Monday 26 August 2013

July 2013 - The trials and joys of a Sparkle weekend!

I had not made any particular arrangements to meet friends or attend any events during the weekend, leaving everything by chance and take things as they come. However, I was aware of Sue Richmond attending the event and was sure that we would meet sooner rather than later. Prior to the weekend and all being well was going to meet Maria for the first time, the partner of Nikki sometime on Saturday which was something to look forward too. In the meantime, I had ask M.R. if she would at least come on Saturday afternoon but no commitment was made.

Friday morning arrived and made the decision to get ready at the hotel in Manchester rather than changing at home, just made life easier all round. Clothes and all packed in the car and off I go, arriving in Manchester about 2.00pm. On arrival, first thing was to change and get out asap, finally  arrived in the Village around 4pm to see who was around. Canal St was busy and hot too - oh yes the sun was out but just too warm for comfort. I ended up inside Taurus to cool off a little with a refreshing drink and met Jane Owen, a long standing friend but to most, one of the girls involved in bringing “Sparkle” together. We chatted for a while and said our temporary farewells and I ordered a bite to eat. It is then that things went wrong as while eating a piece of bread, my new filling fill dropped out leaving me a nice gap in my teeth! Not what I wanted nor expecting and put a damper on the whole evening. As most girls / women know, we strive on looking as best as we can which gives us the confidence and any thing that prevents that from happening changes our mind set completely. Loosing a front filling / tooth is one of those things and my first priority was to see if there were any emergency dentists around which proved to be a fruitless task - basically there aren’t any! Contacting the local NHS surgery, who advised best option was to contact my dentist on return home which was a couple of days away! At that time, I just felt like packing up and heading home! In the meantime, I had text Sue to advise of the situation and words of encouragement arrived which I wanted to hear. In consequence, I got ready and met Sue at Eden and attempted to make the most of the evening but by midnight, I had enough as I was not being the best company in the world plus I needed to get up early the following morning to find a temporary solution to my tooth and discomfort I was in too as drinking was a little painful!

The following morning I headed to Boots in the city centre as there was a dentist based above the store and sort advice which were encouraging but also a sense of reality that nothing could be done. However, the dentist did suggest a filler paste which can be obtained in Boots as a temporary solution but given the location of the broken tooth, had no great hope it would work! Off downstairs to Boots and found the filler paste he was referring too and a very small tub was purchased at a cost of £8. Headed back to the hotel and duly filled the missing gap with no great hope it would stay put. Although colour wise it was not perfect match, at least the tooth was open to the elements. With that out of the way, proceeded to get change and meet up with Sue and other girls at Villagio’s for lunch but not before meeting up with Maria who was a friend of mine’s RG partner who I got to know over the last 6 months or so via the net. When we chatted, we seem to get on well with each other and knew sooner or later we would finally meet, and Sparkle was the idea occasion. Maria had manage to get a last minute hotel room booking for the Saturday  night so finally we were going to meet, something both of us were looking forward too. I met up with Maria at the hotel entrance and introductions were not required as we knew each other already, strange it may seem. After Maria booked in and got freshened up, we both headed to Villagio’s for lunch and to meet Sue and the girls. A couple of hours later, duly fed, a good chat with all as well as Maria and I having a good natter too. Afterwards it was walk around the Park for the afternoon entertainment as well as meeting old and new friends. Amongst the friends I met, were Carol, Justine, and Mandy and always nice to see them. Later on I came across Amanda  (from York) a girl who I had got to know recently via the net and a girl who I admired, as she always looked nice and very presentable in the outside world. Seeing her for the first time certainly lived up to the images of her, in fact much better plus more importantly, a lovely personality too. For the next hour or so we chatted over a drink in the Molly House which was nice and cool given the hot sunny weather outside and found we had some things in common - a start of friendship hopefully. We parted our ways and I headed back to the Park were much to my surprise met Nikki (from Chester) with her loving partner. Nikki who 7 years previously virtually to the day, made her first outing at Sparkle but since then as become the woman she always wanted to be and did she really looked good along with her partner who also became the woman she wanted to be. It was great chatting to both of them, they looked so happy together and looking great too, they left me with a great happy feeling within me to see such a wonderful ending to their tortured frustrating life’s they had live previously and not without some personal cost too. But it all worked out in the end - absolutely fantastic! By this time, met up with Maria gain and ended back to our hotel rooms to get ready for the evening.

