Still Life with Chain Mail

This weekend Emily has had the rest of her eighteenth birthday celebrations, which had to be postponed from early August because some of her Little Friends were away.

The Little Friends are now rather big, mostly over six feet tall. They started off when Emily was five or six, as in "Emily's having some little friends round to play." Even then it was said with slight irony and it's grown in irony as the Little Friends have grown in size.

Most of them have stayed overnight. They've played Dungeons and Dragons: they've been out for a walk: they've been out for two meals: tomorrow they're going horse-riding.

Some of the Little Friends are interested in historical re-enactment and this afternoon some of them slugged it out with swords on the lawn, making loud clanging noises which echoed round the neighbourhood.

Here's the photo I took after they'd finished:

Yes, I know that the corner of the greenhouse does slightly detract from the historical authenticity. And they probably didn't have quite that kind of potted bush at Agincourt.