a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch11)

Jan 1999 Larnaca 2
Thursday night and we opened. Business was very quite, but we were glad just to get started and maybe get a few quid in the bag, even if it was just enough for breakfast. “d” came to me and asked why I didn’t have the market stall open. When I told him I didn’t have a game he offered us a lend of his “pop it on’s”( small wooden ring over the wooden peg. Looks easy but very difficult). I wasn’t that bothered, but he insisted, he said “its another tool, if it only gets the room money!”. He was absolutely a 110% correct. The next day I borrowed his rings and put them into the market stall. As it was a last minute thing there was just enough room to squeeze them in between the superbob and my ride. We didn’t have any prizes for them so we put Cypriot £5 and £10 notes on the pegs. Two rows of six pegs.The £5 on the front and the £10 at the back. Friday night and we opened at 6pm. It was cloudy and threatening rain. Business was just picking up and we were getting a living. As for the “pop it on’s”, the Cypriot took to it like fish to water and when we seen how difficult it was for ourselves we put some £20 notes on! They were quite timid people and would rather go on the lower rides than the high ones. They all asked the same question-“is it dangerous?”. I wonder if danger is what they meant or if they were asking is it scary or thrilling. At about 9pm the heavens opened and emptied the fair. Cypriots are totally averse to getting wet-it must be due to all the sunshine they are used to getting. The rain was so heavy it was bouncing 2feet off the ground. Then I had a brainwave- I got the bucket and sponge and put soap in it. Then I started to wash the rides backflash. I soaped it all up and the rain rinsed it off. Then I started on the treadplate floor to move the mud from the clay. All the others thought I was crazy, but it only took half an hour to wash the whole ride and it was the only way because we had no water on the site. That was the end of business that night. The ground went so boggy with the mud that Mr”a” had tipper loads of white chippy stones delivered the next morning. It took us all day to spread them around the stalls. What a difference it made to the appearance of all the attractions. The next week the local Cypriot building control inspector arrived to test all the trip switches on the rides. He didn’t have a digital meter or any equipment. He used a 13amp plug and a 60w bulb & holder. He plugged in the light with the live connected to the bulb then he touched the loose neutral to the frame of what he was testing. If the light illuminated your trip was faulty, if the trip went off, everything was ok!. We thought the trip was faulty on the dodgems and for an hour we checked all the wiring. Then the Cypriot used a 500w halogen instead of a 60w bulb and the trip worked! It was a 300ma trip and not a 30ma that’s why it wouldn’t go off for the 60w bulb; it wasn’t a big enough leakage. Business was so-so. To try and improve it mr”a” got the local TV down to make an advert. So we all rode the rides one after another to make it look busy while they filmed. When we saw it on TV it was funny. I wonder if the Cypriots wondered why it was all pale faced foreigners that were on the rides and the same faces every time! After a couple of days open a chap from the British base at Dhekelia came to the fair. He asked if he could hire some equipment for the base open day in April. He was offered the dodgem and t-cup ride by Mr”a”. Some of the others felt they were missing out a bit, due to not being considered, but it was too far off to worry about .

a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch10)

End Jan 1999
As Cyprus is an ex colony, they drive on the left same as us, I was relieved. The Europeans all had Left hand drive vehicles. The local lorries were all very old, Leyland’s, BMC’s the younger ones were Hino’s. There were only three Scania’s on the island and two of them belonged to Eric! At the side of the roads, in fields, anywhere that a vehicle broke down it stayed there, for decades! I seen Leyland Octopus lorries on the side of the roads and they stopped getting produced in the 60’s. After about an hour I arrived at the funfair site in Larnaca. The ground condition was like clay with a lot of lime in it. We were told it would rot our shoes! I pulled the vehicle onto the site and parked it along the rear of the area. Mr “a” would set the locations tomorrow. As I walked across the ground the clay began to stick to my boots, it was very difficult to walk. Every few paces I had to scrape the clay from my boots as it was weighing me down and making me slip, After reaching the roadside I cleaned my boots again, it felt like I had walked for miles! What would this ground be like in the rain? We had been closed for a week now and eating from the local store was too expensive. My wife and I hitched a lift with “d” and his wife to the town centre. We all went into Woolworth’s. It’s not like woolys in the UK. No it’s more like M&S. It had a wide selection of clothing and downstairs was a large food section. This is were we shopped for food our entire stay in Lanarca.
When the fair was set by Mr”a” I started to erect the ride. I had to level the chassis and get the floors folded out. Before I could continue I had to remove the extra cargo aboard (luggage, market joint, hoopla). We were glad to see the luggage as we had been living out of one case for four of us whilst trying to get the rides out of the docks. Since I had to lift the hoopla anyway I decided to erect it at the same time. Just aswell as I didn’t want to lay it on the sticky clay ground. After a few trip up and down the tread plate floor of the ride looked dirty and there was no water onsite to wash it either. That night the ride was fully set up and the Hoopla needed a table to be made from plywood before being ready to be tried out. The next day I rewired the ride into the transformer and tried the new system. It worked perfectly! What a relief. “d” needed plywood and so did I, we went with his hire car to a builders yard to get some. They were 8’ x 4’ sheets 1/2inch thick. We bought six sheets, but how were we going to get it home? Simple we put the sheets onto the roof of the car and then rolled down the windows. I put one hand out and onto the roof to hold the sheets at my side, ”d” who was driving done the same at his side. With our free hands I changed gear and “d” steered the car. After 10 mins we were back at the fairground. It was funny, we didn’t seem to worry about being pulled up by the police, I mean we would never have done that at home! After making the table I went to try the bin game. I wired all the bins to the battery charger and switched it on. As the bins opened and closed they moved about slightly. It was the first time that I had seen them all working at once. All of a sudden there was sparks flying about. Some of the bins had moved together and touched, because they were metal and the bin was earthed to make the 12v motor work they shorted out. I immediately switched the charger off. I realised that I had to make sure the polarity was the same on all the bins. After a few trial attempts I got them all going and there was no shorts, but to stop them moving I had to put stones in the bottoms to weigh them down. I still had no game for the market stall so I laid it under the ride. We were meant to open on Wednesday night ,but due to the other rides having a slow build up it was put of until Thursday. Two Cypriot cars came with families in. They weren’t happy that we were not open as they had come from paphos( the other end of the island) mr”a” gave them £10 each for petrol and promised them free rides when they returned. The fair was going to operate on tokens, but mr”a” didn’t have any. He tried to get them made on the island but no one could do it, then he had a brain wave. There was a place on the island that made cocktail mixing sticks for all the bars and hotels. These sticks had the bars logo or name on a disc shaped end. Mr “a” ordered 10,000 mixing sticks with Cyprus’s theme park on the disc. That night we all sat in mr”a”s room and broke the discs off the sticks.

