a fairground life

So all the kit is back together for the next few weeks. Last Monday was spent fixing a wiring problem in my mothers home. It took so long that "r" and I only got to erecting the Skydiver at 7pm. We only did half of it and knocked of at 8:30pm. The next morning I was at licensing court in Glasgow for the hearing of my application for a PE license for the River Festival. It started at 9:30 am with Taxi drivers and continued until mine came up at 11am. There were a few other showmen attending too for other events around the city. Its always a worry that the hearings are left to the last minute as any problems wont have time to be overcome. After that I headed out to finish the Skydiver with "r". The next day was his graduation and although the fair at the mall was supposed to open at 12 noon the Maimi and DZ were closed until 4pm when Mrs showman and I arrived. It was quiet, just as well cos at 5pm the DZ acted up. It wouldn't go again, similar to the SECC problem, but this time it was only a blown fuse in the control panel. I think I may have caused this myself changing a bulb in the carriage lights. So 20 minutes later it was all systems go. Thursday was quiet a good day but Friday rained heavy for most of the afternoon. At teatime the set chucked it, it was dirt in the lift pump. This is getting to be a problem now so I'm going to fit another fuel filter before the lift pump.Saturday seen the skydiver develop a hydraulic leak. A pump manifold blew off a fixing stud. It was a 5/16" Whitworth thread so I had to go and source one. Being Saturday afternoon every major supplier was closed so I ended up at Bills tool store down at the barras. They only had a small selection of whitworth but I managed to get something to fit. Meanwhile "r" was washing up the 20-25 litres of oil we lost. We were all systems go again for 3pm. I had travelled 25 miles, spent £5 of fuel and lost two hours trade plus hydraulic oil all for a 15p stud!!!