a fairground life (Planes Trains and Automobiles)

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES.
Rewind to February 2014, the Mall fair is finished but we're not packing up totally. There is a new fair opening at the Forge market and we take over the Miami. R however has decided he wants a ride of his own and after pondering all summer has found an AliBaba in Sweden. So after getting all set up at the Forge we leave Mrs Showman in charge and set off. Flight to London, connection to a small airport outside Gothenburg arriving at 9:30pm. The airport is so small that we Q outside the tin hut building in the freezing cold to pass immigration. As we walk through and outside the only building to be seen is thankfully our hotel.  Stylish, clean , modern, if it wasn't built by Ikea it was certainly fitted out from their stock. One chap was the receptionist, waiter and bartender. A beer and a snack then off to bed. Next morning there was snowfall, our lift had arrived in his Audi Q5. We had 120km to travel. We chatted showmen chat, biz was on the down turn for him too, even though there were only two families traveling in Sweden. Turns out he was now in the refugee biz, housing hundreds of Syrians on his yards for the Government. All of a sudden we are sliding down the dual carriageway sideways, the Q5 is 4 wheel drive and soon gets a grip, straightening up and our driver doesn't even break sentence! I suppose they get used to the snow conditions. We arrive at the small park, the two staff have just built the ride up again, there is partly erected rides dotted about-caterpillar, superbob, dodgem etc and a 1965 red double decker London AEC bus. The ride wasn't to our expectations and the snow was getting heavier, feeling anxious for the return flight, even though it was at 10pm, we refused lunch and asked to be driven back to the airport. That was a long wait in the Hotel but once on the flight I settled down. Landing in London we had a pre booked taxi to get us to Euston for the sleeper back to Glasgow. I told the taxi driver to push it and he did, we made it with only a couple of minutes to spare!! I settled in to my seat and with very little sleep we journeyed home to a snow bound Glasgow. All for nought.

From last August onwards things went well. We had a good month for weather and the biz was healthier for it.We did a few new gaffs for the DZ and I visited a couple of fairs that I'd previously only heard of. September turned wet again and the Crab Fair was a disaster, being out of pocket after fuel costs. It was soon October and at the mall we turned our attention to the lighting. The dark nights were coming in and we decided on LED strips for the DZ. Trying to get the best result for minimum outlay we bought direct from the manufacturer in China. The strip looked amazing at night but I was a bit worried about daylight use, so to compensate I got two sheets of mirror stainless steel and had it cut and folded into  \_/ shape strips. This reflected all the light forward and doubled the visual size of the LED strip. It took a couple of weeks to install and we had the tower up and down a couple of times but the result was worth it. We had an issue from water ingress into the strip connections but we secured the ends with clear shrink wrap and this did the trick. Hopefully this will make the tower lighting maintenance free. While we were at it we put new LED bulbs around the top rings and box. The amperage for the whole lighting is now only 2A. It looks really well but a bit too dazzling on the eyes at night with over 13,000 SMD's.

At the start of 2013 we decided on manufacturing a juvenile. It only took us two weeks to produce the ride, but another month to finish it as we had to wait on galvanisation of the metal work and painting of the decorated panels. The ride is very light weight and easily assembled, how long we keep it is anybodies guess.

The start of 2014 and finally I want new transport for the Miami, the old Foden is getting a little elderly and although it would last me a while longer I fancy a change. So a couple of weeks searching on ebay, a trip to Ireland and I finally buy a lorry from a chap in Yorkshire!! Well the irish lorry was an 04 DAF xf95 but there was a load of faults on the dash and the chassis was red rusty. I'm not shy of work but R turned and said to me-"why are we buying a lorry with faults?" so back to the ferry we went, sometimes you just need someone to point out the obvious! A week later we headed south and came home with a nice 06 plate MAN rear lift tag axle with an auto transmission. Now I'm no expert but surely newer must be better than older, but some say, "automatic! they're crap", some say "great lorries, you'll love it!" I'll know better after this years out but "R" originally said-"an automatic is a poofs lorry, get one with a gear stick!" I let him drive it home and after only 10 minutes he called me to say "we've got a problem!", before I could fear the worst he continued with-"we will need to get rid of the other two ERF's because this is brilliant to drive!!." So we took it back and give it a paint job. While we were at it the skydiver cars finally got their metal flake coat and lacquer, along with new galvanised outriggers and other sprucing up. With this new found painting talent we decided to paint one of the ERF's too. I did it to match the DZ but the colours aren't completely what I had in my minds eye. 

The photo is an arial shot of the fair at Turriff Agricultural show.

a fairground life (some summer)

The summer was hot, nearly as hot as I remembered it in my youth. The parks were lush green and working outside was a pleasure. So the arms on the skydiver got a dirty paint up (lights batons still attached) but it brightened up the ride. Its been at least two years since they saw paint. The ride is 20 years now since the fibre glass skins were fitted to the cars and my maintenance free period on these is now expired. The sun and elements have faded the colours of the metal flake finish and a few surface cracks an dings need filling. With this now bothering me, I spent £500 on metallic paints, lacquers, base coat, thinners , fillers and various other items including a couple of spray guns. Unfortunately the main ingredient turned out to be a compressor but I overlooked that and 6 months later the job has still not been done. I hope the paint doesn't go off. I wonder if I was trying to tidy up a few loose ends incase my end was nigh. I do enjoy the border run and it was a bit easier with the skydiver not attending Burntisland, people assume health but this was more a financial decision after last years fair was shocking poor. However nature fills a vacuum and R filled our void by taking the DZ back from the borders to a new fair in Kilbirnie that I had to attend on Sunday to bring his trailer back to the borders for him. Arriving back at Selkirk I found a blowout had penetrated the wheel arch and the hub had grabbed the under floor wiring loom and quite literally pulled the wiring out of the walls!!! the socket fronts were all there but the wiring was stripped out by the turning of the hub. This is apparently a common happening, thinking it would get repaired easily we were shocked the next week when the insurance company wrote the trailer off.
       Avoiding the painting job I built two new speaker cabinets for the ride, the old ones were from 1979 and it was only the pvc cover that held them together. Another job done was fitting hydraulics to the DZ to raise the floors instead of a hand winch. I ordered the cylinders off the internet and they arrived two days later all ready to go.This was in prep for my great northern run in August. June slipped into July and things at the mall were slow, but out of the blue a previously cancelled event came back from the dead. A private hire for a well know satellite tv company that we have done four times previously. We juggled a few items and left the mall a week early to attend the RHC at Ingliston. The weather turned severely wet the night before and I literally set the fair at night during a lightning storm. Some how the heavy rides still managed to pull on site the next morning without any hassle. The event went well and we moved off late Saturday night to the next fair at BOA. AB came to shift a load for my bro, it had been a while since he had done any HGV work so I swapped and took the twist (biggest) and AB took the DZ (smallest) to save dropping him in at the deep end.
Happy New Year.