a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch9)

Jan 2??th 1999
Mr”a” , “c” ,”d” had hired cars from George (one of his numerous business) they were £6 per day to hire and were death traps to say the least. How? Well we noticed that some of the cars were one colour at the front and a shade different at the back. This was because you couldn’t import a car over a certain age into Cyprus, but you could import scrap cars for spares. So the Cypriots would buy cheap cars from Japan, cut them in half, import them as spare parts and then weld them together again! We all piled into the three cars and drove to the docks in Limassol. We offloaded the ship. Unfortunately my ride had sustained slight damage when the other rides were loading in Europe. Eric’s ride was very heavy around 50tons. When they were loading it the tractor unit of his started to skid on the deck plates. This caused it to “fish tail” and it hit the side of my ride. The damage was minor, a bent iron and a gash in an aluminium tread plate sheet. We got the rides off the ship and moved them to a storage pen in the docks. We thought we would be leaving in a matter of minutes, not the case. Customs were coming to inspect the equipment. Nothing for it but, back to the Hotel. We didn’t have a lot of clothes with us because everything was packed into the ride to save bringing it with us on the aeroplane.
This daily event went on for almost a week. They have a saying in Cyprus, one that I use now-“if not today , maybe tomorrow”. When customs did arrive they wanted a temporary import bond on the value of the equipment. This would be returned when all the equipment left Cyprus. We hastily produced a valuation sheet for all the rides, at a much reduced value since the bond was calculated as a percentage of the value. We also had to state that all the equipment belonged to Mr”a”. These matters did raise concerns for the individual. What if someone wanted to leave before the other rides? What about any insurance claims on the equipment after we devalued it for customs? And finally we had stated that Mr”a” owned our rides! There was no other choice, it was the only way to negotiate with customs and get the rides out. Mr”a” used all his cash and max’ed out his gold card, George had allegedly put up his house! We thought that was that, but no, they wanted import duty for all the cuddly toys we were bringing in as prizes for the games. There was no more money left, but then a stroke of luck, Mr”a” told the customs officer that they were ‘presents’ for the children of the local Cypriots attending the fair. “Oh!, presents for our children.”he said, all of a sudden we were nice people and the rides were cleared to go. We were meant to leave one at a time and have our registration checked off a list as we left the docks. I had a problem, due to the change of lorries the manifest had the broken down lorries reg and not the borrowed lorries reg. Mr”a” came to the cab and handed me a cover note for motor insurance. As soon as I got it I began to move, I got in line behind the others. When I got to the gates I didn’t slow down, I just kept on driving not giving the guard time to check for the reg or stop me. When I was out of sight of the docks I stopped for a check around before driving the 56 miles to Lanarka. When I got into the vehicle I noticed that the air was down. I had to rev the engine hard to get the pressure up again. I drove off to complete my journey to Larnaka. I stopped at a set of lights on a crossroads. When I tried to pick away. I got half way across and lost the clutch. The lights changed again and I had blocked the crossroads. The air was down again. The lorry had an air assisted clutch and without pressure I wouldn’t be able to move. I rev’ed the lorry hard again for a few minutes to get pressure up. By this time the lights had changed again , traffic was building up and the car horns started honking. I got across the lights and pulled in again. I went under the truck to find the air leak. It was the air suspension on the truck! One air pipe had a small hole in it. When I had loaded onto the boat and mounted the ramp at 45deg, all the weight of the truck was on this airbag , maybe it burst then and that’s why the diesel racks were catching the ramp. Either way I had to rev the lorry constantly to keep enough pressure to work the clutch and release the brakes.
I drove the lorry hard all the way, driving in a lower gear to keep the engine revs up.

