thermalsatsuma

A long time ago, in a blog far, far away I wrote about the first rapier training session that I attended, and in particular the mind melting eight point parry sequence. Well, after six or seven months of study we're back there again, and this time with more understanding of the mechanics and the reasons for each of the attacks and defences. Even though we were rushing a little towards the end, and I could feel my technique starting to get a little sloppy as the exhaustion (mental and physical) set in, a lot of things started to slot into place and make sense. The concept of second intention where you make an attack, knowing how your opponent will parry it and thus anticipating how to take advantage of it, and then taking that further to third, fourth, fifth and beyond. Woahhh, dude ...

The only drawback today was the heating in the hall, which was set somewhere between tropical and supervolcano, and left us all broiling slowly in our jackets. I polished off a whole carton of grapefruit juice mixed with tonic water over the course of the day, and when we finished it was an incredible relief to climb into the car and wok the air con onto maximum for the drive home.