George Carew at Hampton Court Palace, December outings, holiday illness.
So, the corporate event at which I was due to play HRVIII was postponed due to the snow and it's unlikely that all five people in the company more suitable to play the King will all be unavailable on whatever date is rescheduled. On the one hand, damn I could have used the money in this increasingly lean winter period, but on the other hand... Actually, there is no other hand. I was really looking forward to that.
My disappointment was slightly off-set by the snow having kept someone else from getting to work and my thus being called in to fill in for the 'Court Lady'. Instead of this being a hilarious matter of cross-dressing, I was actually needed to play A.N.Other member of Henry's court in 1542 and saw the name Sir George Carew on the list of potentials. Obviously I leapt in with both feet since i) George is a principal character at Southsea and I know his history well, ii) his varied career makes him an excellent character to follow the undirected questions of the general visitor rather than talking all about himself, iii) I look like him and iv) he had one-step removed involvement in almost all of the stuff that's referenced in the 'HRVIII between Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr' scenario.
The 6th saw various people gathering for Jess's birthday outing to see Frisky and Mannish at the Bloomsbury Theatre. I saw them back in July before they went to Edinburgh and subsequently on tour, but this show was much more polished and (incorporating much of their original show) was much longer too. Someone commented that it was like half the London LRP community had also rolled out to see them, many of those people credited Jen with having recommended the show and Jen credited me with having alerted her to F&M, which made me feel all trend-setting and cool.
A few days later, Jess and I spent the day together, planning to skate before joining JK for a a Mediaeval Baebes concert. The skating plan fell down due to no tickets being available, so instead we killed the afternoon at the Museum of London at which we discovered that when staring into the same display case, I'll be examining the elaborate decoration on an ancient shield and Jess will be more interested in the hole in a man's skull. We left for our rendezvous and a meal with JK and his friend Amanda before going to St Pancras Church for a concert by the Mediaeval Baebes. My feelings about the MB are complicated but boil down to "They're skilled musicians and make a nice enough sound, but it's a big mistake to consider them even remotely historical." I made the mistake of sitting deep into the pew, leaving the better view from the aisle seat for those who were more interested, but this meant I was trapped and couldn't leave... I was going to leave at the interval, then remembered that JK had spent the afternoon in a workshop with the band and would be joining them on stage for their encore, meaning I kind of had to stay for the second half.
Jess and I finally managed to skate the following week and we discovered that there was something vaguely sporty that I do better than she does. Hurried meal afterwards, then off into the city for Kneehigh Theatre's 'Hansel and Gretel', which was just as strange and wonderful and haunting as anything I've seen that company do. Friendship with one of the company got us invited to the opening night after party, but we didn't linger long.
Off to York a couple of days later for a gig at Barley Hall and the now traditional few days at Fort Trouvere before heading to Middlesbrough for Christmas. Got a couple of days of rehearsal and board gaming in before I started to fall ill and spent the rest of the year either sleeping, coughing, gasping for breath or mildly delirious. I gather my mother made a wonderful Christmas dinner, but I slept through almost all of Christmas day, so wouldn't know. Not that I'd could have enjoyed it anyway. I ate next to nothing for ten days, have lost two inches off my waistline and am now wearing my belt four holes tighter than I was a year ago.
With Trouvere booked to work alongside Past Pleasures at the Tower of London from the 27th to the 31st, I had to travel south again on Boxing Day, which was a complete nightmare. No trains meant I had to go by coach which was horrible, then a tube strike meant that getting from Victoria to Hampton Hill took another two and a half hours. I managed two days of the Christmas at the Tower gig before the Jovian Whale Flu really kicked in. Three and a half hours at the NHS walk-in centre got me a brusque examination, a course of antibiotics and an inhaler and for all that I dragged myself to the Tower on the two remaining days of the year, I was sent home again each time which made me feel like a terrible, terrible slacker. Thing is, I went home to bed on New Year's eve and barely stirred for two days. I think I could have happily slept for another two days, but I had a shift at the Tower on the 3rd and had to work if I wanted to be able to pay the rent in March. Made it through the day with minimal difficulty, but a lot of sympathy for a couple of colleagues who were starting to show very familiar symptoms. I've finally regained my appetite and seem to be well again, I'm glad to say. I'm also glad to say that Trouvere and Past Pleasures were both very understanding of my illness and are paying me despite my having only done half of the work. I'm very tired, however, of my holidays being marred by illness.
Need to drop in to Hampton Court Palace tomorrow since I've picked up a shift someone else wanted rid of, but don't know the new 2 person scenario. I gather it's a 3rd rather than 1st person affair, which seems a shame, but at least "I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that question" suddenly becomes a feasible response if I'm truly stumped. The rest of next week is kind of busy with more days at the Tower, a work leaving do and a day of training at Hampton Court Palace on William and Mary, a period about which I know exactly nothing. I'll do the training but may subsequently avoid being cast in that period since I have a feeling that I can only wear the big wig if I lose the beard, and shaving every day might well be too high a price...
And a couple of weeks after that, it's Respendence, a Flembic player event which I seem to have ended up co-running. When I agreed to help, I thought I was going to be one of a team of four or five, but so far it really feels like it's Chiara and I have who have done the vast majority of the work. I'm only involved at all to help out a friend, but my keen for Maelstrom was pretty much extinguished by OOC crapness at the end of last season and I have a feeling that the final embers of what used to be a burning love for the game might be about to go out.
