An Evening with Lynette

It's not every day that you have dinner with an erstwhile Sandhurst lecturer who's taught the Prince of Wales.

I've always admired Lynette Nusbacher for a number of reasons. First for her ability to enliven Military History in her appearances on various programs on the History Channel, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, BBC2 etc etc. Her passion for the subject is obvious. She's also one of the few women who knows considerably more about the subject than I do. A role model for female military historians everywhere.

Second, as a woman who endured the slings and arrows of an outrageous press corps during her unavoidably public transition from her former incarnation as Aryeh, and did so with grace and quiet courage. I did a little in her defence on some military fora here and there when she was unable to comment herself, and although I didn't do very much, she appreciated what I was able to do. It helped.

She's currently working on sensitive issues, so we couldn't talk shop. But we did have a long natter over dinner, I introduced her to Roo and Beetroot at a fairly upmarket restaurant - as a way of saying thanks for her work - and we discussed the intricacies of adjusting one's SCA persona as the result of transition. A lot of talk about our children, of course, and various other subjects. I left her with a bottle of Politarchopolis Port (AS XXVI) and a packet of double-choc coated Tim Tams. The former for a forthcoming coronet tournament, the latter to be shared with her daughters.

And if I had not transitioned, I never would have met her.