a fairground life (cumbria)

well hello everyone, forgive me for interrupting Blakey's Almanac of all lorries great and rubbish! I wont take long to update you (only have about 16min terminal time left and another £1 is not in the budget)
So I arrived at Egremont on Monday night. It took a little longer to get here as I TOOK THE WRONG ROAD! ( no need for blakey screening, I always tell the truth). So after getting some extra directions from Hagger and Fatso I promptly got even more lost! Not to worry, when I reached a 7.5t weight limit and the end of the road was nigh (literally) a local contractor turned me in his yard and gave me proper directions. So back up that steep hill (11%) out of Cockermouth and back on track. We arrived about 6:20pm and the DZ was erected for 8:30. That was Monday and I had a couple of lazy days until we opened last night. Hey biz was up 400% on last year and it was still crap so guess how bad it was the year before then? Any way I spent all this morning pulling the music amp to bit to try and find out why only one channel was working. After poking around with the guts of it I was no further forward. Not giving up so easy I started to flick switches on the back with obscure meanings like .77v, 1.4v, par, lift,gnd, ster, link etc and hey presto! both channels working. oh well, alls well that ends well. There that didn't take long now you can all tune back in to Blakey's informative all you don't need to know about lorries. A fountain of wisdom from a man who only passed his HGV this millenium. Mind you he is a quick study and managed to write off a car on his first day out on lessons, impressive to say the least.

a fairground life(out with the old)

Well it finally happened. I must admit after worrying about it, it was not as hard as I thought. I suppose the preparation I did over the last few weeks eased the job. But I still feel in limbo, stuck between two places, two lives. No more excuses, well not for me anyway, but my wife is still not making the move. Oh, sorry didn't I tell you? We have sold the "wagon", gone to a young English Showman and hid wife. It has gone as far away as you can get without crossing the channel. He drove for 12 hours to arrive here on Tuesday afternoon. I showed him around the wagon, explained as much as I could then we put the pullouts in, coupled it to his lorry and he drove it away. I led him out of the city and I did feel a little sad as it passed by me, sun glinting off the panels it did look well. I suppose that's not a bad last memory of it. The next morning he called to say he had arrived safely back after another 12 hours driving. I asked him if he had any punctures and he replied "none". I said, "Told you!". So now I have a house and a Hobby. We are off to Cumbria this weekend so no sense moving in the house, right?Then off to Stranraer for three weeks so no point then either, right? Perhaps there are still a few Excuses after all. 

The picture is the wagon just prior to departure and the digi clip is Blair on Saturday night when the crowds disappeared to watch the fireworks.

a fairground life(Blairgowrie)

I arrived at Blairgowrie just before opening on Friday night. We don't get much, but the kids are hanging about in anticipation so we open for a couple of hours anyway. I closed the skydiver by 8:30 pm and was en-route to Dundee shortly afterwards to go to the cinema. 

Saturday was dry! There was a time when Saturday afternoon was no use, I mean not even £20 worth of custom. Somehow over the last 5 years it has improved. The real crowds arrive at night from the returning busses from the Braemar games. The small fair was not as busy as in previous years. I think this is due to the Alcohol ban in the streets. I must confess it is more comfortable this way and the few quid less is a small price to pay for the "harmony" of the fair. The family people hung about longer too. We closed at 11 pm and "r" & the crew got wired into the skydiver while "p" and I did the miami. The only hitch was when "r" had finished pulling down he noticed that they had not removed a sleeper from under the rear of the skydiver. As the ride was now raised at the front and coupled to the lorry the block was pinned to the ground due to a leverage type movement of the truck, with almost the entire weight of the ride resting on it. Two choices- we either uncouple the ride and lower it to the ground to free the block or we just drive the lorry forward and drag the ride off the block. Yeah, you guessed it! It made a hell of a bang and split the block in two but no damage to the ride. That was that all in bed for 1 am. Not for long, we were up again at 2 am when the local club came out. Three idiots were poking around in the back of "r"s pick up, not content with that they lifted a bin from across the street and threw it into the back! We were up and out in a second and they fled up the hill. What can I say, "they're just AxxxxxxxS"! 

We left at 10 am this morning in one trip, me in the skydiver, "r" in the Miami and my wife taking "r"s trailer with the pick up. No were to go this week unless something pops up last minute. May have Big story to tell after Tuesday, watch this space!

a fairground life(london trip)

so its been a busy week. I got back from Millport on Sunday night. Monday was spent organising flights & accomodation and paper work for my Guild appeal cases on Wednesday ,Thursday. Tuesday I took the ec10 off the DZ and drove it to Dunkeld to put it on the skydiver. That evening after 6pm we took the maimi and skydiver over to the lorry park in Blairgowrie  in readiness for the next fair. I then brought the ec12 back to Glasgow to put onto the DZ.

Wednesday 4:45am and I'm up to catch my 6:30am flight to Heathrow. The HQ of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain his located in a building known as Guild House in Staines. It was a short taxi trip from the airport, but still cost £32. Any how I spent the next 2 afternoons in there as I went through 14 cases of appeals. Told you I had filled my quota. I did enjoy it though and the appeals committee were excellent in the execution of their job. On the way home I flew from Terminal 5. Impressive yes, but I couldn't help think this terminal was only an excuse to build a shopping centre. If you ever leave from T5 for a holiday you will probably be skint before you take off! Arrived home at 10pm last night, it was an enjoyable experience.

While I've been away "r" has held the fort and built up the two rides at Blair on the street. I'll see him tonight.