Castle Howard
May 2000

Saturday

Arrived in convoy - Burchett, Johnson, Bennett - to find that - quelle surprise - it had been raining! At least the ground was soft, so everyone would sleep well. Took a sleeping pill (just in case) and crashed out until morning.

Sunday

Woke up early - that will teach me to pitch my tent next to Mr Rabbitts! Drilled, or more accurately, slipped about in the mud until Penny and Ed arrived, and everyone deserted so they could find out how Penny was after her 30ft drop down a waterfall while on holiday in Aran. The verdict seemed to be bumped, bruised and generally stiff all over, although I was intrigued to learn that when she fell she called out "Oh Honey, I'm slipping!". That's our Penny, cool, calm, and collected. Dave Sutherland was a bit worse for wear after a dodgy pint the night before. Finally gave him a bottle of water and zipped him into his tent... Got out of pre-battle display by Bob voluteering the Scots to do it. Apparently they like that sort of thing.

Anyway, down to the battle. It started really well, musket firing in the woods, followed by a reatreat by the Royalists, until the Parlimentarian musket blocks were firing by Brigade up the hill. It looked fantastic. So what happened next? Two armies standing around the field going "You attack" "I'm not going to attack. You attack" "No, it's your turn, I attacked last time" etc. etc. And when the fighting eventually got under way it happened so far down the hill that no-onr could see anything. No wonder the crowd went home.

Sunday Evening

Jo had finally finished her sequinned embroidered jacket after 8 months of hard slog, and was proudly wearing it around Living History, totally justified (in my opinion) in revelling in the admiration and praise which was being heaped on her. Sue (Jo's mum) even admitted that she felt like Prince Philip walking one step behind the Queen! Alas, "Pride Goeth Before a Fall", and Jo was finally admired by a member of the public, had her photo taken, then asked if she was a "well-off peasant"!. David's (Jo's dad) reply to this was "Yes, we do very well off peasants, thank you!".

Monday

After a quick check on yesterday's walking wounded - Dave's hangover was much better, must have been the dried toast I forced down his throat, and Gus, who had ended up in the medics' tent but was much better thank you, and Judy who had had a sword thrust into his stomach, and could he have somemore Deep Freeze please - I went to be measured for the banqueting dress which Jo is making for me. Then onto the regimental AGM where we sat in a large circle talking about the disaster which by now was cunningly disguised as yesterday, and discussing whether to go on or not. Ironically, it was me who said "It can't be any worse than yesterday!".

The Scots, rumoured to have fired nine shots in five hours the previous day, had rapidly become disillusioned with the pre-battle display, so we had to do it, no other mugs, sorry, regiments, being that keen. I thought it went well, very informative for the crowd, and having only done one before, I enjoyed it. Terri Paverley misfired right at the end, so we sorted her gun out then started to walk down the hill.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to help, both physically and morally (Trish's addition - I believe this is in reference to her rather seriously injuring herself on her way down the hill). I kept hearing voices saying comforting things, and it really helped. So thanks, you know who you are. I couldn't even remember who I was, let alone put a name to a disembodied voice! Still, mostly mended now, despite the set-backs

How the battle went, I've no idea. It sounded really good, but when you're lying in the medics' tent with a screen round you, it's hard to tell. Everyone looked knackered when they came off the field, which is always a good sign.

Oh yes, and I saw Zoe on "Trisha", and I screamed to the entire ward that I knew her. Everyone was dead impressed, and she was a total hit, so well done Zoe! (A plug for the Blews would have been god - we're getting a bit short on Pikemen...).