I had a fantastic weekend! It turned out that some friends I wanted to visit were hosting a SCA event this weekend. I hadn't prepared for that at all, but I got to borrow some loaner gear and to hang out with most of the friends I'd made in Ireland. Woo!
As is usual with events, things didn't go exaclty as planned. They never do. The car we were supposed to use over the weekend had some repairs done on Friday. When we were actually scheduled to leave, the car made some funny noises. I'm not a driver and don't have much experience with cars, but even I know that a healthy car doesn't clank and whir like that.
We ended up renting a car at the airport and arriving at the site 2.5 hour later than planned. And, as is usual with SCA events, that was perfectly allright too. There was a party going on which didn't miss a beat when we joined in.
I was a bit sleepy on Saturday (having gone to bed 5am the previous night), but got to hang out with people I hadn't seen for a long while. The fighters fought, fencers fenced and archers arched*. The rest of us had a good time watching the activities. I went to bed early, I'm getting too old to stay up late every day.
Most people went home before noon on Sunday but we stayed to wait for another couple of friends to arrive for the fighter's practice. I'd packed my bags on Friday, so we could leave late on Sunday. I'm impressed that I actually could fit all the fabrics, yarn, rovings, thread and woodworking tools in the bags I'd brought with me. My check-in weight was 55 kilos (only 20 is allowed) which was less than I'd thought it would be. Still, 55 kilos of fibre, not to mention the carry on, in various forms is a considerable pile. Now I need to find a place for it all...
Check-in went smoothly, I checked out the bookstores (no Soul Music :( ), had a coffee and discovered at the gate that my iPod does not want to communicate with me. Bummer. I'd not locked it, so I hope that the battery is just drained. Otherwise this trip turns out be considerably more expensive than it was supposed to be.
For some reason, that I couldn't hear clearly, the flight was delayed, so we arrived late at Arlanda. The landing was the shakiest I can remember because of the high winds near Arlanda. Fun! It was like a wimpy roller coaster, going up, down and occasionally sideways. I like roller coaster rides, but no ride I've been on could compare to the landing yesterday. I had a view of the almost full moon and the fluffy moonlit clouds from above. Breathtakingly beautiful and fun at the same time.
The girl next to me was afraid of flying and didn't enjoy herself at all. The flight attendants checked in on her occasionally, but as far as I could see she was not having panic attacks. I thought of offering my iPod to her (she was holding her ears), but it wasn't operational. Or asking her if she liked rollercoasters, or engage her in coversation to help her take her mind off the scary things, but decided not to. I didn't know why she was afraid, if she'd been in an accident or if I'd distract her from her coping mechanism by talking.
Taking my bags off the carousel, I saw that my largest suitcase had split a seam in transit. At first I just thought that I'd have to buy a new one and almost didnt report it. Then I reported it anyway and I got a new suitcase to replace it. I consider it lucky that it broke when it did. If it broke this way it would have broken one day anyway and I'd rather it broke now than when I'm at an event and can't replace it at all.
On the other hand, I'm not in habit of transporting 30+ kilos in one go either, but it handled 40 without problems once. The new one is slightly smaller (the old one was a bit too big anyway), has four wheels instead of two and is better quality, so it was a fortunate accident.
Of course, the plane being late and then the bag issue, meant that I got home after midnight. I'm so not looking forward doing laundry and unpacking tonight. I just want to sleep.
* Shot, actually, but that's not as fun to write. :)