Sherwood Forest

Once upon a time, my friend Andrea (left) and I (right) were enjoying a fine afternoon on a high school field trip to the Georgia Renaissance Festival when we spotted the sign for Sherwood Stage. At the time we probably only chose to take our picture with the sign to bring back for our friend Blair Sherwood (seen here as my prom date), but I'm pretty sure it was foreshadowing, for lo! A few short years hence, I'm moving to Sherwood Forest! =) Okay, so maybe I'm not exactly moving into the forest (and maybe it's been a little longer than a few short years), but Gordon and I shall be moving to Nottingham, in County Nottinghamshire, the home of one Robin Hood and his band of merry men! =) (I love merry men! And by merry, I mean gay. I'll bet they have really good clubs there.) There are all kinds of variations on the story of Robin Hood, but I feel that either the Disney one (where the main characters were cartoon foxes and bears and sang a lot) or the Kevin Costner one (where the main character had a little trouble maintaining a convincing English accent) are surely the most accurate. (Obviously Cary Elwes's representation was farcical and therefore not considered in my serious contemplation of the subject.) Perhaps my opinions are skewed by the fact that those are the only versions of the story with which I am familiar, but I am comforted by the fact that there is much to learn about the man (and his men) in Nottinghamshire. First, there is the Robin Hood Festival held each summer, where I can watch various and sundry medievaly events such as jousting whilst wearing an adorable green chapeau and gnawing on weaponry (and my fingers) like these two festival-going cutie pies. Second, there is the Tales of Robin Hood tourist attraction on Maid Marion Way in Nottingham, where I can "ride through medieval Nottingham in unique adventure cars and see, hear, touch and smell expertly captured scenes" from the times of Mr. Hood. Third and finally, if that doesn't satisfy my yen to learn about Britain's most famous outlaw in tights (though how could it not with all of the seeing and smelling?), there is actually a master's degree in Robin Hood offered at the very prestigious University of Nottingham (though I'm sure I'd have to have a bachelor's in something important or wear my Chamber Singers dress from high school to get into it). Needless to say, there will be plenty of non-outlaw related activities in the 'Shire, and I'll be sure to report on those at a later date. But with so much Hood in our 'hood, how can our friends and family stay away? =) See you there! =) (Shirt and tights required.)