A wedding at zoo

Chris and Louise got married at Chester zoo and it turned out to be a brilliant idea.



The days and weeks prior to wedding were very miserable but the wedding day itself was wonderful bright day with odd cloud but no rain, I arrived with Andy, Heather and kids and met Jeff, Lucy, Matt and Sam at gate.



We then spent the morning wondering the zoo, I had brought tie and jacket with me but left them in the car and unfortunately that's were they stayed for the whole day leaving looking a bit of scruff compared to the rest.

Starting with a quick monorail ride which took you only half way around the zoo we took in quite a lot before returning mid day to the hall within the zoo for the wedding. There people like Grum, Colin, Lotti, Gareth, Leslie, James, Dom, & Brian were waiting along with the groom, Karen was best man well I suppose best person. The bride was hidden away in wedding dress somewhere.



Called into the hall we were seated and waited for the bride who looked wonderful when she arrived, although Chris looked smart in his wedding suit.



The civil ceremony was conducted with a bit humour by the registrar or whatever you call her, followed by poem, all of which went well with the rest of the style of the wedding, they even managed to forgo best man speeches apart from quick thank you to everyone, which I thought was great.

After the wedding and bite to eat were told we could wonder the zoo again until it closed at which point we asked to return for cake cutting, more food and special treat.

I wondered the zoo with a few of those listed above, you can see some pictures below. Unlike Twycross which is a monkey/ape zoo Chester seems to concentrate of cats more than anything, although like most zoos it has a fair share of everything, including a bat cave which is pitch black until your eyes adjust and then full of bad whizzing past you and no doubt pooing on the odd person.








Chris and Louise cut the very nice giant chocolate cheese cake, then the zoo keepers turned up to give a personal public free tour of zoo and watch them feed the animals which was ace since some of the shy animals turned out especially for us. I particularly like the black panther which was invisible in its enclosure, but quick call and thrown fish and the panther darted out the undergrowth and incredible speed, ran along the windows and disappeared back into the undergrowth turning invisible again, what a wonderful animal.


Chris & Louise then took a few of us larpers off to see a statue he had found in corner of zoo not very visited while having professional photos taken, the statue photo below must have been created by some sort of cthulhu horror fan see photos below.




After the tour we returned to chocolate fountain and disco, chocolate fountain was yummy, although I should not have had that last chocolate covered strawberry which left me bloated and uncomfortable, but it was a chocolate fountain with quality chocolate so how could I resist.

I can honestly say the best wedding I've ever been too.

Got home early next morning since I decided not to stay locally.

A few more zoo pictures

Thunders weekend.

Kit making and acquiring frenzy for last event over and I'm feeling totally worn out, although I think most of that is down the change of weather over one week from frosty mornings to humid temperatures in the high twenty's.

The AscendancyLRP event I helped AndyL put together was set in the Thunders a land mainly based on historic & mythical Japan & China. For this event I decided we needed a bit of extra kit, mainly because we set the event in monastery.

So I made four Buddhist robes, they were very simple based on the real thing which is basically a couple of large rectangles of fabric tucked under the arm and over the shoulder, so all I to do was do straight hems no pattern to follow.

This photo is a example.


I also recycled a robe made by Julie for a post apocalypse game we played and turned it into the kit of the Incredible Wang, which although made from wool, not your traditional oriental fabric looked great with the hat and sash.

Photo of the Indiscernible Wang.


My other bit of costume was purchased direct from China and is a copy of Qing Dynasty Imperial Suit, I did have to spent a couple of hours re-working the belt which despite the size description was made to fit around the waist of someone four inches smaller in circumference than me. I think it looks great with its many embroidered dragons and well worth the price paid, which was only a bit more than the shipping cost.

Photo of the now dead Shogun wearing the costume, although he is now the new Golden Vampire, so the costume use will continue.


I also painted up masks for the Puppet master and Yo-Yo, found some really cheap fans and oriental hats.
The fans can be seen in the picture below, found in a shop in Ripley for 50p each and well used given the heat during the event.


