Rat Scratchings 2

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 <>) 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

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.

FENCING GLOSSARY

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 fiancee. Not recommending if fiancee
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.

Coule: A way of cooking potatoes

Coupe: 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”.

Lame: 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 1 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.

Passe: An unfashionable fencing outfit

Piste: No, no. This one’s just too easy. Insert your own line

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)