Feb 2010 b

Wed 17 Feb 2010
After work, collected Ekaterina (who we met on our Iceland tour) from local Stratford tube station, and brought her home. Also arriving at our place were Duncan and Helen - NZ friends we've know for the better part of 2 decades, who now are living near Edinburgh. In the evening Ekaterina, Duncan and Steve went to fighter practice and looked over Ekaterina's armour for safety, in the lead up to her taking part in the coming weekend's tournament.

Fri 19 Feb 2010
Steve went to work, Jen hopped in the car and rendezvoused at the bulk-buy supermarket with the event cooks for this weekend and we loaded up our car (completely) with food to feed 150 people for a whole weekend. Took this to site in Epping Forest (north London) then drove home, picked up our 3 guests and their armour / stuff, quickly packed our stuff and headed back to site. More unloading. Meanwhile Steve got a ride with a colleague, dropped off at site and helped out with setting up the list field and prepared his kitchen for the Saturday breakfast. Eventually we were all settled in, unpacked and in garb. Alaric ran through the Q&A part of the authorisation process for Ekaterina. We held a short, final court as Viceroy and Vicereine, and then spent the rest of the night chatting and meeting & greeting.

Sat 20 Feb 2010
This morning, Steve got up at 6:15am to start on cooking breakfast, with help from Duncan, Helen and Ozbeg. Afterward, Steve did the authorisation fights for Ekaterina, so she was OK to officially enter the tournament.
Finally the day for the first Coronet tournament was here, and the official presentation of the competing couples, kicked off only about 15 minutes after schedule. The weather couldn't had been more perfectly arranged as there wer rare blue skies aplenty and the sun was even warming on the face!

The tournament was well fought, and the final was between two knights - Vitus (of our local group) and William (Sir Liam, from Edinburgh), with Liam winning the day. Here are some photos from the day...

A photo by Melisende:

Above, a photo of cunning local wildlife, by Arianwen.
Below: the royals watching the tournament, by Aylwin.

In the afternoon, after we'd stepped aside for the heirs apparent, Jen drove home for a final run on collecting the remaining regalia stuff and brought that all to site, while Steve got some pick-up fights and training in. After a shower, we caught up with each other just in time to attend an early afternoon Court, and see the investiture of William and Æringunnr as first Prince and Princess. We were pleased to be awarded court Baronies, and thanks to Deb n Clancy for lending us their baronial coronells for the evening.
Steve served and carved for high table for the duration of feast, while Jen got giggly on Smirnoff Ice.

Sun 21 Feb 2010

Steve got out of bed again at 6:15am, to cook breakfast with his crew again.
Jen packed our stuff, then after breakfast did 3 runs to the local tube station, so that's 11 people and their stuff taken off-site.
Steve helped out with kitchen clean up, then hall set down and clean up, then car packing once Jen's taxi runs were done (after 11am).
Finally, after some creative packing, we and our guests and all our stuff were finally home in time for a late lunch. After lunch, tea, biscuits, and a couple of hours of chatting, Steve dropped off Helen and Duncan at the local airport.

Left: Here's a massive bruise Steve got from Stefan from Basingstoke - Ouch! 

Here are some other First Coronet photos:
photos by Aylwin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58891463@N00/
photos by Arianwen: http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc288/arianwenfercharthur/1-ID-Coronet/1-ID-coronet-tourney/
 http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc288/arianwenfercharthur/1-ID-Coronet/1-ID-Coronet-Final/
http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc288/arianwenfercharthur/1-ID-Coronet/1-ID-coronet-fox/
http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc288/arianwenfercharthur/1-ID-Coronet/1-ID-coronet-court/

Mon 22 Feb 2010
While we were at work, Ekaterina did some final touristy stuff in town, and once Steve got home he dropped her at the local train station to make her way back home to Iceland.

Tue 23 Feb 2010
It snowed again today. Chucked it down for a good 15 mintues or so!

Wed 24 Feb 2010
Momentary panic - couldn't find our passports, but finally they surfaced .... Sitting in a pile with our Australia Day decorations in a neat pile under the bed - what a stupic place to have left them. Just relieved now!
After fighter practice, our friends Vicki and Peter (from NZ) came over and started their stay with us.

Thu 25 Feb 2010
This evening we finally caught up Matt and Helen, who put us up when we first came to the UK, nearly 4 years ago now. We have a wonderful meal at St John's on St John's Street. Jen had pigeon, and the others shared a shoulder of venison which defeated them - too much yummy food!

Fri 26 Feb 2010
Today Jen made an appointment to have our UK ancestry Visas extended - the appointment id just after Easter - hopefully it will go smoothly.

Sat 27 Feb 2010
We took Vicki and Peter with us, picked up Dan and Elizabeth, and drove up to the Living History Faire near Coventry. 

Loads of interesting things to buy, and here's the loot we came home with: bunny fur, long red gloves for Jen, recipes and fudge for Steve, new spoons, and a silver point and pen knife for Jen.

Sun 28 Feb 2010
This morning Steve cooked eggs Benedict for everyone (but pancakes for Jen) then dropped off Vicki and Peter off at Stratford tube station.
The weather has been so cold and miserable lately - we're both stuffed up with head colds!