Roll up, roll up

Does your life ever feel like circus, or is it just me?  Although I appear to be the Ring Leader, I am actually a combination of Juggler, Lion Tamer and Clown; the latter mostly due to my ridiculous clumsiness which causes frequent comedy trips, slips and falls over invisible objects!  There is a slight irony here as I am, in fact, very scared of clowns, very scared indeed; what are they hiding in those giant shoes? 

Maybe it’s because I have just finished reading and loving ‘Water for Elephants’ (haven’t seen the film, anyone know if it’s any good?), but the circus seems like and ideal analogy for café life just now.  Fantastically enjoyable, exciting and energetic and I certainly hope we are putting on a good show.  Yet in the back of my mind I am always terrified that if I drop the ball just once, the show is over, the tent will fall down and there’s a possibility of a stampede!  Not that I am extreme or anything!

Our wonderful customers are in no way animalistic: they are charming, faithful and polite.  My, and indeed Renee’s, sense of anxiety stems from the fact that until we get our much needed funding, it all feels dreadfully precarious, sort of like walking a tightrope.  We are jumping through banking hoops, filling in forms and keeping the plates spinning and all of these things are necessary, but they feel like they are a distraction from the main attraction: the café we are trying to create.  The sideshow is necessary in order to facilitate the main event, but that what makes us feel like Jugglers.  The Lion Tamer comment was more a reference to my kids.  Have I extended the metaphor enough?  Actually I wrote ‘like a circus’ didn’t I, so that’s a simile…………………

This has to work, it is our collective passion for our very own neighbourhood.

This Friday, the last café session until July 6^th, we will be serving up delicious falafel followed by a chaser of either feisty ginger squares or sweetshop cake.  Please come if you can.  Bring your friends, enjoy the sunshine and we promise not to throw knives at you.