Bear blog

Friday was a more relaxed day. Alan buggered off to watch the WJF stuff so I took the opportunity to sit and stare at people. Eight clubs still looking respectable. Pete turned up in the afternoon and cooked me sausage and mash. Mmmm. He then dashed off to see the Britishish while I pottered about putting stuff away, thinking that by the time I got down to the hall there wouldn't be any seats left anyway. How foolish I was. Got a text telling me they'd saved me a seat and so had to run in a terribly girly fashion across site, eliciting snickers and mockery all the way, and getting a really bad stitch in the process.

My Britishish review may be a bit skewed by the fact that I turned into the very thing I despise most and arrived late. Not only that, but I had to climb over some poor woman's head to get to my seat and judging by the look on her face, slightly annoy her. +1  for my bad. Arriving late also meant that I completely missed Donald Grant which, in hindsight, I'm rather annoyed about. I think I can make a pretty good guess as to what his routine was like and it'd probably have been one of the best bits of the show. +1 to give him the benefit of the doubt.

From what I saw of Maynard Flip-flap he wasn't really on form (-1). A pity that I've seen him before, really, else I would have thought he was just an average compere and not been expecting him to make me laugh. The first act I got to watch was the Wonder Woman hula bird. She was old and haggard and really no Annette. (-1) Not impressed.

Jago gave us some original material (+1) and although it was really just a bit too long (-1) there was definite potential there for a good act and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. Can't be bad.

Belly dancing flags, then. Right. I'm not altogether sure what to say about this one. I don't think I would have minded seeing a woman doing a bit of a sexy dance. It's not something I get to see every day. But belly dancing wasn't what we got. Instead we got a few sequins, a bit of jiggly woman-flesh and lots and lots of mindless spinning around in circles holding cloth (-1). It's this kind of thing that really irritates me. It was all terribly reminiscent of 'jazz poi' from NAJC (-1 for bringing that back into my head), and awfully painful to watch. It amazes me that these people think what they have is a presentable talent when really all they're doing is wasting everyone's time. Awful. Absolutely awful.

When the next act on was announced as poi I nearly killed myself. The only reason I didn't was the little glimmer of hope I felt in the pit of my stomach when the audience audibly groaned. +1 for being part of a sensible audience. The poi was just poi. Dull, formulaic, insulting. (-1) Rob was the saving grace of the first half. He actually juggled (+1) and did it rather well although his hat bit was rather droppy. Best of all, he reminded me of Bungay. (+1)

Zenith started off the second half with a bit of scarily wobbily acro. They didn't look totally in control of themselves to me and I found it rather painful to watch at times (-1) but I kept watching because of the lack of elastic in the woman's costume (+1 for upside-down boobies and frantic hoiking of tops).

I actually really enjoyed Luke B's coat routine. It made me laugh and felt well paced and entertaining (+1). A bonus that he didn't speak. (+1)

I think I went a bit against the grain with Megan Pike. The people around me seemed to like her stuff but I found it tedious and repetetive (-1). It went on way too long to keep my even half way interested (-1) but on the other hand, I've now seen someone who looks more like a teenage boy than I do (+1).

More time wasting from the four random acro girls who came on next to whore themselves around the stage. (-1) I have nothing good to say about them. Lacking in skill, and I think decidedly less pleasing on the eye than they imagine themselves. (-1)

Luke Wilson did some juggling. (+1) I was ever so slightly disappointed to begin with that he did his usual act (-1) but he does it so well that it's always very pleasant to watch (+1). He was by far the best act of the night as far as entertainment and raw skill are concerned. (+1) The truly annoying thing was that he wasn't the final act. Splot Circus well and truly squandered the headlining position (-1). Once again, a very 'skill-light' act (-1) which got my hopes up with the mention of unicycles and then dashed them mericlessly when they started riding around in circles. (-1)

The Britishish scores -2.

I left feeling terribly hard done by and went back to the hall for a bit more of a juggle. Those Beard clubs I've got? Broke another. Didn't even bother swapping it this time. I've had enough. Notables were meeting Rob Stone who is exceedingly nice and failing to pass with Roger after he said 'I'm just going off for a quick ride and then we can throw things.' I'd forgotten that his definition of 'quick ride' is wildly different to mine.

We slept on site for the first time that week and sat in the camper giggling at how lovely it is to have a gas heater by the side of the bed.