Over on her "Condo" my friend Cyrsti has been writing a bit about what it means to be trans, this sort of makes a nice change from the crossdresser blog post of  "I had a lovely day out dressed as...." or the many blog posts about the process of transition. I know they all have their place and can be interesting ~ or at least I hope they do as I've written enough of them myself over the years. I suppose this is a reflection of how feel now that my transition is more or less done with (I'm not sure that it will ever be complete!). Back in August 2011 when I first started Paula's Place it i ..read more

I'll be honest, I'm getting tired of all this! When I read this article on the BBC website earlier (Wednesday 5th April 2023) I just wanted to leave this God forsaken Country and move somewhere civilised Law change could aid single-sex spaces - watchdog - BBC News Whilst I can understand that this, like so many other stunts by the Government is all about deflecting attention away from their appalling record in just about every field, it does nothing to make it any the less bad. This is quite simply an attack on my right to exist! It is appalling that the EHRC and our own Government, the v ..read more

Today is the International Day of Transgender Visibility, so I think this is a good day to be honest. The last couple of months I have been struggling, for no apparent reason. I have been struggling to get up in the morning to do many of the simple things that we have to do just to get through life, washing up, laundry, house work, simple checks on finance etc. In consequence I have found myself in a bit of a mess. This by no means the first time I've been like this so I always used to think that I might be bipolar, but during this period I have had a few concerts, a trip to Paris and have com ..read more

I should have posted about this a while back, but other stuff got in the way and it all sort of got away from me. This is the 50th anniversary of the founding of my beloved Croydon Symphonic Band. We're having quite a year already, last month we played the first of our special 50th anniversary concerts at the Fairfield Hall ~ although we may think of this hall as a local Croydon facility it is actually still one of the best Concert Halls in the Country, if not Europe! ~ we may not fill the 2,000 seater auditorium, but we generally mange to get a few hundred which is great for all of us. Next ..read more

The outside of the Church My last post left you all a little bit up in the air, for the really perspicacious of you yes I was in Paris. The Church we played in on the Friday was Saint-Etienne-du-Mont a church with a fascinating history dating back to the 6th Century, the current building is largely Gothic with large windows and flying buttresses, but as I was only there after dark it was the interior stone work that I really appreciated. As I was only involved in one piece in the concert I had plenty of time to appreciate the setting as well as the music ~ I also had plenty of ti ..read more

Yesterday I wrote about my little weight problem and how I had been inspired by a "Pearls Before Swine" cartoon, and then I lamented how I couldn't work out a way of sharing it. Well guess what? I've just found a way! so here it is. It's strange where inspiration comes from, and where it takes us ..read more

I'm not actually picking up on the theme from my last post by suggesting that 64 isn't too old to start competitive motor sport, or for buying new instruments ~ because we all know that it isn't! I'm just going with the revelation that it's already the end of February and I'm not sure where those two months have gone. I didn't make any new year's resolutions this year, but that's not an oversight but a conscious decision, I'm simply going to carry on where I left off in 2022, I want to play music, do a bit of gardening, drive fast and go to more concerts I'm not playing in! Christ's Hosp ..read more

One of the most common questions that trans people get asked is "When did you know?" of course for most of us it simply isn't that easy. I have often written about how hard it was for me to come to terms with my gender, for so many reason not least of which was simply not having the vocabulary to have the thoughts. Certainly I remember praying that I would wake up in the morning as a girl, later I remember reading about April Ashley and thinking she was fabulous, that what she had done was wonderful, but also that somehow that this wasn't available to "the likes of me". I remember my Moth ..read more

 Very occasionally I actually read my own blog! Today I was browsing through trying to work out when I had written about something, and I found an error on my post of the 19th January 2023 "Scottish Reforms" not a factual or indeed grammatical error, no I had added a link that didn't work ~ I have now amended it so the link works, I will also add it here  https://www.scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk/news/news/a-statement-from-scottish-civil-society-organisations-on-the-uk-governments-intervention-o/?s=09 The eagle eyed amongst you will also have noted that I have added another blog ..read more

A carpet of crocuses  "I thought you had retired!" well yes, sort of, but gardeners, musicians, artists, artists and others with a passion for what they do never really retire we just slow down. We reduce the pressure as we need to strive less for acceptance, status, or indeed finances. So yes I have been saying I'm retired, but I will still be doing enough gardening to "keep my hand in" to satisfy that side of my creativity, and of course help pay the bills as well. Yesterday was my first day working outdoors for a couple of weeks (last week held all sorts of other interesting c ..read more