Sunning(un)well and other pretty locations...

Well the weather certainly didn't treat us at all nicely at our last venues. Rain, mud and cold winds made the show a challenge to say the least! And Sunningwell wasn't at all true to its name; it was neither sunny, nor was anybody very well. There was a very nasty cough virus going round and it finally decided to come round to me. A six-show weekend coughing all over the poor audience wasn't at all amusing and of course there was then the pull down and build which completely finished me off. By the time our day off came around, I was a bit of a wreck. On build day, after clumsily moping along, precariously carrying the seating boards unhelpfully to the wrong place for most of the day, I found myself doing the stocktake for the Giffords Circus shop and somehow managed to wack my head on the ceiling whilst counting the lollipops (don't even ask how) and that was it; I dissolved into a hysterical mess. Luckily the box office manager, Rosie, was trained in first aid and had me lie on the box office floor with my feet up against a chair and an ice pack on my head, while she served customers. It must have been really weird for the public, seeing a couple of green wellies sprouting up from the floor coupled with intermittent sobs from somewhere within the little boxy wagon. It was not a good day, but in hindsight it was probably quite funny.

Anyway, the show must go on, they roared, and it did, of course. Although my cough was getting worse and underneath the make-up, glitter and smiles I was feeling absolutely awful. Boo!

Not amused. Make-up doesn't make you feel better.

Possibly my most fake smile yet.

 I literally just did the shows and went to bed with a cup of lemsip as soon as they were over. It was no fun at all, and being cooped up in a tiny, dusty bunk being kept awake half the night with a horrible cough is something I wouldn't wish upon anyone.

At least these get-well flowers made my mudddy bunk slightly nicer.

Although I wasn't enjoying circus life so much, I couldn't help but appreciate the locations we were in. Broadway is the twee-est Cotswold town I've ever been to. Its high street consists mainly of tearooms. On move day out of Broadway we went to the poshest pub ever, where I had carrot and something (which was so posh the waiter didn't even know what it was) soup. We were in our standard move day get-up of high vis jackets, wellies and unkempt hair with yesterday's makeup still on. Don't think the posh pub appreciated that, or us running to the toilets in our socks, but we didn't really care what we looked like- at least we'd taken off our wellies at the door!

We've certainly had our fill of pretty tea rooms too. Here's an example of one we went to the other day in Tackley:

Tea and cake = happy circus people!

It was the prettiest place I've ever been to. There were tables and chairs right by a river and we drank tea out of patterned bone china cups and a proper silver tea service. And the cake was to die for! We had five slices between five of us which we passed around every couple of minutes until there were just crumbs left. And the amazing thing was it was all on the house because the woman who ran the tea room, Jane, was a great fan of the circus. She'd seen the show twice already and her tea room toilet was a little Giffords Circus shrine. Sometimes you do get a nice little perk when you're in a circus. Thanks Jane!

 

Probably the poshest tea I've ever had.

Anyway, enough tea; (you can never have enough tea!) sadly I'm still not well enough for circus (cough, cough) so let's hope I get better soon so I can continue this crazy experience!

More? You want more?! Try these for size...

Jubilant Newbury
A snippet of the show...
The adventure begins!

Newbury and Jubilee

Time is flowing by faster than ever at the circus; I can't believe it's June already?! For a start, the weather is not looking summery at all. We've had terrible winds and horrible rain; and last week we had to pull the tent down in an absolute downpour. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I expected. This might have had something to do with my waterproof trouser-jacket-welly ensemble, which may have looked incredibly uncool, but was so very practical. That once-annoying 'comfort over style' rule is something you have to adhere to here. Some people, dressed in leggings and tiny shoes, were getting drenched. But, probably because the weather was so nasty and we all wanted to get away really quickly, we worked like little ants and managed to finish in 2.5 hours, which is so far the quickest we have ever taken down the tent. Although it sounds horrible, Hannah and I have found that our favourite job on move day day is scooping up all the sawdust from the ring and dumping it into the horse muck trailer. Sounds nice? It's better than being in the way of the metal A-frame as they go off on their way to the lorry; they really hurt if they fall on your foot, as I discovered last week. That wasn't very fun...next purchase = steel toe capped boots!

The move-day sarnies kept us going in the rain!

The last place we stopped off at was Newbury and, so far, this has been my favourite circus stop. It's funny how the different sites have had different feelings surrounding them; some nicer than others. I instantly liked Newbury; we were set up in a huge park with neat lawns, adventure playgrounds and flowerbeds- and with the tiny town and railway station only a stone's throw away. This was definitely good omen! We always jump at the chance to 'get off site', as cabin fever has a habit of setting in; especially when familiar coffee shops an Wifi are all too far away. You find yourself going slightly crazy at times, especially when you spend all of your life living in a field!

'Wifi club'
'High vis' = height of fashion

Newbury had a plethora of Wifi and coffee shops and so our technology needs were more than met.  And it was great because everybody was beginning to let down their hair a little. We danced away at the French Quarter to Latino beats with gin and tonics a-plenty and then hit the night clubs in town until the early hours. Then we all piled onto 'ring boy' Joe Bear's (yes, that is his real name) bicycle, with kebabs and chips in hand, and rode back to camp in a very unbalanced fashion. It seems that nothing is crazy any more, now that I'm in a circus!

And of course there were the jubilant jubilee celebrations, so everybody was out having fun around town. Hannah, Beth and Gemma (members of the Giffords Circus band) strung bunting (a.k.a 'bunking') across their bunk, which looked really festive. Before each show began we said three cheers to her majesty and during the short break between performances we took a look at the other festivities that were taking place. We were ushered into the Newbury boules club by a couple of elderly ladies who offered us free tea and union jack adorned cakes. It was brilliant! We wanted to go on the bouncy castle too, but decided the kids would get annoyed. We even invented our own collection of monarchy-inspired dance moves to scare the locals with. Unfortunately, I didn't take any videos to enlighten you with, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Jubilicious! Beth and victoria sponge

All in all, our jaunt to Newbury was exceedingly jubilant; we really enjoyed being near civilization, and also a boating pond. Our next venture is to Sunningwell. I've never heard of it before, but let's just hope it is indeed sunning and well. Although looking at the 5-day forecast, I'm not too sure. Let the good times roll...

Normal dress for afternoon tea


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Sneak preview of The Saturday Book

Hey there Socircus fans!

So here's a little sneak preview of what we've been working on over the past month and a half- hope you enjoy! The singing and dancing usherettes appear at around 1:26 for a split second! Woohoo! 

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The start of my Giffords tour

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