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 .............