a bit better

I went back to fencing. My son was with me. He's been out of fencing for a while. He challenged me to a bout at foil, which I haven't tried for months. Still, I picked up the weapon - always strangely light after epee - and looked at my son. Last time I fenced him he was smaller than me. Today he's taller.

I told myself that meant a larger target area. Unfortunately it also meant longer arms - and he's faster than me. We didn't have a ref. so argued about right of way from time to time. However I looked at it, he beat me.

But once I was fencing epee I felt a bit more comfortable than last week. A few of my hits went where I intended. The arm-hits may not have been great but they felt like an achievement. Unfortunately I took a few wrist-hits - not hard, but I've got to work out what's going wrong.

I have fewer new bruises this week. The epee coach will have time to work with me in a few weeks, when the beginners are more independent. I'm still unfit, still busy at work, still sleeping badly.

Quite a lot of fencing is like this - not doing too well but trying and hoping. It's better than not fencing.


On another topic, I'm worried to find that Craig Murray's blog has been removed by its hosts under threat of legal action. There's a little more about it HERE. The weblinks give further information.