So,
eventually my own kids grew up and flew the nest and I flew off into
the sunset. Well, actually into a freezing London to see if the British
Education System had anything to teach me. It did not. So I ran away
and joined a circus, realising the dream of many young girls growing
up in the 50's—only I was more than halfway through my own 50's
at the time…..
I hit on the idea to offer my services to any circus (there were a
lot of options to make contact with online) as extra pair of hands,
maybe for a week-end—just for the hell of it.
And no, I was not aiming to be the Daring Young Lady on the Flying
Trapeze. I got a reply for this small family show and met up with
them for a week-end and ended up joining them as the Candy-Floss lady
after doing a quick internet search and buying myself a little campervan
for the purpose.
To make a long story short, I graduated from Candy-Floss lady [during
which time I ended every day looking like Miss Havisham (Charles Dickens:
Great Expectations), sitting among her cobwebs] to the very illustrious
sounding Director of PR & Marketing in one step and I was in! As it
was a small show, and we played to Schools and Charities as a fund-raising
event, everybody was part of the build-up and break-down and I promise
you one of the highlights of every arrival at a school was seeing
the school building list to one side as all the kids rushed to the
windows to see our convoy arrive.
As part of my PR duties, I had to liaise with the school staff and
present Information Sessions about the Circus for the kids. This proved
to be a source of great fun at times and also gave me a taste of a
different kind of interaction with kids.
One day I had to go into the school to find out something, and the
kids had obviously been warned that the "Circus People" were around,
and while I was standing in the corridor waiting to see whoever it
was, a little girl came up to me and asked earnestly and politely:
"Are you a Circus People?" I admitted that I indeed was a "Circus
People" and we parted, both enriched by the little encounter.
Part 6: Invisible
Shoes › |
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