... or is everything really depressing at the moment?
It's difficult to summon the energy to post on the freezing weather, Bali 'climate change' bollocks, police going on strike, EU Con-stitution being signed, ever increasing taxes and spending and a Tory opposition that isn't going to do anything about either, education system worsening by the year, Hillary Clinton or Obama-bin-Laden possible next US President ...
... having to think about it all makes it seem even worse.
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Is it just me ...
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3 comments:
The most depressing things for me right now are the proposed Samurai sword ban and the signing of the EU treaty. I had only just started shooting shotguns when pistols were banned so I didn't take too much notice. When replica guns were banned it didn't effect me too much as I wasn't really intending to buy any more. When 'violent' porn was banned it didn't effect me too much as, even if I did enjoy it (which I'm not saying I do! :P) nobody downloads porn anymore, you can just stream it and avoid the law! But the sword ban could genuinely effect me as I had been planning on buying myself a nice custom sword for a while and I won't have saved up the money before the ban. The EU treaty doesn't, in itself, make me worse off, but its bastard children will no doubt come and bite me in the future.
There's a little positive news though. The British Libertarian party is opening its doors soon, Ron Paul is attracting a lot of attention in the US (and doing darned well, all things considered) and ultimately some of that crazy idea called liberty might just filter through to the British people. The Goblin King is having a pretty crap time of it, which is always a good thing, and Laybuh are looking stupider by the day. The Con-servatives aren't exactly capitalising on this though, so I suspect we'll see at least a fair increase in third party votes, and who knows, maybe freedom minded parties will make some gains at the next election. Over the past year I've also seen a subtle shift amongst some people (and quite a pronounced shift amongst young people) in support of self-defence and towards gun ownership (or at least taser/pepper spray ownership/carry, which is a start). I don't have any delusions of repealing any major legislation at the next election, but maybe in a few years we might see a push for it, who knows.
Samurai swords. I felt sorry for the poor lady whose son died, but she didn't seem able to understand that it is the person on the end of the sword who matters.
After all, you can be just as dead if clonked on the head with a table leg, but it isn't feasible to ban tables (is it?)
The Samurai sword business is larger than she imagines; every antique centre deals with them and I will be getting a criminal record as I have not the slightest intention of surrendering the sword my father acquired in the war - except if I can ever trace the Japanese family who owned it. They are the only other people with a moral right to it.
I can recommend another kind of sword, though. What you want is an nice bronze sword like Achillies himself would have swung. Last year Mr Raft went off to learn armoury and he cast his own blade in a stone mould, then spent a couple of days in a round house with like-minded bronze workers preparing it and setting it in a haft.
Some people take it all very seriously and put runes and spells on. Mr Raft is of a more pragmatic nature - could you do serious dobbing with this sword if you really had to?
Bronze doesn't take a razor edge like steel - of course - but it sits snuggly in the hand and gives meaning to the word 'arms'. Steel is cold, dead stuff - always feels like a machine - but bronze is golden and feels organic, as if it expresses the energy flowing from your shoulder. They also look beautiful; you wouldn't want to start any fight which involved damaging such an expensive piece of jewellery unless it was absolutely necessary. Steel is quarrelsom, bronze is more interested in having a beer and singing songs.
The workshop Mr Raft went to was at Flag Fen, and they include meals, so it was about £200 for the sword, the food and two days tuition.
http://www.flagfen.com/index.html
There are quite a few other workshops now.
Well, then they should ban table legs as well, we can sit on the floor and use soft plastic spoons and paper plates.
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