The club

I've been terribly remiss. I haven't updated this for a month, and now I feel bad! So now you're going to get a week's worth of updates to get you up to speed.

First up, the initial club session.

My word. My legs hurt so much after this bad-boy that I could barely move them. Made certain necessary ablutions rather tricky, I don't mind telling you.

It was all because of the warm-up - a sadistic, knackering military-style beasting. Well, not quite that bad - but certainly sadistic and knackering. My legs had gone back to their normal semi-active state after the six-week course, so putting them back into the en-garde position after 40 minutes of squats, sprinting, stretching, curling and lifting required much effort.

It turned out OK in the end, though, because once I was in the position, my poor pins were so bewildered that they pretty much locked into place - en-garde, all the time!

Parries were the order of the day. Quarte and Sixte, specifically. Lots of drilling and practicing. By the end, I was perfect - it was beautiful. Then on to the free fence at the end, where I promptly messed them all up again in the heat of the moment. Oh well.

After that, it was home, sleep, and up the next morning to find that my legs had been replaced by two non-bending scaffolding poles.

It was like that all week....