*Sigh*

[patgund]

Saturday Little Bit and I made a quick stop, (in mundanes) at Altavia Anniversary.

It was nice to see friends, but I did see something that bothered me a lot, from a courtesy and safety viewpoint.

One end of the field, (the shady end) was sectioned off and in use by the rapier fighters. I usually enjoy watching them, so I walked over.....

Now normally around the field is a pathway between the outer edge of the fighting field and people's pavilions. This is kept clear for walking. Sometimes you get groups of people standing at the edge to watch, but you normally have people watching in their pavilions, as well as gearing up there as well.

Not this time. One entire corner, for about 10 feet in either direction, was filled with people sitting around, piles of armor, rapiers, etc. The normal space given to walk around the field was gone, replaced by people getting ready to fight, waiting their turn, or talking with their friends.

The choices were:

a) Walk though the group, stepping around the piles of armor and people

b) Walk around, meaning up the hill, around the back of the pavilions set up in that area, and coming back in around the other corner.

c) Go back the way I came.

With a five year old in hand, "a" really wasn't an option.

The way people blocked access and basically "took over" that area gave a very strong "we don't care about anyone else, just our group" feeling to the whole thing. And soured my interest in watching. Add to that watching them *ignore* people who came over to watch or ask questions didn't help.

I would like to think this was a one-time thing, and people just forgot their manners for a day.

Comments

[jj-maccrimmon.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry this happened Pat. Blocking the way around the event is bad enough, but being utterly disinterested in the interests of others is unacceptable. When I was actively playing in the rapier community (pre-burn out / pre-injury), I went out of my way to talk to newcomers and any interested parties who watched us playing. More than a few folks would raz me for being called into the list and actively having to sprint from the other side of the field to don equipment and face my opponent. For many years, it was the reason Cross and Dragon was so popular. We'd talk to people and explain what was going on.

I'd like to think that the members of the White Scarf would make themselves open to chat with folks as par for the course. I'm hope that (fellow) Duelists and regular fencers would be willing to at at least engage potential members / fencers. Sadly the "cooler than thou" attitude has been creeping into some activities and behaviors for some time now.

Given that you mentioned it here and the Earl Marshal is on your list ('Hi Kitty'), hopefully something will be said.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

*Blinks* She is??

[jj-maccrimmon.livejournal.com]

My bad. I though Kolfina was on your friends list for some reason. Given your f-list though, I'm sure our mutual comments are filtering out through the Caidan Secret Service through the Laurel Bureau of Investigations and the Pelican Secret Service :) .

In all seriousness, this should get to some of the appropriate people to place a boot in some people's arses.