternoon now and the sky is almost completely blue and the wind is beginning to slow down as forecast. E and I had our main meal at 1.30 which I had cooked so we are not in the mood for a BBQ now and the wind although much less strong is still too strong to for us to be sitting outside. We’ve had enough food anyhow! Maybe tomorrow we’ll get the chance but I’m not banking on it.
It’s our eldest son’s birthday on Wednesday, he will be the ripe old age of 28. Gosh I remember when I was 28……yes, I can remember that far back…LOL. Much has happened in my life since he was born and now I am at the stage in life whereby I should be retiring and having lots of Barbies but I’ve too much to do. Oh well………
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on August 28, 2010
I was thinking of having a BBQ sometime over the weekend and when I finally pulled myself out of bed this morning around ten o’clock it was lovely and sunny albeit a little windy. Now though, as I write this around noon, it has turned showery with sunny spells. Only the brave would try having a Barbie in this weather. I suppose I could have fish though…LOL.
Perhaps the weather will improve sometime before Tuesday who knows, I might get that Barbie after all.
One of my readers was writing about her transition on her Blog and about all the things that have to be done regarding name change and informing those people we deal with such as banks, insurance companies and the like. It all takes time. I remember doing it all eight years ago and it took me the best part of six months to finally get things sorted out. That’s what I thought! A few days ago I received a document from an insurance company regarding my overpayments of my premiums. It was addressed to me in my former name! Now I know I did inform them eight years ago but now they have asked for the Deed Poll and a copy of same together with a covering note of explanation. Sheesh, can’t they do anything right? Ah, but that is insurance companies for you! The daft thing about it all is that evidently I have overpaid on my premium by that substantial sum of 77p……! I wrote in my letter asking how long I have been overpaying them because if it has been for the whole duration then they would be owing me more like £220! Fat chance of that I suppose but I have to ask. E has just returned from the Post Office after sending off the documents for me. She is good.
Now about that barbie……….
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on August 20, 2010
Well I have been a rather busy bee lately so it is nice that I find myself this afternoon with nothing important to do. I had been to work this morning and fancied going out to lunch but E wanted to stay at home so that’s what we did. It was raining heavily this morning and we had a lightning storm, now it has become much brighter, although there are still plenty of clouds floating about and occasionally blocking out the sunshine. For four days this week, that is Thursday through to Sunday, we have the annual ‘Flower Show’ here in Southport. It is an event which draws thousands of people to the resort and it is good for the town but funnily enough I have never attended even though I have lived here for twenty-two years! I guess I am not all that interested. We have other events happening here each year for instance there is an air show, a firework display, in fact there is another firework display associated with the music festival or ‘Music in the Park’ that is also held here. There are beer festivals, Jazz festivals and all sorts of other things that happen here each year. I don’t bother with any of them though, not because I am not interested but more a case of there being too many people attending these obviously popular events. I am not a person who likes being in a crowd if I can avoid it, so I avoid it! To be quite it gets a bit boring, the same old routine every year…..LOL. Great if you like being entertained but at this particular moment I am having a rest.
PS………….Somebody called me later to do another job………….well it keeps me occupied…….LOL
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on August 16, 2010
I’ve done nothing since last Friday and I feel I am in danger of becoming too used to the idea! Okay, Saturday is my rest day anyhow so I hadn’t anything planned nor was there anything pressing to do. Sunday found me a little out of sorts in as much as I had contracted a bladder infection, the consequence of which kept me sitting on the toilet most of the day! By evening time I was out of the woods and all was back to normal. Strange one that. Today I was ready for work, should anything become available but it didn’t. In any case I had an appointment to visit a clinic at 12.20 which meant my working day would have to be planned around that, something sometimes awkward to do in my business. As it happened and because I had no work I decided to take E out to lunch. We drove the twelve or so miles out-of-town and did just that. I have spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the sofa reading a book, that is reading the book in between my cat-naps! Am I getting lazy or what? I feel I am discumnockerated, charnached and inklypooped but in a happy daze! Here’s to tomorrow when I will be gainfully employed!