The last thing I made was three clockwork bullets for use by an assassin, although due to massive crop of nettles he found himself cornered when he wanted to escape and fire his last bullet.
Bullets.

Diary of my Christmas

I expected a busy Christmas period, but it didn't turn out that way.

Spent Christmas Day at my Mothers since she was not on Holiday this year, my sister and one brother, partner and two nephews also where there and we opened presents together, before tucking into turkey and trimming.

My other brother Stephen was off on short of holiday seeing his new girlfriends parents somewhere in the far South East of the country for few days.

I got my nephews money as is their want, but made them earn it by putting it inside puzzle boxes which they had to open to get to. My main present to my mother was a digital photo frame pre-loaded with loads of family pictures, my sister got a large chocolate pizza from firebox. Me and my mum also ended up buying each other identical books, both spotting a pre-Christmas bargain no doubt.

Brother and Nephew

Nephew, Mum and me.


For Boxing day I went AndyT and Linda's, Christopher did his usual and disappeared all day playing computer games, Katie was working at McDonalds having just finished 6th form, not wanting to go to University and having no idea on what she wants to do.

I received a excellent jumper and shirt from them, they seem to have a good sense of clothing I like and never fail to get me something good.

After opening each others gifts we then went to see Derby County play football, well they were terrible not that I'm a expert, but it seemed to be unanimous verdict after the game.

By the time we got back, Katie was home and opened her gift, a gorilla pod which may encourage her taking up photography something she has wanted to do. Linda and AndyT then made us a light tea which could have fed fifty people, so I found myself eating to much for 2nd day in a row.

Derby playing Blackpool and loosing 0:2

Just after the game wrapped up warm, although the day was not that cold.

Sunday I travelled to see Julie and Dave in Coventry to play a couple of board games, and just catch up, I saw Julie's present from Dave and we exchanged gifts, Julie said she was not knitting anything this year, but still managed to start something for me which she knows makes me very happy. They also got me a magnifying glass I had been eyeing up at TORM it had gone when I went back to buy and was kinda hoping it was them that bought it, plus a mini chess set as well as some pretty boxes.

Julie between winning games (she was lucky) managed to cook a giant cottage pie, while Missy and Charlie avoided me like I was a cat killer.

Monday/Tuesday was supposed to be walking days, but illness and a overloaded Christmas made my friends cancel until they have a quieter weekend in January. So I went sale shopping purchased nothing, not because there was nothing to buy, but because I would not join the massive queues to the tills. Called in to see Jock and Bridgette who bought me a large pendulum thing that draw patterns in the sand and also popped into Chimera and saw Heather.

Spent the rest of the two days playing Fallout3 on my PC, seems ages since I've played a computer game, it was probably the previous Christmas when I bought Warhammer Online which was a big disappointment.

Wednesday played wargames with Jock and AndyH at DaveA's house in Nottingham where his basement is a dedicated war games room. We played a great game which took ages in fact until 8.30pm when we realised we needed food before the pub stopped serving. The pub was doing a quiz night, which somehow the four of us won despite our poor knowledge of TV soaps and current pop music. The only downside was part of the prize was free drinks tokens, which AndyH was determined to consume before we went home.

New Years Eve did not go to plan, although I did find chance to nab some sale bargains and spend a Gift voucher. It didn't go to plan due AndyL and Heather having to cancel last minute with a sickness bug taking a big hold of one their girls. I did get text from Sam inviting me over to her party once she discovered my predicament but it was just a bit late in the evening and bit far so in the end I decided to have a extremely quiet New Year on my own.

I still have one night out left a Steve's for a Birthday meal, but really that's it so a couple of days of rest before going back to work.

That's my Christmas, was good one, thanks mainly to my great friends and family.

A Weeking of Scampering Lightly

Last weekend was the last lrp event of the year at Unston and turned out good fun.

Not having two of my best friends along due to technical problems with health meant I had only myself to cook for, which apart from one meal I manage time for, lunch on Saturday was a whole packet of biscuits, I should have done better.

