HEALTH UPDATE: Germ Season!

Photo by cottonbro studio

It's official. I have Rachel's germs. My poor wife has heroically struggled through a lengthy spell of serious lurgy, whereas I caved on Friday with a bout of 'man flu'.

While Rachel has tried to carry on as normal as much as possible, I pulled on my dressing gown and curled up in front of the television at the first sign of sniffles and a sore throat.

I'd felt achy in my joints all week, but the cold truly manifested itself on Thursday night and into the following day.

My nose was still a bit odd yesterday and my throat scratchy, but generally it all felt as though I was on the mend.

Earlier in the week, I made it to the gym solo (for the first time, Rachel was outside in the car), but wasn't up for a second workout during the subsequent days. 

Also at the start of this week, I had an epic - and very thorough - two-hour eye test at my usual opticians, with the end result being the revelation that my prescription hasn't changed enough to warrant a new pair of glasses. This was a welcome outcome in this time of tightening belts and increasing costs.

However, 'cos of the bug (even though it was quite mild), my reading plans were scuppered (the old concentration issues were magnified) and I ended up watching a lot of Star Trek: Voyager reruns instead.

Last night was spent in the company of the new season of Strictly Come Dancing and I thought I was on the mend, but when I was awoken by Alice this morning - wanting her breakfast and a wee in the garden - I realised the cold wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

Today, I ache from head from toe, have a bunged up nose, very sore throat and watery eyes. Seems like the germs have arrived in earnest now.

Photo Guide To Military Odyssey

Our favourite living history display of the day

On Bank Holiday Monday, Rachel, Alice and I attended Military Odyssey at the Kent County Showground, as we usually do.

Once again I had the benefit of a hired mobility scooter to get around (often with Alice riding in my lap) but poor Rach put in thousands of steps keeping up with us.

As ever, the show was a magnificent blend of historical periods, from the ancients to modern warfare (although with the ever-present bias towards the Second World War), represented by talented and knowledgeable reenactors, all more than happy to talk about their area of expertise.

In our enthusiasm to get there we'd forgotten that Alice absolutely hates the (near-constant) sound of gunfire at the event, so we've assured her that if we come back next year she can spend the day with Rachel's parents - which she would much prefer.

She was only really settled when we popped into covered café area for dinner, where there was old time music and dancing going on.

Our "small" selection of pictures can't do the event justice, and don't even include the many, many stalls selling militaria, action figures, army surplus, antique swords and guns, books, artwork etc

ANCIENTS

JAPANESE DRUMMING & WEAPONS

ALL-IMPORTANT ICE CREAM BREAK

LUNCHBREAK

Sadly, the only time of the day when Alice wasn't stressing out 

OUR FAVOURITE DISPLAY

The display by Hell-and-Back was so impressive, a Second World War medical unit had taken over a crumbling, derelict building. The delightful man - who could have stepped out of the pages of a vintage war comic - that we spoke to, for ages, explained how it was all assembled from flatpack and scavenged items. And we talked about dogs (of course).

OTHER WORLD WAR II DISPLAYS

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT GEESE

Because why wouldn't you? 

Rachel says I can't have an emotional support goose

MISCELLANEOUS

Alice was confused by the tiny people in tanks

THE OLD WEST

PURCHASES

Three sale purchases covering a good spectrum of my interests

Rain Doesn't Stop Play At Annual Medieval Festival

You can't really judge the steepness of the hill from this picture

Having missed last year's event, Rachel, Alice and I returned to King's Grove: England's Medieval & Renaissance Festival this year... only to discover that it had grown considerably since we were last there.

Oh, and after a summer of heatwave after heatwave, the heavens opened yesterday and it rained almost constantly while we were at the festival (there was a break of around five minutes when the sun came out in the afternoon).

The clue to the event's expansion was in the addition of "& Renaissance" to the official title.

It now more closely resembles what I imagine an American "Ren Faire" experience is like, with the overall focus moving away from the purely historical (as it was back in its Herstmonceux Castle days) and now embracing cosplay, LARP, witchy bits, and even tabletop roleplaying games and board games.

Naturally, I wanted to check out the roleplaying (and board) game area first. As well as tables for people to play games on in the tented areas, there was an Aladdin's Cave of funky dice, of all sizes and denominations, all beautifully displayed.

Rachel said I could have a set of posh dice as a birthday present, but there were simply too many to choose from and my poor, little addled brain just shut down because of the input overload.

After a long time blankly staring at the displays, picking some dice up and putting them down, I just couldn't decide and so we moved on... before I had some kind of emotional breakdown.

THE COSPLAY TENT

THE GRAND PARADE

There were a lot of amazing artisans and craftsmen selling their wares at the show, and the constant rain didn't seem to be putting people off moving between the various tents and covered stalls.

Probably my favourite artists were Lucan Thorndyke from Wyrd Bones (who we had a lovely, long chat with and wasn't at all bothered when I said I liked the "roleplaying game prop potential" of his work), the Medieval illuminations of Eric Verkade, and the t-shirts of Hive Mind Games.

As with the dice, there were so many incredible creations to choose from that I was mentally paralysed by the possibilities and ended up not buying anything.

However, I reckon there's a good chance I will eventually (once I can get my finances in order) buy a piece from Wyrd Bones to use in a Tuesday Knights adventure.

To be honest, all the art we saw was top quality and once again I was also (sadly) reminded that we simply don't have any more wall space at home for additional framed pictures. 

Soggy puppy

Quick family portrait during the five-minute break in the rain

Although there were a lot of other floofs at the event, Alice still attracted her fair share of attention, due a combination of her cuteness, her little rain coat, and her rather bedraggled appearance thanks to the weather (Once we got home, Alice had a nice warm bath in the sink).

The only real problem I have with King's Grove is that it takes place on the side of a steep hill.

While the woods are very atmospheric, especially as the festival evolves into something more "magical", it quickly becomes a complication for those of us with mobility issues. Especially when combined with the mud and rain, making the use of mobility scooters totally impractical. 

I couldn't help but wonder if this might actually be the last time I'm physically able to visit this annual event. 

As we headed towards the exit on Saturday we caught a glimpse  of the demonstration (in the Pageant Arena) by animal sanctuary Watermill Wolves. This was, of course, wonderful 'cos wolves are so cool (and one of the wolves was called Alice).

Apart from some "Medieval" treats for Alice, our main purchase at the festival was a copy of The Box of Death: Tales of Castle Rory, Book One. This is a Medieval swords-and-sorcery adventure set in a low-magic fantasy version of 13th Century Norfolk.

Again, we had a good chat with the author, Rory Marsden, who sold me on the book (and signed it for me; you know I'm a sucker for a signed book).

This is the first of a 10-book saga, although I did warn Rory that I was a very slow reader these days so couldn't guarantee how long it would take me to get through this first volume, let alone the rest.