So, sitting around, nothing to do but revise for an IT resit. Brain's fucked from doing that.
Thus, I chose to write a blog post... the first one. On here at least. Last time? Didn't turn out so great, we won't go into that. Different forum though, and many a year ago.
Hm.
Seems fitting to start with something about myself. Also seems a bit unnecessary. Meh. Hi. Phil. Male. 18. Northeast England. Bored out of my mind.
Ergo, it makes sense to visit the last time I wasn't bored, which would be the weekend, I think.
Been doing Viking re-enactment for the past four/five years. Specific focus on combat displays; kind of thing that if you do, you need to really commit to otherwise you'll end up really, really bad at. Well, I've committed... passed a spear test last Summer, probably the hardest test there is. Currently having loads of fun with an axe.
Yes, all the weapons are blunted. Metal, so you can definitely tell when you've been hit, but blunt. We pull our blows. No serious injuries; my worst over the weekend would be this bloody sunburn...
Had a show over the weekend. Was pretty epic - saw a lot of friends I hadn't seen in a while, many coming from Scotland or something. They've been going a lot longer than me, but I get to a lot more shows.
Had to go through with a slightly ruined Saturday evening, sadly. Normally we end up going for a pub lunch followed by Merriment, this time we ended up in this HUGE thing with loads of other groups. While each group did something pretty cool, it was focused around a not-so-great story thing, the only saving grace of which was the main guy had a seriously nice set of steampunk-esque goggles.
On the plus side, we got to burn a HUGE ship. Yay, fire.
And I got a LOT of knife practice in... a couple of the Scottish lot and a bunch of us Englishmen love knife-fighting, it's great fun. Hones your reflexes amazingly. Sadly, didn't get enough in... lack of gloves (use hands to parry) meant that we couldn't have everyone going at once. Still, ended up going against most people, got literally thrown over someone's shoulder again to the general amusement of others.
Now, the sunburn I mentioned earlier.
Worst thing posssible when a lot of the re-enactment wear is made of wool.
Ow.
Sunbaked face, burnt ear, back of neck, one shoulder, a bit down my chest.
Less fun than one might imagine... though definitely worth it. That's the one thing you can really say about Dark Ages combat re-enactment. You get bruises, cuts and sunburn. You get rained on. You get abuse from a few of the locals. You end the weekend so exhausted you want to lie down and sleep for weeks on end.
But it is worth it. So worth it.
Also, it's one hell of a workout...
Anyway, my brain is now feeling less chargrilled. Going to go shower and then revise like hell now. Bye all.
Thus, I chose to write a blog post... the first one. On here at least. Last time? Didn't turn out so great, we won't go into that. Different forum though, and many a year ago.
Hm.
Seems fitting to start with something about myself. Also seems a bit unnecessary. Meh. Hi. Phil. Male. 18. Northeast England. Bored out of my mind.
Ergo, it makes sense to visit the last time I wasn't bored, which would be the weekend, I think.
Been doing Viking re-enactment for the past four/five years. Specific focus on combat displays; kind of thing that if you do, you need to really commit to otherwise you'll end up really, really bad at. Well, I've committed... passed a spear test last Summer, probably the hardest test there is. Currently having loads of fun with an axe.
Yes, all the weapons are blunted. Metal, so you can definitely tell when you've been hit, but blunt. We pull our blows. No serious injuries; my worst over the weekend would be this bloody sunburn...
Had a show over the weekend. Was pretty epic - saw a lot of friends I hadn't seen in a while, many coming from Scotland or something. They've been going a lot longer than me, but I get to a lot more shows.
Had to go through with a slightly ruined Saturday evening, sadly. Normally we end up going for a pub lunch followed by Merriment, this time we ended up in this HUGE thing with loads of other groups. While each group did something pretty cool, it was focused around a not-so-great story thing, the only saving grace of which was the main guy had a seriously nice set of steampunk-esque goggles.
On the plus side, we got to burn a HUGE ship. Yay, fire.
And I got a LOT of knife practice in... a couple of the Scottish lot and a bunch of us Englishmen love knife-fighting, it's great fun. Hones your reflexes amazingly. Sadly, didn't get enough in... lack of gloves (use hands to parry) meant that we couldn't have everyone going at once. Still, ended up going against most people, got literally thrown over someone's shoulder again to the general amusement of others.
Now, the sunburn I mentioned earlier.
Worst thing posssible when a lot of the re-enactment wear is made of wool.
Ow.
Sunbaked face, burnt ear, back of neck, one shoulder, a bit down my chest.
Less fun than one might imagine... though definitely worth it. That's the one thing you can really say about Dark Ages combat re-enactment. You get bruises, cuts and sunburn. You get rained on. You get abuse from a few of the locals. You end the weekend so exhausted you want to lie down and sleep for weeks on end.
But it is worth it. So worth it.
Also, it's one hell of a workout...
Anyway, my brain is now feeling less chargrilled. Going to go shower and then revise like hell now. Bye all.
