Bartimaeus

The day after I wrote Your Feet's Too Big  we met some swans and cygnets. They were swimming with their usual grace but not quickly. The little ones needed to be kept together. The babies were using both feet but the leading parent was using only one. At first the foot was less obvious folded over her back but  then I saw the foot splayed, to no useful purpose that I could see, to cool down, dry off, avoid cramp or just to show off. Certainly it was like a contortionist doing an extra unexpected trick and all thetime making it look effortless.

We reached Tamworth and had a trip into town, meadering through the gardens and around the outside of the castle. We found a cafe for lunch and then returned through the market to the park by a different path, which brought us closer to the big top that was visiting. The name looked familiar so we investigated the times and saw that the next day was it's last here and it was indeed the same company that had previously entertained us in Nuneaton. The afternoon performance was already in full swing (possibly literally) and I could hear the familiar rousing tune of Lose Control drifting across. If there is anything the circus performance depends on, it is not losing control, yet simultaneously appearing like that may indeed happen at any moment. 

The next day we headed parkward to take in the final Tamworth show. Bryn and Nye rang us on the way for a father's day family chat. Our circus skills are not up to anything, we are ahead of walking and chewing gum at the same time, but not by much. Maintaining four-way video chat, sharing a camera while climbing and negotiating an over pass while avoiding others coming the other way was on the edges really. Once by the circus area we were standing still but also trying show Bryn and Nye the amazing vehicles that were around the perimeter. They were huge and expanded when not travelling. This was a whole league above narrowboats and camper vans for maximising space and versatility. 

We could see a couple of motorbikes and guessed the finale of three motorbikes doing death wall riding in a metal cage was still in the programme, but wondered what other acts would be familiar or completely new. The seating is wooden benching in tiered rows. By luck rather than judgement, I chose a row, with a back rest, which Shane was glad of when he noticed the rows with and without a back alternated. To be fair in the event soft comfy chairs were not necessary: "Sit back and enjoy the show" was not an instruction I was able to follow, since I was either jiggling to the music in the gaps between performances or on the edge of my seat with anticipation during them. Some acts were more hair raising than others, and one very much so, an aerial performance with two young ladies attached to the wires, or each other by a clip in their hair while flying up to the higher reaches of the canopy and blurring like a spinning top.

I am impressed how well my coiled hair can stay in place with a single stick pushed through it, but I wouldn't want to be suspended by it, never mind the gymnastics and gyroscopic adjustments - and keep smiling.

There were indeed acts I hadn't remembered, including the woman tumbling and turning in a swinging chandelier like structure. This was the act performed to the song I had heard the day before and in deed losing control was something  that she and her spotters were working very hard to avoid. Grace and elegance were only possible with enormous strength.

When we returned to our seats after the interval, there was a new prop at the side of the arena. A huge contraption with man sized hamster wheels, each about 8 foot diameter and connected together by metal bars, that could revolve while being turned in an even larger circle, as the bars turned. I wondered if the motorbikes might ride in them, but no, these were controlled by the performers' own weight and movement; they performed hops, skips and jumps on the inside and outside of the revolving wheels,  reaching the roof. 

The cycle cage appeared later. The stunt bikers had changed their routine and in stead of three there were four. This didn't seem possible but seeing is believing! As with many other acts the split second timing was breathtaking, and trust in your team paramount. I didn't risk missing anything or attempt to capture the blur of neon motorbikes roaring up and around, but here is the sphere with people around for scale.

We thoroughly enjoyed it, the thrills were plentiful and the spills of the Circus Zyair were fortunately confined to the clown's popcorn. The lights were being taken down as we filed out and the encircling fence,  Lookout Lounge Bar and food stalls were already packed away when we exited. 

The next day we moved on towards the more mundane task of getting water in our tank, once we had topped up a wandering tea-lover on the towpath. He didn't seem to have his life fully under control but he had a friendly relaxed manner and delicate approach that seemed to be getting his immediate needs met, and he seemed to be a 'live in the moment' kind of guy. 

At the water point, a boat was just mooring ahead of us. The woman warned us about the goose poo that she was trying hard not to step on. The geese and group of goslings wandered away and despite their guarding propensities they were unruffled by me stepping off the boat with the rope and walking past them. The other woman didn't want to walk her dog past the geese, as they might be extra protective when a dog passes. I wasn't sure if it was her, the geese or the dog that was most wary. As they were leaving she was fighting a losing battle trying to keep her ropes out of the goose turd. Somehow Shane managed not to have the same struggle. The short strop meant there was a simple loop over the bollard. Our short rope at that end meant we were not close enough to the tap use our short hose. Wrangling a long rope is easier than the long hose with springy coils that go in different directions. At this point Shane volunteered to go to the shop while the water filled so there were not two to manage the tap and end and I really wished we had been near enough to use the shorter hose which would be much easier to control and lay flat to avoid a trip hazard to the public.

We had two locks to do and Shane passed me the helm so he could work them. I had a brief worry that he would lose his footing as he crossed the gap in the double gates as he seemed to hesitate and find it more awkward than normal getting round and on to solid ground, but all was well. A woman approached from the other lock. I could see another boat waiting with open gates. There was plenty room to pass at his end but moored boats at my end. The woman said to go ahead and she would signal him to come forward when I was passed. It is unusual for the lockers to instruct other drivers but I had thought that was the best place to pass anyway. When he saw me emerge he started coming forward too and I could see the woman trying to tell him to stop, but it was no problem as he wasn't hurrying just getting out of my way and giving me a clear run through. We had it all under control. We moored up soon after. In the afternoon, we had a walk and as we were returning I was feeling a bit hot and light headed and we thought a visit to the nearby pub would be good and might even suit for evening meal. Perusing the bar I saw a mango cider. Another customer said she thought if I hadn't had it I should try it. It was unfizzy, the barmaid warned, and I have to say it was like nectar. If I had had a pint on my empty stomach it would have made me very light headed indeed as it was easy to drink fast without the fizz. Shane had chosen half pint of beer but was talked into a pint, as there was a special offer on it. He chose a seat in the garden beside the friendly customer. We enjoyed our drink and her company but decided against eating there. Shane felt himself a little swimmy on the walk back. 

We moved on again the next day. There were plenty boats and we were going very gently. It was wide but quite shallow on the non towpath side where we had to go when boats approached so occasionally we skiffed the bottom, but no worries especially as we were taking it gently so never got stuck. One passing boat said we had a considerable stick stuck on our front. I said I would deal with that. That can affect the steering as well as shallow water. I looked down and saw it was a bargepole so I got the boat hook down and it moved easily. They are three metres long so it was a big stick. It had broken part way along and I imagined somebody being stuck so hard in the shallows that the barge pole had been broken trying to get them out which was no help at all. Or perhaps they just dropped it in and the breakage happened later. Either way someone had lost a useful bit of kit for getting out of a sticky situation. We realised we hadn't used our barge pole in a long time.