British Country Fair/British Country Fail?

This weekend we went to the Grantchester Country Fair. Grantchester is really just (from what I can tell) an orchard & a big open meadow. Sunday was grey & cloudy, but not raining or cold, so on the bikes we got, and off to the Fair. The ride was lovely - we had to go through a lovely neighbourhood called Newnham (pronounced Noon'em) which is full of beautiful British homes with pretty gardens, and then through the meadows to the fairground.

The river Cam on the way to Grantchester

It was everything a British Fair should be. There was a Punch & Judy booth: 

a race for Terrier puppies:

a bouncy castle & those big slides:

and of course, of course, a medieval fight scene re-enactment:

There was also a super British dude in an uber tweedy outfit (complete with elbow patches) who showed his Reedland Retrievers, and all their "tricks". The only problem was that none of the dogs really felt like actually doing the tricks. They would retrieve when they were supposed to be sitting, and then sit when he gave the sign to go. . . poor old British dude. And the crowd was appropriately British and didn't boo, or leave because it was boring - they all just kind of sat there around the circle and looked away a bit.

But the ultimate British Country Fair Fail was the Birds of Prey demonstration. Elizabeth was pretty stoked, and did the sign for "bird" nonstop with both hands. So they brought out this bird, Poppy, and at first she had a little hat on, to make him think it was nighttime. I wish I had taken a photo of her, because when you search Google Images for "Bird with a hat on" this is what you get:

So the dude with the protective glove that goes up to his elbow (you know what I'm talking about) takes her little hat off, and releases Poppy, and she has this beautiful, soaring circle of flight around the crowd. And then she went higher, and higher, and higher, and then . . .  she flew away. And the dude was saying, "Come on Poppy!" trying to be all lighthearted about it, but she didn't come back. And he was saying, "Poppy! heh heh heh! She must have caught a thermal, what a lucky bird! heh!" And all the other bird handlers were looking a bit nervous-y and gazing around with their hands around their eyes (to shield the nonexistent sun??). But even after a couple minutes, Poppy didn't come back,and Elizabeth stopped doing the bird sign, and we left. We will never know if Poppy ever came back.

Elizabeth fell fast asleep on the bike ride back:

We decided to end the day properly: with a pint at a small pub called the Maypole. It was delicious. Elizabeth now clinks her sippy cup with you, and says "cheee!", which is pretty close to "cheers!" and is also pretty delightful.