My two favourite things about the Buskers' Festival in Victoria, BC

We heard local singing group The O'Brien Family when we wandered down to Bastion Square earlier this week. They do original songs and covers, such as this one of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" - a song I don't even care that much about:

We sat on the stone steps leading down to Wharf Street, and stayed so long that when I got up to walk, I had a limp. The family came from Birmingham in 2003 and the kids have grown up making music with their dad. We bought two of their CDs.

Most of the buskers at the festival are very clever people doing very dangerous things in an entertaining manner. Usually much of the allotted forty-five minutes is taken up with amusing patter and a reminder that they need donations to make a living. An exception was the comedy duo Funny Bones which consists of a guy from Manchester and a guy from Japan doing cleverness after cleverness after cleverness. Since much of their act is mime, very little patter was involved. The following promo clip gives only a hint of how different their act is:
If you have a chance to see these guys, do. And be generous. They're not juggling knives; they're juggling wits.