a fairground life

Monday

Although promised my seal, it did not arrive. So went and got laminate flooring and finished off the lobby that I had added to the house. Finally after two weeks we got visitors that night. They arrived just as I was laying the last piece, good timing as I was keen for a beer.

Tuesday

Got a call to let me know the seal had arrived, we went out with the hub and got a lend of the tool to seat the seal without damaging it. It was too late to go out to the Foden an fit it that day. Later, another phone call telling me that we were to erect the Santa train tomorrow night.

Wednesday

Went out and fitted the hub back on with "r", well he mainly did it while I cast an eye on him. We topped up the back end with gear oil, but it didn't seem to need any. I decided to run the backend for a while and adjust the breaks. After that the backend took nearly 6 ltrs of oil. "r" cleared a blockage in the breather hole on the axle. I don't think this caused the seal to blow  but you never know. While the axle was jacked up I burnt the brakes in a touch. Next we moved onto the DZ. After 2 years of operation we decided to change the wire ropes. They were still in good condition, no frayed strands, but prevention is better than cure. It only took us an hour to change them as we didn't lower the tower to loop the ropes over the top pulley. "r" just climbed up inside the tower and fed the rope through with his hand. For 4:30pm we were heading home again for tea. 9pm and we were heading back again to erect the Santa ride in the mall. We have to carry the carriages one at a time down 6 steps onto the rink. By 1 am the ride was erected but not decorated as we ran out of snow (wadding) and steam (us, not the train)so we called it a night. 

Thursday

Back at the mall with more supplies. It took another 4 hours to decorate,clean and finish the ride off. We had to sand the tracks to remove the surface rust so the wheels could get a clean contact. The ride is erected its full size now with the insertion of two extra sections of track. It looks really well, even if I do say so myself. On another note, the insurance doc arrived for the van today. I will try to get it taxed tomorrow so I can start using it. Anyone want to guess how long it will last before the engine blows?

There you go, nearly another full week away in the blink of an eye.

a fairground life

Mon

I went to Fodens to order a seal for the rear hub. Since the demise of this British Marque they are now Hino agents. However the stores man was Foden thru and thru and he know exactly what I needed and also knew that there were several kinds for the same lorry! He insisted on a specimen to make sure that he ordered the exact one.

Tue

    spent all day in the house waiting for a plumber to look at the intermitent hot water fault and the roofer to come and investigate my leaking roof. I eventually traced the problem myself with the garden hose!

wed

sadly I was attending a young woman's funeral. What a massive turnout, there was at last 500 people present. I was heart sorry for her young child and husband. You think you have problems until something like this brings you to reality.

Mean while "r" removed the hub and brake shoes from the Foden, then we took them over to Hino's to order the replacements.

Thur

Took the brake shoes from the Foden to get them re-lined. At least I won't have to burn the oil out of them now. Went to auction to buy a van. Got carried away and bought a 52 plate, knacker for pennies. Just got to hope it lasts the winter. Would have walked  away but when they said it had a years MOT I forgot about the engine knock! oops! It is stinking in the cab, I think they kept dogs in it as the steering wheel, gear stick and hand brake are all chewed up! Yes there IS one born every minute. Its a Kangoo, I think the name is missing a "t" in the middle.

Fri

Spent a while getting soft furnishings for the house. The roofer arrived and repaired the leak (I hope).

Saturday

The rain and wind were horrendous all day. We never got opened at all. The dodgem had the tilt and cars removed. We lost the days biz, ouch! On the bright side the roof on the house didn't leak.

Sunday

we did get open and although we didn't get much it was better than nothing.

What a quick week. This week will be the same no doubt.

a fairground life

So we are in the house. About time since we have been paying a mortgage for 18 months! Anyway I think I'm going to like it, my wife is not so sure. She says she feels like she is staying in a hotel. I told her, "if so then the room service is crap!" The bit that is hard is the isolation, I mean if you walk out at the yard there is always someone about. Anyway now we need a new van, for me. Something just to get me from A to B. The old LDV is beyond economical repair. I'm off to the auctions this week, I fancy a Berlingo. Its a bit smaller than the LDV but it will do for me and park better in the drive. It will need to be cheap with the current financial crisis gripping the world. I said to Mrs Showman, "you know we moved into the house just in time, its nice to have lived in it before we lose it."

a fairground life (hard times a coming)

A month since I last posted! To be honest that is bad.

