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.