a fairground life (road to recovery)

        I'm dreaming, someone is calling my name,Im dreaming Im talking to???,someone awakens me. Sipping a little water and I'm awake. The clock shows nearly 6pm, after another snooze I'm on the move through doors and awaken again in the ward. My wife looks at me and I wink back, surprisingly many friends are there waiting for me. As I move from trolley to bed I notice for the first time the pipes trailing from my manhood. Surprisingly no pain and I move with ease. After they get me settled in, the nurse explains that I have a drip flushing out my bladder and that it will be in overnight. Visitors arrive, no not visitors, my best pals arrive, I'm feeling jolly,no doubt an after effect of the medication still fading in my veins. I joke "1 out of 3 people get cancer, I've took one for the team so you's will be ok", they laugh but no doubt out of politeness. The rest of the evening is fuzzy. I'm awake all through the night, not tired but then its hard to sleep with one hand holding pipes up as the weight is beginning to hurt. The next day the doc arrives, he said the cancer appeared to be an aggressive type, but time would tell. Being point blank I asked him survivability. Oh 80% if we got it early enough with a 90% chance of reoccurrence in the first two years, again pathology would have to report on the depth of the infection. It turned out he had told me all this before, but I couldn't remember talking to him. He explained that they were in a little longer than expected but he was confident that he got it all. He suspected that I had the tumour for about a year. I was to get a dose of mitomycin to kill any rouge cells off. So after lunch the mito arrived,they swapped over pipes on my catheter and squirted the mito in, I could feel a cooling sensation. Basically I had to hold this for the magic hour  before passing it. Some people cant do this do to irritation, burning sensation but I knew the longer it was in the better any chance of a result. There was a clock on the wall and as I laid back I wondered how long I could last. The first 15mins went by quickly with no problem at all, by 30 minutes I had no worries of doing the hour. At 45 minutes I had other concerns-maybe it wasn't reaching the right place?,so I rolled a little each way in bed, but no sensation or irritation. Oh no! I though, they have either given me a placebo or worse-the wrong stuff!! Its amazing the silly thoughts that go through your mind at times. Anyhow the hour was done and the nurse came back to remove the treatment via a suction syringe and then remove the catheter (eeeooohhh!) I said to him "I understand that nuisance patients don't get all the liquid removed from the balloon, well I can assure you I haven't been a pest". He laughed and said "not at all, where did you hear that nonsense, deep breath and breath out through the mouth". Well I know now why they make you do that breath out, simply you CAN'T SCREAM WITH YOUR LUNGS EMPTY! A quick sharp jolt and the very long&thick catheter was out. A few seconds to recover and relief. All I had to do now was pass water 3 times,fully emptying my bladder each time and if confirmed by ultra sound, I would be home for tea. I drank that jug of water like a man in the desert. I don't know what concoction of poisons is in that mito gear, but I had to sit to pass urine into a specimen jar and notify immediately of any splashes or spills so it could be cleaned up. And passing the water was what I could only describe as pissing FIRE or  GLASS. Each time it was unpleasant but I did get home for tea. That was me in bed for a week. It was nearly 2 weeks later before things started to settle down. The next day "r" had to take the two machines into the street fair. As usual blakey and several others came to the rescue and gave him a hand while I was laid up. The fair was only over a weekend, business was slow but I had a different outlook now and wasn't concerned. For the first time ever, I read a full magazine from cover to cover, National Geographic, very interesting. A week in bed then back to work.

a fairground life (its all down the pan)

I haven't written much this year, I didn't think there was much of interest to say or record. Then a few months along the year I look back and many an episode has come and gone, Guild stuff, cancer,ride mods,hires,new places…sorry whats that you said? oh, cancer, yes I've been dealing with that too, during this open season of moving, building, hospital stays,operations, fairs, moving again etc etc. Don't know how I found the time?

I've never had a single hospital stay ever, no broken bones, stitches or illness but then 2013 arrives. It all started slowly, a little colour or protein in my urine. I thought kidney infection, after all it was winter. After a month or so I went to the doc for a test, well no point being too Hypercondriac about it. They confirmed a little protein (blood in my pee) in my urine. So a course of antibiotics was prescribed. A couple of weeks later there was no real improvement, but then there was no pain or real ailment I thought so I got more tablets and went on Holiday. During this time, one day while using a public WC I noticed a few specs of something in my pee. It all stuck to the bowl and being a little more concerned, I took a photo of it for the doc. There were no more occurrences but when I got back from abroad, I showed the doc, who was about to leave on maternity. Her final act was to send me to Urology for a camera. So a few weeks pass and the appointment arrives. Amazingly the night before my pee turns a cranberry red colour (first ever) and I took a sample of it in a water bottle. This only happened for two pees and only on the night before the procedure. This is probably a mans worst nightmare, no matter who you tell, when you say the "camera up the front", they cringe and pull a face whilst letting out a just audible "oowwwh". The nurse and sister who performed this act, (whilst I was awake and talking to them) tried to put me at ease, but its a man thing when you just have that cold sweat on. When the camera passed the muscle it froze me in mid sentence, They commented to each other that "we've shocked him!", but after a few long seconds, I said in a croaky voice "its ok, I'm back, it just took me a while to work out if I could still talk". After the initial discomfort the camera was in and the monitor lit up. It was then the Sister said,"oh, that shouldn't be there, I'm sorry but you have a tumour". Well that was not good, and although I though it was possibly some other kind of tumour, looking back, the "I'm sorry" statement makes me know they knew then and there it was the big "C".

