a fairground life (only nuts and bolts!)

It's not uncommon for there to be fender benders on fairgrounds. After all it is usually a tight space with many large vehicles moving,turning or shunting. Unfortunately it was our turn to experience this at the last fair. A showman moved his lorry and reversed it into "r"'s trailer. This didn't do any real damage at that point but when he continued to reverse and push the trailer into the one behind it,well that's when it all went pop! The tow bar of the trailer behind pushed right through the end of "r"s and into the interior. Hopefully the insurance will take care of everything and since no one was hurt, it's nothing more than an inconvenience, as my father used to say "what are you worried about son? Its only nuts and bolts!". So we had to take our trailer up to "r" so he could move out of his into ours while his is away for repair. It took a few hours to move his clothes and all the rest of his gear-xbox,tv,books,laptop,DVD's etc etc etc.Its surprising just what contents are in there. It could have been a bit quicker but Mrs Showman is fanatically clean and every thing had to be wiped,sorted and arranged. She also managed to throw out two black bags worth of items that didn't quite meet her spec. During this we built up the DZ at the fair. Anyway we eventually managed to get the trailer away to an agent for a quote and hopefully speedy repair.

We have been busy repairing the Skydiver truck too. A couple of days ago we took over the Oxygen and Gas burners one morning and we heated up that broken suspension bolt nice and toasty! At that we applied a 36mm socket on a 3/4 inch drive ratchet with a 2ft bar attached and it screwed out no problem at all then another was wound in. The battery was picked up also during the week and I'm happy to say the EC11 started up no problemoh, just hope it does so next month when we need to start out. Diesel at an all time high 0f £139.9 per liter of derv and 76p for gas oil (generator fuel), better visit the shows this year kids cos it could be the last year!

There we go,another week in a fairground life with no wins on the post code lottery,lotto, euro millions, ernie or the megabucks accumulator in sin city! Guess I'll just have to keep on working.

picture is RM's splendid rock o plane after new paint ,all new lighting and wiring fitted a couple of weeks back.

PS. almost forgot to mention that "r" made all new handrails for it too!

a fairground life(cutting it fine)

A few weeks ago we finished up at the mall. To speed things along we had done some clearing up and preparation a couple of days before hand. I would be on a tight schedule as I was off on Holiday first thing Tuesday Morning.That was only a 36 hr window to get things done.

We were to close at 6pm but by 5pm the crew had arrived so we got started. The small items were packed away first and that hour head start was a real benefit. It was just after 6pm when I got into the Miami. "R" and Co were well into the skydiver but progress seemed slow, well I suppose things would be sticky after a winter period. I had the miami nearly finished by the time they appeared to start on the DZ. They had a slight hold up in coupling up the skydiver due to a dead cell on one of the EC11s batteries. We put the booster on it and hit start- the acid in one of the cells jetted through breather holes up into the air about 18 inches but the lorry did start. There had been an old firm game earlier that day and a group of 6 drunk a*******s walk through the site shouting abuse as they went. Being more interested in pulling down than raising to their antagonism we just ignored them. We started on the DZ and by 9pm we were ready to pull out. We took the Miami and Skydiver over the other side of the city to the waste land not far from the house. I arrived first and "r" was a few minutes behind, it turned out that he had to stop to investigate an exhaust problem on the Foden. A 90 degree elbow had fell off and this let the engines roar bellow out uninterupted. So thats a job for a later date. It was now 10pm but this little trip would give us a good head start the next morning for taking them to the yard.

Up at 6am we were on the road for 7am. Again we had to use the booster on the EC11 before it would start. Along the M80 we headed in nose to tail traffic until we reached the yard over an hour later. We set the two trucks but as the skydiver turned sharp into position a suspension retaining bolt sheared. The opposite number to the one we repaired earlier in the year(at least I know how to fix it). That's two jobs clocked up now for repair. We also took the faulty battery off to return it to the supplier under warranty as I had only bought it in June. Heading back to the mall we stopped in to return the battery for testing. The I dropped off "r" to ready his trailer as I headed off to pick up the DZ. Destination Cowdenbeath. We had to get there and build up right away. It was around 12pm and just before 2pm we were on site at the fair. The location was tight and all the other rides were setup except the rock o plane as it was waiting on us to get set. Just as well as there was not enough room left and the DZ had to swap places with the Rock o and then go in edgeways!!! To be honest I was ready to just drive away and forget the whole thing but we just got on with it. The ride was set in edgeways with the paybox at the rear as this was the only way it would fit to build due to a rear fence. This also meant that the rock o had to erect its arms over the fence before raising it's pole. We got the DZ built first then helped the rock o get set. Due to the awkward angle of its pole to clear the fence it took about a dozen men on two straps to pull the arms around over the fence (8ft high) and complete the circumference of the ride. By 6pm both rides were erected and we were headed back to the house eating a fish supper en route. Not bad going as I still had twelve hours before flying and "r" had a couple to spare before heading off to Leeds for a couple of nights out. Although I was stressed and told Mrs Showman I wasn't cutting it this fine ever again!!

(I'm up this late blogging as I'm still jet lagged and out of sync with UK time)