A long list of thank yous

Hello all

I am currently sat waiting for the train back from London after starting the process of becoming Kate properly and I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of those who have a special impact on helping me get to this day.

Please note that this list is in no particular order and if you are not mentioned, it does not mean that I still don't appreciate your help.

Charlie Herlingshaw

Charlie Herlingshaw and Ellen Lancaster : Arguably my two closest friends. I've known you both for seven years now and both of you have known pretty much from day one about my desire to become female. You both sat there and listened to me moaning about various aspects of this whole process and helped me through various issues with some of the other members of this list. I have had so many "firsts" thanks to you two, and I can't thank you both enough.

Megan Curtin : Megan is a strange one because although I consider her a close friend, we haven't really spoken since November, which is ten months ago now, which is a scary thought. Megan has always been supportive of my decision but although our conversations are virtually always about something else, I couldn't omit her from this blog due to her being that important to me.

M : Despite your numerous flaws, you were an awesome friend, you made me laugh, cry and experience virtually every other conceivable emotion. You bought out the best aspects of my personality and you helped me become more confident in various parts of my life and despite my paranoid thoughts, you stuck with me until the end. Thank you, Marinda, and wherever you are, whatever you're doing, just know that I will always love you.


David Kirkbright : Me and Dave have known each other for about ten years and we used to argue a LOT (always about stupid things), but apparently he knew about me wanting to become female for a LONG time without mentioning it. He has helped me still find it relatively easy to remain in the group of fans I go to Lincoln games with and funnily enough, since I effectively outed myself to everyone, we haven't had a single argument. It feels strange thanking Dave on a blog entry given that I still see him on a regular basis.

David Kirkbright (left) and his lookalike, Gene Wilder

Amy Corcoran : I work with Amy and if there's one person who must be commended for their patience with me, it's Amy. For 18 months Amy sat directly opposite me so was right there when I was having long rants about various things, but she also helped me a lot when it came to advice and tips with regards to becoming a woman. We have also had our arguments on occasions, sometimes very heated, but despite that, and despite me treating her like shit for most of the time we've known each other (unintentionally I might add), she stayed true and was always there with help and advice.

Layla Haynes : My boss at Vodafone. Layla has been a massive help in me becoming a nicer person to be around when she effectively taught me that there's no point in getting angry over stuff that I can't control. I first told Layla about Kate in March/Aprilish and she helped me prepare for "coming out" to everyone at work, and I can't thank her enough for that.

Hayley Burton : Another colleague at Vodafone and someone who I have never really been close to, or indeed known a lot about, but when I "came out" to everyone she was there with tips, useful contacts, and various other things that turned out to be a massive help as I've tried settling into life as a woman.....even though I am still a guy.

Jade, Jodie and the girls at Celestial Touch : I don't know any their last names and they sort of link together. Jodie (hair), Jade (make up) and the girls at Celestial Touch (beauticians) have helped me look less ridiculous by sorting out those various aspects of my appearance, and because of them I now look completely different to what I did a few months ago. I look back on myself when I had a full goatee and dressed like I was in a heavy metal band, and it looks really strange now. With their help I now look less manly (although still manly for obvious reasons).

"Lynn" Jones - http://www.yatgb.blogspot.co.uk/ : "Lynn" runs a groups in Nottingham of people from the trans community, it's not quite a support group but more like a social gathering to people of the same mindset. Although I won't claim to know Lynn well, we have had several interesting conversations and when I do go to the group, she is always the person who I look forward to talking to the most.

Debbie Pulford : I've known Debbie since I was about 11 and in that time we've never been close, but we have always got on quite well. She has known for several years about the Kate aspect of my personality and after I "came out" to everyone in July, she was one of the first to offer to go on a shopping trip with me. That was quite an unusual trip as we got lost on the way to Meadowhall and despite my intention buying what was effectively an entirely new wardrobe....I bought four things and she bought more than I did. It was quite a funny day.

Jenna Adams : Jenna is my longest serving friend as we have known each other since we were about four years old, give or take. Again, Jenna has never really been one of my closest friends but we have always got on quite well and although I don't see her often, when I did she her for the first time in several years a few months ago, she was brilliant with everything and our meeting, which was originally just for a coffee, turned into a shopping trip.

Sarah Baradell - My delightful half-sister. Sarah has known about this part of me for around 7 years and has been awesome with it ever since. She came with me to my first meeting of the group mentioned in the "Lynn" section and although I could tell when she first saw me as Kate that she was thinking "what the actual fuck do you look like?"....but she was otherwise awesome. Funnily enough several people there thought that she was my girlfriend....even though we look reasonably similar.

And that's it really. Again, sorry if I missed anyone, it was completely unintentional.