A summary of the past few days: 2 towns, 4 frocks, a beer festival (twice), 4 pubs (twice) and multiple trains. One, just one bigot, who is a known problem, I dealt with him and he left the pub. That’s it. I’m out there. I’ll add that my transition has zero GP support and no regional NHS help. I have […]
A rant!
Photos
I’m always taking photos whilst I’m out & about but perhaps more so than the average person? I look after a clutch of websites & social media accounts for community & charity groups locally so I could be photographing an event or getting library shots that I might use at a later date. If I know I will need high […]
Going Green
I’ve had the right to vote for forty years but for 20 of those, as an employee of the government, I rarely used that right and that didn’t change much after I left, some 18 years ago. The polarisation of politics in the UK, particularly England, didn’t help. Locally there was a regular fight between the town council and district […]
Visit to Boulogne
Twenty years ago I was in Boulogne on a set of site visits. I have photos from two visits, 19 May 2004 & 11 July 2004. This animation is from the first of those dates.
Update – May 2024
It’s now 14 months since I transitioned and seemingly upset a few people! However, my life has continued without interruption. Lots happened back in March & April last year, starting with my name change and getting my NHS record amended. Banks, HMRC/DWP, Ofcom and the District Council were amongst the bodies I needed to contact. This was really just bureaucracy […]
Cute me at 4!
I’ve come across this photo of 4 year old me several times over the last half century and recall, when I was about eight I tried to destroy a physical photo with a biro. Even by eight I was questioning my place in the world but didn’t want anyone to know about the photo. I am, now, rather pleased that […]
Passing – options & decisions
One aspect of my transition that I don’t often touch upon is that of ‘passing’. In short, I don’t try! I’ve been blonde for 6 years and have been growing it all that time, and more, so I didn’t make that change to pass – in fact it’s mostly tied back! Make-up is something I very rarely use. I carry […]
Deja Flew released
The latest Kindle & paperback release is Deja Flew, book 12 in the Tammyverse. Full details on shirazbooks.co.uk
Me and tech
I’ve written about my transgender identity often but not about my tech roots. I took and passed an A Level in Electronics 1982-84 and used a Commodore PET 2001 and a teleprinter with acoustic coupler during that time. I also soldered 555s and 741s into small circuits. Add Maths & Physics A Levels and 40 years ago I was quite […]
Looking back in time
Both of my “legacy” social media accounts were created some time before my transition but both had ‘Shiraz’ in the account name. One such platform (aka cesspit) reminded me that today that it’s the 12th anniversary of the account creation, so 11 years before transition, dating it to 20 March 2012. The other one dates to mid 2015 so is […]