20-year Coronation, Thursday 20 June
Jun. 20th, 2013 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This was the one day I got some fencing in, so I was up early hoping and praying that it would start on time. :-)
I love breakfasts at European events; it's not glamourous but it is savoury. Half a dozen different types of bread including ryes and black breads, meats and cheese, quark (kinda like yoghurt, but not), and the best coffee I've ever had out of an urn. I don't know what Germans do differently with large quantities of coffee, other than perhaps just add *lots* but it's nothing like 'conference coffee' in England. Yum.
So many fencers! and happily most of them are signed up to play in the very silly Brighthelm tourney, aka the circle of treachery - every one for themselves, but you can't kill the person immediately next to you. It's great fun, and while good fencers can do well, it can reward just about anyone lucky. We managed a few bouts of girls vs boys, but you can't rely on it! and Lady Lalli, a splendid Lanceknict lady, wins the best dressed competition. (She goes on to win the Albion tourney as well, so she's both lovely and dangerous.)
I stay around for some pickup but there's not a great deal - people are keen, but they're really feeling the heat, and even the keenest don't manage much more than 20 mins before pooping out.
Note to self: for future events, make more time to fence.
The rest of the day is mostly about court - preparing for court, changing court location at the last minute to move indoors - (spectacular thunderstorms that were threatening much of the day appear less than an hour before court), finding banners to hang in the vigil room, and lots and lots of standing.
I assist
jpgsawyer with ThorvaldR and Tofa's last court, and step in after their business ends, and before Efreydis opens their Majesties Sven and Siobhan's court. Robert processes in, in his full bishop-ish regalia to mix the oil and soil from the corners of the kingdom, and his presence changes the pace of court, and helps mark the change of royal heads very effectively.
He uses his own ampulla to hold soil, lifting each one to announce it before mixing it with oil.
Once more, I get to see some very glorious scrolls in the process, which always reminds me why I started scribing in the first place. The one on real parchment is just a delight to fondle!
At this court TRM invest
aryanhwy as Schwarzdrachen, with my cyclas (so she isn't swamped in one of the monster tabards) and with a baptism, as is appropriate. Happily we'd had a chance to test the cyclas and managed to get her vested reasonably gracefully!
And of course, I'm in prime position to see Viscountess Ursula invted to vigil: she really didn't know why she was called up, and when both their majesties stood to greet her, she was puzzled...til they called the order of the Pelican.
Even after the storm it's still very warm, and the dusk brings out mosquitoes. We swap sunscreen for bugspray on necks and ankles up to knees. I feel like I'm drinking gallons of water; I'd love to know exactly how much I do drink, but it's hard to tell.
I think it's on Thursday night/Friday morning that Vitus' tent collapses in the high wind. This is usually a very sound pavilion (large wedge with 'bell' on each side) but apparently not all the ropes were staked as usual in the hurry to get everything up, and so down it comes in the wee hours.
Vitus and Isabel were actually in a room in the castle, and Paul and Anne were using the tent. There was apparently a huge commotion with the whole camp awake trying to haul stuff out, stashing P&A in
jpgsawyer and
edith_hedingham's pavilion floor, divers alarums, etc. etc.
Why 'apparently'? Because I slept through the lot. I use earplugs when camping, and was so soundly asleep I entirely missed Anne sticking her head in our pavilion bellowing for help. (Robert was out and about visiting so wasn't on hand either - if he'd gotten up I'd possibly have noticed.)
So it was a shock to find a monster flop of a pavilion out the door in the morning.
Happily noone was hurt - it was a sort of slow-moving accident, on the accident scale. The big loss was the pottery, all carefully stored on the shelving unit, which went over in the wind, smashing lots. There will be a round of replacement shopping come autumn markets.
I love breakfasts at European events; it's not glamourous but it is savoury. Half a dozen different types of bread including ryes and black breads, meats and cheese, quark (kinda like yoghurt, but not), and the best coffee I've ever had out of an urn. I don't know what Germans do differently with large quantities of coffee, other than perhaps just add *lots* but it's nothing like 'conference coffee' in England. Yum.
So many fencers! and happily most of them are signed up to play in the very silly Brighthelm tourney, aka the circle of treachery - every one for themselves, but you can't kill the person immediately next to you. It's great fun, and while good fencers can do well, it can reward just about anyone lucky. We managed a few bouts of girls vs boys, but you can't rely on it! and Lady Lalli, a splendid Lanceknict lady, wins the best dressed competition. (She goes on to win the Albion tourney as well, so she's both lovely and dangerous.)
I stay around for some pickup but there's not a great deal - people are keen, but they're really feeling the heat, and even the keenest don't manage much more than 20 mins before pooping out.
Note to self: for future events, make more time to fence.
The rest of the day is mostly about court - preparing for court, changing court location at the last minute to move indoors - (spectacular thunderstorms that were threatening much of the day appear less than an hour before court), finding banners to hang in the vigil room, and lots and lots of standing.
I assist
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He uses his own ampulla to hold soil, lifting each one to announce it before mixing it with oil.
Once more, I get to see some very glorious scrolls in the process, which always reminds me why I started scribing in the first place. The one on real parchment is just a delight to fondle!
At this court TRM invest
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
And of course, I'm in prime position to see Viscountess Ursula invted to vigil: she really didn't know why she was called up, and when both their majesties stood to greet her, she was puzzled...til they called the order of the Pelican.
Even after the storm it's still very warm, and the dusk brings out mosquitoes. We swap sunscreen for bugspray on necks and ankles up to knees. I feel like I'm drinking gallons of water; I'd love to know exactly how much I do drink, but it's hard to tell.
I think it's on Thursday night/Friday morning that Vitus' tent collapses in the high wind. This is usually a very sound pavilion (large wedge with 'bell' on each side) but apparently not all the ropes were staked as usual in the hurry to get everything up, and so down it comes in the wee hours.
Vitus and Isabel were actually in a room in the castle, and Paul and Anne were using the tent. There was apparently a huge commotion with the whole camp awake trying to haul stuff out, stashing P&A in
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Why 'apparently'? Because I slept through the lot. I use earplugs when camping, and was so soundly asleep I entirely missed Anne sticking her head in our pavilion bellowing for help. (Robert was out and about visiting so wasn't on hand either - if he'd gotten up I'd possibly have noticed.)
So it was a shock to find a monster flop of a pavilion out the door in the morning.
Happily noone was hurt - it was a sort of slow-moving accident, on the accident scale. The big loss was the pottery, all carefully stored on the shelving unit, which went over in the wind, smashing lots. There will be a round of replacement shopping come autumn markets.