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on August 8, 2010
I got up late. I was having a problem with my left eye yesterday. E had wanted to go into town to buy her mum a birthday present. She did go but came back after about twenty minutes because she couldn’t find a parking space. She hadn’t taken her display cards showing her disability so couldn’t park in spaces allocated for such people. I told her that I would take her and then go and park somewhere whilst she did her shopping. So off we went back into town. I dropped her off and went off to find a parking spot. Whilst I was waiting I began to feel that something was in my eye. I couldn’t see anything and for the rest of the day the irritation continued. I washed out my eye and got some respite and it became bearable. Late in the evening I decided to have a workout on my treadmill and did that at 11.15, crazy girl that I am. Nothing unusual for me, I used to go running at 3 in the morning! Anyhow after cooling down and then having a soak in the bath it was around 1.30 before I hit the sack. I wasn’t feeling tired so I watched some tv. I finally got to sleep around 2.30. I was awakened by my son who had returned home from a night out with his friends. It was 4.20! Thanks son. So I eventually got up at 9.45 but by the time I got downstairs it was 10.30, too late for breakfast, too early for lunch so I decided to fill the washing machine with my dirty bed linen and some clothes. I asked E if she would like to dine out today, no argument there! So that’s what we’ll be doing sometime before 2 o’clock. I had planned on doing some work in the rear garden today, digging out the area we had cleared of overgrown trees and shrubs last week. We want to prepare the ground for the laying of concrete as an extension to what is already there. The new greenhouse stands on that concrete and we want to install a larger greenhouse behind it. Anyway not today, there’s plenty of time to do that job. So it looks as if I’ll be having a two-day rest this weekend after all. Well I deserve it!
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on August 2, 2010
Although this site has references to transgender issues and with references to my own transition, it isn’t intended to be a platform from which I wish to broadcast those things. I am open about my transition, obviously, as I make no attempt to hide my history here. If the subject arises through readers comments or because I wish to write about a transgender issue then that’s absolutely fine. Most of this blog majors on my day-to-day life and the issues that any normal girl faces in her day. I read other people’s blogs and some of them are so oriented toward their transgender problems, if they are problems, that it becomes so boring to anyone who has no real understanding of those issues. Personally speaking I do understand but many people don’t. I think there is a risk of alienating people to the real issues that transgendered people face in their day-to-day existence because of this. A better way to gain respect from one’s readership is to simply be yourself without blowing a trumpet as it were. Like I said, I am a normal girl with everyday problems just the same as anyone else and I feel people are more inclined to respond to me if I don’t push my history into their faces.
I had no intentions of mentioning these things when I opened my blog but because the thought was in my head I wrote it down. I wanted to mention the little party E and I held yesterday. Our intentions were to have a barbecue if the weather was good and as it turned out it was. Out came all the garden furniture and the barbecue. Our guests arrived one by one albeit a little late but at least they came except for one who is in fact going on holiday tomorrow so she probably was spending a lot of time packing. We had a great time and there was plenty to eat and drink, too much in fact. I suppose we can do it all again next weekend! Do you find that you provide much more than can be sensibly consumed by your guests? I like to think I have catered for everyone’s tastes so I buy in all sorts of drinks and foods. Not much gets wasted though and what wasn’t consumed that could be safely stored was saved. I had to get to a job this morning but as it was fairly close to my home and I didn’t need to be there until nine o’clock I was in no mood to retire early last night. I had been drinking all day, that is from around twelve noon but I didn’t overdo things and I was quite sober when I did go to bed. I was tired though and was soon in the Land of Nod once my head hit the pillow. I was back home just after ten o’clock and I intend to spend the rest of the day at home. I have had requests for work but I have decided to spread them out over the week and not be too eager to do them. In a recent post I explained that one of my weakest traits is to be too obliging when people are asking me to do work for them and that I needed to slow down a bit. Well this might be the start of that policy. Besides, there is all that food and drink left to consume! LOL………..
