Tag: military

Twenty-eight buttons

Military jacket

This is a lovely jacket that belongs to a friend of mine. It came with black buttons, and we’d been chatting about how nice they were, and how difficult it would be to find a replacement if one was lost. A couple of hours later… you’ve guessed it! One missing button.

There were no spare buttons with the jacket, so the only option was to replace the whole lot. All twenty-eight of them. (There are two more on the sleeves that you can’t see in the picture.)  They’re ever so slightly larger than the original buttons, but thankfully they still fit through the buttonholes.

I bought practically every button in this style, and I’ve tucked a couple of spares into one of the pockets. That way, if another button goes missing, I don’t have to replace them all again. My fingers are really sore, from sewing them all on in one evening!

Paintball with a musket.

Replacing the flint

Last weekend we went to Reigate Fort with my sister and brother-in-law. We had a lovely walk through Gatton Park, and ate a picnic in the drizzle whilst watching a slightly disappointing historical re-enactment. I don’t think we could have had a more typically English summer day out if we’d tried!

(Well, we could have gone to the seaside and eaten sandwiches in the car whilst sheltering from the pouring rain, I suppose.)

There were three periods of military history being demonstrated – Napoleonic, Victorian and First World War. The slightly disappointing part of the demonstration was because the WW1 machine guns kept getting jammed and refusing to fire. There were lots of small boys who absolutely loved the Napoleonic cannons, which were much more reliable!

There was also a section (ostensibly for children) where you could have a go at firing a cannon, mortar or musket. The picture above shows a new flint being fitted to one of the muskets, which I took while Paul was in the queue, waiting for his turn.

Paul firing a musket

Here’s Paul, firing a bright orange paintball towards a small plywood Napoleonic soldier.

Paul firing a musket

He’d been told to aim just below the webbing – and his shot was right on target!

The sun came out as we were walking back through the park, so we were able to enjoy some fabulous views all the way across Surrey. We didn’t see any of the highland cattle that wander around Gatton Park (although there was plenty of evidence that they’d been there!), but we sat on a bench at the top of the hill and ate muffins in the sunshine.

Lovely.