Pink Punters - 20th Dec 2015

Well what a night that was!!! Just can't wait to go back there again.

It all started with a little drama. We had only been driving for 20 mins when our daughters friend realised she had left her passport at home for ID. It was too late to turn back and the last time we had been in Pink Punters our daughter was not asked for ID however as a precaution her friend got her brother to send over a picture of her passport. We could only hope that we were not asked for ID or that this would suffice!

After driving for just under a couple of hours and arriving a bit later than planned (for various reasons) we checked into the Campanile hotel dead opposite Pink Punters, which by the way was totally unmissable with its myriad of fairy lights and colourful lit up signage. Pink Punters (PP) is a LGBT venue in Milton Keynes http://www.pinkpunters.com/ We used to go there quite a lot in the Abby days but this was the first time Lucy has been, along with our daughter and her friend. My friend had been with us before however the whole place has been renovated and enlarged. If you remember this was the place we visited in September as him and her. Although our daughter had also been with us at the time I think that Lucy and her had had too much to drink so when we went in at 2am neither had much recollection of it.

We hadn't had anything to eat and were going to order room service when we noticed a leaflet for take away food delivery right to the hotel; McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut to name a few..... So we ordered KFC which was hand delivered within about 30 mins and was great. What a service. We all stuffed our faces in our room washed down with Proscecco which was very yum. We thought it wise to eat bearing in mind we were going to be drinking all night.

Everyone went back to their own rooms to get ready and my daughter arranged to come back a bit later to do Lucy's makeup for her. We both chilled and bathed. At this point Lucy was nervous and excited. We chose the dress she was going to wear, black with silver skulls and long sleeves. Fab dress. The other alternative was a silver dress however when she put it on it looked a bit like tin foil so was discarded for this evening. At this point I gave Lucy one of her Christmas presents early, a silver name necklace. She totally loved it and wore it straight away and has not been taken off since.

When our daugher came back to our room she was buzzing about some trans girls she had met downstairs in the smoking area and how friendly they had been. She has met trans girls before but this was her first proper time going out to a place where she would encounter these sorts of girls. This set her up for the evening and she was looking forward to getting over to the club. She did Lucy's make up brilliantly as usual and Lucy was very happy with the result. Debates were had over the shoes Lucy should wear..... she  had only brought 2 new pairs with her.... not sure that wearing new heels on a long night out was one of the best ideas she had!

Lots of people staying in the hotel were also going to PP. As we walked down the corridor a guy started to come out his room, took one look and then laughing called his mate to come and have a look at the 'girls' walking past. It wasn't in a nice way, however he did not say anything derogatory which is just as well as I would have gone for him. We held our heads high and just walked past him. Even in the LGTB community there can still be small minded people and those who are just plain idiots!

We crossed the road over to the entrance of the club and by this time Lucy had already removed her killer heels. This was an indication as to how it would be for the rest of the evening. There was a queue of about 20 people but the moment the bouncers saw Lucy they fast tracked us all to the front of the queue. We were amazed at the special treatment. The bouncer also accepted the text photo of the passport (I'm sure that was because we were with Lucy) and we walked up the stairs to the club.

There were plenty of people there already and after grabbing our drinks from the bar we walked into the dance floor. This was fairly busy and although we weren't there on a specific trans night there were lots of trans girls around. It didn't take long for us all to start dancing as all the tunes were pretty mainstream. Suffice to say Lucy's shoes were on and off all night and she rarely stopped dancing. She is just so much fun to be out and about with and was just so relaxed being herself. One observation I have made from this night and other times we have been out is that some of the other trans girls are not so relaxed. Several kept checking themselves in the many mirrors situated everywhere and some just seemed to concentrate so hard when dancing and just never looked relaxed. Not my Lucy..... she is a party girl and was just having so much fun. In fact we are both lively people who like having a good time so this wasn't something new. Just seeing her like this made my heart swell with pride and with so much love. I really do love her so much!

She can also be a bit of a nightmare as she kept disappearing off to the other dance floor in the basement which on this night was playing drum and base and is darker and smokier than the upstairs dance floor. In the morning she did not even remember being there however the evidence was clear with the 20+ videos she had taken on her mobile phone! She also was a total mare eyeing up other girls dresses and running after people to find out where their clothes came from. Her particular favourite was a black long sleeved dress with the yellow batman logo printed all over it. She discovered it was from H&M and already she is the proud owner of exactly the same dress.... see what I mean? Nightmare!!

Any night out with Lucy wouldn't pass without a bit of drama. The toilets were unisex and manned by a chap called Martin who was really friendly and nice. As well as keeping the toilets sorted, the flow of people in and out, he was also there for helping with zips and anything else. Well at some point Lucy had managed to leave her purse there containing well over £100 and cards. She didn't notice for some time until we she went to use it and it wasn't in her bag. After a bit of panicking about where it could be she hot footed back to the loos only to find Martin had it with all the contents intact! I'm pretty sure that this wouldn't happen anywhere else. A big up to PP, the people there and the staff!

The club is owned by a chap called Frank and his wife Mary and back in the day we used to be quite friendly with them. We were not sure if they would remember us as it has been 8 years since we were last there. They spend time in the club chatting with everyone which is really great and people get to know them building on the family environment they try to build. Well Frank definitely did remember us.... again where else would that happen? Many owners are just too busy or uninterested in spending time with any of the punters. Not so in PP. Frank even bought us a few drinks.

The drinks seemed to go down really quickly and although we spent a lot of time dancing it did not get too hot and there are aircon units scattered around. There is a smoking terrace which is outside but covered so plenty of space to cool off if you did get too hot as well as areas with lots of open fires in case you got too cold. Everyone was very friendly and there was absolutely no evidence of any trouble. All the different aspects of the communities seemed to gel together, even with the straight people, and there was no uncomfortable moments at all.

The whole evening was fun from start to finish and a great time was had by all. The time just seemed to fly by and before we knew it, it was 6am! Lucy was buzzing all night and I just loved spending this sort of time together with her.

Unfortunately we were so busy having so much fun that we hardly took any pictures. There were 2 or 3 and as it was me that took them there were sadly none of me and Lucy. Once she is fully out to everyone I can't wait to be able to share these pictures as I would do with any of the thousands of pictures I usually take and still will take.

In the morning everyone was a bit bleary eyed but excitedly chatting about the evening, the people that were met, new friends made and plans to return. Lucy and I have already booked to come for a Friday and Saturday night over the Valentines weekend in 2016 and although this is only 7 weeks away it seems like AGES!

Just can't wait to go back and spend some more fun time with my Lucy!