Saturday, June 30, 2007
Revel 2 photos
The first set of photos from Revel (mine and Martha's) have now been uploaded to the shire website together with a (minimal) event report. These are both available at http://www.klakavirki.org/Revel2/index.html.
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Labels: revel 2
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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
All over
With the departure of Gonz on the 08:40 flight this morning, life officially returned to normal.
And by normal, I mean that I had a quality management meeting at 09:00 and another meeting at 10:30. By 09:15 reality had re-exerted itself and I so wanted to be back on Thursday again. It's been fantastic having everyone here - hectic a lot of the time, but it really lifted my spirits to move in part of my old familiar circles again. It's great having friends here in Iceland who have shared interests in things like the SCA but it was nice to have folks around me who already have all of the contextural knowledge. Many thanks to Gonz, Fiona, Siubhan, Gilbere and Vivi for coming to Revel, not only for supporting my nascent Shire but also for bringing a little sanity back into my life.
I haven't posted over the last while because I've been so busy; over the next couple of days I'll post my backdated entries for the missing days, including my view of the event. Once I've got everything up I'll post an entry with links to the entire event's entries.
For anyone who is thinking of coming to Revel in the Midnight Sun III next year (tentatively scheduled for 6th-8th June 2008 (in the hope of better weather and direct flights to Akureyri) we've created a LiveJournal community "revelmidnitesun", where folks can discuss previous Revels and plan those to come in the future.
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And by normal, I mean that I had a quality management meeting at 09:00 and another meeting at 10:30. By 09:15 reality had re-exerted itself and I so wanted to be back on Thursday again. It's been fantastic having everyone here - hectic a lot of the time, but it really lifted my spirits to move in part of my old familiar circles again. It's great having friends here in Iceland who have shared interests in things like the SCA but it was nice to have folks around me who already have all of the contextural knowledge. Many thanks to Gonz, Fiona, Siubhan, Gilbere and Vivi for coming to Revel, not only for supporting my nascent Shire but also for bringing a little sanity back into my life.
I haven't posted over the last while because I've been so busy; over the next couple of days I'll post my backdated entries for the missing days, including my view of the event. Once I've got everything up I'll post an entry with links to the entire event's entries.
For anyone who is thinking of coming to Revel in the Midnight Sun III next year (tentatively scheduled for 6th-8th June 2008 (in the hope of better weather and direct flights to Akureyri) we've created a LiveJournal community "revelmidnitesun", where folks can discuss previous Revels and plan those to come in the future.
Labels: revel 2
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Monday, May 28, 2007
The problem with 'IT'
Is that 'IT' is too small.
I took my normal nice big handbag out with me on Friday, which meant that it accompanied me on the no-whale- watching trip and got soaked through. It hadn't dried out by this morning and so I had to find something else in which to carry the essentials of life - purse (wallet), Palm, camera etc. (my phone now lives on a lanyard around my neck). Unfortunately the only other similar item I own is the small black evening bag that I bought for the Christmas party at the Ambassador's residence at the end of last year. I refuse to recognise this as a real handbag and it has therefore acquired the moniker 'IT'.
So, much to my distaste, I went to dig 'IT' out. 'IT' is barely big enough to carry the three basics, never mind anything I might buy while out shopping. 'IT' is so small and girly that Martha thought that someone had left their bag in my car. Gonz laughed so much that he had to take a photo for potential blackmail purposes. I was not a happy bunny.
In spite of this embarrassment I boldly led an expedition to the pastor's house at Laufás, where we wandered around the turf-roofed farm which dates back to 1047 and then had a delicious afternoon tea before shopping for shiny things in the gift shop. Elizabeth found a very impressive replica Urnes dragon brooch, Gonz indulged in a large jar of blueberry jam and I bought a rather nice leather-bound pocket book for SCA purposes.
The final stop on the Midnight Revel Tour Of Bathing Spots was a hot tub in Húsavík. This is basically a large metal tub (which was, in a previous life, a cheese-making vat) on top of a hill, fed by a hot spring and accompanied by a portakabin which acts as a communal changing room. The water was hot, the view fantastic, and the tub large enough for four of us to dance a double bransle within it. We tried a single bransle too, but that was rather more difficult - I suspect that's because in a double you've already got the water going in one direct so the second step is easier, while with a single you're always fighting the current you stirred up with the previous double. Naturally much hilarity followed.
