Royal Armouries Leeds

we went on our first proper* holiday together  and decided to spend it at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. not a holiday in Leeds but a holiday at the Royal Armouries. we did our best to not find out too much about Leeds itself, just a couple of options for late afternoon once the museum was closed.

we travelled down on the Monday, spent Tuesday and Wednesday at the museum then travelled back on Thursday and it was great.

required Hall of Steel photo, i was very taken with this little pointy helmet.

and we met the iconic guy: 

spent a lot of time being so impressed by the craftsmanship of all the armour and especially the decoration and also when you can really see like, a guy drew that. that's a drawing someone did on metal hundreds of years ago and it's incredible to just see a centuries old drawing.

the living history team are so. good. we saw a longbow talk, celt vs roman combat, pollaxe combat and two handed sword combat and they were all incredible. literally can't believe this museum is free it's amazing.

also look at his painted helmet <3

this painted helmet is from 1490 and i love it very much.

when we got kicked out of the armoury museum we went and found the hoist museum which was very cute and i'm so glad it's there in amongst all the newer buildings.

and then we went and found Doner Summer for vegan kebabs (which we took back to the hotel). these were so good, for a very long time i'm going to be like oh i fancy one of those kebabs and ah i can't get one i'm not in Leeds.

beautiful beautiful beautiful. i also love how on this one on the left you can still see the blue. sometimes the metal was heated to a certain temperature and it went blue which goes nice with the gold. so fancy.

panels on a skirt from armour made for Henry VIII which has that amazing wow someone drew that feeling to it and it was made in a rush and there's a mistake** in there which is just incredible i love it.

most of the time looking at the helmets i don't see something that a human would be inside i just see a creature, like the helmet is their head, and some of them lend themselves to it even more than others.

when we got kicked out on our second day we walked along the river and saw house martins flitting about catching bugs which was amazing and then the reason we'd walked along there was to see the back of the train station which has this cool building and river going underneath it and it looks like something out of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken.

very pleased with our gift shop haul and also i don't know if this Yorkshire iced tea is only available in Yorkshire or if it's new everywhere and we only saw it for the first time there but it was fun to have a local delicacy.

it was a great trip, we basically ate meal deals and looked at armour, i took so many more photos than this and we ordered a nice fancy book from the gift shop that we couldn't fit in our bags. we made sure to go past and stop at various places on the journey there and back, tank car park, Newark castle, Pontefract castle, Conisbrough castle. first holiday well done.

*we camped at a bike festival one year and the year after that we booked a travelodge for the trip back from the festival and then the festival got cancelled but we drove out and stayed in the travelodge anyway but i'm not sure any of that counts as "going on holiday"

**on the left photo there's a panel in the middle that should be blank
 

more May

i really wanted to see the medlar tree in flower this year and i did :)

tesco charity shop luck, both already on my to-read list and the blue tit livestream i've been obsessed with. bless her, she did such a good job.

old diary/new diary and our first play-through of Hedgemaze (by Fernmage and Average Adventures), such a nice game and so handmade and wonderful. the map is the insert from the cassette <3 

i think the game sold out but the music is on bandcamp

the loser's arcade at Out There Festival. i simply adore hand-painted signs and it was so colourful and fun in there.

a day out in ipswich

we saw ICHI for the first time a couple of years ago at Out There Festival and then we saw he was touring nearby so we got tickets and had a day trip to Ipswich. i'd never been to Ipswich before and the show was in the middle of the day so we spent before and after basically wandering around looking at the buildings. 

not even on the same street!

 

i really enjoyed Ipswich, there's a lot of (i'm assuming) tudor architecture and little carved details everywhere and it was just really cool. we went in Ipswich Minster and it's beautiful in there. 

left: Ipswich Minster right: shop with a wild mix of stuff and the man cave sign with the singing bowls was just chefs kiss

in my pre-trip research i found out about a vegan cafe to try out called Harvest Moon and we had iced strawberry matchas and pancakes and it was just a perfect re-fueling.

visited the ogre, i love him

ICHI was just as good as the first time. if you ever get the chance definitely check him out, very creative and fun and just, i love it so much.

and then the library, love to visit a library and this one felt so nice. there are board games and jigsaws to borrow, a cafe with some sort of haunted doll theme (we were too late and it was closed for the day) and also a study room with really nice details and teenagers laughing at you. i thought i'd be able to find out something about it because it's so fancy and old in there but apparently Ipswich don't want me to know. i think it's called the Wolsey Room, the windows are too old to open and that's all i could find out.

