Circus Show

I wonder whether this will become a routine - heading to The Aeronaut on a Friday night, on a cheap ticket to the circus show. Well, despite the long journey involved, I know it's a great venue and a great show, so I had no hesitation in booking.

Today should have been an easy day, working from home. Instead, I found myself involved in a most unexpected and unappreciated spat with London Dramatic Arts, the upshot of which is, no links to blog posts (mine, of course) or ticket resellers (mentioned in my blog) are to be entered on the group’s pages any more. No advertising of alternate ticket sources, basically. This is new - the organiser always said, up to very recently, that she was happy for people to buy their own tickets.

Well, this spat does make me feel somewhat persecuted, which is a shame, as I always considered this group friendly. I hope they continue to be - not least because I'm scheduled to attend five more events they're going to, for three of which I bought the tickets from them, and for another of which I've been listed as going with them. Anyway, I've learned my lesson - (a) no more mention of my blog on their pages, and (b) if, and when, I buy my own ticket in future for events that they're attending, no more mention of that on their pages, either!

Well, as I say, all this quite shook me, and I ended up finishing off my bottle of wine - a good idea, it cheered me up a bit. I headed off in time to catch the Overground to Shepherd's Bush, and had the directions from there saved on my phone. Yet again, the #207 was the first to arrive - although the #607 is also an option, I wonder whether it's less frequent. The bus was really crowded. Like last time, the beep when the button was pressed was unpleasantly loud. Unlike last time, the driver let me (and another woman, again - but a different one) off where we wanted; mind you, the fact that he'd had to stop at every single stop along the way probably got him in the habit.

I made my way back down the road in a light drizzle. Interestingly, although I could go straight through the doors ahead the last time, on this occasion I was directed through the bar. There was a red rope to the right, where I queued for some minutes to get into the performance area - when I got to the head of the queue, someone checked off my name and someone else stamped my wrist. And, yet again, I got led to the very end of the room - the other side of the stage, this time, at the end of a bench outside the gents. Similar to the seat I got last time, except the gents are busier - of course - and this time there was no blinding white light in my eyes.

The MC this time was a lady in corset and fishnets. Again, five acts - three before the interval, two after. Again, the first was a lady that juggled hoops - this was a different lady, though, and very artistic: a joy to watch. After her came a lady who did a kind of parody of an exotic dance - including various items of fruit, and a semi-willing audience participant. Last for the first half was a male acrobat - this one didn't take his shirt off, but did leave it quite open.. which was nice of him. And his act was wonderfully balletic.

After the interval, we had a terrific aerialist, to the soundtrack of a remix of Born to be Wild.. And last of the evening was a young lady on the piano (well, keyboard) - she composed and performed rather good comic songs. And we got to see just how good she was, when a beefy guy hopped on stage near the end - presumably to request something. Well, of course, that didn't go down well at all, and two security guys hustled him off. In no time flat, he finished his drink, and he and his female companion grabbed their coats and left - via the stage - both giving her the finger. "Stand By Your Man", I guess. Our performer? Why, she composed and performed a little ditty on the spot, entitled "Did you just give me the finger?" or words to that effect. Sterling stuff!

I left straight after she'd finished - sitting on my own, on a backless bench, in a noisy pub ain't my idea of a fun night. It was still raining, but at least - unlike last time - a bus didn't sail past just as I approached the stop. So much for the "6 to 8 minutes" estimated waiting time though - I was shivering there for at least 15 (and it had, indeed, got much colder). The platform announcements, back at the station, were optimistic - they promised trains were approaching when there was no sign of them, and said they were now pulling up at the platform when they had just been sighted! Anyway, my train came at last, depositing me all the way at the other end of Clapham Junction station, from where I shivered my way home.

Tomorrow, I'm back with the London European Club, for Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, at Sadler's Wells. Sold out now. Part of their Flamenco Festival. Olé! And am I glad they just left us to buy our own tickets.. On Sunday, I'm finally heading to one of those famous free gigs at the Finsbury - there are actually two Meetup groups heading there, I've signed up with both! - specifically, the World Music Meetup and London Gigs and Alternative Events.. 6 currently going to each, I see, but not the same 6, by the look of it..