I go to Clevedon, in North Somerset, a lot to do certain rituals of my own to connect with my mum and nan.

Today was a little bit different: I was meeting with an old friend!

It was an early start, marred by a disturbed night and a morning migraine. I didn’t wait to see how it was going to progress: immediate migraine medication was deployed – I was not going to let stress ruin this rare day!

He was visiting her father and stepmum live in Clevedon, and she spent some of her childhood there. She now lives in New Zealand, but she and her long-term boyfriend are visiting Iceland in a few days and they have a long layover and she’s gone time for us to spend together!

The lovely thing with this friendship is that we pick up where we left off last time – it’s as though time hasn’t passed between us. I think that’s because we write snail-mail letters to each other.

By the time I got to her, my migraine had gone and it was instant hugs!

Her boyfriend was there, and I was so excited about seeing them both that he got a hug too – I don’t think there his thing, but he went with it, bless him!

We walked along the river to the coast, then up to the top of the hill. This is all in South Clevedon; I usually go to the North by the old town. It was quiet on the top of the hill and we talked for ages – about our jobs, and I also talked about my marriage. She already knew much because of our letters, so there wasn’t much for her to catch up with – what was different was that her responses (and mine) were in “real time” rather than six months after the event!

The scenery was stunning – views over the estuary, which looked more sandy than muddy in the bright sunshine. The brown water reflected the blue sky. We pointed out butterflies and birds, she she even alerted me to a rabbit not far from us.

I felt relaxed! And my headache had passed.

We wandered North, around the headland, admiring the view towards the old pier. I took some photos of us and the scenery and enjoyed the revival of this old friendship.

Needing a drink, we stopped at the park at the bottom of the hill and bought some pop. Then we found somewhere on the grass and continued our conversation.

We talked a little about gender identity, how everybody’s experience of gender is different and how my acceptance of my identity has brought me so much peace.

She didn’t understand exactly, but she also knew that she didn’t have to: it changed nothing about our friendship. I felt that she accepted that my experience was my experience and didn’t need to break it down – just to know that I was happy.

It’s possible that I did over share a little! I am not certain, but I think that she felt uncomfortable about the surgery at times, although she denied it. I also said that I felt so much more comfortable naked!

We talked about cycling. I mentioned that it was a lot less comfortable without a scrotum. Seems that she at least finds cycling uncomfortable on her delicates!

It was past lunchtime and we’d agreed to meet up with her boyfriend for lunch. He’s a real sweetie and I felt relaxed around him. We talked motorbikes for a bit, which surprised him because he forgotten that I used to be a biker! And I teased him about his enjoyment of cricket when he said that he didn’t understand golf as sport because it’s so boring!

We had lunch at a café in the sea front. I had green eggs and ham because I’d never had it before – then went on about the eggs not being green!

We went into the pier simply because he’d never been on it before.

“Fancy going on the frustrated bridge?” I asked, which confused him until he realised that I meant the pier, which does resemble an unfinished bridge.

He was amazed that it was ruined when my friends and I were children.

What a wonderful treat to spend time with old friends in the sunshine!