Broadway

Broadway was another ground the circus played last year for the first time, so this year it is a new ground for us.

The High street is a stereo typical quaint English town. It is the type of place that many foreign tourists imagine most of England to be like, or at least want to believe that is what it is like. People have day trips to visit here, so it is fairly busy considering its size. A large portion of the shops cater to the tourist trade too with gift type shops, and places to have an afternoon tea. Unfortunately this isn't so great for us.

There was a supermarket but it was Budgens, so even that is quite expensive and small but certainly better than nothing and they sold Cartmel Sticky Toffee pudding so not all bad. Luckily I only realised this on the last day, otherwise I may have consumed too much.

The other place for food was a nice (but again expensive) Deli. I was drawn in via their window display, which includes some cider called Wobblejuice. They also sold scotch eggs made with black pudding, which actually tasted pretty good.

There was an amazing play park right next door to the circus ground, we just had to climb over the fence and we were in. Unlike most play parks, it also catered for adults with keep fit type equipment, zip lines and climbing walls. So it wasn't just the children who made the most of this.

www.giffordscircus.com
www.cartmelvillageshop.co.uk/

Cheltenham

Cheltenham was a bit odd as I felt I didn't really do anything here. On build up and the day off I was a Folly Farm as Willow was at school. So apart from a few trips to the supermarket we didn't really do much. This wasn't too bad though as we have spent quite a bit of time here over the last few months as it is the nearest big town to Folly. When we are at Folly we are not the only ones from the show that come and go. Some of the horses come back too and hang out in the field for a few days.

Being at the race course is really nice and there are spectacular views of stereo-typical English countryside.

When we first arrived a hot air balloon was getting ready to take to the sky, right next to where the caravans were being parked up.

We are right next to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire steam railway line. We were wondering why we hadn't been on it before but I think it is probably due to the cost. Also now I doubt any train will live up to what we were use to in America.

We had another charity performance, this time for SHN. There was the usual hog roast, which is always delicious, along with music and dancing after the show. There were also some limited edition Emma Bridgewater mugs on sale which I really liked.

The English weather hit us quite bad on Sunday and it was a all hands on deck type of day to make sure the tent was safe and secure as well making sure all the performances were incident free, which they were. Unfortunately the same can not be said for our awning, as it decided to take a flying leap over the caravan, poles and all. We were very lucky and the only damage was a few bent poles (we have spares) some stitching coming away and a tiny tear in a window.

Thankfully the weather had improved a little the next day for those pulling down the tent. Rain makes it miserable but wind makes it dangerous.

Hay on Wye

From Gloucester the circus headed to Hay on Wye for. It is one of our biggest jumps which takes two hours and takes us to another country, Wales. A far cry from a three day train run though. We were here for the Hay Festival.

Before when we have done the festival we have been down by the river but this year (and last year) we were right in the town centre in the grounds of the castle which is beautiful but very tight so we had to leave the car behind. This isn't too much of a problem though as you really don't use your car very much here unless you want to to pop over to England and visit the Co-op. Also because we are right in the town we have to be fairly quiet which meant no opening party which use to be tradition here but it also meant the rest of the time it was fairly quiet so there are bonuses I suppose. The main thing we missed being at the castle was being right next to the river which was always great fun; swimming, fishing, borrowing Bobs boat.

I booked Willow into a few workshops, as I did previous years. Those years though she wasn't working in the show and I think in hindsight it may have been to much for her as she was quite tired. Even so she enjoyed herself and enjoyed the time spent down at the festival. She made a silent film, cooked strawberry shortbread, was involved in the storyboard part of a new film being made and went on a treasure hunt among other things. Tweedy also went to a couple of events.

Hay on Wye is best know for its book shops and there are a lot of them, over 30. Specialist book shops and cheap book shops.

There isn't a supermarket in Hay which does add to its charm. You have to buy your meat from a butchers, your bread and cakes from the bakers and your veg from the fruit and veg shop. There is also a really nice deli/health food shop and a spar. If you want anything bigger to do your food shopping you have to walk in to England and go to the Co-op. This isn't as bad as it sounds as it is only a mile at the most. There is a pretty good hardware store, a launderette that sort of does the job, a post office, a Chinese take-away (Chop Suey House), a really good Indian restaurant called 'Red Indigo' and a variety of pubs. The closest pub to the castle was 'The Blue Boar' which did a really nice steak. So all in all most things you need for a couple of weeks.

