Codgers

[msmemory_archive]

Color me Old Codger. I'm having sticker shock today over the prices of Twelft [sic] Night and Birka. Yes, I know that each is charging just a smidge more than a first-run movie ticket, and I couldn't eat anywhere nicer than Friendly's for a sum like that feast fee, but I am unused to these numbers - or to the notion that advance registration doesn't give a discount.

(If anyone knows for sure that the 12th Night feast is sold out, let me know so I won't bother sending an onboard reservation.)

Comments

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Twelfth Night is $10 in advance, $12 at the door or after the postal deadline. Plus $3 for dayboard. Feast is $15 in advance, $17 at the door. I just look at paying $64 at the door for the two of us and flinch.

Market Day at Birka is $12. No food is included. Site's hotel rooms are available for $110.

I've found the way to look at UK prices is to treat them as dollars and just not think about the conversion ratio. The prices of things make sense if they were at par.

[silme.livejournal.com]

Well, the UK just has a better economy than the US, so the pound is particularly strong. We do tend to offer cheap crash space, as people travel so far. However, sometimes it's just that -- floor space, and you have to carry sleeping bags, air mattresses, etc. (Events with actual beds or bunks are liked a lot. :) 12th Night in Sweden is a big splurge for us. 130 pounds each to fly to Stockholm, hire a car to drive 1-1/2 hours to site, stay in a hotel two nights as it's just floor crash space -- and it's difficult to cart sleeping gear on the plane. The hotel was a deal at 60 pounds a night, including breakfast, so we won't have to pay for breakfast on site nor to crash on site. Site fee is 110 SEK each, lunch is 40 SEK each and feast is 100 SEK. So that's 20 pounds each, which isn't bad. However, added to plane fare and the hotel, eek!! We'll be able to sightsee in Stockholm on Sunday, though, and there are things going on I want to be there for... *sigh*

Over here, no matter how much site fees cost, transportation wil cost more. For that 20 pound each fee for that evening event, our train fare there will cost more each. :( (Driving would cost more also.) Oh well. The SCA never has been a cheap hobby, alas. :(

However, that said... One year, back in the Outlands, some folks ran the most expensive twelfth night the barony in Denver had ever seen. The barony made sooooo much money, but there were sooooo many complaints. And the food wasn't that good. The next year, Francesca and I wound up running it. We decided, after last year, we just wanted to break even -- we didn't want a profit, as the previous autocrats had been accused of price gouging. Fees were a lot lower that year. Alexandre d'Avigne was our cook, so you know the feast was good. :) And guess what? Because people were so pleased with the lower fees, more folks turned up and we made $700 profit without even trying! :)

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

(I didn't know the Viceroy could cook!)

[silme.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's a fantastic cook. I think he's cooked at some small events in Whyt Whey. There were a number of folks trying to get him a Laurel in cookery before he left the Outlands -- it's a long story as to why he didn't get it. His focus in the East has been different, but he cooked a lot in the Outlands. His personal website features various recipes; he used to write a cooking column for a local newsletter.
http://www.panix.com/~nexus/cooking/biblio.shtml

[silme.livejournal.com]

Oh, the 12th Night he cooked for me wasn't the one mentioned in the articles. It was a later 12th Night, for 750 people. He learned a lot after his first one -- and we were using a different site with a better kitchen. :)

[lumineaux.livejournal.com]

And his almost-a-Laurel scroll, signed by his friends rather than the Crown, remains proudly displayed on his wall to this day.

[silme.livejournal.com]

I'm one of the signers. Laurels signed first, then other peers, then the rest of the populace. I was one of the many who talked with the king that day. What an event1

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

His focus in the East has been different....

He still cooks :-)

[silme.livejournal.com]

Good to know! I didn't think he'd stopped, but it sounds as if he's not as known for it in the East as he was in the Outlands. :)

[lumineaux.livejournal.com]

He is an awesome cook.