Not a car anyone will ever write a song about
Published: Fri, 04/24/15
I have a Chevrolet in the drive at the moment, I drove it back here from Oxford last night down the A303. If you like cars then Chevrolet is a name with romantic associations so is it a ‘57’like Billy Jo Spears sang about? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=subNOl2wWCc Or a Corvette which was iconic as the American sports car from the 50’s to the 70’s?
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=chevrolet+corvette+1957&client=ubuntu&hs=0Nu&sa=X&channel=fs&biw=1301&bih=673&tbm=isch&imgil=yC30HmJShorZ6M%253A%253BupMxnZElX5REvM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.velocityjournal.com%25252Fpictures%25252Forg%25252F82%25252F5963.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=yC30HmJShorZ6M%253A%252CupMxnZElX5REvM%252C_&usg=__19Gi0egtrp7CguGElAT59N4ppzw%3D&ved=0CCoQyjc&ei=H-w5VbrfNMK8aZyEgaAJ#imgrc=yC30HmJShorZ6M%253A%3BupMxnZElX5REvM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.velocityjournal.com%252Fimages%252Ffull%252F2001%252Fs2001081802%252Fch1957corvette5701.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.velocityjournal.com%252Fpictures%252Forg%252F82%252F5963.html%3B1024%3B768
No, it is a Chevrolet Spark which has been hired for 24 hours while my van was recovered back by the RAC with a failed clutch thrust bearing, well it has done over 170 thousand miles and is over 14 years old and I can fix it this week. The Spark is a small hatchback with a 1 or 1.2 litre engine and it got me home with the back full of my tool boxes in just over 2 hours last night so it does what a car is supposed to do.
But is it a ‘Chevy’ in the sense of my romantic fascination with American cars? Good question? If I had got my hands on a classic Chevrolet I wouldn’t have hired it for less than a rail ticket home and it would probably do less than 20 miles to the gallon so if I want to indulge myself I am better off listening to Ms Spears or visiting the Haynes motor museum which is not so far from here.
The same issue of authenticity comes up with activities such as Stav. A few days ago I mentiI oned the video with Ronayne Lodderus on Youtube and there were comments there that this was not ‘authentic’ viking martial arts because we don’t use shields and various other reasons. Well, for one thing, no one really knows what Viking martial training and practice really looked like because no living person witnessed it and there is no video. Secondly, Stav is a contemporary system of training body, mind and spirit for the modern world, I believe that the essential principles are the same but the teaching, training and practice has been adapted for our world now. Just as the Spark may be very different from its illustrious ancestors which would have been great to drive in 1960’s California it was the Spark that I needed to get me home last night. So I am happy to say that I have driven a Chevrolet and it was the right car at the right
time and place.
My approach to teaching Stav martial arts and self-defence is appropriate to the modern world and for me that honours the tradition better than dressing up in what people imagine Vikings wore and pretending to fight with blunted swords and spears. Re-enactment is fine if it appeals to you but the clue is in the part of the name which says ‘act’.
Self-defence seminar tomorrow, these have become a regular event now and seem to go very well. Axe training seminar in the afternoon if you want to make a day of it. http://somersetstav.co.uk/sd.html
And of course Stav Camp when you can find out how the Hafskjold-Stav tradition bridges the gap between ancient and modern. http://www.stavcamp.org
regards
Graham