Right, so it's now... summer, or at least what passes for that in London which means we get to use our marvellous green spaces for weekend practice. And, I'm going on a bit of a recording binge.
Or at least trying to get into the habit... you see, video is a great training tool. When fighting, you're not always sure what you've done and you may not be aware of your habits. These become quite glaring when you watch the fight from the outside. This is also a reason why I should get the class to judge/watch eachother fighting so they can see where the flaws and openings are.
This kind of observation is quite important when you're fighting because it tells you which part of a fight to play on.
Watching back on my stuff... It's a little different because generally I fight to teach, so I don't fight as hard or as surely as I would if it were "proper" stuff. That's not to say that I'm giving my opponent's an easy ride, but I try to leave obvious openings and so-on. (Sometimes, I don't... mostly because it's difficult to deliberately leave an attack unguarded)
My footwork has always been a bit stiff, it's better than it was but it still lets me down. But I'm pretty happy with most of the other stuff. My class is generally looking pretty good, and it's mostly a case of sparring and interpreting original texts to get a wider idea about things.
I planted some wormwood in my herb patch not too long ago and there's one hell of a lot of it now. The thing is, it's very strongly flavoured and you barely need an ounce for 5 gallons of beer.. no idea what you'd need if you were doing a vodka infusion (precursor to absinthe).
Actually, I'm ripping a few DVDs from my magic collection to my hard drive. Mostly because I've realised how redundant and inconvenient DVDs are with my current setup. I've got to figure out some coding so I can keep the how to DVDs entirely separate from TV shows and Movies.. but the instructions are on the web.
My DVD collection is "low magic", mostly coins and cards. Not the kind of thing with any deeper meaning or any nice way to shoehorn in "grand wonder". But that's not really important. Good coin and card magic is a thing of beauty- more like a dance than a story, but that's ok. Of course, the card stuff works nicely with gambling stories and I guess that the revivification of Texas Hold'em keeps some of the plots valid, it will require some jiggerypokery to get tricks to line up with that plot rather than the traditional 5 card draw, but it's a useful framing point.
Currently the two sets I'm in the process of ripping are presentations of Bobo's Modern Coin Magic and The Royal Road to Card Magic. The Royal Road is presented by Paul Wilson, or "the beardy one from Real Hustle", he's pretty clear with instructions and it's been a while since I've expanded my card abilities. So I might spend 20 minutes practising each day and do a chapter a week.
Bobo's.... well it's been ages since I've done anything with coins beyond pissing about at the bar while waiting to be served. Coins are really good for "incidental" magic because they're something that we always have and so practice is easy and you don't need a reason beyond fidgeting. Some people drum their fingers, I make coins vanish and reappear.
These are two classic books, mostly comprised of tricks that you can do at the drop of a hat. Which is another thing that appeals to me. Borrowing stuff from people adds a purity to the trick.. but I digress.
If you're interested in light magic, I'd recommend Bobo and Royal Road. Then once you're capable it is a good idea to start looking at Erdnase's Expert at the Card Table- although that one is trickier to understand, it's more "real world" since it was written more as a description of gambling cheats than for the showiness of magic. So every move had to resemble something you would do during a game rather than the strange stuff a magician can get away with.... I still can't understand one very useful shuffle (allows you to select cards from the previous game's hands and give them to whoever), or if I can understand it, I can't do it without moving my lips.
There's a lot of things that people don't realise about London. Like the odd street names tell you exactly what was going on in that place centuries ago (and would probably tell you what's going on now as well). That we've still got a, basically, medieval layout to the city streets and....
London is a very, very green city. The royal parks (Regents, Green, Hyde) take up a massive part of the centre. Then you've got all these random squares not too far off the main drags. There's a disused railway line that's been turned into a lovely walk from Alexandra Palace, through Highgate woods and into Finsbury Park (and I think there's a few more around). Abney Park is a cemetery turned nature reserve. The New river is a channel of greenery that extends from Hertford to Islington. The Lea takes you from beyond Waltham Abbey, past Walthamstow and Hackney marshes, through to opposite the Dome without crossing any roads- mostly behind major industrial areas because of the nature of the Lea (used to transport goods before the invention of the lorry). The Big 7 Victorian cemeteries create acres of green space.
Then there's Hampsted Heath, Richmond Park, Victoria Park, Epping Forest is just on the border of London. Regent's Canal (which alternates between picturesque and dingy), St. James' park (with its pelicans), Greenwich Park, the Thames Barrier and... and... and...
London is at its best this time of year. Not hot enough to trap pollution and be unbearable and not raining or cold. If you find yourself in the city and a bit tired, grab an ice-cream, and just take a few random back streets. (our murder rate is 2 per week and you're only a target for mugging if you look like an easy mark... so you're going to be safe). You should stumble upon somewhere pretty to sit down, relax and take in a bit of urban nature.
