Leeds Pride 2023
Aug. 7th, 2023 02:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeOn Saturday afternoon, we flew back to the UK in order to attend Leeds Pride. For Wolfie, it's only a short three-day trip due to his probation situation with work, while as I am still on gardening leave, I am likely to stay in the UK for most of the rest of the month. The journey back to Leeds was largely uneventful, although the lack of a direct train to the airport from Spandau meant we had to change at Hauptbahnhof and get the FEX. This also meant we were at the airport very early, but fortunately Terminal 2 there is much better nowadays and we even found a bar that was serving Berliner Berg pilsner albeit at high high prices. They weren't massively happy with us paying by card for some reason, which was really odd for an international airport, while they did make a mistake with the first drink and gave us Berliner instead. Still, it was a pleasant enough few hours and we got to our flight on time, with me even having a nice conversation with the lady on passport control when I corrected by German grammar, Gelegenheit being feminine rather than neuter as I had originally said (it should be gute and not gutes preceding that word in the accusative case).
It was when we got back to Manchester that things started to go wrong - but only after our welcome home Greggs at the airport (where we had sausage, bean and cheese melts). The cold rainy weather didn't help and we were torn whether we should go and see Stray and Caleb, head into Leeds or just go straight back to Pudsey. The weather ruled the latter out, as we didn't fancy a 15 minute walk from New Pudsey to home, while the rain made the former tricky too. We were also half an hour later into Manchester Airport than expected and with the next train not for another 45 minutes, the decision was largely made for us. We also didn't have our Eagle cards with us and carting a heavy suitcase around didn't appeal. So we apologised to Caleb and headed straight back to Leeds. Sadly, the train only had one luggage rack desipte being an airport service, so we had to put the case on a seat. As the train started filling up as we did a grand tour of Manchester, I got a little antsy about it taking a seat, but reasoned I couldn't put it anywhere else without it causing an obstruction. The gentlemen opposite us disagreed and asked us, impolitely, to move it. I explained the situation, admittedly in an irritated fashion, and he took huge umbrage saying "it's not my problem". It almost came to blows, with this dickhead challenging Wolfie, at one point the two going nose-to-nose. This lasted for a good 20 seconds, far beyond the time it took me to remove our bags, but as he was lower than Wolfie, he had a huge disadvantage. I convinced Wolfie a fight wasn't worth the criminal conviction, despite how much I wanted to twat the smug bellend myself, and we stood in the vestibule for the next hour. While there, we chatted to many of the other standing patrons who sympathised with our situation, effectively turning the carriage against Mr Knobhead, who sat there in awkwardness for the rest of his journey.
Leeds, as is often the case on a Saturday night, was feral by the time we got there. It's a peculiar thing about British towns and citties as I've never felt this unsafe in Berlin. En route to Cozy Club, where Whisky, Taneli and Arcais were, we saw two people being arrested for assumedly drunk and disorderly offences, which is far more than I had seen in my 13 years living in the city. There was also the usual shouting, recriminations and skirmishes too. Still, we got to Cozy Club in one piece and experienced the slowest lift imaginable, which must have taken about a minute to go up one floor. We soon found our friends, with whom we spent the next two hours before Arcais and Taneli had to leave. Whisky, who was staying in the Leonardo hotel ahead of Pride, stayed for one more drink as the place started to close. Punk IPA and a Bristol Brewery milk stout were the main drinks of interest, although I did forget the name of the stout and called it the Bristol Stool at one point, recollecting the Form Guide. The bar staff were really nice and one even commented how much he liked my unicorn t-shirt. We left shortly after half past midnight, although getting an Uber proved to be difficult. We had to get a black and white in the end, scraping the only British currency we had. Indeed, it cost about £21.40 but the guy was happy with the £20.80 we gave him. He did describe Pride as 'that gay thing' though so I assume he wasn't a fan, which was a shame, so Wolfie moved him off this topic and onto climate change, which was perhaps not the wisest move. Anywho, it was great chilling with our three friends, particularly Arcais who said "sit down next to me, Princess" as soon as I had arrived. We had a really nice chat and hopefully we can meet up again before I go back.