a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch8)

Jan 2?th 1999
I don’t remember the exact date we flew out, I remember that my mother and father came to see us off. There was about 14 of us flying out that night. The flight was to Athens with a couple of hours stopover and then onto another flight into Lanarka (this was the cheapest way we could get there). It was after 7pm when we left Glasgow. I was looking forward to being in Athens, I don’t know why, but I had this silly thought of seeing the city before we flew out! When we arrived at Athens it was late. The part of the airport we were in was just like a large tin shed. All the shops and facilities were closed. We couldn’t leave this area to go to other facilities in the airport. We all scavenged around and had enough between us all to make a couple of sandwiches. We were almost the only people in the place. We got the kids settled down to sleep by making beds on the seats and floor. It would be 7am before the restaurants would open, only 5 hours to go. What a hard way to get to Cyprus. The next flight was fine. The weather was clear and I had a window seat. I could sea the Med down below and the Greek islands. It wasn’t long before we landed in Lanarka airport.
Lanarka airport was sparse to say the least. When we arrived we had to go through emigration. That’s when we noticed the big signs everywhere. They said that all currency that we were bringing into the country over £1000 had to be declared. Why? Well you are not allowed to take money out of Cyprus. To confirm that any money you want to leave with is yours, it must be declared on entering and you get a receipt so that you can take upto that amount out with you. I had a lot more than a £1000 on me. It was emergency money to get us home and to keep us until we got operating and earning money. I decided to take no chances and declare it. I had to complete a registration form to say where I was staying, how long, contact nos. etc etc. Out of the airport the weather was fine and sunny, better than back home for this time of year. Being here seemed like a great idea already. Mr”a” and some others had flewn in a few days before us. His Cypriot partner called “george” (not his real name, but an alias for ease dealing with foreigners, his real name was Greek) had arranged hotel apartments for us to stay in. It was off season and the hotel was usually closed at this time. There was no staff on just the manager who was also the bell boy who was also the barman(you get the idea), It was cheap though, £4 per night.
The pool was empty of water though and we were worried about the kids falling into it and hurting themselves so we asked for it to be filled. A couple of days later it was, now we worried about them falling in and drowning! We were in a ground floor apartment and my mother in law was on the first floor. We met the European Showmen for the first time, an Austrian (Eric and his wife), Dutch(Hank and a younger lad and an older man, both of their names escapes me now), I had no transport, but it wasn’t a problem as the fairground site was literally right across the road. It was on the shoreline almost on the beach. (Lanarka doesn’t have sand on its beaches, more like a course gravel).
The next day we were to offload the ship. The docks were in Limassol. More tomorrow

a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch7 part2)

Jan 5th 1999 PART TWO
The ship was tethered to the dock, but it must have been high tide because the slope up the ramp was very steep. To make thing worse the boat was at right angles to the dock and we had to drive down an incline to the loading area then up the loading ramp and into the ship, oh did I mention we could only make the 90deg turn in reverse by jack knifing the artics? The owner of the vehicle would drive, while everyone else guided him into position. First on was an English man “L”, he had a Foden lorry and it was towing a small action ride. Because the lorry was short it could drive on, but because the action ride was so low to the ground we had to jack it over the loading ramp to get it aboard. Next on was the twist it was reversed down to the loading bay and then up the ship ramp at a 45 deg angle into the hold. The lorry was a double drive Foden unit and the axles were creaking with the strain. Next on was to be me. I reversed the lorry down and onto the ramp. Because I was driving I couldn’t see what was happening at the rear. Apparently the rear diesel racks were catching the ramp for some reason. The lorry my father had loaned me was a mid lift. To stop the lorry skidding on the ramp I had to raise the middle axle so as to put all the weight on the drive axle. After several attempts and blocking the trailer up we got it aboard. When we went to put it were it was to go it would not fit. The ride was too high (14ft7in at front) and the top was catching the overhead ship pipes. They decided to put it in another spot.I thought I was going to have to take it off again but we persuaded the crew to let us pull it forward and park it to one side while they loaded the dodgems trailers next. They were lower in height, but both trailers had tail lifts on them and the runners went a foot past the roof. These proved to be too high aswell and eventually “c” had no choice but to cut them off with a hacksaw .He would weld them on again when in Cyprus. When they got to me again, the crew wanted my ride literally touching the side of the ship. On the floor were bays painted out in yellow lines 2.5m wide. Each vehicle had to be within the lines. Only problem was my ride was 2.8m wide. The only way was to touch the side bulkhead of the ship. The box section floor on that side of the ride is still crushed to this day. It took about thirty shunts to move the ride and lorry over. Doing numerous shunts back and forward and not trying to go onto the loading ramp. After the ride was set the crew( all Malaysian) started to chain it down to the deck. I went under with them and pointed out were I wanted the chains put so as not to damage the hydraulic pipes and other critical items. Next on was the superbob. I guided “d” onto the ship, by now we were getting quite good at reversing around the corner and the ride went aboard easily. It also helped that this ride has hydraulic rams at the rear that we used to lift the trailer up to clear the ramp. We disconnected the batteries from the vehicles so they wouldn’t run down during the two-week voyage. This also reduced the risk of fire. It felt strange leaving the rides behind in the ship. That evening it was to sail to Europe and pick up the other rides.
It was about 4pm when we left the docks. A friend of “d” lived near Stanstead. He came in his Rolls Royce and picked us up from the docks. He took us to his house where we had our tea. Then he took us to Stanstead airport and we flew home to Glasgow.

