A letter to my younger self – Aged 35

Hello you!

Yes, just those two short words have a special significance to you now, don’t they?

Who would ever have thought that someone would walk into your life out of nowhere and have such an effect on you in so many ways?

I just goes to show, we never know what’s around the corner.

A letter to my younger self – Aged 25

Hi hunny,

So you got married young then. And the little one’s starting school already! *sigh*

Well of course in a different universe you’d have listened to what I told you last time, but as it is you’ve sort of “blown it”. Now you have responsibilities to others so it’s going to be tricky trying to be yourself, isn’t it?

Ok, I’m not going to press the point too much. You know as well as I do that your late teens were the time when you actually needed to get done something about it and have a fulfilling life ahead of you.

A letter to my younger self – Aged 15

Hey kiddo!

How’s things?

Wow, you’re growing up fast. So tall!

I just thought I’d drop you a line to let you know some of the things I’ve discovered and to give you an idea of what’s ahead for you.

A letter to my younger self – Aged 5

Hello darling,

How are you today?

You know, I always remember you as being such a happy little chappie.

Shall I tell you what I remember about when you were at your most happiest? Shall I?

The passing of a true gentleman

I’m sure most of you will have heard of Captain Sir Tom Moore who, last year, raised an astonishing amount of money for NHS charities in the UK in the lead up to his 100th birthday. His idea had been to walk around his garden 100 times before his 100th birthday, and his original aim had been to try to raise £1,000.

Once the media got hold of the story it went viral, and by the end of his birthday the total amount of donations exceeded £32 MILLION!

Yesterday we received the sad news of his passing; apparently yet another victim of this horrible pandemic.

From Wikipedia:

Captain Sir Thomas Moore (30 April 1920 – 2 February 2021), popularly known as Captain Tom, was a British Army officer and businessman known for raising money for charity in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moore served in India and the Burma campaign during the Second World War, and later became an instructor in armoured warfare. After the war, he worked as managing director of a concrete company and was an avid motorcycle racer.

On 6 April 2020, at the age of 99, Moore began to walk lengths of his garden in aid of NHS Charities Together, with the goal of raising £1,000 by his 100th birthday. In the 24-day course of his fundraising, he made many media appearances and became a popular household name in the UK, earning a number of accolades and attracting over 1.5 million individual donations. In recognition of his efforts, he received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award at the 2020 ceremony. He performed in a cover version of the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” sung by Michael Ball, with proceeds going to the same charity. The single topped the UK music charts, making him the oldest person to achieve a UK number one.

On the morning of Moore’s hundredth birthday, the total raised by his walk passed £30 million, and by the time the campaign closed at the end of that day had increased to over £32.79 million (worth almost £39 million with expected tax rebates). His birthday was marked in a number of ways, including flypasts by the Royal Air Force and the British Army. He received over 150,000 cards, and was appointed as honorary colonel of the Army Foundation College. On 17 July 2020, he was personally invested as a Knight Bachelor by the Queen at Windsor Castle. He died on 2 February 2021 at Bedford Hospital where he was taken after being treated for pneumonia and then testing positive for COVID-19.

Rest in Peace, Captain Tom. You were an example to us all and a true gentleman.

Connections and motivation

It’s as if a weight has been lifted, not just from my shoulders but from those of the world.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working with a colleague, D, from another local LGBT+ organisation on revamping and expanding a Transgender Awareness training module that the co-coordinator of our Trans support group and I put together a couple of years ago. Well, I say “working on”; I guess what I really mean is “trying to work on”.

As with so many things I talk to people, make notes, think about ideas, make mental plans, but actually getting down to action? Well, that’s something else. That final motivation and inspiration is often lacking, a situation that is oh too common since my accident some thirteen years ago.

I started this week very much not able to function in any real sense, but then something changed. A light began to emerge from the darkness.

Bon Jovi “Do what you can” – Colbert

Mr. Gorgeous is back and, I have to say, looking a lot better than he did last year. Whatever he’s been putting in the water is really working! 😛

Last night he was on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS and finished the appearance with the brilliant single “Do what you can” from the new album “2020”.

Unfortunately when I edited all three parts of his appearance together the file was too large for me to load into the blog, but here are all three parts for you.

This guy is just an amazing person … enjoy!

Tears

This post had a working title of “Love takes many forms” but, as I will explain later, I changed it when a certain piece of information became apparent to me.

I have been a great fan of Queen for many, many years and Freddie Mercury was, in my humble opinion, the greatest showman the world has ever known.

It may surprise you to know, therefore, that until today I hadn’t seen the film “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

I admit it, I cried

Ever since I had my “epiphany” and fully recognised the truth about myself I have wanted to be able to go out in public looking as female as that beatch “Mother Nature” will allow.

It’s been a long, hard road because I’m just over 6 feet tall, fairly sturdily built, have large ears, large hands, large feet and, most disappointingly, androgenetic alopecia a.k.a. Male Pattern Baldness. In my case this baldness is not complete (as in the whole of the top of my head is bald) but I have a deep bald “river” on each side and a central “patchiness” to my hair.

Just can’t get into it

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh ….. *long drawn out sigh*

You know you get those days sometimes; those days where you look around and see so many things that need doing, but every time you ask your brain if it wants to get involved it gives you a big “NAH!! … Go away and leave me alone!!”. Well today is one of those days.

It happens to be my birthday too, although I don’t think there’s a connection.

67 years ago today I was probably kicking and screaming my way onto this planet, poor planet. But today it’s like all I can do is make another coffee, sit around waiting for the rerun of today’s F1 Grand Prix, and watch never-ending YouTube videos.

So here’s the one that sums today up perfectly. 😀

(R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy, and thank you for the memories)