a fairground life

The last few days have been busy. 

Friday morning I went and got the tyres fitted to the jeep, all the diff problems have disappeared. To say I'm happy would be an understatement. The rest of the day was spent doing minor jobs around the equipment. Over 30 this week for me and "r" has completed a few others too, including touching up the Foden paint, washing all the lorries and waxing the cabs, repairing some loose earth wires on the taillights and more. Not bad when you think he is still attending Uni.

Saturday started off quiet, a long lie in before starting a few jobs and fuelling up the lorries for moving this weekend. At 5pm however I got a call from my father in law. He and his wife had went up to Granton on Spey to a caravan site for the weekend. From there they were touring all the towns and villages they used to travel when they were first married. Unfortunately whilst out with the car they were victims of a bad driver. They had to swerve to avoid colliding with this other car and in the process damaged theirs. They had hit the kerb, broken the near side wish bones, coils springs, tyres and discs. The other driver quickly sped off before they could do anything. So when the dust settled they got the RAC to uplift there damaged car and drop them back at the caravan site in Granton on Spey. I drove up to take them and their caravan home while the RAC took the car away for repair (unless it written off). So at 9pm we set off from Granton. The jeep was quarter full and I thought this would get me to Perth where I could re fuel. Wrong, by the time I was approaching Pitlochry the red light was on. It was 10:20pm and I pulled of the A9 into the town to get fuel. The garage was closed and I also knew that the next two garages in Dunkeld & Birnam were closed too. Luckily we have friend in Pitlochry who keep Derv in their garage for such emergencies. An hour later with 20lts we set off for Glasgow again. It is strange that in this day and age there are no 24hr service stations between Aviemore and Perth, also there are no A9 service stations directly off the A9, you always have to  drive into small towns for local services that close early. I tell you we were close to spending the night on the A9.

When we finally got down to Dunblane (after midnight) there was a patrol car sitting on the roundabout. A few minutes later he pulled me in to the hard shoulder. He asked if I knew why I was being stopped. I told him yes, because the trailer number plate doesn't match the jeeps. He asked why this was and my father in law explained. He took my details which he undoubtedly already knew before he let us go on our way again. At the back of 1am we were finally back home.

Monday, the tenants of Burntisland summer fair met in the Scottish sections guild office to discuss issues of this years fair. It was a meeting of a few hours that covered items such as fencing ,stewarding, promotions and advertising.

Tuesday, attended a meeting of the Scottish section committee, I didn't get home until 7pm.

Wednesday, attended a meeting on behalf of the Scottish section at Bradford in the Yorkshire sections offices.Drove 470 mile round trip.