Missing Mendezies

Dave sent me an email recently – “Sad to say the >Amazing Mendezies entry on Wikipedia is no more. It says they have deleted it as it was not notable enough.”

Now some of you have met Dave before; he features in these pages more than once.

He has stylishly contributed to The Mirror Posts, was hugely influential in the end-of-summer Improvisation Posts and if it weren’t for him the Down the Rabbit Hole post would never have existed.

He holds the official, unbeatable record, as the first person to leave a comment on my blog and the official world record (108), probably beatable, for spinning plates.

Which makes him the only double record holder I have ever met.

He also, incidentally, has had more superfluous internal organs – like tonsils – removed than I had ever imagined existed.

But have I ever introduced him properly?

Bitsnbobs readers – this is Dave.
Dave – this is a bitsnbobs reader.

Dave lives in Ireland, way down South West in a little village that they call a town, which has a fishing fleet, the world’s dinkiest car ferry and one of the World’s greatest Pubs – McCarthy’s.

The village also has Dave, and it would be a poorer place without him.

I am thinking of Dave this morning as I have just read that the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race (an event of staggering unimportance yet a huge part of my childhood) took place on Saturday.

On another Saturday 28 years ago, Dave and I decided to take our comic juggling show to Putney where the race ends, we had read that historically buskers had worked the event.

We wandered along the bank of the river looking for a pitch, came across a small festival, did a show there and wandered onwards.

Somewhere near the finish line we found an open space, a bridge behind us and a huge crowd waiting to see the finish.

It was a risk, but we were fairly confident of our ability to do a good show. The problem was that the best moment to start the show was just after the boats had crossed the finish line as the people turned and headed for home. Too early and no one would pay the slightest attention, too late and we would be left staring at the litter they had left behind.

We set up – a small snare drum, a carpet, a unicycle, some juggling clubs, boxes, balls and fire sticks, and two bowler hats; we took time on the aesthetic design.

Then we waited.

The boats slipped home.

It was frightening – a wave of humans turning towards us like a Tsunami, heading for the bridge, parked cars and away – could we stop them?

“Ladies and gentlemen!”

I guess there is something about sitting on the river bank, waiting hours for two rowing boats to slide past that will make most people desperate for entertainment of a more direct nature.

They all stopped.

Even those up on the bridge.

It was a perfect auditorium.

And the show was brilliant.

Dave finished the email that he sent me recently with the question – “I don’t know, WERE we notable?”

We were that day.