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This Saturday was CSD, or Christopher Street Day, which is essentially Berlin Pride. It was our first one since moving to the city, having missed last year's in an attempt to avoid contracting COVID, particularly as our second vaccination was due only three days later. I had spent much of the week - when I wasn't sweating my tits off in 39C heat - trying to get a small furry group together but no-one on the Fureigners chat was biting. I knew what the puppies were doing, but I don't feel particularly comfortable in the pup scene, nor do I know many of them. This meant that as we were moving into Thursday, we still had no option.
This changed that evening as we met up with Kebi at Monterrey. The night itself was good, albeit a little more boozy than I had expected. Initially, we were on the cheaper standard pilsners, but Fiasco bought a €16 bottle of sour beer, which he gracefully shared amongst us. This was the catalyst to try more cans and bottles. Anywho, the eight of us ended chatting and eventually moving outside, with the initial attendees opting for the hot sweaty backroom next to the toilets. Kebi left about 11pm, but we ended up chatting, and on Friday she told us that a few furs were going to meet outside Spittelmarkt at 11:30am ahead of the parade starting at noon. This sounded good to us, although such an early start would result in little sleep. Still, we wanted to go to CSD and thought this was the best option.
I decided to wear a skirt and go full femboy. This was my first Pride since coming out as genderfluid and I thought if I couldn't do it here on this day, then when could I do it. I was a little apprehensive though, resulting in me carrying a pair of jeans and some underpants around with me just in case I bottled it (or in case we went elsewhere), but I went to Pride on the U-Bahn in feminine attire and no-one batted an eyelid. This was quite a confidence boost, so much so that when we went to Vagabund for the evening, I just kept the skirt on, even travelling back home alone (because Wolfie had felt tired and left around 8:30pm) after midnight because I no longer cared. I do still feel a little nervous with all this though, particularly due to my build and weight. I am working on shifting the pounds, but drinking nights like Thursday and Saturday don't help. It's a really frustrating catch-22 as my mental health both needs friends and a thinner me, and it often feels like a bit of a trade-off.
CSD was an incredibly big event, with the Parade snaking from Spittelmarkt, down to Postdamer Platz, Nollendorfplatz and up to Siegessäule and the Brandenburg Gate. It was so long that it took us six hours to get through it - and an hour for it to start moving from its scheduled start time - although we did stop quite regularly to pick up beers and snacks. As it went through so much of the city, it was great seeing parts of it we hadn't visited before. I was a little apprehensive about the lack of toilets, which is why I didn't start drinking until about 3pm, but I soon realised people were pissing anywhere so it was largely okay. Furthermore, unlike Leeds Pride, you are not confined by metal barriers so you can go in and out of the parade as you wish. The only time you can't is if one of the floats is coming past, with these protected by bouncers holding ropes to prevent people from being run over.
The atmosphere was very carnival-like, with lots of dance music blaring out. Some was better than others, but Wolfie really got his groove on, which was one of the reasons why he left Vagabund so early. At times, I found the whole thing a little overwhelming, and mid-afternoon I did have a mental wobble. This wasn't helped by me worrying about my German tax situation, which was a little silly as I still have time to get this resolved. For some reason, it has consumed my brain over the last three days, and I have been feeling very down. Wolfie and I even had an argument going to Pride, with him telling me on the U2 that he may just go home if I didn't shut up about it. I felt a bit let down here, but it was clear that I had ruined the start of his day, which also weighed heavy on my mind. It wasn't until mid-afternoon, when he had started dancing and I started drinking, that I felt a little better about things.
The walk through the Parade did feel a little like a yomp at times, with our friends picking their way through the crowds without really checking to see whether we were following or not. This meant we lost people quite regularly and had to hang around at various points before they caught up with us. Fortunately, we had the company of a huge rubber dog called Aced who was carrying a giant rubber pride flag, which made following quite easy. Along the way, we also bumped into numerous fur friends of our friends, as well as some non-furs too. It was great getting to know these people and as the weather got sunnier and warmer as the afternoon progressed, I felt a lot better about things.
We left Pride at Siegessäule, not even getting into the party area down at Brandenburg Gate as Nate and Raevinsky fancied going to Vagabund. It was quite quiet but a nice way to end the day, with around 15 of us there. We even picked up two French brewers who wanted to join our group. Before we went there, we stopped off at a rather nice falafel place nearby, who gave us an incredible wrap for just €4. I should have asked for mine without tomato and pickles though. Aside from that, we spent about four hours in Vagabund, with Wolfie leaving three hours before I did due to being tucked out. At one point, as there were five Poles around the table, the conversation switched into Polish and I felt very frustrated about how few languages I actually speak. This did enable me to move to the other end of the table though, where I got talking to some other people as well as the aforementioned Frenchmen.
Aside from this, work has been plodding on in much the same way, but Wolfie had a very positive interview on Monday. He was offered a job, which he accepted on Friday, with his new work starting on 15 August. This means things will be a lot more relaxed as we'll have two incomes coming in again, while this will also enable me to look for a job with added zeal. The only other thing this week was of course the intense heat, which has prevented us from doing an awful lot. With temperatures going down again from Tuesday though, I do hope to be more productive, particularly as we won't be going out very much next week as Trax's cruise is the week after and we want to avoid COVID.