We got up sluggishly on Sunday, but still with enough time to get an Uber to the Leonardo for a 12 noon start. The Leeds Furs had hired a room there as our base of operations for Pride. Getting a taxi did prove to be difficult and Wolfie had to pay more by making it a priorty job, but the driver was excellent and got us where we need to be. It was a little difficult initially to find the room, but we got there in time for the briefing, which was short and largely covered the walk route and what to do in an emergency. We were then given around 45 minutes to get ready, but I was the last one to get changed, as my outfit had a load of additional accessories such as my full body harness and wings. Still, I got down at the requisite time and we got to the check-in place, which was a side street near Almost Famous, well before the 1:45pm deadline. We ended up being in Group 6, the final group, and indeed we were second last, with only The Princes Trust behind us. They were very interested in furs, particularly the two young girls who spent a lot of time trying to spot the fursuiters in our gaggle. At this point, most of us had our heads off so as not to overheat. The Princes Trust people also had a small brown dog who was having lots of fun trying to catch the orange balloon that was attached to his collar. I watched this as I stood with Aida, with whom I had an in-depth conversation about a variety of things including self-identifying, while I also realised with the wind blowing up my gusset, there was a big hole near my tail. Fortunately, Fnord could patch it up with a safety pin, which probably wasn't the only time a prick had gone in a tailhole during Pride. I had also had to borrow Shiro's fursuit brush at Pride, pinking it up with my gloriousness.
The walk itself started around 2:15pm and was much more efficient than previous years, taking just over an hour to traverse the whole route. I loved the fact the council were using bin lorries to block off certain road and highlight the route - certainly it made sense to use them as they aren't used on Sundays anyway. I only saw one protester - a guy in a beanie holding up a piece of A4 with the word ‘Jesus’ on it but I do wonder what dull monochrome lives these people must lead if they are against the colourful, accepting and friendly exuberance of Pride. Once on the route, it was easy to get off as the usual metal fences weren't there, but it went by so quickly that I wasn't too tired once we were done, despite being in suit for around three and a half hours. There were many people to high-five and a few wanted hugs too, while our group of 50 furs were very well-received. It was, as it always is, an exhilarating day and great fun marching with friends. I did notice I was one of the few people wearing a genderfluid flag and a guy in a Hawaiian shirt stopped me in the party bit in the gay district after the walk wanting to discuss self-identity with him. He was confused regarding pronouns so I offered a little bit of advice, which I hope was helpful. It was a great experience and again quite different to both the London and Berlin Prides I have also attended this year. I have now done pony, pup and furry at these three different events, expressing all three aspects of my animal identity. We were also fortunate that we were able to dodge the rain - at one point the weather foreskin said there was a 60% chance but aside from a few flecks, quite literally, it remained dry throughout.
We got back to the Leonardo at 4:15pm and after snacking on sweets and pretzels, as well as cooling off and changing, a few of us headed down to the bar for a debrief. On the route, we had spotted Entei-rah taking pictures and we invited him in to sit with the group. It was great catching up with him, along with the likes of Baz, Oracle and Douveux, who we hadn't seen in a few months. We ended up staying in the bar area for about three hours, during which I also had an in-depth conversation with one of the bar staff, Kinga. She was from Hungary and is writing about LGBTQ+ rights in her home country as part of her human rights degree. I explained all about furries there and around the world, with which she was quite interested. This conversation lasted about 20 minutes before some people turned up wanting to be served drinks. The hotel was surprisingly quiet but they did a great job of accommodating us. The beers were basically Goose Island but it was nice just relaxing and catching up, while some people even bought food too. We didn't but I did get custardy of the room for a while, before we handed all the keys to Tonks once they had gotten back from Almost Famous.
We left around 7:30pm., ending up in Bar Burrito. They do loaded fries now, so I got some cheesy ones with a burrito. It was very much a blast from the past, but filling and also quite cheap, which was useful. A few friends had started to fall away at that point, particularly those needing to head back towards Manchester and Huddersfield, so by 9pm it was just Whisky, Wolfie and I. As Whisky was again staying in the Leonardo, we retired to The Banker's Cat, with Whisky pointing out parent brew company Thornbridge are three minutes down the road from where he lives. We feared this would be busy but it was nicely full, enabling us to get a table but also have an atmospheric setting. This was another good choice as there were many beers we hadn't tried here, all at around £5 a pint, which is comparatively cheap. They did have a few guests in which were above £8, but I declined those when I realised the price. We ended up chatting a while before heading off around 11pm, again getting an Uber home as we couldn't be bothered carrying the suitcase on the bus, certainly not after the train events of the previous day. It was great chatting with Whisky, someone with whom I hadn't really spoken before, so hopefully we can meet up again soon.
