Tag Archives: rugby

Sunday 23rd March, 2013

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  March 24, 2013 - 19:53 | Site Diary
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Into the post Six Nations blues. Having weaned myself off taking club rugby too seriously (I only ever got accused of liking certain teams for the “fit” players and I never got in to my local teams when I was moving around), I am now rugby-less until the Summer tours. As it’s a British and Irish Lions year I suspect I’ll see nothing of it then, either, as the national tours probably won’t be on the BBC and I don’t have Sky to watch the Lions. This does not mean I won’t be keeping a rough eye on scores but, y’know, it’s not the same.

Other than that, nothing much to report. Except another acceptance. (Yeah, okay, I was slightly more enthusiastic when it came through.)

Sunday 17th March, 2013

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  March 17, 2013 - 21:26 | Site Diary
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I hope St Patrick’s Day [Wikipedia article: St Patrick External Link] went well for everyone. My week has disappeared in completing small tasks – some of which are still outstanding as I still haven’t refound the photos I’m supposed to scan for someone – and the weekend has been spent organising for and spending some time with my niece. It was her birthday in the week, so we’ve had a family meal this evening.

And a short sword-and-shield fencing lesson for her this afternoon, which is not something I know anything about but I figured if I got her in the habit of using both hands and hitting the weapons rather than her friends / opponents, the wooden toys would be a little safer and more acceptable to my sister. Just call me an irresponsible aunt. The good news is, I think my niece enjoyed being an armed pink princess and I may wear my fencing kit next time. Just to survive.

Edited to add: And the Wales v England game was awesome :)

Sunday 10th February, 2013

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  February 10, 2013 - 19:14 | Site Diary
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Well, I forgot to take Mousie to the February freeplay session – it could be that Miss Mouse is not intended to learn to defend herself while on her travels. That may even be what the Hellhounds are for. (Finally! A use for them!)

Of course, going fencing meant I missed the Scotland v Italy game – and so, again, I probably missed the most entertaining and open game of the weekend. I made it back to watch an efficient but not that spectacular win by Wales over France in a game that was only entertaining because “my” team was in it rather than because of anything that actually happened. Today’s match between Ireland and England was barely any better with the weather making it hard to do anything but hang on for grim death. Apparently. (I wasn’t there, I can only go by what was shown on tv.) England won and thus become the favourites for the Six Nations.

At this point, I have to admit I haven’t been up to much. I’ve been procrastinating, which makes for lots of time sinks and no obvious progress. Sam has been a bit more industrious, however, and you can find some photos of her keyrings, earrings and candles on the Artful Hearts Designs Facebook page [External Link], along with some photos of her friend Terry LAIR / Cabin Clutter Creations’ work. Sam’s also currently running a competition for a keyring, which you can see here: [External Link].

Sunday 3rd February, 2012

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  February 3, 2013 - 21:55 | Site Diary
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Could someone please tell me how we got to February already?

On the good side, February means the Six Nations is on again. I watched the Wales v. Ireland match (I kind of wish I hadn’t. First half = ouch, second half = oh, so close). I missed the England v. Scotland match (more on why shortly) and I chose not to watch the Italy v. France game – which, by a swift intervention of Sod’s Law, apparently turned out to be the most exciting game of the weekend. Italy won and, according to some, turned the “natural order” on its head. They’ve been improving over the last decade, though, and they played extremely well last season so I thought it was a possible and deserved outcome.

I missed the Calcutta cup match (England / Scotland) because I met Dylan Fox [] and Allegra Hawksmoor [External Link] at The Telling (2) [External Link] in Doncaster – at least, for part of it. Although spoken word is often lost on me (short attention span, missing some of the nuance) it was an interesting evening and I’m glad I went. But then we were also involved in some pre-Industrial Age style smelting and manning the bellows was oddly fun.

There’s been an on-site change this week, in that the Smallsword Symposium web page went live with the 2013 dates (and more information to be added between now and October), so I’ve created a link page here.

And the final thing to mention is my sister, Sam Jackson, is starting up the arts and crafts again. Things should be turning up on her Etsy account (Sam’s Hut [External Link]) at some point but, for now, she’s concentrating on a Facebook page (currently known as Artful Hearts Designs [External Link]) that is intended to be a shared page with other craft-y friends. Her coffee-themed candles are well worth a look.

Sunday 27th January, 2013

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  January 27, 2013 - 19:54 | Site Diary
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It’s a fencing week this week, starting with the events currently in the sticky slider on the front page (in date order):

I should be attending the SSS Sheffield events and I’ve just booked my place at SWASH (including the dinner) – but I may slope off to watch Scotland vs. Wales on the Saturday.

Further dates for events that I may be going to but don’t currently have enough detail to put up a link for are:

  • April 13th, SSS Sheffield freeplay session
  • May 11th, SSS Sheffield freeplay session
  • August 10th – 11th, Fechtschule York
  • August 16th – 18th, Fightcamp 2013
  • October 19th – 20th, Smallsword Symposium V

(And if you can think of any that I ought to mention, whether or not I can attend, let me know.)

In keeping with the theme, I have two new pages, having written something about the latest addition to the Knight Shop waster set and my second hand Federschwert.

To cap it all off, there’s been a call for submissions to a “dragonpunk” anthology that aims to turn the privilege of medieval-style high fantasy upside down (Combustion Books: [External Link]). And a similar point of view on high / medieval Europe based fantasy can also be found in an older post on the Future Fire Editor’s Blog (“L is for Low Fantasy” [ target="_blank">External Link]).

