Today is Oak Apple Day,
used to be a a holiday celebrated in England on 29 May to commemorate the restoration of the monarchy in Britain and Ireland, in May 1660. Charles I was said to have hidden in an oak tree in 1651 in the Battle of Worcester and the oak apple became a symbol of his restoration to the monarchy. In 1660, Parliament declared 29th May a public holiday.
Though Oak Apple holiday was formally abolished in 1859, traditional celebrations continued involving the we
Been pretty busy recently:- Urban Lawns, Salisbury, Wychwood, Isle of Wight (Stones were fantastic) all on the bounce means this weekend we get a week off or would do if it weren't my cousin's wedding. With taking most of next week off for Glasto I've had nine mags to do in one week, plus reviews written, a couple of phone interviews and radio shows. The weather for Glasto is looking rubbish which is really depressing, as I'm there for all of Wednesday and Thursday on me own and was lookin' forw
Had a great time, spent wednesday and thursday walking around the greenfields, then off to cider bus, then off to some place to dance all night! Kaz turned up Friday which took a while to meet up as i was waiting at West carparks and she parked in east - by then my phone was on its last legs. Camping in Dragonfield was well handy for Bimble inn - defo camping near there at Beaut Days this year.
More rain than any previous Glasto ever - but less deep mud cos of all the drainage. Still heavil
Today i finally got around to buying my bow it's a HUNGARIAN BOW OF THE MIDDLE AGES as used by the Magyar and also I've since realised used by Robin Hood in the BBC TV series. Damn that sounds too cliched now.
I bought it in this design, see pic below, although I'm considering putting a knotwork design on the limbs in the future. Z is currently creating one for me.
total length: 60 1/2"
length between siyahs: 53"
length strung: 55 5/8"
draw weight: 44# at 28'
max. draw leng
So why a reflex recurve not the traditional English Longbow? Well mainly beacuse personally I believe the Cornish Celts used recurves not the traditional English Saxon longbow of the rest of conquered England. My reasoning for this? Comes from the origins of Britian and the Trojans arrival in Cornwall in around 1250BC with reflex bows.
Perhaps the most common cultural characteristic of the ancient Celts was the Celtic languages, a branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The earliest
Amazingly it seems my theory could have some corroborating evidence:
1. Firstly I hear word that St Petrocs the Padstow Church has in its East Window - behind the High Altar a depiction of a canopy with bow, arrow, sword and two peculiar hunting horns which is a badge representing St. Petroc, the first Abbot and founder of Padstow church. And the bow? It's a reflex recurve and not a longbow!!! St Petroc the saint of Cornwall is symbolised with a reflex recurve.
2. Then I'm told that in Co
My reviews of those bands i saw all their performance at Glasto are up now:
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/glas...7/reviews.shtml
Thursday
3 Daft Monkeys - Thursday, Leftfield
Ed Cottam (PeekAdore)- Late n Live, Thursday
The John E Vistic Experience - Late n Live, Thursday
Fortune Drive - Leftfield, Thursday
Pama International - Leftfield, Thursday
Friday
Guilty Pleasures Live – Friday, Jazzworld
Oi Va Voi - Friday, Avalon stage
Damian Marley – Friday, Jazzworld
Saturday
Went to the doctors yesterday as my flu from Glasto is still around three weeks later and wanted to check it wasn't aan infection what needed anti biotics.
My real doctor wasn't available so saw the consultant - told i have no fluid on lungs or infection and that the coughing fits are probably down to not smoking increasing my suceptability to hayfever!
Anyway I mention that i haven't had any news on the MRI yet - she has her computer monitor facing me as she does a search - seems the spe
...ah Wo-mud has found a home. Lovely site, lovely crowd, lovely stages, lovely varied music to suit all tastes, lovely arboreum bit, with the bottom of the site and meadow stage to look forward to next year. Faces in trees man - awesome. Where we camped was a handy location - will be back there next year! Stilldelighted despite the weather and got a costume for beaut days, endorse it and shambala - sorted!
Ahh Endorse It on Friday - who knows what time we're gonna get there! Or for that matter where we're camping! But looking forward to it lots! Back to the Planet OMFG!!!! The forecast for Beaut days is deteriorating - wonder if it's too late to get a tipi?
Just got back - after a weekend of cider! the lack of feeling in my hands meant i kept dropping pints so I've joined the tankard brigade. Lovely weekend - although it's a bit of a realisation for me that my real life friends are less festie hardened and found it more difficult. Loved the weekend - although it seemed a much slower pace than last week's Endorse It. Still more fan Glasto for me and equally as nice as Wychwood - i do like late night (all night) entertainment and so would put it thir
Found a great excuse for carrying a tankard at festivals - it's for medicinal reasons. Getting hot here tonight (10.40pm) so looking good for this weekend hopefully. Might not even need the BBQ - hoe they have good food like the furnace there. Will be wearing same costume too - been told this is boring - but hey can't afford loads of stuff. Work is totally nuts another graphics guy has walked so there's now 4 of us doing 78 magazines. That's 20 a month each - not enough hours in the day. Plus sp
Back from Shhhh - once again the most fun I've had in a field all summer - loads of workshops (most craft stuff I've seen since Glasto) loads of extra stuff to get involved in like jousting, gurning, tug of war, football, political issues, - and loads more. Mead, ciders like Hecks (Hex) a whole perry pub, great performances (although the music took a back seat), lovely location woodland was great with lights, visuals, glitterballs, hammocks etc. Lots of bands i liked from Glasto new bands' final
This weekend was expensive - firstly we tooled up the Mrs with a mid-range bow plus accessories and I bought a dozen - heavier weight 32" (45-55lb) arrows. Quicks must have been glad to see us.
