A Nice Day Out

After my recent terrific few days with Lucy and Mandy in Somerset things took a rather quiet turn. Apart from all the usual catching up that needs to be done, even after such a relatively short break, my enthusiasm for being Susan waned to a slight degree. This is nothing unusual and many trans women experience such lulls from time to time and it didn't worry me. What's more, after living for a few days as a woman, going back to my usual pattern of life did seem dull by comparison.

However, after about a week of this I was starting to get desperate for some good Susan time, so on Thursday of this week I went for a shopping trip to Royal Tunbridge Wells. Over the years this town has attracted an unusual reputation as being rather quite, refined place populated by retired colonels and their ladies. This is often epitomised by the somewhat legendary letter of complaint signed "Angry, of Tunbridge Wells". (I wonder if anyone ever did write this?)

In reality, the town is typical of many English country towns with a very wide mix of inhabitants and is a very busy centre of population. The town grew out of a spa resort in the Georgian period and is today a significant tourist attraction. However, unlike other such towns and cities I've visited, the tourist and shopping areas are quite separate and therefore the two do not get in each others way. In fact the shopping area is fairly modern and is based, like most of our towns, around an indoor shopping mall

A few weeks ago I bought myself a new maxi dress from a well-known supermarket chain and I took in to Somerset in the hope of wearing it one of our days out. During my visit I was in the local branch of this supermarket in Taunton when Lucy picked the very same dress of the rack and pointed out how weak the shoulder strap adjuster were. I told her that I had exactly the same dress and I knew myself that I was going to prove her wrong. So, on the day of our trip to Weston-super-Mere I put it on and guess what? - one of the shoulder strap adjusters was broken. So, that went back and I got a full refund.

But I was still a maxi dress down and so the main intention of this trip was to buy a replacement. First stop was Mark & Spencer who seemed to have most of their stock at 50% off. Amongst the Per Una range I found a couple of maxis that really appealed to me. However, I wanted a good look round first so I left them, hoping they'd still be there later. In the event although I saw many others, none of them appealed to me as much as the first two I found. So, it was back to M&S for a closer look and a try on.

Although I've been shopping for some years now in male mode for women's clothes, nothing beats shopping as a woman. Instead of feeling a bit furtive looking at dresses, as a woman you can have a good look round, hold the dress up to you to check its length and of course head for the changing rooms to try them on, which is what I did. In the event one of the dresses was a little loose around my bust and to be honest was too low cut for my liking. But the other one fitted perfectly and so I bought it. Being reduced it was only £1 dearer than the supermarket dress and much better made.

By now it was time for refreshments and so I headed to the mall's food area, which is located in the basement. Like so many modern shopping malls it consists of a number of different outlets and a large centre seating area. I saw a sign as I entered boasting "25 different outlets". However, most of them were shut, and this on a busy week day in high summer. The only ones open for business were one specialising in "sub" rolls, another selling jacket potatoes and of course the ubiquitous international burger chain.

None of these are known for their coffee products so I headed for nearby M&S to make use of their cafe. This by contrast was heaving, so much so that I decided to head back to the mall's food area and try my luck with "Mr Sub's" coffee. It was passable but a pretty poor show for the central shopping mall in a busy town centre. Given how many people were queueing up in M&S for refreshments, I think that someone has got it badly wrong at the mall.

Scotney Castle

After this it was time for more shopping before leaving the town. I wasn't ready to head home just yet so I went on down the road to Scotney Castle, which is National Trust Property some six miles outside the town. Much more about this place can be found by using the above link, but for me is was just a delight to wander around enjoying the fresh air and the lovely scenery. The weather did alternate between warm sunshine and rain, but that's been the nature of our summer this year. I rounded off the visit in the gift shop followed by the tea room. This was well stocked and open - the National Trust weren't about to let trade pass by.

It was time to head on home but I made sure of going home via Ashdown Forest, where you can usually guarantee to find an ice cream van on most days of the year. And so it was the case on this day and it although it was rather breezy up on the forest the visibility was very good with the South downs visible for many miles along the coast. This set the back-drop whilst I enjoyed my ice cream

Going out shopping in female mode is something that many of us wish to try and it can be quite nerve wracking the first time. Even with experience now I'm never totally at ease. Maybe that ease will come with time. But nothing beats that feeling when you do it and there are many pluses to being able to shop as a woman. to be it's a totally different experience to shopping as a man. Above all, there's that ever present feeling that tells you this is so right......

So, it was a fairly ordinary day by any standards, but a really nice one too.

More to come another day but thank you for reading this.

Susan XXX