A fairground life

I had only intended to write for a year. To be honest it was as much a scheme to generate traffic to our website as educate the masses. How naive was I ? What did I think, the whole web would click onto my blog and be converted into enthusiasts overnight? Those clicks from the far east maybe exciting at first but then you quickly realise they were probably searching for sushi with the letters F,U,N in the keywords. Lets be honest, only people with interest in the funfair would find the site or bother to click on anyway and these people no doubt understand showmen in the first place. So to enlighten anyone was a foolish statement to make. This was not my reason for stopping however--It seemed that my life revolved around tales of woe and one breakdown after another, take the last 24hrs for example---
Easter Monday-We closed at 7pm after a VERY quiet day business wise. It was freezing cold with intermittent spells of snow. "R" had went and picked up "s" from his hometown to give us a pull down that night. They started on the skydiver while "m" and I did the show. It was so cold the inflatable top felt like sheet aluminium as I was folding it away. Next I moved onto the Miami. I packed up this ride myself in about an hour and then started on the Dropzone. As I was removing the last of the DZ base tower bolts from the ride, I lost my footing and fell onto the ride gondolla (big ouch!). The socket extension bar carried on and put a lovely dent in the tread plate flooring. I landed on my back , probably the best place (second only to my thick head) but its killing me today. At that "r" and "s" had finished the skydiver and came to help with the DZ. "R" told me to go home and they would finish the ride-with the tone of "silly old git! ", anyway I refused (once you start that its the end and how can you continue by yourself again when he's married & gone?). For 11:15 pm we were all packed up. We have nowhere to go for a week so all equipment is to return to the yard. We decide to take the skydiver first but with the DZ unit (we swapped units with the skydiver to see if any change in the DZ air suspension that's still not levelling properly). Right away another problem-the skydiver trailer had side but no tail lights so "r" would follow me back then take "s" home. So off we set, it was only a short 14 mile journey. Good job. About halfway I noticed what I thought was steam. Sure enough about 1 mile from the yard the warning buzzers sounded and the unit began to boil. Keeping an eye on the temperature gauge I nursed the load home. I parked outside the yard for the night. As I got out the cab the steam billowed up high above and as I looked under the unit I could see a heavy water drip. I went to bed and "r" took "s" home. About 1am the phone rings-its "r", something is wrong with his car, it is billowing white smoke and racing at full revs even though he has removed the keys!! I tell him over the phone to stop the engine by stalling it and I get up again to go tow him back. I find him about 1 mile away and we tow the car to the mechanics garage we use. This morning we find out the turbo has blown and destroyed the engine beyond economical repair. All this and the season is only four days started! As Jesters said, (and it did cross my mind before) one day I may look back and enjoy reading my blog, maybe so BUT I will probably be wondering how the hell I ever managed to get about the country! As Blakey said to me, "how many ways can you make breaking down sound interesting?"
So, am I showing this industry in a good light? If I was an airline, nobody would fly! I do like writing, but it would be the same fairs over again, the same equipment ( as this is all I have) and no doubt the same tales of woe. This is why I thought it would get stale. These last comments have been encouraging to say the least, especially the --keep going son! My wife didn't want me to stop (but then she was distraught at the final episode of Sex and the City). Any way-- I thought a good Showman ALWAYS left them wanting more?

All in all, I am feeling a bit tired,
but I will write again,
just less frequently.

A BIG "THANK YOU" TO ALL FOR THE KIND WORDS OF SUPPORT. ;-))