Then it was the club championships. And we all walked away with silverware. I got the best barebow score 331 and Z came second in the juniors. K got third in novices. Z also got a trophy for the Junior League (another second) and I won the league for Short Windsor (that's shooting 50 and then 40 yards)
Waveform, being the ecologically green festival that it is raises some interesting questions which as an attendee I find myself wondering about.
The biggest concerns the actual peace ceremony at the heart of the festival. Billed as an Earthdance it actually consisted of a poem read by a hippy woman which I personally felt failed to connect with the majority of the crowd. The wording seemed too couched in hippydom to be taken seriously.
This raises a wider question, dance music has been aro
Just got chatting to the country's master bowyer - and he says he'll make me a custom bow! Cos I'm tall with long arms it'll have a 30" draw - and will be made from yew and hickory! Plus it's half the price of usual bows of this spec.
Secondly, happened to be checking on the 'traditionalness' of this bow when i found this:
While the English used the Longbow, Keltic archers were pictured and described using shorter, gently recurved Flatbows. Below is a hunting scene showing 16th century Sco
'Ancient' religions tended to be more based on science - witnessing and celebrating the changes of the seasons and the forces at work in nature - they didn't have science to explain this but gave the forces at work arhetypes. Many of the old religions also took into account the human condition - using archetypes to explain personality traits - loving, violent, mad, forgiving, optimistic, sanguine, introverted etc. In those days there was no school of psychology. These were described as frequenci
Work have decided to up the anti this month - to ridiculously high productivity levels - I'm now producing each day the equivalent of what the whole office of six staff used to do in a month when i first started - hence my blog being a bit quiet. Trouble is the work load is giving me headaches now - and i had a really bad one at archery on Tuesday - nearly buckled over i did, shot through the pain though - for a low score however. Talking of archery off out to the woods this weekend to shoot f
To celebrate breaking the 350 in archery yesterday with a personal best of 354 thought I'd mention these interesting factoids:
The trade of yew wood to England for longbows was such that it depleted the stocks of yew over a huge area. The first documented import of yew bowstaves to England was in 1294. In 1350 there was a serious shortage, and Henry IV of England ordered his royal bowyer to enter private land and cut yew and other woods.
In 1470 compulsory practice was renewed, and hazel,
Well after 12 years at print publishing with LCD I've decided to change jobs. Well thankfully someone offered me the chance to change career and I jumped at it. I can't say more as they are announcing my imminent arrival at some point in the future. It's in the field I really love so kind of like getting paid to do your favourite hobby.
I'm off to Spain for a week now - so it may be announced while I'm away. Anyway I'll be catching up with Boris and Jo while we're there and generally take a
Well last Friday I'd handed in my notice and had to pack up for an early plane flight - packing took a bit longer than expected and as K had to visit the Archery Club to sort out some stuff - as it was we didn't get to bed until midnighet and were up again two hours later for the trip to Bristol airport and our flight.
No problems boarding and time enough to have breakfast, my sister and her party (her daughter aged 2 and 2 additional friends of hers) cut it fine arriving literally as we were
been a while I think I'm number obsessed - had woman flu (it just goes on and on and on) since Guilfest, then WOMAD, and now Endorse It - weather's looking good for that - touch wood. Broken a long bow and bought a new since my last post - currently have one - Grand Master Bowman score - need three to get the classification - and going to enter the County Champs - if i do well then County Squad beckons!!! Not bad for someone doing it just over a year. Lookin' forward to Beautiful Days - Z is gon
Ah happy Beltaine! Usually I'd spend it down the Double Locks in the sunshine, but instead it's going to be hectic! First up we have to prepare the field tonight for one of the highlights of the archery calendar our club hosts the prestigious Grand Day where we play host to archers from the south of the country and further afield. Hundreds of them, which means when I finish work here at eFest towers, I have to rush off and mark out the field as cricketers are using it tomorrow - they'll continue
It's only about 7 or so hours until we set off for our twentieth year of Glastonbury. My wife yesterday badly twisted her ankle and despite much grinning and bearing (and a few tears) she is determined to go and won't consider any other option.
We are taking our campervan and so will be arriving on site tonight Tuesday. I'll be letting you know how we fare and what wonders we witness on this blog.
Parked up, awning up sat out on a warm night in Glastonbury suburbia listening to the sounds of folk getting settled enjoying a beer and a smoke and watching the sky lanterns float off into the night - bliss.
