During this morning’s family swim the Boy Wonder showed even greater confidence than yesterday, and clearly had a great time. Meanwhile, the Pocket Rocket graciously allowed me to join in the game of Hunt the Treasure he was playing back and forth across the pool with his mother, which was exhausting, but fun.
Then, after a quick lunch, we piled into cars and went off to Minchinhampton Common, where Giffords Circus are currently in residence, to see their show Waterfield. There’s a strange irony about this title, because the Common is so parched right now that it looks as if a single spark would set the whole thing alight, and it was so blazingly hot this afternoon that by the interval all the catering trucks were running out of ice cream and chilled drinks. But if there’s one thing you learn from growing up in the UK, it’s that the British weather will generally do whatever thing you’re least expecting, and complete mystification about the state of the climate is the standard British mindset in all seasons.
I’ll confess now that even though I proposed and arranged this trip, having heard good things about both Giffords and the show, I was a bit worried as to whether the family would actually have a good time. In the event though, we all really enjoyed it, especially the clowns (genuinely!) and the three teams of acrobats. In fact my only issue with the afternoon was that, given the soaring temperature inside the big top, I could have done with a small hot child deciding that his best view of the action came from sitting on someone else’s knee rather than mine. I’ve put a few phone photos and a video on my Instagram, if you’d like to see them.
After the circus we went for dinner to Pizza Express in Cirencester, where the food was good and the staff were extremely tolerant. It was a pleasant ending to a very successful day.
R: L2, C10, D74.
