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[Photo] Strawberry Fair 2011
Strawberry Fair is an annual (except for last year) free festival on Midsummer Common in Cambridge. Last year, the police objected to the event because policing it had been difficult (disorderly conduct, drugs etc.) and the council didn't grant the license. This year, the setup was changed, Midsummer Common was fenced in and the number of entry points severely restricted so you couldn't simply walk onto the Common. Spot checks were made at the entrances for drugs and excessive alcohol (restricted to four cans). I wasn't stopped on the way in, possibly because it was still early and I didn't look like I would cause troubles with my two fancy cameras strapped to myself.
This year I was early enough to catch the parade coming in which had a steel/drumming band, stiltwalkers and other costumed participants.
The main difference to the setup of the fair was the lack of a big main music stage on the east end and other stages (like the Reggae Tent) were missing as well. I found the music generally lacking in quality or maybe I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Instead, there was a large cordoned off area called the "Village Green" in the centre with organised events like The Knights of Honour reenactment group's fighting displays.
The Cambridge Community Circus was present as well and made for some of the best photos I managed to get (see below).
As the stalls went it was either food (more expensive again, 6.50 for a portion of curry goat and rice with more bone than meat) or rather commercial ones selling clothing, accessories and tat. Most of the little stalls/traders were missing.
The weather was good, there was always a nice breeze so even when it was quite hot (hottest around 5pm!) it was bearable.
Overall, it was a good day out (I had to leave around 6 because my back was complaining too much) but it felt a bit subdued compared to previous years. The official numbers said there were a lot fewer arrests (13 compared to 73 in '09) but I think I saw just as many drunken yobs as in previous years.
Here's the Cambridge News article on the Fair. I randomly walk through the frame in the first video at 1:28 (but sadly with the head cut off). BBC Cambs' selection of my photos is here.
The parade coming in
I still don't know how she didn't fall over. ;o)
Loved this guy, he caught me just as I pressed the shutter. :o)
They were the best band I saw.
This girl band was rubbish but at least they had fun.
These seem to have been all the rage this fair.
This owl was disturbing
No idea who they were but they were quite fun.
Sometimes I wished I was on stilts, he probably had a good view from up there.
Tintin came to visit.
and so did Wonder Woman. ;o)
Some assembly required
The Knights of Honour practising
Grand Melee
He was making bits of armour.
Deflated Pooh
Cambridge Community Circus
They made shakes with everything
This pneumatic, radio controlled horse was great, just a shame it was on wheels.
The view from Victoria Bridge
More on flickr
This year I was early enough to catch the parade coming in which had a steel/drumming band, stiltwalkers and other costumed participants.
The main difference to the setup of the fair was the lack of a big main music stage on the east end and other stages (like the Reggae Tent) were missing as well. I found the music generally lacking in quality or maybe I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Instead, there was a large cordoned off area called the "Village Green" in the centre with organised events like The Knights of Honour reenactment group's fighting displays.
The Cambridge Community Circus was present as well and made for some of the best photos I managed to get (see below).
As the stalls went it was either food (more expensive again, 6.50 for a portion of curry goat and rice with more bone than meat) or rather commercial ones selling clothing, accessories and tat. Most of the little stalls/traders were missing.
The weather was good, there was always a nice breeze so even when it was quite hot (hottest around 5pm!) it was bearable.
Overall, it was a good day out (I had to leave around 6 because my back was complaining too much) but it felt a bit subdued compared to previous years. The official numbers said there were a lot fewer arrests (13 compared to 73 in '09) but I think I saw just as many drunken yobs as in previous years.
Here's the Cambridge News article on the Fair. I randomly walk through the frame in the first video at 1:28 (but sadly with the head cut off). BBC Cambs' selection of my photos is here.
The parade coming in
I still don't know how she didn't fall over. ;o)
Loved this guy, he caught me just as I pressed the shutter. :o)
They were the best band I saw.
This girl band was rubbish but at least they had fun.
These seem to have been all the rage this fair.
This owl was disturbing
No idea who they were but they were quite fun.
Sometimes I wished I was on stilts, he probably had a good view from up there.
Tintin came to visit.
and so did Wonder Woman. ;o)
Some assembly required
The Knights of Honour practising
Grand Melee
He was making bits of armour.
Deflated Pooh
Cambridge Community Circus
They made shakes with everything
This pneumatic, radio controlled horse was great, just a shame it was on wheels.
