Romans and Londoners

[vilakins]

Yesterday I went to the British Festival in Takapuna to march with the Legio II Augusta, the legion I'm a re-enactor with (and also the one which invaded Britain, hence the connection). We marched round the stalls, down Hurstmere Road, up through the displays in the car park, shouting, "Hail Caesar!" and "Hail Britannia!", and being heckled back. I was rather pleased that though two of the guys got puffed and begged for a rest stop, I was fine in my 10kg of armour. I'm fitter than I thought! I broke one of my sandals though. :-( I should have worn my boots.

I got changed and cruised the stalls, looking at all the other nutters fun-lovers like me who had come dressed up in various ways (medieval, pearlies, Scots, Morris dancers etc). I was good: I only bought a yummy vege samosa and some figures from the medieval stall: Asterix characters and two beautiful Romans, all just the right size to interact with my B7 pipecleaner people in bizarre crossovers (see my next post for pics).

Since my stolen camera has at last been replaced (on Friday), picspam follows.



Some of the legion arriving at the venue. That's Rob the Roman, our consul, in the centre.


The pearly king and queen


The pearly queen's back
I asked her why Big Ben said 4 o'clock, and she said, "Because it's time for tea." :-D


The pearly king's back
It says, "London Pearlies" and "One never knows", which is the pearly motto.


A cute, friendly, and very British looking dog :-)

Comments

[trixieleitz]

"Because it's time for tea."

Brilliant!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yes, I liked that. :-)

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

I do too. Nice one :)

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

This post reminds me, Beth has finally got her film developed from out guided tour of Caerleon and Caerwent. I'll borrow the pics this afternoon and scan them in. There are some of areas of Caerleon Roman ruins you didn't see and lots of Caerwent.

I think the dog is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the breed is known to be extremely friendly to humans and as soft as butter even though they were bred for cattle herding and (shudder) bull baiting. As you say very English.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I look forward to them!

That one was a sweetie. He sat quietly in the crowd and was delighted to be patted by anyone.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

cattle herding and (shudder) bull baiting.

They may have been bred from cattle dogs, but the staffie was bred as a fighting dog. They may be good with people (I don't believe it) but you can't trust them with another dog.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

I may just have been lucky but I've know 3 staffies and 1 satffie/border collie cross and they were all very good with people. But I wouldn't leave any of them alone with another dog. I wouldn't leave the staffie/collie cross alone with the dogs even the other male dogs he lived with, the females had him firmly under their paws but he would turn on his fellow males at the drop of a hat.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

This one was lovely, but then there weren't any other dogs there. He's built like a fighter: low-slung with a wide wheel-base.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Cute and friendly? You're joking! Mean-eyed bastard looks as if it'd have your hand off!

I am a bit dog-phobic (well, very, actually) but though I am scared of most dogs I do see beauty in some. But the whole staffie/bull-terrier thing just baffles me. Why would anyone want something so horrendously ugly? (no offence to those whose Best Friend they are. I'm sure it's possible for something so menacingly hideous to be good-natured once you know it, but I'd never get close enough...)

Love your armour. And I do believe the Second was Marcus's legion (I'm on an Eagle of the Ninth kick at the moment).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They're not good-looking dogs, but that particular one was very friendly, extraordinarily well-behaved, and a real sweetie. Take my word for it. :-)

I wear chain mail as standard-bearer. Segmentata looks a lot better, but it's not made for the female form and chain is a lot easier to get on and off.

I'm not sure which legion Falco was in, but it could have been the Second. :-)

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Corvinus, btw, managed to avoid military service altogether and does a very good job of keeping out of the way of any form of civic duty too.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

He did better than Falco then, who not only served in Britain (he loathes the place and the weather) but also got lumbered with the Sacred Geese at one stage.

[kerravonsen]

My, your legion looks spiffing!

What are "pearlies", may I ask? Besides people who dress in clothes covered with pearl buttons.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

There's another picture of us here (http://www.farsight.net.nz/images/legiomar.jpg), at a re-enactors' fair; I'm second from the left.

There's a Wiki article here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearly_King) with a link to a pearly site which gives some of their history. I should upload my picture to the Wikipedia.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

You mean you can do that! You techie genius, you. I've tried to upload photos to Wikipedia and failed utterly...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Have you got a log in?

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! *And* I was trying to upload a pic I'd taken, so no copyright issues. Still couldn't figure out how to jump through all their numerous hoops.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I did it! Here it is! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearly_Kings_and_Queens) I hope I followed their confusingly worded instructions correctly and it doesn't get deleted.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely pics. You do well with your new camera! :^)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I have yet to learn its features. At least I found the macro setting.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Cool! I didn't know you did re-enactments. And with a Roman legion! Excellent.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yep! Here's another pic of us (http://www.farsight.net.nz/images/legiomar.jpg) a couple of years ago; I'm second from the left.

My father was a Classics scholar (Latin and Greek like you) and reading his books gave me my love of the ancient world. He taught me a year's worth of Latin one summer holiday so I could take it at a new school, and I came top of their class my first year there. He also used to go down to talk to the Greek Orthodox people on Sundays and managed very well with his Greek. :-)