Fencing

It's the World Championships this week, and while there have been other interesting and awesome result (Géza Imre won the individual epee at the age of 41, Italy did entirely unnatural things to annihilate the Russian in the men's team sabre final after the Russian women somehow managed to beat the Italian women in the women's team foil final), my favourite result is Yuki Ota winning the men's foil.

Ota is my favourite men's foilist, and yes, it's partly silly things like him being short and right-handed so his is a style I can at least try to emulate (and do. My footwork, sadly, does not have anything like that speed or lightness, but I can try.). But yes, separate to that, I like his style, it's very neat and precise.

And he's won the World Championship! :D :D :D

Anyway, someone has made this awesome video to commemorate it so I am sharing the video:

Watch on YouTube

(Full final is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RcKj5nbcyI but I can't expect non-fencers to sit through the whole thing.)

The Christening Farago

Or why I was asking about dresses.

Warning: contains my family being very peculiar indeed. (And that is putting it nicely.)

The 'Red is being peculiar' part is my on-going inability to meet suitable standards of dress. I have two settings, over-dressed or under-dressed. If I'm going to turn up to something I'd rather it be the first of the two, but I am aware that this is a problem. Boy cousin, who is the father of the boy being christened (henceforth baby cousin), has been no use, saying 'I don't have to bother', and I do feel like saying 'dude, you are not the arbiter on this one, Grandma is.' But see also, things I am aware are peculiar.

The 'everyone else is being peculiar' bit follows:

( Baby Cousin's parents being odd, part 1 )

( Baby Cousin's parents being odd, part 2 )

( The rest of the family being odd in response )

My life has turned into a thoroughly odd Les Dawson/Last of the Summer Wine/Alan Bennett mash-up.

* For new readers, 'according to Boy Cousin' has an evidentiary value of about minus a billion.

** Not in an offensive way, Nana is awesome, more in a 'the lady is going to speak her mind, because exactly what are we going to do to her' way.