The view from Victoria Bridge
More on flickr
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One year I'll go to the Strawberry Fair. Of course every year I say that and then I completely forget until everyone says they're off to it the next day. :)
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I only noticed he held the sword by the blade after I had the shot on my computer. Some of the fighting was indeed rather inconvincing. They went for actual fighting rather than choreographed showpieces but there were a lot of misses without consequences etc.
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15th C technique for anti-armour fighting. you hold onto the grip with one hand, and put your off-hand about halfway up the blade, shortening the weapon into a short rigid stabbing weapon. that's then used to bind into ringen (grappling), and thrust into the face or groin, under the armpits, or anywhere with a gap (not that that's difficult with armour as scrappy as those guys are wearing). the mordschlach takes the on-grip hand, and holds the blade as well to do a zornhau strle stepping stroke, using the mass of the pommel to stun, or the focused force of weight on the crossguard to punch into the armour.
its sort of the stupid man's warhammer, when they've forgotten they should be fighting with a lucerne hammer, mace or similar anti-armour weapon in the first place.
In that picture, what's actually going on, however, is that yellow-blue tabard guy has made some sort of a half-arsed effort to throw the mordschlach overhead, but has grasped it far too close to the point, so the blade's flex has twisted it around so its on the flat. he might well be a leftie, judging from how he's holding it, in which case his his body position and footwork is rather uncommitted. If he's right-handed, then its just a trainwreck, and his hips are completely the wrong direction.
The other guy, black tabard, is just a mess, the sort of horrible hard block that has absolutely no place in proper duelling. he's standing flat on to the opponent for a start, so his footwork is even worse. his correct reaction in that situation would've been to step forward and round with his trailing foot, bringing the sword up through ochs, and pushing forward to interconnect as if it were an incoming zwerchau, from where they would've been on-point to bind the mordschlach with no risk of the opponent's point, and thrust downwards and round, in a glisshau into the exposed collarbones and down into the lungs.
and I'm not even going to *start* on the misuse of a flamboyant zweihander from the 1520's with armour from the 1460's.
Erm. ok, I might've got a bit anal on the detail there. Short answer: he's using the pommel as a heavy mass to stun through armour.
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No need to apologise - I'm very much into swordfighting geekery, this is just 500 years later than I'm used to!
his footwork is even worse
No surprise there then, pretty much every one of the fights
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Yellow-blue tabard is right handed. Oh dear. In that case, that is bad, bad footwork, in that case. effectively means his hips, where all the power is generated, was working against his shoulders.
and the condition of their equipment is terrible....
there's quite a range of different styles out there, modern fencing is very different though - some of its applicable to rapier styles, but much of the longsword footwork is rather counter-intuitive to sport fencing, as its a radial technique, rather than a linear one. your primary aim is to make shorter, half-stepping actions that allow you to move off the line of the opponent's stroke, while placing your stroke on target.
the stuff these guys were failing to do right is a lineage of german swordfighting techniques that were rooted in the 14th C, with a master Johannes Lichtenaur of Swabia, whose techniques then spread through the 15th C into a series of branching disciplines, each taught by a different master. Some were focused on fighting in armour (Harnischfecten), while others were focused on unarmoured (Bloßfechten). A few like Hans Thalhoffer specialised in teaching for judicial duelling, and later on, into the 16th C, it became a martial sport, using blunted weapons called federschwert, and was taught on in that manner.
And that's before I start getting geeky on the subects of the earlier single-handed fencing with small shield/buckler (i.33 walpurgis, the oldest surviving fighting book, is dated 1295-1305), or the later rapier schools of Di Griassi, Ghisliero, or Capo Fero (to name jsut a few), or the even later smallsword schools, such as Sir William Hope, which are the direct fathers of modern sport fencing.
its a fascinating subject.
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Presumably at least partly due to the fact that a relatively light strike still scores a point in sport fencing? I've used electric foils before and you can land scoring hits with those that wouldn't do any damage at all even if the foil were sharp! (To say nothing of the comedy epee strikes that involve exploiting the flexibility of the blade to tag the opponent's feet - I've not tried this, but have seen it done.)
or the even later smallsword schools
Yeah, that stuff gets really technical and my understanding of it is very limited. A friend of mine trains with the Linacre School of Defence and showed me some of the tricks for beating opponents with longer weapons when you have a smallsword. It's clever stuff.
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Ozzy - the horse was cool huh? That was at Glasto last time I was there. And the green top hat with the hooter on it was at Stef's funeral. Not sure the guy wearing it was, but the hat was definitely there. :-)
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Hehe, I like the idea of a wandering hat who goes to festivals on different people's heads. ;)
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And that horse is well cool - I want one!
Nathan, the Toxic Pixie
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It's a bit bulky but yes, indeed. :D