Stickfight

Category Fencing
Real life has attacked my fencing preparation, so little to report

First Monday
Good Game of Squash

First Tuesday
Even better Game of Squash (although my squash partner badly damaged his wrist hitting me with his squash racket, which put him out for a couple of weeks)

Second Friday
2k rowing (as level 10 in 8mins) - Fail (1.5K)
10 mins punch bag - Fail (6 mins just)
10 mins Stepper (at level 13 speed) - Fail (level 6 speed)
10 mins undetermined!! - PASS (stretched out properly and press-ups and sit ups done )


All other days Scruff ALLLLLL
however Steve is now back, so i have a lesson booked for this coming week!!


SCORE FOR WEEK ...MAJOR FAIL (cries)

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing
Ok slight modifications, for the next month haverstock is only open one a week and Steve is on holiday, so trying to make up with other items

Monday
2k rowing (as level 10 in 8mins) - Pass
10 mins punch bag - Fail (5 mins just)
10 mins Stepper (at level 13 speed) - Fail (level 5 speed)
10 mins undetermined!! - Fail (10 ball situps and some calf stretches)

Tuesday
2k rowing (as level 10 in 8mins) - Pass (now have blisters)
10 mins punch bag - Fail (both bags in use and only managed 4 mins on the arm rower)
10 mins Stepper (at level 13 speed) - Fail (Level 6 speed)
2 x 5 mins on the matts!!* - Pass

Wednesday (starting to hurt)
Squash - OK game, broke squash racket
Fencing - um went drinking with the lotus boys (hangs head in shame)

Thursday (really in pain )
Used up lunch hour at physio, turns out i had 1 completely locked vertebra, 2 muscle locked vertebrae and 20% loss of movement in left arm (and i thought i was just unfit)

Fridays
Hurt everywhere from phiso!!!, hide at my desk

Saturday
Nope....nada...

Sunday
2k rowing (as level 10 in 8mins) - Fail (1K)
10 mins punch bag - Fail (5 Mins)
10 mins Stepper (at level 13 speed) - FAIL FAIL FAIL
10 mins on the matts!!* - PASS (15 mins)


*
2 x 14 ball sit ups
2 x 14 pressups
stretch out (calf, lunges)


SCORE FOR WEEK ...FAIL (arse)!!!

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (2)

Category Fencing
Due to a number of factors (Time, Money, Stress etc etc) I had stopped going to fencing comps (and thus deprived my self of the driving force for going to normal fencing), but with the Nationals being this weekend and thus the end of the Season, i think it is time to start to get ready for the next season, so the Bristol Open 19th of September will be the first comp i attend and i REALLY have to get in shape by then,

Exercise target (per Week)
2 x Nights of fencing.
1 x Lesson
3 x Gym Sessions

The Gym stuff is not really ideal (as Steve Paul Says "the best exercise for fencing IS fencing"), but i believe i have finally started to get my priorities in order in my life, fencing is fun and all and i believe the best way to keep fit but im not going to sacrifice personal relationships or work for it, strangely enough i think this might make me better at competitions as i wont be as stressed.

The gym sessions will initially consist of 40 mins sessions with

2k rowing (as level 10 in 8mins)
10 mins punch bag
10 mins Stepper (at level 13 random)
10 mins undetermined!! (yeah yeah)

I feel there may be pain ahead!!

Posted by Mark At 22:54:25 Location | Permalink | Comments (4)

Category fencing
I cant exactly call it a return to fitness as i hurt from my bones outwards and have blisters in all the places where i used to have fencing callouses, but i have had 2 squash sessions this week and one fencing lesson, proper fencing tomorrow and on Friday another squash game (or at least a gym)

I at least feel as I'm making some progress (nearly made it through the lesson with Steve without whimpering like a baby)

STATUS:

Places that hurt:4 (Back, knees, left hand, right foot)

Fencing Status:
1) Being an embarrassment in any fencing hall (X)
2) Being fit enough not to cry (_)
3) Being fit enough to go to a comp (_)
4) Returning to the status of "Oh bloody hell I've got to fight Myers" (_)
5) Learnt to Fence properly (_)

Posted by Mark At 22:04:31 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category fencing
After a long and boring absence, i am finally getting back to fencing, i had my first lesson with steve on Wednesday, and 2 things were obvious

1) I missed it HUGELY (Steve rocks hard as a coach, even if your not a fencer, go have a beginners lesson with him steve@battling.com )

2) I am so unfit its embarrassing (really really embarrassing)

I start training in ernest this Saturday (at the london fencing club), stickfight, STICKFIGHT!!

Posted by Mark At 21:09:23 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing
Last Friday, I was lucky enough to perform in a fencing demonstration at the V and A museum in London the results of which you can see here Doms Photos (you'll have to scroll down a bit as dom put some roller derby photos on at the top, and I refuse to tell you which one is me as I quote obviously look like a twit), it was quite fun,but we had to cut down the swearing and abuse that is such a part of modern fencing, this is sample of what were were not allowed to say

Onlooker: so to challenge someone do you say "I challenge Thee'" and slap them with you glove?
Fencer: Nope, we yell Muther F******, and knee them in the balls.

there were medieval demonstrations of fighting, and people dress up mighty fine, as well as all the amazing things that are normally at the V&A, all well organised, however the highlight of the night was the reaction of the security guards when we arrived, "whats in the bag?" he asks, "swords", I reply, he pales a bit, backs off a couple of steps and looks at the half dozen identical bags held by the rough looking and sweaty lot standing in front of him, "im afraid you will have to leave them here" he says, "Thats going to make the demonstration a tad boring" comes a voice, he then inspects a epee and states that you could hurt someone with it, "not a much as a golf club" is the the reply, the poor gentleman then has to watch as the rabble start the normal argument of which would be easier to kill someone with, a "wood driver" or an "iron"

how ever, now that I can go to the nationals in a months time, (work changed its plans), I have realised that there is the off chance that I might have to practice else I'll go home to mother on a sheet of blotting paper

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (2)

Category Fencing

I tell you that sometimes life is just too stressful for complete happiness, with all this contract stuff hanging over me at work I just don’t feel like fencing,
It’s not the fencing itself, it’s all the traveling when all you want to be doing is going to sleep, (or in my case work on a load of work related stuff). This has been my third week of skiving and is going to be the last!, cant do fighting tomorrow as I am meeting my accountant, so in the last 3 weeks I will have been to 2 club nights and 1 lesson (as well as 2 games of squash). That is so poo it is untrue, I should have done 12 nights and 6 lessons (plus 3 games of squash) but we will sort it all out and get back on form.
 
In the mean time has anybody else noticed that if you fence a lot it has really strange effects on other sports you play, for this example take squash -
I used to like squash and be quite good at it at school but now I am totally bobbins!! and it’s all fencings fault, I lunge for every ball, when it gets too close to me I attempt to prime it ( which by the way does not work in any shape or form other than to make the person you are playing look at you in a funny way and point out that in hitting the ball it might help if you swing your arm not just flap at it ) also the unconscious desire to stab the person playing you with the racket rather than chase after the ball does not lead to what I would call a "good sense of fair play" in the court ( though it does help with the score as the other sod just ends up hiding in a corner). Even things like distance are all screwed up, I mean distance? It’s not exactly Mensa is it? You know you should be able to cope with more than one sport but noooo! If a ball flies over your head do you turn round and hit it properly, no you don’t, you shuffle backwards and crash into the back wall (the ball then hits you on the head, further proving that this is a dumb sport) and if you can hide the fact that you are a fencer in your movements you find that you make little slipups when talking about the game, these tend to make someone who does not know your sword-wielding alter ego a bit on the nervous side, as you describe each point won as a "hit"' and the match as a "fight" (people end up saying "its only a game, its not serious" and you look at them as if they are potty [which all non-fencers are in my opinion] ) oh! And there is one final thing and that is, no matter how much you want too, no matter how much you think you need to. Do not fleche!! There is simple not enough room and even if you can finish the move before the wall finishes you, you will never ever stop in time; for proof just go to the squash courts in Harbor Exchange and have a look at the walls there are a number of Stickfight-shaped holes in them and the odd complaint of thunderous impacts. I have to say, though, that a fleche wins you the point if only for the fact that the person you are playing tends to stop and stare (or run to get medical help) and this means they miss their shot, but you can only do so many of the damn things in a match before you are dead to the world (take my word for it squash gives a fencer more bruises than actual fencing ever will.)
 