It was when we got back to Manchester that things started to go wrong - but only after our welcome home Greggs at the airport (where we had sausage, bean and cheese melts). The cold rainy weather didn't help and we were torn whether we should go and see Stray and Caleb, head into Leeds or just go straight back to Pudsey. The weather ruled the latter out, as we didn't fancy a 15 minute walk from New Pudsey to home, while the rain made the former tricky too. We were also half an hour later into Manchester Airport than expected and with the next train not for another 45 minutes, the decision was largely made for us. We also didn't have our Eagle cards with us and carting a heavy suitcase around didn't appeal. So we apologised to Caleb and headed straight back to Leeds. Sadly, the train only had one luggage rack desipte being an airport service, so we had to put the case on a seat. As the train started filling up as we did a grand tour of Manchester, I got a little antsy about it taking a seat, but reasoned I couldn't put it anywhere else without it causing an obstruction. The gentlemen opposite us disagreed and asked us, impolitely, to move it. I explained the situation, admittedly in an irritated fashion, and he took huge umbrage saying "it's not my problem". It almost came to blows, with this dickhead challenging Wolfie, at one point the two going nose-to-nose. This lasted for a good 20 seconds, far beyond the time it took me to remove our bags, but as he was lower than Wolfie, he had a huge disadvantage. I convinced Wolfie a fight wasn't worth the criminal conviction, despite how much I wanted to twat the smug bellend myself, and we stood in the vestibule for the next hour. While there, we chatted to many of the other standing patrons who sympathised with our situation, effectively turning the carriage against Mr Knobhead, who sat there in awkwardness for the rest of his journey.
Leeds, as is often the case on a Saturday night, was feral by the time we got there. It's a peculiar thing about British towns and citties as I've never felt this unsafe in Berlin. En route to Cozy Club, where Whisky, Taneli and Arcais were, we saw two people being arrested for assumedly drunk and disorderly offences, which is far more than I had seen in my 13 years living in the city. There was also the usual shouting, recriminations and skirmishes too. Still, we got to Cozy Club in one piece and experienced the slowest lift imaginable, which must have taken about a minute to go up one floor. We soon found our friends, with whom we spent the next two hours before Arcais and Taneli had to leave. Whisky, who was staying in the Leonardo hotel ahead of Pride, stayed for one more drink as the place started to close. Punk IPA and a Bristol Brewery milk stout were the main drinks of interest, although I did forget the name of the stout and called it the Bristol Stool at one point, recollecting the Form Guide. The bar staff were really nice and one even commented how much he liked my unicorn t-shirt. We left shortly after half past midnight, although getting an Uber proved to be difficult. We had to get a black and white in the end, scraping the only British currency we had. Indeed, it cost about £21.40 but the guy was happy with the £20.80 we gave him. He did describe Pride as 'that gay thing' though so I assume he wasn't a fan, which was a shame, so Wolfie moved him off this topic and onto climate change, which was perhaps not the wisest move. Anywho, it was great chilling with our three friends, particularly Arcais who said "sit down next to me, Princess" as soon as I had arrived. We had a really nice chat and hopefully we can meet up again before I go back.
