[whimpykid]

Did your sensei give you permission to buy bogu as well as hakama and keikogi yet? One thing about kendo is that it's always best to ask your Sensei about it first before shelling out any money.

When I visited, I got the feeling that the Dojo and the Sensei are not really like that, through he did warn me and a other vistor that Kendo can cost a lot and after our training is done, we can decide if we want to keep with it or go, but once I made my mind up to do something, I go full out, but our Dojo does recommend for our training sessions we can use a t-shirt and tracks or if we have a hakama we can use that with a t-shirt.

At the price the armour was going for, it was best to buy it now for later, I don't expect to be using it till end of the year.

I practice at Mytchett so will see you on the 9th. O'Sullivan sensei will take you though all the basics such as posture and footwork first so it will be a while until you hit (or be hit) in bogu.

Just attend with an open mind and try to remember what sensei instructs. Be warned though, Kendo looks funky and aggressive on Youtube but some beginners find the basic drills 'too hard' and repetitive (even boring) so sack it off. Just stick with it and you'll be rewarded in time!

Ah really, where abouts do you live? Do you really come all the way down from London to Mytchett? How often may I ask? I visited the Dojo about a month ago, maybe you saw me?

I started to watch some Kendo training youtube videos where they do footwork and dance forth and back doing what I would call men attacks, seems a lot of fun to me. Repeative actions even borning ones are not a problem for me, it's to be expected, am used to that sort of stuff back when I was a Cadet doing endless Drills and Marching.

Ah great news today, my Keikogi and Hakama arrived today in the post from Nine Circles, they did a great service, I only ordered it on Sunday, it was a bank holiday monday and so already, it's here! I was expecting tomorrow or Friday at the latest, so really happy with them.

Everything seems to fit, through before I cut the string off which will void my chances of sending it back for a refund or a new size, I plan on visiting the Dojo tomorrow and asking the Sensei and the others if they mind seeing if when I put it on, it fits me, I think it does, I got all the measurements correct when I ordered. The Keikogi fits prefectly, really happy with it all.

Already turned my hands blue! lol

I also brought some replacement parts for the Shinai that I was given for free when I brought the armour, but it seems the Tsukagawa doesn't fit the handle, can only get it 3/4 the way before it becomes too tight, so it must needed the 39 instead of the 38, ah well, first mistake, but easy corrected.

Ah Dezza, as they say, all good things comes to those who wait.

One question if I may ask please, are there any annual camps in the UK for Kendo for people to attend, where you can train each day for x the weekend or two weeks in summer or winter etc?