Choices

It is, maybe, a good thing this didn’t arrive this morning. Usually parcels turn up at eight in the morning, or some other unsociable hour, and if that had happened my class would have had the bizarre experience of being taught about Sid and Nancy by a man wearing a shirt, black tie and an empty quiver across his back. Classrooms and proper schools don’t bring this sort of temptation. My kitchen and a Zoom session, however, is another story. —Yet, such is the strange world we now live in, this is possible.

—I’ve been eagerly waiting for this for a month. I’ve been frequently checking the tracking details, wondering for two weeks where it vanished to after leaving the carrier facility. I’ve been peering through the glass of the front door, through the clear, definitely phallic looking bit, hoping the postman might have left it on the step, playing Granny Knock-Knock as they’ve started doing lately. Not for S and Gs though- They’ve got good cause.

Now it’s here I can’t resist ripping it open before I’ve finished closing the door.

—Is it the right color? Black… Yes it is.

—Ben and I talked about this.
We happened to bump into each other on the way to a session and we got onto the subject of my new arrows and what bit of kit I’d be getting next. Not having shedloads of cash, I’m having to buy bit by bit. The essentials first, then the stuff to make me look cool. After the arrows its quiver time, then an arrow tube and then a proper kit bag- I’m currently using a camping bag which is only just big enough.

—The quiver has to match my arrows, according to Ben. I’ve got to keep up the black and blue aesthetic. I like the idea, so it has to be a black quiver. This also means that when I inevitably have to hang Rhyddian up on the wall my second bow will have to be black. Soul? My soul is black as pitch, so I will call it Soul, to match my soul. Soul is a good name for a bow.

—Then comes the type of quiver. Do I want a back quiver or a side quiver?

—Ben prefers the back quiver, and ancient, long passed over (he’s not dead but…) sensei Alex used to use a back quiver. I always thought it looked cool. Side quivers are all well and good but ninety percent of archers use the side. It’s more practical. I don’t wish to be a hipster, but a back quiver is more badass.

—And the good thing is, this also doubles up as a side quiver, so I can be all practical and ‘usual’ during competitions, but I can look more badass the rest of the time.