Time For Friends – The Climb #295

Sunday 12^th November 2017

Today has been a day for friends. Given how hectic the last few months have been it’s been pretty good to unwind.
Sparring was in Reading today and whilst not so much of a journey, it still ate up a large part of my day. After a decent breakfast, I loaded the car up and headed in.
Given that I have Bucklerthon in less than a week (seriously, it’s non-stop tournaments right now) I felt I needed to get some practise in. I always get bruised doing sword & buckler and with my thigh still purple from a couple of weeks ago, I decided to wear some thigh armour. It didn’t really work for me and just ended up hindering my movement. I need to go back to the drawing board on that as my leg still hurts to walk on and I really don’t want to take any more blows to it.
That said, despite the impeded movement, my sword & buckler felt good. I thought I was really using my buckler well and to good advantage. Whilst I am under no illusion that I will get well and truly destroyed on Saturday I feel I can do it whilst maintaining good form… and as we all know, good posture is everything when it comes to fencing.
I did some rapier & dagger as well. That’s feeling as solid as ever. I felt more alert and a little more awake than yesterday which is good. Whilst the focus might be on Sword & Buckler this week, I’m not really too concerned about Bucklerthon in terms of competition but more the rapier & dagger in Wessex League the week afterwards.
I also took my montante, mainly to show it off as I’m still not very comfortable swinging it around. Perhaps if I bring it along every week and do a bit of work with it I can improve. Everyone loved it and it sounds awesome when the blade hits the floor and rings like one of those swords in movies.
I hadn’t intended to eat out today, instead go home and have the turkey curry in the fridge for dinner tonight, but I was persuaded to eat (not hard, I know) and had a burger as the four of us discussed role playing games and tinder and other random things.
Time I got home it was getting late. We’re now getting to that time of the year when it gets dark very early.
My plan was to get the submission for the writing opportunity together but I have a ton of little jobs to do – school of the sword jobs, sending invoices for hotels, chasing friends for monies owed. I was doing a little of that whilst also watching some more Mindhunter. I really like how, despite being told it wasn’t a cop show, I was surprised to find out that it’s not a cop show. Quite enjoying it.
But before I could get anything really done my friend, Craig, invited me over for tea and chat. It was great to do that, because I can’t remember the last time I went round someone’s house just to have a natter. I was there until late and we talked about everything and nothing.
I finished the day feeling very refreshed. I feel I’ve not made a lot of time for social interaction other than as part of other activities so it was really nice to see that make a big part of the day. However, it does mean my mountain of things to do is just getting larger.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.