My family and other monsters
Aug. 30th, 2006 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
king_pellinorI had a nice week off leading up to the Bank Holiday. The plan was rather complicated. I wanted to go the the FnH Summerfest (weekend of live roleplaying) in Barnsley, but LadyofAstolat said she needed the car that weekend so I couldn't have it, so I made a number of cunning plans to get there anyway, after which she decided that actually she didn't need the car to work at all and in fact wanted to take a holiday then instead. After which it turned out that she did need to work the Friday before, so The Plan ended up being that we would visit my family in Whitley Bay first, then I would drop her off in Sheffield to get the train back to work while I went to Summerfest.
Then we decided to visit Kargicq and Neuromancer, then we found Chainmailmaiden and Bacchus would like to go up too, and it got even more complicated.
So. We drove up with a car-load of kit. I'm lazy, so my packing consists of slinging anything that might be vaguely useful into the car, without having to think. That meant I had a big tent (too lazy to organise myself in a small one), a big bag of costume, two shields, a longbow and quiver, 8 assorted other weapons, one scale shirt, 4.9 mail shirts (including one work in progress and one I was repairing for a friend), assorted other bits of armour, bottles, glasses, lanterns, plates, candles, sleeping bag and spare pocket handkerchief. And a small bag of clothes. Oh, and a wife.
My family continues to confuse me, so I'll try to confuse you too. I have 5 sisters - I and the two eldest come as one set, then there's a gap and the next two, then a big gap and the last one. My big sister (who's little) was off on holiday with No.1 nephew, leaving us to look after cats Nos. 1 and 2. My big little sister was at home, but working, and invited us round to see No.2 nephew and No.2 niece (twins) who were vague shapes in dark cots. The bigger littler sister was also on holiday, leaving No.1 niece with Mum so we got to play with her a bit. The littler littler sister nipped up from work in London for a couple of days. The littlest sister (NB younger than No.1 nephew) was on school holidays but at home, and spent her time looking after No.1 niece.
Order of play was:
Saturday: drive up. Unload car into garage.
Sunday: Goto jousting with Mum, littlest sister and No.1 niece, and meet Kargicq, Neuromancer, Katy, Chainmailmaiden and Bacchus. Feed cats belonging to little big sister. Dinner with big little sister and her husband, Cloned Brother-in-law, but not No.2 nephew and niece as they were asleep.
Monday: Goto Beamish with littler littler and littlest sisters and No.1 niece, and meet Kargicq, Neuromancer, Katy, Chainmailmaiden and Bacchus. Try not to wonder whether a family ticket is valid when it's for self, wife, sister and niece, rather than nuclear family. Fail to fee big little sister's cats as they seem to have evaporated.
Tuesday: Take delivery of plate arm and leg harness and gambeson delivered from Germany (ordered too late for home delivery). Goto Alnwick Castle and Barter books - all alone, for a change. Dinner with Kargicq, Neuromancer, Katy, Chainmailmaiden and Bacchus. Stay over with them.
Wednesday: Go home, pick up littlest sister and No.2 niece, goto Bede's world. Try not to feel guilty about getting EH discount on family ticket when it's not for direct descendants; wonder if people assume they are; try not to remember age gap to littlest sister. Goto see No.2 nephew and No.2 niece, running around in babywalkers and generally being interested in knees. Watch big little sister feed No.2 nephew in about 5 seconds, while Cloned Brother-in-law carefully plasters food over No.2 niece for a few minutes. Get given food-plastered sister-spawn to hold (no offer to hold until plastered, mark you).
Thursday: reload car. Drive to Sheffield. Drop LadyofAstolat at station and eat lunch with here there. Successfully negotiate getting out of Sheffield, then get fooled by sign saying "for A628 use J35". This of course assumes that you want to go to Manchester on the A628, and so cuts the corner by about 15 miles - not so useful when you actually want Silkwood, about a mile from J37, as it makes you do 2 sides of the triangle. Eventually get to Summerfest site. Take out phone to ring other FnH people to see if they've arrived; get confused when it immediately beeps to deliver a "we've arrived" message. Meet up with other people and turn this into a Summerfest post.
