Fuck... The Ceiling's Gone All Swirly!

Inspired by my old pal with whom I've recently been reacquainted, what follows is my analgesic review... Firstly, in the words of "Scrubs", my favourite hospital based comedy, "it's pronounced an-algesic, not anal-gesic, the pills go in your mouth"... You can generally distinguish between oral medication and suppositories because of the size of the pills, generally, if they are bigger than 2 joints of your little finger, they ain't for swallowing! :-)

My first medication, self-prescribed, was paramol (not to be confused with the awesome post-millennial, Tennessee rock band Paramore although probably equally hard to swallow!) these contain paracetamol and dihydrocodeine and tend to make you feel a little floopy... The did not get rid of the pain, however they did stop me giving a fuck about the pain so something of a result!

The next day I forgot to take them to work and could only get paracetamol before my 8am shift started which was as effective as covering to area in dripping and chanting! Thus began my three pronged attack. Back at Boots, I asked for something strong with which I could take paracetamol... The gave me ibrupofen with dihydrocodeine! Once again the pain remained but I was so "hopped up on goofballs" that I couldn't do my work, and that coupled with the pain sent me home.

At this point I believed my back pain to be nothing more than the residuals from an old hockey injury (wow, never sounded gayer, or more middle-class!!) so I bought myself a heat pack and some mags and went home to rest up vowing that a few back exercises would have me back in work the next day!

The next day following badly thought out back stretches designed for sprains and pulls, my back was in agony so I took myself down to the walk in centre in Manchester. After a brief wait I saw a nurse who basically said I was doing all the right things (how wrong she was).

I spent the rest of the afternoon hobbling between bed, bathroom and sofa and drinking lots of coffee with the pain getting increasingly sharp and stabby and beginning to radiate down my legs with tingling in my toes. A quick look online showed that anything from nerve damage to a slipped bloody disc could be causing the pain and as Nickie wasn't around to be the voice of reason, I began to panic!

Tbc

Why You Should Volunteer

Yawn… Today is a long day, I’m not really feeling the late shift. Late isn’t all that late here, just 11:00-19:00, but it’s enough. Once I’m home and fed, it’s 9 and I’m wondering what has happened to my homelife with my missus.  Maybe I should use this whole “right to a private family life” defence to get rid of my late shifts, I mean, no, I have no children, but I do have a family. I am disgustingly happy at the moment, positively gleeful over my current situation, even if it is slowly killing me!


I work 37 hours per week for an unnamed supermarket, in their offices, not on the shop floor. I don’t say that because there’s anything wrong with working on the shop floor. I only mention it because the work I do is fairly far removed from your everyday till girl. It’s all computer based which makes my eyes square, and my arse massive. I don’t mind my job, it pays my bills, very well.


Outside my ordinary job, I work three voluntary roles. I always thought volunteering meant shaking a bucket, “chugging” or going door to door, but in the past three years I’ve discovered that you can use volunteering to better your CV, gain experience and have tonnes of fun.


1)     I have a weekly radio show on a community station called “Gaydio”. It is the first of its kind, dedicated to the Gay community in Manchester and also around the world. We get listeners from as far afield as Gran Canaria and America. My show is the MOBO show (The Groove) on Tuesdays, 9PM -11PM GMT and can be heard outside Manchester online at www.gaydio.co.uk. Although it is the Music of Black Origin show, that really just relates to the music and my chat can be about anything – usually stuff I read in the paper that amuses me.


2)     I’m an adhoc volunteer for Manchester Pride, the UK’s biggest LGBT festival (more info at www.manchesterpride.com) I would love to volunteer regularly and work in the office, but due to my main job, this is impossible so instead I organise events and promote Manchester Pride through my online community and on my radio show. Last year I led the Pride Parade through Manchester as my Drag King alter ego, and came 2nd in the HRH Drag King competition, and this year, I am organising the competition and helping to host. I’m also performing on the community stage on Saturday 27th August at 10pm. I’m going to be incredibly busy, but it should be a great weekend, as always. A few other bits about Pride this year, if you didn’t already know, it is Manchester Pride’s 21st birthday, and in honour of this historic birthday, the Lowry in conjunction with Manchester Pride has an exhibition with memorabilia, photos and videos from the past 21 years as well as event information for 2011. I’m a real nostalgic type and so I got a real thrill from watching the “It’s a Knockout” video from 1991 and from all the flyers, programmes and posters they have in the glass cases. On that note, if you have any memorabilia you’d like to donate, contact Lance at info@manchesterpride.com, or the Lowry.


