a fairground life (three wet in a row)

Three wet Saturdays in a row and three wet Galashiels Saturdays in a row too, thats three years in a row since 2007 that it has rained at Gala on the main day. There was also a music event on in a park nearby so as you might expect biz was well back on last year with the crunch piled on top of everything else. The rain fell as a fine mist all afternoon until about 5pm. After this it was too late as the families had all left. It was only the younger mob left and I do mean mob as by 10pm they were all full of god knows what and having running battles with each other. The five community wardens had did their best throughout the afternoon to keep the peace but by 9pm I reckon they either knocked off for the night or had just had enough and decided to let the rabble get on with it. The only police presence I seen was two officers on the fairground around 4pm. It was much quieter at the back of the fair where the DZ was positioned  and I never seen much of the troubles but at the front of the fair where the Miami was "r" and Mrs showman could easily see all the commotion as the youths ran riot from the waltzer up to the tagada. That said those rides didn't close until 11pm and by that time "r" and I had most of the DZ away and were about starting on the Miami. It was nearly 1am when we finished. Next day we left at 11am with the Miami and DZ heading into Glasgow. We dropped the rides off and I left "r" to erect the both of them himself (well he is a big boy) while I headed back for the trailers. That night at 7pm I picked him up and we headed off to Burntisland to get the show and Skydiver. He was well knackered by this time and it showed as we pulled the skydiver down. It was 11:20pm when we left the ground. I headed off in the skydiver while "r" took the show. About 50mins later I was near Larbet when the lorry began to die. I know it! bloody filter again, that's three filters since December about 500 miles. I must have the Diesel Bug. Anyway the cab wouldn't lift again, even with more oil put in the pump so I had to squeeze under the cab. I could feel the filter but couldn't turn it so I decided to knock it off with a hammer and chisel. Only problem was I couldn't see in the dark, then I remembered that a long time ago I had put a wandering battery light in the canopy of the generator. A few moments later after fumbling around inside the case of the set I had found it. I attached the wires to the battery terminals and hey presto, it still worked and shone brightly a whole 21w. Problem was that the 2m of wire wasn't long enough to reach were I wanted so I just let it dangle to the ground and luckily the faint glimmer was enough to work with. I tapped the filter round a bit then drove the chisel through the side and used it as a handle to twist the filter cartridge off. I spun on the new cartridge (primed with gas oil from the set, well needs must) and crawled out from behind the cab. Alas I packed away all the tools and light before I thought to look into the old filter to see if it was water that was the problem. This had all cost me the best part of an hour and it was 1am by now. "R" had taken the Forth road bridge route so had never passed me and was now sitting awaiting my arrival. Just before 2am I pulled onto the fairground. It was back to the house for a shower, meal and into kip for 3am.

a fairground life (newcastle)

We went to the Hoppings Fair today for a visit. A sign of the times is that the sellers on swag mans alley were few and their merchandise was even fewer. Also I've been told that 30 round stalls had given up their tober. This was plainly visible as there were large voids on the fair. The weather was hot, the earth was baked hard and the grass was completely worn away on some of the walkways so people were out in numbers just not spending. I've attached a few pictures, sorry that the TopBuzz video is sideways (how do you rotate video then???) but this ride is still impressive to watch in motion.

a fairground life (newcastle)

We went to the Hoppings Fair today for a visit. The fair is massive,

a fairground life

a fairground life

On Monday morning I was in Gala for 6:45 am. The ground was hard even after the previous nights rain fall. It was after 10am when the DZ was set on its plot. We erected this first before setting the Miami. There were a few light showers throughout the day but the weather turned nice at night. At 2:30 pm the miami was erected too, apart from attaching the weights. We headed off in search of a pipe. The engineer at Selkirk made a couple of calls and sent us to a chap in Bonchester Bridge. He had a small work shop but it was full of first class machinery. When we arrived he had already started the new pipe. Only five minutes later it was all finished. This chap does a lot of work for the forrestry chaps hence why he had the heavy duty hydraulic gear. An hour later we were back at Gala and the pipe was fitted. The ride was finished off and all systems seem go. Last night a few of the lads decided to have a party, live music from two guitar players come singers, strobe lighting, laser lighting, BBQ and beer. It sounded like (from my bed 50 yrds away) that it was going to be a real good night, only thing was 10 minutes in and the gig was cancelled when the boys in blue arrived due to a complaint. Maybe they over done it with two guitars or maybe it was just the awful singing?

