Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Hey Guys, Let's Get Together At The Park And Just Be Epic Together. Are You With Me Men? YAAAAAHH!!

We were at a park the other day, when I had the enormous privilege of spotting a large group of people dressed up as Medieval warriors.  To say they looked awesome with their manicured beards, prescription glasses, chainmail and plastic swords would be a terrible understatement.

I looked on in awe, dumbstruck to think that people actually did this. In real life.  The leader (Lord Edward Longshanks IV of the House of Wolf Castle?) was laying out a few ground rules, speaking short, throaty, inspirational phrases of battle. Off to the side a few other fearsome figures practiced their swordsmanship, the flexible clackity ckacking of the plastic swords causing devastating sparks across the playground.

I left them to their business, thoroughly impressed, and then later passed them again, as they had apparently stopped for a lunch break.  I was slightly disheartened to see them eating a packed lunch. They could have at least hunted some native marsupials or something and roasted it over some coals. 

But I consoled myself with the idea that what appeared to be ham and cheese on those sandwiches, could well have actually been wild boar and goats' cheese from the Outer-Hinterlands.

To battle, men! And then back to my Mum's house for jam and scones! YAAAAH!!

7 comments:

Ben McLaughlin said...

And yes, my mockery is a thinly veiled subterfuge for what is actually a deep desire to be one of them.

Joanna said...

Well, just the other day when I was at a train station, a woman came up and asked me if I could help her tie on her gauntlet. That doesn't happen every day!

Joanna said...

She was on the way to a meeting of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Hanny said...

LARPers. There's hordes of them in a local park where I live. Nice guys. The battles get pretty epic too. And I too wish I could join them. What prevents this?

Ali said...

We did plenty of medieval re-enactment in my youth-group days. I have been to a cutlery-free medieval feast dressed in sack-cloth (the ugg-boots maybe didn't quite cut it) once and made a right disgusting wench of myself gnawing on hunks of some pit-roasted something. Good times.

The weirdest people in this country hang out near where I live, and I too have seen this in parks. The other day a guy had a fancy looking tape strung up between two trees and was trying to type-rope walk it. All in an ordinary Saturday.

Ali said...

Or should that be tight rope ...

Ben McLaughlin said...

Joanna- Gauntlet tying = awesome. How good a word is 'anachronism'..

Hanny- Hmmm.. what prevents us joining the battle? I don't know mate, but I'd like to shrug off that shackle and don my armour asap.

Ali- Ahhh the good ol' medieval feast. We had one of those in high school I think. Good times indeed. I like the random grouping of anything vaguely 'ancient'..togas, sandles, cloaks, swords, viking helmets.. all together at last.

Ahhh yes, the Medieval madness and monstrosities of the Inner West...