Dear Rikki -
Just a quick note to let you know how I got on with my three girl-friends in Norwich yesterday. You know I said that I was getting cold feet about it when we met in Felixstowe on Friday? In fact, on the day, I did have cold feet - and cold knees and cold thighs, but that's because my skirt was so short. What a surprise!
Despite not getting to bed until 1am Saturday morning, I was awake at 5:30 in anticipation of the day's events, and finally got up at 7 o'clock. I had breakfast while I watched a cartoon on the television, then began getting ready. I wore my 15-inch blue mini-kilt with black semi-opaque tights as planned, but decided to wear court shoes instead of strappy sandals, as it was raining. And no, I didn't wear my blue Tina-Turner wig - Norwich isn't ready for that yet!
At 10 o'clock, I went to collect Georgina (who lives just down the road), but it was after 10:30 when Jo and Emma turned up. Jo and Georgina are my work colleagues, as you know, and co-incidentally, Emma and I are old friends from our days in amateur drama, and it was really nice to see her again. But we all had a long day ahead of us, and we'd have time to chat later, so we quickly bundled into my car and headed for Norwich, arriving there at around 11:45. I parked the car in Bond's car park, taking a careful note of the closing time - I couldn't face the prospect of being stranded in Norwich en femme for a second time! [1]
We entered Bond's from the car park just a short distance away from the shop's restaurant, where we had a drink and a piece of cake for our elevenses. Suitably refreshed, we embarked on what was to be a marathon shopping spree. The purpose of the trip had originally been to buy a wedding dress for Jo, although what she eventually purchased wasn't quite what any of us had had in mind. It was certainly a dress, but it was made from a shiny lurex-type material, floor-length and skin-tight, with shoestring shoulder-straps and a leopard-skin pattern. If I tell you it was from Asylum Girls, you'll know the sort of thing I'm talking about! I'm still not sure that Jo's fully convinced that she's made the right decision - however, if she decides not to wear it, suffice it to say that she and I are both 1.80m tall, both thin, ...... get the picture? Other things on the collective shopping list were a pair of trainers and a sweater for Georgina, and an alarm clock to replace the one she'd dropped in the bath before she left (yeah, I thought that sounded strange too). Emma wanted a pair of gold earrings, and to generally browse the men's clothes shops, and I wanted some fishnet stockings for the party season (it's always party season), and to generally browse the women's clothes shops.
We decided first to look in the most promising shops in the main street, while making our way towards La Bella Pasta, where I'd suggested we have lunch. I'm sure the young waiter there fancied me, although I wasn't aware of it until Jo pointed it out. I decided not to leave my 'phone number on a serviette with the tip, despite being dared several times to do so. I have some moral standards, you know! Anyway, we hadn't managed to buy very much before lunch, so we had our work cut out for the afternoon session, which must've involved going in almost very shop in every back-street in the city! Well, we got Jo's wedding dress, as I said, which was the main thing, and she also bought a pretty basque in 'Secret Looks' (on my recommendation) to wear under it. (How come I know where all the lingerie shops are in Norwich?) Then I popped into The Sock Shop to get my stockings, and got chatting to one of the sales girls who I know from my regular visits as 'him'. Suddenly she moved close and whispered "You've got fantastic legs!". I had to ask her to repeat it, as I wasn't quite sure I'd heard her right. It made my day - I was a happy girl after that!
By about 3:30, we were definitely beginning to struggle, so we stopped for afternoon tea on the top floor of the Castle Mall. Then, with a last supreme effort, the girls completed the remainder of the shopping - Georgina's trainers and alarm clock, and Emma's ear-rings. Meanwhile, I'd broken away to peruse the wonderful shoes in Faith, although I never got a chance to try any of them on - another time, definitely! As a point of interest, I noticed much more abuse being directed at me by groups of 'lads' at this time - perhaps there was something going on in the city, or maybe it was the usual Saturday-night beerfest getting started early. Or it could be that this was the first time I'd gone off on my own - I guess that without my entourage of 'real' girls, I no longer had any respectability! But it was all quite amusing really - have you noticed that tranny-hecklers never have anything original to say? Anyway, we decided to call it a day after that, so we returned to the car park with our shopping, paid the fee, and headed out of the city.
I dropped Georgina at her house on the way home, then drove Jo and Emma back to my place, where they swapped cars, said goodbye, and set off for Ipswich. It was a few minutes before 6pm now, and I was rather weary, so I kicked off my shoes, and laid down for a short rest to reminisce on a fun day in a great city with some wonderful friends. The next thing I remember was waking up at 9.15, my contact lenses stuck to my eyeballs, and my eyelashes glued together with day-old mascara! So I'm sorry that I didn't make your house-warming party - I hope it went OK. I'd have been lousy company dressed as 'him' anyway. Now if you'd invited Sally ......
From a personal letter. Some names have been changed.