Framlingham and Sherwood
It's exam season so everything a bit mismatched and all over the place. Writing this, I've completed two exams and have one to go, so here's a bit of catch up.
Framlingham: I had a lovely chat with Matt D on the drive up to Framlingham Castle. We arrived about the same time as everyone else and started setting up our tents inside. The story line for this show was the rebellion of Framingham Castle against King John in 1216, so a later period show. The earliest version of the castle, a mote and bailey was built in 1148, it fell in the siege to John. During the Tudor era it was an estate of the Howard and Mowbray families and was the site where Mary Tudor was proclaimed Queen of England. After the Tudors, most of the interior of the castle fell into disrepair and a poor house was built inside the remaining walls. Now the poor house building has the museum and gift shop and you can walk around the castle walls to look over the surrounding countryside.
I have been informed that I snore like a mouse.
The morning training was part of a script, with Adrian and the other leaders being named characters and training their knights and men-at-arms for the coming siege of King John. These were non competitive bouts so really exaggerated swings and hits - and shield kicking, which was a lot of fun. There was a showcasing of the various missiles, ballistas, crossbows and archers, which was a bit safer this time. When they were practicing the day before, a ballista bolt went over the castle walls and had landed in the parking lot. When I wasn't on the field, I had to switch into a lady's kit, Cecilia had lent me her lovely posh navy dress so I felt very regal walking around the walls and surveying the event from above. There was a music tent, where a gentleman told stories every few hours and we had a ready rotation of food throughout the day. For the main battle, King John came in on horse back, with lots of threats and insults, and so we had a few battles with his men. Adrian played the dirty traitor who wanted us to surrender, though I can't say much, the next day when the King's side was down a few men, I was asked to switch sides, much better benefits and I didn't have to die. There was a battle of champions between two horsed Knights, though one of the horses was far too skittish for comfort. John lost, but then cheated, and attacked anyways when our weapons were down so we were forced to surrender. Jerk.
For dinner, we went to the Castle Pub and then back to the comfort of our campfires to talk and sing and partake in general merriment. At one point, while the others were engaged in a conversation Liam looked over at me and said the words I've always wanted to hear: "could you recite some Shakespeare for me." Honestly, that made me ecstatic and I was happy to comply- I readily confess to being a bit of a show off. Matt, of course, had to appease his American patriotism by singing the national anthem, though there remains some contention as to whether he sang certain words in the correct order, however, we'll let that drop. When people started to head to bed, and I had sung Townie to sleep under his awning, the few of us who resist sleep moved to Matt's tent, or as he refers to it, his "pleasure palace." It's a small space but surprisingly comfy and well-lit with four people and two candles and we had a very pleasant chat before we eventually turned in.
The next day was more of the same, with a bit of archery in the morning. Liam and I choreographed a fight segment since we knew, with me being a traitor and all, that we were going to be fighting each other. Had some good clashes, and I got to kill both the Matts since this time we were instructed to kill the traitors. It was a great weekend, hitting people with spears is a good exam de-stress mechanism.
London: Cecilia, Richard and I went to London two Fridays in a row. The first trip, Cecilia and I were fabric shopping in Soho for the regency dress she's making for me, which I am beyond excited for. The second time was to complete one of the top things on my England Bucket List: seeing a show at the Globe. It was so cool, we saw a very modern take on Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck will forever be my favourite character, though I was taken aback by the sudden make outs she had with randomly selected audience members. The introductory greeting and instructions included watching out for the signs of heat stroke, confusion and glazed expressions, but they admitted that those were also side affects of seeing a Shakespeare performance. Those same actors, dressed in Globe Staff t-shirts were then the actors within the play performing the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe, my favourite part. Cecilia bought a plague rat puppet who I named 'Ratty McRatface' after the infamous 'Boaty McBoatface' in the tube papers that morning.
Sherwood: I honestly don't know how we managed to cram everything and everyone into the car to get to Sherwood, Matt's a luggage Tetris master. The back seat was quite cozy, especially considering one of its occupants was claustrophobic. Traffic was a bit slow, turning Townie into a hysterical rage monster. I've never heard the word 'jellybean' said so angrily. Liam and I were having fun trying to imitate Townie's accent and then branched off from there. I am getting written confirmation that my accent is at least sometimes passable. So there.