On walking out my wife was waiting patiently. She asked how I got on and I said fine, …….but I have a Tumour. That probably rocked her more than it had me. I was told that within a month they would have it out and I would be sent for a CT scan also. Some how I got hold of the CT appointment team extension, I explained that I worked away from home, on the move and that they should call me for my appointment, not send a letter and that I would also take a cancellation at short notice. I also did this for the operating theatre and had my name down on three consultants lists on their hospitals in the area. Within three weeks I had my date. The day before my op, it was cancelled due to an emergency. The next day (original date of the op) I got a cancellation call for the next morning. So nil by mouth from midnight, I went in to pre op at 11am. I sat in a gooney from mid day through to nearly 5pm that night until they took me down. I never felt hungry or thirsty. Apparently I was lucky as several people who were scheduled for the day before had been prepped but then sent home as the emergency had went into extra time. After my long wait, the surgeon spoke to me for a couple of minutes before they put me under. His tone was low and matter of fact, I found it a little dramatic. He asked if I was a smoker, "no never" I answered. He said I was "very unlucky then and extremely young to have this". Asking my occupation, he said that fabricators,welders or chemical workers were high risk for this type of cancer. I suppose then that a showman can tick all those boxes in some form or another. He explained the procedure to me (pee hole surgery, theres that oowwwh again). I had already read the wiki page and I told him I wasn't prepared to lose my bladder. I always knew I would get cancer, but I expected in another 20 years. The anaesthetist piped me up and with a warm, comforting feeling spreading through my body, the last I remember was saying "I'm still conscious". 

a fairground life (Back on the tools)

So its been a short few years since we re-furbished the miami ride, but time and rust waits for no man and the front stage section of the ride was severely in need of renewal. I figured a weeks worth of work, but r had other ideas including new elephant feet (aka ride main support legs),brake shoes,spotlights, LED lighting, new back flash supports, paybox stage, laminate flooring, flat screen monitor ( in prep for cctv) and galvanisation of ALL the new fabricated sections.

Thus the 10 day window of opportunity was soon made unrealistic, but we made an attempt at it. The first day saw the ride set in the shed and the whole front section of the ride removed. We kept it in component pieces to use as templates. The next two days saw it completely re fabricated from new steel and back on for testing. We couldn't fit the tread plate due to the galvanisation process, but every thing was prepped by drilling,buffing and fitting all the little extras that would spoil the finish if welded on later after galvanisation.The largest section was 40ft in length, the smallest only  2ft and we loaded all 16 pieces  onto a 40ft arctic trailer sent by the galvanisers. The turn around was quoted as 3 days and I felt confident that we could make the ten days window. During the galv time we moved on to paint the chassis,body panels, spot banks and complete the other tasks. We worked in the shed from 10am-10pm most days and sometimes later. I should mention that we changed the front floor slightly by modifying it to fold with the front handrails still attached. This would do away with three handrails to lift  and a packing frame during the pulldown / setup. It had to be a precision job to get the angles to work on the hinges so that everything folded in one smooth movement using only the original hydraulic system. With the aid of a  computer animation we cracked it first time (phew!). I called after the 3 day window but the galv job would be late, four days late in fact and this bust our time frame. I had wanted the ride out to catch a weekend at a fair, but now we would miss this and aim for the next weekend instead. In reality ten days was too short, especially since the galv process now took up seven! The extra days didn't go to waste as  we spent them doing more jobs and the ride got a real good service. The following week it came out after a 2am push the night before. It was shining like a new pin, unfortunately by the time it had travelled a couple of miles, the road spray had dulled that. 

a fairground life (eureka)

Very rarely, I mean almost non existent, a little event comes along and surprises the hell out of you. I' ve heard tell of these one hit wonders that other people attend where cosmic forces merge and the punters flow like water. I've never been to one, that was until …

      So at 3am we climb into the dz unit and head south down the M74 all the way to the M6 and then some. It was a little after 7am when we reached our destination near Manchester. The council workers where already onsite setting up the market stalls. We pulled on to our allocated pitch, never properly measured but paced out quickly some weeks prior and then best guessed using google maps. We wasted no time getting stuck in to building up as the plot was literarily an island, a traffic island in the town centre and this meant that the tower would encroach over the road until erect. Shortly after the other equipment arrived and our small island turned into an oasis of fun in the middle of  town ocean. Oh, and it was packed tight, too tight for comfort but just enough space to get open. The pub was just behind us and we all filed in around 10am for breakfast. Soon after this I  noticed an oil drip at the rear of the lorry and on inspection found that the rear oil seal on the backend had went. The oil was all over the rear end and propshaft. So I decided to dip it to see how much we had. After breaking two sockets, running away to a tool suppliers (twice) I finally had the plug out and 4lts of HP90 gear oil put in. This had taken until around 4pm to complete and though the fair had been open from 2pm it was quiet, very quiet and it looked like we were going to make a loss. The town was open on this ordinary Saturday but the punters were shopping, not riding on rides. So I got some kip in the sleeper until a little after 5pm. I let R have a break before 6pm and just when we were thinking of calling it a day, the heavens opened and it rained customers as hard as it could until 11:15pm. Every street was jam packed with people coming out for the town festival. Woop, woop, woop, Blakey had alway had faith in this event, it seemed too far, too risky to me, but he had persuaded me to come and it was a eureka moment. Our little oasis was engulfed and the rides were packed. It was just around 12:30am when we were pulling out of the town. The tight space had hindered our pull down. The final hurdle was the two hundred and fifty miles home. I was relieved that I had got oil in the back end. The night life was livening up and we left not a moment too soon as the night clubbers started to appear. The trip home was uneventful (thankfully) and as we approached the 24hrs mark I was getting noddy. At about 20 miles to go I poured a bottle of water over my head to keep me awake and soon after we arrived at destination home. Tired,aching and wet, but most of all........rewarded. 

