Tonight - headed out to Elstree, of all places, for Giffords Circus. Well, it was the best of what I saw advertised.. it's a helluva journey, and I planned to eat out there - they apparently had "food wagons". Well, I'm not working now, so I could leave at whatever time I needed to!
Whatever way you look at it, the quickest is train, then bus - which, depending on your route, should get you there in just under an hour. At best. So, I found myself on the Thameslink for the first time - on a train headed for Luton! Ah, so that's where it is - I'd always vaguely wondered. I was a bit puzzled by Google Maps' insistence that the train left from Platform B - but, sure enough, there are only two, dedicated, Thameslink platforms in St. Pancras. Now, I've fallen foul of the size of St. Pancras before - so I left home half an hour before the train was due to leave, despite Google Maps telling me I'd make it in less than half that time. And sure enough, the Thameslink platforms were right up the other end - I followed signs for "Trains to the airport". And made it with five minutes to spare.
Lovely, quiet, reasonably clean, air-conditioned trains. It took something like half an hour to travel the three stops to Elstree, then it was easy as pie to find the bus stop, right outside the station entrance - where an LCD screen informed me that I'd have to wait a few minutes. The bus journey, I have to say, was one of the bumpier I've had - and then I had to walk for a quarter of an hour or so. It's quite a rural-looking bit of the world - much of the architecture is pleasantly red-brick, there's lots of greenery. And I mused, as car after car zoomed past me, that heavy traffic seems to be a characteristic of the English countryside. So, it doesn't exactly feel.. rural. Meantime, I had the misfortune to be wearing sandals that chafed my feet - so it wasn't the pleasantest walk. Particularly when I discovered that the footpath on my side petered out - and with all that traffic, I wasn't risking walking on the road! So I carried on, on the wrong side of the road..
I came there in due course - I do believe I was the only person who didn't come by car. And the path in was all churned up, as by a tractor - so, tricky in sandals. I did make it, in the end. Was passed by a couple of circus employees, in costume, who bade me a cheery hello. Giffords obviously own all the catering vans - they're all painted in the same livery as the souvenir van, the toilet van - and, by the looks of it, the private vans for the performers!
My first mission was food - there were really only two food vans though: the burger van, and the Creperie. Now, had you been willing to pay a hefty sum, you could have signed up for the "circus sauce", a slap-up meal held in an adjacent tent. I hadn't. I decided the Creperie sounded more appealing - and was intrigued by the beef bourgignon crepe. Didn't take long for me to be served - and they also provide (wooden) knives and forks, and napkins. I had to sit on the ground to eat it properly - there wasn't anywhere else. Indeed, the filling was beef bourgignon. However, as a crepe.. nah. Weird. I didn't finish it. Happily, each van has its own bin. My trip to the bar, next, was more successful - although they only sell medium glasses of wine. And I'd hardly started mine when they started to let people in.
Seating - apart from "reserved" seats at the front, which I think are a perk of the "circus sauce" - is unassigned. But there isn't really a bad seat - the big top isn't that big!
An Aladdin's cave, to the side, stores props for upcoming acts:
Aw, this is such a terrific circus! They go with a French theme throughout - as per the title. The soundtrack is almost all French, or French-related, pop and classical - everything from Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens to Voulez-Vous, by Abba! by way of I Dreamed a Dream, from Les Misérables.. and the costumes are French-inspired:
All the acts have French names, too - these are the Soeurs d'Étoiles (Star Sisters):
A love story, involving a masked admirer, permeates the show:
and yes, you can't quite see it here, but she's wearing a bustle:
The artistry is terrific:
The classic French clown, Pierrot, makes an appearance:
The only animals in the show are miniature ponies - described by the ringmaster as "fat dalmatians":
This is the same ringmaster who turns up later as a trapeze artist! Everyone earns their way in this show - even the ponies double-job!
And the acts themselves are really accomplished - what this pair got up to was awe-inspiring, roller-skating around this small platform, and swinging off each other:
Some shadow-puppets:
A very stylish show, really entertaining - and let's not forget the clown, Tweedy, who is quite hilarious! The crowd get dragged into the ring at the end for a dance.. and mind you, there is a little audience interaction in general:
Runs till Monday - very highly recommended, if you can make the trip - for me, it was quite a trek, but worth it. Mind you, I mused as I trudged along, it was uphill in this direction.. Oddly, Google Maps no longer suggested Thameslink as an option, suggested I take the Tube from Edgware instead, taking the same bus a bit further on. I had to think to myself - I'd always thought of Edgware as being at the far reaches of the earth: but this evening, as I took such pains to get there, it seemed like the pinnacle of civilisation! Of course, more fun ensued when I got there, considering that - being at the end of the line - all the trains go in the same basic direction.. bless Google Maps for directing me right. Of course, when I got to King's Cross, I was hungry again - so I ended the night in Pret.
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