Italian, Itävallan ja Saksan rautatiet ovat aloittamassa suoran junayhteyden Münchenistä Napoliin. Kalustona tulee olemaan italialaisten Frecciarossa 1000 -kalusto, jollaisella nykyään ajetaan esim. Pariisi–Milano.

Tämä on suomalaisille hieno asia, ainakin jos juna lähtee sellaiseen aikaan, että siihen ehtii Berliinistä saapumalla sinne Tukholmasta yöjunalla. Nopeuttanee matkaa etelä–Italiaan ja Kreikkaan lähes päivällä.

Junan olisi tarkoitus olla kulussa jo tulevan vuoden alulta.

Lisäksi vuodenvaihteen 2027–2028 tienoilla yhteys ollaan venyttämässä Berliiniin asti, mikä ennestään parantaa sen toimivuutta suomalaisille. Etenkin yhdessä Fehmarnin tunnelin kanssa.

Why do we need a third transfem comm? In the end it does not matter super much, because one can just join all three, but I do find it a bit odd that this one appeared.

Also, it says "Transfemmes only, if you are not MTF your post or comment will be removed."

How do you actually define "Transfemme"? "MTF" is kind of clear, but if you identify as something else than transfemme but are "mtf", are you not allowed to comment here?

I am a little worried about the idea of gatekeeping who is "trans enough" to post in this comm. Also, transmascs can have a lot of useful input to give us. Why prohibit them from even commenting?

And then, of course, the term "mtf" is kind of loaded and borderline transmedicalist. At least I have never been male, even if for a long time I thought I was.

Ukraine has requested Finland to donate old locomotives to UZ. Finland is sending a small amount, 10 units, of Dv12 locomotives, made in Finland a bit over half a century ago.

Latvialainen artikkeli kertoo joulukuussa avattavasta suorasta junayhteydestä Riiasta Varsovaan.

Riiasta on lähtö klo 7:01, Varsovaan saavutaan ilmeisesti 19:07. Artikkeli ei suoraan kerro, pysyykö Vilna–Varsova-aikataulu samana kuin nykyään, mutta ei se ainakaan paljoa muutu, jolloin tuo 19:07 säilynee saapumisaikana keskusasemalle.

Paluusuunnassa junan aikataulun tosin on pakko muuttua, koska artikkeli kertoo paluusuunnassa pysähdyttävän Väinänlinnassa (latviaksi Daugavpils) klo 18:10, jolloin Vilnassa on oltava n. 16:00, kun nykyisellään juna saapuu sinne klo 17:33. Junan kulkua on luvattu nopeutettavan Puolan osuudella jopa tunnilla, joten ehkä junan ei tarvitse lähteä 1½ tuntia nykyistä aiemmin sentään? Nykyisellään sen lähtöaika Varsovasta on 8:53.

Artikkeli mainitsee lisäksi, että Varsovassa tulee laiturinäytössä lukemaan määränpäänä Riika.

Ainakin toisessa suunnassa on lisäksi varmistettu vaihto Vilnassa sen lisäksi, että Mockavan asemalla vaihdetaan junaa.

I went to swimming hall with my children. They actually have three changing rooms in my local swimming hall, one of which is built gender neutral. Very suitable for families!

Anyway, during the time there my child was starting to feel a bit cold, so I decided to go to sauna with them. As I'm not yet on HRT, there isn't much I can do to represent as myself when I'm naked, so I chose the men's sauna.

Kind of weird in a way, but nobody will notice, so maybe I won't have to make it a problem.

And then I'm sitting there, one thigh atop another and speaking with a high-pitched voice. Aaaabsolutely blending in with the men, rrright? And then before leaving, I did the "clever" thing of asking the person I had been talking with for his name. Well, what would you guess was his next question? 🫣🤣

Ah well, I must have been the first Linda ever in that sauna.

Nothing bad came out of it, but in a way it's a bit disturbing I no longer pass as a cis man. I'm not really passing for a cis woman either, but in my everyday life there are muuch more people who take me for a cis woman than those who take me for a cis man. Most take me for a trans"something", of course. But, passing even worse as a cis man than as a cis woman makes me a bit uneasy, as nowadays I cannot automatically have the safety I once could take for granted. But, at the same time...

I didn't pass and that feels very good! 💛

So, still a while before I'll be on HRT. Now I still have a body running on testosterone. You know how transmascs say they start to notice women more when they're on t?