a fairground life (the devil's elbow)

                                                                      

        I've did a few new gigs this year, Grantown agricultural show was one that I really enjoyed, not so much due to business but because of the social element. I had a couple of nights out with friends we had bumped into and the weather was kind that week with glorious sunshine. The cycle of fairs revolved pretty much as usual and the hum drum was broken only by an unexpected private hire in Banchory. It was in a Hotel House grounds and the trip up was fine until we encountered the Devil's Elbow on the notorious Slug Road, the lorry and ride just made the hair pin bend, the lorry was in the bushes of the on coming traffic side and the rear trailer ram foot plate (sticking out 50mm) hit  the near side wall giving off a puff of masonry dust as we scraped around the corner. There was no going back and as quick as we clipped it we were by and past the dilema. So I decided in that instant that an alternative route was needed to get home. Arriving at the venue we found the access was very narrow and over hung by trees. We just ploughed on through breaking and pushing the branches out of the way with the truck and trailer as we headed up the single track lane. Unfortunately space was at a premium and the revellers from the evenings before wedding hadn't all vacated the carpark. So we sat and waited for over an hour before we could get set. This pushed us tight for the noon kick off but we worked on and did get ready for a little after 12pm. Not that we needed to worry, it was well past 2pm before we seen our first customer of the day, good job it was a hire. Anyway by 6pm we were pulling out of the gate , job done and heading home. That was after a very tight 3 point turn in the hotel car park and a bit more tree pruning. The alternative route home was new to me and I did get a little lost, but a chap shouted directions from over his garden fence when I pulled the truck up opposite while trying to get directions from google maps with the traffic driving around me and no 3g signal. Taking him at his word I carried on while praying to the god of low bridges to spare me. Relievedly I eventually found the main road and turned the truck south bound.

a fairground life (mud glorious mud)

Since the start of June it seems to have never stopped raining.

At Selkirk we tried out the winch, 60 tons of Superbowl ride was pulled out over some tracking boards. No one was more surprised that me that the wee 4x2 unit at 6t managed this with only chocking the four wheels and pressing the footbrake.

Melrose we were lucky, coming in off the hard path and stopping on the plots. Getting out was a bit trickier but we managed it using 8 nylon tracking panels. Pity the horse boxes from the previous weeks ride out hadn't used precautions. The rear of the ground was all ruts and no doubt onlookers blamed us.

Galashiels was tricky getting in, but the winch and tracking panels saved the day, only to be thwarted by torrential rain from Wed-Sat. The whole fair turned to mush under the patrons feet and a tractor was needed to drag everyone out. On the bright side he also came back the next day and rolled it, spiked it and generally made it good. Hopefully the grass is sprouting and the re instatement bill will be less than the thousands from 2008.

Alva was wet, I was last in on the Monday morning but unfortunately the overnight rain had softened the park up lovely.There was also a van partially in my way, unfortunately the owner was back in Glasgow-with the keys. JI coupled his double drive rigid to the front of my ride and we started off from the hard. It went right around the park and onto the plot best we could. But from there it would not reverse to straighten up or uncouple and the rigid also got stuck. I went over to a JCB driver working on the road and offered him £30 cash to give a tow out the hole, but he refused. Nothing for it but to dig the rigid out on mats and using a jeep to give a little extra tug. Two large ruts to fill after. Then a trip to Glasgow to pick up the hand turfer to pull out our unit from under the ride. 2 hours to move 8 ton about 50ft up a slope.Back breaking work, even using a 6ft bar for torque and a snatch to half the load. We did get built up, 20ft behind the front line at one end and 5ft over it at the other but its all we could do. The weather is set to knack the event anyway, unless its called off before hand.
Well roll on to Saturday and it has rained all week. The fair is sodden and the ground conditions impossible. They had a partly dry afternoon but a heavy downpour around 4pm seen off any chance of moving vehicles. I had already decided to take the winch lorry through to recover the ride. It was mission impossible, nothing could move on the turf. The unit sort of got down the hill with the aid of the turfer winch and then was turfer winched under the ride to couple up.  All we had to do now was get it turned 45 degrees and over 500ft of soft, grassed mush. Another ride had tried with a double drive unit, I thought it was going to make it but half way it bogged down, right in the way of our exit, 40t 22m road block! I had to winch it out to clear a path before I could attempt ours. We started at 8:00pm and by 9:00pm that ride was out. We didnt have enough wire rope to cross the field so I had to rally the winch unit halfway across the park in reverse to be able to reach my ride. It was hooked on and dragged about 60ft then we hooked another stuck truck on to its rear. We pulled them both over another 50ft but the going was so tough we needed to use the snatch block to double the winch power. Eventually the snatch stripped its eye and we had to revert to one load at a time. When the were halfway over we used the previously rescued double drive with ride attached for weight to pull them over as it was on hard standing now, shortening the ropes as we went in stages. By around 10pm my ride was out but we had 3 more to go. Next out was the truck via winch then towing with the double drive again, then another ride pulled out halfway, this was so we could put a snatch on its rear to tug a lorry stuck perpendicular to the winch and another 2-3 hundred feet away. So about 500ft of wire rope through a snatch but we didnt have enough winch power as it cuts out at 2500 psi.When we tried to re rig the winch the strain on it was so great that the winch unit shot back 20ft when the footbrake was released. Luckily JI had another snatch block and we doubled the winch power enough to get him moving on our second re rig. Quickly we removed the coupling pin as he drove over the field much to our delight and saving a couple of hours winching time. Then we used this 6 wheeler to drag out the last ride over the park. Using a bungee rope, a few charges dragged it into alignment and out. All we had to do next was drag out the winch unit using the L200 pickup in 4wd. At 1:30am we were all out. The next hour was spent tidying up and packing away the ropes,boards,chains and other assorted recovery tools. I got to the next fair for 4am and we erected the ride again for 5:30am. Then I drove the winch unit home for 6:30am, in kip for 7am and up again at 9:30am to go and open. Thanks to all, as it was a team effort to get the vehicles out.

