ANST - Gulf Wars

[Keith Hood]

I wasn't sure until now if I would make the war this year.  Now I know - 
I will, if only because I want to see what happens.

Lady Isobel's post reminded me of what happened at Gulf War last year.  
After making our reservations and sitting in line Tuesday morning for 
hours in order to get in like law-abiding people, we found that the land 
we had reserved was filled with squatters.  Apparently people had 
entered the camp with regular non-SCA campers the weekend before, then 
on Monday had spread out and grabbed the best land.  And the GW 
organizers refused to evict them, so we wound up on freshly-cleared land 
out in the netherworld, where the totally grassless ground was so dusty 
you could raise a whirlwind just putting up the tent.  I thought I would 
never get all the grit out of my bedding.

I am going this year.  I'll camp out in the back forty and take a little 
red wagon to carry things and prove to the world that it's a lot easier 
to infuriate Ansteorrans than to cheat them out of a chance to kick 
Trimaran butt.

I have a tent that is big enough to sleep four who don't mind a little 
snoring.  If anyone who lost a cabin needs a roof to keep off the rain, 
you're welcome to the space.  I know a tent out yonder is not what you 
had in mind - sorry, it's the best I can do.

I don't know exactly what to do about this situation.  I don't know if 
legal action is worth a darn and I'm sure that offering to break heads 
would just cause other legal problems, but I do know that something 
needs to be done.  If the event organizers can't do their jobs and 
handle the land situation honestly and honorably, then why are we 
dealing with them?

Out of genuine curiosity and with no sarcasm, I'd like to ask if 
anything has been done at higher Ansteorran levels.  Has the king 
complained to the king of Meridies or the dignitaries who took the bed 
spaces?  Has the kingdom seneschal bludgeoned his opposite number with 
letters and phone calls?  Maybe those are naive questions but I would 
like to know.


      Tomonaga


-- 
A long bow and a strong bow,
And let the sky grow dark.
The nock to the cord, the shaft to the ear,
And a foreign king for a mark!

        -- Stolen from "The Song of the Bosonian Archers" --
               By Robert E. Howard, who should be
                 the patron saint of Ansteorra


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