Getting over my jet lag at last
Published: Sun, 05/26/19
I slept for over ten hours last night and I might be finally shaking off the effect of jet lag and an overnight flight. I left Chicago on Monday evening and arrived at Heathrow on Tuesday morning. So, my body clock was running six hours behind and I effectively had a sleepless night. I tell myself that it gets harder to cope with the upheaval the older I get, but I am not sure that is true, I think crossing six time zones always got to me and it is no better or worse than it is now. Getting into America at O’Hare airport took over two hours because there was hardly anyone on duty at immigration control. At least getting back into the UK took more like ninety seconds to walk through the automated passport control. Only problem was that I flew out of Terminal 3 and back into Terminal 5 so getting back to my car was quite a hassle. But apart from those minor irritations the travel both ways actually went very smoothly.
Was it worth putting myself through the minor trials and tribulations of international air travel? Well, it was great to see Allen Reed and stay with him and April. We had two days of what seemed to be good training with Allen and four others who made the effort to attend. I finally got the chance to catch up with Scott Hansen and Dave Thorp who flew in from California. I have been corresponding with Scott online for what seems like decades (probably is more than 10 years) so it was great to finally catch up and train with both of them. Devin flew in from Georgia and Luke drove for several hours from Wisconsin, I hope they felt it was worth the effort. I certainly enjoyed meeting and getting to know them. As usual the locals who had expressed an interest when the event was first announced somehow could not make it. Those who did attend managed to travel pretty massive distances, well done everyone for making the effort, it was
an honour and a privilege to train with you.
We covered Galdre stances, staff training including staff exercises, two person drills and nine guards. We did some unarmed training including exploring the five principles of Stav as strategies and tactics through knife defence drills. We also found time to talk about mythology, bind runes and did a practical session on rune counseling. It was well worth the effort and thanks to everyone involved for organising and supporting the event.
I am currently in Hunworth, North Norfolk, for the bank holiday weekend. Partly for a family birthday party in honour of Venetia’s grandmother’s ninetieth birthday and partly as a much needed break for both of us. This is also where we will be holding the next Ice and Fire Stav training event at Midsummer. If you are not already familiar with the details for this event the title is; The Runes and Trees Retreat, the clue is in the name and there are three main objectives for this three day event. The first is to work with the Karl galdre stances so that everyone attending becomes familiar with the runes, names and stances as Galdre. Secondly, we will get to know the eighteen trees associated with the runes, all of which are represented here or very nearby so we will see them all and discover more about them. I had a little walk this morning along the edge of the wood and saw oak, elder, elm, hazel, beech, holly, Juniper and that
was without even trying. Thirdly we will do some practical work on using wood to make fire, construct a very simple structure and make a couple of simple items such as a cudgel or tein and a set of runes. We will also do some story telling. I am planning on telling the story of Baldur on Mid-summer’s eve and the story of Iduna and her apples in a real orchard. We will do some rune reading too once people have made their rune sets. It is going to be quite an event for those who come.
I had filled the event a few weeks ago but a couple of people have dropped out so I could still take two more if you would like to come. Full details at http://rr.stavcamp.org/
Got to go now, party is about to start.
regards
Graham
PS Training in Beverly next week http://iceandfire.org.uk/train.html