Lighter Louisville

• Last month I said the day I flew home from Milwaukee was a gorgeous day for flying, but the day I flew out from home to Louisville was even more spectacular—something about the light on the mountains as the sun came up  (and the photos do not do it justice):

• I laughed every time I traversed the passage, instantly labeled the Blue Hallway of Doom, between the fencing hall and the officials’ lunch room. Something about the scale meant that you had to get at least a third of the way through before it looked as though you’d made any progress at all. Eventually, quite a few fencers decided it was a good space for warming up.

• Two different armorer calls on two different days from two different referees: “I’ve got some kind of electrical problem—the fencers on my strip are getting shocks from the equipment.” I asked the armorers later, and they laughed. It seems that people were shuffling on the carpet and then touching the pipe barrier. Apparently, a few individuals from warmer climes didn’t know that cold, dry days could provide the perfect conditions for getting zapped by static electricity.

• A perfect trifecta of error: Fencer brings DE slip to BC. BC staff person checks his name, writes it on her tableau, and gives him the slip for his next bout. A short time later, fencer returns with the slip from that bout. BC staff person records it, and fencer leaves. Then a while after that, fencer comes running back to say his mom looked at the web results, which show the other guy having won that first bout. The computer entry person finds the original DE slip, which, duly signed by both fencer and referee, and recorded incorrectly by the BC person, clearly shows that the other won. BC staff person lectures herself severely, lectures fencer on the importance of reading one’s slip before signing (and allows fencer to lecture her), and sends fencer out to strip to have referee correct her error, too, telling fencer to feel free to lecture referee, too. Results are fixed and everybody is happy. Why is this of note? Because all three individuals should have known better: the fencer was on the Cadet point list, the referee was Sharon Everson, and the BC staff person was me.

• Finally, of course, the Louisville carpet gallery:

Next time: the serious side of Louisville.