August 24, 2008

We've been busy these past few days spending time with our friends Kazuko and Takashi, who are leaving the 26th going back to Japan. We're really going to miss them, and be pring for them to good connected with a local ch there in their city. Yesterday we went punting, and G fell in again. :) He was trying to get one last stroke in with the punt pole before we went under this bridge, and just didn't make it in time so the pole got caught and he went in with it. :) Here are a few photos from our trip.

It was crowded on the river because it's a Bank Holiday weekend

Some folks dressed up like Star Wars characters went punting, and
Chewbacca got left behind I guess. :)

Boys are the same the world over- this punt of only
girls got stuck, and these boys were calling to them in French.

G looking just a bit wet. :)

This is Kano, she's 3 and a half, and very smart.

I also went out to see an English Civil War reenactment today, which was awesome- war was so different back then, so formal, with rules and formal policies. It was a bit like chess. Not many people died during wars- not soldiers at least, although the local townspeople might be starved because the army took their supplies! And people did die as a result of poor sanitation, and infections. The Civil War here is like our civil war- everyone knows who were the major players, what happened, and who won, and they study individual battles etc in school. Alas I didn't study the English Civil War in that level of depth. :) So to give you a brief overview- it happened between 1642 and 1651, and was between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists. It was over who had the right to govern, with the King saying he should have 100% right to rule, and the Parliament saying they should have some say. That's pretty oversimplified, but if you want details you can look it up on wikipedia (or consult my knowledgeable friend Thomas Gwaltney who I'm sure knows all the details as well!)

The first of the cannons firing.

Pikemen on the march.

This is what the pikemen do if there aren't any horses around to fend off with the pikes. They basically get in really close and try to push the other group farther down the field.

Pikes are pretty scary if you're a cavalryman though- look at those things!
The battlefield was very smoky, and very noisy. It was so realistic.

The cavalry fighting each other, which is apparently what they did

most of the time instead of fighting the enemy infantry. :)