We got up sluggishly on Sunday, but still with enough time to get an Uber to the Leonardo for a 12 noon start. The Leeds Furs had hired a room there as our base of operations for Pride. Getting a taxi did prove to be difficult and Wolfie had to pay more by making it a priorty job, but the driver was excellent and got us where we need to be. It was a little difficult initially to find the room, but we got there in time for the briefing, which was short and largely covered the walk route and what to do in an emergency. We were then given around 45 minutes to get ready, but I was the last one to get changed, as my outfit had a load of additional accessories such as my full body harness and wings. Still, I got down at the requisite time and we got to the check-in place, which was a side street near Almost Famous, well before the 1:45pm deadline. We ended up being in Group 6, the final group, and indeed we were second last, with only The Princes Trust behind us. They were very interested in furs, particularly the two young girls who spent a lot of time trying to spot the fursuiters in our gaggle. At this point, most of us had our heads off so as not to overheat. The Princes Trust people also had a small brown dog who was having lots of fun trying to catch the orange balloon that was attached to his collar. I watched this as I stood with Aida, with whom I had an in-depth conversation about a variety of things including self-identifying, while I also realised with the wind blowing up my gusset, there was a big hole near my tail. Fortunately, Fnord could patch it up with a safety pin, which probably wasn't the only time a prick had gone in a tailhole during Pride. I had also had to borrow Shiro's fursuit brush at Pride, pinking it up with my gloriousness.
The walk itself started around 2:15pm and was much more efficient than previous years, taking just over an hour to traverse the whole route. I loved the fact the council were using bin lorries to block off certain road and highlight the route - certainly it made sense to use them as they aren't used on Sundays anyway. I only saw one protester - a guy in a beanie holding up a piece of A4 with the word ‘Jesus’ on it but I do wonder what dull monochrome lives these people must lead if they are against the colourful, accepting and friendly exuberance of Pride. Once on the route, it was easy to get off as the usual metal fences weren't there, but it went by so quickly that I wasn't too tired once we were done, despite being in suit for around three and a half hours. There were many people to high-five and a few wanted hugs too, while our group of 50 furs were very well-received. It was, as it always is, an exhilarating day and great fun marching with friends. I did notice I was one of the few people wearing a genderfluid flag and a guy in a Hawaiian shirt stopped me in the party bit in the gay district after the walk wanting to discuss self-identity with him. He was confused regarding pronouns so I offered a little bit of advice, which I hope was helpful. It was a great experience and again quite different to both the London and Berlin Prides I have also attended this year. I have now done pony, pup and furry at these three different events, expressing all three aspects of my animal identity. We were also fortunate that we were able to dodge the rain - at one point the weather foreskin said there was a 60% chance but aside from a few flecks, quite literally, it remained dry throughout.
We got back to the Leonardo at 4:15pm and after snacking on sweets and pretzels, as well as cooling off and changing, a few of us headed down to the bar for a debrief. On the route, we had spotted Entei-rah taking pictures and we invited him in to sit with the group. It was great catching up with him, along with the likes of Baz, Oracle and Douveux, who we hadn't seen in a few months. We ended up staying in the bar area for about three hours, during which I also had an in-depth conversation with one of the bar staff, Kinga. She was from Hungary and is writing about LGBTQ+ rights in her home country as part of her human rights degree. I explained all about furries there and around the world, with which she was quite interested. This conversation lasted about 20 minutes before some people turned up wanting to be served drinks. The hotel was surprisingly quiet but they did a great job of accommodating us. The beers were basically Goose Island but it was nice just relaxing and catching up, while some people even bought food too. We didn't but I did get custardy of the room for a while, before we handed all the keys to Tonks once they had gotten back from Almost Famous.
We left around 7:30pm., ending up in Bar Burrito. They do loaded fries now, so I got some cheesy ones with a burrito. It was very much a blast from the past, but filling and also quite cheap, which was useful. A few friends had started to fall away at that point, particularly those needing to head back towards Manchester and Huddersfield, so by 9pm it was just Whisky, Wolfie and I. As Whisky was again staying in the Leonardo, we retired to The Banker's Cat, with Whisky pointing out parent brew company Thornbridge are three minutes down the road from where he lives. We feared this would be busy but it was nicely full, enabling us to get a table but also have an atmospheric setting. This was another good choice as there were many beers we hadn't tried here, all at around £5 a pint, which is comparatively cheap. They did have a few guests in which were above £8, but I declined those when I realised the price. We ended up chatting a while before heading off around 11pm, again getting an Uber home as we couldn't be bothered carrying the suitcase on the bus, certainly not after the train events of the previous day. It was great chatting with Whisky, someone with whom I hadn't really spoken before, so hopefully we can meet up again soon.
