My goodness, can it really be a year since we doo-dah-doo-dah-diddlyed around Minchinhampton Common after a night at Giffords Circus?  With a bunch of friends, we were there on the Common early Saturday evening enjoying a glass of Pimms before the show in less than summery temperatures.

One of us had come prepared, having made the mask which came with our mailshot this year.  We were all set for War and Peace!

I’m sure there can be few such beautiful peasants back there in the steppes!

Sitting on the wooden benches in the circus tent, we enjoyed half an hour of clowning around with Tweedy.  The children sitting in front of us were roaring with laughter and in no time at all, we were too.  So clever, so simple but oh, so funny.

Telling the story of War and Peace wasn’t going to be easy, but somehow they managed it rather well and anyway, even if you didn’t follow the story, the entertainment was as brilliant as always.

Petrushka and his doll did a fantastic act, tap dancing up and down the steps, first on feet but then, on hands.  Remarkable!

The Pavlovs were a talented bunch – having left us speechless at her ability to perform the most breathtaking gymnastics on a narrow beam held shoulder high by her colleagues, the petite and very serious young woman went on to jump through a hoop of fire.  She then stood bravely in the middle of a frame as the four men of the troupe performed a complex series of high bar swings around her.  Wow!

Napoleon (aka Tamerlan Tsoraev) made an appropriately statesmanlike entry and performed an odd knife-throwing act, but we loved his super-slick moves and haughty manner (not to mention his rather fetching thigh-high leather boots!)  We also loved Bibi and Bichu’s drunken juggling act this year and reminded ourselves once again, that there’s nothing like seeing these traditional circus skills performed in such a delightful setting.  We ooohed and aaaahed along with everyone else.  The magic of a live performance cannot be matched and an evening in this particular big top is one of the highlights of our year.

There is always the “awww” moment too.

The after-show supper in Circus Sauce was as good, if not better than ever – great food served in a jolly atmosphere.  We were buzzing!

A  l-o-n-g lunch at home with friends yesterday afternoon was just the perfect way to end a great weekend, but how quickly the time goes when we’re having fun. Here we are, Monday morning and everyone’s gone their separate ways.  The house suddenly seems rather quiet.