Sword vs Pike

           A good friend of mine grows increasingly frustrated with facebook. I can sympathise with this. If it were not the only means I currently have of communicating with my girlfriend I suspect I would be spending much less time on it too. On the other hand it does occasionally inspire posts to this blog. Recently I saw an illustration on facebook showing swordsmen fighting against hoplites. Below there were many smug comments about “bringing a sword to a pike fight”. That is exactly what you do do!

           The history of swordsmen beating pikes goes back at least to the Romans. Many of the enemies of the early Roman army used the phalanx and the signature fighting method of the Roman legion grew from combat with such adversaries. Fast forward a few centuries and you have the Spanish “sword and buckler men” or “Rodeleros”. Like the Swiss halberdiers and German Zweihändermen they were used to attack and disrupt pike formations.

           To understand the mechanism here imagine you are holding a spear a couple of metres long. If an enemy steps a pace beyond the point of your spear you can bring your point back an equal distance by moving your hands back. Now suppose you are holding a long pike of five or six metres. The enemy slips past the point of your pike and takes a couple of paces. He is beyond the distance you can easily withdraw your point to stab him! You can try stepping back yourself or shortening your hold on the pike. However, pikes were used in massed formations so the comrades behind you will prevent you being able to make these moves.

           This is exactly what the Romans and Rodeleros would do. Shield and sword allowed them to deflect or block the thrusting pike points and close the distance. Allegedly some Rodeleros would throw themselves to the ground and roll under the points. Halberdiers and Zweihändermen used the same basic idea but different weapons. Some claim the Zweihändermen would simply chop through the pikeshafts before laying into the pikemen.

           To resist such tactics a pike square would include its own contingent of swordsmen or halberdiers.

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Simplicity and Omelettes

            For today’s blog I will make some observations about how some people approach problems and also give you a simple recipe for when you need quick and simple.

            I have had the misfortune to work with certain individuals that are quite incapable of doing things simply. Some have even been considered “negative manpower” in that when they were involved in a job we needed more people to compensate for all the speedbumps they threw in our way and spanners they cast in the works. It is quite incomprehensible to them that equal or superior results may be achieved by simpler means. If they were in a fight and their attacker fell down they would probably go to ground themselves and try to apply some fancy holding technique. Simply stomping on the attacker's leg and running away would never occur.

            I am reminded of this since the other day I remembered that we had some eggs that were due to be used up. An omelette would be nice, I decided. I recalled that somewhere in my collection of recipes was directions to make an omelette. There was something about waiting 30 seconds and then bringing the edges into the centre, waiting another 30 seconds and doing something else, then another 30 secs and so on. Sitting at work I decided to see if I could find this method on-line. I websearched “30 second omelette” and to my surprise got methods for cooking omelette in only 30 seconds! Much mumbo-jumbo seems to have been written about the difficulty of making perfect omelettes! The following may not be perfect or the best-ever, but I doubt you will be disappointed!

            The basic method is this. Add salt, pepper and three eggs to a bowl and beat with a balloon whisk or fork until mixed evenly. Heat your frying pan good and hot. I use oil but add a blob of butter if I have some. Let the butter melt and wait until it just browns (or a few moments before!) Give your eggs a final whisk and in one smooth, quick action pour the mix into the pan. You now just swirl the mix around the pan and shake the pan to spread it evenly. Mine seem to take a little more than 30 secs but I am a little cautious with the heat. Watch for when some of the egg is still liquid but cannot be sloshed around over the rest of the omelette. Underside should be golden brown. That is when to add the filling and fold the sides over. The remaining “wetness” helps glue the flap over and will cook from residual heat while you are sliding the omelette onto the plate.

            I like to use garlic salt rather than plain salt. Some herbs or Worcestershire, soy or tabasco sauce added to the mix is not bad either. I had a single rasher of bacon to use up so shredded this and fried it in the pan bottom before adding the omelette mix.

            While I was writing this I came across a method for cooking an omelette in a bag claimed to be a “kitchen hack”. “Only” takes 13 minutes!

