A fairground life (Frozen Solid)

The last couple of weeks have been hellish. The weather has really knackered biz. Not that it's just the weather, no doubt the impending VAT and interest rate rise has everyone a jitter. The fuel is past £1.23 a liter and that's if you can get some as companies still struggle to clear the backlog. I had to transfer some gas oil from one generator to another last week just to get enough for the weekend. R went for LPG this morning and that's on ration too as Grangemouth don't have enough empty bottles to fill. Seemingly people have been scrapping them during the summer!

Anyway we pulled the DZ down last week in freezing conditions. I was a bit nervy about lowering the tower in the cold but there seemed to be no problem. Just aswell that the oil was warm from the ride being open during the afternoon. We didn't finish the ride off that night as we wanted to wash it before it went inside the SECC.We had been waiting for it to warm up a bit, but after a week there was still no sign of a thaw and we just had to attempt it. So Monday morning we went over in minus 4 temperatures. We did our best but the water was freezing as soon as it hit the ride turning the soap / TFR into frozen white icicles hanging from the ride. We got the worst of the salt and grit off the floor but by the time we did four miles to the SEC the ride was covered in spray again.

Tuesday 7:30 am, we headed over there to pull into hall 4. It was minus 13! So the lorry didn't start and we had to use the booster. When it did move it started to chug and I thought the filter was dirty. We pulled the ride into the hall but we had a problem with the DZ's plot. There were wire ropes suspended over the position, probably from a music gig. The organiser was quick to get the cherry picker in after I pointed out the problem. We built the ride up and decided to take the lorry away while it thawed, so I changed the filter before we left. It didn't make any difference though as the lorry still chugged and spluttered about a mile out, no doubt the time taken for the new filter to empty of fuel and the new fuel from the tank must have been freezing up (the problem in the first place). Good job the lorry was solo and the journey only 4 miles. We returned to the SEC to put new wire ropes on the DZ and finish off. The ride had thawed out nicely but it was literally a swimming pool under it. By the time we got the new ropes on both R and I were soaked through. We decided as it was only 4pm we would head home to get changed and then come back. As we left the hall to walk over the carpark to the pickup the freezing air on the wet clothes made it unbearable.We got in the car and headed home. The traffic was that congested it took us 40 minutes to do 600 yrds! By the time we got home we decided to call it a night and return the next morning.

Wednesday and it started off well, we got to the sec ok and started to clean. Next up was get all the lights working. There had been a problem with a lamp baton so R had put on a new plug. As he plugged it in we heard a distinct POP!. The lights went out and we knew it was something to do with the lightbox. Remember the one I complained of before?,that one up in the top of the tower! So R climbed up and got it out. It had blown a triac and a fuse. We fixed this and tested the unit but no go as one channel was only showing 50v AC. So a quick search online and off to Maplins for a new lightbox (£25). While he was away I opened up the pesky baton and found a short inside.R returned later and we got it all fitted up, but still no power so we must have blown a connection elsewhere. R climbed up again and found a hidden inline fuse, but still no lights. On the bright side (pardon the pun) the in line fuse activated the strobecaps that we hadn't got working for the last 4 years!(every cloud has a silver lining). It was clocking up 2 hours wasted now and I told R just to wire the lightbox into the strobecaps feed too. This he did and eventually we had lights. Now well behind schedule we put in the new bulbs and that was 8:30pm, chucking out time at the SEC.

This morning we went back again, en route I picked up a blower to put on the pump to help keep the thing cool.We finished off the lights first before heading off for the operators meeting. It's a heads up for running of the event and there is always a very good buffet! After that we spent the rest of the day washing and cleaning. The ride has been waxed & polished from top to bottom, all the windows cleaned inside and out, the carriage seats polished and the tower painted. Hopefully all systems are go for tomorrow as after that it will be full on through the holidays. Out at the Mall everything is frozen solid, a repeat of last year. If the winters are going to become like this yearly, we will be forced to give it a miss I think.

The picture is of SG's superbly presented Extreme. I took the picture on my new Nokia C7, It's 8mp wide screen shot looks great (I reduced size for upload speed). I had to get it as the camera on my old phone packed in, that's how I never posted a pict of bro's new dodgem, but I'll get one tomorrow. There are a couple of new rides in this year- JC's Frisby and Superbowl, SM's Toboggan and JC's Gallopers. I've been that busy that I have never had a chance to walk around the hall to get any picts.

In case I dont get a chance tomorrow- MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! keep safe in this weather.

a fairground life (black week)

Saturday was a shocker due to the snow fall. We did get opened but it was a waste of diesel. The next morning was even worse with arctic conditions. I thawed the jeep out and crawled along at 10 mph to get to the AGM. Shortly after I called skyliner C to stop him coming up. The missus and I where supposed to leave for a showmen's function the next day. It was in the NE of England for Monday & Tuesday but conditions were in-passable. Monday I was at the mall pulling down equipment to re arrange it on the fairground. I moved the wee stuff but we left the DZ and Rock o Plane in fear that the frozen hydraulics or steel might fail during the pull down. Spent some hours shifting snow from the rides floors instead.

