Name:  Tsc Tempest

E-mail:  tsc[dot]tempest [at] tsctempest [dot] com
Location:  Shanghai, China
Birthday:  6 January, 1966
Bio: 

Ashton's Circus

Was Australia's Oldest and Largest Circus. It was a true circus, with beautiful women, strong and skilled men, clowns, dwarves, exotic animals, and the occasional sideshow.

I spent roughly seven months working for them, much of that time as the Crew's Cook. Most of the Crew were itinerant men, plus the occasional woman; mostly running away from something or other, or looking for a place to hide.

It was a hard, interesting, and challenging environment. Like with most labour intensive environments, workers camps, or shearing sheds, where a fulltime cook travelled and lived with the crew, the Cook was occasionally maligned as a Bait Layer, someone who lays down poisoned baits to kill feral animals.

For the record, no one ever got sick FROM the food I made

-- Fuzzbuzz, Cook and honorary Baitlayer!

A Circus Cook's Diary

In the Summer of 1986 I boarded a train for Meenyan, VIC, or there abouts, to answer a job ad in the paper for Tent Riggers, casual laborours, and a cook, to work for Ashton's Circus. A Brazilian (Argentinean Draft Dogger) beat me to the job of cook, so I signed on as a Tent Rigger.

I'd been unemployed for more than nine months, and it was my sister who saw the job and pointed it out. So I put my car in storage, took a small pack of personal items and my deceased step-father's Aussie made guitar, a copy of the 1960 Gibson Es-125 Electric Acoustic Guitar, which he'd bought through mail order.

We started out the 1986 Season, doing tent repairs and refurbishing the gear, in the show grounds then began touring along the South Gippsland Coast. Being a predominantly male environment, we quickly gained nicknames. I was christened, "Fuzzbuzz" by Bluey, on account of my hair. Over the next few months I worked as a Tent Rigger, Ring Waiter, and Horse Groom. I tried to learn Trapeze but didn't have the stomach muscles, but I did manage to learn to somewhat walk the Slackwire, much to the annoyance of one of the resident Spanish performers.

Ashton's Circus is/was Australia's Oldest and largest circus, utilizing both human and animal acts in it's traveling shows. Our show, proceeded eastwards and northwards, towards Cooma, NSW and then onto Canberra, ACT - where some thieving prick stole my guitar. In Canberra I also took over the job of Cook, which I retained until I resigned at Wooloongabba, QLD.

The Diary transcribed here, is a direct transcription of my record of the more or less daily menus, and occasional observations, from that time. I was never really one to keep a detailed journal, so what's here is quite spartan, but it covers the basics. You may find it interesting. For me it's a record I wish not to lose.

Lab Tech, Educator, Experimental Chef, Pieman, Freelancer

It's been a long time since my traveling days with the circus. The funny thing is, I'm still traveling. After Ashton's I did a stint for six years, alternating between Spit Roast Catering and working as a Pizza Chef, whilst retraining as a Laboratory Technician.

I joined the Milk Harvesting Group at the Dairy Research Institute, Ellinbank and in the five years there, I picked up some training and certification as a Workplace Assessor and Trainer. Through this I gained employment in China as and Teacher Trainer and Adult Educator. Married my beautiful German wife who has given me a wonderful son, and we all moved to Vietnam.

It's funny how things come full circle, after a stint running an import/export business in China, and later a photography studio in Vietnam, I went back to cooking. I made make pies, and ran a regular, weekend bbq station at a local Fresh Produce Market. Thus, "The Bait Layer" had grown, developed, and became, "The Pie Man."

Nowadays, retraining as a Web Developer, troubleshooting my past websites and blogs, updating them where possible, and cursing like a Bar Maid the ongoing destruction and ongoing loss of Services provided to free accounts on Angelfire.
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Blog Created:  Thursday, 18 February 2016
Last Updated:  Saturday, 11 January 2020 - 4:08 AM CET
Blog Entries:  56