No doubt in years to come (if anyone looking back on this blog) to confirm the wettest of summers anyone could do so by reading newspaper archives. As always it seems to be a financial struggle juggling fuels bills, mortgage and other family costs. The weather has really knackered every fair this month and so forth. The galas were mainly cancelled and the those that weren't would have been as well being. Its unfortunate that we are not properly equipped to deal with or move events to proper hard standing facilities/ venues. Mud mud and more mud, tiring, damaging equipment and soul destroying. It seems a different lifetime ago when the summers were mainly hot and dry from June through August. Our fairs have suffered constant rain days on end ruining Selkirk, Melrose, Galashiels,Innerliethan, Burntisland and no doubt Alva. Others affected were Armidale,Peebles,Whitburn and the Hoppings at Newcastle. The latter was cancelled the first weekend and only got open a few days of the second week. The ground conditions were impossible and the biggest of tractors and the Army were called in to vacate the site. Welcome to global warming and it will only get wetter for us. Meanwhile at the Mall, hard standing is a relief but no consolation,there are few people and those present have little monies. The whole world must be on their knees.

a fairground life (Facebook power)

My father always said there was a wealth of knowledge on a fairground, because if you didn't know the answer, chances were somebody else did. So if that's the case then .......... (driving down the m8 last week and suddenly there is an almighty bang and rush of air similar to a pipe burst. I immediately stop on the hard shoulder and get out for a look, quite expecting to find an air leak, bust suzie or even a blowout. No , none of these,so I climb back in the cab and cautiously set sail again. It Soon become apparent that the lorry is moving fine, all pressure gauges are up, temp is low etc. however at speed there is a distinct air leak noise. I decide to pull into the next services to investigate further. Into Harthill I go. However at low speed there is no leak even if revving the engine, nor were there any fluid leaks so I decide to drive on again. Another 30 miles on ,I arrive at my destination and I have deduced that the leak coincides with the lorry pulling harder. Next day I investigate the problem but can't find anything bust. I take the lorry for a run to try and diagnose it and the leak is still there. I bring it back and tip the cab again, jack the rear wheels off the ground and drive the axle holding the foot brake down.This recreates the problem but even with the cab up we can't trace the source of the air leak.Im all over and under the chassis, brake chambers, valves, tanks,compressor etc. I'm sure it has something to do with the turbo but can't find any fault. Eventually in desperation I post the whole problem on Facebook, within 15 minutes the suggestions are rolling in and the first one turned out to be the answer. It suggested a burst intercooler pipe, so I go out again and look closer at the induction piping and presto!,I spot a missing intercooler pipe clamp. I had a spare but it was too big, so next morning after trying several suppliers , driving many miles and wasting several hours, I arrive back without a clamp.At this I get the welder out, cut the clamp I have down in size and weld it up, all taking only a few minutes.In hindsight I should have done this first.Anyway I put it on and it's A ok after testing.) ..... imagine the wealth of knowledge on Facebook.Maybe $160 billion is its true value  because I certainly couldn't have found that problem without the help.

a fairground life (Bye Old Lady.)

At the end of last season it was decided that the funhouse had had its best days. The lorry , a 6 wheel c series ERF although mechanically sound, was a VOSA wet dream. No doubt someone with new enthusiasm could have restored it to previous glory , but that wasn't me. The attraction had served a good few years but on the same run year after year the novelty was gone and this meant earnings dropped too. So while the scrap price was high it was time to get shot. I took it down to a showmens yard and began to strip it out ready for going over the scales. r and r gave me a hand and to be honest it only took two afternoons to get the wood out and away to the coup. I had removed the large inflatable top, similar to a bouncy castle and had cut it into several sections to make it lighter to manoeuvre . Although looking at it on the ground it was bulky and still heavy, also being PVC it wouldn't be easy to get rid of. Then just at that I heard the bin lorry pull into the yard, they were emptying the yards bins. Quickly I ran down and spoke to one of the men. "hey pal, how much to take away an old bouncy castle? " I asked. The bin man looked over and I should him the pile of PVC. He stroked his chin and muttered "hmm, that'll hae tae be a tenner son". Result, I thought and within a minute the lorries muncher had devoured it.Though the old show lorry would drive over the scales, the scrappy wouldn't take it like that. It had to have all the fluids drained off, engine oil, radiator water, gearbox & back end oil and of course the fuel tank. That all taken care of we decided to loosen the tyres off and remove the outer rear tyres, these were also not wanted in the scrappy and to save time on the day it would be better to prepare them before hand. Now, this lorry had only ever had one puncture in all it's years so it goes without saying that they were hard to remove. in fact if it had been on the side of the road I would have been in trouble. Sixty nuts had to be removed by hand using a 3m pole on the wheel key to get enough torque. it took me another two afternoons to do this and that wasn't the only thing, two of the four outer tyres had to have the discs cut to get them off the hub!So the oxygen burners were employed on them and to remove the rear winch. Now I had to arrange a tow for the 1/4 mile to the scrappy, but all my other vehicles were away. My bros dodgem unit was handy but had no rear coupling so I simply put a hole through his chassis with the burner and shoved a shackle through it. It was secure enough but a bit sloppy on the straight bar, but that wouldn't stop us.Just before taking the vehicle down we had a look in the pickup, sure enough VOSA was sitting right outside their gates so we waited until they left at half three. We towed the lorry over the scales and then into the yard. A big grabber lifted the vehicle off the deck while we removed the remaining tyres. Then with a couple of crunches the old lady was gone, even a bit sad if I'm honest.We loaded up the tyres onto the pickup and weighed them out to get the correct payout. It was the things best gaff day. Back at the yard however I had a slight problem , all my tools collected over the years and spares were now homeless and the winch was too heavy to lift onto the pickup. The latter was easily fixed as the yard neighbour had a forklift and he kindly lifted it on and i bunged him the price of a couple of pints. Most of my good spare junk sadly went into the coup has I had nowhere to store it and since most of it hadn't seen daylight for years I had to really ask if I  needed any of it. So a couple of months later and I have built a tool store across the back of the ec12 and also fitted the winch to this lorry too. it'll never be as good as the old 6 wheeler nor as heavy but if we anchor it to something I'm sure the winch will work out fine, though in this glorious weather it might be a while before the theory is tested.