Anyway, I turned around somewhere and immediately saw a very goodlooking woman. Hair a bit messy, as if she had just come from the shower. But a really nice makeup and really beautiful facial features. (At least on the first very quick look, anyway).

So, I immediately go "damn, I need to make a good impression on that girl!!" and my brain goes full flirtmode. Mind you, all of this happened in a fraction of a second. Less than a human reaction time.

And then I noticed I'm looking at a mirror 🤣🤣

Guess I'm getting reasonably okay with makeup? It'll get only better from here 💃

Also, I don't really like it how testosterone makes me concentrate on this kind of stuff the way it does. It feels good to know that by the end of this year testosterone will not be directing my actions like that. But hey, now the two testosterone factories that are facing an immediate closure gave me my first experience ever of seeing myself as something attractive. What a nice farewell gift from their workers!

I guess this is my subconscious also really starting to accept me as a woman, not just female.

It seemed stoopid telling others they look fine but still being afraid of sending a pic of myself. So, here goes. I'm not really completely content with any of these. Some were taken by my child so the perspective is from down low, very nicely putting emphasis on my large shoes and belly. And then later I askey mom to take some more pics, but firstly the sun was already too low and therefore in my eyes, secondly she's not even sending me more than just one of the pics she made.

And now I'm in metro, on the way to the weekly demo for Ukraine. Decided to try my luck taking a selfie. That's the first image now.

Gotta try better photos later on, but these are what I was able to get now :)

Anyway, here's the rest of photos basically just showing how I happen to look today:

I've waited for a month for my hospital to tell me when I will have my appointment for beginning the HRT. So that I can start being really content with my photos someday soon-ish 💛

(To also see the original Finnish lyrics beside the English translation, remember to click the button "Original lyrics +")
This song is something of an anthem of queer Finns.

It came out (pun not completely unintended) in 2007 and soon became one of the most played song in radio for a long time. So, people could hear it play in grocery stores and wherever. You're hearing the song for maybe the 27th time without having thought much about it and then you notice: "Wait, she's singing about her partner and talking about her partner's high heels? What else does this song say?"

It's a very good thing that a song about coming out as a homosexual (or in the artist's case, actually bisexual) got that much popularity. And still this year I could hear people play this song from their portable speakers in the Pride march etc. And of course, if Finnish queer people are singing karaoke, they will eventually sing this song during the evening. It's kind of mandatory by now :D

"Ihmisten edessä" has helped a lot of queer people in this country gain confidence, to hold their heads high while walking hand in hand with their partner, or kissing their partner – just generally being themselves.

The lyrics make it quite clear why I might always find it uplifting when this song randomly starts playing when I'm riding my bicycle somewhere and playing music on shuffle. It does good for the psyche hearing a song about "hey you, yes, you! You're wonderful the way you are!"

Oh, and here's a link to the same song on Tidal so the artist will get a bit more money.

Had two nice encounters today:
First, I was at the indoor spaces of a playground with my children. After some hours there, a six-year-old asked: "Are you a boy or a girl?", to which I said "neither one really. A little bit more a girl than a boy, but not really either one."
"But then why do you look so much like a woman if you are not a woman?"

(The child has no idea how warm and giddy that made me! My voice is the deepest male voice I know among my social circle, but my clothing and accessory style is that of a woman. Haven't really felt as female as I'd want to, but apparently there's more female to my appearance than I had really thought)

And then I was walking towards home with my children and learned that there's a trans-dar just like there's a gaydar. I'm bi enough to have a largely functioning gaydar and the searching signal and response seem to work in the same manner.

In any case, I was guessing she's probably trans, and let the transdar do its magic to be sure. And after that I read a lovely greeting from her lips, to which I gestured a friendly greeting back. And then we continued our ways, me towards the bus terminal, she away from it.

First I had my first experience of passing, which is nice. Even if on a very easy level. And then, under half an hour later, I learned that I'm a part of a more tight-knit community than I had really understood. It felt meaningful for a random stranger to turn out to be a friend.

!signs@nord.pub

A community for photographs of signs. There are places where you can send images of signs that are meant to be funny, or are accidentally funny.

But maybe there's one that is just... Stupid? ...in an interesting way? Or clever? Or surprising? Or whatever you feel like: If it's a photo of a sign or a sign-like thingummywut, and you feel like it belongs in this comm, then in this comm belong it does!