Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Town en fête and a brief ponder on national culture

I took a late lunch-break last night, after 11pm, to see some of the party. It was warm, and very pleasant in the little picnic area down by the river, all prettily lit up. Food was just being cleared and the players were about to start, so I saw the show. Stromboli are three jongleurs, to use the medieval term, doing music, juggling, some tumbling, and a lot of visual comedy and eyebrow work. Very good, though I had to look away during the mouth-juggling because the thought of a pingpong ball stuck in the throat... *shudder*. Oh, and there was a chainsaw. A real one.

Stromboli finished well after midnight; the small children and over-80s and most of the Brits left, and then the dancing started. I had to return to work, leaving the party bouncing. Next year, I'll make sure I can attend these jollifications.

The Anglo-neighbours said how very French the Stromboli were. This made me wonder - I'm accustomed to similar things from fairs and Fringe street theatre, and have never thought about it, but I suppose I'd consider acts like this as European-including-UK. hm. No, hang on, we get it in panto! And how English is that? Well, ok, originally Italian, but definitely several-generation English and naturalised :)

And then I went back and built my very first Help project.

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