There is good news in the up-and-down side of fencing in the real world, and that is with the t-shirts, someone has finally got one of the t-shirts from Zazzle and I suddenly realized that I had hardly made it easy for people to jump straight to their favorite designs, so I started to put links next to each of the Zazz-able designs, this as it turns out looks completely crap and a thing to be ashamed of, so it’s back to web development and out comes the CSS book (cascading style sheet) but you would hardly credit the complete pain in the arse it was to get it looking how I wanted on all browsers and not use tables (sometimes I think that mankind takes a special joy in going backwards to go forwards, see the new foil timings for proof of this) but finally I have done it [with a little help from a very helpful site that detailed the oddities of Internet Explorer) so we should a nice and clear t-shirt page, if you disagree please tell me so I can sort it.
 
Jo Maynard is really coming on great guns with the digital drawing and hopefully she will soon have her own area on here for her art, but in the meantime you can see her other work at http://pwincess.deviantart.com
 
Leicester soon - oooo eeerrr, I will not muck it up, I will NOT muck it up!!, I will get a good poule so I do not meet some evil sod in the 64, mind you its not like I have a lot of points to defend ( try none!!) , Leicester is normally on my eldest Childs birthday, but this year they are all going to Euro Disney (the whole class plus mothers , that just sounds so like hell to me, trapped in a coach with 20 odd mothers and 30 odd screaming primary school kids, murder would be done by the time we got to Dover) so I have been given the weekend to go fencing (the real reason for existence ) all I have to remember is what my coaches have told me (promise that you won't tell anybody but I have roughly worked out that if I get a good 32 then I might just make it into the top 50, but that kind of working out is sad and I should not do it ), talking of which have not given a progress on how Steve’s lessons are going for ages (like you care!!) ,
He is really starting to push it, and it is so much fun, he is making me think so much more, its not just a physical challenge anymore, its a mental one, more and more I can't understand the way people go for coaches that do predictable things and the same lesson each week, and the thing is that its not as if Steve does the same lesson with everybody for that week and just changes it each week, he does different lessons with each person (sure each of the weeks lesson have some elements the same for everybody, but they are few and far between.) they really are good value for money, its just a shame that he has been ill recently, and that I might have to cut down on my lessons if I have to change my workplace ( but that is the life of a contractor, if I was a permanent I would not be able to afford so many lessons, so it all evens out)
 
Well, at the moment I am a hobo (Have sword, will travel); until “42” finally gets his new house, I am sharing a room with Jo and Marc’s pets (at least I will have a snack in the night!) and to be honest it has been a total revelation, I never realized how hard coaches work or how much mucking round goes into the whole thing ( and I am not even going to start on the kit washing ) each night there is a pile of office work, so just think of that when you think the swine’s in the black jackets are having it easy.
 
Well, that is about it for this Stickfight, I have put another couple of t-shirts up and the rest of the design should be sorted out dead soon…..
 

<long pause>

Ah its been a while, since I have had a good rant so lets set to it with avengence, Firstly Bristol, another comp and other cockup in the pool and another 64, its starting to get on my thungers, the only good part is that in my 128, I meet the bloke who beat me in the 128 at Bristol (or was it the welsh last year), sorry I cant remember the gentleman's name or the comp, only the fight, and in hind sight it was a bad idea of him to mention the fact ( especially as he beat me 15-14), it turned a fight I was nervous about in to a killing session with a happy result of 15-8 to me, ah!! revenge is sweet (and none fattening), I then got slapped by Tristan Parris, who broke one of my swords left me covered in bruises and bleeding in 3 places, but at least he had a run for his money, so out at 64, but at least it let me get some good footage for the movie I posted last ratscratchings, (I want to thank all my loyal readers and site rapers, for getting stickfight into the top 20 fencing websites in the world YAHHHHH!!!!), I have no new movie for you this time nor will i be able to get the Sussex for you as my son tearfully demanded that I was at home this weekend (does this boy not realise that fencing is life!!), but I do have new t-shirts for you bringing the total to 54 (nearly half way to my goal), these t-shirts also contain a first for stick fight, its first submission! this one comes from "Tarmac" he can be found on http://www.fencingforum.com , i hope you like it. also Heriot-Watt Uni up in Scotland are going to use the stickfight movies in their sports union fair Wednesday 6th at October, so double cool.

have just heard about the fun people had a Sussex ( especially Ben measures who came in the L4, and am now moping!! (come out and play with the other fencers little stickfight, SHARNT!! :-< ) and I ended up sanding floors and more general home DIY, today is my first lesson with Steve for 2 weeks (the poor bloke has been off ill with back problems and I am dreading it as I have been a totally skiving swine and have only been fencing once in the last 2 weeks ( Do you have any last requests before are shot for being a skiving svine!!), so have to get back on form and ready for Lester in 2 weeks time, this in the middle of moving house, the terrible victimisation of the contracting professional by his main client and the fact that I had to deal with burnt toast today, Ohhh the terrible life I lead, the sufferance, the misery, and only 3 full means a day (pitiful snivelling), Ok that's over!
 
i am sitting happily at work and just stretch my shoulders, my clothes feel funny on my right shoulder, I put my hand in and feel around (or..er..missis) and found a load of white paste covering my shoulder blade, in quite a bit of worry I grab a load of it and pull it out for examination, what could it be, its white with a blue and red stripe, surely not!!, I give a sniff and against all common sense a lick (most of my work colleges are starting to look a bit green at this point, there's no dough of it, its tooth paste, now the million dollar question WHERE DID IT COME FROM!!, I've checked my shirt, my rucksack and when I got back to the flat I checked my bed and the bathroom for hidden tooth paste sprayers with out success, all my toothpaste was there (it was not hard , its not like I horde it or anything), I tried talking to the toothpaste its self, demanding of it the location of it hijacking confederates (it was at this point that my flat mate stopped helping me, and locked himself in his room), but it must have been specially trained as I did not get a word out of it (damn inscrutable devil!) so I am putting it down as one of those insolvable mysteries such as why I can't do flick hits. Ah...we return to fencing with a thump. I have joined haverstock traitor!!!) and its fun, there are people there who can beat the hell out of me which is what I am after, and I have had my first lesson with Marek, there is a gentleman with a lot of voice, I had been warned to expect hell in his lesson and indeed it was hell (at least it was a dry heat) but at the same time very satisfying, what I most want in a coach is for them not to give up on me when I cock things up. to bear with me while I get it right (both Steve and Jo are like this thought in very different ways.) Alex is also a very good coach and is nearly as patent as Steve, (does anybody dare me to do comparisons of the coaches and risk being exiled to outer Mongolia). but the hall that haverstock "do their do" in really good, carpeted with enough room for about 8-10 boxes as well as a set of low steps to put your bags on, there is a stage that the coaches do their lessons on which means that you can tell at a glance if they are waiting for you, the rest of the facilities are OK, apart from the showers that although nice and hot and powerful enough, look as is they are designed for gang rape, I have started showering with my back to the wall even when their is no one in there.
 
Back to Bristol, its on Saturday and I am in the female foil and sabre hall and I can here this terrible noise, has anybody seem the Jane fonda file "Barbarela" well the black queen has these guards and when ever they appear their is this deathly scream, and I tell you its was exactly that noise, I almost ended up hiding behind the door, personally all foilist and people who do sabre should be locked up in a dark place.


(10/09/04) Well lots of updates for you to play with this time, rants, lots of t-shirts and a movie.

First the movie, following feedback from the last one (nationals 2004), I have managed to get a bit of everything into this one, though it is shorter (just over 2 mins, hey!! I can't help it that's how long the bit of music is, oh if you can guess where the music comes from I will send you a sticky bun of your choice {or t-shirt} ), the Bristol one should be longer, anyway here it is --> Movie Link, (please right click and download it if you want to watch it more than once)

here I sit at the first comp of the season, and am sick to my guts with my body evacuating every thing via one hole at speed and seriously considering using another hole as way to relieve to congestion, luckily it is not epee day, its when the whippy stick people are out, and although I entered for it, I was advised not to take part so, I have 24 hours to get a grip, although in my present state I would win tons of fights as no-one would let their nice white kit near me (the cleaning bill would be terrible).

