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 .