A fairground life(cyprus adventure ch7 part1)

Jan 5th 1999 PART1
After having breakfast and leaving the BB we went to the docks. At the docks where a couple of port a cabins. One for customs the other for the shipping agents (Baldan). First off we had to show the registration documents for the vehicles. I think this was to prove that they did belong to us. Then we provided all the other information regarding chassis numbers, trailer numbers etc. Most of the rides didn’t have serial numbers so they had numbers chalked on. After we measured the vehicles for length, breadth and height. They asked us the approximate weight of each. “d” said his was about 38ton, I think this was too much for it, they asked me mine and I said 28ton (a white lie as I had never weighed it until September 2007 when it came in at 29.5ton). We later found out that this had nothing to do with the loading of the boat but was how the dock charges were calculated. To be honest I had guessed this and originally thought my ride was about 32tons. In the end it didn’t make any difference to me, but Mr”a” saved a few quid. The shipping agent went around and gave all the vehicles an adhesive sticker with reference numbers on it. This was stuck on a prominent place on the trailer and on the lorry windscreen. After about 2hrs we were cleared to move into another part of the docks. As we went down to the birth where the ship was I could see a hive of activity. There were forklifts and vehicle moving all over the place. The ship wasn’t as big as I had expected. I was glad to see it was RO-RO (roll on roll off), as I didn’t fancy it being lifted by crane onto the deck. I have seen pictures of rides suspended before and all their owners said the same thing-it made them physically sick to watch the ride hanging by a thread. The first items loaded onto the ship were agricultural gear. Large combine harvesters and other farm equipment. Then they started to load us.

a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch6)

Jan 3rd 1999
The next morning I borrowed a trailer to carry the transformer. I then went to pick up my brother and “b”( “b”came to help us for a week back in 1980, nearly 30 years later he’s still here and there’s no sign of him wanting to leave. He’s like one of the family). We got to the lorry where the transformer was. My brother said “the transformers in there.” As I opened the back door the lorry was full from front to back , floor to roof , “all we have to do is lift the dodgem out first”. He wasn’t joking it took us almost 2hrs to clear a path to the transformer. It was fitted low into the chassis of the lorry. It was too heavy to lift so we fastened a chain hoist to the roof of the lorry and raised it up onto a couple of scaffolding tubes to use as rollers. After another hour it was on the trailer. All we had to do now was put all the dodgem back into the lorry. Sigh ….
That evening I phoned a friend who had a hiab lorry. I asked him to come over and lift the transformer onto the ride for me as we were leaving for Sheppey tomorrow. I climbed up over the side of the ride and looked down into it. There was only one gap where the transformer might fit. When the hiab arrived we hoisted the transformer up high and over the trailer. As I guided it down into position on the ride it scraped the sides as it went down. Another couple of mm bigger and it wouldn’t have fitted in and there was no where else to put it, at last a piece of good luck!
Jan 4th 1999
It was 4 am when I climbed into the lorry. I was going down with two other showmen, “d” and his father in law “a”. These two had been in Cyprus three years earlier, so they knew the ropes. They were also up and down the country all the time , they new all the roads no problem, I had only driven to London a couple of times so I didn’t really know any truck stops or local services beyond Carlisle. “d” was taking the ‘superbob’ down and “a” was taking the ‘twist’, both rides were on artics’. It was a 500mile trip and I wasn’t looking forward to it. Especially because of “c” who went down the week before with two trucks and spent a night on the M25, due to having numerous blowouts on the ‘dodgem’ ride’s trailers’. To make things worse the tyres on the trucks were quite old and an awkward size to get. We met at London rd about 4.20 am and set sail for the M74. After 20 minutes I was just settling into the driving seat when I heard “pop” and then the lorry began to slow. The brakes were coming on! I pulled over onto the hard shoulder. When I got around to the trailer I could hear air hissing out. I thought I had burst an airline but thankfully the red line had just uncoupled. I musn’t have put it on right. Just as I connected it “d” appeared, “what’s a matter?” he said. “nothing , the red line just come off” I replied and with that we were off again. I can’t tell you how relieved I was, I couldn’t take any more setbacks, there wasn’t any time left to overcome them. We continued our journey for around 12 hours, stopping every few hours to fuel up the lorries or take a brake. “a” was a little slower than “d” and I so we had to wait for him a couple of times. I’m glad to say it was a rather uneventful trip for all off us. We got to the Dartford crossing just as it was getting dark. I paid the fare and crossed. It was only another couple of hours to go. As for the rest of the trip all I can remember is crossing over a bridge onto the Isle of Sheppy and into the docks. We stayed the night in a BB , but I cant remember how we got there. The next day we were to load the ship.