It is now after the epee day and I have done pants (last 64), I am an embarrassment to my coaches, the pool was pants (3 up, 3 down) {did not have the normal warm up session with Ben Measures}, and was only memorable in the amount of embarrassment I suffered due to my habit of fighting at any club that will have me, this meant that my pool had, out of a total 7 clubs represented 4 clubs I am a member of, so I got told off my 3 other people who are team mates, for being in the same pool as them (the unfortunate fact that these 3 were the people that I beat did not help matters), happily made it through the 128, and then comes the 64, I was against the comp No 1 seed (some lad who was having a very good day {he had beat Mr Cadman in his pool, but as was proved by his victory in the final, beating Mr Cadman in a pool and knocking Mr Cadman out of the comp are very very different things [one day in my dreams i hope to be good enough to actually have a good fight with Mr Cardman]}), and I was 6-2 down at the end of the first period, at which point Chris Howser came up to me (which was rare as I don't like being talked to during a fight, and anyway Jo Maynard is my official coach) but I have to say I liked his comment (coaches usually say nice constructive/helpful things) which was "your fighting like a fucking muppet, rocking back and forward, get a grip and fight properly", now I know Chris is not like that normally with fighters he coaches, but it only shows how he is coming on as a coach that he adapts to individually people rather that using the same rote on them all. OK, so I think, this bloke is beating you, just do as you are told and get a grip, so i return to the mealie holding nothing back and thundering in and out, suddenly its next break and I'm 13-9 up and what happens!, what HAPPENS!!!, I just run out of energy, it was like some bugger had pulled the plug, I go all floppy and the bloke just takes me to bits (all credit to him), and it ends 15-13 to him, F***!!!!, ah well never mind, never mind!!! NEVER MIND!!, bugger that, I am cross as a ferret in a privet bush (that is being hit with a stick), and I have to explain my failure to Steve Paul with my tail between my legs.
there is however a prize to be given, it is a joint prize of sense of humour and observation and it goes to Hugo from haverstock, how upon seeing me with a camera actually posses properly and maintains the pose while both his opponent and the judge look on in confusion, waiting for me to take the photo and unaware that I was doing a movie (the pose was so good that I put it at the beginning of the Essex movie).

As we all know the different fencing styles suit different personality types, but how do you spot this in a small child so that they don't waste time with a weapon they won't enjoy, thankfully this question has been answered in the case of my son, I will explain, here is family Stickfight out on in sunny Boston in the centre of town, finding a place to park, this we do in a none multi story pay and display near the shops, I nip out to get the ticket and return to find my whole family sticking their tongues out at me from inside the car, in the situation, I did the only thing possible which was to put the ticket between my teeth, turn round, drop my trousers and shorts and moon my unruly clan. had my son been of the sabre persuasion he would have mooned me straight back, if he was a born epeeist he would have got out and attempted to kick me, but Nooo!!!, he says "Eurgh! he's got the ticket in his mouth", I morosely pull my trousers back up and get into the car,
"whats up?" my wife says,
"Our son" I answer,
"what?" she replies,
"Foil!!" I say,
She turns to me in horror, "surely not??!?!" I nod mutely and hang my head. sweetness puts on a brave face "maybe he will grow out of it", I sigh "we can only hope.

and finally the t-shirts, These have been re-jiged and reordered as their number has grown (we are at 44 and counting) with a lot of work from the artists coming in, I hope you like them (again some feedback would be nice, both positive and negative, and any request or ideas would be fun as well), after a world wide hunt for a good t-shirt printer, I have found one!!, its called http://www.zazzle.com, and they don't use the normal nasty plastic printing method, they seem to use some sort of fabric dye, which makes it just perfect, I tried the shirt at Essex and have washed it since so we will see how it survives, but their is no denying the quality of the print, so I am putting the sticktight shirts up their site, you can get them from there, or download the images from here, your choice.

I am badgering 42 for another update but he's having a blank spot, so we will all just have to wait (sigh!!)

I have a load of other rants but I wanted to get the media up for Friday so people could download it over the weekend, will up date the rants this weekend

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing

Its a strange question but does looking good and being successful mean you are going to be a nasty person, I don't know about fencers (we may get on to that later) but it is certainly the case with people in general, and for my case I put for Forward the different tube line and where you get on and off, for the last 2 years I have been at kings cross and using the silver link to get to canary wharf and it is full of the dregs of London ( yes that is why I am there) and no matter how busy it was people did not push, people weren’t nasty and people got to work in the best way they could ( and I am talking about the silver link here, the tube drivers call it the scum link is so grot grot) but as I have said before I am currently camping down at Jo and Marcs and have been traveling on the district line, and I tell you I have never meat a bigger group of nasty petty, rude, pushy evil little sods, for the first time since I started stick fighting I have wanted to get my epees out and lay about me until all are dead or dieing, and its all the more worse for the fact that they all look immaculate, all in posh suits and fancy clothes, but WHAT I hear you cry has this got to do with the wonderful sport of fencing, well I’m glad you asked (no really I’m am), the main difference to me between the people on the different tube lines is that the ones on the district are used to success (it areas are posher and cost more to live in) and that makes them arrogant, but does that apply to the successful fencers that are always at the top of the rankings, now I don’t know about foil or saber but as far as epee goes I can happily say nooo!!, without an exception I have found the top fencers to be pleasant and none arrogant (the Sussex house epeeists are the perfect example of this) so why the discrepancy, after all in a lot of the large companies I have worked for the top ranked successful people are as nasty and little minded pile of sods that you ever want to see tied to post and covered in their own excrement, and I think it is the physical part, the fact it is all so temporary and that if you let up for one second someone’s on you and your beaten, so you never get time to become arrogant, what ever the reasons, I personally find it very refreshing to find the people at the top of the tree are bearing sweet fruit, without that nasty bitter ness that turns you stomach.
Lester, ahhh if have fucked up again, I mean AGAIN!!!! (I’m telling you its nuts it took my kids less time to start walking and talking from birth, than it has taken me to get good at fencing {mind you a lot of fencers cant walk and talk, not together anyway!!), pool went fine but ( 4-1 up with an +5 indicator ) but I banged into Mr. Bennet in the 128, he in a most gentlemanly manner took me to bits (15-6), I am past anger and upset and into disbelief, but their are some plus points
1) Mr. Bennet was most kind in pointing out my problems when I asked him, these are not extending my arm properly and being very easy to feint to that I parry cart{and its bad cart at that}, to this Jo has added poor lunge (I lean) which we will have to fix, and I am going to throw in poor distance control., so lots to work on,
2) I have no points to defend this year so I have not lost anything but the opportunity,
3) when I explained what I had done to sweetness she was most supportive (she did not make that short silence that mean that I have sodded it up on her eyes) so all in all I could have been worse (it could also have been a lot bloody better),
and in the fine tradition of finding someone else to blame other than yourself, I am going to pick Ben Measures, as he is having a good day and he was also in the pool with tom Bennet and beat him, so I am off to find some rotten eggs to throw at him in his fights)

Oh.. 6 new tshirts have been poped on the tshirt page

Jo and Mr. Bengry are fighting on and doing well in spite of being absolutely shattered after yesterday (Mr. Bengry looked as if he had no sleep in 2 weeks and had to wrestle rhinos each day) *** update Jo has won, and defended her title, and so the trip back in the Maynard’s car will not be fill with black depression, also the waitresses at the little chief we stopped at did not get shouted at ether ***
SOD!! I forgot my camera so you have my profound groveling apologies that their is no movie for the Lester open, this is of particular sorrow as I would have been able to capture the fight between Alistair and the elder barbasavich brother, which was absolutely amazing and wins my award for the fight of the day, Alistair was totally on fire, and was moving around like a man possessed. Even worse was the fact that no one videoed it, thus meaning that a permanent record of it was lost forever (if anyone has by chance I video of it, please tell me so that I might get a copy, I dare say Alistair would want one as well)
to try and make up for the lack of movie I have written a little quiz for fencers so that they can judge how much of a fencing freak they are (with any luck I will be able to get it into the sword, but due to its content I somehow doubt it....sigh):
   


Q1) its Sunday lunch and only the last drop of gravy is left (which you want), do you
A) If you see anybody else reach for the gravy boat, you parry their hand in cart and riposte to grab the boat, thus claiming victory
B) challenge the whole table to a Sunday open, first having a round of pools, making them all wait ages while you do the scoring then finishing of your uncle in a titanic DE final in the living room before being presented with the gravy boat and pouring the contents on your now stone cold meal.
C) Gently argue with the rest of your family over who gets the gravy, while you aunt (who pretends she is deaf) nips in and polishes it off

Q2) what do you wear for casual clothes when going out clubing/pubing on a Saturday night?
A) You fencing breaches sprayed gold with the most up to date Leon Paul jacket and a ryne stone encrusted plastron, as fencing gear is so "bling"
B) Normal clothes, what has fencing got to do with going out?? Weirdo!!
C) manly normal clothes but with something that show the rest of the world that you are a fencer, maybe a witty fencing t-shirt, or your fencing trainers (they cost bloody enough to wear out) just a conversation piece so you can get the talk onto fencing with anybody you might meet.

Q3) does fencing and its kit intrude into you bedroom life?
A) No, fencing kit smells bad; it stays in the laundry basic or kit bag
B) Sort of, my partner likes to see me lunge and leap around a bit before hand, before leaving my kit and fencing ideas firmly on the floor.
C) I do the deed wearing my plastron and a mask.

Q4) how much do you talk about fencing to your none fencing friends
A) Sometimes, it’s more interesting that watching 22 men kick a bladder round a field for 90 minutes
B) They all put cotton wool in their ears when I open my mouth
C) You can have none fencing friends??
 