Today was a real scorcher, like what summers used to be, not much chance of Gala getting messed up at this rate, but never say never.

a fairground life

On Monday morning I was in Gala for 6:45 am. The ground was hard even after the previous night rain fall.

a fairground life

On Monday morning I was in Gala for 6:45 am. The ground was hard even after the previous nights rain fall.

a fairground life

It had been a short 18 years since I last attended Broxburn Gala. The fairground was on a different site then, which itself was a new site at the time as the fair had been moved onto several areas due to new development over the years. Then it was the upright Paratrooper we operated. This time we returned with the DropZone. This fair is much smaller than previous locations and the lessee did well to squeeze in as many attractions as he did. The DZ was a last minute booking and it went in edge ways to fit in a 20ft gap between the waltzer and Superbob. As the Miami and skydiver were open elsewhere I also had to hire a generator for the weekend. I did get built up though by tapping onto the Superbob set for an hour. Wednesday night was the first opening, the weather was fine and this turned out to be the best weeknight no doubt due to it being cheap night. In between times we did a bit of visiting to Livingston to see a friends new purchase, a Tagada ride from Sweden (I think). Saturday started off with blistering sunshine but in a repeat of last week it quickly turned into heavy showers. As a result the gala was cancelled at 2pm. The fair did still hold good numbers until around 3pm when another heavy downpour almost cleared it. "r" called after 4pm to let me know that the Miami had a leaking pipe. It had a pinhole burst on the main motor hydraulic feed pipe. To avoid any chance of a full scale burst and oil spillage he closed the ride. At 9pm we were pulling down at Broxburn. I had to wait on the Superbob clearing its position before I could swing the tower around. For midnight I was pulled down. Sunday morning I was up at 7am to return the hire set to Glasgow before setting off for Galashiels. I met up with "r" later at Melrose and we managed to get the leaking pipe loosened. I did try to call out Hydrasun on their emergency line but there was no answer. I wondered if this was because it was fathers day or because it was Sunday or because their place is in Broxburn and its the morning after the Gala. Probably an accumulation of all three. Anyway we will have to sort it tomorrow after getting into Gala and building up. Passing by the ground I noticed that the tracking is laid at the gate, I hope it stays dry as we don't want a repeat of two years ago!

a fairground life

It had been a short 18 years since I last attended Broxburn Gala. The fairground was on a different site then, which itself was a new site at the time as the fair had been moved onto several areas due to new development over the years. Back then it was the upright Paratrooper we operated. Presently we returned with the DropZone. This fair is much smaller than previous locations and the lessee did well to squeeze in as many attractions as he did. The DZ was a last minute booking and it went in edge ways to fit in a 20ft gap between the Waltzer and Superbob. As the Miami and Skydiver were open elsewhere I also had to hire a generator for the weekend. I did get built up though by tapping onto the Superbob set for an hour. Wednesday night was the first opening, the weather was fine and this turned out to be the best weeknight, no doubt due to it being cheap night. In between times we did a bit of visiting to Livingston to see a friends new purchase, a Tagada ride from Sweden (I think). Saturday started off with blistering sunshine but in a repeat of last week it quickly turned into heavy showers. As a result the gala was cancelled at 2pm. The fair did still hold good numbers until around 3pm when another heavy downpour almost cleared it. "r" called after 4pm to let me know that the Miami had a leaking pipe. It had developed a pinhole burst on the main motor hydraulic feed pipe. To avoid any chance of a full scale burst and oil spillage he closed the ride. At 9pm we were pulling down at Broxburn. I had to wait on the Superbob clearing its position before I could swing the tower around. For midnight I was pulled down. Sunday morning I was up at 7am to return the hire set to Glasgow before setting off for Galashiels. I met up with "r" later at Melrose and we managed to get the leaking pipe loosened. I did try to call out Hydrasun on their emergency line but there was no answer. I wondered if this was because it was fathers day or because it was Sunday or because their place is in Broxburn and its the morning after the Gala. Probably an accumulation of all three. Anyway we will have to sort it tomorrow after getting into Gala and building up. Passing by the ground I noticed that the tracking is laid at the gate, I hope it stays dry as we don't want a repeat of two years ago!

a fairground life

Two weeks to catch up on.