3)     My most recent venture is a position on the board of the Lesbian Community Project in Manchester. We are the only full time organisation for Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans-Women and Trans-Men in the UK. We have been running for 15 years, and I’m trying desperately to catch up with all that history. Until I worked with the LCP for a fantastic event back in February (Grrrl Meets Boi), I’ll admit, I’d never really used the LCP, mostly because I was living outside Manchester, but it has been a terrific resource since I moved first to Salford, then to Cheetham Hill. Apart from excellent events and fundraisers, the LCP offers support and help to anyone calling, emailing or dropping in. Tonight is SOFA (Support or Fun Activities) and we’re planning new groups all the time.  The new board which met for the first time in May has wasted no time in planning for the coming financial year, and we intend to make the LCP great again, as well as recruiting as many new members as we can! (for more info or to receive an LCP Newsletter by email contact enquiries@lesbiancommunityproject.co.uk) This my newest voluntary role has already led me to a Slutwalk (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1423405_hundreds-join-slut-walk-protest-through-manchester - That’s me in the pink scarf!) and to a rather special club which shall remain nameless! ;-)


In short, I love my life, I’m doing activities which are efficacious  to the community. I have the perfect girlfriend and a lovely home life and to top it all off, I’m packing my CV with experience which will help me move onto the next step! Volunteering doesn’t need to be a drag, it doesn’t need to take up all of your time  and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a hard slog. For example… why not volunteer at Manchester Pride this summer? It’s fun and you get to see some fab performers, plus there’s a wicked free Volunteer’s party at the end. Contact info@manchesterpride.com or go to the website for more information!

MiPhone

Woohoo!! I am blogging from my new iPhone I am massively excited! It's been a really long week and I'm knackered, finally finished the LCP (Lesbian Community Project) newsletter. Epic fail today as I accidentally PDF'd the wrong file and sent it to the printer...


Luckily a guy from work with a PDF converter did the right one for me and the proof will be ready tomorrow! Phew. Full run should be ready Friday!


But for now, Angry Boys on BBC3 and bed. By the way, how annoying is it when the diarrhoea ad comes on when your eating tea?!? :-)

Returning...

There's nothing that makes me feel less British than queuing in my own country to prove my identity... Spain was fine, a quick glance at the passport and we were through... On return we were treated to 45 minutes in a queue (whilst the non-EU desk was empty!) and Border Control officers nearing the end of a TWELVE hour shift. How easy to make a mistake through the haze of sleep deprivation? They're meant to be on the ball but the person at our desk looked exhausted!


Tears and more tears in the past 48 hours! We arrived back in "sunny" Blighty this morning at 4am... It's currently chucking it down and all I want to do is get back out to Gran Canaria! The weather, the atmosphere, the service in restaurants and bars and of course the entertainment made it the best week of my life. It must also be said that without the following people, Maspalomas would not have been half as good...


My gorgeous Nickie, organiser, burns specialist and Cockroach Killer extraordinaire...
Valentino King and Mike Stand (AKA Gizell Timpani and Suzanne Coleman), the best pals a girl could ask for...
Robin Karrs and Magenta Jewell (AKA Diane Rawson, aka Lady Di and Jenny Croston) Entertainers, hosts and ABSOLUTE LEGENDS...
Flirty Bertie (AKA Lisa Lindsey) Brother and Friend
Sam Dangleham (AKA Kerry Newbury) a gent with southern ways...


We partied in Sparkles Showbar all week, and it's made me question what we're prepared to put up with in the UK. Nowhere can you get free table service, nowhere can you get staff who will remember your face after a year, and remember your drink night after night (every member of staff who served us after the second night knew what we were drinking!) Nowhere in the UK can you pay the equivalent of £6.00 for a drink and feel you are not being ripped off (the shorts are at least a treble, they just pour for 7 seconds - oh and that's 6 Euros for branded drinks like Havana).

ANDI MARTINE, CHANELLE FONTAINE

AND MICHAEL MAROULI PERFORM

IN SPARKLES SHOWBAR

We also went to a fabulous pool party hosted by Ricky's Cabaret Bar at the Walkirias Hotel right next to the Yumbo where the entertainment was fabulous and the drinks were plentiful (and pretty cheap!)

THE BLUE DRAG COMEDY GALA

I'll sign off for now... Too tired to make any more sentences and in need of a KFC fix - roll on October when we're definitely going back!

Gran Canaria 2

Very quick one today - internet costs a Euro for 15 mins! Shocking... Yesterday was lovely, went to Maspalomas Beach and sat watching the ocean and reading. Very peaceful! The sun is very strong, and Nickie is quite burned all over her back and legs - whoops, so she´ll be staying out of the sun for today!

Last night we finally met up with Flirty Bertie, Valentino King, Suzy, Diane and Jenny for a brilliant night out in Sparkles Showbar, and we all had a wonderful time, got the VIP treatment as I was there with Valentino and we were treated to great hospitality. The show was fantastic with Tammy Pax, Thunderpussy and of course, our very own Valentino King who was AMAZING! Can´t wait til Friday when she´s on again!

I spent this morning trying not to wake Nickie as we didn´t get in til gone 3, but I was awake at 9, so had a bit of a read and then when Nickie woke up, we planned my set for Manchester Pride.

