24 April 2014

Another nail appointment

I went to my nail appointment yesterday en femme. That's two consecutive fortnightly nail appointments en femme. After the very long gap between going to The Lindy Charm School in October last year and the Saturday of the Kurri Kurri Nostalgia Festival last month, I've now been out 4 times in under a month, all in red or reddish orange retro outfits. :-)

After wondering how I was going to top the outfit I wore last time I went out, I ended up taking a rather different tack. Instead of trying to decide which retro dress to wear, or buying another one, I went to my unloved wardrobe of things that I had before I started wearing retro. I found this modern wrap dress that I bought at an op-shop, probably for $7 or less. I decided that the combination of layered ruffles around the neckline on a relatively simple wrap dress would look okay in a vintage inspired outfit.

On Tuesday afternoon, I received a work cheque in the mail, but didn't get the mail early enough to go and bank it, so on my way to my nail appointment, I stopped in at my local building society branch, anticipating an interesting reaction from the staff who know me. That was not to be, as there was just one of the regular staff and she was busy with another customer. While I was there, I decided that I'd also withdraw some cash, and by the time I'd completed the withdrawal slip, a male teller who I don't think I've ever met before had come out to serve. He didn't use any gender pronouns at all while serving me, but processed the transactions on the accounts in my male name without hesitation.

There was a slightly interesting moment when the lending manager who arranged our home loan last year was walking in the door as I walked out, and looked at my slightly oddly as he stepped aside to let me pass. I suspect that he recognised me, and it wouldn't surprise me if he knew about me from the other staff, in view of the Halloween Tinkerbell outing a couple of years ago.

After my nail appointment, I dropped into the local Lifeline shop to say hello, then headed up to Charlestown to start looking for a red bra to wear with red dresses and tops, in the hope that it would be less obvious than a skintone one if it happens to be visible around the edge of the cleavage. Having found nothing suitable, I headed towards the lifts to the carpark, walking past the same customer and her daughter as I encountered a few years ago. Since I'm now wigless, I know that my appearance is a lot less different between male and female than it used to be, and their business page in Facebook is a friend of my boy profile where I've posted photos of my last 3 outings, so I have no idea whether they recognised me or not. I have no idea why I shied away from them again, but I did.

Having struck out at Charlestown, I decided to try Kotara. After walking the entire length of the top level of the centre and back, I couldn't find any underwear shops that were different to the ones in Charlestown. I thought that there was at least one.

Doing all that walking, I also identified a problem that I had with the same shoes on the Sunday at Kurri Kurri. My feet perspire when walking long distances, making these particular shoes slide up and down my heels as I walk. With socks, I use powder to absorb moisture, but that's not really feasible with tights or stockings, so I've added non-powder foot anti-perspirant to the shopping list.

I'm back to looking for other things to go out for. For the first time in a very long time, I even considered going to the Newcastle cafe night this week, but my wife had already arranged to go to a pilates class on Tuesday night so I stayed home with our son.

5 comments:

  1. What a busy day Alice! I'm exhausted just reading about it all :)
    Bra shopping has to be one of the most complicated CHORES for me. I hate doing it and really don't enjoy shopping for bras. Simply because it's hard to find ones that I like and fit me properly. *sigh*
    The whole bank thing kind of worries me. I mean...you are you but how did they know that. You could of been anybody and they accessed your account and handed you money. You know what I mean. I cannot even go into the bank...access my partners account...and walk out with his cash. What's going on there!!!
    I must add, your dress looks really lovely! Still nice and retro I think. And you always look fab in red :)

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    1. They have scans of driver's licenses on their computer system, and I think that when the account number on my card (which has Mr ..... Mullen on it) is entered, that it displays the license photo and signature. They have to initial a box to say that they have checked the signature, which he did without hesitation. With my adrenalin the way it was, the signature on the withdrawal slip was probably as bad as the one on my license, rather than like the neater one on my credit card. :-)

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    2. Oh :) It's great that they didn't question you and cause a scene. You sound like you're still a bit nervous about venturing into new stores and place as Alice, which is completely understandable. You must get alot of attention purely because of your gorgeous 1950 style and hair. I would stare with envy! But why was the adrenalin pumping with your license?? :)

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    3. It's not adrenaline with a license renewal. It's the difficulty of signing the little scrap of paper left handed in a hurry, in a totally inadequate space that is designed right handed. :-/

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    4. Yep I completely understand. I'm right handed and struggle too. :)

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