The Circus Part 2

There were a number of different kinds of juggling, with hands and feet, rings and balls, from the ground and high in the air. My favourite was the juggling with brightly coloured scarves, to the tune of Bolero. These very lightweight scarves drifted and twisted gracefully and had to be deftly snatched by the performer as the music became faster and faster.

Acrobats performed nimbly on the high wire and the slack wire, sometimes with ropes and ribbons and often combined with juggling.
One young woman had a terrific act with hula hoops. Her grande finale was when fellow performers threw more and more hoops to her, sometimes 10 at a time. These went over her head and down, until most of her body was thickly covered in hoops, all twirling merrily.

The tightrope walker provided great entertainment. Pretending to be unsteady on his feet must surely have been harder than just walking across the high wire! Beneath him were two clowns holding a very small light blanket, pretending to be very concerned. A chair was tossed up to him and he balanced this in the centre. Balancing the long pole, he sat on the chair, climbed up on it and generally fooled around --- far steadier than I am on a chair at ground level!! Finishing his act with the chair, he dropped it and it was caught in the little blanket! He abandoned the pole and fussed around a little on the platform. Then he walked confidently to the centre, where he faced the audience and promptly fell forwards off the wire, accompanied by huge gasps of panic. While we were all still in mid gasp, he swung 360 degrees ---- and we realised that he was attached to the wire by something on his shoes. PHEW!

The clowns played out many little diversionary scenes between acts, then one commenced an act of his own. He walked around the audience, with a spotlight hovering over faces until he chose someone. A young man and woman were taken into the ring and given a skipping rope, which they swung while the clown jumped. Communicating with them via whistles, he got the man to jump. Then he put a blindfold over the man's eyes and whispered in his ear. We guessed that he told him to jump every time he heard the whistle. The man was poised ready but the rope swung and there was no whistle, so his feet caught the rope. Quietly, the clown took the rope from the woman. He slapped it on the ground and blew his whistle. The man jumped obediently. This was repeated over and over, with the whistles coming faster and faster and the audience clapping and laughing. We spoke to the man on our way out and asked him if the clown had said to jump when he whistled. "Yes", was his reply,"but my wife has only just this minute told me that there was no rope to jump. I was congratulating myself on jumping so well."

Then, to my great glee, the spotlight played over Steve's face. I held my breath, hoping like mad that he would be chosen!!! My dear, shy husband, who embarrasses so easily! What a naughty wife he has!! And chosen he was. He was made to sit on a tiny stool beside a young woman from the audience. They faced a large, plastic, old fashioned type camera. The clown demonstrated, move by move, how he wanted them to pose. They ended up cuddled close together while he ducked under the cover pretending to take their photo. "The photo" turned out to be of two monkeys! Lastly, he got them to jive around in time to the music, insisting on wiggling hips. I thought I was going to burst! This is the man who wouldn't dream of wiggling his hips on a dark dance floor with only the two of us present :-) I had to try hard not to laugh in case it made me cough; I was doubled up, rocking back and forth, with tears streaming down my face.
As we left, the clown, who had changed clothes by this time and was helping to pack up, came up and thanked Steve for his cooperation. I felt like kissing him!!

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The Circus

Before we got sick, we had booked tickets for the Circus Royale that was coming to town. Emily, Carissa and Lilly were very excited, as indeed was I and their grandmother, Marion. I don't know that Steve was excited but he sure enjoyed himself!

The girls were devastated when it looked as if I might not be well enough to go. I was really looking forward to it, so I swallowed pills and potions, armed myself with a box of tissues and away we all went on June 20.

The last circus I had seen in the 1970s was large and rather tatty. This one was small and very neat. Even the caravans were beautifully decorated in blue and white and made to resemble the old style gypsy caravans.

The Big Top (in this case, Little Top) had a pretty vinyl floor and a cute gold, red and white small fence around the circle. We had opted for ring side seats and were in the front row. We saw that vinyl floor folded up and spread out a number of times and admired the deftness of the two men who worked in darkness.

The performers were extremely versatile, able to go from juggling, to animal handling to selling tickets or food.

We were surprised by the number of animal acts, given the small circle but they were adapted to suit. Geese were trained to climb up a ladder and come down a slide. It gave me a good laugh to think how I had missed an opportunity to train the ducks when we were on the farm!
Ponies behaved beautifully; in one sequence they put their feet up on boxes around the circle and a little dog ran round between their legs; in another, they put their front feet on the pony in front of them.
The camels, never a favourite of mine, were grumpy and disobedient but even that was a laugh. One attempted to perform but the other kept sneaking away from the handler and cuddling up to the obedient camel, keeping its head down and its eyes averted.
Two small llamas trotted around politely; I was amazed to see their frail looking legs.

