Interview with Tafad Tan

An interview I did today with three Cardiff creatives (Jason Philips - musician and producer, Alrick "Ninjah" Wilson - musician and occasional drag queen, and Max Lewy - poet), on such topics as Beijing, burlesque, decluttering, writing, being transgender, and boasting a little about famous relatives. YOUTUBE LINK

System Shock

(Me and fellow patient Leah - who very kindly lent me the wheelchair, making an impromptu dash for sunlight and fresh air at Charing Cross Hospital, a week post-surgery) Some of you already know that I was, at long last (although the three years I have been waiting is by no means considered an unusually...

Quick Update

Alea iacta est, or words to that effect ... Preliminaries and assessments are all done, and the surgery date is confirmed for April 11, and I will be admitted to Charing Cross Hospital the day before. Apprehensive as I am about my first ever trip to an operating theatre, prolonged stay on a hospital ward,...

Surgery Date

Not much to say really but the self-evident: I have been set a surgery date at the bizarrely early-seeming time of April 11, and will be coming off my hormones in only a week from now (Not especially looking forward to that, but needs must). This will be a manic month, but by June everything...

Transgender trend ‘School resource pack’ – A teacher’s perspective

Much as I normally keep this blog apolitical, I will make an exception for this, as it strikes close to home. Recently, a group known as "Trangender Trend" (immediately setting off alarm bells) produced a rather slick-looking PDF brochure titled, rather disingenuously, "Supporting gender non-conforming and trans-identified students in schools": disingenuously, as even a cursory...

Shot by the Dark Side

I thought I'd given up modelling, but thanks to a few bigoted a**holes who felt the need to resurface my body image insecurites (possibly to alleviate their own sense of stupidity at having been lured into voting for Brexit) I got the urge to put out some feelers for another shoot. Modelling has always helped...

Acceleration.

Last week, not expecting to hear anything so early, I received a letter from Charing Cross Hospital with the details of my first outpatient appointment with them on the 20th of February. Annoyingly, that is the day of a dance class, so I stand a fair chance of missing it (and even if I don't,...

The magic S word …

It is testimony to how long the process of transition on the NHS is that I have posted nothing on trans matters for months now, even though that is ostensibly the whole purpose of this blog: certainly the reason I was encouraged to begin it, though I was afraid it would make a very stop-start...

T-minus 24 Hours

This is just a quick but significant news update to report that as of this time tomorrow, my husband Cal - who has been waiting since early 2015 to receive treatment for his gender dysphoria - will finally be getting his first dose of testosterone. This has been long delayed by a combination of NHS...

Transition Update – Second GIC Appointment

Yesterday I went up to London for my second Gender Identity Clinic appointment. It had been intended that I should be referred for surgery at this stage. Unfortunately, there was a snag ... After my first appointment last year, my GP was instructed to put me on a certain regime of feminising HRT, with a...