We arrived at Sherwood, near Nottingham, and set up our Wic in the clearing, just behind the other group's camps. This is a kind of camping I can get behind. I know Dad's version and mine differ greatly, he figures that unless you've hiked up a mountain, carrying everything on your back, it doesn't count. Personally, I like having real bathrooms nearby. Chris and Charlie even have a medieval rope bed with a memory foam mattress that they pack along -comfy camping. The rest of our crew managed to arrive eventually despite extended work days, detours and a blown tire.
It's very handy that I can sleep through almost anything, so I only register people snoring when I'm ready to wake up. We had training in the morning, very similar to what we do at Wychurst, with line fights and variously stacked skirmishes. I'm a bit of an oddity, because even though I'm fully armoured, in chainmail and a helmet, I only have 1 hit so I die really fast. Laying down on the field 'dead' feels really relaxing, you're already weighed down and as long as no one steps on your head you have a nice view of the rest of the fighting. For the first day's show, Tim was cast as our viking commander, Thorkill 'The Tall,' which was amusing considering he was a head shorter than most of his officers. He had an impressive shouting match with the Saxon leader - can't remember his name - before we starting killing each other. I think we won, I died either way. We had a few rounds of Circle of Honour and then Circle of Dishonour (much more fun) and one of Mercia's men was promoted to War Lord, so they had a truly impressive party that night.
The photos are what I've gleaned from Facebook, credit where credit is due.
Off the field, I switched back into the blue dress and took my trollem weaving on a stroll around the other wics. There were lots of different set ups and a few vendors, they even had a stall where some men were butchering two deer for camp dinners that night. There was a man using a wood turning lathe to make a bishop's throne, a baker's oven and millstone set up and a mini forge making pegs and cloak pins. I've been through so many Pinterest boards to see what I can try to make for myself once I get home, quite excited. There was a staged viking funeral. Regia had brought along two of the viking boats, nicknamed 'Bear' and the smaller 'Squirrel' and friends of the 'deceased' brought grave goods for the fallen viking. No lake or fire arrows involved unfortunately.
As soon as it was 'wimples off' I grabbed my camera to walk around and get a few shots of everyone in kit. I returned as Matt and Tim were armouring themselves for a duel. The backstory on this is that during the last party at Wychurst, my loving brother, Steve had started a bidding war for my hand in marriage. I had accepted bracelets as tokens from both Tim and Matt Demedts, which, according to Viking tradition, meant that I had accepted both proposals. I returned them, however, the boys figured this needed to be settled. Steve maintains that he is still owed half a camel but I'm ignoring that. So, we went over to the training grounds, the fighters picked their seconds and they had their duel. It was a really good fight! It ended very close, a few mutual hits but the final blow was landed by Matt, making him the victor. I gave my winner the braid I'd just made as a token on his sword. Christine was prompting him to 'sweep me off my feet,' however Matt chose to go with the Viking method and just threw me over his shoulder. So yeah, I'm married now, with the pretty bracelet to prove it.
We had our venison steaks and deer hearts around the campfire. I had taken a Khalessi style photo with the uncut, uncooked deer heart (almost sounds like a term of endeerment, 'dear heart'), but those will only be shown upon interest. While I was eating, Malcolm came up behind me and asked me to be his wife and I think he was a bit surprised when I asked 'what, another one?' I loaned myself out for the next day in a staged Viking parliament, playing his nagging wife with whom he had to check every decision he wanted to make, earning him the distain of his rival. There was a lot of shouting, a servant got killed, we got paid double his worth, all's well that ends well. Matt was very offended that I would cheat on him so soon after he had won me.
The evenings around the campfire are always so special. People singing and telling stories, while being illuminated by the flames, creates the most amazing atmosphere and I can't help but feel at peace. As it got later, six of us moved to the pleasure palace, and had some really deep and philosophical discussions - at least before most of the group left to see how many of them would fit in the mushrooms on the playground. The answer is three.
Everything I do has the taste of finality with it now. I know this will be my last show fighting and my last show with a lot of people. I walk around campus and Canterbury and try to savour the views for as long as possible. I'll probably go around town with my camera a few more times. The more places you go, the more places you miss. Still, this was an amazing weekend, and a good show.