a fairground life (mule train)

Glenrothes was extended due to the following fair being put off a week because of the wet weather. A third week anywhere is hard going and to try and entice the punters out the last week was advertised as £1 per ride. It kept the table going and that was about all. The last Friday night saw the local idiots kick off. The security put them outside the fence and the Police were called. Unfortunately they couldn't do anything because if they lifted the youths, took them home and their parents weren't in, the Police would have to babysit them all night in the station. Since there was allegedly only three Police officers on Duty for all of Glenrothes that night, they were not going to take the chance. Anyhow a while later a youth came back again and this time when he pushed an officer they eventually lifted him. I arrived on Saturday night after attending a relations wedding in the afternoon. "R" had the ride partly dismantled by the time I arrived. I changed out of my glad rags into a set of overalls and for 10pm the ride was down. The next morning we pulled off site heading for Pilton, Edinburgh.

I like new fairs, it gives a sense of optimism (wether founded or not) and Pilton looked good. It was a derelict site with a roadway through it. It was hardstanding, a bit uneven but totally enclosed with a six foot fence and lockable gates. The rides were positioned along the internal roadway of the site and it give the illusion of a street fair.We were built up for 4pm and then headed off to Stirling to pick up the Skydiver and Miami. It was after 6pm by the time we got there and the light was starting to fade. Luckily all the lorries started off the key without the hassle of connecting battery chargers. The suspension repair was looking good and we headed off to Renfrew. On arriving all I wanted to do was set the rides on the plots."R" had other ideas and insisted we level the miami. Of course he pushed on and the ride was erected for 10pm. That was OK for him, but I'm not in my twenties anymore. The next morning I was glad though as it was less to do. By Monday evening all the other gear was setup. We noticed the flooring in the show was looking suspect. So we ripped it up ready for new to be fitted the next morning. Well it is up for sale and I couldn't let it go like that.Tuesday I was attending my Guild duties and "r" fitted the flooring in the show. Meanwhile the electrician had arrived at Pilton to inspect the fair for the local authority. Thanks to JT and CT for going over the DZ with him for us. Wednesday "r" and I returned to Pilton for opening. It was quiet but I was hopeful.That night another young showman suffered a setback when his alternator burned out. Thats always a worry at starting out, the dampness over the winter penetrates the windings and usually within the first few days of operation the generator burns out. We had amperage to spare so gave him a tap on to the DZ set. "R" held the fort there the rest of the week until Mrs Showman arrived for the weekend to give him a hand. Unfortunately that wasn't really necessary as business failed to live up to expectation (mine at least). Maybe it was the pay gate that slowed the punters down, but then there was a good argument for one based on the fairs license fee and security costs. Pilton has the stigma of being a rough area (founded or not) and we were surrounded by houses. We were right in the middle of them, but we never had a wrong word, although we never seen the numbers or clientele type to cause bother. It was mainly family people we seen, so I suppose we owe them some kind of secret apology for expecting the worst. The fair was well presented with ten large rides, two shows and numerous kiddies attractions and the weather was fine through out. Sunday night they pulled down. Fortunately for us there was abundant space around the ride for swinging the tower, so "r" and I got the DZ out for 10pm. We were taking it straight to the mall for opening the next morning. I knew the EC10 was low on fuel and planned to stop at Ingliston for derv. Unfortunately the HGV pumps were closed there and I pushed on to Harthill services. I pulled in but the left set of HGV pumps had no fuel. I reversed back out and then into the right hand bay. Luckily they had fuel or it would have been tight completing the remainder of the journey. At 11:30pm the ride was set on it's next plot. "R" dropped a hint about building it up again, but I ignored it. This morning with the rain falling, I quietly wished I hadn't.

A couple of years back I took this picture of a 35m big wheel. Some how it never made it to these pages, better late than never.

And Finally, there is a great group on facebook called VOSA LOOK OUT, make friends with them if you want to know where and when you can avoid the wheel tappers. Even if you don't run HGV's or commercials you could still help the rest of us by posting sightings.

For all of history, economy and wealth has been founded on trade. Trade depends on transportation. From ancient mule packs through to modern day trucking and shipping, transport is the driving force (no pun intended) of economy. Now with Government/s recklessness on fuel, taxation and VOSA we will soon be back to the mule train.

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)

a fairground life

As I sit here and write, the secc is heading towards its finale. It's been a long three weeks for "r" and 'skyliner c'. The very busy days are just that and the quiet days are mind numbingly boring. Both instances leave you with plenty of time to think, even when your busy if things are running smooth you just go into auto pilot or zombie mode and become more or less an automatism. Either way your mind wanders to better places or comes up with random thoughts to amuse ones self. so 'skyliner c' came up with this humorous riddle, I think it deserves a mention…

You are driving a car at a constant speed. The ground to your left falls away 18 inches, to your right there is a fire engine, travelling at the same speed. Ahead of you is a horse and rider, you cannot overtake. By turning and looking behind, you observe a galloping Zebra going the same speed as you,the horse and the fire engine. You don't have any brakes. How do you escape this dangerous situation??????????

skyliner c will publish the answer in the comments after we get some answers in.