Wolsey's Gate on the way back to the train station. this was one of those proper, being a tourist vs living somewhere is weird moments because this is just on the side of a road that was full of rush hour traffic when we were there and it was a weird feeling to be stood in-front of a gate being amazed that it was built in the 1500's and wow this is so cool to see and all the people in their cars behind you, driving past it every day not giving a shit. but we liked it.

and then we walked along the river and saw an oystercatcher which was also really cool. 

tbh there'd been a lot going on in my little world for a couple of weeks and i was overheated and overwhelmed so i'd like to go back and have a better look around and take it all in more but it was a really good day.

games for May

May's two bank holidays with a half term apparently means games in Norwich. we went to three games events during May.

first was Diceni which had such a good energy. everyone was friendly and excited and it was just lovely. there were people selling miniatures and demonstrating games and a raffle and a painting competition. we'll definitely go again. i also went and got myself a copy of Metal Hammer with Ville Valo on the cover to please my inner teen and current adult.

then, the next day, there was a trading card game market that was almost entirely Pokemon. i was expecting it to be a mix of games with a high percentage of Pokemon but the amount of Pokemon and almost nothing else was a bit of a shock. 

now, not to be rude about the current state of Pokemon card collectors but going to the same space for another games event the day after Diceni made the difference in energy between the two really obvious. i heard a parent explaining to a child how the point is to buy the cards so you can sell them again and the kid was like why and the parent was like i don't know, that's just what it is. and i felt sad about it and sorry for people that actually enjoy Pokemon. 

but we found a box of MTG cards, 5 for £1 and got a good little haul. i found this pigeon first in the book as a shiny and then swapped it for the cheaper not shiny version because i can see the artwork better that way. i didn't think i'd ever own a Magic card from the Spiderman set but then i saw this pigeon.

below, Brother Cadbearl is sharing the lunch we had to decompress from all the Pokemon. the pastry at the back is pistachio and at the front is apple and rose, they're huge and delicious and if you're ever in Norwich go to Shako Mako, always incredible. 

 

 

third and last was the traders day at the games festival. i got some ds games, Will got some miniatures from someone we'd seen at Diceni and i got 3 StreetPasses which is one more than last year's games fest traders day so very exciting. i didn't get Take A Break's Puzzle Master and i partly wish i owned it and partly am perfectly fine about not owning it so i think i made the right choice of simply taking a photo. hopefully someone who will treasure it purchased Take A Break's Puzzle Master.

 

bandcamp friday ~ may '26

i am still working on buying music i already know well and there's a couple of new bits here too.

The Twelve Castles and The Twelve Temples by Quest Master

Deep Gnome's entire discography 

 EAT MEAT! by Wheelchair Sports Camp

 I Love Stealing From Woolies by Elektronik Girl Epic

this also has a music video where you can see her incredible tracksuit made of woolies bags.
 

CRAZY FUCKIN ROBOT BODY by SNOWBLOOD

 The Dream Eaters Magazine No 1: Everything Is Normal by The Dream Eaters

 Hermit Knight's entire discography

 

my wishlist started at 29, i bought things and wishlisted things Will bought and now it's at 21. there isn't another bandcamp friday until august though...

(not that you can't buy music on other days but when it's independent stuff like this it just feels good for them to get the full payment)

 

now excuse me while i go lay down and listen to some musics. 

recent purchases :)

 some of the items i have bought so far in this year of 2026:

 

if Bunny Bissoux makes a zine i will buy it

 

we got to see Quest Master live and i spent my pocket money at the merch table

 

i've been a fan of Minipete for a really long time but this is my first time having some physical items, i got a sticker sheet and zines

a bunch of 2nd hand books from the tesco charity shelf / ebay / oxfam

very cool to own an Ichi cd after seeing him perform by chance in Yarmouth a few years ago and a Deep Gnome tape and patch from the Forbidden Keep distro

Will has a tape player that they take out with them but when it's at home it's connected to a pair of old pc speakers and it's a very good time to clonk in a tape and listen to the crunchy sounds.