Monday 5th November, 2012

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  November 5, 2012 - 20:58 | Site Diary
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Remember, remember the fifth of November… I was supposed to do something yesterday, wasn’t I? Okay, people, we have a belated house-keeping post this week. Let’s start with:

Outlaw Bodies

The anthology came out on November 1st. On this site, there’s been an announcement post, a related post (background on my story in the anthology and maybe spoilers if anyone wants to talk in-depth about it) and I’ve added a note to the right so that everyone can get the links to order it. I won’t bore you with repeating the same details for a fourth time. (Look! It’s to the right! That way –>).

As said previously, there are links to all things Outlaw Bodies related here: Outlaw Bodies Blog Carnival [External Link]. If you know of something that isn’t linked there or you’ve seen an online review you think the team should mention, let Djibril know on the comments.

Other Writing

You may also have noticed that another announcement post went up this week. I’ve had another short story accepted for another anthology (No Monsters Allowed). More details as and when.

In terms of what I’m producing at the moment, I am most definitely not taking part in NaNoWriMo. One year, I will, I swear, but my usual work combined with life circumstances mean I can’t commit to writing every day. Yes, that is a cop out. Tough. That said, I’m also basically not writing. I’ll get back to redrafting a few things soon but I’m supposed to be working on typing up and commenting on an acquaintance’s script. The key phrase was “supposed to be”.

Just “Other”

The “supposed to be” is because I’ve been continuing the DIY on the living room. It may even be sorted for Christmas. I now have half a laminate floor down – with help yesterday from my sister. Yay us!

Fencing / Events

Swordfish came and went. I haven’t attended but I’m hoping to go next year. While sitting and staring at rough dates for these things (I hope to make SWASH, the Smallsword Symposium and Swordfish in 2013), it occurred to me that I miss off mentioning a large number of events that I hear about something like a week before they happen. I need to try and stay more on top of these things. And maybe find a way to display them better. Any suggestions?

And, dates for SWASH 2013 have been released (see the BFHS news [External Link]) as March 9th and 10th 2013. Although they’ve changed the weekend, this still conflicts with watching the Six Nations (rugby union) so I probably won’t attend the whole weekend. I promise not to grumble too much but I can’t promise not to wear my Welsh rugby shirt. I’ll post an event note for it when there’s a page dedicated to it instead of just sending you all to the Fed home page.

What A Woman Can Be

  August 1, 2012 - 07:00 | Ideas & World Building
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Does anyone else remember the above poster from history lessons? Well, I was reminded of it while catching part of yesterday’s Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2. He did a segment about the recent doping allegations against Ye Shiwen and it ran into some things that have come up recently in other parts of my life / conversations. You can listen to … Continue reading →

Sunday 25th March, 2012

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  March 25, 2012 - 20:38 | Site Diary
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The smile from the Wales’ team (Rugby Union, men’s) lasted until Wednesday. Then normal life reasserted itself and stress levels returned to normal.

So, what I missed last week: You may have noticed I’ve finished off my Women’s Roles in Fantasy Fiction posts. It’s all generalised, and not necessarily logical. Comments welcome!

I’ve also since finished redrafting 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf. I’ve sent it off to someone to read through again (I suppose that makes them a gamma reader) while I work on a related short idea. I have another couple of bits and pieces for the Alex Jones world and I may have to put together a new version of the Order of Play post once I’ve strung them together. As I’ve mentioned on the New Dryas post, A World History, I tend to keep timings vague to allow for squeezing ideas that occur after the timeline has been set out. Finishing off the 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf has left me with some new ideas that require adjustment to how I originally had Alex Jones’ world unfolding and I need to lay it out again.

Sunday 11th March, 2012

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  March 11, 2012 - 16:46 | Site Diary
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Well, I continued the series on Women’s Roles in Fantasy Fiction (and in the real “Middle Ages”) with Women’s Role Models: Generals. There are two related site “innovations” this week. I’ve now put a short section at the end of each of the related posts so that it’s easier to jump between them (if you, you know, actually enjoy reading them) and I’ve shuffled my site categories slightly to allow an easy jump to the group of posts from the menu on the right (and here). The end is in sight with the final post in the series planned for Wednesday this week.

Which also means that now is the time to nominate a subject for me to waffle on, or request an expansion on something I’ve already covered, if you’ve enjoyed my attempts at blogging.

The redrafting on 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf continues. I’ve got everything marked-up on paper and I have six more to get onto the computer. Further writing may resume soon, particularly as I’ve had some werewolf related ideas. I suspect there will be a brief short story (or two) detour before I make it back into the world of my Gens.

In rugby news, Wales beat Italy (woot!), Ireland beat Scotland (but it looked close for a while) and Alain Rolland is not scared of controversy (France – England, England won) – this being the referee last mentioned with respect to the World Cup and the France – Wales game (Sunday 15th October, 2011). This week, he gave a yellow card to an English player for something that was technically a penalty. Well, pending any comments from the various rugby boards as to whether they agree with the ref’s call. Again, Mr Rolland’s biggest problem was being put in a situation where his impartiality can be questioned. He should be banned from refereeing any international match with France playing just as he is not allowed to referee an international Ireland match. Not because I believe he’s partial but because it will cut down at least half of the griping. Seriously, the related comments spoil my enjoyment of the game more than his actual calls do!

In life off computer and tv, the boiler was fixed on Monday – so, yet again, I have heating back in time for the weather to warm up. Having worked outdoors three days out of five last week and having been enjoying the summer-like weather today, I can safely say I wouldn’t have frozen to death if the boiler hadn’t been under warranty. On the other hand, I’ve been a sight more comfortable than I would have been without it.