So tonight at 10pm it will be DZ down, out and take it over to the mall to set it on the plot.

Monday at the back of 9am I'm off to London for Guild biz so i hope all goes smooth.

The pict is all the lorries waiting in carpark 5 ready for tonight, no snow as apposed to last years photo.

a fairground life (OZ)

Comparative DNA

The genetic difference between humans and chimps is less than 2%, and I would say that the difference between the Uk and Australian Showman is similar, but what a difference that 2% makes. I am not going to bore you with a list but sufficed to say that it would be shorter to name the differences than the similarities. I left on Monday afternoon and arrived in Melbourne at 4 am on Wednesday to find E waiting at the airport to pick me up. It was a short trip back to the yard and I found a couch made for me when I got there, upon which I threw my bags and myself and fell straight to sleep. The first day was exactly as you would imagine it, hot, dry and full of first time greetings. While E had been home he had taken over management of a ride for a close friend of the family and over the next two weeks I would find us traveling this ride around Melbourne to various school fetes and hire events. The ride itself was called the cliff hanger and was basically a skydiver with lay down cars and no floor. I would say that no floors on rides (or grass cutters as we call them) was one of the major differences between our two countries. In the UK if a ride had no floor or decking it is generally considered to be of a lower quality than its counter parts with floors, but on the other side of the world they prefer rides with no decking and even order rides to be specifically built without! For example I saw a Starflyer (this ride is what we would call a "big hitter", an expensive and relatively new ride) while I was over there, it had no decking and I was astonished to hear that it had been bought brand new from Europe and was requested without the decking. Generally the argument for no floors follows the train of though that it cost extra, they don't need it as they have more hard standing events and better weather, the rides take longer to put up (I don't agree with this as constructing a 70 foot diameter circle of fences around every ride takes a long time !) and it adds to the over all weight of the ride. Again weight and length were another surprise to me, for in Australia the law on what can be legally driven changes from state to state and the image of the "Road train" is just a fallacy. In general you can carry more weight in the Uk on each axle. Rides that can be on one truck over here have to be two trucks over there and you can be longer on the road in the Uk than you can be in Australia. An example of this is a great many rides in the Uk have the cash desk as a separate trailer hitched on the back of the ride on the road, in Australia this is illegal and as such they have to be towed separately by car. Although this is not usually a problem as there are no cash desks or pay boxes on most of the rides! The controls for the rides are on a stand that is placed at the entrance of the ride and the operator stands out in the open while controlling the ride (USA style), this takes a bit of getting used to as it was very strange to see a KMG bomber, starflyer, skydiver and big wheel all without cash desks and the controls sitting out in the open, along with amps and speakers sitting on the ground or somewhere on the chassis of the ride. In my humble opinion this is a bit silly, as all the sound systems and controls for the rides have to be lifted in and out of the cab of the lorry everyday and when the bad weather does come (and trust me it comes, I was opened there in the rain) there is no shelter and you find yourself running around throwing covers over amps and the ride controls, then all standing under a canopy trying in vain to stay dry. I say standing because the seat you were sitting on was now soaking! At one point I did happen to mention (while the rain was dripping off my nose) that this no cash desk idea was monumentally idiotic and the fact that they (the showmen standing beside me at the time) all said you don't need them was crap! As I can guarantee, if I was there with one of my rides, we would all be in my cash desk sitting on the couch with our feet around the heater! However not all rides are without cash desks, dodgems and the larger of the continental rides that were shipped in from Europe came with cash desks, like a friend of mine CH who has a KMG "Tango" ride which came with a very spacious cash desk. I met CH as he is a friend of E's and we opened beside him at one of the fetes we attended with the Cliff hanger. CH came to stay with us while he was in the area as he had not brought down his accommodation from the North because he was "gaff" hopping with the Tango around Melbourne and didn't have the drivers needed to shift everything at once. As E and I were pulling down the Cliff hanger CH asked me if I would shift the Tango car truck for him as he had to build back up that night in order to open early the next day and it would save him about 2 or 3 hours if he did not need to do a double trip. I said I would and before I knew it I was climbing into the cab of a big American double drive, long nose (forward transmission) with a tri axel trailer on the back! This was not the widest thing I had driven but it was certainly the longest and maybe even the heaviest. The journey was only across city hop of 30-40 miles and once I got out of the suburbs and onto the highway it was easy. The gear box was an old Fullers road ranger with the range changer bolted to the side of the gear stick. I remembered something like it from my grand-dads old Foden, it was a simple 4 low 4 high and had the same characteristics as the gear box in the lorry that pulls my Miami. As such, I had no trouble with it. The lorry itself had a 500 hp 14Lt engine and pulled like a train ! It was easily 25 years old but had been well maintained mechanically and with its big exhaust it gave off quite a rumble when you tickled the throttle! The trip took the best part of an hour and by the end I was well bedded into the saddle taking corners with ease following close behind CH who had the main tango truck. We pulled into the next Show at about 3am, it was a grass park and there had been a lot of problems the day before with rides getting bogged down (an un-usual problem over there). We had a look at where we wanted the ride and I took my trailer in first making sure to stick to the high ground and to make large sweeping turns so as not to create ruts with the front wheels and in turn bog the truck down. I got in and then CH followed my path with the Tango and only deviated onto fresh turf in order to position the ride for building up. After the tango was set CH gave me a lift back to E's and I hit the sack. Like I said at the beginning I spent two weeks with E and the cliff hanger, usually we would go into a show build up and then come back to the yard, I would follow him in the pick up while he drove the ride. The work over there was almost identical to the work over here, move, build up, open , pull down and then move again. It was only the heat and the differences that I had pointed out earlier that let you know you were in another country. There were however some noticeable social differences. There are more Showmen in the North of England than there are in all of Australia. As a result (as far as I can tell) they do not have the social events we do over here, likes of the Showmens dances at the big fairs such as Hull, Kirkcaldy or Newcastle. In the down season they don't see each other as much as we do as they all have their own yards through out the country and as such are not as communal as the Showmen in the UK who all tend to spend the winter in close proximity, like Scotland where I would say 85% of Showmen stay in Glasgow. Although I did hear a lot about what they called the "Northern run" this was a month or so in the summer where almost all of the Showmen would be together doing a run of events from Sydney up to Cairns and this was the big social event of the season. Unfortunately I could not come over for this as it coincides with my busy time of the year too. Over all I enjoyed my time with E and it was nice to see the industry going strong at the other side of the world and although I did not see any kangaroos or snakes I did have an encounter with a Wolf spider that I would not care to repeat! Me, E and some staff where taking down the Euro Slide and I was up the top in the dark with the staff folding down the "Super Slide" sign, halfway through folding it down I looked up to see a black mass the size of my fist slowly crawling along the sign towards my hand! The problem was I couldn't let go until the sign was right down or it would have smashed the lights! In my haste I barked at the staff to hurry up as there was a big f@^* spider close to my hand and at that he let the sign down and jumped back. Seeing his reaction I also jumped well back thinking he must know what it was. That's when we lost track of it, but I remembered enough to spot it when I visited the surviving Australia exhibit at the Sydney Museum.