Stranraer.

I left Egremont shortly after 6am. It had been a good fair for us this year being slightly better than the year before and in this financial climate that was no small feat. Now it was time to head for Stranraer 150 plus miles away. It was a good journey, nothing to speak of except some heavy patches of fog between Dumfries and Newton Stewart. That said I arrived on site just before 10 am. "r" had left Glasgow with the miami around 7am and had arrived here about 20 minutes before me. We set the Hobby caravan first, all the trailers were in a new position, in the long stay carpark as the pier was to be clear this year. It did make the fair look tidier and it was a bit more sheltered from the coastal wind. Only draw back was that to get out meant getting your neighbours to move for you. The miami was set on its plot, then the DZ. It was the latters first time here and stood directly in front of the miami. Handy for minding and running the mains to the same generator. The plot was occupied by the other DZ that had been in Scotland before being sold off to the East. For 2 pm both rides were ready for opening. We returned to Glasgow for a few days and moved into the house!!!

The first weekend opened at Stranraer was poor, numbers were down and that set the trend for the duration. There were a couple of other new comers this year, the large funhouse of "ep" and the matterhorn of "rj" stood pole to pole at the end of the fair. Thursday saw the generator of the funhouse go down and he had to close early. The Friday night saw the generator of the matterhorn go down about 8pm. I offered him the use of the DZ generator. He went down to fetch it from the carpark, but someone had parked their car in the gap that we had been using as a gate. The police would not move it as they said it was not parked illegally so "rj" lost the final 2 hours of business. On the bright side we found the problem on his generator later that night. It was only a broken wire from the alternator.

The second week the weather hammered rain every night. I could not get out to do any work but I did make an attempt to go to the library and get some internet access. Unfortunately my previuos years account had been cleared from the system and I had no ID wih me to open another. So that was the end of that.The heavy rain and salt air started to affect the lighting on the tower as it began to trip off, by Friday all the electrics were so wet that I could not even get the ride to work. After 3 hours probing, jiggling and cleaning connections, "r" and I gave up, the ride had lost Friday nights earnings altogether. Just before 10pm the rain stopped. I tried the ride and it worked??? What can I say, this is the most temperamental thing I've ever had. As they say, the more complicated the plumbing the easier to stop up the works. Any way it did work for the following week, but it rained every night and the fair stayed closed Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday give us wind, very strong wind, in fact it was the first time that I saw the tower moving. About 50mm at the top, that was it, at 8:50 pm I closed it. Most others started to close early too and the dodgem tilt had to be reefed. Friday was wet again but it didn't make any difference as the Banks going belly up finished any chance of the punters returning for the last weekend anyway. Saturday was dry and biz was poor. This was a good fair for the showmen, but it just goes to show that a good fair can fall away to nothing in a very short time. Three weeks business with two rides and I never covered the expenses, never mind about eating!! Everyone was in a similar state of affairs.

Saturday night "r" and I pulled down both rides. We were slightly delayed as the fair is so narrow that we had to wait 45mins on other items clearing out of our way. We set off for Glasgow and arrived there at 3 am. We were to open the two rides next day at noon. Off home to bed.

The next morning we started to erect the rides again. I notices a small pool of oil from were the Foden had been siting over night. I mentioned it to "r". A while later he told me he had found the cause. It wasn't from the engine or gearbox (the most likely culprits) it was from the rear axle off side hub! The oil seal had blown and all around the back of the hub is covered in backend oil. So that will be a job for this week. No doubt I will need a set of brake shoes aswell. However I have seen showmen burning oil off shoes with oxygen & gas torches. I'll make my mind up when I get them out. A nip in the air this week, time to check the anti freeze too.

the photo is of the matterhorn, it looks better than it did in the shed during the winter.