Living near by and having a cat to feed I travelled home each night, through some heavy rain both nights and Sunday morning which left the roads a dangerous place, with unseen puddles that tried to stop your steering working. Despite the rain during the day it was dry enough to get the players out for a fight or two, or three, well plenty.

The event was designed to be fun and non confrontational, which some of the players managed to conspire against, I hope it was all taking as in character, from those I spoke to, it seemed to be.

I got to introduce two new characters a wealthy cotton mill owning vampire and a Fey Lord who was meant to played by DaveP. The event ended with an already established character the Dark Rider running off as usual, he's no fool, he doesn't fight to the death when the odds are stacked against him.

I got to be rather silly playing a Monty Python style farmers wife in a dress and wig, standing on a chair screaming scared of 3 blind mice. The players turned out to be not very good at herding blind mice so the farmers wife could chop off their tails.

A few old faces returned, great to see Doug again, I think he enjoyed it, Alex Xian Chi and MattB also said they enjoyed themselves, may turn up to a few new events next year hopefully.

Now a few photos from the event.

2 players try their LRP sneak unseen skills on the resident cat, 15 minutes of sneaking got them a look of boredom from the cat before it walked through a bush leaving them stranded.


Cat can also count, well up to 2 paws.


Dan preparing to indulge his secret pleasure.


Dan has a colour string fetish.


Andy and Heather having strong words with the shop staff about making the tea just right.


Me in my new coat purchase on impulse from TORM, needs a better photo, but camera didn't like the cold.

Two weekends of Larp

The last 2 weekends have been spend larping with Ascendancy.

The 1st weekend was spent running up and down Shining Cliffs steep hills at the end of a very hot humid week and so was very draining.

Having officially handed in my player status and joined the referee team full time meant I could play certain characters to their full potential which was great.

Photos of the player group.


This event was small group event, a precursor to next event and introduced 3 new players with starting characters to larp, but also contained several very experience players with powerful characters, no healers which made it difficult to balance, but it turned out OK, they all survived and had a good time.

This is the crew for the event doing what we do best wait for the players.



The 2nd weekend was at Murton Park, less running around, but a very open plot which gave the players chance to go in many directions and the crew chance to drop bits of personal plot in here and there, the event ended earlier than expected when the players jumped the refs with a group side plot they all decided to go on that ultimately ended with in character choices that split the player base into 3, each group with legitimate claim to their own morale high ground.

Me has a tribal type.


My fellow tribesmen.


Me getting shot.


DaveP did a excellent job with makeup at the weekend, I didn't get many photos since I was very busy but here's a couple of spirit Totems Dave created.

Mink.


Toad.


Having finished early we still only managed to get back to my house for five where pizza was consumed.

Clasps, Fair and a Movie

Last week I went to see the Watchmen movie which having never read the comic or seen any previews was quite a shock due to unexpected level of violence, I have no idea how much it follows the comic but enjoyed it enough that the film flew by which I suppose is all you can ask.

Visited TORM on Saturday with Jock and Bridgette, Jock withing minutes of walking in the door and without looking anywhere else finished his shopping buying a pirate frock coat, waistcoat and shirt. I was shocked at the speed, and even more shocked that every item he picked up fitted him perfectly, no growing room though so he better lay off the pie's.

I bought feathers, cloak clasps and a medieval mug, total spend probably around a tenner.

Two of the cloak clasp founds were only in silver pewter, I did find one in bronze and another bronze one at home, anyway following Dave suggestion I gave the silver ones a brown wash and then varnished them before sewing them on opposite to each other as Julie suggested making it less likely they would come unfastened. Result as photo below just to show the advice was useful.

Sunday afternoon I spent painting unit of 20 Lizardmen as per the photo below, while listening to 1st sounds spring which was a lawn mower a couple of gardens away.

I bought a new hat.

