A quick change of shirt and I started the tour of the gay village. We started by the canal, where men used to cruise many years ago, went via a HIV Time For Action memorial. Arrived at the crowning of Miss Sparkle 2013 the transgendered event which happened to coincide with the UK Meet. We took a picture of Alan Turin who helped crack the code the Nazis were using, hence ending the war about 3 years early.
Alan Turin statue. A real man sat next to him, enjoying the attention of us photographing Turin next to him.
On the walk, I chatted to KC Wells and RJ Scott, two authors I’d not met before. When he told us about the young man who jumped off a car park as he was being chased by homophobic bullies, I looked at the multi storey car park a few hundred yards away, asked if it was that one. It was, and I felt shivers up my spine. That young man was Albert Kennedy, after which they named the trust.
We went to Gaydio, where we heard stories from gay people who grew up when it was illegal to be a gay man, and also those who noticed how Channel 4’s Queer as Folk affected Manchester’s Canal Street. The stories can be heard on the gaydio website: www.gaydio.co.uk/yourstory
The walk ended at the Richmond Tea Rooms, which was just like stepping through the looking glass into Alice’s world. The food was delicious, I had ten of the little dumplings and countless prawns, and even managed to snaffle some cakes at the end. The heat and champagne soon meant I was leaning strategically in a sofa, only to be a bit terrified when the burlesque dancers appeared. A burlesque virgin, I didn’t know they weren’t going to do the full strip, so all through their very entertaining performances, I worried they’d go the full monty, and that wasn’t something I wanted to see. Mercifully they spared me that and I carried on drinking wine with a lovely group of readers, including @abbymarks @janeewilkinson and their two friends whose names I can’t remember, sorry. They told me how they’d met through Twitter and were all voracious readers, 4-5 books a week some of them!
Charlie Cochrane left and asked them to look after me. They were lovely, and I remember staggering down Canal Street with Jo Myles, smoking a cigarette (which means I must have been drunk) and soon reaching the hotel. A brief chat to Clare London and compatriots in the bar and I went to bed, before midnight.
Not before being propositioned in the lift by a straight man! Yes, that’s right: once we were alone, he lurched from side to side, smiled and invited me to his room on the sixth floor for a drink, ‘Quick as my girlfriend’s in the lobby.’ I politely declined and wished him a good night. In fairness he could have been just inviting me for a drink, thinking I was straight *rolls eyes widely* but I’d be very doubtful he was in any doubt of my persuasion. Have you seen me?
Judicious use of paracetmol and enough water to sink a battleship meant that, contrary to my and everyone else’s opinions, I woke without a hangover. Shocked, I was.
What did you get up to on the Saturday night of the UK Meet? Were you floored by a hangover the size of a small European country?
Until next time
Liam x
We went to Gaydio, where we heard stories from gay people who grew up when it was illegal to be a gay man, and also those who noticed how Channel 4’s Queer as Folk affected Manchester’s Canal Street. The stories can be heard on the gaydio website: www.gaydio.co.uk/yourstory
The walk ended at the Richmond Tea Rooms, which was just like stepping through the looking glass into Alice’s world. The food was delicious, I had ten of the little dumplings and countless prawns, and even managed to snaffle some cakes at the end. The heat and champagne soon meant I was leaning strategically in a sofa, only to be a bit terrified when the burlesque dancers appeared. A burlesque virgin, I didn’t know they weren’t going to do the full strip, so all through their very entertaining performances, I worried they’d go the full monty, and that wasn’t something I wanted to see. Mercifully they spared me that and I carried on drinking wine with a lovely group of readers, including @abbymarks @janeewilkinson and their two friends whose names I can’t remember, sorry. They told me how they’d met through Twitter and were all voracious readers, 4-5 books a week some of them!
Charlie Cochrane left and asked them to look after me. They were lovely, and I remember staggering down Canal Street with Jo Myles, smoking a cigarette (which means I must have been drunk) and soon reaching the hotel. A brief chat to Clare London and compatriots in the bar and I went to bed, before midnight.
Not before being propositioned in the lift by a straight man! Yes, that’s right: once we were alone, he lurched from side to side, smiled and invited me to his room on the sixth floor for a drink, ‘Quick as my girlfriend’s in the lobby.’ I politely declined and wished him a good night. In fairness he could have been just inviting me for a drink, thinking I was straight *rolls eyes widely* but I’d be very doubtful he was in any doubt of my persuasion. Have you seen me?
Judicious use of paracetmol and enough water to sink a battleship meant that, contrary to my and everyone else’s opinions, I woke without a hangover. Shocked, I was.
What did you get up to on the Saturday night of the UK Meet? Were you floored by a hangover the size of a small European country?
Until next time
Liam x
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