Remember, Remember

Remember Remember the Fifth of November 

The Gun Powder Treason and plot 

I can think of no reason 

The Gun Powder Treason 

Should ever be forgot

I finally emerged from the Library after pretty much 3 days of solid essay writing to go the Nov 5th fireworks. Even though the origins of the celebration are very political and in London tonight there'll be a giant protest and in other cities various effigies will be burnt, for most people, it's just fireworks night. While I've been living here every now and again you just get a "wow this is English" feeling; drinking tea while watching the Nov 5th fireworks at a cricket pitch in the rain was one of those moments. It felt reminiscent of lot of our evenings at Spruce Meadows or the Stampede, huddling under umbrellas and raincoats waiting for the show. The show was everything you'd expect, loud and pretty (The third firework shot is all of the good shots put together). The rain had let up a bit by the time we walked back through town, so I wandered off to try and get a few night shots, when the rain promptly picked up again. I went back to the library to where Kat was writing her last essay. We stayed at the library until it closed. 

Kat and I got on the Medway bus in the morning and met up with Cecilia and Richard, who I had met at the Hastings reenactment. The original plan had been to go to Hever castle, the childhood home of Anne Boelyn but since it's mainly outside and the rain had not let up from last night we opted for an estate home called Polesden Lacey instead. The whole house was a testament of what a lady with unlimited money and free time can do; it was absolutely beautiful. The house is closed to the public since it's going into the winter restoration season but we were able to get in on a special tour. As we walked from room to room there were a couple restoration artists around, cleaning the carpets or polishing the chandeliers, and you see the amount of delicate upkeep that's required in these places.  

There's one golden room that had pretty much been transposed from Spain where it was going to be demolished. That's where they kept a large amount of the house's opulence, including a beautiful piano that they let us play on. I played the most classical song I know from memory - which actually happens to be from a video game but no one could tell. The library is pretty much everything I hope to one day have in a house. After our last little wander around the gardens the four of us had a quick lunch in a pub and headed back to their place.

Cecilia has been doing reenactment for a long time and has therefore amassed an impressive collection of costumes, including some authentic victorian gowns. Both Cecilia and Richard know so much about history, any period, any topic, I just shut up, listen and try to remember as much as possible. While supper was being made we tried on various dresses and then played around on the piano singing Christmas carols (yes I know it's November, whatever). Sitting in a Burgendy Victorian gown playing piano, I definitely had Crimson Peak flash-backs. 

Saturday morning a bunch of us met for Breakfast to plan our Paris trip. Anyone who has travelled with me knows that I am not the planning and organizing type, I'm much more the Plan B, the back up, so actually trying to coordinate with 8 other people is a novelty. After we got our hotel booked we walked through a bunch of charity shops, stopped for some cheeky Nandos, and then went to Amy and Abigail's place for pumpkin bread and movies! The rain outside feels like you're standing under the vegetable mister at the grocery store for hours on end, you wouldn't notice it much unless you're wearing glasses, but that's all it takes to turn in the cute little dirt paths everywhere into slick mud slides. 

Sunday I spent most of the day at Wychurst, de Bec's training grounds and long house. I had brought along books and had promised myself I'd get reading done. I lied. I did read for a bit, quite cozy on the main chair at the high table, wrapped in a  pelt and reading about Charlemagne, much better than any school library. I knew a good chunk of the people from Hastings, but there were a bunch of other people I hadn't met yet, including Rob, one of the tour guides I had talked to for a while at Dover a few weeks back. Tim and Townie are in the process of planning a promotional video so I got to play with the camera and film their fighting practice until it was my turn to partake. 

I was to be the distressing damsel whom one group must entourage to safety. There are two entrances to the borough, so the group escorting the VIP leaves through one, can go either direction and have to get me back into the Long house, the rest set up ambushes or other sneakiness to prevent that. The first go around didn't go so well, my guards were killed and I was captured, however the marauders had forgotten that I'd been given a scram (a small knife) so I managed to cut one of their throats before I was disarmed, (*trumpet blast of Jenn blowing her own horn*). The next time they'd attacked from the front and left flank of our group, so I stood on the farthest right, the nearest opposing attacker had a spear so as soon as he stabbed forward there was an opening and I just booked it. I've often told mom that I only run if something's chasing me - well now there were, and they were armed.

It's sush an adrenaline rush. First, the paranoia of looking at every bush and behind you ever 5 seconds to see where they are. I had a moment of absolute terror when we looked behind us one time and there was a big group of them all running and yelling - my head stayed where it was and the rest of me tried to run in the other direction, full on Wile E. Coyote, straight into one of my defenders. We engaged in few more rounds, and I was able to rabbit out of the scramble a few more times, though next time I've been threatened that I'm getting tackled into the mud. The rest of the day I practiced with Rob and Matt and apparently I'm "actually a bit of a natural with a sword," (*trumpet blast*). As with most English clubs, our meeting finished off with a trip to a pub.