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I took my normal nice big handbag out with me on Friday, which meant that it accompanied me on the no-whale- watching trip and got soaked through. It hadn't dried out by this morning and so I had to find something else in which to carry the essentials of life - purse (wallet), Palm, camera etc. (my phone now lives on a lanyard around my neck). Unfortunately the only other similar item I own is the small black evening bag that I bought for the Christmas party at the Ambassador's residence at the end of last year. I refuse to recognise this as a real handbag and it has therefore acquired the moniker 'IT'.
So, much to my distaste, I went to dig 'IT' out. 'IT' is barely big enough to carry the three basics, never mind anything I might buy while out shopping. 'IT' is so small and girly that Martha thought that someone had left their bag in my car. Gonz laughed so much that he had to take a photo for potential blackmail purposes. I was not a happy bunny.
In spite of this embarrassment I boldly led an expedition to the pastor's house at Laufás, where we wandered around the turf-roofed farm which dates back to 1047 and then had a delicious afternoon tea before shopping for shiny things in the gift shop. Elizabeth found a very impressive replica Urnes dragon brooch, Gonz indulged in a large jar of blueberry jam and I bought a rather nice leather-bound pocket book for SCA purposes.
The final stop on the Midnight Revel Tour Of Bathing Spots was a hot tub in Húsavík. This is basically a large metal tub (which was, in a previous life, a cheese-making vat) on top of a hill, fed by a hot spring and accompanied by a portakabin which acts as a communal changing room. The water was hot, the view fantastic, and the tub large enough for four of us to dance a double bransle within it. We tried a single bransle too, but that was rather more difficult - I suspect that's because in a double you've already got the water going in one direct so the second step is easier, while with a single you're always fighting the current you stirred up with the previous double. Naturally much hilarity followed.
Labels: revel 2
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Sunday, May 27, 2007
New weather
I'm currently suffering from sunburn and a heat rash.
Yes, after the freezing cold yesterday, once we'd delivered Siubhan, Fiona, Gilbere and Vivi to the airport this morning and headed up to the site we had a beautiful day of heat and sunshine. The wind dropped away almost entirely, allowing us to do archery in the morning and then following it up with heavy drills outside in the sunlight and finally some real fencing. With two complete sets of kit everyone who wanted to try fencing had a chance to armour up and and try it for real - it looks like we're going to have quite a few fencers in the Shire and two of the new fencers are both left-handed and interested in learning the Spanish style. I'm really going to have to source some heavy black linen for armour for the three of us. :)
Interestingly enough, I felt much better today than I did yesterday. It may be that I was just badly allergic to something growing in the canvas of the tent, as I spent today outside more than in. We eventually struck and packed the tent at about 18:00, at which point we headed back into town for a Subway meal and then off to the pool at Þeramörk for a post-event unwinding session. I think that this is also going to become an integral part of future Revels, as we had a great time relaxing now that the event itself was over. Another thing to add to the planning list and schedule for next year.
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Yes, after the freezing cold yesterday, once we'd delivered Siubhan, Fiona, Gilbere and Vivi to the airport this morning and headed up to the site we had a beautiful day of heat and sunshine. The wind dropped away almost entirely, allowing us to do archery in the morning and then following it up with heavy drills outside in the sunlight and finally some real fencing. With two complete sets of kit everyone who wanted to try fencing had a chance to armour up and and try it for real - it looks like we're going to have quite a few fencers in the Shire and two of the new fencers are both left-handed and interested in learning the Spanish style. I'm really going to have to source some heavy black linen for armour for the three of us. :)
Interestingly enough, I felt much better today than I did yesterday. It may be that I was just badly allergic to something growing in the canvas of the tent, as I spent today outside more than in. We eventually struck and packed the tent at about 18:00, at which point we headed back into town for a Subway meal and then off to the pool at Þeramörk for a post-event unwinding session. I think that this is also going to become an integral part of future Revels, as we had a great time relaxing now that the event itself was over. Another thing to add to the planning list and schedule for next year.
Labels: revel 2
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Saturday, May 26, 2007
Revel in the Midnight Sun 2
Today was the day.
