Was awoken by boys fighting right outside the bedroom door. I ignored it and after a few minutes the rumpus stopped. My tip... if you want a quiet life, don't have children. Although having children can be very satisfying, lovely, exciting, fulfilling and more, it may cause your life to include a lot of noise, disturbance, heartache, questions about why you decided to do it... perhaps having one is different, perhaps some children are easy to live with, but at the moment, living with two boys is, from time to time, horrible. I do continue to love them to bits, and yes, I see some of my own behaviour in them....
This early fight or loud argument preceded a very peaceful and harmonious day! Breakfast was fine, I got ready soon after and left in my cold-weather costume (red dungarees and outlandish skiing hat) at 9.30 and was in St Sampson's Square to start the City of York Council's Residents' Festival off at 10am. David the photographer arrived and as there was no audience at first, I did some unicycling and stuff for him... but when my activities caused people to stop and watch, I interacted with them and ignored David, although he continued to snap away.
I finished just before 11 and invited people to come and watch the Punch and Judy, and I reloaded my stuff on the trailer and cycled home. Within an hour, my younger brother Tom arrived, with Kate his wife and their three children... lovely! We all had the tomato soup I'd started making on Thursday, which Gill had finished seasoning and whizzing this morning. That with bread and hummus was delicious.
Sometime after 2pm everybody went out to get on the bus and go and visit the Castle Museum, Gill and Katie's favourite. I had another 45 minutes in the house, did some washing up and left the house at 3.30 for my 4pm performance. This show went really well... a big crowd, up for entertainment, with quite a few staying all the way through right from the beginning, which was good, as street-crowds are notoriously transient. There was loads of interaction and laughter and I enjoyed myself immensely. I came away once again thinking how lucky I am doing a job which I enjoy so much.
Got away at about 5.15 and came home fast... the family were already back and all the children were happy... my eldest playing with Tom's youngest, and the other three immersed in Asterix comic books and similar. Within the hour Tom and Katy took their tribe back to Sheffield and we continued to have a very harmonious and peaceful evening.
At times like this, I'm very happy to be a father. This may seem inconsistent, but I think it's pretty normal to have feelings which change dependent on the circumstances you are experiencing at the time! Someone can feel cold and uncomfortable whilst putting a load of bikes away in the shed after a family cycle ride, and within minutes of getting in and putting another log on the stove, feel cosy and defrosted. Same with parenting... sometimes it's hell, sometimes it's lovely and rewarding... all in the same day, sometimes within the hour! I have no regrets and am coping with the difficulties by remembering the good bits.
For me, blogging helps too as I've written a diary since I was a teenager and find it very cathartic to get it all (not all!) down on paper (not paper!) and share some of what's going on. This approach upsets some of my more distant family members as they think that I shouldn't mention my children. I don't understand this, when other blogs (go press the 'next blog' button at the top of the page a few times!) do more than mention children... they have photos of them and names and all sorts of detail, and I feel that is intrusive, more so than my descriptions of family life.... I am careful not to go into too much detail and am trying to not 'betray confidence' although this is difficult as I am naturally open and honest, and don't understand some people's obsession with privacy. My immediate family know that I write about them and sometimes I read the post to them.
Anyway, I enjoyed today and was really happy to see my brother and his family. More work tomorrow, forecast is very cold with snow-showers. Could be a challenge!
Showing posts with label circus skills show and workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label circus skills show and workshop. Show all posts
Woke feeling substantially better than yesterday, got up and got busy, lit the stove and put hot water on the washing up, and got a phone call from my CRAGger buddy Robin... St Nicks had offered me a big sack of sticks last week but I'd been unable to collect them, so they'd offered them to Robin, who also didn't want them (lack of space for storing) so he brought them round to me in his trailer on his way back from B and Q, where he was looking for a way to make his woodstove-fired central heating system 'Building Regs compliant' ie, gravity driven, not pump driven. He said he'd worked out how to do it, using 'only' £200 worth of copper pipe! But having a Dunsley Yorkshire woodstove, which burns smoke free and is therefore allowed in smoke control areas, AND which heats radiators, is such a beneficial thing, that it's worth getting the plumbing right.
Robin stayed for nearly an hour, chatting and drinking tea and admiring our Clearview Vision 500 working well. Just before lunch the SUMA order came, just stuff for us and one other family (sorry, 'member of the Cossham Food Co-op'!) such as laundry liquid, soya milk, muesli base, olive oil and Bulgar wheat.
Enjoyed having lunch with Gill, she then went out to take some grown-out-of shoes to the charity shop and I did emails and blog in front of the hot stove, looking out at the cold and windy weather.
I took a cycle trailer load of flour, Fentimans Cola and assorted nuts down to our friends and came back with our youngest, who'd had a good day.
I sorted out the big sack of sticks delivered by Robin, and our eldest came home. He'd forgotten to go to a meeting of invitees to a University-based computer game try-out, based on identifying plants I think, and when he realised, he was absolutely mortified, and spent at least an hour beating himself up about it. We really need to get him a mobile phone, so he can let us know when he's going to be late, and so we can remind him to attend things he needs to go to which are outside of his routine, which is how he forgot this event. We were really sad for him, he was looking forward to it SO much. I'm going to try to see if it can be re-arranged in some way for him, not through the school, but direct with the University.