We arrived on the green at W, Linton on Tuesday afternoon. The sun was shining and the tober was rock hard. It didn't take long to set the loads as there were no changes from last year. "r" and I started on the skydiver first. It wasn't long before we had the ride set up. After a quick tea we erected the DropZone. While we had been doing these rides Blakey had set up his modern amusements. The weather was lovely, the Green was beautiful and it felt good to be out of Glasgow for a change.

Wednesday morning I raised the cab on the show lorry to see if I could find the boiling problem. Sure enough, a water mark down the side of the engine led me to a burst pipe. I took it off and headed for Edinburgh to get a replacement. Three hours and six stops later I finally got some pipe from Pirtek (hydraulics). By the time I got back to WL, "r" had arrived from Glasgow and a few minutes later the pipe was fitted. I wasn't sure if the burst pipe was the problem or the symptom but the next journey would probably tell.

Thursday and back to Glasgow to pick up the miami and take it out to the music event. The layout was different this time with the rides being split up and the miami was in duff tober. "r" and I set it up and headed back to WL for early afternoon. 

Friday, It was opening night tonight and at 7pm there were a lot of people around to watch the floats go by. Last year it rained and ruined biz but not this year and we enjoyed a fair nights trade. The marquee was in full swing until 2am when the music finally faded.

Saturday afternoon was quiet, my wife and "r" headed off to the music event at 2pm. I called them after 8pm, our fears had been realised with the miami being in duff tober and this reduced trade by 40%. I didnt get to sleep until 5am on Sunday morning until I knew that they were finished, the ride pulled down and moved away safely.

Sunday, quiet quiet quiet and as my wife arrived back, I immediately left to meet "r" at Selkirk. The fair was marked out prior and we erected the Miami right away. At 6pm we headed back to WL. That night and the next morning all the other gear would come in to Selkirk from Hawick.

Monday was a day off and we went on a short road trip down by Holy Isle to Berwick and on to Amble. 

Tuesday I called Kia in Edinburgh to order a section of intercooler pipe, that night we opened for the rugby tournament on the green and closed at 9pm."r" had left earlier with his trailer to go to Selkirk.

Wednesday I fitted the new pipe and yippee, no black smoke from the jeep as it kicks down. This night we opened for the pram race but it was poorly supported with only 5 entrants. In previous years there were so many prams that they had to race in heats.

Thursday back to Glasgow to set SE's miami at Back to the 80's gig.

Friday I spent the afternoons doing maintenance around the rides, a few bulbs, holders,wires and I also fitted a new hydraulic pipe to the floor rams.

Saturday morning was a heat wave then it was a wash out, by 2pm the sports day was cancelled, it was a long drag until we closed later after 9pm. The weather had knacked us again. The crew had turned up for the pulldown and we did the skydiver first. "r" arrived from Selkirk to help with the tower. For midnight we were all packed up.

Sunday morning 5:45am we were up. The rides were coupled first then we headed off to Burntisland with the skydiver. We pulled on site before 9am. It had been a good trip and also the show hadn't boiled so the pipe must have been the problem. Not wasting any time we built up the Skydiver and it was ready for opening shortly after noon. At that we left my father in law to look after it while "r" and I returned to WL to pick up the DZ. This ride we took to Broxburn.

a fairground life

We headed over to Drymen this afternoon to pick up skydiver. When I got there the gate on the field was locked. There was a car parked away over in the field. I walked thru the field upto where the ride was parked. All the marquees,fencing,etc etc were cleared away. I drove the ride down to the gate. I was going to cut the chain with the hacksaw but before I could a police car appeared, they had come to investigate the seemingly abandoned car. So one copper looked around the car whilst the other set off to get the keys to the field. About 20mins later the gate was opened and we were on our way. I pulled into the services at stirling and put in £140 in derv, "r" pulled in behind with the show and put £70 in that plus 3 gallon of water into the radiator!! For some reason the lorry was boiling, it was full when we left drymen 20miles ago. We headed off again and near Edinburgh we stopped and put another 3 gallon of water in the radiator. This time we kept going all the way to WL. We pulled into the ground and the tober was rock hard. I will check the radiator tomorrow to see if the water has dwindled or if it is going into the oil/ sump. There doesn't seem to be a leak so maybe the thermostat is stuck or the radiator blocked or maybe the fan is slipping???? Surely one of the above will cure the problem.