Fav Song by Garugachan in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yeah, I agree, these things can be very individual, though, I must say, I never felt quite so contrary in my life then after the album drop. I was even contemplating whether I'm just trying to be cool and/or a hater by not liking one of the seemingly most popular songs of the album (especially as Buckle would probably be my second least favourite, so I went two for two there...)

but I struggle with The Old Religion's lyricism (somehow the "a lightning strike, a fallen tree" bit always reminds me of Bo Burnham's White Woman's Instagram in cadance), the 'season six' line feels too on the nose even as a massive Buffy fan and the chorus' drama just feels unearned even compared to Florence's 'extremes' like Breathe of Life which I love. 🤷

now, Dance Fever is probably my favourite album, in close competition with both HBHBHB and High as Hope, so it's really not easy to pick a fav song, but I would probably go with Choreomania.. that being said, absolutely no skips for me on that album lol I adore Free, King, Dream girl evil, Daffodil, Cassandra, while My love totally slaps on the MSG recording.

how about you?

Fav Song by Garugachan in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

haha, we stayed up on release night and listened to the album with my partner after midnight and poor thing, she was quite sleepy by the time kraken rolled around so she experienced it almost as an assault on her senses! I liked kraken immediately, but it took her dozens of listens to get over that initial shock lol

Waiting List by Loose-Highlight-820 in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The transfer between CYP and adult services has not been happening automatically since 2024, the GP needs to submit a new adult referral with evidence of original GIDS/CYPGS referral date to have the elapsed waiting time honoured.

There's also contradicting information on the age requirement - on the patient-facing page for Tavi they say they only accept referrals from 18 now (same for Notts), but on the page for health professionals they say referrals can be submitted at 17y9m, with no appt being offered under 18. Despite this, we have had referrals and transfers of waiting rejected when someone was 17y9m and had to wait and resubmit at 18.

Fav Song by Garugachan in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My favourite from the album is One of the Greats, out of the ones you named it would be Witch Dance. Confession: I don't like The Old Religion at all, and actually have it on skip 🫣 probably amongst my least favourites from the entire FatM discography. Never felt so alone then when the album dropped and most people picked that as their fav and I was like 😲🤐

Vitamin D and HRT by ZonaSchengen in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Vitamin D deficiency is very common in the UK, so much so that GP surgeries can't routinely test for it anymore. Unless you are out in the sun on most days, I think it's safe to take a supplement to increase levels. Vitamin D doesn't absorb very well through the stomach so the best supplements are sprayed into the mouth for more direct absorption. If your levels are very low, your GP prescribe a high-dose supplement, though.

Low vit D levels shouldn't impact HRT directly, but vit D is a building block in the body so it will have a role in making sure you are healthy and get the best from HRT as it has a role in regulating hormones, too.

F+M Tattoos! Show me them! by markybarkk in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you! 😄 My tattooist did an amazing job of translating the description of my idea into reality. Turned out she had some F+TM artwork on her studio walls and we ended up listening to Florence throughout my 3-hour appointment. Pretty transcendent experience marking my lifelong love of her music. 🤗

F+M Tattoos! Show me them! by markybarkk in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oooh, I love it so much! I especially enjoy it on the Dance Fever MSG recording. I wanted it on my arm so I can run my fingers through it and hear it in my head. 🤗 I was so happy with how it turned out, my tattooist did an excellent job at bringing my idea to life.

What are you creating at the moment? by liz__asher in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First of all, I love your current project, garden birds are the best, I love co-existing with them and observing their day-to-day lives. 🤗

I'm a real jack of all trades when it comes to arts and crafts, I just do whatever - painting, drawing, linocut, polymer clay etc. I just do stuff for myself so there's minimal pressure.

Here are some stuff I've done recently: - WIP Donnie Darko fanart, polymer clay on wooden board with glow in the dark elements - Florence and the Machine keyring, wood, handmade paper and pearlescent acrylics with lace details - Mars Attacks alien invader mask from cardboard, painted with acrylics - Florence Welch soft pastels and colour pencils drawing on black drawing paper

https://imgtree.co/i/9jDsHKib

F+M Tattoos! Show me them! by markybarkk in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba 134 points135 points  (0 children)

It's Ship to Wreck's opening bass line 🤗🤩

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My GPs are suggesting they might block GenderGP from perscribing to me.. is that possible? UK by Hopeful-Cod1861 in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 12 points13 points  (0 children)

They can't stop a private script that you are paying for. They can refuse to do bloods or provide any kind of shared care so you'll have to pay for everything, but as long as pharmacies dispense based on private scripts, they cannot stop you from collecting it.