When we arrived back in the UK we spent six weeks in Truro, then about four at my Mum and Dads before moving to Folly Farm for a few months. All of which have been fine, so it is really strange that once you get back on the road, two weeks suddenly feel so long. It felt like we where there forever which isn't a negative on the town it is just those itchy feet started and it was time to move. I'm sure for me it didn't help having no internet connection pretty much the whole time we were there.

Gloucester

We pulled out of Folly Farm and headed to Llanthony Priory beside Gloucester Historic Docks. This wasn't a new ground for Giffords as they had opened here last year but it was a new ground for us.

The ground itself was really nice and very close to the city centre, Gloucester Quays Designer Outlet Centre and Sainsburys. Always a plus when you can actually walk to a supermarket. The Outlet Centre was a little dangerous, especially since they had a Cadburys shop!

The first day we arrived there were Dragon boat races taking place.

Also close by was a craft centre that sold some really nice Willow stuff which I always like to find. We bought a few pieces for presents and some bits for ourselves, including a really nice string of stars.

Just before we got to Gloucester Willow had been studying Cathedrals at school so it was great to be able to go to the one here and carry on her studies. They have some good worksheets you can buy for a pound to learn all about it, so we visited a couple of times to get then completed and to learn what we needed to. The main interest for Willow though was some of the Harry Potters had been filmed here.

Gloucester is a nice city with some amazing buildings and once again I am reminded how old Britain is.

Bourton-on-the-Water

So we left Fareham and headed to Bourton-on-the-Water, in the Cotswolds.

The day after we arrived Willow started at the local village school. She has been to a right old mixed bag of schools over the years but seems to settle in well and luckily this was the case with this one too. She liked it because it was small with just over 80 pupils with only three girls in her year. So she got to mix a lot more with children older and younger due to mixed year classes. She managed to make lots of friends despite the school being small and spent many an evening round friends houses. Another thing I loved about the school is how close it was. By road it was only half a mile but if you cut across the back fields it only took 15 minutes to walk and had all of 100 yards of road to walk down. We made friends with the inhabitants of the fields on our way also with our favourite being Jerry the donkey.

Bourton is described as 'The Venice of the Cotswolds' and it is always packed with tourists, it is amazing just how busy the place gets. We have visited most of the attractions here over the years but on the first day of the tourist season we received some half price tickets so used them for the Model Village as Willow had been reading a book that had been based there so wanted to freshen her memory of what it was like. I love the small village within the village, within the village, etc. etc.

Even though I have always liked the Cotswolds and more specificity, Bourton-on-the-Water, this year there was something I noticed that was different from previous years and that was how friendly and supportive the community is. It made a real difference having Willow at school and I would have loved to have been more involved and even though we have since moved on I still feel a part of me is still there. I have never felt that before but maybe it is because I know we will be returning every now and then when we are close enough so Willow can go back to school.

Being in one place for a while also meant that I could sign Willow up for some classes. She wanted to go to hula hoop, as she had been learning this in America and wanted to continue. I did find one but it was an adult class but luckily they said she could go if an adult went with her. So I ended up signed up for hula hoop also and have to admit I have loved it and even managed to do it a little bit.

I am use to people recognising Tweedy, especially in the Giffords Circus catchment area, but with the year off and living in the area for a longer period, it seemed even more noticeable and also slightly mad.

The main reason for being in Bourton-on-the-Water, even though we arrived weeks/months before anyone else was for the rehearsals of the new Giffords Circus 'War and Peace at the Circus'. This is a manic time where a fairly peaceful farm suddenly becomes alive with all sorts of hustle and bustle. Prop and scene making taking over the barn, music being practised here there and everywhere, scripts being learnt and old and new friends coming together.

Finally the time comes to leave Bourton and head to Gloucester, the first ground of the 2011 tour.

