Any references to beliefs or traditions is always a win (e.g. in his Nightwing run, Watters mentioning the superstition of a bird in a circus tent (also applies to our homes) being bad luck. Superstitions in general are always fun and easy to drop in. I don’t think Dick particularly is superstitious but he’d probably know some of them. For example, not cutting your hair in May, or not washing blankets in May (or you’ll wash your family away)
Having a chalet in a yard which you live in over the winter when you pull in. That’s our legal addresses and also where we might work on our equipment etc during the winter months (for Nightwing again, the Graysons canonically spent their winters pulled in in Florida)
Using terms like pulling in, pulling out, building up, pulling down, and also our own specific words for things you might find on the fairground (funbag instead of bouncy castle; gallopers instead of carousel; slip instead of helter-skelter)
Going to dances associated with the biggest fairs where people, even if they’re not open, will travel to for the social occasion
Casual mentions of (especially young adults) attending the horse races. They’re our Met Gala.
Major family events happening on a Wednesday because that’s our day off
Kids’ clothing. There’s a real emphasis on dressing smart. I have never owned a pair of sweatpants or a t-shirt with a character on it, for example, as they’re not considered smart enough (unless you’re actively working out). Little boys wear shirts and jumpers and shorts and knee high socks with patent shoes, and girls wear smocked dresses (boys also wear smocked clothing) with socks and T-bar shoes, and matching bows in our hair.
If you’re travelling in the summer, you’re not going to be at school. You might get a work pack from your home school which you attend during the winter, or there might be a travelling teacher at the big fairs (two weeks + duration) who teaches every child on the ground, regardless of age.
It being totally normal for women to wear white to other people’s weddings (especially mothers of the bride and groom).
All the insurance. All the equipment checks. Permits from local councils. There’s so much of it and it should be mentioned more.
You’re going to be the least busy in January, and most people you know will be on a giant holiday with 90 people in a resort hotel for a month.
Bank Holidays (are they a thing in the US? I suppose Labor Day is the closest?) being our busiest days.
TRAILERS ARE EXPENSIVE AND BEAUTIFULLY DONE UP. THEY ARE EXPENSIVE AND MODERN AND VERY CLEAN. YOU LIVE IN THEM WITH YOUR FAMILY (you might get your own small trailer when you’re about 13). THEY ARE NOT GROTTY OR SHARED WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES. YOU BUY YOUR OWN.
The cat who somehow always knows exactly when you’re going to pull down.
Lighting sets (generators) go off by 10.30pm. You better have charged your phone before then.
Because fairs are open in the afternoons/evenings, we tend to have a big “lunch” to fill you up, and then a small supper (usually something which doesn’t require a lot of attention and can cook on its own, like a stew) before bed.
Waking up in the mornings and there being condensation on the inside of the windows and it’s your turn to get out of bed, go out, and turn the gas on. You gear up in socks and boots and a coat and you leg it so fast you’d think you were being chased, turn the gas on, then come inside and shiver in your bed again until the trailer warms up.
Hygiene. Cleanliness in the home. The general aversion to mops and toilet brushes because they’re deemed not to clean well enough.
Animals live outside. In warm outbuildings. But not inside.
Kids helping their relatives when they’re not helping their own parents/doing their own work.
Having a money pocket made out of an old pair of jeans with your name embroidered in sequins was the HEIGHT on fashion as an eight year old on the fairground.
Randomly finding yourself up your aunt’s trailer eating a slice of brown bread and a cup of tea and knowing your mum’s gonna kill you when you finish but you couldn’t say no as it’d be impolite. It’s a universal experience.
The amused looks of gorjas who cannot fathom a child working.
People complaining about how much it is to have a go, but swag is a fiver for a poverty little thing, and the rent will bankrupt you, and the insurance is due next week.
The World’s Fair newspaper.
Under no circumstances do you wash your hands in the kitchen sink.
Having an accent which nobody can quite place.
The sheer number of fights between kids on the ground.
The one kid whose parents have a shooter who always threatens the others with a pellet gun.
Everyone owns an Alsatian.
Batman painted on a Miami.
