a fairground life(cyprus adventure ch13)

Limassol Feb. 1999
We were to open the fair in the old closed football pitch on the front. The pitch was the oldest in Cyprus and was surrounded by a 12-foot high wall. The front gates were to small to bring the loads in through. Only big enough for a small car at best. Anyhow these gates had not been opened for many many years and they were boarded up at the front. We would have to open them, but that would be another days problem. The pitch was of a white blaze. Strangely there was an old grave not far from the end of my ride, against the wall. The head stone was too far detereorated to make out any dates or titles. The hotel (something Beach) we were staying in was right next to the football ground and the hotel bar looked directly into the ground. We had a room on the next floor up right above the pool table room. Every night I could here the balls go down as loud as if my head was inside the pooltable. It must have been something to do with the re-bar in the concrete and the pooltable sitting on a marble floor. This was more like a hotel, it also had other guests as well as us. Since the season was moving on and the location was more tourist like, the rooms were more expensive (£18) a night. I arrived at Limassol about 4pm, since we couldn’t get into the football ground until tomorrow I parked on a quiet road opposite a building site. I got into the car we had hired from George(a few days before) and drove to the hotel. It was hectic getting booked in as we all arrived about the same time. When we got the car emptied of the luggage, I went back to the ride and got off it the cases that we had packed in there, as they wouldn’t all fit in the car.
The next day we all went down to the pitch to set the fair. Only one problem-there was no gate for the rides to enter the pitch-it was a solid wall 12 feet high! Mr”a” said don’t worry I’ve sent for a JCB, we’ll make a gate at the rear. Now bear this in mind-this is the oldest football stadium on the island, it’s a sort of landmark, probably a listed building.
That evening just before dark a JCB did arrive at the rear of the stadium and DID knock a 20 ft gap in the wall for a gate! That’s how we got the rides onto the pitch. All the attractions were; medusa dark show-German, trampolines-Irish, rolla ball game & lucky numbers- Dutch, typhoon ride-Austrian, dart game & juvenile & action ride – English, superbob, twist, dodgem, tempest, soccer game, t-cups, snack bar x 2, pop it ons, balloon slide, 5 round stalls- Scottish. We set the rides up over the next couple of days. One day a heard a bit of a commotion at the rear of the ground. I went to see what it was. There was a Cypriot man yelling irately at Mr”a” and George. I don’t speak Greek, but I knew exactly what he was saying when he was yelling and pointing to the hole in the wall. Eventually they got him calmed down. Later that night Mr”a” told us that he had permission from the club chairman to open the wall and that chap was the club secretary and hadn’t been informed. He said it was all resolved and A ok. I don’t know the truth of the matter, but we did stay for another three weeks open. To close the new gate at night we drove “L”s Foden lorry across the gap. Around the pitch were spotlight towers. At the top each had a single floodlight. They were all facing the wrong way to light up the fair so mr”a” asked everyone to climb up the tower nearest to them and adjust it accordingly. This seemed easy enough as there was a ladder on each tower, all you had to do was climb onto the 12ft wall with your ladder and then onto the tower ladder. This I did no problem, but by the time I got 3/4 up the tower(25ft) it had started to sway with my weight. The steel was red rusty and I had visions of it folding up at any moment. I did get the light adjusted, but that was the only one, I was too scared to do any others.