The Ubiquitous Umbrella

Aaannd... I say thank you to those who wished my family and I luck, and stuff.

As a sign of gratitude, I would like to share a small tidbit on using, again, the ubiquitous umbrella, as a self-defense tool.

As Mother Nature would have it, here I am, sitting in my office, staring blankly at the dark skies beyond the citysscapes, pondering my fate without my trusty red umbrella in sight.

My red umbrella had an accident. Carelessness on my part, actually. Involving a huge ass bus to boot. Cutting the story short, my umbrella is no more. Long live my red umbrella.

Anyway, back to me staring blankly to the darkened skyes (typo intentional), feeling oh so defenseless without my primary defensive tool, I can't help to ponder how I would use my umbrella in a self-defense situation.

I ran across this transcript, Cold Steel, written by John Styers.

Now, John Styers was a student of A.J. Biddle, who tried to incorporate elements of dueling into the USMC knife fighting repertoire. It didn't go very well, since the marines aren't that hot on dueling. But, Biddle did have some long-standing students, such as Mr. Steyrs here.

Now, though I find Styers method on knife and empty hand fighting somewhat suspect (since the knife is about dueling and the hand-to-hand has holes the size of Titanic in the guard), the bayonet fencing is very simple and directly applicable to umbrella for self-defense.

For starters, the Guard position is an effective fence-like stance to assert personal space.

Second, the Beat Thrust maneuvre is simple and gross enough to learn in short time for self-defense. You step aside while parrying (beating the attack), and follow up with a simple thrust with your whole bodyweight behind it to the head.

Check it out. I think you will like it.

Yet, I do have one reserve. If it downpours later in the afternoon, how am I supposed to go home early? I do despise staying late in the office.

Be safe.