a fairground life(Selkirk summary)

Wednesday
went to Burntisland today to check up on things there. I didn't get back to Selkirk until nearly 6pm. Later my wife and I went to Galashiels for a buffet Chinese with some friends and the kids. Spent most of the day driving!

Thursday
Opening night and its raining, no its pouring down and has been since late last night. Hope the ground conditions can hold out. Got "r" and the labourer to jet wash and chip (remove the rust) the Miami chassis ready for painting. There is a blacksmith here who is very good with the showmen. I had him make up a wire mesh box for me. Its getting fitted to the dropzone chassis to carry packing and the mains cables. I had been packing these in the control booth. A friend of mine pointed out that this didn't look too good when building up. He was correct of course and I did know I needed a box, this just made me do it quicker. In days gone by when all rides were built up and not fold up, the control booths had to be constructed similar to flat-pack. Then placed into the truck or in my case hung on the side of the lorry. This meant no storage space and items kept in the box were nil. Now with the boxes of solid construction, it doesn't take long to fill them up with odds and ends.

Friday
wire mesh box fitted today,looks fine. This should make things tidier in the control booth after pulling down the ride. It's still raining and there is no sign of it letting up. "r" had to return to Burntisland just before 6pm as the wind there was so strong it was blowing the panels off the skydiver backflash! He had to put in more pop rivets and then strap the panel frames down to the lorry. I opened here at 6:15pm and the rain continued right through the night.

Saturday
Dull, overcast, but dry. We are lucky here, the galas at Prestonpans , Grangemouth , Gorebridge and the Crowning of the Queen at Burntisland are all cancelled due to the weather. There is a lot of drinking on the fairground and I spend a lot of time through out the day picking up empty bottles. Business is nearly upto par and there is no bother. The fair closed shortly after 10:15pm.Went to the pub for a pint. When I got upto the High Street I couldn't beleive how quiet it was. Two of the popular pubs from years ago were closed down! There are rumours that this is the last common riding for Selkirk, I didn't pay much heed to that until now. The town does seem in decline. Eventually returned to the ground and found a party in my brothers place, got to bed just after 3am."r" was drunk, first time I've seen this. He was ill the next day, I honoured my fatherly duties and took the mick out of him.

Sunday
Up at 11am. At last dry weather, so out with the paint and fired into the Miami chassis. All done for 2pm, but the finish of the paint is not glossy so I will have to lacquer it. Some of the other tenants have pulled down and left for Peebles.
On any fair when another tenant leaves earlier, you can't help feeling that you should be leaving too.

Monday
A lazy day today. We did some picking up and got things ready for pulling down. The weather was dry and some families did come down to the fair. As usual for here, we started to pull down at 9pm. I had to wait a while for the waltzer
to take down the lamp battons and front gate, then I lowered the dropzone pole down across it's front platforms. It only took 10 minutes to remove the bolts and swing it around out of the way. All finished for midnight. It's only 7 miles to Melrose, but the town has a one way system and it's very narrow. We will have to be up at 6 am and away to beat the traffic.

more next week