(male) fencers are so romantic

No-one thought of a way to combine Valentine's Day with fencing. There were no hearts and flowers and no-one wore pink breeches. It was just stabbing as normal ... with one exception. There was a shortage of men. There were still more male fencers than female, but the ratio was about 2:1 instead of the usual 5 or 6 to one. Gradually the strangeness struck us. All the women fencers had turned up but a large number of men had gone absent.

It must be the Valentine's Day effect. It seems that when the feast of St Valentine arrives, lots of male fencers - especially epeeists and sabreurs - want to share romantic meals with their loved ones. I expect red roses and soft music are involved too. Meanwhile, women who fence just want to stab people. Almost all the women fencers turned up; we made the most of the extra space and access to pistes.

It's amazing how romantic men are.

Yesterday I suggested elsewhere that Ophelia's life would have been transformed if she'd learned to fence. I thought it might have helped her relationship with Hamlet. Thinking further, I'm not so sure. Hamlet was pretty conventional in his treatment of women: insults and cold cruelty followed love letters and tokens. He wasn't worth Ophelia's time - or her life. She'd have had much more fun fencing.