This changed that evening as we met up with Kebi at Monterrey. The night itself was good, albeit a little more boozy than I had expected. Initially, we were on the cheaper standard pilsners, but Fiasco bought a €16 bottle of sour beer, which he gracefully shared amongst us. This was the catalyst to try more cans and bottles. Anywho, the eight of us ended chatting and eventually moving outside, with the initial attendees opting for the hot sweaty backroom next to the toilets. Kebi left about 11pm, but we ended up chatting, and on Friday she told us that a few furs were going to meet outside Spittelmarkt at 11:30am ahead of the parade starting at noon. This sounded good to us, although such an early start would result in little sleep. Still, we wanted to go to CSD and thought this was the best option.
I decided to wear a skirt and go full femboy. This was my first Pride since coming out as genderfluid and I thought if I couldn't do it here on this day, then when could I do it. I was a little apprehensive though, resulting in me carrying a pair of jeans and some underpants around with me just in case I bottled it (or in case we went elsewhere), but I went to Pride on the U-Bahn in feminine attire and no-one batted an eyelid. This was quite a confidence boost, so much so that when we went to Vagabund for the evening, I just kept the skirt on, even travelling back home alone (because Wolfie had felt tired and left around 8:30pm) after midnight because I no longer cared. I do still feel a little nervous with all this though, particularly due to my build and weight. I am working on shifting the pounds, but drinking nights like Thursday and Saturday don't help. It's a really frustrating catch-22 as my mental health both needs friends and a thinner me, and it often feels like a bit of a trade-off.
CSD was an incredibly big event, with the Parade snaking from Spittelmarkt, down to Postdamer Platz, Nollendorfplatz and up to Siegessäule and the Brandenburg Gate. It was so long that it took us six hours to get through it - and an hour for it to start moving from its scheduled start time - although we did stop quite regularly to pick up beers and snacks. As it went through so much of the city, it was great seeing parts of it we hadn't visited before. I was a little apprehensive about the lack of toilets, which is why I didn't start drinking until about 3pm, but I soon realised people were pissing anywhere so it was largely okay. Furthermore, unlike Leeds Pride, you are not confined by metal barriers so you can go in and out of the parade as you wish. The only time you can't is if one of the floats is coming past, with these protected by bouncers holding ropes to prevent people from being run over.
The atmosphere was very carnival-like, with lots of dance music blaring out. Some was better than others, but Wolfie really got his groove on, which was one of the reasons why he left Vagabund so early. At times, I found the whole thing a little overwhelming, and mid-afternoon I did have a mental wobble. This wasn't helped by me worrying about my German tax situation, which was a little silly as I still have time to get this resolved. For some reason, it has consumed my brain over the last three days, and I have been feeling very down. Wolfie and I even had an argument going to Pride, with him telling me on the U2 that he may just go home if I didn't shut up about it. I felt a bit let down here, but it was clear that I had ruined the start of his day, which also weighed heavy on my mind. It wasn't until mid-afternoon, when he had started dancing and I started drinking, that I felt a little better about things.
The walk through the Parade did feel a little like a yomp at times, with our friends picking their way through the crowds without really checking to see whether we were following or not. This meant we lost people quite regularly and had to hang around at various points before they caught up with us. Fortunately, we had the company of a huge rubber dog called Aced who was carrying a giant rubber pride flag, which made following quite easy. Along the way, we also bumped into numerous fur friends of our friends, as well as some non-furs too. It was great getting to know these people and as the weather got sunnier and warmer as the afternoon progressed, I felt a lot better about things.
We left Pride at Siegessäule, not even getting into the party area down at Brandenburg Gate as Nate and Raevinsky fancied going to Vagabund. It was quite quiet but a nice way to end the day, with around 15 of us there. We even picked up two French brewers who wanted to join our group. Before we went there, we stopped off at a rather nice falafel place nearby, who gave us an incredible wrap for just €4. I should have asked for mine without tomato and pickles though. Aside from that, we spent about four hours in Vagabund, with Wolfie leaving three hours before I did due to being tucked out. At one point, as there were five Poles around the table, the conversation switched into Polish and I felt very frustrated about how few languages I actually speak. This did enable me to move to the other end of the table though, where I got talking to some other people as well as the aforementioned Frenchmen.
Aside from this, work has been plodding on in much the same way, but Wolfie had a very positive interview on Monday. He was offered a job, which he accepted on Friday, with his new work starting on 15 August. This means things will be a lot more relaxed as we'll have two incomes coming in again, while this will also enable me to look for a job with added zeal. The only other thing this week was of course the intense heat, which has prevented us from doing an awful lot. With temperatures going down again from Tuesday though, I do hope to be more productive, particularly as we won't be going out very much next week as Trax's cruise is the week after and we want to avoid COVID.