Q5) do you do other sports than fencing?
A) sometimes but only as part of a careful controlled training raysheame for the benefit of my fencing, such as swimming or wholesome racket sports
B) Other sports!!!, how could you try and tempt me with this, don't you know all other sports are the work of the devil and there practitioners should all be burn at the stake
C) hell yeah, I have a go at anything, as long as it fun, I just do fencing so I can stab people and get away with it.

Q6) Of your girlfriends/boyfriends what percent have been fencers?
A) 0%, ouhh! Nasty!! Not likely. That would mean just too much fencing kit around, and every body and I mean everybody would gossip about it, and anyway who would want to go out with a fencer...er..um.
B 1%-50%, I can take them or leave them,
C) 50%-100% I must have them!, oh! the way they move, and their shear intellectual brilliance mean that fencers are the only ones for me
.
Q7 how much care do you take of your weapons
A) Check them before a comp and if they stop working give them the minimum attention to get the light to start coming back on
B) I don’t, they live in fear of me, not working means I whack them on the ground, and in the case if them being the suspected reason for me losing a fight, I bang them on walls and kick them around, weapons must obey your every need with no maintaince and failure to do so means being given to a decorator to stir his paint with.
C) they are my babies, I check them each night, and have little beds for them to sleep in so that they don't catch cold, all the way through a fight I constantly look along them checking for the slightest little imperfection in their less than 1 cm bend and gentle tease out any kinks, I take them on holiday so that they can get a bit of sun and fresh air (but I don't feed them any foreign fencers as that would be bad for their diet)

Q8) how you prepare for a fencing completion
A) after going down extra early the day before, I freat and worry needlessly until I am a bag of nerves, I get accommodation so close to the venue (so that I won't be late) that the beds are naff and I don't get any sleep, but that does not matter as I have spent the whole night meditating in the on guard position with my swords laid out in a pattern of cosmic significance before me
B) p-r-e-p-a-r-e???, your kidding right? you just turn up and fight
C) beer, beer, beer!!

Q9) how often do you wash your kit
A) never, if it wants to be washed it can crawl in to washing machine and sort it its self out
B) never, I have a slave called “mommy” who does it for me.
C) When there are more than 3 forms of fungus growing on it

Q10) what happens when you lose badly in a completion
A) shrug, (there is always next year)
B) I burn my breaches, shave my head and become a monk/nun
C) I make all around me miserable for at least 24 hours (after all misery should be shared)

Q11) in you home what evidence that this is the residence of a fencer is there to be seen?
A) none the other members of the human race that I share the house with are normal, and insist that all fencing gear is confined to a cage in the back garden where it can still be heard growling in the night
B) there is a nasty smell coming from the wash basket, and of course you have just tripped over the fencing bag in the hall.
C) my house/room is a shrine to the gods of the duel, with special note given to the toilet carpet which is woven out of old fencing socks.

Q12) how much fencing do you do each week?
A) once sleeping, eating and breathing are done, all other time is dedicated to fencing
B) fencing is more important than eating, sleeping and on occasion breathing.
C) it’s a hobby for heavens sake; I do it when I have time

Q13) when you stop fencing, for example, when you go on holiday, how does this affect you?
A) I carry a photo of my favorite weapon and cry myself to sleep at night holding it.
B) I take my fencing bag on holiday (dealing with all the pain and crisis that brings), and try and find foreign fencing clubs to fight at
C) A break from fencing, horary!!, my coach wont shout at me for a couple of weeks.

Q14) what time do you arrive for booking at a fencing comp
A) On time
B) I sleep out side the fencing hall, so that I can be first in and start my warm up.
C) I do saber!, so I turn up when I feel like it.

Q15) can you remember your first fencing lesson
A) its on video, and I watch it each night, to keep the sweetness of the memory fresh
B) er…yeh…think so… we all stood in a funny position, and shuffled up and down, then we were given a sword and pretended to be Errol Flynn
C) Pain and terror has blanked my memory

Q16) what does the smell of a full fencing hall conjure in your mind
A) Time for my kit to have its yearly wash
B) The smell of joy and rapture, the smells of home and of happiness unbounded
C) What you get if 2 dozen rugby players are locking in a hot sewage farm for a week with a brace of badgers

Q17) if you were washed up on a desert island, what item would you most what to find there
A) The desert Island A-grade, open to last minute entries
B) A boat and supplies…I have to get back for a fencing lesson
C) The lost tribe of “beautifulrandynudes“

Q18) what are the contents of your car?
A) tapes/cd's, maybe a half empty bottle of coke, some sweets, the odd magazine, just stuff
B) well yes, there is a copy of the sword in a side pocket and you can find about 4-5 half empty packets of sweets, and I will admit that 12 liters is a lot of water to keep in a car, but it is still a car first and fencing transport second (pass us the AA road map its got the location of all "near to comp" travel lodges in it and I will be lost if it goes missing!!)
C) its a sort of fencing scrap yard, bits of weapons, old raged plastrons, and wires fill every crack, weapon tips roll around under the seats every time I turn a corner, and there is the lingering smell of rotting bananas and old sandwiches, to sit down you have to shift the dog eared a to z's of places like Lester and Bristol, and never no matter how much you want to no matter how much I plead for you to "just check if my BFA card is in there" ever EVER venture into the glove compartment.
 
Q19) how did you get your last injury?
A) I am currently suffering from a repeat injury caused by poor footwork and inadequate stretching pre fight, it has a name as long as my arm and I will describe it to you in minute detail as well as what I am doing to have it sorted, if you give me half a chance.
B) I was cruelly stabbed in the chest by a full on fleshe when I was thinking about something else (its left me with a bruise the size of an orange, that wakes me up when I roll over in the night, the SWINE!!)
C) I stabbed my self in the foot while raking the lawn
 
Q20) you’re caught in a pub fight!, someone crashes into you and a flailing fist catches you in the ear, what do you do?
A) parry their other hand in octave, enter corps – a – corps and knee them in the groin
B) Insist that the offender is given a red card for roughness
C) Smash you drink into your attackers face, kick them in the kidneys when they go down and leg it before their mates catch you
 
Q21) Have you actually written down all you answers and are taking this quiz seriously.
A) Naaa!! it’s just a laugh, and I don't get half the jokes
B) Just doing it while I wait for the next round of the DE
C) damb right its serious!!, its taking about 2 hours to collate all the scores and I am submitting my answers to British fencing, and hope it will add to my ranking points
 

Scoring

Q1    A=5    B=10   C=0
Q2    A=10    B=0   C=5
Q3    A=0    B=3  C=10
Q4    A=3    B=5   C=10
Q5    A=7    B=10   C=0
Q6    A=0    B=0   C=10
Q7    A=0    B=7   C=10
Q8    A=10    B=0   C=-10
Q9    A=3    B=7   C=10
Q10    A=0    B=10   C=5
Q11    A=0    B=3   C=10
Q12    A=5    B=10   C=0
Q13    A=10    B=7   C=0
Q14    A=0    B=10   C=3
Q15    A=10    B=0   C=3
Q16    A=5    B=10   C=0
Q17    A=10    B=5   C=0
Q18    A=0    B=7   C=10
Q19    A=10    B=5   C=0
Q20    A=5    B=10   C=0
Q21    A=0    B=0   C=10


What kind of fencing freak are you?

0-40 Points
You’re not a true fencer, ether that of you have done it for so long that you have burnt out all the freakishness, either way you are far too normal

41-129 Points
Ummm..You have potential to be a fencing freak, but you still need work, at the moment you are just a general freak, I prescribe 2 Haverstock training camps and a course of Alp parties, come back and see me next year.

130-200 Points
Ah!!!.. That’s what we like to see a nice well rounded freak, normal people run shrieking at the sight of you, but you are truly an obsessive person and as such fencing is your rightful home.

210 Points
FREAK FREAK!!!, get away from me, your just too much!!, you should be kept in a box and only let out into the rest of humanity as opens.

