Last Day

Today* is my last day in Salins and I am full of dread. The energy around the site right now seems stressful and frenetic. The show is being taken apart, packed into boxes and stuffed into a truck en route to our next stop on the tour. People are running around, unable to find things, not sure how it will all fit, utterly amazed by the amount of physical objects either make up the show, or have been left lying around.

This is the first time the show is being torn down, so of course it will take longer and be more hectic. I’m told the tent will take another three days to take down. Meanwhile, there are large patches of yellow grass dotting the area as caravans disappear one by one. It suddenly feels very empty around here.

On my end (we don’t have to help with the tear down, man are we ever spoiled!), I’m desperately trying to pack up my caravan and figure out what I’m going to be bringing with me as I won’t be seeing this caravan again until the fall. We’ll be performing in a theatre in the next city we’re going to, so we’ll be staying in apartments, not caravans. The city after that is so far away that we’ll be renting caravans (we’ll be back under the big top then). True, I did shove an enormous amount of stuff into my mal, but I won’t be seeing it for at least two weeks. Whatever is coming with me needs to fit in my pack.

This caravan, this tiny little town, this site snuggled up in the mountains has been my home for close to four months. Everything I have in France is here. I have no other home, no other place to go. It’s kind of like leaving Canada all over again.

This time around is not too bad. I’m going to Switzerland for Worlds (did I mention I go to Worlds tomorrow?) and then have a couple of days in Paris with a friend. But after that, I have no idea where I’ll be when we’re not performing.

I know this is really the beginning, but damnit if it doesn't feel like the end!



* 'Today' was actually a week ago. The next few entries will all be off by a week as I was at Worlds and was unable to actually post the things I was writing.