Another Great Night Out

 From the title of this post, you would be forgiven for thinking I get out and about on a regular basis, alas due to a number of reasons this has not been the case. Wherever you are in the world you almost certainly have had some restrictions due to the COVID pandemic that has swept the globe. Here in the UK we have had numerous lockdowns and restrictions placed upon us, which given the circumstances is quite right. But it does make getting a night out very difficult, as if it was not difficult enough!

Anyway after a gap of almost nine months I managed a night out with the girls, originally the format was to have been the same as before, meet Friday afternoon for drinks then change and an evening meal. However this time as it had been so long since we were all together we decided to add another evening, so we stayed Saturday night as well. This meant that we also had the whole of Saturday to enjoy in girly mode as well. 

I prefer to arrive at the hotel in male mode and then take my time in my room changing before emerging as Andrea and meeting Penny for a drink in the bar. Although we keep in touch regularly there is nothing like a face to face meeting and it was wonderful to be able to catch up and just chat about all things girly.  When the waiter delivered our second round of drinks, Penny asked him if he would take our photo. He declined, saying he is not allowed to touch customers personal property, which under the current circumstances is fair enough. However a woman sitting with her partner close by suddenly said "I'll take your photo" She was clearly listening to our conversation........... Photo duly taken we continued with our chat. Later when the lady's partner went to the toilet, she firstly commented on the waiter refusing to take our photo, but as I said, you can't blame him for sticking by the rules. She then went on to compliment us on our attire saying we looked like 'lady's that do lunch', which certainly set our weekend off to a good start.

We changed into different outfits for the evening and met Susie outside the restaurant, while we were waiting to be seated, the waitress Kate, who served us last time we were there, rushed up to us to say hello, she had a beaming smile and was clearly very happy to see us! As it happened we were put on one of her tables so she looked after us all night. Always happy and always with a smile, it made a great evening even better. After the meal we asked her if she would take our photo, she agreed but insisted in clearing the plates etc from the table first. She then took another photo of the three of us standing in a group. By the time we had finished our drinks we were the last people in the restaurant........

On Saturday after breakfast we headed for Willen Lake, we had never been there before but thought it was worth a look, it's really a water sports centre, and not our thing, but it was lovely walking around in the fresh air. We then intended to go to a marina on the Grand Union Canal for a coffee, when we arrived there we were unfortunately disappointed as it was a complete dump! So we returned to the hotel for coffee, and in the afternoon set off for Ascott House Gardens, a National Trust property. We spent a very pleasant few hours wandering around the gardens and looking at the stunning views over surrounding Buckinghamshire.

That evening we went to a different restaurant , we had only taken our seats for a few minutes when the waitress that served us last time we were there came to say hello an have a quick chat with us, she is now a supervisor which was great news. Dear reader please bear in mind we have not been to either of these two restaurants for nine months, so we must have made a good impression last time! The young lady who served us looked somewhat intimidated having to look after three crossdressers. But we are nothing if not friendly and she was soon chatting away with us like a longstanding friend. Again we had a lovely evening, the food was fabulous and so were the staff, the manageress even called a taxi for us at the end of the evening. 

The following day (Sunday) we enjoyed an en-femme breakfast in the hotel, it was a nice and leisurely affair and again we were treated fabulously. After that we had a short photo session outside the hotel before heading off home. 

What a wonderful weekend! 

Top photo courtesy of Penny Ollie

Bottom Photo courtesy of Susie Taylor