I´m making contacts all over the place, and who knows, it might be me up on the stage this time next year... Watch This Space.

See you soon and keep checking the blog for updates xxxxx

Greetings from Gran Canaria

Hello All,

We arrived in GC on Saturday to our hotel VistaOasis in the pitch black at around 12:30am and it wasn´t until the morning that we realised our view over the dunes was absolutely spectacular!

Yesterday we woke up to find that we were not overlooked, we couldn´t see any other rooms and had uninterrupted views out to sea. We took a stroll to the local Supermercado and bought a few essentials, then sunbathed  - tanning our white bits as there was nobody to see!

Later, we walked into Maspalomas, which was a leisurely 50 minutes (with rather a big hill!) and met up with Sarah Bland to watch the football - needless to say, Nickie was devastated as United beat Chelsea. I drank two LARGE vodka and Cokes (they were definitely trebles) and then we then went into the Yumbo, which is as fantastic as everybody has said and went down to an all you can eat Chinese buffet (I know, why not tapas?) This is where it gets amazing... A while ago, I wrote about Manchester Pride for their blog and talked about my pals, Stacey and Becky who I always run into... I haven´t seen them since last August... and there they were, standing next to me in the buffet (cue screaming like queens). We joined them for dinner, I smoke many fags (got to make the most of smoking indoors!) and then who else should turn up but FLIRTY BERTIE! Amazing!

Today we´re going to go down to Maspalomas beach for a spot of sunbathing and reading - I´ve got the Kindle and I´m reading Patricia Cornwell´s first Scarpetta book. Excellent.

We had a spot of bother yesterday evening with a rather large cockroach... I screamed and hid in bed whilst Nickie disposed of it. I was terrified, it´s my only phobia. :-(

The room is basic, but lovely, very cool and clean and we have stove, full size fridge and a Massive safe. Going to go down to the pool later after we come back from the beach, then meeting all the girls for dinner tonight (and watching Valentino in action at Sparkles!)

Much Love,
Lydia



By this

Recent Happenings

Just thought I'd give you a little catch up, following a text from my bestest best pal Lucy who is amazing and fabulous - That's her given name!

You may be asking yourself, where have you been for all this time?

Well, I've been all over the place really, although the main reason I've not written is because of a really shitty thing that happened in March, a friend of mine miscarried her first child - it's not my story to tell but it shook me up and I was very upset and got completely blocked, and as soon as I started writing, I basically clammed up! 

I'm alright now, and my friend is getting there, and if she's reading it, I hope she knows she's got a LOT of support right now.

In addition to that horrid thing, I also moved again, which is a story in itself. My landlord needed his room back, and so I managed to find somewhere else to live immediately. As soon as he'd given me my notice, the little tiny things that had irritated me about living in the flat like the smoky environment and the ever-full washing up bowl became THE MOST ANNOYING THINGS IN THE WORLD! I told him I was going to leave at the end of March rather than April, and he said that if I did that, I would not get my deposit back!

A dilemma! If I lost my deposit and had to pay my first month's rent, I'd be out £300.00! This was no good!

In an extremely fortunate stroke of luck, the best thing happened to me. I met my wonderful girlfriend Nickie, who will not mind me mentioning her! From the day we met, we clicked completely and I fell in love at a terrifying speed. She offered me a bed, rent free for a month and after immediate protestation, a few days of thought and some wrangling on her behalf, I agreed that it would be a reasonable solution! Terrified, I moved half my stuff into Nickie's flat in Cheetham Hill, told my folks I was living with "a friend" and put the rest of my belongings in my soon to be new house in Blakely. Well, things don't always work out the way you think they will do they?

Within weeks of staying with Nickie, I realised something. I didn't want to leave - we worked so well together and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. As it happened, Nickie was thinking the same thing, and so, after some more deep thought and consideration, we decided that we didn't want to live apart. She invited me to live with her permanently and after a fairly awkward conversation with my mother along the lines of "Do you know that friend I was staying with? Well, she's my girlfriend and I'm not moving out!", I spoke to my new landlady who was amazing and said that she'd assumed that this might happen!

Meeting Nickie changed my life! She has made me reassess everything and has made me less selfish, more open and incredibly happy. I still struggle to say no and take on too much, but I'm doing better than ever! Nickie has made me realise that actually I do deserve the good things that happen to me and I do deserve to be actually happy for once!

In other news, I've been kinging it up like nobody's business! Take a look at my website for more information www.thedragking.co.uk but in a nutshell, I'm putting an act together and going back to my first love. Performance! I am at last using the £12,000 degree that I spent three years doing!

I'm also making big waves in Manchester's LGBT community (that's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans for the uninitiated!) I was elected as a trustee onto the board of the Lesbian Community Project (www.lesbiancommunityproject.co.uk), I'm still presenting my popular weekly radio show on Gaydio (www.gaydio.co.uk), and I'm going to be performing at this year's Manchester Pride, so things are going from strength to strength.