Home from Festival. I mostly had a very good time but there were some stark contrasts between this year and my last Rowany in 2009 and not all of them were because I have changed. so the magic has shifted somewhat. I won't say it's gone because it seriously hasn't but my household have mostly taken up heavy fighting so some of the things I considered central to the Festival experience have been deprioritised by that. The dynamic of the household has moved about a lot and I've been largely absent over the past year so I've missed out on watching most of that develop, especially in the context of everyone being together in a space for days on end. I should make a list of things I like about Festival and perhaps take a bit of ownership so I can make them happen. This year I just wanted to *be* there. Mission accomplished there. Some aspects of it were harder than anticipated and I had a few moments but these are things which will ease in time of which another year's worth will pass before next Festival. Time to make a list of projects and wants and work out how to slot all of them into the rest of my life.

The drive there and back was as it usually is, which is to say, really rather long. Gosford is a bit north of Sydney and generally takes a solid eleven hours to complete unless you're driving a shonky rental truck in which case it's more like thirteen provided you really only stop for fuel and don't piss about too much. It was rather undergeared and underpowered for driving on the freeway and really only felt even remotely happy about doing those speeds when there was a big chunky truck ahead of us doing some of the work of pushing through the air. It was also seriously underdamped and did an occasionally scarily good impression of a motorboat over irregular sections of road. Scarily in that the only thing keeping my backside in reasonably close proximity to the seat was the seatbelt; "reasonably" being open to wide interpretation in this case. Finally there was a remarkable amount of play in the steering at straight ahead. It sort of felt ok when I was driving, I suspect because I was in control so it felt good to me but I don't know how my passengers felt. When I wasn't driving, I could feel it ping-ponging across the extent of the steering freeplay and because I wasn't in control of that it felt unnerving. Worst rental ever and I really didn't enjoy it.

There was, as ever, phat phestival lewt. Cote & Cutler and Mainly Medieval weren't there this year which put a slight crimp in the usual retailgasm I have there but I still came away with three books, a couple of glasses from the wine bar, a pair of sewing snips, a USB key which apparently has something in the order of 11,500 tagged reference images on it and a pair of shoes with remarkably good period construction. The last were apparently made as props for the shooting of "Narnia" (I don't know if there actually was something just called that or whether they meant "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) so they'd been worn once or twice and were being sold off at $20 per pair which I considered a bargain, particularly given how well they fit. I also bought a Salty Bint tavern cup but that vanished before we left the event. *grumps* The last thing I brought home with me was the bombard that I'd ordered through another scadian a little while ago. It's essentially a reed instrument a bit like the chanter from a set of bagpipes without the attendant bag and drones and so on. It's a rather raucous thing and I suspect it's not really an instrument to practice regularly while I live in a flat.

Being in the SCA is also a somewhat awkward thing while living in a flat. I may need to rethink this arrangement eventually simply for that reason. I can't store my tent and if I ever make furniture or anything else large I have nowhere for that either. This is an awkwardness. Well, there's plenty to occupy me for now anyway.

I have been feeling encouraged lately. People have taken me shopping and given advice on projects and given me bits and pieces that will contribute to Getting Things Done™. So tonight will hopefully see the genesis of a couple of things.

The fixie needs its back tyre mended and its handlebars wrapped. I have recently been gifted with a set of bars that will likely give me the perfect amount of extra reach and drop. I’ll get the old grips off them tonight and fit them. They’ll probably require that I get a new brake cable as the existing one will be cut too short to suit but once I get that and some new bar tape, it’ll have a whole new character that I think I’ll love even more than I do its existing one, which is saying something because I adore that bike.

I have a voluminous man’s shirt that I bought from an op shop because it has a funky mandarin collar and I love the fabric. It’s huge though and a bulky masculine cut. I’ve unpicked the breast pocket and after receiving some much appreciated advice and help with pinning, the plan is to sew darts into the front and close the rear pleat so it fits as a long, feminine cut shirt. This is my initial foray into breaking out the sewing machine and deciphering out it works. After that I have cloth originally meant for shirts but which may well become sundresses or similar, possibly after making the first one out of an old bedsheet or something so that I can learn from my mistakes on fabric that I don’t care about. I spent the bulk of my lunch break making a foray to Clegs so I now have a little container with four different coloured pieces of chalk. I've been warned off using the blue or pink on white which is good because otherwise I would have. The other two are white and yellow so I suppose yellow is the obvious choice.

This will lead into making garb, just like I keep banging on about. I’ll start with something simple and there are plenty of things that revolve around sewing squares and triangles together so once I actually decide what to make, work out fitting get some fabric and stop sewing my fingers together I should be away. I really want to sort garb out because I’m sort of re-emerging into the SCA (booked for the Krae Glas baronial invest, yay! Going to sing, double yay!) and I don’t want to do that in my boy garb, no matter how much I like it and love that it was made for me. I’m also no longer dressed by Laurels and frankly I should probably learn to dress myself. I suddenly have a body and a social context that makes clothes interesting to me and they never really were before so this is all new. I’m having a blast exploring it and I’m delighted at the support I’m getting. This translates into a desire to toy with them in terms of making and modifying. Hello vertical learning curve which is always a fun thing.

The other part of personal appearance which will involve a vertical learning curve is cosmetics. It’s not something I plan to make much use of but at the moment I don’t dare because if I try to apply them I’ll look like the over excited 8 year old who decided to play with Mum’s makeup. This would be bad. So there will be purchasing and advice seeking and experimenting at home.

Other than that I have a nice enamelled cast iron casserole dish that’s going to be loaded up with leek and mushroom and tomato and lentils and olives and whatever else strikes my fancy…it’s about time I had something without meat in it and lentil bake sounds nice. Browning and deglazing the leek and stuff on the stovetop first before adding the rest of the stuff and baking should work well. I think it’s also time to move the chest of drawers out from under the loft bed where it’s a pain in the arse to get to and use that for bike storage and sundries as I always intended. This might actually make my bedroom a nicer place to be although I’m damned if I can work out how to get into the light to replace the dead globe.

Forty minutes left before I go home, I’ll be posting this as I leave work. Want to go home now.

[edit:]

Dinner cooked and yummy, bedroom largely reorganised and bike fixed (the brake cable *was* long enough and the other tyre worked, yay! I can ride it tomorrow and just need to wrap the bars). Useful cutting tools and conversation provided by 10B and sewing project relegated to tomorrow evening at the usual open house dinner and chat time. I think I'm pleased.