Be Excellent To Each Other

I'm sorry to hear that, Kern buddy, but then if you're not feeling it anymore I guess it's worth considering. As for a replacement pursuit, have you thought of photography? *Cough*

I reckon I'll do the reenacting circuit again this year and get more material, though I'll have to get on top of things and contact the guys. I'll see what's doable. Maybe I'll get a pup tent and a new civilian uniform. Anyway, I'll definitely see you at Fortress Wales if you're going. Oh, and how about an Oxford meet in the coming months, most likely a few weeks after Easter?

No, I mean '"be"ing Mali gets you punched hard in the face'

I found "be"ing Mali rather than myself I actually fared less well with Wendy than normal.

Laughed at, and politely asked to leave. The clubs (and when I've been at stuff in the US, the event organisers) have rules about this. But anyone who thinks they are commanding men is seriously misguided. As one of the people in the hobby I most respect once put it 'every order at an event contains a silent 'please''. It's not the military, after all.

Personally, I would rather put my effort into doing one impression well: if there's nobody in the ranks who knows what they're doing we're going to be putting on a poor show for the public.

EDIT: Plus I really can't be bothered to take on any more responsibilities than I currently do, and I certainly don't want to learn another set of drill commands.

Finally able to get to an event this year! I'll be at the Rempstone Steam Rally in Leicestershire with my friends in the 118th Pennsylvania and the ACWS. If you're in the area, do drop by. Looks like quite a good line up.

It would take just over eight hours to get my tractor there

Really glad I went. I was initially planning on just daytripping but stayed for the whole weekend. The weather was pretty bad Saturday morning but got better in the afternoon and stayed fine until the tents were took down on Sunday afternoon (always the most annoying time for moisture). The site was pretty boggy, however.

Due to the conditions we only did one battle on the Saturday, but were able to do both a battle and a firing display on Sunday. For the latter, rather than just go through the various types of firing before setting off the cannons, the society decided to demonstrate for the public the likely affects of various types of cannon fire (grapeshot, canister, ball). We all lined up facing the cannons and as each type was described and the cannon fired, prearranged sections of the line fell. A novel way of illustrating it.

Flicking through a stranger's photos on Flickr, came across this shot, and thought of you (it was quite jolly to watch it pull it up the slope).

And, er, 'sarge, what am I supposed to do with this long thing you've given me?'

My brother has a model traction engine.

Tasty.
I recently threw out a batch I made in 2012: even after four years it was still just as rock solid as ever.

In London to see an ACW play: 'Father comes home from the war'.

Obviously rather than dwell on any important themes of slavery, family, denial of rights etc I'll be concentrating on the accuracy of the uniforms.

The play was excellent. The nature of a master/slave relationship is seldom explored, and the show did this well. It took me a little while (almost all of the three hours!) to grasp the Homeric parallels in the story but that didn't really affect my enjoyment or understanding of it.

Essex Live: WW2 re-enactors caught up in pyros

Oo, nasty. Haven't watched the clips, mind.

As for me, I haven't been out in uniform this year, due to being busy with other exciting hobbies and stuff. I'll probably renew my ACW membership for next year and probably consider attending something depending what my schedule is like, then see how I'm feeling come Autumn 2018. I kind of miss the hobby, but don't regret not attending anything this year. The current political climate regarding the historical memory of the American Civil War does offer ample opportunities to engage the public, and it's the educational side of it all I tend to prefer. Might clear out some books though to make room for other stuff.

I went to an interesting lecture at the weekend about people in Britain and Ireland who received pensions from the US government after the American Civil War, and what these files tell us about migration and the life of the poor in the 19th Century. The speaker's website has an extensive selection of articles and maps as a result. As a big fan of maps and visualisations there are some excellent examples of how these tools can be used when presenting and discussing history.

I was particularly interested in his work on Cornish emigrants, who would mostly be drawn from mining communities in places like Wisconsin.

It's helping rekindle a previously dwindling interest in the period for me, and it's always good to have another well-presented website to dive into on cold nights.

After a long absence, I'm finally getting to a reenactment. Off this weekend to make America great again at the Bloxham Steam Fair here in the Shire.

