Henry in Winter, Insurrection, Not Holiday, NAM, C19th Adventure, Medieval Palace, 2012 calendar
October kicked off with a couple of days as HRVIII, which meant having to trim the beard of magnificence. Kind of curious to be the one kicking off the return to the 'Henry in Winter' programme, but I've done it before and it all came flooding back.
After a couple of days of being extremely ill in bed, it was time to go to Insurrection. I wasn't fully recovered and had a couple of very wobbly moments while loading the cars, but was proven right in thinking that one I hit time in I would be too busy to think about being ill. As excellent an event as ever, with many moments that were quite simply jaw-dropping. Perfectly balanced mix of combat, stealth, negotiation and outright audacity, some very surprising turnarounds and a truly awesome last day spent fighting our way through underground tunnels. There were some wonderfully powerful moments that affected my character very deeply and let to some choices that were far from guaranteed to lead to long life, but remarkably I still haven't been killed by the rest of the PCs and I don't actually think any of them really tried. I'm honestly not sure what's going on there, but it surely can't be that the various rebel factions are finally starting to work together. Can it?
The following weekend was supposed to see me going on holiday to Northumbria, but it turned out to clash with half term - a week I cannot afford not to work. I was never going to ask for my money back if a replacement couldn't be found (and one couldn't), but when I ended up essentially subsidising everyone else's holiday, I was rather disappointed and hurt not to get a postcard or even a text saying 'wish you were here'.
I'd been preparing for nine days of Victoriana at the National Army Museum, but two days beforehand was told that I'd actually be doing late medieval/early Tudor instead. Not a problem, since that's a period with which I am very au fait. Had a great time, but still did my back in schlepping armour back and forth. Not just armour, but also costume and stilts since Firecat Masquaerade had scored a repeat gig at the Electric Ballroom for the Grand Slambovian Extraterrestrial Hillbilly Pirate Halloween Ball. Dom and Lucy were busy running Winter in the Willows and asked me to lead the team of performers, which I was more than pleased to do since they were great and gave excellent stilt-walking sky pirate. Yarr!
I managed to dodge at least one set of kit transportation that week, however, by borrowing a N.A.M. colleague's 12th Light Dragoons uniform for Tim and Bryony's 'Adventure in the C19th' themed wedding. It was a wonderful evening of dancing, hanging out with people who I normally mainly encounter as LRP characters, seeing some friends I haven't seen for far too long and really appreciating the extra hour in bed before an ugly o'clock train. Alas, the only photo I've seen so far has me inexplicably leaning backwards and not looking nearly as dashing as I felt.
I was supposed to have Monday off but got a call on Sunday evening asking me to do a shift at the Tower of london for someone who was ill, making it both all year sites where I kicked off the winter programme. Some of my colleagues really dislike working in the medieval palace, but I actually rather like it. I'm down for a variety of roles this year, including Constable of the Tower, Musician, Scribe and Tailor. In theory, this means I should be able to make costume, learn music and scribe lyrics in time for Christmas at the Tower, but in practice I suspect I'll actually be playing a lot of nine men's morris.
Currently enjoying a few days off and using the time to make a calendar of the photos I've taken this year. I was surprised by the popularity of the one I did last year, I've felt kind of expected to do another this year and have finally gotten round to sitting down and doing it. Got 11 months worth done, but have run out of 'themes' for the last page. (Mind you, if the Mayans were right, I won't need to worry about it anyway...) I suspect theme 12 will actually be 'pictures I like that I didn't use anywhere else'. If I can do that tomorrow, then all I have left to do is email every colleague who features in the selected photos and pester them for an acknowledgement that they don't mind their picture being used. Last year this took fully six weeks...
After a couple of days of being extremely ill in bed, it was time to go to Insurrection. I wasn't fully recovered and had a couple of very wobbly moments while loading the cars, but was proven right in thinking that one I hit time in I would be too busy to think about being ill. As excellent an event as ever, with many moments that were quite simply jaw-dropping. Perfectly balanced mix of combat, stealth, negotiation and outright audacity, some very surprising turnarounds and a truly awesome last day spent fighting our way through underground tunnels. There were some wonderfully powerful moments that affected my character very deeply and let to some choices that were far from guaranteed to lead to long life, but remarkably I still haven't been killed by the rest of the PCs and I don't actually think any of them really tried. I'm honestly not sure what's going on there, but it surely can't be that the various rebel factions are finally starting to work together. Can it?
The following weekend was supposed to see me going on holiday to Northumbria, but it turned out to clash with half term - a week I cannot afford not to work. I was never going to ask for my money back if a replacement couldn't be found (and one couldn't), but when I ended up essentially subsidising everyone else's holiday, I was rather disappointed and hurt not to get a postcard or even a text saying 'wish you were here'.
I'd been preparing for nine days of Victoriana at the National Army Museum, but two days beforehand was told that I'd actually be doing late medieval/early Tudor instead. Not a problem, since that's a period with which I am very au fait. Had a great time, but still did my back in schlepping armour back and forth. Not just armour, but also costume and stilts since Firecat Masquaerade had scored a repeat gig at the Electric Ballroom for the Grand Slambovian Extraterrestrial Hillbilly Pirate Halloween Ball. Dom and Lucy were busy running Winter in the Willows and asked me to lead the team of performers, which I was more than pleased to do since they were great and gave excellent stilt-walking sky pirate. Yarr!
I managed to dodge at least one set of kit transportation that week, however, by borrowing a N.A.M. colleague's 12th Light Dragoons uniform for Tim and Bryony's 'Adventure in the C19th' themed wedding. It was a wonderful evening of dancing, hanging out with people who I normally mainly encounter as LRP characters, seeing some friends I haven't seen for far too long and really appreciating the extra hour in bed before an ugly o'clock train. Alas, the only photo I've seen so far has me inexplicably leaning backwards and not looking nearly as dashing as I felt.
I was supposed to have Monday off but got a call on Sunday evening asking me to do a shift at the Tower of london for someone who was ill, making it both all year sites where I kicked off the winter programme. Some of my colleagues really dislike working in the medieval palace, but I actually rather like it. I'm down for a variety of roles this year, including Constable of the Tower, Musician, Scribe and Tailor. In theory, this means I should be able to make costume, learn music and scribe lyrics in time for Christmas at the Tower, but in practice I suspect I'll actually be playing a lot of nine men's morris.
Currently enjoying a few days off and using the time to make a calendar of the photos I've taken this year. I was surprised by the popularity of the one I did last year, I've felt kind of expected to do another this year and have finally gotten round to sitting down and doing it. Got 11 months worth done, but have run out of 'themes' for the last page. (Mind you, if the Mayans were right, I won't need to worry about it anyway...) I suspect theme 12 will actually be 'pictures I like that I didn't use anywhere else'. If I can do that tomorrow, then all I have left to do is email every colleague who features in the selected photos and pester them for an acknowledgement that they don't mind their picture being used. Last year this took fully six weeks...