Well that redefined the meaning of cold...

[choccoweeble]

Our journey began at about 7:30pm on Thursday night, accompanied by dark, wind and rain. After diversions a-go-go and stop at _very_ busy motorway services we finally arrived on site at about 9:45. At which point the rain decided to abate long enough for us to get our OC tent, and that of jenna_elise and cuthrose (who arrived shortly after us) up in the dry. Thank heaven for small mercies.
Then off to the bar for a drink and caught up with a few people, which was nice. The cold (and damp grass causing foot soakage) soon made us retire to jenna_elise's warm tent for a while until bed.
Friday morning dawned with a layer of hail outside the tent door. Lovely.
A trip to the car for dry socks and the old "bin bag inside the shoe" trick soon had me feeling much warmer, and was followed by a trip to Ye Olde Supermarket for supplies. Lots of crap food later jenna_elise and I toddled back to site, leaving shazrasha to venture onward to the farmer's market. (As an aside "Shall we get a fruit basket for GOD", whilst being a noble gesture, is not the thing to shout in the middle of Morrison's fruit and veg section).
Once we were back, a number of other people had arrived, including midnightoak and lucian_albrect in their van o'doom where we also ran into liz_ddraig, ranovala and pi_per. After a while of chatting I got a little cold due to being banned from getting into the van, and skipped off to find kneeshooter at GOD. Also happened to run into bacony whilst there for a quick chat.
Still waiting for shazrasha to return from shopping expedition, I popped back to the van where redhillian and ephrael had arrived. Many cuddles ensued.
We then tootled back down to the IC area to assist in pitching kardrath's IC tent, and be over-excited about the arrival of lady_pyra and wiserabbit.
On the return of shazrasha I scooted off to get into kit, and started getting into proper LARP mode. This was closely followed by the arrival of the rest of our IC group, and more hugs.
Not long after time in, we all got together in the tent for a brief. This was a little surreal as there suddenly seemed to be considerably more of us than there had been at previous events (our numbers having doubled).
The evening didn't hold much, mainly due to us being unable to keep the fire going in the wind and lacing up inside the tent for warmth. Most people bodded off to bed by 12, so I toddled over to first aid for a lovely warm chat and to be force fed "rubbery death" (sherbet UFOs) until time out, when I took kneeshooter up on his very generous offer of a warm bed for the night.



The rest of the event was much more interesting. Most of Saturday we hardly left the tent for the number of vistors we had (sometimes several at once). Come the evening we were treated to an IC visit from kneeshooter and his fellow abusive Kamakuran noodle boy. The noodles were extremely good, and not long after the wind decided to finally drop, lifting everyone's spirits considerably. We enjoyed the raucous sing song from the next tent (including a very amusing filched version of "Bye Bye Miss Fidelian Pie") and a story from wiserabbit followed by a failed communal attempted at a story about George, a mokosh who wanted to be an avian. The evening ended late, with just myself, jenna_elise and Jeramiah Mason (Tom) remaining up until time out, talking about country music IIRC...
Then off to toasty bed again (I am spoilt rotten).
Sunday more was accomplished, including us getting another lovely NPC visit which caused both amusement and panic all round. This was followed by evacuation due to various threats, so a few enjoyable hours were spent by myself and a few others at the Rukhi encampment, enjoying a number of rousing songs, including the memorable "If you see a man in a wig, kick him in the nuts" which I'm sure I'll regale most of you with at some point when I've had a little too much to drink (although I suspect it's unsuitable for Artificer...). Then off to the refugee tent after various events (sorry, FOIP), via the First Aid tent for theraputic redhillian cuddles after having an argument with a tent peg. After most people had toddled off to bed, it was lovely to see elektrobard and ammos in the bar, plus Ant (for a rather dirty chat), Kate and psion_x.
Then a lovely long chat with Jackie (spelling!?) who is part of the Amici, and almost falling asleep in the car waiting for kneeshooter to finish up in GOD.
Not much transpired on Sunday, mainly due to the cold and tiredness finally having set in good and proper, although it was nice to see Chiara and Morgan and catch up with James again, after last seeing him in the bar Thursday night.

All in all a great time despite the weather, I know many people bailed early but I'm glad we stuck it out to the end. Managed to get a few decent pictures, not as many as I would have liked but never mind. Also fab to see so many lovely people, I think the only 2 I missed were Sonza and lupercal, who I saw IC a couple of times but never OC despite particularly wanting to catch up with him. Maybe next event?

Quote of the weekend : "D'ya wan' some f%*&in' noodle?"

Comments

[tusenord.livejournal.com]

Wow. That was a long rant. Although very nice knowing what you're up to on those larps! :)

hugs

[choccoweeble]

We'll lure you over to the dark side at some point... Mwahahahaha!!!!

[bacony.livejournal.com]

I like to think the Freiboden national anthem would be highly appropriate stolen for Artificer. Just not in the tents that you'd be likely to sing it in :)
Besides, it's a song with infinite variations...
'If he's got a family crest, kick 'im in the nuts'
It's just so catchy!

[choccoweeble]

It is catchy, demonstrated by the fact I had it in my head the entirety of Tuesday...

[redhillian.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to provide such theraputic hugging :)

[choccoweeble]

Why else would I leap at you and wrap my legs around your face every time I see you? Hang on, probably best not to answer that...

[lupercal.livejournal.com]

Definitely next event! I wanted to say hello to you, too, but I was rushed off my feet IC and bailed out earlyish to my own nice warm bed most nights. Glad you had a good event!