a fairground life (river fest)

The river festival was the main topic of last weeks activities. I started on the Sunday prior by erecting signs in the carpark. These were to inform the drivers that the area would be closed on Thursday night from 7pm and vehicles left on site after that time would be crushed!(well not exactly those terms, but indicating that some difficulties may arise if the cars were not timely removed). It did seem to help and 75% of the carpark was clear on pulling in night. There were two rouge cars that hindered the setting of the twist until noon the next day. Apart from that everyone was onsite, set ready for building up by 9:30pm. We only had one major hiccup, the Energystorm broke a kerbstone pulling in. "r" and I returned early the next morning and repaired the damage by forming the shape with timber and pouring concrete into the mould. The repair is almost invisible to the eye, but I would not recommend driving over that one again. The event was popular as ever and at our end of the site (under the Finnieston crane) the fair looked inviting. I met with building control for an on site meeting for the funfair area license handover. Then we were joined by the Environmental Officer and finally by the Legal Dept Agent. After everyone was in agreement that the fair was good to go, I was presented with the License. How easy the showmen in England have it, not needing to have a license for a fair south of the border. It has taken since April this year to start the licensing procedure. I had to attend the licensing court, supply all safety certs , insurance docs , a scale plan and finally a police background check of all the showmen attending. We had to supply names, DOBs and addresses. Let nobody say that showmen are here today and gone tomorrow! The weather was glorious on Saturday and an estimated 50,000 flocked to the Clyde side. I assume this was because they knew of the bad forecast for Sunday. At the main pinch point of the event(along side the new BBC Scotland building), mounted Police had to control the crowds. By 4:30pm it had started to slow down. No doubt many people left early due to the congestion.

Sunday.

The rain fell into early afternoon and deterred many folk from the final day of the river festival. It was dry from 1 pm but too late as the main part of the day was over. At 6pm the fair was pulling down. I headed over to the mall to pull down there. At 7:15pm I was headed out to BOA with the miami. When I got there the ground was sodden and puddles laid on the surface. The plot was marked out but I got stuck in the mud and had to be towed into position. That would pretty much set the scene for the next day for all the heavier loads. I returned to the mall and "r" & the crew had the final loads ready to move. Again we headed off to BOA. On arrival it was too dark to see and to avoid any unnecessary damage we left the loads on the hard until morning.

the picts are of the river festival, look at those crowds.