A fairground life(cyprus adventure ch5)

Jan 2nd 1999

I was tired from the previous few days activity and didn’t wake up until about 11am. Today was going to be easy. All I had to do was take my lorry and drop it off at Stirling then pick up my fathers and bring it back. I had been on the phone to my brother as he had a transformer rectifier. Exactly what I needed to power my ride, He used it to power his ride too, but he had a spare dynamo in another lorry. It was fitted so he could drop the prop shaft (disconnect the back wheels from the gearbox) and use the lorry engine to drive the dynamo (this was the way all showmen used to get their power before having dedicated generators. The dynamo was usually driven by belts on a pulley drive attached to the out put shaft on a vehicle ‘s gearbox). He would use this setup while I had his transformer.We arranged to meet the next day to get the transformer out of his vehicle.
I jumped into the Atkinson confident it would make the journey to stirling. As I drove along the old Edinburgh rd the clutch began to slip worse. I thought if I could just get onto the motorway it would be fine because there would be no stop-start at lights etc. When I got to the roundabout at the m73 and tried to go up the slip onto the motorway the lorry couldn’t make it. I had no choice , I pulled over onto the hard shoulder. What do I do now I thought? As the lorry was driving on the flat ok, I decided to release the hand brake and roll down the slip road backwards and back onto the roundabout. Then I would drive around it and head back to the yard, about 2miles away. Sounds crazy I know , but that’s exactly what I did and how another vehicle never ran into the back of me is a mystery. I limped the lorry back to the yard again. I stopped the engine and got out. I had to get this to Stirling and I didn’t want the hassle of being towed. There was only one last thing that might work. I crawled under the vehicle to the clutch inspection hole and I wound the clutch ajustment right in, all the way. When I got in the cab the clutch pedal was solid, only about 1-2 inches of movement. I started the lorry up and engaged 1st gear. Crunch crunch we were off, I couldn’t dip the clutch at all, only enough to slip it slightly and when I changed gears I had to catch it on the revs and crash the gear change. surely this would get me there. Well it did, when I got to the slip the lorry flew up onto the motorway, but stopping was difficult, I had to drive thinking 2miles ahead in case I needed to stop. By the time I reached Stirling the clutch was almost gone again. I left the vehicle for my dad to take around to the mechanic he knew. I got into his lorry and set sail for Glasgow again. It was about 4pm and starting to get dark.
More tomorrow

a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch4)

Jan 1st 1999
The old dynamo ran the rest of the night and into the New Year without a problem. This wasn’t really a good thing because it leads to a choice- ignore the problem or try to fix it. To fix it I needed another dynamo. Where was I going to find one three days before leaving? What happens if I ignore it? and it packs up later? Maybe when I was in Cyprus? When it comes to choices I usually make the wrong one. The smoke did subside, but you could smell the windings inside ( a sort of barbecue smell, this is something old showmen used to do before buying a dynamo, have a good sniff. It was a sure method to tell if there was anything suspect about it). I would have to worry about this later, one problem at a time.
I pulled the ride down and then packed all the Cyprus gear back onboard again, game, market stall and luggage. I had to do this, as there was no other way of transporting it away from the fair. At the back of my mind I wondered if I was wasting my time by packing it. At 4am we were ready for the road. The clutch was still slipping on the lorry, but if I could get it moving, it was only two miles back to the yard and there would be no traffic. Slowly the lorry pulled away in first gear. I kept the revs low and just crawled along at snails pace. Out onto the road I didn’t stop for give ways or red lights, I knew if it stopped moving it would probably not pick away again. Lucky it was new years morning and the country was comatosed, there wasn’t a soul about. After about 40 minutes I had completed the two miles. It was 5am, time for bed.
The alarm woke me at 8am, time to start the clutch. With the ride uncoupled from the lorry it moved no problem. I drove it to the shed on a neighbouring yard.(previously arranged) and met old Alf. Him and his youngest son were going to change the clutch with me. After about two hours we had the old clutch out. The only problem was that we couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with it? We wasted another hour trying to find something wrong with the lorry, why had the clutch been slipping?
( This brings a question to my mind that I hadn’t previously thought of—the first mechanic said it was burnt out- obviously not the case as we were holding it in our hands and it looked brand new! Some people are cowboys! ) It was now 12noon, my father appeared from out of town. He suggested a solution to all my problems, well nearly. He offered me a lend of his artic unit. A mid lift ERF with an L10 Cummins engine and here’s the BONUS it also had a 65KVA generator fitted behind the cab. BRILLIANT, I have transport and power! With this idea now being the plan, we proceeded to put the old clutch back in. The conclusion was that it needed set up properly to stop it slipping. My father suggested that if I could get it to Stirling, he know a mechanic there that would do the job and the lorry would be ready for me in April when I returned from Cyprus. I put the new clutch back into its box and prayed I would get a refund when I took it back. Old Alf and his son give me some ear bashing about how they couldn’t drink on new years night and I had ruined their new year (all in good fun of course), but I thank them even to this day as I was in a spot. But that’s what being a showman is all about- lend a hand when possible because you never know when you might need one.
This leaves only one small problem, my fathers generator is 415v a.c three phase, when I need 240v a.c and 110v DC. Ok I can get the 240v from using one phase on his generator, but to get 110v DC, I need a transformer rectifier and it has to handle 300amps to boot.
That problem will have to wait until tomorrow…

