(no subject)
Only Keir & I at quiz on Thursday. The three rounds were all "moral victories" - i.e. we didn't win anything, but came pretty close for a depleted team. Heard the latest stories from his work - a client pulled a gun on one of Keir's colleagues the other day. Our students never get that heavy, at least.
Several students in to get their results this week actually came in to thank us for our help over the year, which was kind of nice.
Today I looked in on Upper Norwood Library, and found that they had the new Harry Potter on the shelves for the borrowing - no reservations, but only borrowable for one week. So I took one out.
Then I went to the Lambeth Country Show in Brockwell Park. Had a good time. Mooched around the charity book stalls, picking up a bagful of good stuff cheap (yet more Treasure Hunt spy-themed books). Met Iain and Bryony, had a curry and a few beers, pottered about the stalls and flower show, and watched the show.
Some of the events:
Display by kids on motocross bikes
Impressive riding by the youngsters, except that one of the formations left one kid on his own, pottering over all the jumps after the others had all gone over them in lines of three riders. Poor kid looked like the proverbial Billy No-Mates. Then the PA said; "all these stunts require precision timing..." just as the entire team lost all formation for once, going over the jumps with all the discipline and cohesion of a flock of geese.
Shire horses pulling brewery drays
These looked lovely - they're magnificent animals, and they, their drivers and the brewery wagons were immaculately turned out. But their PA announcer was mumbling in some unidentifiable rural accent so thick thatt we could only make out one word in four; "mwarr, urr, rumgle, beauty...urrr, fmurr, neee, difficult...". We couldn't tell what was going on, or why, so it just looked like they were all riding aimlessly about while old music played. Restful, but ultimately baffling.
Owls, Falconry
there was a stall for an owl sanctuary - "be photographed with an owl for £5". As you might imagine, they were doing good business with the new Harry Potter out today. They also did a display of their owls flying, but, as one of them said; "if you want falconry, go to the other arena". It was a very hot day, and the owls were havng none of it, seemingly oblivious to the tidbits being offered. Eventually, one of them started walking, rather than flying. towards its handler.... not the brightest of creatures, the owl, and not the most co-operative either.
We did see a display by Eagle Heights, who were much more clued up. They asked for a volunteer, and got some young woman to run as fast as she could dragging a rabbit lure to attract a falcon. Personally, I think that making the girl wear bunny ears for this was just cruel. Funny, but cruel.
Parachute display and Royal Marines
The Royal Artillery Parachute Team did a display. We had to wait a while, as there was a security alert which delayed their aeroplane taking off, but they were pretty good - though as they were RA, we had been hoping they'd parachute down with a field gun or something.
The Royal Marines Commando unarmed combat demonstration team showed how to kill a man using only one eyebrow etc, and were good, brutal fun, playing up to the crowd with that classic drill instructor's mix of showmanship and scariness. Scarier than them, though, was the tattooed, shirtless man near us who was cheering and bellowing and applauding the violence with way too much enthusiasm.
Jousting
This was why we had come. The Knights of the Damned presented a jousting spectacular based very obviously on A Knight's Tale - same character names, rock music, the whole bit. Some good riding, though all jousts were choreographed and they weren't breaking lances. Lots of fun, especially the second round of the joust, where the audience really got into it. Afterwards, we spoke to Peter Musgrave of Bridge of Time, who had been MCing as "Geoffrey Chaucer". Really nice bloke, and happy to give us advice on where to get costumes and kit.
Several students in to get their results this week actually came in to thank us for our help over the year, which was kind of nice.
Today I looked in on Upper Norwood Library, and found that they had the new Harry Potter on the shelves for the borrowing - no reservations, but only borrowable for one week. So I took one out.
Then I went to the Lambeth Country Show in Brockwell Park. Had a good time. Mooched around the charity book stalls, picking up a bagful of good stuff cheap (yet more Treasure Hunt spy-themed books). Met Iain and Bryony, had a curry and a few beers, pottered about the stalls and flower show, and watched the show.
Some of the events:
Display by kids on motocross bikes
Impressive riding by the youngsters, except that one of the formations left one kid on his own, pottering over all the jumps after the others had all gone over them in lines of three riders. Poor kid looked like the proverbial Billy No-Mates. Then the PA said; "all these stunts require precision timing..." just as the entire team lost all formation for once, going over the jumps with all the discipline and cohesion of a flock of geese.
Shire horses pulling brewery drays
These looked lovely - they're magnificent animals, and they, their drivers and the brewery wagons were immaculately turned out. But their PA announcer was mumbling in some unidentifiable rural accent so thick thatt we could only make out one word in four; "mwarr, urr, rumgle, beauty...urrr, fmurr, neee, difficult...". We couldn't tell what was going on, or why, so it just looked like they were all riding aimlessly about while old music played. Restful, but ultimately baffling.
Owls, Falconry
there was a stall for an owl sanctuary - "be photographed with an owl for £5". As you might imagine, they were doing good business with the new Harry Potter out today. They also did a display of their owls flying, but, as one of them said; "if you want falconry, go to the other arena". It was a very hot day, and the owls were havng none of it, seemingly oblivious to the tidbits being offered. Eventually, one of them started walking, rather than flying. towards its handler.... not the brightest of creatures, the owl, and not the most co-operative either.
We did see a display by Eagle Heights, who were much more clued up. They asked for a volunteer, and got some young woman to run as fast as she could dragging a rabbit lure to attract a falcon. Personally, I think that making the girl wear bunny ears for this was just cruel. Funny, but cruel.
Parachute display and Royal Marines
The Royal Artillery Parachute Team did a display. We had to wait a while, as there was a security alert which delayed their aeroplane taking off, but they were pretty good - though as they were RA, we had been hoping they'd parachute down with a field gun or something.
The Royal Marines Commando unarmed combat demonstration team showed how to kill a man using only one eyebrow etc, and were good, brutal fun, playing up to the crowd with that classic drill instructor's mix of showmanship and scariness. Scarier than them, though, was the tattooed, shirtless man near us who was cheering and bellowing and applauding the violence with way too much enthusiasm.
Jousting
This was why we had come. The Knights of the Damned presented a jousting spectacular based very obviously on A Knight's Tale - same character names, rock music, the whole bit. Some good riding, though all jousts were choreographed and they weren't breaking lances. Lots of fun, especially the second round of the joust, where the audience really got into it. Afterwards, we spoke to Peter Musgrave of Bridge of Time, who had been MCing as "Geoffrey Chaucer". Really nice bloke, and happy to give us advice on where to get costumes and kit.