I had an early tea (Bulgar wheat etc) and got ready for work. My gig this evening was with the Dunnington Brownies, a lovely group of 20 or so 7 to 10 year old girls (and one boy!) plus 5 adults... I did a shortened version of my show, then a throwing/catching/memory game, and then a one hour free-play workshop. A second one next week, when some of them will earn their 'Circus Performer Badge'.
Home soon after 8.30, quite exhausted, so had a pint of perry and sank into the sofa and watched an interesting Horizon programme on mental illness. A quiet evening.
Robin stayed for nearly an hour, chatting and drinking tea and admiring our Clearview Vision 500 working well. Just before lunch the SUMA order came, just stuff for us and one other family (sorry, 'member of the Cossham Food Co-op'!) such as laundry liquid, soya milk, muesli base, olive oil and Bulgar wheat.
Enjoyed having lunch with Gill, she then went out to take some grown-out-of shoes to the charity shop and I did emails and blog in front of the hot stove, looking out at the cold and windy weather.
I took a cycle trailer load of flour, Fentimans Cola and assorted nuts down to our friends and came back with our youngest, who'd had a good day.
I sorted out the big sack of sticks delivered by Robin, and our eldest came home. He'd forgotten to go to a meeting of invitees to a University-based computer game try-out, based on identifying plants I think, and when he realised, he was absolutely mortified, and spent at least an hour beating himself up about it. We really need to get him a mobile phone, so he can let us know when he's going to be late, and so we can remind him to attend things he needs to go to which are outside of his routine, which is how he forgot this event. We were really sad for him, he was looking forward to it SO much. I'm going to try to see if it can be re-arranged in some way for him, not through the school, but direct with the University.
I had an early tea (Bulgar wheat etc) and got ready for work. My gig this evening was with the Dunnington Brownies, a lovely group of 20 or so 7 to 10 year old girls (and one boy!) plus 5 adults... I did a shortened version of my show, then a throwing/catching/memory game, and then a one hour free-play workshop. A second one next week, when some of them will earn their 'Circus Performer Badge'.
Home soon after 8.30, quite exhausted, so had a pint of perry and sank into the sofa and watched an interesting Horizon programme on mental illness. A quiet evening.
Was lucky to have to have a bit of a lie-in, before lighting the stove so I could have a bath as I'm working today. But as the water was getting up to bath temperature, I went to put a couple of sack's worth of compostables into the Compostumbler. One sack was just watermelons, about 7 of them.... so cut them into chunks and added them with several cardboard boxes. Emptied some collected juices (from a ex-loft water-header tank under the Compostumbler) onto the leafmold pile, to help that rot down, although it seems not to need much help as it's very hot in the middle.
Then had a shave, bath and hairwash to get spruced up for my Knaresborough gig. Gill made sandwiches and ironed my costume, I loaded up my bike trailer and got to the station by 12.45 to get tickets and onto the 13.11 train. I was met in Knaresborough and driven the mile or so to the Community Centre where I was entertaining at a 9 year old's party: a one hour circus show and workshop, followed by a freeplay workshop where they could try out any of the skills I'd brought with me. The 18 boys and one girl all had a great time, as did the Dad, he said on the way back to the station. Very pleasing.
Home soon after 6pm. Gill said that Dexter had just rang, inviting me to a preview of an art show at the Chapel at the York Cemetery which is on all of tomorrow I think. He had been invited to provide some atmospheric lighting, and wanted me to come and see the collection. So I had some tea and went out again! Dexter's lighting was in fact a couple of tables of coloured glass, and clear glass containers (bottles and jars rescued from old landfill sites mainly!) containing coloured water, and lots of candles and night-lights making them look very pretty. This was just outside the doors of the Chapel, making it quite inviting. Inside it was well lit with a selection of display boards with various artworks attached. The organiser, Graeme Martin, was displaying some curious mutated toys and plastic objects mounted in frames, plus a huge (well, maybe 70cm high!) Trojan Horse made out of waste wood, surrounded by tiny plastic toy soldiers, with a weird message which I cannot remember. There were a few paintings in a 'naive' style which had some resonance with me as they were connected to carbon emissions and capitalism, and some work from my old friend Fiona who's been into Dragons ever since I've known her, over 20 years now... She does drawings of mythical monsters, mainly Oriental dragons, and also embroidered fire-screens with landscapes and dragons. I had a good chat with Catherine Scriven who makes paper and original art, especially digital photos, very creative. I also met a 'punter' called Pete, who I probably met many moons ago at the John Bull pub, knocked down a long time ago, replaced by a car showroom. Pete was telling me about his being involved in the starting of SUMA and how the current management had 'rewritten history' and conveniently forgotten how the company actually started, and his work making kites and other fabric items.
I had a lovely time but came back home by 9pm and helped put the children to bed.
Had a nice Skype chat with Ali.