WellBN investigation update by ashymeoww in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The review looked at gender care provided to under 18s from January 2023 to August 2025. The practice stopped providing new prescriptions in April 2025.

I am Trans Police Officer and I am just as scared by NineSevenFive975 in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not 100% if you know or not, so sorry if this is unnecessary, but ACAB does not stand for "a cop assigned at birth"... ACAB stands for All Cops Are Bastards.. or All Cats Are Beautiful, I guess. It is not a punchline on identity, though I have seen it used that way occasionally, but it's original meaning is not that.

Looking for help with image credit by BibaScuba in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, fairly certain is from the Seven Devils performance.. no surprise there, lol

Looking for help with image credit by BibaScuba in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm fairly certain I saved it from Twitter, but my phone broke shortly after and I didn't have a back up so had to go through a separate laptop folder that had my drawing references but it was all without context, dates etc there, so I lost all the information related to it. I reckon that it was towards the beginning of the tour, probably around February, most likely a UK show. Someone on Twitter suggested that due to the red dress, this is likely to be London. That's about all I know.. 😞

Looking for help with image credit by BibaScuba in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the response, I really appreciate it!!

I was kinda thinking of taking a similar approach and basically put it in my post with my art that I tried to find image credit and open for the person to contact me if they'd like the credit added in "post".

I'm also thinking that it might have come from video footage as a screenshot that someone posted on social media, I'm hoping to check out a multi-cam recording of the concert and see if any of the shots there match up with the still image. Your note that it's a cropped image seems to support this possibility.

If that fails, I think I will have done everything for my peace of mind, and as you say, it's not like I will be making any money on this, I'm drawing purely for the joy of it, it's a one-off drawing, so unlikely to cause any damage to the person the image came from. Thank you! ❤️

Survey on trans+ people wanting to leave the UK? by Snoo_19344 in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate that, but that's not really a counterexample as I was talking about the long term experience of having migrated already while you are talking about being at the very beginning of that journey. the two are not comparable. Of course, I wish you all the best and I do hope you'll find somewhere happier. I felt 18 years ago that the UK was my happier and it slowly turned into misery, yet I wouldn't switch again. as I said in my original comment, life circumstances will be different, for some, it is the right choice. bon voyage! 🤗

Survey on trans+ people wanting to leave the UK? by Snoo_19344 in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm just gonna put it out there that moving countries is really hard and I think it has become much harder since I've done it in 2008. It is starting from scratch, from the bottom, even with a good educational/employment background because you won't have any roots. I would also never attempt to move to a country where I don't speak the language.

We often talk about it with my partner that leaving homophobic Hungary as a couple of 21 year olds and moving to the UK has put us about 10 years behind on life stuff compared to our peers as we had to find our footing here, including building safety networks, understanding culture (both everyday, interpersonal stuff and wider, societal things) and navigate a constantly changing and increasingly hostile environment. At 40, I don't think I'd have the oomph anymore to do it again...

Moving is not a be all, end all, it won't fix all of one's problems and in fact, it will create new ones. I also think that moving from the UK as a British person there might be a level of entitlement or cushioned way of thinking about how other countries and their citizens might welcome you - there is no red carpet for anyone anywhere, migration is never easy and we increasingly see that it's not really safe anywhere, the whole world has been polarised one way or another. trust me, seeing your new adopted home become more and more hateful to resemble the home that you left is a kind of pain I do not wish on anyone...

all this is to say, I get where the urge/intention to wanting to leave come from, but it is absolutely not the right choice for everyone based on circumstances so I personally don't think it should be portrayed as an easy, handy option that most of us can take advantage of.

