Chinese State Circus

We had a great evening out at the Chinese State Circus in Oxford on Friday.

All the artists were very impressive, but we particularly enjoyed the foot juggling with parasols and the group cycling. You could really see how much skill and how much practice were involved in these two acts.

The Monkey King was the circus clown. He was amusing and extremely acrobatic in the way that he moved, so was good to watch on various fronts.

The circus welcomed one guest act -- Duo Extreme from Bulgaria. This act was excellent -- two aerial artists who incorporated both water and fire into their repertoire.

The only thing that surprised us was how empty the big top was -- only about a quarter full. Perhaps 7.30 on a  Friday evening isn't a good time for circus attendance (too late for the kids, and not yet the weekend when people have more time on their hands).

In any event, if you enjoy watching really good acrobats and gymnasts perform, I would highly recommend seeing the Chinese State Circus -- and at just £16 for reasonable seats, it's pretty good value too.

Colouring for adults

For my birthday back in February, my kids gave me a rather unusual present -- a colouring book and some pencils. It wasn't a child's colouring book, of course, but one specially for adults -- a beautiful volume full of intricate designs of gardens and flowers. You've probably seen this kind of thing in W. H. Smith. It seems to have become quite popular now.

I thought this was a great present. I was sure it would do me good to relax a bit and do something quite different from the kinds of things I usually do (work at the computer, sit in meetings, do laundry, etc., etc.). It took a while for me to make a start on the colouring book, but when I did, I found I really enjoyed it. I started with quite a simple design, and as soon as I'd finished, I moved on to a highly complex, double-spread garden scene. I've still not quite finished that one.

The whole thing is highly addictive. You have a few minutes to spare, so you get out the pencils, but then you find that you can't stop. You think, 'Oh, I'll just colour that flower and then I'll go and do x,' but before you know it, you've coloured a whole meadow of flowers and you've forgotten all about x.

I'm even going to buy myself another set of pencils so that I have a wider range of colours to work with...

So, the colouring book did turn out to be a good present. And if you're looking for something a bit different and a bit creative, I'd certainly recommend colouring for adults.

Agatha Christie overload

We have been doing a lot of Agatha Christie recently.

We suddenly realised that we have a whole load of Agatha Christie TV adaptations recorded (over 30 in total!) which we haven't yet watched, so we have started ploughing through those. We watched both 'A Pocketful of Rye' and 'Murder is Easy' this weekend.

And then on Saturday we went to see 'The Mousetrap' at the St. Martin's Theatre. My husband and I saw this production a couple of years ago (albeit with a different cast) but the grandparents had been looking for a family show to take us and the children to and thought that this would be a good one. And it was -- rather overacted, but all good fun. A clever twist at the end, a beautiful set and everyone enjoyed themselves. What more could you want?

We're planning to watch the new TV adaptation of 'And Then There Were None' over the Christmas period. I gather that this may be rather different -- an altogether scarier adaptation than usual.

Perhaps I'll start re-reading all the books, as well. I read most of them as a teenager, but haven't picked one up in the last thirty years or so. Not terribly sophisticated, but highly entertaining -- and even more widely read than the Bible, I hear!

Giffords Circus

We had a lovely, and rather unusual, birthday party for my ten year old last weekend. We took her, her older sister and three of her friends to see Giffords Circus.

Giffords is a small circus which tours Gloucestershire and the south west of England, setting up on local village greens. It was started ten years ago by Nell and Toti Gifford and is a little bit different from the other circuses that you can see in Britain. It is, I suppose, what you'd call traditional -- more like a travelling troupe than a Chinese State-style extravaganza-- and that's exactly what the Giffords were aiming for.

There are acrobats, fire jugglers, strong men, dancers, horse riders, a super-flexible gymnast... There's an absolutely brilliant clown -- the best I've seen -- not just hackneyed slapstick, but 'proper' funny. And there are various animals -- horses, dogs, doves, and even a turkey and a goose! The dogs, by the way, are dalmatians, which delighted my daughter, who is absolutely mad about dalmatians -- indeed anything spotty!

The show has an intimate, family feel. This is partly a facet of the small top, but it's also the fact that the performers clearly love what they do (we bumped into one of them in the loos, who remarked with a big smile on her face, 'It's not really work!'). You can also get a sense of just how hard it is to do the kinds of things that circus performers do -- one of the acrobats, who was trying to to do a backwards double somersault onto the shoulders of a tower of three of his fellows, missed first time. But they simply did it again, and it worked!

The show was beautifully produced -- very theatrical, excellent acting, gorgeous costumes. And the troupe is supported by a group of musicians who are extremely talented, including a singer with a fantastic operatic voice.

This was our first visit to Giffords Circus (I only found out about them because I happened to be flicking through a local magazine while I was waiting for my kids to have their hair cut), but I certainly don't think it will be our last. I'm already planning next year's outing!