winter is coming back. after a few contracts in Nothern Italy and a quick tour of Southern France, we are now back in Ariege and since last week, the bus is back in his “quatier d’hivers”. Few improvements since last winter: Our little circus studio is finished and it is a great place to train when the weather is not too cold , our little tent is more insolated than last year and it is a great plus to our living arrangment, we are going twice a week to Toulouse to take some flying trapeze classes with the cie Envol and last but not least we are finally working on our installation of the 12 years journey which will includes a little museum, a photo exhibition and projection of a documentary. Scott is also writing two more books, one of the 12 year adventure and one of his 5 days cycle trip to England.

Today it’s Scott’s birthday and we were expecting quite a few people to come and visit our new home, but it seems the weather choosed otherwise so we’ll see who comes. Its is fun anyhow , it is the first time I see the bus in so much snow.

3rd of January and Theo has gone back to school after a really busy and jolly holydays, YES to school. So much has happened since my last blog.

After Sicily, we went touring Italy and specially Sardinia which is still a favourite of us after 12 years around the world.

Theo had made his wish to go to a real school so we came in Ariege in France and kind of settle down. The first few months we spent building an addition to the bus making it cosy for the winter. We finished just in time for the Christmas holiday and were able to receive family and friends to celebrate.

And now it is back to try to understand French bureaucracy  and find out in which “case” we belong as a circus duo with 16 years of experience but totally unknown in France. No doubt we will find our feet.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

After England we toured France for a bit, then Sardinia and have now been staying in Sicilia since November.

We are living on the top of a hill with view on the sea, it is beautiful but not as warm as we had hoped so we are kind of waiting for the summer to come back ,just about coping with the shock of being back in Europe. Theo has added a new member to the family, a little dog which he found on the street. Marion, his new teatcher has been travelling with us since September.

I just realised we still were in England on the Blog which hasn’t been the case for ages. We spent about a month in France and have now been in Sardaigna for a month. Our memory didn’t fail us and we are still enjoying it as much as we did 11 years ago.

This coming week we will head to Sicilia. We can safely say that so far this is our favorite country of all time and if we were to settle somewhere, here would be our first choice. Theo already speak enough Italian to get by. All I can say is that for now, all is perfect, perfect, perfect.

We are now back in England. The bus is on the ferry and should arrive on the 22nd of June. Althought it is strange being back in Europe for good, the sun has been shinning and it has been nice catching up with old friends and familly. Our next shows will be in Glastonbury festival.

After Charleston, we made our way to the Leaf festival in North Carolina, where we were able to perform our show on the hat.

That same week end we were aired on NPR (National Public Radio) and this is how we got in touch with Jeff who organized a show for us in the montessory school of Pantops in Charlottesville for the next Sunday.

We decided to drive there straight away on the Monday after the festival as we didn’t know how long it would take us. The plan was to meet Jeff, see the performance space and find a campground nearby where we could start organizing the bus for the shipping.

In my wildest dream, maybe Jeff would know of an empty garage where we could park and empty the bus. Little did I know then that my dream would be met and much more.

We arrived on Wednesday and met Jeff , not only did he have a big empty house for us to use BUT it was right next to the Montessori school who kindly took Theo in during our stay. AND on Saturday morning, we got 2 extra show, 30 miles away in Stanton, organized by Julian who had seen our show in Honduras. Because we couldn’t take the bus there (big hill), Julian picked us up AND when when we got back, Jeff (who also happened to be a wood worker) had already built some necessary cabinets inside the bus.

It took us 5 days from 6am until drop dead to get the bus ready.

On Wednesday with a really empty looking bus and all our stuff to take with us packed up in boxes and bags, we left for Baltimore. We arrived on Thursday, took a hotel room to empty the bus and did a last tiding up and painting job on the bus.

On Friday we drove the bus to the port where it is now sitting waiting to be drove onto a ship which will depart on the 3rd of June and arrive in England on the 20th.

Had a last frantic moment on Friday morning, back at the hotel, when we couldn’t find two passport (Scott’s and mine). Drove back to the port, search the bus, all the offices we had been through that morning and finally got them back at the custom office.

At 2.30 pm that afternoon, we finally were on the way to David and Regine house in Maine ,in a rental car full to the rime. After an all night drive we arrived at 6.30 am and jumped into bed but couldn’t stay there too long as we had to drop the car back at noon at the rental place in Portland.

Sunday now, we are feeling more rested after lots of sleeping, happy to be here and full of hope that the bus will be drove onto the ferry. We will be flying back to England on the 4th of June after making sure that everything went smoothly.