Then had a shave, bath and hairwash to get spruced up for my Knaresborough gig. Gill made sandwiches and ironed my costume, I loaded up my bike trailer and got to the station by 12.45 to get tickets and onto the 13.11 train. I was met in Knaresborough and driven the mile or so to the Community Centre where I was entertaining at a 9 year old's party: a one hour circus show and workshop, followed by a freeplay workshop where they could try out any of the skills I'd brought with me. The 18 boys and one girl all had a great time, as did the Dad, he said on the way back to the station. Very pleasing.
Home soon after 6pm. Gill said that Dexter had just rang, inviting me to a preview of an art show at the Chapel at the York Cemetery which is on all of tomorrow I think. He had been invited to provide some atmospheric lighting, and wanted me to come and see the collection. So I had some tea and went out again! Dexter's lighting was in fact a couple of tables of coloured glass, and clear glass containers (bottles and jars rescued from old landfill sites mainly!) containing coloured water, and lots of candles and night-lights making them look very pretty. This was just outside the doors of the Chapel, making it quite inviting. Inside it was well lit with a selection of display boards with various artworks attached. The organiser, Graeme Martin, was displaying some curious mutated toys and plastic objects mounted in frames, plus a huge (well, maybe 70cm high!) Trojan Horse made out of waste wood, surrounded by tiny plastic toy soldiers, with a weird message which I cannot remember. There were a few paintings in a 'naive' style which had some resonance with me as they were connected to carbon emissions and capitalism, and some work from my old friend Fiona who's been into Dragons ever since I've known her, over 20 years now... She does drawings of mythical monsters, mainly Oriental dragons, and also embroidered fire-screens with landscapes and dragons. I had a good chat with Catherine Scriven who makes paper and original art, especially digital photos, very creative. I also met a 'punter' called Pete, who I probably met many moons ago at the John Bull pub, knocked down a long time ago, replaced by a car showroom. Pete was telling me about his being involved in the starting of SUMA and how the current management had 'rewritten history' and conveniently forgotten how the company actually started, and his work making kites and other fabric items.
I had a lovely time but came back home by 9pm and helped put the children to bed.
Had a nice Skype chat with Ali.
Quite an early start, to go into town to help Ali get off back home, so got to the station at about 11 and she got the 11.28, and I came back home.
Tried to use my computer to do a variety of things and and some seemed to have stopped working, which is annoying... but not the blog which I'm happy about.
Had lunch and started to get ready for work. My gig today was a 6yr old's birthday party in the cafe at Rowntree Park... just my circus skills show, no balloons today. As usual, the show went well despite a couple of mistakes... the ceiling is almost too low for me to balance a devilstick on my nose so I had to stoop slightly to do the trick and it is hugely more difficult like that.... but as the trick is a crucial part of the show, I have to do it.... and managed third time around.
After that, went to the Winning Post to get my deposit money back from the Transition event a couple of weekends ago, and came home via Country Fresh to pick up a fairly small dose of compostables.... luckily as I couldn't carry much more!
I had a few minutes relaxation inside before getting changed and went down to the leafmold enclosure to finish digging it out and putting last year's leaves in plastic sacks, so the chicken wire enclosure is ready for this year's harvest. I had already got about 5 sacks of autumn leaves ready for it, so they went straight in, half filling it up. They will bed down to a much smaller volume, and I'll probably be able to put in between 6 to 10 times as many before the enclosure is full.
Did a bit of stacking logs before being called in to have tea and try to help the boys with their homework. I did bathwater fot our youngest and a relatively peaceful evening ensued.
Maria sent me this link
http://3rings.designerpages.com/2008/02/26/dutchtub/
wow!
Want one!!!
Tried to use my computer to do a variety of things and and some seemed to have stopped working, which is annoying... but not the blog which I'm happy about.
Had lunch and started to get ready for work. My gig today was a 6yr old's birthday party in the cafe at Rowntree Park... just my circus skills show, no balloons today. As usual, the show went well despite a couple of mistakes... the ceiling is almost too low for me to balance a devilstick on my nose so I had to stoop slightly to do the trick and it is hugely more difficult like that.... but as the trick is a crucial part of the show, I have to do it.... and managed third time around.
After that, went to the Winning Post to get my deposit money back from the Transition event a couple of weekends ago, and came home via Country Fresh to pick up a fairly small dose of compostables.... luckily as I couldn't carry much more!
I had a few minutes relaxation inside before getting changed and went down to the leafmold enclosure to finish digging it out and putting last year's leaves in plastic sacks, so the chicken wire enclosure is ready for this year's harvest. I had already got about 5 sacks of autumn leaves ready for it, so they went straight in, half filling it up. They will bed down to a much smaller volume, and I'll probably be able to put in between 6 to 10 times as many before the enclosure is full.
Did a bit of stacking logs before being called in to have tea and try to help the boys with their homework. I did bathwater fot our youngest and a relatively peaceful evening ensued.
Maria sent me this link
http://3rings.designerpages.com/2008/02/26/dutchtub/
wow!
Want one!!!