Daisy

One of the reasons why I didn't want to stay in America for another two years was because of a small black, actually dark silver, oh OK mucky puddle coloured poodle. She was OK while we were in America though, in fact she was much better than OK as she stayed with my Mum and Dad and had a wonderful time but I missed her too much to stay another 2 years or even six months. Knowing what I know now I also realise the reason why I was so lonely and sad when we first got to America was because she wasn't with me. When Tweedy was working and Willow was in bed it was the first time I had been alone as before I always had her and didn't realise just how much a difference that made until now.

We came home just in time and within a month of being back we realised everything wasn't right with her. A few weeks later the tests started and we slowly started ticking off what 'wasn't' wrong with her until we finally ticked the box for Cushings disease which really wasn't one of the outcomes we wanted. There is no cure but the symptoms can be treated with life long, daily medication. Even with this though we had problems with the first dose being too high and her collapsing and the lower dose not being enough to control it. She would also have to have blood tests every 3 months to monitor how they were working.

She didn't like them though so it was a case of forcing them down her throat, but as always she was amazing. In the morning if I forgot to give her them she would remind me and come over and sit while I put them in her mouth and held her muzzle till she wagged her tail to let me know she had swallowed them.

For a while we thought they were working but her blood results were still all over the place so the vet decided to scan her liver which turned out to have something wrong with it other than the Cushings. So more tablets but these ones had to be chewed. Just as well she liked them, its easy enough to make a dog swallow tablets but to make one chew them, not so easy. She also had prescription dog food which she seemed to like.

Other than the expense and the nightmare we were having with E and L insurance it seemed to be going OK. She had been going downhill the last few months but it seemed the new tablets and diet were helping and she even got a burst of energy and played with Willow and growled at other dogs, just like she use to but it was short lived.

Suddenly, overnight she changed and wouldn't eat and seemed so tired. We tried her with chicken which she reluctantly ate before being sick so we took her to the emergency vet. She gave her an injection to stop her being sick and some morphine as she seemed in pain. She also gave us some dog food for her that all dogs love and was high in protein and calories so she wouldn't need as much. For a day I tried to get her to eat hoping that it would give her some energy to get better but then the next day she wouldn't drink either and collapsed in my arms so it was another emergency vet trip and they decided to admitted her over night to put her on a drip and re-do the tests and scan to see what was going on.

I knew she didn't have long left but I hoped that the drip would help her enough to last another couple of days so Tweedy could say goodbye to her. He had been in America for a week to do a show. She didn't last over night, she didn't even have it in her to last another couple of hours. The vet phoned within an hour with the news I really didn't want to hear. There was a large growth next to her liver that hadn't been there a couple of weeks ago, she was in pain and was being sick again. Even though there really was only one choice it is so hard when it is you that has to call it. I couldn't even call Tweedy to talk it over with him as it was 4am where he was and I felt so guilty for that.

Even though Tweedy wasn't here I was lucky to be surrounded by friends who helped me cope even though things were becoming really hectic with the start of rehearsals. It was also great to have somewhere really nice to bury her which we did when Tweedy came back and in true Tweedy style he fell head first into the grave with her and got stuck with just his legs poking out. At least my memory of her being buried isn't all sad as it was pretty funny. It was also nice having a couple of friends there, especially one who had known her as a teeny tiny puppy all those years ago.

I was worried how Willow would cope but she was amazing and so matter of fact about the whole thing. Though of course she has had moments of missing her, as we all have. I'm really lucky she coped well as I pretty much fell apart, which I admit surprised me. I really wasn't expecting it to hit me as hard as it did. Even now 6 weeks later I still miss her so much it hurts. There just seems a massive hole that I'm not sure will ever be filled.

We always said we wouldn't get another dog once she had gone as they are such a bind, even though we have always been lucky with my Mum and Dad looking after her for short and long periods, but now I am dog-less I am struggling with this more and more.

This blog was so hard to write...

I'm back!

It may seem I am way behind in my blog posts and also my photo updates (for those who are facebook friends) but I am in fact up to date in writing them but just behind in posting them due to very limited or non existent internet connection. So now that I am finally back online I can post them, so get ready for blog posts and facebook and flickr photo posting. Don't say I didn't warn you.

For those who wondered where I had been or indeed where I am going, here is a Google map of the Giffords Circus 2011 tour 'War and Peace at the Circus'.



View Giffords Circus 2011 in a larger map