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing

Rat Scratching #5a (13/05/04 - 15/07/04)
Ah. well here i sit on the Sunday on the nationals, risking life and piles writing this for your joy and confusion, while trying to understand the loud speaker announcements ( but as far as I can tell, it sounds as if the speaker is a concrete mixer gargling with horse radish while trying to shout out random lottery numbers, you think I'm kidding!!, I'm sure i heard someone shout "BINGO" last time), the last couple of days have brought pain and much happiness to many people (sort of like a group sex session and a box of nails), people crying/sobbing (NO! not from the nails), a couple of people wanting to REALLY kill each other, and some of the best team fights I have seen in my brief time in the fencing world, whenever I was not poorly savaging people ,I was happily clicking away with the movie mode on the digital camera that I have nicked off my wife (I am safe as she does not read this page), to download the movie click here (its 20Meg so I would be happier is you just downloaded it {right click "Save Target As"} if you are going to watch it more than once (the down load tends to be a little slow to kick-in but bare with it and it will come), and yes I am aware that it consists mainly on men's foil and epee, I couldn't help it!, the sabre is over before you can get to the pieste and the women's always seemed to clash with the men's and the men's is more interesting to me <<Shug>> ) .Movie Link,
 
Ah first but a slight divergence from fencing, which involves the trip home from the nationals, in order to spare Mr Maynard ( A Long suffering human if there has ever been one)  a Long trip round to Hammersmith , I spy a sign to Uxbridge (Ah Ha..Low and behold I think), yon tube station is at the arse end of the Piccadilly line, and mayhap it would save us both a lot of caking around if I just got on it and zoomed with the grace that only sore bum muscles and a bloody heavy fencing bag + Laptop can imbue, up the line to Caledonian road and my bed, SOOO! off we get, and thus starts a comedy of errors, come let us read on:
 
Stage 1) Its so late that I have to get the metropolitan line to action town then change, Cool we can do that,
 
Stage 2) Off at Acton town and ask guard which platform to wait at, "this one he replies", Cool we can do that as well.
 
Stage 3) Silly bugger guard does not know what he is talking about, last Piccadilly train leaves from another platform (ARSE!!!), thus stranding me and a bunch of other blokes on station suddenly devoid of helpful people.
 
Stage 4) Find Silly Bugger Guard, and get cross, silly bugger tells me that I will have to get 3+ night buses to get back to my flat, I ask him for the map he is reading, he says it is the station copy and he cant give it out.
 
Stage 5) Silly bugger takes a look at my face and changes mind, I leave the station with map.
 
Stage 6) Read map and discover that silly bugger can read bus maps as well as he knows train platforms. and I can do it in 2 busses, wait on wrong side of road for 15 Mins.
 
Stage 7) see the bus I want coming from what I think is the wrong way, move very fast (could have done with that kind of speed during the 32 DE) and wait on right side of the road for half a milli second.
 
Stage 8) get right bus to Hammersmith, discover that bag is so heavy that it is destabilising the bus, however before the bus tips over an immensely fat man (and I mean totally SUMO) gets on bus, we sit at different sides of the bus and all is safe again.
 
Stage 9) wait at Hammersmith for the N10 (a very useful bus that goes from Hammersmith to kingscross all night), discover that not even drunken tramps want to talk to me and even move always if I look at them (Shame).
 
Stage 10) Get to kings cross, and get off (fat man is still on! {when did he get on this bus???}, bus is listing badly!!, as I turn the next corner I hear the noise of what sounds like a sumo wrestler tipping over a bus, I just ignore it and keep going)
 
Stage 11) Wait for my final Bus, (its only 15 mins walk, but the weight of the bag is starting to get on my nerves and its 1:30 in the morning), I wait for 10 mins and thing bugger it, I'll walk!!.
 
Stage 12) Of course as soon as I set off, the bus comes, I thunder to the next bus stop, waving frantically at the bus driver, as I am the only person on the street, carrying a huge bag, waving wildly and am about 2 yards from the bus stop, I feel that the fact that he drives straight past is a little unfair ( I of course do not yell BAS***D!!!! at the back of the buss and attack the bus station), I am a little bit peeved at this point.
 
Stage 13) My opinion of humanity is saved by a bloke who pulls up straight after the bus and asks if he can give me a lift any where, Cool we can do that!,  next sec he drops me off at the flat, all done!, the I forgive the world its wrongs.
 
Stage 14) Sleep!!! (for about 3 hours before a sour throat wakes me up)
 

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing

Rat Scratching #5b (13/05/04 - 15/07/04)
You will have to excuse this part of the stickfight rant, as I am ratted. after having a lesson with Steve Paul (is it me or are morning lessons far more tiring than evenings ones) I have skived the fight night at Haverstock as well as Redhill and Reigate and gone out and got drunk with work, after a happy night which involved explaining about a blokes basic needs (1. feed me 2. shag me) to a woman who landed at our table who after becoming a spinster because she had note got a male after 9 months, I have finally got back to life and fencing (don't ask me!!, in fact do ask, is it me or do all women apart from my wife want to keep a full table width away from me, as my wife says the words "rabid dog" best apply, but never mind that back to fencing)
 
this stickfight rant is mainly about club locations, and how they variety, some are custom built, some are just standard calls or gyms mugged for the use of fencing, lets take the ones I knew personally each in turn, 126 first (famous or rather infamous for being the only fencing club in Britain to be held in a bar) has now moved to County Hall hotel near Westminster bridge (thou the bar claim can still be kept up as the gym is on the 5/6 floor and their is a bar on the 1st, so in fact 126 is now "the only flub to be help 4 stories above a bar") , a fabulous place (though the gym is quite small)  for fencing in which I believe the gym gets more from it than the fencing club ( they have just got Jo Maynard to work as a personal fitness instructor) does, so the hotel can put fencing down as one of its sports and also put "fitness instructors include members of the common wealth team". (To give you an idea of how post this place is, you just have to look at the little hand towels they have for you when you are in the gym, they are PRE-DAMPENED!!, now this is officially to cool you off, but I think its so really rich people don't have to sweat, I am willing to bet that the bottle they spray the towels with contains specially selected sweat from Russian sweat shops {sweat shops - get it SWEAT......SHOPS..... oh never mind}, but I ask my self if there is not a business opportunity here, could we not collect the sweat of nubile fencers and sell it to such rich people as the highest quality sweat, i mean if we out our feet in plastic bags while fencing it would work like a charm {URGENT EDITORS NOTE: if you see stickfight approach you during a comp carrying 2 small plastics, RUN!!!, make it to the tree line before its to late}) The view from the fencing area is fabulous (though I have not personally partaken of it as 6'4" blokes wandering around on roof tops carrying swords attracts the kind of attention I would rather avoid) and as of this mo we have not been allowed access to the showers (Note: This has changed since writing {see my top 5 fencing wash rooms}), but there is no denying the in fact that you often get 1 to 1 training at 126 (Marc Bengry is always their, and sometimes people Like Joanne Beadsworth) and the  facilitys some of the best looking  (you get to walk in/out of a posh London hotel looking as scruffy as hell with swords trailing on the ground),
 
Next Redhill and Reigate, a club at a large school, getting their without a car is a total sod in the winter and a total dream in the summer due the fact that it is about 20 mins walk over a golf course, but when you are there, there is room for Africa (not to mention tons of working boxes) the hall you fight in is big enough for a comp. (e-mail Chris if you think this is a good idea), but alas no showers (and a very naff tap to fill up water bottles from, but as a compensation the club as a whole group goes to drink at one of the best pubs a have ever been to after each night. also the number do not fluctuate hugely as they do at other clubs, there is nearly always 20 plus people of all ages to fight.
 
Now LTFC (London Thames Fencing Club) a custom built salle with proper working metal pistes set at St. Paul's school, it vies with Haverstock for the position of best epee club in Britain (although Sussex house seems determined to take that honour) when you enter the salle you are in no doubt that fencing is what is due to go on here, the club is a bit of a bugger to get to if you don't have a car, and I personally find the buses a pain in the sword bag (I can make it in 12 mins from the tube train door to on pieste, but it does involve punting over a spiky iron fence and running across the field clanking and trying to ignore the stares of the people going over Hammersmith bridge { Oh.. I have a theory about Hammersmith station, I believe it is a cattle zone, i,e, people that go into it temporary turn into cows and sheep....No NO , I don't mean literally, I mean their minds turn into cattle minds e.g. {and this has happened a number of times} you are getting ready to get off the tube and just as you approach the door someone steps in front of you and gets ready to rush out as soon as the door is opened, that OK you think, if we both whoosh out the door, up the stairs and out the station "fast through put, keep pushing that zar" {editors: What??} the train stops, i tense, the doors open, we both shoot forward, "SMACK", me two swords and a bag with kevlar in it crumps into the bloke as with one foot on the platform he slows to snails pace, he turns as my impact cursing, and I see the eyes that were once quick silver now have the look of something that goes "MOO", freaked out I Jink round him and start up the stairs only to find that people are not so much moving at working pace as plodding at grassing speed, trying to ignore the couple who look as if they are chewing cud and shutting my ears to the noise of bleating, I dive out of what I personally consider the twilight zone of the tube line and make my escape). it should be also noted that Hammersmith does a good line in night buses which go pretty much anywhere (a good one is the N10 to kingscross). the club does a have a good share of drinking fountains and even a chilled filter to fill up your water bottle, it is very well supplied on the coach side with 2 epee coaches and 1 sabre coach their at any time. but LTFC people could not queue if their lives depended on it ( I include my self in this description ) so it is very informal grab a box system with a lot of chattering ( sometimes the coaches yell at people to stop talking and get fighting), drinks afterwards are a strange thing, their is no specific pub or time and it is very much a case of which bunch of people you are talking to as the where/whether you go.  