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A Thought on Christmas

            One of the unexpected consequences of no longer being single has been my relationship with my girlfriend’s son. Every day I see young men with their crotches down near their knees and their hats on backwards, bleating about “Respek” while dressing like clowns. It is nice to know that there are some young men of this generation that are smart and polite and will probably achieve great things.

            Currently I am reading “Red Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson. There is a passage in this book where the psychologist reflects that most of his charges can be defined by a combination of the psychological categories of “stabile-labile” and “introvert-extrovert”. He muses that the various combinations such as “introvert-labile”, “extrovert-stabile” etc in fact correspond to the ancient system of four temperaments of choleric, melancholic, sanguine and phlegmatic. Interested in this I passed the passage on to my girlfriend’s son, knowing that it would interest him.

 

            He responded with a true pearl of wisdom that I will leave you to enjoy and reflect on this Christmas day:

“Woow, isn't this too much to think?”

            I think that is a question we should ask ourselves more often!

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Not being a Sucker and Avoiding Head Punches.

          Many times on this blog and in my book I have stressed the need for personal vigilance. Quite simply, pay attention to what is happening around you. Just because you think that a text is important does not mean the universe will rearrange itself to keep you safe! I know I may sound like a broken record here but the importance of awareness cannot be over stressed.

          A friend of mine sent me the following link:-

Trend of Sucker Punches in Vancouver

          The tone of the article suggests that these are acts of violence committed just of the pleasure of seeing someone fall. I’ve had personal experience of attacks motivated by this. It is a useful reminder that predation is not always driven by greed or lust. Anyone can be targeted for violence. Awareness and some of the other factors that I discuss in my book can reduce your chances of being selected as a victim.
          To be honest, I am rather surprised that we do not hear about more “sucker” attacks. So many people walk down the street with their eyes glued to their phones or music players, only marginally aware of their surroundings. A colleague of mine had her phone stolen. According to her a man simply walked over to her, slapped her and took it. As she is telling me this story I was acutely aware that there was some fact that she was omitting. Sure enough, it turns out she was using the phone at the time. Doubtless one of those long, drawn-out conversations with her son about precisely how to put a piece of fish in a microwave. Had the misfortune to overhear many of those while I was working with her and know well how oblivious she would have been.

          Your primary defence against a sucker punch is awareness. How close will you let another human being get to you, particularly if you do not know them, they seem drunk or furtive or there are few other people around? There are too many aspects of awareness to cover in today’s blog. Instead, I will briefly cover a couple of defences against a head punch. In other words you have become aware of a potential attacker but he has still got close enough to make his move. My book is filled with techniques you can use but today I will mainly look at Peyton Quinn’s outside and inside crane defence.

          Peyton Quinn wrote “A Bouncer’s Guide to Barroom Brawling”, one of the books I recommend for further reading in my own book. Quinn very kindly gave me permission to detail a couple of his techniques in my own work. Quinn observes that the head punch is a very common move in real fights so has honed a couple of techniques to deal with such an eventuality. (Injuries to the hand from head punching are also common!)

          The outside crane is best used if you can move to the outside gate. It is a fairly standard parrying move. Notice how the arm rolls the blow, leaving the hand in contact to detect and influence what the foe’s arm may do next. In the illustration a right to the head is intercepted with the right hand and as the punch is moved right the defender moves left, taking themselves out of the path of the punch.

          The inside crane is shown here against a hooking type punch. Both arms come up and body twist can be used to roll the attack past. This technique offers a large surface area against impacts so is a good defence against kicks to the head, should the foe be foolish enough to use them on the street. (Chances are he will rip a muscle without a warm-up and stretching!)

          The inside crane leaves you on the foe’s inside gate so he will probably follow through with a punch from his other hand. The next illustration shows a follow on from inside crane, in this case a source block against a punch with the left. White would be moving to his left. Notice that the position of the arm also helps deflect the punch away from the head. This leads us to a third technique.

          Western boxing uses a lot of punches to the head region so it is no surprise that simple and efficient counters to such attacks have been developed. The one we are going to cover is to simply place your hand on your head above the ear. The bent arm creates a large area to act as a shield. You will find that making this move on one side tends to make you duck to the other side, taking you out of harm’s way. This ducking action is also a good setup for a palm heel chin jab!

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