I've mentioned in the past that I'm not that keen on the gay Village in Manchester. Bizarrely its the only place I ever get hassle but this weekend totally changed my opinion.

Its the first time I'd been to Pride in Manchester (another one ticked off the list, Sydney next perhaps? ;o) and it was a total blast. I'd avoided it in the past because of stories of over crowded bars and relentless queuing. The bars where indeed crowded but I was lucky enough to avoid the queues as my friend Shaya actually lives in the village, so we didn't have to queue or pay to go in any of the bars. What can I say? I'm spoilt!

The fact that Shaya had decided to drag up for the occasion and looked absolutely amazing also helped I'm sure. He totally put me in the shade, thats for sure.

After some persuasion, I finally let Shaya do my makeup for me. He's a fashion designer and an artist and has been dying to get his hands on me since we first met last year. The final look was very different to my usual one. A bit draggy for me perhaps but very striking and totally right for the occasion.

He swore that if President Bush won the last election he'd leave the U.S.A, so thats exactly what he did!

We were joined by Shaya's work colleague Gary, who also got in the spirit of things and popped on a touch of makeup. Now Gary's a handsome man to begin with, so I don't think its an exageration to say that the three of us together made quite an impact. At times we had people queuing up to take photos with us, it was a crazy night. Shaya's usually much larger than life to begin with, but tonight he was even wilder than usual (hard as that is to imagine!).

The whole atmosphere was really friendly, and I met loads of great people from all over Europe and the U.S. Funnily enough, I didn't see many trannies. Quite a few drag queens but not many trannies, I even popped into that trannie mecca Napoleans but didnt see anyone I knew.

I also met loads of people from my home town (and Wales, I met tons of people from Wales! lol). In fact I'd literally just stepped onto Canal St for the first time when I saw a girl I knew through the crowd. I was just trying to make my way towards her to say hello when I realised that she's only ever seen me in drab so I let the moment pass (coincidently I've just read one of Lori's posts which sums up perfectly what was wizzing through my brain in that moment). Afterwards I wished I'd gone across to say hello anyway. After all she was in the Gay Village for Pride, so she might have one or two secrets herself, or at the very least it showed that she's open minded.

The weekend started in fine fashion, as on Friday I joined some friends to go and see "The Notorious Bettie Page", which tells the story of the fabulous pin up and fetish icon of the 50's.

It was the first time I'd been to the cinema as Karol so I was a little nervous. Especially as we were all dressed in 50's style outfits which in my case meant tottaring around on some rather high stilletos in a very constricting pencil skirt. Not exactly "stealth mode". Thankfully I didn't fall flat on my face on the seemingly endless cinema staircase, although I felt sorry for the poor couple walking up the stairs behind me who had to put up with my wiggling tush.

I enjoyed the film but a few of my friends observed that it was a little light weight and didn't really scratch below the surface of this iconic woman. Apparently there's another biography out soon, so we shall see how that one turns out.

After the film we all went onto my friend Emmas who was throwing a fabulous Bettie Page party. Emmas the spitting image of Dita Von Teese (lucky girl!) and I just adore her style, she's an inspiration and always looks amazing. Emmas house is totally retro and was the perfect location for the party, and when I joined the (real) girls to change into our corsets in Em's boudoir, it felt like I really was in a different era.

You can now see some fab photos of the night here.

On Saturday I did Pride which as I mentioned was really uplifting, and Sunday was a quite(ish) day. I was supposed to come home but was having such fun I stayed an extra day.

Sunday was much more low key, just sitting around and chatting at Mark and Mandies flat. A friend of theirs from the U.S. happened to pop by (as you do). He was a fascinating guy, he swore that if President Bush won the last election he'd leave the U.S.A, so thats exactly what he did! (I wonder how many said it but then chickened out?) So since then he's been a "political refugee" travelling around the world raising awareness of the impact that U.S. policy is having both at home and abroad, and counting the days until Bush is out and he can return home. I mean surely the next guy's got to be better?

Amazingly, I still had a little energy left and in the end I got itchy feet and went clubbing around midnight for a few hours. What was sweet was the number of people who I'd bumped into the night before who come up to say hello.

Funny, it's just occurred to me that I'd never go clubbing on my own in drab but think nothing of doing it as Karol.

I really wasn't expecting that much from the weekend but it was a total joy from start to finish. It made me realise that if things don't work out in London then I might well move to Manchester next.