Repair, retry, and restyle

Hi,

How’s things? Hopefully good. Thank goodness it’s Friday night. I think I need a recharge 😁

Travelling

I had a day in the office which meant I’d swapped my dad off for earlier in the week. I will be honest, as much as I liked two days on, a day off, and two days before the weekend; I am a creature of a habit, and was thoroughly confused by the change in days. I guess it doesn’t take much these days to discombobulate me! 🙃

The trip down south went well and the ElectricDadMobile 2.0 had enough range to get to work and almost back. It’s a two hundred mile trip and once you add in motorway speeds, that eats up the charge. But, I had enough to make it back to just shy of Leicester, where I knew there were some fast charge unit.

It was the first time I’ve used them and it was fairly easy. In fact, by the time I’d bought a coffee, stretched my legs, and sat down, ten minutes had gone by and I had more than enough charge to get home. Very pleased with all that and good to know the fast charging works as described.

I also got chance to listen to a few podcasts on the way down. I’m currently enjoying Strong Message Here which is hosted by Armando Iannucci on BBC4. To use their tag line, the ‘use and abuse of political language’. So it’s part satire, part social view, and there’s a number of regular – and very funny guests – on the show.

Just recently I picked up Out with Suzi Ruffell which is a hoot, a joy, and a deep conversation about the experiences of various queer folk. Sometimes is performers, activists, sportspeople, and even politicians. I don’t get a lot of time to listen to podcasts, so this one is worth taking the time to enjoy, IMO. Links to various podcasting platforms here.

Reworking the getting in touch forms

Both YATGB and the Nottingham Chameleons website have a ‘get in touch’ form. A while back, I switched the Chams’ system over to something new, as our old one wasn’t compatible with the more secure anti-spam CAPTCHA I’d been using elsewhere.

But, you know how something doesn’t quite sit right with you? Yeah, that. I was starting to get reports from the form system, in which it was saying we’d received umpteen messages, but there was nothing in the Chams’ inbox. Hmm, not ideal, as we have folk – sometimes in distress, bless them – wanting advice and/or to hear about visiting. That’s not, IMO, the sort of thing than can wait, or worse, be ignored.

I still remember the nerves and quite possibly the shakes when I got in touch with the group, all those years ago. So, yeah, action needed to be taken! I then wondered if the form system I’ve been using on YATGB might be a good swap? Ah, no. That was properly jiggered… 😬

(Translation, Spock? Midlands colloquialism for something completely broken and/or someone very tired. Not to be confused with the American term, Captain).

Cue many hours of swapping a system out, getting it near working, and then finding it was also completely broken on a smartphone. Gah! 🫠

Long story short, both are now working, thankfully. I’ve swapped back to a system that includes anti-spam, emails the respective organiser – that would be Muggins here, for both 🙃. Most importantly, messages are stored securely in the site, so they can be checked should any fall foul of the Email Goblins – they do love to nom through the spam! 🙂 Should you need them, YATGB’s is here and you can reach Chameleons via this.

Chams

Nicola from Wigeroo had kindly offered to visit, so I did not want to be late. Luckily, the traffic was in a good mood, so there was no need to zip off and find the inner ring-road rat run to Chams HQ.

With having Wednesday off midweek, I had my outfit choice down to two items: a blue summer dress & cardy, or a three quarter sleeve polka dot dress & new shoes. Well, I say new; they’ve been in the wardrobe a while and they’re ‘new to me’ rather than brand spanking. Talking of which, I sold a pair on Vinted to help recover the cost. I hope the new owner is very pleased with them.

The make-up technique with the beauty blender continues to work fairly well, IMO. I feel I’m putting the right amount of foundation on. Yes, I know some gets ‘lost’ into the sponge, but it does give a good feel and smooth look compared to the brush option I had before. Still not quite cracked the issue of my under-eye concealer creasing into those middle-age fine lines. But, a bit more research and some more testing, maybe I’ll get there. At least my eyeliner didn’t give me racoon vision, so there’s reasons to be cheerful.

For speed, I’ve started to keep my tights in the little paper bags that my Snags come in. Firstly it keeps them safe from – uh, snags – but I can also jot down a note on their colour, denier, coverage, and if they’re spring/winter/summer in warmth. That they look quite cute all stacked up in the draw is completely irrelevant 😉

Val and I signed a member’s form for their name change as witnesses. That may them very happy, and no, I’m not sharing their name on here for privacy reasons. It wasn’t long before everyone was settled in and then Nicola arrived to provide her wig & hair expertise.

I did try a long grey ‘do on for the fun of it, and it definitely wasn’t me. I did spot a very vibrant purple plum number, but as I knew Debbie had had her eye out for something like that, I thought it would be kind to give her first dibs. Besides, I’m happy with my current synthetic auburn numbers. We’ll come back to the human hair one in a mo.

So, I have a human hair wig and last month, I thought I’d give it a wash and condition it. So far, so good! It certainly felt nice as I brushed it. However, it felt a bit…. 60s and puffed up. So I tried straighteners on it at about 160^oC but I couldn’t reduce the volume, nor get that sleek look I was craving.

Well, when in doubt, as an expert. As I took a seat, Nik explained that for real hair, you need to go hotter – as in 230^oC which would explain why what I was doing was never going to work.

I sat very still while she worked her magic. Not that I thought she might catch me, more that I might fidget and connect with the tongs. Firstly, ow, and secondly, I had a meeting at work on Friday. “Richard, is that a straightener mark near your ear? But you have very short hair…?” Yeah, not a conversation I would like just yet! 😁

Ah, to be fully ‘out’ where I would be free to be him or her, and know I wasn’t causing anyone any upset. You can but dream eh! 💖

So, the upshot of the newly reworked bob is to wear it more often as that will help it shed a little and I’ll learn to style it with more confidence. I think – as with the switch to my auburn bob – is that a big change, such as your hair style, takes a bit of getting used to. Maybe that’s just me? I dunno.

With the group helped and purchases made, Nicola made her goodbyes and we settled in to tidy up and enjoy more tea & coffee. I did a quick run with Henry the Hoover as we don’t like to leave a mess when we leave Chams HQ.

In a change from the usual, I got changed back a little earlier as I knew I had to be up early on the following day. Val and I caught up about various things and then we rejoined the others before it was time to close up. While getting back into block mode shortened the evening, it did mean I was home quicker and earlier to bed.

All in all, a lovely night out and not a bad way to see out the week.

L x