So looking forward to taking off on my much needed vacation. Well, its sort of a working vacation...I'll be helping to set up and repair armours for the Palace Museum armoury in Malta. And perhaps get some use out of that Scuba training Brenda and I took last December.
Brenda has planned our trip to the last detail....a bloody long flight to Heathrow, then four days crawling around London. Fish and Chips, currys, and roast beef for awhile. I think I can handle it! Then three hours on the amazingly tightly packed Air Malta aircraft, and landing at some ungodly hour. It been a long time since I was in London, the last time was some twenty odd years ago, when I was a newly minted corporal, and took a standby military flight to London. They lost my bags then...it was three days before I could pick them up.
Things are crazy around here...worked until 11.30 this evening trying to get things ready enough for Henrietta to take the pieces back to her shop for welding while I am gone. Made a breastplate this afternoon...was not very happy with it. Well, it'll have to do! Should look great when I am done...oh, sometime in March!
Tomorrow morning a quick Allergy shot, then back here to guide Henry...and get her paid off for the week. She has picked up some contract work to tide her over, the weather has been too cold for her to work in her blacksmith shop. Well, minus 29 Celcius is bloody cold by any standards....think this is about 20 below Farenheit. Blacksmith shops have to be so well ventilated that us Canucks have to dress like Bob and Doug MacKenzie just to stand in front of the forge. Your face gets red from the heat, your back gets frost bit. You keep a stick in the slack tub to break up the ice. Heck lately she has taken to keeping the water in a pail, and putting the pail onto the forge when she fires it up, just to melt the ice in the pail. Then she can pour it off into the slack tub! Me, my biggest downer is trying to grab the long blacksmith tools and have the frost peel strips off the palms of my hands. Even the gloves don't seem to help much...the chill just goes through the leather. There is something kind of .... elemental.... about pulling a white hot bolt out of the fire with a pair of tongs, quenching it in the slack tup, and watching the frost form on the reins (long handles) of the tongs.
Yeah, I can see why she jumped at the chance to work in my nice warm lighted workshop!
Wednesday night, the second night of classes. Jean got stuck in traffic, so we started the course in the hallway. This is my "sword handling" course for those who are wondering. The first half is Kenjuitsu, second half is heavy broadsword. Think I could remember what the second kenjuitsu class was? Hah! I was so out of my depth, trying to think on my feet. I don't normally teach the kenjuitsu....just sort of go by what Jean wants. Its all breakfalls and wrist outturns if you are interested! Looks like there are too many people taking the basic class to provide room for an advanced class. Oh well, perhaps I'll run the advanced class at my place.
Well, enough of that. Time for bed. Hope to blog again before I go, but if not, well, I'll be keeping a diary like I did last time. WWW.southtower.on.ca, go to the library, and check out My Malta Journal. That is my diary from my trip last year....lots of great pictures of armour!
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