Now, I probably should use this week to check that my uniform still fits and hasn't been a snack bar for the moths over the past couple of years.

I hear those old uniforms can shrink around the middle some times....

5% loss in girth each year I hear, due to Brexit.

Had a fun time at the steam fair.

First event for me in about two years. I'd forgotten how uncomfortable wearing heavy wool is on hot, dry days, especially when combined with how warm the barrel gets after only a few rounds. We only had one half-hour show each day, and due to the conditions only did about an hour's worth of drill each morning. Once I got in line I remembered all the drill and procedures, and powder was as tasty as it always is when I bit into the cartridges to load.

The heat drained enthusiasm for doing much afterwards but I spoke as many passers-by as I could about the period and also had wander around the rest of the show too. I rather enjoy looking at working steam engines and the smell is wonderfully evocative.

Do you do an accent when talking to normies?

Heh, no.
As there were thousands of emigrants involved in the war (around 60,000 English/Welsh/Scottish, plus over 100,000 Irish), it's not a major issue (although to be fair I don't really have a regional accent). I've often thought that if someone asks me do a first-person impression (ie, act completely in character), I'll agree and then start talking and responding solely in German.

Also, I'm in my mid-30s in a fairground in Oxfordshire. Any 'period moment' will be ruined for both me and the crowd by the sodding fairground organs.

Next May you should come along to Cavelcade for the Saturday night drinks.

What sort of questions do you typically get asked? (Other than "hot enough for you?", Which I expect you get a lot)

Is there a summer sale?

It varies. Usually something along the lines of why we're interested in the American Civil War rather than our own, or ask questions about kit and weaponary, or what we get out of the hobby. If I'm really lucky, or the conversation heads that way, they ask me what it was about.



The correct answer to 'are you hot in that uniform?' has always been, and always will be, 'some people think so'.

Looks ace!

Lol. Now, if you were dressed as a sailor, that would be even funnier

Anything for ratings.

Well done

Superb.

He's on fire!

Confederate takes hit.

Guardian: Protesters pull down Confederate statue at University of North Carolina.

Maybe we should be tearing apart Penny Lane here in Liverpool...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/ ... ture.shtml

Thanks for that.

As with all these things, it probably depends on when and why the street was so named, what the current inhabitants think, and how alive the issue is in public discourse. I didn't know it was named after a slaver - 'Penny' is pretty unidentifiable as a surname compared to, say, Stalin. Most know it from the Beatles, and I bet that in 300 years' people will squabble over whether it was named for the song or not.

Just being reading on Wikipedia about the dedication speech for the North Carolina statue. Yep, pretty clear in its intentions, and some of the language used is NSFW. The printable bit is:

There are a number of streets and buildings in Liverpool named after slavers and they would've been renamed by now apart from the fact that it would mean renaming Penny Lane. Weird situation.

The fireman's obsession with his picture of the Queen is troubling enough.

He likes to keep his fire engine clean.

A little known fact about that song is that if you take the words "Penny Lane" and replace them with "hydrochloric acid" the song takes on a much darker turn.

Works for most songs, that. "It's Raining Hydrochloric Acid" is a particular favourite.

Ah, Venus.

It has very little effect in most songs. Most songs (indeed, every song I know bar one) not featuring the words "penny Lane")

On Sunday, Radio 3 will be interspersing their schedule with short 'sonic memorials' from historic battlefields around the world to mark the centenary of the Armistice.

The one at 15:00 will be from Antietam, site of the bloodiest single day of the American Civil War.

Not as dark as if you replace them with “Myp’s schlong”.

On Myp's schlong there is a barber showing photographs...

It's sad it took Curio 2.5 months to come up with that weaksauce riposte.

He likes Myps schlong in his ears and in his eyes

He typed it very slowly so you could read it.

Eight years since I watched a sunset from Little Round Top, Gettysburg, after three days of reenacting and trench digging.

And, indeed, eight years since I woke up mildly hungover in a motel, turned on the TV, and watched a piece on NBC about Will and Kate.

Ah, those days were fun!