The Morning Midway: What Did Bill and Jan Biggerstaff Know, and When Did They Know It?

Stranded here on our bleak American midways, the weirdest thoughts of paranoia stalk my mind. One being about the Biggerstaffs shutting down their bi-weekly Circus Report ahead of a circus season not to be.

In fact, had they keep it in ink, they would have soon run dry of stories to ink. In fact, by early spring, when our remaining circuses usually hit the road, there would be no roads to hit. And nothing to report on other than what was not going on.

Most federal, state or local agencies would soon effectively-- many would say capriciously --  close down most of life outside the home.  Broadway would go totally dark.  I am waiting on how this will be reported one day when all of those meddlesome droplets have settled down or collectively died in a billion discarded masks.

Still, I miss Circus Report, even a shell version of it.  It's most winning feature --- the one thing our fan friends on the other side might envy, was the formidable routes  page -- a page full page of circus routes of not just our own big tops commercial to community, but of visiting troupes from foreign lands.   

What the UK circus scene needs the most, I propose, now that I am de-facto an avid follower,  is such a regular listing of upcoming circus dates.  But given the dogged secrecy of circus lords over there not wishing for their whereabouts to be made known in advance and stolen by rivals wanting to beat them in first, I can't see this happening anytime soon.

What would Circus Report's route page look like had the paper not caved?  It could and should stay stark blank-- until the sun came out once again over grassy green lots topped with billowing canvas tents and giddy pennants galloping gaily in the breeze.

Or it might turn its attention across the ocean and replace the blank page with The Great British Circus Routes Prognosticator.  And cause an uproar from the tenting tycoons.  Know what? I think the Biggerstaffs could find a way of telling us where this one was and where that one might be headed ...