Havestock should also be in here but, I am going to defer it for a couple of weeks due to the fact they are relocating to a school near the angel ( a good decision in my view as it has a lot of good pubs near it, in fact there is a good pub crawl you can do from Highbury/Islington down the main road to the angel, stopping at all the many many nice pubs on the way, and can you can get tanked up cheaply at the start of the crawl at the Wetherspoons just out side the station), I think the move is a good one for Haverstock and they are now near the not just the northern line but the silverlink and Victoria lines, not to mention a shed load of busses like the 277 to/from Docklands .

Lansdowne, a private salle which is part of a private club (as this translates and people will not nick stuff out of the changing room), with nice cold filtered water {Editor: WHAT is it with you and the bloody water??, you come from Skegness and they drink sheep urine their}, it is also where you stand the best chance of getting a private lesson with Steve Paul, the people are also very friendly and they have excellent piste with duel score boards, and no time limit as the salle is dedicated, but you have to get invited their (or be bloody pushy like me), they drink upstairs in the club afterwards, for which I think you have to get invited again, but I have not dared to go as when fencing I am a very scruffy sod {as an antidote from life in corporate London} (disqualified from the human race for pushing!!!) and most of these clubs usually make you wear a jacket and tie (suppose I better check on that before making final comment)

My top 3 fencing bathrooms (why???, don't ask me I'm only writing this stuff)

3) LTFC - It at least has got one, although there seems to be a constant battle with the students over the shower heads, they are unscrewed and moved, and nicked, finally they gave been replaced with the kind I suspect you get in prisons, which are fine but means you have to flatten yourself against the wall in order to get wet which in turns makes a bathroom full of LTFC fencers look like a squashed from convention
2) Lansdowne club - nice bathroom NICE BATHROOM, free soap, soft white towels, and the showers OHHH, nice, they are the old style ones that look like a cross between a sunflower and a trifid, but throw the Atlantic at you in lots of little bits, as a visual guide it looks like an old style public school changing room (no surprise three) and a pleasure to use.
1) 126 - Oh heck, this is just heaven, when I for a sough it the first time, I went in and out of the place a couple of time to make sure that I had not stepped into a timewarp or something. but no it is real, perhaps a little guided tour would be best, ....and on your right as you go in you will see gentlemen that there are complementary bathrobes to wear and soft white towels for you to use, further in perhaps you would like to rest and watch TV on one of the many comfy chairs that litter the walls?..No..well let us progress...once you have got undressed and put your garments in the oak lockers in the oak panelled rooms, perhaps you would like a shower, this way please...yes sir that is a machine for drying you swimming trunks!! {weird!!!}, and on your right we have separate sauna and steam rooms, on you left an plunge bath and whirl pool...sir whishes to try that now...Ok please get in and push the large white button...No sir calm down...it OK..Godzilla is not coming to get you its just it gives off rather a lot of bubbles...next week have the showers..all individual cubical with little smoked glass doors and complementary conditioning shampoo and shower gel..no sir you can not have two people to help you stand up in the torrent, I am afraid you must handle it your self,..now once sir has get up from the floor, I can show sir the sinks with free complementary cotton buds and comb washer (you could not make it up)......         What a place to get wet.

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing

Rat Scratching #5c (13/05/04 - 15/07/04)
As stated in the last update i have been trying to get some art for the t-shirts, but it not been that easy. as to get to the best artists you have to go through agencies and even then you only rent to commissions, rent! RENT!!!, did the greatest artists of the world get their pictures back after 6 months, I think NOT!, did Michele Angelo say "you can have the Sistine chapel roof for a couple of weeks and then some of my boys will be along to pick it up", I don't think he did!!!! .........<throat clearing noise>....right back to the point, so far i have found 4 artists that do the kinds of styles that I am looking for and have asked for a couple of commissions from each of them (I have asked 2 artists of very different styles for the same commissions and we will see how they both turn out), and the reason that the artists that specialise in fencing art have not been contacted is that the current styles i am looking for is computer based anime art, if anybody starts asking for poetic/beautiful t-shirts they will be the first to know ( UPDATE: I gave this reason to Jo Maynard and was told that she could sure do the style that I wanted, so I have taken a how to draw manga book, some example comics, a pen table and some software over to her and Marc's house, and we will see what comes out of the other end {I wonder what its like to have actual talent rather just being bad tempered}) I am however having some problems understanding the mentality of artists, or is it that they are having some problems understanding mine (stop! that laughing at the back), anyway the idea that I might be just giving away the commissions that I am getting them to do seems to strike a cord of horror in their souls, I have had a number of phone conversations which have a long quiet patch in them, that seem to be saying "is their some form of medication that you are on that I should be aware of", but enough of my drivel the following are the site of the artists and a brief description
 
http://www.animespresso.com/
(This guy is a very very anime style artist, who does the stylish type of art that makes for good t-shirts, I am currently awaiting his commissions to come though as he has accepted and given me a price)

http://www.griffinator.co.uk/
(Now this guy does, an very British style of drawing, I reminds me very much of the work you see on gorillaz videos and in tank girl, he has produced a cool little guy for the more psychotic tempered t-shirts, the guy is so good that I have requested about 6 commissions as the character will the official logo of stick fight., here he is)

  cool eh... (don't pinch him unless you have permission from the artist)

 
 
http://www.moochoo.net
(An artist from new Zealand, who has completed 2 commissions for me {you can see them in the t-shirts section}, she does fab female faces, and is someone to watch)
 
http://www.rachaelhuntington.com
( now here I am stuck for something to say, this ladies work is past belief {the net is littered with praise for her work}, and unlike the other artists she is a professional, I only can hope that the ideas I present, interest her enough for her to accept my commissions, but go to her site that's all I can say.)

 
Rat Scratching #5d (13/05/04 - 15/07/04)
right!! that's it!!, I formally declare my self as cross as a ferret in a privet bush, there is little enough fencing around at the moment (what with it being just after the nationals), without me mucking up what little I can get, my only lesson this week is/was with Steve Paul at 5:00pm at the Lansdowne, I leave work with time to spare and arrive at LTFC dead on time...., yes i did say LTFC, I open the door to the salle and look around, a wind whistles though the door and a couple of dust balls roll along the floor, my brain, which had been hammering on the inside of my skull for the last 30 seconds, finally makes its presence known and points out I had better phone Steve up and explain that one of his pupils is a prat, that over, I hunt down some small defenceless animals and torture them..<ah feel better>.

It may however have been an unconscious action, (unconscious rather than just stupid), as I am still recovering from the last proper lesson I had with Steve, mind you I can't blame it all on Steve, I had an hours squash during lunch (at which I got thrashed badly), lunging at a squash ball just does not cut it, nether is it impress by a fleche or corps-a-corps), ran down to LTFC and had a hard hours lesson, then a good 3 hours of fighting, then tootle back to the flat happily in the certain knowledge that I am a fitness god, in the morning I roll over and get up, or rather I try, half of me gets up fine but is happered by the fact the left hand side of my body is still on the bed, nothing works, not good, NOT GOOD!!, it feels like someone has swaped the blood in the left hand side of my body for supper glue, I drag my self though the day and return to proper home in the evening to my darling female how gives me stuff-all sympathy pointing out that it is all self inflicted (my argument, to wit I am doing all for her so that she can have a husband with a Keanu Reaves body {when he was in the matrix} just did not wash), how ever it did cause some concern, as later one, she rushes to the sound of hysterical laughter coming from the toilet, only to discover that its me having just found out that I have had to change from the normal hand I use to wipe my arse as my arm hurts to much. but their is a cure, and was the massage a tried to get but they cancelled at the last minute, No, was it my manly physique combating the pain and rising above it, NO, was it my kinds finding out that there father was in an enfeebled state and spending 2 hours fighting with him YESS!!!, little devils. but I am now all fit and healthy and ready to hunt down my offspring with battling foam swords, which always results in a long period of happy squeals from the offspring, a lot of thundering around and the occasional crash of something delicate being broken.  
Gasp...I think that is it for this ratscratchings, I am going to try and make the updates in the future smaller and more often, but as for now I am going to see if I can get the artists I have commissioned to send me the stuff and even in some cases answer my attempts to commission them (that's the problems with people with talent they are always doing something)

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing

Rat Scratchings #4a (19/04/04 - 13/05/04)
This is just a quick note to say I have not stopped updating Rat Scratchiness I am just doing other content on the site at the mo (you may have noticed the very unfinished audio section, and a new t-shirt) I have a good rat scratching to come, but I want to get the audio done, as well as a site translation into other languages. in the mean time.....