Nice trip to Living History Fayre in Warwickshire yesterday with Julie and Dave, we also ran in Doug and Izsy for a quick chat, and few other friends not has many as usual though. The fayre was very busy and I heard one trader comment "what recession" and another mention to Julie that all the stock they had left was on display.

I bought myself a 18thC knitted seaman's forage cap from 'Tinkers Tailor' as per the photo below, a pretty book with blank pages as a birthday present.



After watching Doug and Izsy buy cakes from the confectioners (Angela Pantry) stall I also succumbed and bought a packet of Whiskey and Ginger Fudge, and some small round white sweets called Whores Farts (warning do not put this into your search engine to check the ingredients as I did you get all sorts xxx related links even if you add extra words like sweet or confectionery) can't tell you whats in them since there's no label and forgot what it said on the stall which is very irritating. Both packs of sweets are for my mother, although I won't be telling her what the sweets are called, I did get to try the fudge since Doug started a trend and Julie also bought some, and gave me bit to try, very nice.

Dave tried on a Tail coat without asking the price as the photo below on what was from previous experience a very expensive stall, so after 15 minutes of dressing looking and examining the garment he finally asked the price to which the nice man replied well the outfits six hundred pounds, the coat on its own three hundred and fifty pounds, to which Dave replied a little out my pocket I was thinking well hundred pound tops, hmm did see that one coming still Dave did go back and buy some very nice epaulets from same guy.



After the fayre we went for bite to eat at the Cocked Hat in Coventry rather than try the cardboard food at the Fayre which is most unappealing.

Today my tasks were and are to get information from AndyL and start the map for the Acendancy Borgengast campaign and also paints some toy soldiers, I'm currently painting Lizardmen one unit is complete, 1 started and 3 undercoated to make my five unit target.

Walking day

Today I went for a walk around Derbyshire after my one hour practise walk last weekend.

I went with my friends Andy, Linda and Freda from their houses in Nether Heage across Cromford canal towards Crich across to slopes to Whatstandwell then back across the Derwent valley towards Alderwasley before making our way through Shining Cliffs and back to their home all told a 6 hour walk with a 1/2 hour stop for refreshment at the Derwent Arms.
I would guess around 10 miles up and down steep and in some cases muddy slipper hills, it wasn't to cold at 1st walking despite the -1 temperature, but once you got into the fields the wind just sucked the heat of you, especially went you stopped took your thermal gloves off to take photos.
The weather was dry-ish although about 4 hours into the walk it started to snow, small flakes blowing horizontally in the wind, but the last hour as we got near the Hurt Arms it started snow bigger flakes, and started to white over the ground.
I finished the end of the walk as it was getting dark by getting a lift up the very steep hill to Nether Heage from Katy in her mini and was glad of it.

Photo below me and Linda about a hour into the walk just above the A610, wearing my woolly hat made by Julie, Linda was sporting a silly hat I bought her few Christmas's ago and come to think of it Andy was wearing a another hat I bought Linda, perhaps I failed and they where useful gifts after all.


I followed them down this steep drop trying to take a picture, nearly a bad mistake since I wasn't watching my footing.


Linda and Freeda, Freda has a bad knee and was told to take steady after injuring herself at badminton, this was not taking it easy in my book.

Mallards in the Canal

This duck was hiding

While walking I spotted this colourful garden full of pot animals

This is near Alderwasley about 3 hours into the trip, notice the tree stump in the background I thought it looked like a guarding knight.

One of Andy & Linda's dogs escaping from hollow tree, in fact part of the one the previous picture.

A brief bit of sun shining over Crich Stand.

We were just reaching the outskirts of Shining Cliff here around 3pm

The step across the overflow of Shining cliffs big pond.

About half past four as walk down past the old Wire Work factory, my camera needed its flash and this made the snow flakes look bigger.

Wire Works.

A blurry picture I think my hands where too cold.

I took quite a few more photos, a couple of interesting ones which I will save for my photo of the week.

Looking outside now with the road white over and promise of heavy snow tomorrow, I think I might take my camera to work.