Tuesday I attended a funeral, again the snow fell and many people just could not get there. Showmen's funerals are always well attended and even in these conditions over 100 people paid their last respects. The chap was my friends father, a real character/joker and he will be missed.

Wednesday??? hmmm, I remember more snow, but what did I do that day???my mind is definitely going.

Thursday was interesting-my bro had bought a used fold up dodgem track from Europe last week. The ride had been sent over on the ferry to Rosyth but he had had trouble trying to get it out due to the following---

Tuesday- he, his boy and a helper went to get the ride with a borrowed ERF, ECX. This was due to the kingpin being too far under for any of our units (with the generators across the back of the cab) to couple to. When he got to the docks neither his son or helper could get in because they didn't have their passports with them. So he went in alone to bring out the load. The snow was deep and he struggled to couple the ERF to the load (tri axle trailer). He eventually managed but the continental airlines were different and the electrical suzy connection was male to male so that was wrong too. He dug up some air connections from somewhere and he tried to solve the light problem but- the ERF unit had a function that stopped the engine after 1min if it was idling. He tried to jam the throttle but this did not work as it still stopped if the revs were constant. The lorry had a bad battery and had to be jumped started every time it stopped. So for 2 hours he worked in the snow fall, on the lights while nipping back to pump the throttle every minute or so! Eventually he gave up and headed off home without the ride.They all got stuck on the M8 for an hour and a half due to snow. He couldn't stop the lorry due to the battery and he had to pump the throttle every minute to keep it running! As he told me -"it was mind numbing".

Thursday another friend and I went back with him. That was after we dug out the borrowed unit and got a tractor to tow it out of the snow to get it on the road again (mid lifts are crap!!!). Fortunately the owner of the lorry had put two new batteries on it the morning before. We headed over to Rosyth again, it was like ice road truckers. The roads were mushy at the good parts and we spotted several bogged down lorries and a land rover right over on it's roof near Harthill.When we got to the docks it was queued up, no doubt a back log from the snow. Luckily though they let us jump the queue, no doubt they wanted rid of the snow covered lump too. The ride was at the back of a 3ft snow mound, no doubt deposited by a snow plough the day before.I had brought a spade along though and we dug a trench 9ft wide though this. Then we took it in turns to dig two trenches 2ft wide and 20ft long for the lorry wheels to travel along. The snow was falling again by now and there was 2 inches of packed ice topped with 8 inches of snow to clear to make these trenches. We got coupled up as the unit slipped and slid into position.Bro had made a male to male adaptor for the lights and we plugged it all in, indicators and brake lights but no side lights. We didn't even try to remedy this as it was daylight. The airline were coupled and the suspension inflated but no brakes. Normally this would not have bothered me too much, but sleet conditions plus no trailer brakes WILL equal jack knife. At first we thought it was a frozen valve but then I though-"changed airline ends" I bet there is no trigger to open the inline valves. I stripped the end and sure enough no internal finger to open the valve. I removed it altogether and made it a straight through. Coupled it all up again and hey presto brakes! Next we had to couple the paybox to the rear of the ride, but we could not push it in the snow so we put a chain onto it and tried to pull it 4ft with the jeep. Huh, no way the jeep just slid sideways. We took the jeep off and tried to move it out. It was stuck too now and even in 4WD low it would not move, that's when I though we were in real trouble. Anyway with a bit of pushing, digging and using bread crates we got the jeep out. We eventually couple the paybox up to the ride using a chain attached to it and pulling the lot out with the lorry. The lorry did make it along it's 2 previously dug ruts, JUST as the mid axle kept going down automatically and taking weight off the drive axle. Did I mention mid lift's are crap?, I know I did but they are bad enough to be worthy of several mentions. In fact if they banned them from the roads and insisted upon double drives there would be less jack knifed vehicles through out the year in any weather conditions never mind snow!We got the ride and paybox coupled and headed off with me following in the jeep, oh!, and no one asked for any passports either?????. The roads were very bad on the East but got better the more we went West. Finally arrived at the mall before it got dark.

Friday I headed off to WK for the light up, unfortunately without the miami as it was frozen solid from the week before and I daren't try to pull it down.

I went along anyway to help out the others attending. So this week has seen me well out of pocket, oh and "R" made it back from oz on Thursday too but I didn't speak to him until Friday.

The white snow has created a black week. On a very sad note there were three deaths from the fairground community South of the border due to weather conditions. My sincere heart felt sympathy to all their families.