“A Funny Thing Happened…”

One of the perks of visiting festivals is people watching! It is always interesting to see how people react to different situations. In a way it’s like being a “fly on the wall”. Music concerts seem to bring out the best (or worst) in people. The Beaches Jazz Festival is a perfect example of this. There was one lady was really thrilled by the music. She decided that the music would be great to dance to… alone! She went down to the front of the stage and started to dance up a storm. She made moves that I didn’t know the human body could make! She was in a world of her own and it was fascinating to watch!

Then there was the little girl at another music festival. There was a lively band playing on the main band shell stage. In front of the main stage a lower stage had been set up for an earlier Celtic dance demonstration. The lower stage was empty when the band first started to play. Part way through their first song, a little girl ran from the audience and climbed onto the stage and then started to dance to the music. The audience and band loved it! The little girl beamed as the audience showed their appreciation! She was such a hit that other children emerged from the audience and ran to the stage. Each climbed onto it and started to dance. The original little girl was upset that others had joined her that she stopped dancing, stomped off the stage and ran to her parents crying. Apparently she didn’t like to share the spot light. The other children danced on undisturbed!

Animals also create good people watching material. One year when we were at the International Plowing Match, the first attraction we came to was the Canadian Raptor Conservancy Show. There were two handlers who brought out different birds to show the crowd. Some of the birds would fly off one handlers arm, fly over the crowd and then land on the other handlers arm. The sheer delight (terror) on the audience was great to see! Imagine MY surprise when one of the birds swooped down from its flight and landed on MY HEAD!! The tables were turned! I was the one who was being WATCHED!

"Fortunately the bird that landed on my head was a Kestrel ~ much smaller then the above bird, but still, a cousin!"