Unofficial Fencing Terms #5
Angry Bunny - The result of an unspecified sequence of events, that turn a normally mild mannered fencer into a raging banshee in a Kevler suit, symptoms include but are not limited to a) Screaming after each point b) Banging sword on the floor and swearing c) Bitting the president's arm off and clubbing the apposing fencer with it. d) Attempted genocide

Suitable Quote
A Sportsman is a man who, every now and then, simply has to get out and Kill something
-(Stephen Leacock)

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing

Rat Scratchings #4 (12/04/04 - 18/04/04)
As I have not been stickfighting this week (apart from helping out at one of Jo's and Mark's beginner clubs and getting a lesson from her), which is mainly due to the major fencing clubs being closed (126 and Redhill and Reigate were both open but work and tiredness got in the way), I have little current stuff to rant about, so you will have to make do with the stuff which I have just made up or found, have fun:  

Theres a Line, and knowing this fact means you have just crossed it!! #1
The fencing master in St. Trinian's was a ex-school inspector called Mr Woodly, who became the fencing master and lotus eater after being corrupted by the older girls during an inspection

Unofficial Fencing Terms #4
The Alp (Latin Form: Mons Demens ) - This complex and highly specialised attack is known primary for the physiological damage it inflicts on the recipient if successful and the physical damage it inflicts on the initiator if unsuccessful, the exact composition of this attack has as yet never been identified but as this move breaks many of the laws of time and space but successfully completed the term "Target Area" is replaced with "Blast Radius"

A Week in the life of a fencing bag

MONDAY

good grief is that a banana skin?, the last time owner had a banana was last comp, and that was weeks ago!, but it seems that wire has got the hots for it, the two of them are entwined together, it looks like it will take surgery to get them separated "Oah! Wire! a least get a room man!"

TUESDAY

An Hour lesson tonight then followed by club so that means we will be just dumped in the door way when he gets back, "cough Cough" they've Spilt Lucozade powder into me and is got into test box, test box looks a bit weird, you OK dude?, your looking a bit spaced out, I thought you only had red and green lights, where did the pink and blue flashing one come from, Hey, HEY!, Remember, Just say NO

WEDNESDAY

Quiet day today, no lesson or practice, got tripped over twice this morning, but at least , Breaches, Plestron and Jacket were taken out and washed, they missed one of the socks though (is it me or do they all look alike?), it hid in the guard of No.2, muttering something venomous about Persil Performance, I think this is the same one that bit next doors cat (poor thing still has a limp), Its a nasty piece of work and seems to have some plan for world domination, I'm sure that its seen invasion of the body snatchers one to many times for its own good.

THURSDAY

Club night tonight and with a serious competition this weekend its going to be sweaty.

Yep was right, owner gave everybody a right going over, trainers have got even more duck tape on them, in fact it is the only thing holding them together, What!, hang On!, Stop that!!, Stop moaning and shuffling up and down the bottom of me with your laces hanging straight out in front of you, you do not look like the undead (though you do smell like them), you will not get a major role in "The mummy 3 - Revenge of the addidas"

Oh No, the mobile phone has got some of the old banana skin on it, No Wire!, back off man, she's not worth it, we told you that bananas skins will go for anything with nucks and crannies, He's not listening, its a real mess now their all tangled up together, it'll take owner ages to sort that lot out and it will take weeks for body wire to get over it, were all in for a spell of false hits and dodgy readings

FRIDAY

Hey!, that doesn't feel like a water bottle!, BOLLOX its a bottle of Jack Daniels, mask!, OH MASK!!, watch your self on Sunday, he's on the razz on Saturday night but at least you'll be able to tell us if he's been on the kebabs or the Curry, breaches says one more of those "Silent but Violent" and he's going to give at the seams.

Here comes the car, looks like there will be 4 of us in it, and it looks like I will be on top of the pile YESSS!!, No crushing, no busting the tip box open, but there will be that moment when one of the other owners wants a packet of jelly babies or looks for their BFA card, I will be yanked to one side and get an elbow right in the side pocket , I tell you it really hurts, but you can get your own back by jabbing them hard in the ribs with something pointy when they lean on you and confuse them even more by moving the object so when they feel for it, they can't find it <<Grin>>,

All in?, OK, time to go, are you sure we are all packed as neat as you can?,

you will never get the boot shut unless you pack us a bit better <<SLAM>>
mmmmumumufmfm...mmm..mmmmdmggmmm.mfmmfmmmhghmm {muffled comments that the editor refuses to translate}

SATURDAY

Looking good feeling great, that cute little ULLMAN bag is going to go for me in a big way this weekend, even the blades are in a good mood today (for some reason they were checked and tested last night - AMAZING!!!) they are in top form (heard No'1 humming the tune from rocky a minute ago) and intend to do Owner right, no matter how many times they frown at them, asks the judge to test them and when no one is looking even banging them on the floor, but test box is still feeling a bit off so i see trouble ahead.

oO oOO! owner has dumped me next to the cute ullman bag, hi there good looking, you come here often?, well yes, once a year same as me , that's when the comp is on, I know....but....well.....yes I.......of Course....It was only a Leon Paul bag!!, it meant nothing to me....Sigh!!!. I hope the blades are doing better than me.

It seems that they are, owner has done really well and is a finalist, it means that I am now stuffed with 5 soggy T-shirts, when the "I was a finalist" T-Shirt arrives its in for a shock, the last one tried to escape from me once it saw  the state in here, luckily owner caught it just as it fell out when I went off a curb, Ha Ha Ha There is no Escape!!

Owner has just pulled the J.D. out of me, I heard them saying "What do you mean, no more techila?, no worries I got this", Mask has let out a little whimper

SUNDAY

Ah, The team event, owners dragging me a bit slow today and has taken the sunglasses out of my side pocket, I feel it may be a quiet day today

All done and back home we go,

Oh, SOD!, body wire has picked up another banana skin, doesn't that guy ever learn, and I don't think we will ever get the smell out of Mask, some of the chunks seem to have got into the tip box which means sooner or later owner going to try and hold a trip in with bits of old carrots, which will be just plain nasty <<Chuckle>> maybe I'll save that story for another week.

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Category Fencing

A Bluffers Guide to Fencing - by a fencer's flatmate.
(or how I learnt to stop worrying and love the balestra)

Fencing, as the name suggests, is territorial. In the same way that the West is currently struggling with the distinctions between Sunni + Shi-ite Muslims (stickfight, please take care with spellings), I struggle to comprehend the intense 3 way civil war between Sabre,Epee & Foil.

As best as I can make out from stickfight's descriptions, it can be characterised as follows:
Foil = Cowardly Psychotics
Sabre = Foolhardy Psychotics
Epee = "The Psychotic's Psychotic"
(NB guess which stickfight is)

Fencing can be broken down into 2 categories of action:
1) Trying to impale someone
2) Pretendingto try to impale someone.

All fencers can do 1, but only expert fencers manage 2.

Stickfight boy, being an I.T.-Type, would of course rather label these "1" and "0" so he could fight in binary. If, indeed, you do enact this conversion, and send the resulting 1's and 0's to a fax machine, the pictorial results are fascinating; it turns out that when converted in reverse Mondrian's otherwise eclectic artistic style is actually a visual representation of the plot of "The Count of Monte Cristo" (for foil fighters read same sentence with "Zorro")

Useful Phrases to irritate fencers:
1) So you weren't any good at football?
2) Ah-HA, but I have a gun!.
3) Battle of Agincourt, mate. Arrows. That's the way forward
4) So do Epeeists ever actually attack? (use innocent tone for maximum effect)
5) It's not exactly sharp is it?
6) My tuba v your epee, i win with one throw
7) So do you roll a D12 to see who moves next?
8) I bet your wife loves you talking her through the fights.
9) So can you download new ringtones into Leon Paul Boxes?
10) How come everyone else realises this went out of date at least 200 years ago?

How to win fencing (for dummies)
1) ensure absence of referee
2) ensure far end sharp and pointy

Uncanny similarities between fencing and ballet
1) Lightness on feet (allegedly)
2) Obscure French terms
3) Frequency of opening of east European can of whup-ass
4) Strange cultish behaviour of followers, and frequency of fans called Crispin.
5) Protective clothing (shoes/kevlar)
6) "No we aren't camp. It's actually very physically demanding"

I rest my case.

Before I get any hate-mail, I should point out that my own obsessive pastime is music.

1) My orchestra is bigger than your fencing club.
2) The cello spikes don't have buttons on the end.
3) The brass section can drink you into the floor
4) You do, however, have our unreserved apologies for Wagner.

