The bucketing rain for the bulk of the three days certainly put a damper on campers and activities. The late arrival of our ride from the station to the site wasn't great either, although our driver was a charming lady. Set-up was fairly awful, although Constanza and I did pretty well with our ingenious decision to do as much construction as possible under the shelter of a permanent pavillion on site, then dash out with the mostly assembled tent and stake it down. It would have been perfect, had I not gotten two of the poles backwards. We had to shift them in the rain, but even that went pretty smoothly. The tent (alas)did not survive to go home with us, because we decided it had just enough drips and leaks to not be worth trying to repair again. Amusingly, a new camper rescued it from the bin and carried it off!
The good over the weekend far outweighed the bad. First, Constanza and Guy both liked their new clothes and happily wore them for most of the event. I don't have photos due to the wet conditions, but they have promised to take and send a few so I can add them here. Seeing Lord Raphe Cuthbert become Master Raphe Cuthbert, OP at the Friday night Court was excellent. He was most deserving of the honor. Here's a picture of the court before it opened. Unfortunately, my other pictures are not worth posting.
Their Majesties Lief and Morrigan had a wonderful first Court on Saturday, brightened by many well-deserved awards, but even more so by the surprise birthday wishes brought to Countess Judith by a messenger from afar. The classes Saturday afternoon were quite good and I especially liked the Disputation on Courtly Love organized by Lady Lyonet de Covenham. Master Robert of Canterbury put the question and Countess Judith, Lady Lyonet, and Lady Dagny served as judges. It was most enlightening and I hope we will see additional disputations at future events.
Best of all was the Saturday night feast. Due to the wet conditions, the planned outside feast was not possible, so everything was relocated inside to the two biggest rooms. There was a dining room for the King and Queen and another for the Prince and Princess of Insulae Draconis. We were in the Principality room and had the best of times. Our table was "below the salt" and we behaved accordingly. We sang, told riddles, read poetry, and told stories, much to the amusement of all. We also had a fine selection of various home brews, which we shared happily. We even drew in the king at one point, just because he wanted to know what was generating all the music and laughter in our room. After each course was cleared, we shifted every other person at our table down a seat and thus were able to talk with almost everyone throughout the course of the evening. This was Lady Lyonet's cunning plan and it was excellent! Interestingly, we even managed to keep Constanza out of the kitchen during feast. And she had a good time! Amazing! She was in there at other times and so was I. Seems a little skill at rolling pastry can make you quite popular with the cooks.
Breakdown and the trip home were uneventful and we spent the evening unpacking and washing clothes and watching DVDs. I spent the next two days around London (Spending money at the Handweaver's Studio, various bookshops, and clothing stores) and headed back to Bulgaria on Tuesday night. All in all it was a good trip!