As stated earlier, I had made no specific plans for Sparkle and generally make things up as I / we went along and this was proving the case although enjoyable too. Sue had confirmed she was meeting two friends Zazoo and Joanne later in Chinatown and was heading to a Thai Restaurant for a bite to eat and confirmed it was ok to join her. Prior to the weekend, I had already purchased some new clothes with Sparkle in mind including a couple of dresses from my work place. Normally for practicable reasons, it is not always easy to wear dresses when I’m out but being away from home, I had the opportunity I was going to make the most of it. My outfit for the evening was simply that, a nice colourful silk dress with matching bolero, neckless and shoes and amazingly came together very well. I met up with Maria and we both headed to Chinatown to meet up with Sue who was caught unawares as she was only expecting me! Ooops but that was my fault as I made an assumption that Sue would know - mmm silly girl I am but anyway no big deal. Although Sue, Zazoo and Joanne had almost finished their meal by the time we arrived, we ordered our meal and played catch up. Regardless, an enjoyable meal was had and finally we all headed back to the Village for the party atmosphere. The rest of the evening was either spent in Taurus with a window view, watching the world go by or more to the point watching a guy on his mobile phone for over 90 minutes with DS on his t-shirt - mmmm not a very convincing member of Joe Public! :-))) In that time got to know Zazoo and Joanne a little better, both lovely girls for different reasons but Zazoo, being a Glaswegian girl just fascinated me with a lovely personality too. Afterwards, we toured the Village which seem to crowded with people but with a lack of TGirls present given it was Sparkle Saturday. Certainly got to know Maria by that time and we got on like a house on fire with her attempting to avoid a particular person all night who seen to fancy her - it was in fact quite amusing to both of us. The last place of call was Naps, no surprise but spent most of time in the cellar, attempting to say cool by the fan and less people there as it was too hot for any dancing. Well it was now 3.30am and time for some sleep while we could as needed to out of our rooms by 12! Well so I thought! 

After about 5 hours sleep, woke up at 10.00am thinking I had until 12 to get ready and leave the hotel but Maria text me to advise it was not so and it was 11.00am. Oh shit this lady said!! To add to the confusion, M.R. (my partner) confirmed she was traveling to Manchester to meet me and of course Sue, as they have become good friends. This was a pleasant surprise and something I was hoping would happen. However, the bottom line I had less than an hour to get ready and leave my room. To cut a long story short, I manage to do it but not in the circumstances I found myself in unfortunately which ultimately changed my visual appearance for the rest of the day. I met Maria first and had a coffee with more chat again and advising Maria, she would be able to meet my partner which she was hoping to do. Afterwards, we headed to the Village and agreed to meet Sue, Zazoo and Joanne at Taurus were the weather by the way was warm and sunny - mmm a lovely day to relax in the Village which ultimately it turned out to be. M.R. finally arrived in the Village just after one and after the introductions. M.R. proceeded to chat away to Sue and Maria especially but no one was left out. It seemed that Maria and M.R. had hit it off with each which pleased me. We spent the rest of the afternoon outside Taurus were everyone else seem to be doing the same thing, drinking, eating, chatting and enjoying themselves in the sun. Entertainment was also provided in the disguise of the “Gay Gordons” who were lovely gentlemen who entertained us with their version of Scottish dancing. At the end of the show, they made their final bow literally and revealed (well some) what they had on (not) under their kilts - for some people it took them by surprise to say the least but all in good humour. After that we all headed to the cooler climate of the Molly House for our final drink of the day. Time was now 7.30pm, said our farewells with M.R and I departed for home. 

All in all, it turned to be a good weekend in excellent company after all, especially after the “filling” problem. Mmmm talking of which, some of you may be curious what happened to that particular problem. Well much to my surprise, the £8 filler paste that was placed in my front tooth remained there for the whole weekend with careful drink / food management of course. In fact it remained there until Wednesday when I visited the dentist and ended up having a crown fitted, as well as being £214.00 the poorer too - ouch in more ways than one!