This afternoon I went to Llandudno to kill time as Mary and George were having haircuts
The pretty seaside town was packed as day trippers and locals made the most of the sunny weekend before School starts.
I grabbed a coffee and walked out on the pier and then back along the crowded promenade .
A group of eight caught my attention.
I couldn't quite work out if they were transvestite or transsexual, but ambling down the seafront were a collection of " Tootsie" lookalikes all in their fifties and sixties who were all were enjoying an ice cream .
From across the road, which runs parallel to the Promenade a young woman in her own peer group of friends yelled a good natured " Looking Good ladies!!!" At them without a hint of malice or sarcasm and the trans group cooeeed , laughed and waved back in equal good humour.
Not what I expected from a little seaside town in Wales on a Saturday afternoon!
It made my day
Excellent. Warms the cockles.
ReplyDeleteNot an unusual sight around here, John. We have a very large gay/ trans community in this area..having grown up amidst it all, it's never fazed me! Check out New Hope, PA., USA....
ReplyDeleteIts not a common sight here, especially as most DID look like Tootsie
DeleteThey would probably be horrified to be described as Tootsie lookalikes. They're probably hoping to be taken for the genuine article.
ReplyDeleteI am no fashionista so who am I to speak! But they were not the most fem group i haveever seen
DeleteNick there are two trans people I see around here who both have a very male bald patch. I suspect they have no intention of being taken for women, just indulging their wish to wear feminine stuff.
DeleteHow very Portlandish. What a great start to your day.
ReplyDeleteIt did set me up
DeleteGreat description, Doc! (Also from the Rose City.)
DeleteAll Welsh place names can be translated. I understand that Llandudno means Las Vegas-by-the-Sea.
ReplyDeleteIts very happening! Compared to Trelawnyd it looks like new york
DeleteTrelawnyd looks like Trumpton. It also sounds like it when you pass by!
DeleteA light hearted compliment and a public show of acceptance. We need more of that.
ReplyDeleteMany in the younger generation are more relaxed - and more open about it. Yay them! As an aside, the group in the picture (and probably those on the beach) look far, far more snazzy than I ever have.
ReplyDeleteWas it a stag do?
ReplyDeleteNo! A stag do would have been sexier
DeleteThat's awesome! The world needs more kindness and gentle good humor.
ReplyDeleteNice...sometimes people take themselves (and other things) too seriously. Laugh a little...enjoy life!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!
ReplyDeleteArilx
Sounds wonderful!
ReplyDeleteFabulous. I adore the film Tootsie, such a hoot. I cried with laughter at some of the lines; hilarious when he's walking down the street and tugging at his too-tight knickers; and the scene in the Russian Tea Room is one of the greatest - I've visited it, hope you do too when you go to New York.
ReplyDelete:-)
ReplyDeleteTransvestites make me sad as they always seem to dress better than I do! When I do make the effort to look feminine, I look like a rubbish tranny *wobbles off to have a sulk* x
ReplyDeletesame here, lisa. :-(
DeleteThat's a little glimmer of hope in this sad world. I sat through hours of debate waiting for our city to allow trans to use public restrooms of their choice. According to the right and their distorted, sanctimonious beliefs, you'd think trans spent the majority of their lives stalking public washrooms.
ReplyDeleteAll human life is there eh? how lucky you are to live so close to the sea.
ReplyDeleteMarvelous stuff. Thanks for sharing the ladies with us.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! McDonald's in Canada has a new advert on Tv where the end shot is a lesbian couple in white dresses, kissing and celebrating with a group.
ReplyDeleteBarb
Nice. :)
ReplyDeleteIt would have made my day too.
ReplyDeleteI stayed in Llandudno when my sister-in-law died last year. Gosh I hadn't been there for ages. How close are you John? And as for the trannies, God love em. Somebody has to put a bit of spice into life.
ReplyDelete20 minutes by car. The prof and I got married there
DeleteWhat a wonderful story. Told well, as well. Just the thing to make you not hate the human race for five minutes or so. Which is a long time of benevolence. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThat made my heart happy.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though North Wales has changed a lot i the last 40 or so years. I was refused service in a corner shop when trying to buy breakfast ingredients one Sunday because I was seen entering the house of my female friend on Saturday night, and a black friend of mine was hounded off a Welsh beach by some bastards just for being black.
ReplyDeleteThere was that 'joke': What is the Welsh version of 'Stranger on the Shore'? - 'Who's that cunt on the beach, then?'.
In some ways it has changed ( others not) the trans ladies were from birmingham i think ( after hearing them chatter) llandudno is an upmarket Blackpool me thinks
DeletePs we were married in llandudno !
DeleteI don't remember marrying you. I must have been pissed.
DeleteIn the early 1970s the English were refused service in shops in N Wales just for being English
DeleteYes, that would have made my day too.
ReplyDeleteI miss our "queens" :) My husband had a large group of friends who were gay and did wonderful shows, all in drag .. some of them were actually real actors so the shows were always good.
One of our friends was named Sy. When our son was just learning to talk, Sy would try to get the baby to say his name .. Auntie Sy .. I miss them.
You never know what you are going to find these days.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful that at least a portion of the community is accepting of Trans/etc now - how different it was 40 years ago. I flatted in a "very mixed flat" as a student (how horrified my parents would have been had they any inkling of its orientations!) and our constant apprehension was exposure by some sanctimonious ba***ard. We comprised what might be quite normal now - a gay guy, a straight gut, a gay girl and me (the little RC just out of boarding school, and learning about life very quickly)!!
ReplyDeleteIt's about time you visited Brighton; it would make Llandudno seem like one big WI convention.
ReplyDeletep.s. I once stayed on the other side of the Great Orme at Conwy Sands (I think). The sand on the beach was full of Cockles; we ate bucket's full. If you ever go there take a rake and bucket.
DeleteJust wonderful!
ReplyDeleteAnd on a slightly different note, John, as you may know, Australia is being one of the last holdouts on gay marriage, which makes many (if not most) of us Aussies purely ashamed, as well as pretty bloody angry.
Yesterday I went to a wedding where the celebrant uttered the words required by law, something along the lines of "a couple consisting of one man and one woman." But she then went off script and said that the bride and groom, as well as she, hoped that those words would soon be changed to "any two adults." And there was much applause!
Llandudno is a great place. There's even a bronze age mine going down 9 levels.
ReplyDeleteI remember my parents going on holiday there for a week when I was about nine. I stayed at home with my sister. They came back having really enjoyed it although it had rained a lot. Lovely to see a snap of it - it brought back memories.
ReplyDeleteAs for the ladies - thank goodness that we are at long last beginning to accept here in this country that it does take all sorts to make up a world. If only it were so in some other countries.
Bloody marvellous John. Llandudno was very trendy in its Heyday and sounds like it is on the way up.
ReplyDeleteIt never went down .... it's a well preserved example of how seaside towns used to be 😊
DeleteThat makes me happy. :)
ReplyDeleteYou never know what you will see on Llandudno prom .... we go at least twice a week 😉
ReplyDelete