Transgendicus Gregarius

Since the subject comes up quite often, and the answer isn’t straightforward, I’ll put it here. Calculating the date of Sparkle is slightly less complicated than figuring out Easter, but not as straightforward as it should be.

It’s usually the second full (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) weekend in July, and fits neatly between LFF and London Pride the weekend before, and Brighton Trans Pride the weekend after. However, if July 1st falls on a Saturday or Sunday, Sparkle becomes the first full (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) weekend in July. Unless they change this routine, Sparkle Friday should always fall on 6th to 12th July, inclusive.

So …
July 1st is a Monday: Sparkle begins Friday 12th July
July 1st is a Tuesday: Sparkle begins Friday 11th July
July 1st is a Wednesday: Sparkle begins Friday 10th July
July 1st is a Thursday: Sparkle begins Friday 9th July
July 1st is a Friday: Sparkle begins Friday 8th July
July 1st is a Saturday: Sparkle begins Friday 7th July*
July 1st is a Sunday: Sparkle begins Friday 6th July*

*If July 1st is a Saturday or Sunday, Sparkle Friday clashes with Leeds First Friday (LFF sometimes changes dates because of this) and Sparkle Saturday clashes with the London Pride march day.

This is in no way official, but certainly fits the last 7 years that I’ve been going. I strongly advise against booking any non-refundable non-amendable accommodation until the official dates are published on the website. You never know when they might throw us another curveball.

I love Belfast.

It probably isn’t the first place you’d think of for a night out as someone obviously trans. You think of Northern Ireland, and you think of government still heavily influenced by Christian fundamentalism and still holding out against equal marriage, you think of bakeries that refuse to make you gay themed cakes. And let’s be honest, you think of the social/religious divides that were still fuelling violence on the streets a few years ago.

So maybe it’s the last place you’d expect to find tolerant people, but they’re there in droves. They’re about the friendliest bunch you’re ever likely to encounter. Rare is a night that I don’t end up chatting to someone. I’ve often invited to join a group. I’ve made friends that I’ve kept in touch with since. I ended up on a winning pub quiz team once.

I haven’t had a chance to go over for a while, but made the most of a work trip over there this week. The first night, I struggled to find a hotel (Stone Roses concert, apparently) and ended up in an Airbnb. I thought ‘bloke mode’ was safest for arrival, since I was ending up in someone’s home. It isn’t the same as asserting your right to wear a dress in a hotel.

It turned out I was sharing an apartment (separate rooms) with two concert goers from Scotland. I mentioned that I’d be going out in a dress that evening, and they were both cool with it. I ended up drinking their Buckfast while we had a good old chat. The already drunker of the two was making a little bit too much effort to be cool with it (you know when someone’s trying way too hard to convince you that it’s fine and ends up labouring the point.) I prefer to consider it empathetic paranoia. But his heart was in the right place.

A good night out in Union Street Bar, as usual. Immediately on walking in, I ended up chatting to someone, also over from Scotland as it happened. It turned out that he was one of the sisterhood, but doing ‘bloke mode’ that evening. I’d post a pic, but I did only get his okay to put it on Facebook. Happy hour was great, as ever. You can’t knock £2.50 for a single shot and a mixer.
After a while, we decided to head over to Maverick and see what was going on there. Another good bar, but I’m always particularly curious to see what they’ve done with the women’s toilets. They change the themes regularly. It was ‘Slut booth’ a couple of years back. This time around, I was greeted by this:
So I staggered home at just gone midnight, and got no sleep at all. The apartment I’d booked was on a busy main road, and it was too hot to sleep with the window closed, and too loud to sleep with it open. I reckon I got two hours, if I was lucky.

I scraped through an 8 hour meeting with a customer the following day, doing my best not to yawn the whole way through it. In the evening, I was back to my favourite haunt over there: the Holiday Inn Express on University Street. Crashed for a couple of hours, and then back out to Union Street Bar, hoping I’d meet Mr Nice Guy again (he’d said that he would be out.) Unfortunately, he didn’t show.

A quieter night, but I did have a wander up to the new roof garden bar / smoking area, which is rather funky…
And now the trip home…

I’ve flown en-femme before, so this one was no biggy. The highlight of last time round was boarding: handing the steward my male name boarding card, and male passport in its blue holder, and him still saying “Rear steps please, madam.” This time around, I must have triggered something in security, because they deemed I needed a quick pat down, and this was done by a female member of the security staff. It’s great when they respect what you’re trying to do.
Off to the Duty Free, and hit the jackpot. Estee Lauder DoubleWear actually in my shade, Ivory Beige, rather than having to settle for Shell Beige as I normally do. The nice lady on the till took a photo for me too 🙂
A coffee in Starbucks, and a chill out while they called the flight…
And yes, the cup says ‘Nicole’ on it 🙂
Apart from still needing to catch up on the lost sleep, a brilliant trip. I hope I get to do it again in the not too distant.

Mr Nice Guy did get back in touch. He too was too tired to go out a second night, as it turned out. He might be coming down for Sparkle. Watch this space.

ValueCabs and A1 Taxis were both absolute gems as usual. The ValueCabs app is brilliant for booking and tracking your car.

That was last Friday. I’m just about recovered from it now. I’m getting too old for this. So many of my friends out on Friday night, it was never going to be a dull one. Room sharing with one of my besties was the icing on the cake.

The drinks discount in Cosmo was much appreciated. I do hope that’s a regular thing. I always thought the place was expensive, but I think some of the others have caught up now.

At half price, it certainly isn’t. Bridge next on the tour, and not cheap at all. The Heineken tasted a bit off too.

Hmm. The pic was the right way up when I took it.

Bar Fibre next. If you’re going to get grief for being trans at LFF, then it’ll either happen on the street or in this place. I’m not a great fan of LGBT ghettos, but perhaps if this place could decide whether it was a gay bar or not, we wouldn’t have to put up with the abuse. Yes, some drunken tit wanted to show off to his girlfriend. Shrugged it off and walked away, as usual. Waynetta wanted a fag, so we ended up out on the balcony under the heat lamps.

No piccies in Viaduct. Just more drinks. Then a quick wander to Mission2 (open, unusually for a Friday) for the most thorough of handbag searches, and to be asked for 10 quid to get in (no chance.) So The Shed it was then. I do like this wall, as well as the music. Not so keen on something approaching a fight breaking out behind us, though.Smokestack next, but it was impossible to get served. We gave up and ended up in New Penny for one last drink before calling it a night. It just isn’t the same, not rounding the night off in Loft. Apparently, it’s open again from next month.

No pics of the kebab that I shared with Jaimie on the way home, so here’s one of the toilet cubicle instead. Yes, Bar Fibre has one stall in the ladies with two thrones in it. A great photo opportunity. At least until you hear running water from the one sitting next to you.

Until next time…