We liked the friesian cows best. They were unbelievably large and when they put their front feet up on blocks around the edge, their massive heads were almost touching our faces. We felt a little homesick!!! The girls were shocked, horrified and almost ready to go home when the animals pooped!

More later .............

The Taswegians have arrived!

Sue and Richard arrived a week ago, in their A van and are parked opposite us.
This is a real HIGH.
Keeping them at bay was a mutual decision at first but now we all feel safe that the germs won't be flying around.

I hope that many of you are lucky enough to have friends like Sue and Richard. They are so comfortable to be with ---- they talk just the right amount and are silent just the right amount. They aren't judgemental but they happily give their opinions when requested. There are no taboo topics and we cover a great variety of subjects. Although we don't see each other for 2 or 3 years, we pick up where we left off.

I first met them in the summer of 1971, when we moved into the teacher's house in Dartmoor and they were farming a little way out of town.
We arrived out there one day when they were gathering from their fruit and vegie patch. Their youngest, Joe, was a baby, sitting on a blanket on the ground. After a while, we packed up to go inside. When Joe was picked up, there was a bulge beneath his blanket. It was soon revealed to be a large snake. No doubt, it was pleasantly warm, cuddled up to Joe. This is one story from our joint history that I delight in repeating!!!

I'm looking forward to many days in the pools with them before they have to return to Launceston.

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Better!!!!!!

That had better be IT for another few years!!! I'm very glad that Steve recovered unusually rapidly for him -- about 8 days. After nearly 3 weeks, I now pronounce myself back in the land of the living.

I'll now cast around in my mind for the highs amid the lows.

This is a pig of a cold/flu.

Just peep through the keyhole..... I'm not better yet.
Steve has been good for a few days but I'm taking my time.
I'll be back.

Quick ---- on with your face masks.

Out with your disinfectant spray. Thoroughly wash your hands after your mouse touches this page.
We have been holed up for the last 5 days with a vigorous bug.
A caravan is not the best place for having a cold/flu and it requires a lot of patience, on both sides.... There's no spare room to use as a retreat. We make no attempt to coordinate our coughing, in case the van takes flight and leaps over the fence.
Until next time ...................................

The wedding

We went to a lovely wedding in the town park at 11 am on Saturday. The service was conducted in a sweet little rotunda set in a large circular lawn, surrounded by white roses, with 4 white stone paths intersecting the circle.

Tracy, Lindy's youngest sister, married Scott in a simple and beautiful ceremony. Tracy's little girl, Lilly, aged 6, was the ring bearer.


Tracy's parents gave her away. Marion and Richard run the kiosk here at the caravan park.

Scott's "best man" was his cousin, Rachel, who did one of the readings.

The bridesmaid, flowergirl and ring bearer all looked stunning and carried glorious bouquets.

At the end of the service, Scott, Tracy and Lilly all poured different colored sands into a decorative glass urn. This was to symbolise how their unique personalities blend together to form a beautiful new family pattern.

I don't know how we failed to get photos of Emily and Carissa who were looking lovely in their new clothes. (We might not be forgiven for that oversight in a hurry!!) They hastened to show us their hair styles --- Emily had her gorgeous curls straightened and Carissa had hers set into a cluster of golden curls.

Lights

Steve has installed ceiling lights in the lounge and the kitchen. Twin fluoro lights, they run off mains electricity, 240 volt, at present, but also off 12 volt.
This meant cutting through the steel ceiling with the angle grinder. Now there's a sight, sound and smell in a caravan!!

Pool Views

As always, there are "pool views" on everything under the sun. I told Neville that I will get all the caravan park news from him and publish it the next morning.----- but that would halt a lot of discussion!!
The new pool being built is the greatest source for stories. It's hard to believe that people can loudly pontificate on a subject, with all the wrong facts. Neville can tell us at 1pm what they are doing with the pool and at 2pm, we can hear the opposite! Don't they realise that if they haven't heard a thing first hand, from someone who knows, that the information is not necessarily correct??? Steve and I say nothing. We don't want to get into an argument with the loud-mouths, so we just smile inside.

Gardening

Neville and the gardener Wayne have been mowing the grass across the front of this site, ever since we left here last December. They removed the logs that had made it into a garden bed and apparently it made quite a nice lawn. All of a sudden, the rain came and up popped the bulbs ---- lilies, iris and jonquils.
Steve was persuaded to dig up the bulbs and replant them elsewhere. Now they are are free from lawnmowers! It made for good discussion in the pools ........ all the men agreed with Steve and Neville, that concrete lawns and brick hedges are the best kind of garden. The women were of my opinion. I'm hopeful that the bulbs will still flower this season but if they don't, they will next year.