Full-time life as a woman – Week 9… including a very good Good Friday!

Monday 30^th March

I don’t remember all that much about Monday, other than it being a long day at work… but with plenty of good female pronoun usage! I also remember having a feeling about just how normal. but how RIGHT, every thing that I do is, and how it all makes to much sense to my life. Even going to the ladies toilet falls into this category – it’s all so easy and efficient, especially wearing a skirt or a dress – simply lift it up skirt, pull one’s hosiery and knickers down, do one’s stuff without having to touch one’s genitals (ugh), dress, wash hands… and check one looks presentable. The other thing that was vividly clear was that I am now into MONTH THREE of my new life… already!

Tuesday 31^st March

Fiona and I were both wearing navy and blue, though her cardigan was thicker and she had on a blue shirt/blouse while I had a white/blue marl girlie top, so we joked that we were matching.

At lunch time I returned cardies to Penneys, then went to my bank in Dublin to take out cash and transfer money to the UK; that was the first time I got to use my new driving license photo ID, and all was well. On the way back to the office I got totally drenched in a rain and then hale shower with my poor suede boots totally soaked which I had to put on a radiator for hours; I then changed into reserve footwear, very high navy heels (4+ inches) and managed to live life without falling over for a few hours! I told Natalie about the shower and she said I had held up well looks-wise, as her hair especially would frizz up, I told her about my Primark £5 heels and she said as the rest of my outfit was very smart then it dressed up the heels! Aww! We had a conversation about heel heights, then I stopped bothering her and went back to work.

Wednesday 1^st April

When I took my coat off I had just a little chat with Fiona, and she said “You look really pretty”… which I was especially pleased about as my dress was from Primark only cost £5 in their sale, though teamed with a €8 (£6.10) black cardigan I thought I looked quite smart (see selfie). Fiona said I am very good at getting good bargains, and perhaps I should just buy two of everything, one for her and one for me… which is a real compliment! My PM Pat also said “Is that a new dress?” and when I confirmed he said it was very nice, which I really appreciated. Later I had a good catch-up chat with poor Liesa, who has been off for ages with flu; she also liked the dress, and could not believe how little I paid for it. After work I shopped in Sainsburys once north of the border, and had coffee and supper with my BFF Kirsty… although the experience was spoilt for me by far too much loud chat as Costa.

Thursday 2^nd April

At work Fiona said she liked my jumper, it was really pretty and would “brighten the place up”; she couldn’t believe I paid £10 for it at Tesco; she also liked my butterfly necklace, which is bolder than any I have won before. I do appreciate all her compliments, especially as she is very pretty and has good fashion sense. Liesa also liked my necklace, and I had to compliment her on a really pretty, smart top that she bought at a store called Forever 21 that I had not heard of before; I had a long chat with her about all sorts of things, she is a sympathetic listener. We were all given big Easter eggs at work, which is quite a nice little gesture, and as I left for the day I offered the security guard one of the chocolates that came with the egg – he said “No, I’ve got my own, thanks… but you’re a lovely girl, Andrea”; aw, how nice, huh! I went shopping for an hour in Dublin, to Forever 21 (which had an awful lot of denim, and nothing that really grabbed me) and Mango (which I concluded is ridiculously over-priced for generally average-looking stuff… apart from some lovely suede jackets, which I did not buy).

Friday 3^rd April – Good Friday

This was the first day of the Easter weekend, and SO good to have a bit of a lie-in… though I was up at a reasonable time as I had an appointment to get to… which was a first for Andrea, the new-me – a visit to the dentist!! I drove to Newry, parked at Tesco supermarket, and walked the short distance to my dentist where I arrived at 11.45 and checked in with reception… and the whole experience was just so lovely and, well, ‘normal’! I didn’t have to wait too long before a friendly girl called my name and directed me to the ‘chair’. My usual dentist was on maternity leave, and so a new girl was there – I did fear that my make up would be all over the place by the time she had finished, but I wasn’t at all nervous going in, and it was just like any other check up really… except that I was ME, and happy with it. There was a bit of light, friendly chat, she checked my details, and then my head was back and the check-up took place followed by a clean… with water splashing all over the place, and I reckoned my makeup fear would be realised… but no! Once I had paid, I went to the toilet, and the light amount of lip gloss was pretty much gone, but other than that not much wrong… although the hair was a bit messy.

Next stop was to a Cancer Research charity shop to drop off a bag of unwanted clothes and books… and a REALLY good moral-boost it was – the lady thanked me profusely for the stuff, and then wondered if I would fill in a Gift Aid form, asking “Do you or your husband pay tax?” ME AND MY HUSBAND!!!! That’s a new one I’ve never had before, but, WOW, she not only assumed I was a biological woman but also that I was married! I filled the form in (with title ‘Miss’), and then browsed, picked up a lovely wee red leather-look bag and a pretty dress which I tried on and then queued up to pay – the girl in front of me was chatting to the check-out woman who, after a minute or so, said to the girl “Do you mind if I serve this lady?” (Lady = moi, of course). I handed over my things and she said “Thanks very much love”, then I paid, and bid her a very happy farewell.

I had hoped to change my name on some accounts to my new name, but even though Good Friday is not a bank holiday in Northern Ireland all the banks were closed… so I embarked on what became several hours of clothes shopping in the sales of assorted shops, including Dorothy Perkins (where thankfully I could use gift cards to save my credit card), M&S, Blue Inc Woman, Oasis, and Debenhams; I also had a nice lunch about half way through. I bought a lovely mock-leather jacket in Debenhams… but while I was browsing a girl approached me and said “Do you work here?” – I don’t know why she thought that, but I felt flattered all the same. I eventually got back to Tesco, with extremely sore feet, where I did a moderate grocery shop – as I was about to enter the alcohol section two guys each held open one of the swing-gates to it for me, and I thanked them. After being served by a friendly check-out girl, I drove home, feeling very cheery after a successful day out.

One thing I have generally noticed now that I am routinely living as my true female self is that plenty of guys are kind enough to hold doors open for me, and it also seems as though people get out the way when I am walking outside – maybe it is the heel noise that warns them I am coming!

Happy Easter everyone!

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