Oops - Ladyofastolat's going to bed now, so I'd better do this bit another day.
Then we decided to visit Kargicq and Neuromancer, then we found Chainmailmaiden and Bacchus would like to go up too, and it got even more complicated.
So. We drove up with a car-load of kit. I'm lazy, so my packing consists of slinging anything that might be vaguely useful into the car, without having to think. That meant I had a big tent (too lazy to organise myself in a small one), a big bag of costume, two shields, a longbow and quiver, 8 assorted other weapons, one scale shirt, 4.9 mail shirts (including one work in progress and one I was repairing for a friend), assorted other bits of armour, bottles, glasses, lanterns, plates, candles, sleeping bag and spare pocket handkerchief. And a small bag of clothes. Oh, and a wife.
My family continues to confuse me, so I'll try to confuse you too. I have 5 sisters - I and the two eldest come as one set, then there's a gap and the next two, then a big gap and the last one. My big sister (who's little) was off on holiday with No.1 nephew, leaving us to look after cats Nos. 1 and 2. My big little sister was at home, but working, and invited us round to see No.2 nephew and No.2 niece (twins) who were vague shapes in dark cots. The bigger littler sister was also on holiday, leaving No.1 niece with Mum so we got to play with her a bit. The littler littler sister nipped up from work in London for a couple of days. The littlest sister (NB younger than No.1 nephew) was on school holidays but at home, and spent her time looking after No.1 niece.
Order of play was:
Saturday: drive up. Unload car into garage.
Sunday: Goto jousting with Mum, littlest sister and No.1 niece, and meet Kargicq, Neuromancer, Katy, Chainmailmaiden and Bacchus. Feed cats belonging to little big sister. Dinner with big little sister and her husband, Cloned Brother-in-law, but not No.2 nephew and niece as they were asleep.
Monday: Goto Beamish with littler littler and littlest sisters and No.1 niece, and meet Kargicq, Neuromancer, Katy, Chainmailmaiden and Bacchus. Try not to wonder whether a family ticket is valid when it's for self, wife, sister and niece, rather than nuclear family. Fail to fee big little sister's cats as they seem to have evaporated.
Tuesday: Take delivery of plate arm and leg harness and gambeson delivered from Germany (ordered too late for home delivery). Goto Alnwick Castle and Barter books - all alone, for a change. Dinner with Kargicq, Neuromancer, Katy, Chainmailmaiden and Bacchus. Stay over with them.
Wednesday: Go home, pick up littlest sister and No.2 niece, goto Bede's world. Try not to feel guilty about getting EH discount on family ticket when it's not for direct descendants; wonder if people assume they are; try not to remember age gap to littlest sister. Goto see No.2 nephew and No.2 niece, running around in babywalkers and generally being interested in knees. Watch big little sister feed No.2 nephew in about 5 seconds, while Cloned Brother-in-law carefully plasters food over No.2 niece for a few minutes. Get given food-plastered sister-spawn to hold (no offer to hold until plastered, mark you).
Thursday: reload car. Drive to Sheffield. Drop LadyofAstolat at station and eat lunch with here there. Successfully negotiate getting out of Sheffield, then get fooled by sign saying "for A628 use J35". This of course assumes that you want to go to Manchester on the A628, and so cuts the corner by about 15 miles - not so useful when you actually want Silkwood, about a mile from J37, as it makes you do 2 sides of the triangle. Eventually get to Summerfest site. Take out phone to ring other FnH people to see if they've arrived; get confused when it immediately beeps to deliver a "we've arrived" message. Meet up with other people and turn this into a Summerfest post.
Oops - Ladyofastolat's going to bed now, so I'd better do this bit another day.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 10:17 pm (UTC)Were No.1 Nephew and littlest sister the cute tiny people running about chasing each other round the church at your wedding?
no subject
Date: 2006-09-07 09:04 am (UTC)Having small children running round the church distracting people is something of a tradition with my family.