The signs began appearing a few days ago. A garish rendering of a clown with the time and days that Cirque de France would be performing right here in major, metropolitan Castlenau-de-Guers (pop. 1,000).

I haven’t been to a circus for a very long time. Since I was old enough to be creeped out by huge chunks of what goes on at circuses (probably about age 10) … but a French circus here in a little French town? You have to see that, don’t you?

When the wind came up today, dropping temperatures and making travel around the Languedoc unappealing (and house-hunting semi-torturous) … well,  Cirque de France began to push to the fore of likely activities.

It was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Place de la Fete (festival area) on the edge of town. Basically, where the pavement for the tennis courts is laid. Next to the cemetery.

So we went. It had to be a curious event, oui?

If the cirque were appearing in tres petit Castelnau it couldn’t be a very big operation. And it wasn’t. We saw a trailer … a truck, a not-big, red-and-orange tent (and aren’t red and orange the ultimate circus colors?) and some quasi-exotic animals were tethered to a fence. Well, an alpaca and a llama, anyway.

We were the eighth and ninth people to gather outside the van where tickets were sold, and we stood in the wind and cold for a while until the circus folk decided it was time to open up the box-office-on-wheels … and after handing over 10 euros each (about $26 total) … we were inside the tent and away from the wind.

At the peak of activities, the audience was … 11. Which was about right for the level of cirque we saw. (It was most certainly not the Cirque du Soleil.)

Things began with a version of what had been advertised as “animaux savant“.

The master of ceremonies, a short, slender man of about 45, emerged from behind a curtain with a shetland pony which he led around a tiny ring, making it bow and jump over a bar about two feet high. The little horse didn’t seem keen for leaping, but the notion that it likely would be fed after the show may have driven it on.

That was followed by a bit of juggling. Or attempted juggling. The one young woman in the six-person circus entourage, came out to juggle some flashing balls … three of them … and spent much of her time fetching the balls she had dropped.

We clapped anyway. When the crowd is 11, you shift into “we’re here to support you” mode. Well, and clapping warmed up my hands a bit.

Then came the one young man in the retinue, and I decided right off that the juggler before him was his girlfriend/wife. He was bit more accomplished, on hoops and clubs and balls … but he dropped more than a few, too. And … hmm.

We had more “intelligent animal” acts, including the alpaca and llama, circling, bowing and jumping, as the MC prompted them with a switch.

Two little girls (daughters of the MC and the woman who sold tickets?) did hula-hoop tricks. The smaller of the girls, perhaps 8, had trouble keeping the hoops from sliding to the ground.

More obligatory clapping, as the girls demonstrated they knew how to take bows.

Just before the intermission, the young man did some handstands on a couple of chairs, perhaps the most impressive “act” of the whole show.

At intermission, the circus folk sold drinks and candy and souvenirs, and some of the other nine people bought some.

In the second half, the best acts were the mountain goat that stood atop increasingly smaller platforms, until finally managing to get all four feet on a circle about six inches across (an animal savant, indeed) and the young woman, who struck various poses from a ring suspended about 15 feet above the ring.

At the end, the hand-standing young man came out as a clown, and did some stuff that apparently was funny in French.

It was all a bit tacky and sad, but in a fun, “kids’ circus” sort of way. The little girls were sent out just before the end to take up “collections” for those of us impressed with the cirque … and I’m not sure they came back with a single euro.

I must concede, the three little girls in the audience seemed entranced by the whole thing, and the circus folk at least had the rhythms of the show down … they just weren’t very good at anything.

The MC thanked us for supporting one of France’s “family circuses” who were putting on their first show of 2012 … and we dispersed into the cold evening, certain that the French government must somehow support  Cirque de France— else all six of them will starve.