Saturday, 19 May 2007

a fairground life(water laser picture)


A friend of mine has hounded me to show a picture of the water lasers in operation. They were finished before Easter, but I only got around to taking the photo today.
This afternoon's weather was wild, strong gale force winds and torrential rain. The skydiver suffered slight damage by way of a torn skirt (a pvc cover that surrounds the base of the ride) and the funhouse required a couple of screws in a hinge that had become loosened by the constant buffeting. The wind is the single most feared weather condition for a showman, it can cause a lot of damage to equipment. Where possible we will use lorries to shield equipment, strap items down to vehicles or anchor pins driven into the ground and some rides may be able to lower the backflashes or headboards, but after that you just have to ride it out. The rain was so heavy that the funhouse stayed closed this afternoon as it was flooded inside and had to be dried out. Luckily the rain stopped around 4pm and the whole fair was open again for 6pm. Too late was the cry, as the afternoon was lost and the night was never going to make up for it. A better scenario would have been dry in the afternoon and rain in the evening. Tomorrow after we close at 6pm we will pull the fair down. Next week will be bit more tricky for me as we have all the equipment open at 2 different fairs 30 miles apart. That's if the rain stops as one of the fairs-"Drymen horse show" has been cancelled 3 out of the last 4 years! The last time I was there the river bust its banks. The water was so high it went into the lorry headlights. After the water dropped it took three tractors to pull the skydiver ride across the field and out of the mud. Luckily there was no damage, but it took a while to get everything clean again.

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