Notes on living with a fencer.
1) Do not startle, or make rapid movements
2) Only uses 2m wide strip of the house
3) Plugged into mains at all times.
4) When you are winning an argument he insists on a new argument. First to 15 wins.
5) Cannot do housework without wearing protective kevlar (actually fair point if you've seen our bathroom)


If you've made it this far
In his infinite wisdom stick-fight boy has promised (OK he was drunk, but I have it on Dictaphone) that I can expand this area for my wider deranged views.

It should be noted that the evidently warped mind is not entirely my own fault, and i would like the court to take into account 5 years of public school education, a Cambridge degree and farther who is a C of E vicar as mitigating circumstances. Nobody could remain rational in these circumstances.

Read at your own risk, and ensure regular breaks for methylated spirits. It makes more sense that way.

**Editor's note: I would like to point out that the above was written when I was very drunk tired and emotional. In block capitals on a notepad. It really doesn't make any sense does it? Ah well, never mind. Nor does expending huge amounts of otherwise useful violent fury trying to turn on a lightbulb fifteen times (or make a box go "ping").

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing

Rat Scratchings #2 (14/03/04 - 21/03/04)

Have had two fab lessons with Steve Paul (Tel: 07768085735 to book lessons, if no answer leave a message, he does answer them, and in the mean time his answer phone drives us all potty, in revenge for this, phone his mobile even at night {instead of home office 0132472540} as the reception is poo in his house and forces him have to hurtle outside to answer <<grin>>) who is one of the innocent coaches currently try to cure my DE cock up affliction, he has turned up the notch of the lessons to help cope with the panic response (Symptom: a Parry that is like hitting a sword with 2 bags of coal {and always the same direction}) so that I can get further in tricky fights, am slightly worried that his technical term for this is "random Cruelty", but after his lesson and 2 hours of club, I feel as if someone has beaten me to death with a loaded wart-hog. I was so tired that I could not move my hand to turn off the country and western music what was on TV in the flat and ended up watching it with drool dribbling down my chin, now I am both physically and mentally scared thus meaning I can take up sabre at any time!.

Fought Mr Bird again on Monday night at LTFC, man is he fast!, the nasty thrashing I received has inspired the following in what I hope are a long line in little known fencing terms:

Unofficial Fencing Terms #1
The Port Lunge (or Plunge) - a shocking and somewhat unnerving experience that is produced by combining someone with a smooth and fast lunge with a defender who needs to blink, miss timing your blink just as they start there attack, makes it seem as if the attacker move from on guard to sticking a sword in your chest without covering the intervening distance, while the standard result of this is just the lose of a point, the optional side effects can contains any of the following, 1)heart attack, 2)fainting , 3)Accusation that they have sold their soul in return for fencing skills , 4)needing to wash your breaches sooner than you had hoped

Unofficial Fencing Terms #2
Slice (or Time Slice) - the opposite of the Port Lunge, a condition in which you blink or sneeze during your own attack, and when you open your eyes discovered that your have successfully scored a hit (this may or may not have included a parry and riposte), the reason for the successful hit an be put down to one of two reason 1) Your coach has been right all these years about feeling the blade and working on touch 2) your body is better at fencing when your brain is not getting in the way.

The metal pieste are getting more slippery!, wonder if it would be a good idea to bring a brush and hover and sort them out and at the same time add a new weapon class foil,saber, epee, dyson!!, it would be fab, get a load of ping pong balls and glue them to velcro pads, stick the other side to your kits, attach ping pong balls and a way you go, first to 15 balls in your hover wins, that idea has to be explored, here we go:

Dyson Fencing

Equipment:
        2 vacuum cleaners (baggless by preference)
        30 ping pong balls per fencer
        a roll of stick backed velcro
        2 pad of post-it notes (optional)
        2 or more demented or possibly drunk fencers.

Set up:
        cut up the sticky backed velcro in to 1cm strips and stick the hook sides to the ping pong balls and the fury side to fencers (nude or in kit it does not matter, but they must be conscious as waking up to find 30 ping pong balls stuck to you could scar you for life) once the fencers are balled up, they take there hovers on the pieste and plug them in at each end, they then touch tubes and await the president (or cleaners) command, to "turn on" and "suck"

The Game:
        The bout is played until a fencer has collected 15 of his opponents balls with the hoover (please note when fighting male appoints there are NOT an additional 2 balls available to be attacked with the hover, unless that's you kick and if it is I don't want to know!) or if your opponents loses all their balls. Optional - for each bout a fencer has won, a post it note is stuck on the front of his mask to impair their abilities in the next bout.

Alternative game:
        a less complicated and to my mind one that stands a chance of getting done at a camp, is to get a number of fencers, the more the better!!!, get them all sorted out with the ping pong balls, and with their masks on, give each one a foam sword (those battling ones are best) and let them lose, last one with balls left wins, utter carnage!!!!, yes it has to be done!!


Picture the Scene:
        its a fencing training camp week, its 2.00am in the morning and all good fencers are fast asleep after a long day of performing wholesome training exercises, but all is not quiet, a low humming noise starts to fill the air, getting louder and heading towards the bedrooms, suddenly the sound of screaming fills the air overpowering the humming, fencers rush to their doors and look out into the hall, a half naked figure thunders past looking a lot nobbler than normal, he is being closely followed by masked apparitions carrying the latest in electric home cleaning appliances, the next second they are gone, the humming fading off in to the distance, leaving a couple of stray ping pong balls rolling on the floor, the fencers look at each other, shrug and go back to sleep, after all Alp is at the training camp, the unexpected is SO last 5 seconds ago.

Posted by Mark At 00:00:00 Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Category Fencing

FENCING GLOSSARY

Absence of Blade: Very short fight, unless both parties are in this state, in which case, very long and boring fight

Advance: "What's a nice girl like you doing in a salle like this?"

Balestra: A man with a sword and a tutu.

Bayonet: A close-quarters fencing discipline

Baudry Point: A village in Cornwall where epeeists are bred in cages

Black Card: "We sympathise with your loss, but you shouldn't have let your son take up fencing"

Change of Engagement: A way to upset your fiancée. Not recommending if fiancée is sabreur

Commanding the Blade: Clearly stupid. It's a piece of metal.

Counter-Attack: Aggressive movement to be first to the bar after fencing
               
Counter-Parry: A rabid dislike of "Jerusalem" (c. Charles HH Parry)
               
Counter-Riposte: "Yeah? Well. Your mum."
               
Corps-A-Corps: Dangerous fencing competition between entire army regiments.
               
Coulé: A way of cooking potatoes
               
Coupé: A two door car that is incredibly difficult to load fencing gear into
               
Cross: The mood fencers get in when they read this log
               
Derobement: A prelude to a more informal activity popular with two or more consenting fencers.
               
Feint: Brought on by too much fencing and not enough liquid intake
               
Fleche: The bit of you that gets stabbed.
               
Flying Riposte: See counter-riposte, but in an aeroplane.
               
Hilt: "point at which I can't be bothered". As in "I'll back you up to the hilt"
               
Homologated: Please, this is a family weblog.
               
In Quartata: The recommended quantity for attacking innocent passers by with swords.
               
Insistence: "It IS a real sport".
               
Lamé: Stickfight's excuses for losing.
               
Moulinet: A brand of food mixer. Considered ungentlemanly, but technically classed as a sabre
               
Octave: The normal alteration in vocal pitch when a fencer gets a groin hit.
               
Passata-Sotto:                
1. Soak 1 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain well. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add two garlic cloves and an onion (chopped). Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add the mushrooms and fry for a further 2-3 minutes, until browned.
2. Stir in 350g/12oz arborio rice and coat in the oil. Pour in ¼ pint dry white wine and simmer, stirring, until the liquid has been absorbed. Add 2 pints hot vegetable stock by the ladleful and simmer, stirring again, until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and tender.
3. Roughly chop the soaked mushrooms and stir into the risotto, along with parsley, 1 oz butter and salt and pepper. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Passé: An unfashionable fencing outfit
               
Piste: No, no. This one's just too easy. Insert your own line <here>

Plastron: Inhabitant of planet Vengnor. Not very good at foil, but then it has no limbs
               
Presentation: Weak point of fencers who have facial hair.
               
Press: People who take no interest in fencing.
               
Prise de Fer: A goldfish won from travelling entertainment providers.
               
Quarte: A sensible serving of whisky.
               
Referee: Term of abuse.
               
Ricasso: French exponent of Cubism.
               
Right-of-Way: Claimed by any fencer driving to the Nationals.
               
Salle: Word for people who find "room" difficult to say.
               
Septime: Very cumbersome version of the Greek Trireme ships.Particularly unpleasant for rowers seated on bottom row (they were chained in place - think about it).
               
Simple: Accusation levelled at Fencers
               
Sixte: How epeeists write their IQ down.
               
Thrown Point: High risk move, as it results in an absence of blade (see earlier entry)

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