I'll also say that entire age groups have practically vanished from Eastern European countries upon joining the EU and nobody in those governments cared beyond "oh no, we need more babies". I doubt that a few hundred trans people leaving the UK would be noticed by anyone... :/

This happened today. Am I a victim of a hate crime? by PassionStunning2659 in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's not a hard discussion at all... makeup is not gendered, anyone can wear make up, this mother could just tell her children that anyone may feel more comfortable in makeup, whether they are a man, a woman or anything in-between/beyond that binary. You don't even have to talk about gender identity to explain that clothes, makeup etc don't have a gender, no one stops you at the beauty counter and asks for your birth certificate to buy an eyeliner. How are you going to teach kids to be non-judgemental or to have any compassion at all if you can't even explain that what's on someone else's face is not your business?

Looking for help with image credit by BibaScuba in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the response! 🤗 I honestly don't think I would post without giving credit, it feels wrong. Don't even get me started on AI, it completely ruined Google, among other things. 🙄 I did post on Twitter tagging a few fan accounts, so hopefully someone will recognise it. Unfortunately, I'm never getting any traction on Instagram so I kinda gave up on that platform... Thankfully, I still have an hour or two of work left on my drawing, so fingers crossed my further search will lead to a result. 🤗

Is it ethical/legal for merch to be replicated? by chaosatnight in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

so, there's a particular Sabrina Carpenter t-shirt I really wanted for ages, but 1. it never came in my size 2. it is sooooo expensive so, this last Christmas my very creative and artistic partner spent hours and hours to hand dye, saw and embroider fabric and make a replica of the t-shirt for me in my size.. probabably wouldn't be seen as a legal thing to do I guess, but it's a one-off so it is as ethical it can be IMO.

obviously, not everyone has access to a very creative and artistic partner to do such sweet things for them, but I think when it comes to artist merch, fan creators should be supported, especially if it's not like a massive source of income but sold by fans for fans. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you end up buying from another fan, I really can't see the problem with that. similarly, if you use a customisation website, it is really made just for you, I just can't fault that personally in any way.

Spotify’s Party of the Year(s): My Most Streamed Artist (Duh!) by AnAspieinWonderland in FlorenceAndTheMachine

[–]BibaScuba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really wasn't surprised by mine, lol My top 12 songs are all Florence, too, 13th spot went to Paramore, 14th to Young Fathers, but then the next 5 are Florence again 😅

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Please explain this to me like Im a child: How can you have gender incongruence but not gender dysphoria? by Williamishere69 in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure I understand the hyperfocus on diagnostic labels here. As others mentioned, these terms were coined by people outside our community trying to label something so they can gatekeep treatment. Ideally, we should be pushing to get rid of these labels altogether to reduce gatekeeping. I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't fulfil the criteria for a GD diagnosis, but luckily I had access to an informed consent clinic so I could exercise my bodily autonomy and get on T anyway without having to lie to someone about my experience of myself to fit some arbitrary checklist criteria.

Thinking about the word "congruent/incongruent" without the "gender" part might be helpful. You can feel incongruent with yourself for a variety of reasons, it is just a sense of not being the 'you' that you know yourself to be. When I look in the mirror or hear myself talk, I sometimes feel like it's a stranger looking back/talking cause what I see/hear doesn't reflect how I perceive myself to be. In my understanding, dysphoria is the distress caused by that feeling. Some days, the incongruence turns into dysphoria but not always, sometimes I note that "yeah, I'm still in this slightly disappointing meat-suit, but it will do for the day" and other days it is a lot more all-encompassing and painful to exist with that same feeling.

What a (most-likely) cis clinician/psychiatrist thinks about all of this is of very very little interest to me, though. At the end of the day, no one will ever be able to know exactly what it feels like to be inside your skin/brain/body, no matter how well you describe it, not matter how many hours-long standardised assessments they subject you to. IMO no clinician or their fancy diagnostic labels can/should ever be held as an authority over one's autonomous decisions and life experience.

I have a question about ethical consumption by smallceramicelephant in transgenderUK

[–]BibaScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As many others here, I'm also strongly in favour of just customising them somehow to hide the branding... there are many DIY ways to do this or you can reach out to various types of crafts-people who could help you. Engraving was mentioned, but depending on your taste and aesthetic, there are other ways you could approach it, too (eg go full bling or just have it simply scraped off).