My Thoughts On
Ealdormere War Practice 2000

' It was a beautiful day when we set out to travel to this place. The sun was shining brightly and our spirits were high. Many hours of planning and packing and preparing were finally being put to use and we were all looking forward to celebrating a well earned few days off mundane matters.

Upon arriving at the site we easily located the campsite we were to occupy and ATTEMPTED to drive our rented vehicle in .... only to become stuck in the mud. My Captain in his work clothes (white shirt) was pushing on the vehicle to coax it to move, when was covered from head to toe with a forceful eruption of mud. Our hopes of this turning out to be a peaceful, relaxing weekend began to sink almost as much as our vehicle. However with a few trenches left behind in the soggy ground we were able to recover and found a safe place to park and unload our gear.

Once camp was set up we again began to relax, and our good cheer returned to us in spades. Twas then came the news that our good Seneshal and Knight Marshal had suffered transportation problems of their own and would not be joining us that night as we had all hoped. Cameron MacGregor and Terrance The Cowardly entered into the torchlight battle. Once reassured that they (Evander & Melusine) were alright, we allowed ourselves the priveldge of drink and proceeded to further our Shire's reputation of being young, loud and obnoxious. What fun it was indeed.:)

(Our apologies go out to the ever understanding members of the nearby campsites)

My Captain and I headed to bed fairly early for we knew the next day would be long and we survived the first night with our new tent and mattress without major incident ... for a change ....

The next morning was stifling hot and muggy and we sought whatever comfort from the relentess stickiness as best we could when we received word that Lady Melusine and THL Evander were indeed on their way to join us. (While we waited we thought up several aoplogies for our behaviour on the night previous) We proceed to lounge about, laugh, be boisterous and the like. After setting up our late members, came the Great Water Fight of the weekend. Due to close quarters with the great number of tents in our campsite it was difficult but fun. I was one of the last to participate and became drenched to the very bone.

AS people began to get ready for court I was asked several times if I was going to change. When I replied that I was going to keep up the tradition of Bastille's members attending court at War Practice sopping wet, I got some very strange looks indeed. But I smiled my most wicked smile and stubbornly refused to change my attire ... After all, what possible reason could they have to call me before court? (We had hoped that the letters we sent for Terrance The Cowardly would result in an AOA (Award of Arms). My Captain had threatened to have me presented (jokingly) with an award of his own creation.) The looks and giggles at my refusals to change only served to confirm what I had suspected for quite some time.

Ariving in court, dripping wet, we sat to listen. Sure enough, my name was indeed called and I very nervously presented myself before Royalty for the first time ever in my life, trying hard to remember procedures for doing so, as I went. As I knelt before their Majesties and listened as the Herald began to speak, I lowered my head in bemusement at what I knew was coming....my OWN AOA. Their majesties were kind and gentle and all I could say was 'Thank you, your Majesties'.

I had always threatened physical violence on my Shire-mates if they were ever to put me through such an experience, but I couldn't help but feel proud to have them think highly enough of me to have recommended me for this award. (Although upon getting back to where was Captain was backing up rapidly to avoid me, I did tell him he was a dead-man ..... for backing away from me that is. It is my opinion that such friends like these are very rare and the greatest honour is having them .... DESPITE the entire rest of the weekend consisting of every LADY joke in the book.)

But Oh-No, the fun-in-court did not stop there for directly after was called Terrance The Cowardly into court. He was puzzled, not entirely sure why he was being called. The scroll was read aloud to inform us of that very reason and was the cause of much laughter from those attending. (Lady Melusine informed us later that the look on his face was indeed a sight to behold)

Upon him returning to his chair I leaned over smacked his arm and inquired of him 'Didn't think I was gonna get mine alone did ya?' To which I got told....quite literally. Not that he was ENTIRELY surprised. (Just good and embarassed like I was!) We were congratulated together several times, which was nice ... and I even got an 'AOA hug' from Tempus ;)

That night we were again up late and went to watch (and for some ... okay, most) participate in the 'Hurl The Hun' competition. It was a long wait for the results and most of us had given up, save for one...Anastasia The Quiet. When we left she had the lead for the women's throw. Not long after many of us returned to camp, she came back brandishing a bottle and repeating the phrase 'I won, I won, I won', She apparently threw the Hun 11 feet or so. Not bad at all!!

What followed was another night of loud, boisterous and somewhat strange behaviour until the early morning hours.

The next day was spent watching fighting , playing tablero (but that is another story.... LOL) and generally watching people pack up to leave. By the end of the day we had experienced Tempus tell his 'Moose Hatchery' story to a new member of our Shire (Philip Of The Drake, originally from An Tir) and got sore ribs in the process, and later that night went to observe the bardic circle at the Galbraith campsite. The four of us that were left hung around the sidelines, enjoying jokes, stories and songs for a while.

UNFORTUNATELY for us, that night it rained quite a bit. Poor Philip (who had originally planned on sleeping in our 'town hall' (12 X 12 Dining Tent), quickly deserted the idea when a river flowed through it shortly after crawling into his sleeping bag. We woke the next morning to find our very beautiful fire pit surrounded by two feet of water on all sides. (It looked much akin to a small castle wall and moat ....)

After some careful packing due to the soggy nature of the ground, we were on our way to return home and recover from our four day vacation. I am told that means we had a great time...... ;) '



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