Sunday 9 December 2007

Sunday 9th December 07 'Beverley's Festival of Christmas'

Woke with the buzzer of the alarm clock at 7.30 and slowly got up and got down to breakfast for 8am... had cereals and a resonably nice plate of beans, fried eggs, musrooms and tinned tomatoes... not a very good attempt at a vegetarian 'full breakfast' but actually plenty for me!

Then met my hostess for the day who showed me the two sites I was due to entertain at and where the procession was to leave from at 10. Then I went back to my hotel and got changed into my Fiddlesticks gear.. I decided on the usual shorts, tee shirt and waistcoat, not my 'very cold weather costume of dungarees and fleece.

I took all my stuff up to where the procession was due to go from and left most of it at Boyes, which had a safe place for my stuff. I did the Santa Claus procession with my whirling devilstick and enjoyed it lots.

Then back to the Boyes stash and took my circus and balloons kit to the spot where I'd been told to perform at, and there was a band setting up. I told the woman that I'd been told to perform there and she was quite haughty and said 'We always go here and we need to set up now' even though I had a 45 minute slot there first. So I found a nearby spot, not as good or prominant, but didn't feel like complaining to the organisers as they have enought to do 'on the day' but thought about mentioning it later in the day. The 'Alley Cats' woman had the audacity to tell me that when they came on I must stop doing what I'm doing. Which I did, standing around in the cold, when I'd have preferred to keep going to keep warm and keep the entertainment going... Then later, at the end of my second show, they started playing before I had completely finished... I'd indicated I'd be just another couple of minutes but they rudely started. Cheeky and unprofessional, although their music was good.

However all my shows were well recieved and had good audience participation, including two teenagers who had met up with me during a previous Beverley gig, and 'crashed the show' with unicycles, much to my joy... and theirs as I got them a hatfull of cash for the show. But this time the two 15 year olds did a short demo of staff, or pole spinning, and some good athletic unicycling.

When I moved to my third show area, away from the Alley Cats, I did a load of balloons which was good, and taught some teens to do the 'dogs dinner' model. I met John, the dad of one of the boys, who had invited me back to their place after my work to talk to the boys about 'how to be an entertainer', some of the tricks of the trade... such as info about Equity, insurance, advertising, how to ask for a fee, agents, getting stuff at wholesale prices, etc. I had some nosh with them and slowly warmed up, they were perfect hosts and very kind. Cathy, their mum, gave me a thank you card for spending the time with them and giving them so much useful info, with £20 in it, which was most unexpected and lovely.

I got the 6.34 bus back to York, very tired, and Gill fed me some re-fried rice and assorted veg... lovely and most welcome, despite the early tea with John and Cathy at 4pm.

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