We were a bit late arriving on site this morning as everyone was shattered after yesterday's adventures and we had quite a lot to load into the car. Nevertheless we were still the first there. Icelandic time and SCA time are both... flexible to start with, so combining the two was bound to have something of a reinforcing effect. We were due to be on-site by 10 but we didn't manage to leave until then and so didn't get to Finnastaðir until 10:45. We decorated the inside of our pavilion (a 10m by 7m canvas tent hired from the local Scout/Guide group) with my fabric ID and Drachenwald banners and the paper banners we'd made over the previous week and by the time we'd got everything up it looked quite impressive.
The weather was still rather cold and miserable, so we decided to hold all of the classes and games within the pavilion rather than freeze outside; even so we were very happy to get a mobile gas heater early in the afternoon. Before that, though, and started the day off with an introductory class on heavy combat. I spent most of the morning running around doing autocratty things but I did get to try the 'snap', a basic move with the rattan (it feels wrong - it's all big movements with none of the subtlety of a rapier, so I think I'll stick to the fencing myself). After this and a quick lunch of soup and hangikjöt (smoked leg of lamb) most of our guests went off to the swimming pool about ten minutes away at Hrafnagil in order to shower and soothe those strained muscles. I didn't go swimming as I had to go back into town to collect some more stuff but I'm told that people felt that the mid-day swim was an excellent idea. It may have to become part of any future Revels.
After lunch we went into the fencing and A&S classes. The fencing classes were good for keeping warm, but it was definitely too cold for comfort. By mid-afternoon I was also starting to feel quite ill - snuffly, headache, puffy about the eyes - and by the time we got to the feast I really didn't feel like eating so I served it instead (apart from a little fruit and cream). This had the added advantage of getting my hands on the warm serving dishes! The food was excellent - a combination of traditional Icelandic dishes and simple meats and fish.
A little dancing followed during the washing up phase, after which it was almost midnight and time to plant our trees. Everyone present planted their own tree, then we planted trees for Their Majesties and the Viceroy and Vicereine. The plan is to expand Klakavirki forest event by event and to have a special page on the website tracking the growth of both the trees and the forest itself. By this point several people were flagging, so while others continued dancing I did a delivery run into town and then back out to the site just in time to see people coming out of the tent after the dancing had finished, ready to be ferried back into town.
It was a long day, particularly after yesterday, and it was 03:00 before I got to bed. Still, in spite of the cold everone seemed to enjoy themselves, which is the main thing.
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We were a bit late arriving on site this morning as everyone was shattered after yesterday's adventures and we had quite a lot to load into the car. Nevertheless we were still the first there. Icelandic time and SCA time are both... flexible to start with, so combining the two was bound to have something of a reinforcing effect. We were due to be on-site by 10 but we didn't manage to leave until then and so didn't get to Finnastaðir until 10:45. We decorated the inside of our pavilion (a 10m by 7m canvas tent hired from the local Scout/Guide group) with my fabric ID and Drachenwald banners and the paper banners we'd made over the previous week and by the time we'd got everything up it looked quite impressive.
The weather was still rather cold and miserable, so we decided to hold all of the classes and games within the pavilion rather than freeze outside; even so we were very happy to get a mobile gas heater early in the afternoon. Before that, though,
After lunch we went into the fencing and A&S classes. The fencing classes were good for keeping warm, but it was definitely too cold for comfort. By mid-afternoon I was also starting to feel quite ill - snuffly, headache, puffy about the eyes - and by the time we got to the feast I really didn't feel like eating so I served it instead (apart from a little fruit and cream). This had the added advantage of getting my hands on the warm serving dishes! The food was excellent - a combination of traditional Icelandic dishes and simple meats and fish.
A little dancing followed during the washing up phase, after which it was almost midnight and time to plant our trees. Everyone present planted their own tree, then we planted trees for Their Majesties and the Viceroy and Vicereine. The plan is to expand Klakavirki forest event by event and to have a special page on the website tracking the growth of both the trees and the forest itself. By this point several people were flagging, so while others continued dancing I did a delivery run into town and then back out to the site just in time to see people coming out of the tent after the dancing had finished, ready to be ferried back into town.
It was a long day, particularly after yesterday, and it was 03:00 before I got to bed. Still, in spite of the cold everone seemed to enjoy themselves, which is the main thing.
Labels: revel 2
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