What are you doing this summer, Sarah?

Oh, not much. This and that, you know. Although, by the way, I'm joining a circus in Iowa.

I know!!!!!

It's a conversation stopper I've been enjoying using, not least because it's so different from anything I've done before, and such a great project. You can read all about it here, and there's an updated blog with a link on my sidebar because it's started already. I can't wait to get there. Basically, from June to September there will be a rotating group of artists, musicians and writers, based in tents and vintage airstream trailers, transforming run-down airstreams into mini-trailers and writing and producing shows. The circus will then travel in a rolling formation through mid-west America and put on performances - sometimes when invited, often when not, I guess. The shows are all on the theme of 'Histories of the World' and will include the History of Mistakes, the History of Love, the History of Forgetting. The other histories of the world, really. The ones that matter just as much as those in the official books.

It feels to me that this is something that needs to be done. It certainly needs to be done by me, at least once in my life. I spend too long sitting at my desk, looking at my computer. And of course, me being me, I'm terrified - of the snakes, of whether I've got anything to contribute, of the travelling, of homesickness, of the rain, but mostly I'm excited.

The magnificent CJ has a line in West Wing which goes something like this: 'I'm very well aware that I'm living the first line of my obituary right now.' It really made me think. What would I want my first line to be?

Hmmm, so if it goes something like 'Sarah ran away to join the circus once..' I'll be happy! (And of course the second line will read, 'and then she came home' - you can't uproot Fen kids too easily. We're like potatoes, we dig down fast where we're planted.)

(The beautiful drawing at the top is by Greta Songe)