Posted in Behaviour, Leisure, Transgender, Work | Tagged: Fun, Philosophy, Transgender | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on July 29, 2010
I had a lovely dinner yesterday. E and I went to a ‘carvery’ where we could fill our plates with as much vegetables as we could eat along with the meat of our choice. I had beef, she had pork or rather roast ham. It is one of those places where you buy your first soft drink (if you want one) and then you can refill the glass as often as you wish by walking to the vending area. I generally have a diet cola and E usually drinks the ‘full fat’ variety, that is the ordinary cola. Yesterday I had a fine bottle of red wine brought to the table but it was only I who was drinking it. We go to this place fairly often and so we are well-known to all the staff and we laugh and joke with them. Later, after we had returned home, I decided to visit the pub but didn’t go immediately. E drove me there and returned home to watch her favourite tv programs. I was immediately greeted by a few people whom I’ve not seen for a while and then I went to the bar to buy a drink. I had a pleasant evening and I actually spent very little money. Everybody wanted to buy Shirley Anne a drink and would not let me reciprocate! It is nice to be accepted and greeted like that. During the evening a girl who was chatting to some mutual friends was intrigued with me. It seems she didn’t know my history but because somebody had mentioned my transition she wanted to know more. I have no problem with that as long as I am treated respectfully and what I say is in confidence. We left the bar and chatted outside at one of the tables there. She thought that I was a lovely person, genuine, sensitive and kind. Now I am not sure why she saw all that in me having only just met me. Perhaps I ‘radiate’ love, who knows? I discovered that we did have something in common, she was a Christian too. We chatted about that. She is a nice girl and I think I have made a friend in her. She invited me back to her apartment to share a bottle of wine together with a guy I know very well who lives in the same building. They have a kind of brother/sister relationship and nothing more than that. Simply good friends. I had to decline the offer for a couple of reasons, one, it was very late in the evening and two, I’d had far too much drink already! They departed and I walked home. It must have been around midnight when I get indoors and I sat for a spell at my computer. E decided to go to bed but I opened my emails and received a lovely message from my friend Geraldine who lives in New Jersey. She sent me a link to a piece of music from ‘The Lion King’ which she had recently been to see in New York. I was in tears as I listened to it and found myself praising God, I was so happy. Life is good isn’t it? Oh yes, there are troubles but life is good. Anyhow I must have nodded off to sleep sitting there on the sofa and when I looked at the clock it was four-thirty in the morning! I wasn’t going to bother getting into bed but I changed my mind and eventually did so at six! I was up and about again by ten. I had planned to be at home today anyhow so that E and I could do some jobs together in the house. We got those out-of-the-way and had a late lunch. She has gone shopping with her mum as she does on a Thursday. As I write this she has just returned! Looks like I will be bringing in the groceries now so I will sign off.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Friendship, Leisure, Life, Lifestyle | Tagged: Friendship, Life | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on July 28, 2010
So today I returned to the address I went to yesterday and did more work. Having been paid handsomely I went home and told E that we were going out for lunch. No objections there! We haven’t dined out for more than two weeks so it was a bit of a treat for us. I am going to be at home tomorrow to do some work there for a change. I have postponed other work until Friday and it seems I have a humdinger of a job to do then. I will be going to the pub tonight for a change, something I haven’t done for ages. I need it, I’ve earned it and I just want to do it! I’ll catch up on things tomorrow………….lol
Shirley Anne
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Posted by Shirley Anne on June 26, 2010
As I get older, and remember, we all get older, I seem to be less interested in all sorts of things. In the past I’ve written about how I sometimes cannot be bothered doing anything. It’s as though the life is being squeezed right out of me. The irony is that I am enjoying my life now more than ever I did in the past. This has much to do with my belief in God. This morning after breakfast I sat in the rear lounge reading the Bible, specifically Revelations and what a revelation it is! Many people of course don’t believe but are still vociferous when it comes to Scripture and they speak as if they knew everything that is to be known about it. In actuality it is their own beliefs which get in the way of them finding the truth. They think the truth lies elsewhere. I digress. I enjoy reading Scripture for it is the Word of God. Later I spent some time playing guitar. I found a ring-binder filled with old Christian songs and went through each one to see if I could remember them enough to play as many of them only had the words and chords, no music. I succeeded. Again, it is a beautiful day, sunny and warm. A day to rest, well it is the Sabbath, a day to enjoy. There are many things I could be doing I suppose, going for a walk, sitting in the garden, going for a drive, visiting a place that I’ve never been to before but somehow all that seems pointless. I will ask E what she would like to do and maybe we will do it together. Life is for living but how one does that is debateable.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Activity, Leisure, Lifestyle | Tagged: Activity, Life, Philosophy | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on June 22, 2010
I mentioned yesterday that I was accompanying E on her trip to Liverpool for her tribunal. We decided to travel by train and arrived a little early for the appointment but as it turned out they were running a little late. This meant we had to wait even longer. Anyhow the tribunal went well and without going into great detail, E has been granted the financial support she had been previously denied. We didn’t want to return directly home so we had planned to take a cruise along the river Mersey. Before that though we stopped for lunch. After the cruise we went to a pub before returning home on the train. It has been another warm and sunny day, a pleasant day all round, especially as E was granted her allowance. Yesterday our youngest son came over to spend the night. He collected the things he had stored here, tent, sleeping bag, beer and other things for his trip to the Glastonbury Festival today. E and I had left the house before he arose and have only been in contact with him by phone. When we got home late in the afternoon he had already departed. I hope the weather stays fine for the festival. Tomorrow I am at work but we are expecting a start to be made in dismantling the scaffolding so that we can finish other works that need to be done.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Activity, Leisure, Life | Tagged: Activity, Life | 2 Comments »