A fairground life(cyprus adventure ch3)

December 1998
We arrived at Glasgow airport and my father in law picked us up, as he drove us home we made plans to start the renovation work. I decided that the first thing to do was strip out the old coal fire and radiators. We were going to fit a new combi boiler and radiators through out.
There was a new fair being organised in the city centre for New Year. We applied for a position for our ride and were accepted. I remember thinking it was a shame it wasn’t for Christmas as I could have got the kids presents out of the ride for them. Two weeks before Christmas, Mr “a” phoned me, Cyprus was back on and did I still want to go? I told him I couldn’t as I had spent my boat fare on a boiler and radiators. I had the new boiler fitted and the old kitchen was ripped out. I was desperate to go, but did not have the funds now. The next day he phoned back and offered us a different deal. Mr “a” would pay a return fare for the boat and we would work at a different share percentage to compensate. I discussed it with the family , it did seem like a good solution and I think it was a better deal than I had in the first place. The Cyprus project had also been delayed and we would now sail on the 4th of Jan from the Isle of Sheppy, that was perfect because we would get Christmas and New Year at home plus the New Year fair before we had to leave. We were onboard again and I felt excited.
The day came to erect the equipment in the city centre for new year. As I drove the lorry to the location suddenly I felt a loss of motion and the engine revs soared. Disaster! it was the clutch. I limped the vehicle to the fair site and called out a mechanic. The next day as I erected the ride the mechanic came to inspect the lorry. The clutch was totally burnt out due to me forcing it to the fair, he couldn’t adjust it. The only option was to fit a new clutch, but he couldn’t do it in time for me to get to Sheppey. It was Dec 30th, I had to do something quick before everything was shut for New Year! Right away I got in my car and drove to the Atkinson dealer at Chapelhall and bought a new clutch off the shelf(£500 ouch!). All I had to do now was find someone to fit it. The next day was hogmanay (new years eve) after much searching I finally managed to get a friend’s dad to agree to meet me at the yard on new years day to change the clutch!!!! Now that’s what I call a favour.
We opened about 8pm it was cold and dark. There wasn’t any people about until about 9pm. We did start to get busy and at 11pm I went around just to check on the generator, as I usually do when we are open. What’s that? Smoke pouring out from the canopy! As I opened the set I could smell smouldering coming from the dymano.(most older rides are powered by 110v DC motors. These motors were mostly ex M.O.D from the days of WWII. This is also true of the dynamo that powers the motors. Probably from a search light trailer or similar. It was 50 plus years old) I opened the canopy to let the heat out. The ride was going round full so I kept it running, as I watched the generator in case it burst into flames. Cyprus seemed like an impossible task now-no clutch and no generator what was I going to do????
More tomorrow...

a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch2)

November 1998.
with the bonfires behind us it was time to pack the ride in readiness for Cyprus. Since we would be living there for 5 months we had to take all our clothes and the children’s Christmas presents. Far too much to take on a plane so it was easier for it all to be packed into the ride. The ride I was taking was on a 14m artic trailer and there was plenty of room inside for the luggage. My wife’s parents were coming also to help us in Cyprus . probably because they would miss their grand daughter “w” who was 3yrs old. To increase our earning potential we borrowed a hoopla stall and a market stall. I didn’t have a game to go in either of them. Since other showmen had booked stalls earlier I would have to invent something different to get a plot on the fairs. I can’t remember how I got the idea, it was throw the ball into the bin game. Easy you think? Well not with the bin lids hinged and a motor fitted to open and close them rapidly. So a trip to the iron mongers for 6 galvanised bins with lids, another to the scrap yard for 6 windscreen wiper motors and I had the major components. It was quite simple, hinge the lid at one end and connect a rod from the lid to the wiper motor inside. Select the desired speed and power it from a 12v battery charger. Hey presto! Ball in the bin game. To make it harder I gave the bins assorted hardboard teeth to narrow the opening and named them accordingly- jaws, vampire, smiley etc.. As for the market stall it would have to wait. There was some rumours that the Cyprus project was having problems recruiting operators to go, so we went to see “a”. he told us everything was o.k and that he had several European showmen lined up to go, he even had video of their equipment. One thing about mr “a” he could sell sand to the arabs, so being reassured we continued with the project and put everything else on hold, including our new caravan renovation. Well we only had enough to spend on either the boat fare to Cyprus or the renovation work, we couldn’t afford to do both and we still had our holiday to go on. Off we went to sunny Spain still feeling on a high… a week into the holiday and we got a call from home, it seemed the trip was to be delayed, then we heard it was cancelled. I felt gutted, it was at that moment I know how much I really wanted to go. All the family was on a downer and it did affect the holiday spirit.
More tomorrow

a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch1)

