Marches of Precedence/B

[Mark Harris]

>Stefan wrote:
> Why not do the March during feast? Since this
>>was served buffet style, you wouldn't have had to worry about interferance
>>from servers.
>>
>Hmmmm, a definite timing problem.
>
>After having the bread and cheese on the tables, how about allowing the
>first in the March to go through the buffet line.  Puts a little meaning to
>"above the salt"...

Lionardo Acquistapace answers:

Actually that is exactly what happened. If you marched you got to go
directly to the buffet line after being presented to the Crown. I
think your "entourage" (who didn't march with you but were otherwise
part of your group) may have also gotten to go eat then as well.

>>>>
Except there was no bread and cheese on the tables. Having only an AoA,
I still would have had a long wait even if I had marched. As it was,
since we didn't immediately join the herd stampede after the march
finished, we were in the last quarter of the line. Perhaps we should
have just joined the line during the march, but that seems a bit
dishonorable, although the procedures never were announced.

I have often heard that it is a problem for folks with kids when the
feast is so late. Perhaps we should start bringing our own items to tide
us over until feast begins. But having the feast and march so late has
other problems as well: It means that the individuals don't get to 
show off their clothing, it is getting cold, stumbling around crowded 
tables in the dark is more difficult and you can't see what you are eating.

The latter was a problem at this feast rather than an advantage because
this feast was good. Along this line, it would have been nice to have
had signs announcing each food item in the buffet lines. There was a
big effort to advertise the different feast items as being the best from
individual people, ie: Lord X's chicken pies, Mistress Y's stewed
vegatables, etc. It would have been nice to be able to associate the
dishes with the people once we got there. And even nicer to be able to
identify the food before eating it. (sotelties not included)

Stefan will climb down from his stump for now. Anyone else have comments?