My disappointment was slightly off-set by the snow having kept someone else from getting to work and my thus being called in to fill in for the 'Court Lady'. Instead of this being a hilarious matter of cross-dressing, I was actually needed to play A.N.Other member of Henry's court in 1542 and saw the name Sir George Carew on the list of potentials. Obviously I leapt in with both feet since i) George is a principal character at Southsea and I know his history well, ii) his varied career makes him an excellent character to follow the undirected questions of the general visitor rather than talking all about himself, iii) I look like him and iv) he had one-step removed involvement in almost all of the stuff that's referenced in the 'HRVIII between Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr' scenario.
- "Anne of Cleves? Why, yes, I was part of the delegation that welcomed her to England."
- "Ann Boleyn? My father in law was executed for supposedly sleeping with her."
- "Ann Basset, potential wife number 6? I was arrested for suspected treason at the same time as her step-father Arthur Plantagenet."
- "War with France? Why, that's sounds like an enormous adventure!"
The 6th saw various people gathering for Jess's birthday outing to see Frisky and Mannish at the Bloomsbury Theatre. I saw them back in July before they went to Edinburgh and subsequently on tour, but this show was much more polished and (incorporating much of their original show) was much longer too. Someone commented that it was like half the London LRP community had also rolled out to see them, many of those people credited Jen with having recommended the show and Jen credited me with having alerted her to F&M, which made me feel all trend-setting and cool.
A few days later, Jess and I spent the day together, planning to skate before joining JK for a a Mediaeval Baebes concert. The skating plan fell down due to no tickets being available, so instead we killed the afternoon at the Museum of London at which we discovered that when staring into the same display case, I'll be examining the elaborate decoration on an ancient shield and Jess will be more interested in the hole in a man's skull. We left for our rendezvous and a meal with JK and his friend Amanda before going to St Pancras Church for a concert by the Mediaeval Baebes. My feelings about the MB are complicated but boil down to "They're skilled musicians and make a nice enough sound, but it's a big mistake to consider them even remotely historical." I made the mistake of sitting deep into the pew, leaving the better view from the aisle seat for those who were more interested, but this meant I was trapped and couldn't leave... I was going to leave at the interval, then remembered that JK had spent the afternoon in a workshop with the band and would be joining them on stage for their encore, meaning I kind of had to stay for the second half.
Jess and I finally managed to skate the following week and we discovered that there was something vaguely sporty that I do better than she does. Hurried meal afterwards, then off into the city for Kneehigh Theatre's 'Hansel and Gretel', which was just as strange and wonderful and haunting as anything I've seen that company do. Friendship with one of the company got us invited to the opening night after party, but we didn't linger long.
Off to York a couple of days later for a gig at Barley Hall and the now traditional few days at Fort Trouvere before heading to Middlesbrough for Christmas. Got a couple of days of rehearsal and board gaming in before I started to fall ill and spent the rest of the year either sleeping, coughing, gasping for breath or mildly delirious. I gather my mother made a wonderful Christmas dinner, but I slept through almost all of Christmas day, so wouldn't know. Not that I'd could have enjoyed it anyway. I ate next to nothing for ten days, have lost two inches off my waistline and am now wearing my belt four holes tighter than I was a year ago.
With Trouvere booked to work alongside Past Pleasures at the Tower of London from the 27th to the 31st, I had to travel south again on Boxing Day, which was a complete nightmare. No trains meant I had to go by coach which was horrible, then a tube strike meant that getting from Victoria to Hampton Hill took another two and a half hours. I managed two days of the Christmas at the Tower gig before the Jovian Whale Flu really kicked in. Three and a half hours at the NHS walk-in centre got me a brusque examination, a course of antibiotics and an inhaler and for all that I dragged myself to the Tower on the two remaining days of the year, I was sent home again each time which made me feel like a terrible, terrible slacker. Thing is, I went home to bed on New Year's eve and barely stirred for two days. I think I could have happily slept for another two days, but I had a shift at the Tower on the 3rd and had to work if I wanted to be able to pay the rent in March. Made it through the day with minimal difficulty, but a lot of sympathy for a couple of colleagues who were starting to show very familiar symptoms. I've finally regained my appetite and seem to be well again, I'm glad to say. I'm also glad to say that Trouvere and Past Pleasures were both very understanding of my illness and are paying me despite my having only done half of the work. I'm very tired, however, of my holidays being marred by illness.
Need to drop in to Hampton Court Palace tomorrow since I've picked up a shift someone else wanted rid of, but don't know the new 2 person scenario. I gather it's a 3rd rather than 1st person affair, which seems a shame, but at least "I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that question" suddenly becomes a feasible response if I'm truly stumped. The rest of next week is kind of busy with more days at the Tower, a work leaving do and a day of training at Hampton Court Palace on William and Mary, a period about which I know exactly nothing. I'll do the training but may subsequently avoid being cast in that period since I have a feeling that I can only wear the big wig if I lose the beard, and shaving every day might well be too high a price...
And a couple of weeks after that, it's Respendence, a Flembic player event which I seem to have ended up co-running. When I agreed to help, I thought I was going to be one of a team of four or five, but so far it really feels like it's Chiara and I have who have done the vast majority of the work. I'm only involved at all to help out a friend, but my keen for Maelstrom was pretty much extinguished by OOC crapness at the end of last season and I have a feeling that the final embers of what used to be a burning love for the game might be about to go out.