Things I learned today

We are now back from the Kentwell open day (one of two registration-ish things you have to do if you’re going to participate). Up early, sat in the boot with J so that we could give a lift to Big Alice. I slept most of the way there and back, so I’m now not sleepy :-(. The queuing was a slight improvement on last year, which wasn’t hard. We don’t know what any of us will be doing, or which of the three weeks we’ll be doing it in. It’s complicated because of wanting to do things with other people, and when they end up doing and what…

Anyway, I learned some things today, which was excellent as I think it’s very important to keep remembering that learning isn’t just something our children do – we all do it. Given how little history I did at school, history is something I just pick up randomly at Kentwell. Unfortunately I still need to find or make a proper chronology of important things, because depending on which year we’re pretending it is, each of those will or will not have happened. For instance, which wife is Henry VIII on now? (It’ll be 1535, so Anne Boleyn.) Wikipedia and other online things are great, but I haven’t found it all laid out in a straight line yet.

The things I learned today:

1. brawling – this originally meant a kind of dance, which you might do in the streets.
2. crank starting a car’s engine – this is easier the more cylinders the engine has. Someone turned up in a Toad of Toad Hall type car (probably a 1905 Oldsmobile) and we had a very interesting chat in the queue about his cars. The more cylinders in the engine, the more chance at least one will fire with a given amount of turn of the handle i.e. on a V12 you’ll have tried 3 cylinders after only a quarter of a turn. The fact that you’re moving more metal than in a smaller engine is less important.
3. Henry VIII’s armour was helpful to NASA – when NASA started sending people to the moon, they studied the fully-enclosed armour that Henry VIII had made for the Field of the Cloth of Gold. (This included behind the knees, around the backside etc.) Given how little history I know, I had to bounce around Wikipedia learning about what The Field of the Cloth of Gold was. He never wore it in the contest as Francis said it was cheating – for instance it the knuckle joints could be locked, so you could grip your sword, lock them, and then never be disarmed. It was the pinnacle of Tudor armoury, and not used.

When it came to filling in the Tudor skills section of the application form, I am usually mildly depressed by how little I can offer. But this year I noticed the Pike Drill section, and for the first time could rate myself as competent! (I know which end to stick into the spaniard / frenchman / etc.) Huzzah!