October 1998.
It was getting near the end of another season we were open in Perth and the weather was turning cold. There was only a couple of bonfire events left before we would pack up for another winter. We had purchased another larger caravan in the summer due to the kids getting bigger, but it was to be modified by myself before we were going to move in. new bathroom,kitchen,heating,interior décor,carpets and three pull out sections to increase the floor space. This caravan had been in storage in a yard in Glasgow awaiting us pulling in for the winter and me starting the renovation. We had sold our old caravan and the new owner was due to receive it shortly. This would mean that we were going to spend a winter in a borrowed touring caravan from my father in law. Not a welcome prospect trying to live in a 6m caravan with only a small gas heater in the winter. It wasn’t to come to that , a phone call from out of the blue to my wife from one of her friends would see to that. “A” is going back to Cyprus again this winter( he went 3 yrs earlier with a group of showmen from Scotland and England), what do you think she asked me. Well it seemed like a good idea, living in the sun for 4-6 months and possibly earning some money to boot. But what about the new caravan? That would just have to wait. A phone call later and a family discussion and it was all decided, we were going to go. The logistics were quite simple. We drive the rides down to the isle of sheppey were they get loaded onto a ship and sail to Cyprus. On the way the ship was to stop and pick up other rides from Europe. Then we fly out two weeks later to meet it and off load the equipment. The fairs are all arranged and booked up by “A”s partner( a Cypriot who he worked with in 96). Because Cyprus was an ex colony many of the laws were the same as in the U.K. So when it came to organising a funfair they just looked at the English procedure and followed that policy. All accommodation was to be in hotels and because it was off season when we would be there, it would be at a reduced rate. It seemed quite simple and we were due to leave at the end of December just after we returned from our previously booked holiday in Benadorm.
We were on a high for the time being.
More tomorrow….

a fairground life(water laser day3)

i'm getting tired now, progress is slow, this always happens when you get to the fidley work. in this case its the fitting of the capping and beading of the trailer panels. if you don't get the mitres just right you can make a job look like a botch up. i'm cutting every join by hand using a hacksaw. not the best tool for the job, but i can't justify buying a mitresaw just for this one off project.
this could be a showmans trait- make do and improvise. i have fitted the roof,front panel and half the floor but the capping part is taking all the time up and when you stand back and look you can't see any progress(hence why no new pics today) although you've spent 45 mins on one mitre! tomorrow is another day though and "R" will be here from the start due to no uni.i'm sure we can pickup the pace and get back on track.
there isn't much happening in my life at the moment. not that i'm complaining because it means nothing has went wrong this year(yet!) but it doesnt give me much to write about. i know this will change when the season starts but until then i'll write some yesteryear stories about my travels. starting tomorrow....

a fairground life(water laser day2)

we started at 9am. the weather was dull and gray but it was dry. we lifted the chassis off the tresils and flipped right way up. after leveling it off we fitted the axles,coupling , wheels and brakes . by now it was time for a quick lunch. 20mins later we started to cut the GRP panels to size. although i opted for the thinner sheets (14mm compared to 18mm) they still weighed a ton. we placed the first one on the tresils ready to cut to size, then suddenly a gust of wind came from nowhere and nearly blew the others over. i just managed to catch them in time before they all crashed to the ground. we hastily secured them up with a ratchet strap. we started to cut them to size and after about an hour we had the two end panels and the rear panel ready to fit. as the wind was gusting a bit, i know we would have to be quick when assembling the panels to stop them blowing over. we cut the alloy angle beading and pre drilled all the hole so it was only a matter of putting the bolts through and tightening up. the panels were too heavy for two people to handle so we ask for help from "C" and "C"snr. even with the extra hands it was still nervy as we bolted the panels together and tried to hold them in place at the same time. there is one good thing about being on the yard. theres always someone to ask for a lift of a push etc. all showmen are the same when somebody is working, we all go out for a nosey to see whats happening and to lend a hand when needed. my father always said there was a wealth of information on a fairground because if you didn't know how to do something or where to get something, then chances were that another showman knew and it was only a matter of asking. i have since found that this is absolutely TRUE. there is quite a lot of activity on the yard just now as everyone is thinking about starting out and getting ready for another season. anyhow by 6pm it started to rain and we had the structure secured enough to withstand the wind for the night. hope its dry tomorrow so we can get the roof on, plus its not good for the GRP to be out in the damp without the edges being capped and sealed. i'm definately getting old, my backs aching with all the bending and lifting, hope i can last the week!

a fairground life(water laser day1)

well i got off to a good start today- the weather was lovely, the steel arrived promptly at 9.30, the GRP panel arrived shortly afterwards and it was just off loaded when the mobile rang and i was told the trailer axles and coupling had arrived, perfect. after a short trip i had picked up the trailer parts and was eager to return to the yard to get stuck into the job. first was to cut the steel to size. there's not much to the chassis and i was confident it would be finished by this evening. oh no! i've left the chop saw behind, its 26mls away in the show lorry! well so much for the good start this means cutting the steel with the 9 inch angle grinder. not really hard work, but you don't get a square end! "R" set up a couple of tresils and we started construction. after a few hours the chassis was almost finished. we wasted a few minutes trying to decide how best to make the brake cables miss the bridge in the chassis, but when we got an idea it was full steam ahead again.it got dark at 6pm so we give the underside a quick coat of primer. the plan is that it will be dry for tomorrow. when we turn over the chassis i'll finish the top welds, fit the wheels and coupling. a few more good days of weather and the job could be finish completely in one week. here's hoping.

a fairground life(its not a job! its a way of life!)

to day was spent running around paying for materials for the water laser project. although we are not open with any equipment at the moment, we are still spending. everyone else still needs paid, telephone,car payment,food etc. thats how i know this isn't a job its a way of life! who else would work ,spending on maintenance for weeks in advance? or spending money on items that you will only use in the summer(vehicle insurance renewals came in this morning), when its still the winter. i know other showmen who work through the winter months doing usually agency driving. in the early 70s my father and many others drove oil tankers. then into the early 80s many drove road gritters for the council. these were good jobs, but then when the spring came around they all left to go travelling again. it must be something in the blood. thing are a lot different now. the closed season is shorter. there are more 1 day events being done, especially as the season draws closer to its end-firework displays in november, x-mas light switch on's in december and other events. this is definately due to most equipment being fold up and easily , quickly moved and assembled. in the 80s most rides were carried in vehicles and assembled piece by piece, but now 90% of all equipment is trailer mounted and folded out using winches or hydraulics. this has created some problems itself though, we now need more room for parking equipment, extra vehicles leads to extra expense etc.. i hope the scottish executive doesn't impose mileage charges on vehicles, that could be the last straw! tune in tommorrow, we should have started building by then.

a fairground life(hands on)

Like many showmen, I'm quite handy, a jack of all trades, i've got to be. Money is tight all over, not just in our trade and as a result you have to do the best you can to minimise cost when available. Dont get me wrong! when it comes to certain things especialy safety you have to get proffesional help, but the ordinary every day repairs,maintenance,DIY etc are done in house.I can/ i am, a welder,spray painter,coach builder,cabinet maker,panel beater,mechanic,electrician,hydraulic,engineer,sign writer, artist,fibreglass moulder, designer, manager,lorry driver,husband and dad. By no means the A all and B all of these skills, but enough to get by.
So this weeks project will be to trailer mount a new attraction we recently purchased. In doing so the savings will be around £7000. Well worth getting your hands dirty for. The attraction in name is a set of water lasers. You may have seen something similar on your travels. You know! insert a coin and shoot water at firemen or in our case pirates.Its only 3m long and 2m wide but it takes around 3hrs to set up and then you have to fill it with about 800lts of water, on top of this the LDV van i have cant hold whole item at once and results in a double trip for every event. So i have decided to trailer mount the attraction. This will result in a towable unit 3m L x 2m W x 2.2m H, the design will reduce the amount of water required to around 100lts, the assembly time/ de-rig time to about 10minutes and enable me to add more themeing/decoration. Well worth the expenditure and work effort. My son"R" will be assisting (civil engineering student), this could be interesting. i've ordered the materials and will be starting in a couple of days. I will post photos of the progress. this will be outdoors so i hope the weather holds.
I really do enjoy this type of "creative" work, making something. watch this space!

a fairground life(intro)

Welcome to my Blog. Let me introduce myself, I am a traveling showman,born and bread from generations of traveling people who are my fore farthers. I want to tell my story, my life style, because I thinks it is unique, different. In doing so though it will be a journey of a difference for me. I dont know where it will take us or what I will discover about myself. This is true life, reality, to try and keep some kind of privacy I will not mention my name or any other person directly.I havent blogged before so forgive me if the format or content is of unusual blogger standard. Why am I doing this? To enlighten any person with an open mind of what we are as a community and try to dispel common misconceptions and negative views that most people think they know about my way of life,my ethnic minority. When I first thought of doing this it was to be a diary of one year in my life, but then that wasn't going to explain me or how I came to be the person I am,the people we are. We need some information on my early life and upbringing.So a mixed bag this story will be.I will try to keep writing daily,but this will not be the case, especially in the summer time when the funfair season is in full swing. Feed back most definatley welcome.