While I was over there I thought it was a good idea to see the sights and so I flew up to Cairns to go diving on the great barrier reef and encountered a 6 foot white tip shark less than 5 minutes after getting off the back of the boat! I swam about 40 feet away and put my mask on deciding to have a look under the water, to my shock about 4 feet below me was this shark casually swimming past, it had no interest in me whatsoever and I suspect it was leaving the area as our boat and thirty odd divers had just shown up making a lot of noise. Still even the sight of this creature so close was enough to make me still! I hovered there for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a minute as it made its way into the murky depths. After it had passed I swam the reef for an hour or so and then returned to the boat which swiftly took us to our second spot. Again I saw another shark but it was a bit smaller and again was making its way away from our noise. The reef itself is just as you imagine it, full of colour and life and the fish don't even care that you are there, its amazing how close you can get! From Cairns I flew back to Melbourne for a couple of days with E and a few good nights on the town with CH, his twin and as many other showmen as we could find. The flight home was with a company called Tiger Airlines, if you have problems with Easy jet, Ryan air or other cheap flight operators you really haven't seen anything. The seats in the plane were that cramped together that someone my height (6'1") could not sit without their knees touching the seat in front, even if I sat bolt upright in the seat I still touched the seat in front! It was without a doubt the most uncomfortable flight I have been on in my life, but at least the pilots knew how to fly the plane which is more than I can say for the taxi driver that picked me up from Melbourne airport upon my return. I think that I'm a good passenger, I have been a passenger longer than a driver and I have never felt the need to "back seat drive" but this was different. The driver was of what I assume to be Pakistani origin, I say this to point out the fact that I did not undertone what he was talking about while he was on his phone, even this did not bother me. The problem came on a back road just along the side of the airport. He decided to over take a lorry in the rain in pitch blackness, again I didn't have a problem with this as the road was flat and relatively straight, but upon completing his overtake he never pulled back into the left. Deep in conversation he kept driving on the right, I asked him to "get over" but he never listened to me, a few seconds later I spotted car lights ahead of us, again I asked louder "GET OVER" and deep in conversation he ignored me, a few second later the lights were upon us and I reached over from the passenger seat and grabbed the steering wheel riving it from his grip. I pulled the car over to the left and two seconds later a car flew past, missing us by no more than a foot ! After that the drive was quiet as he had hung up his phone looking like quite the idiot he was!. So moral of the story, even on hands free your not safe and I didn't appreciate that fact until it was proven to me. Having said this though, I understand the need to talk while driving, but to all you taxi drivers out there, your not just driving your working. Next it was on to Sydney for me, there I strapped on a harness and climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and saw the Opera house along with a hand full of museums and city sights. The Bridge climb was amazing but you were strapped to a guide wire for 3 hours and you were exposed to the elements, so when the rain came you got wet. The first step was filling out a disclaimer form then getting your kit on and passing a breathalyser! The kit was a jumpsuit, walky talky (so you could hear your guide), sunglasses strap, hat , water proofs and heavy jacket. Everything was clipped to you so the wind could not blow it away and trust me there is wind up there. I chose the Experience tour as this took me up the inner arch and then to the top apposed to the View tour which just took you over the top arch to the top and back down. The route was not for the faint hearted as you had to climb over pipes and beams. There were points where you are walking on grate steal and you can see straight down and lets not forget the squeezes! Some of the turns and bends were low and very tight, lets just say the route is not for the over weight or the unfit. If you can't walk around the town centre for four or five hours on a hot day, you can't take this tour. It was obvious that the route and access point we were using were not intended for guided tours but this just made it even better from my point of view (being an Engineer) as I was walking on the paths that the maintenance crew would. There were junction boxes, control valves all within hands reach and although you knew not to touch anything, it was right there. This was not a "you cant hurt yourself" tour for anybody, this was the real thing and that was amazing. I was two days in Sydney before I flew home. The city was welcoming and I was impressed with the monorail. The design was simplicity itself, every 30 feet there was a single "I" beam about 15 feet tall (above ground) and no more than 2 feet by 2 feet square. Onto this ran the single track and the train, every so often there was a simple platform net to the track with steps to get up to it. Sometimes the track would go into a building and then back out again. I though this was clever, the people just used the steps and elevator in the building to get to the platform and it looked fancy ! I couldn't help but think to myself that this is something that could easily be done in the Uk, the "I" beams were placed at the edge of the pavement so the train missed the buildings but was still above the traffic, the idea could be built almost anywhere! I cant help but think how one apparently simple idea in a city at the other side of the world has forced me to think how far behind civilisation seems to be in my home country. My trip had been just over three weeks long and this in my opinion was ample time to see the best of Australia. On the journey home I got to enjoy the comfort of the Air Bus A380-800. To my understanding this is the biggest passenger aircraft in the sky, it was quite a sight through the departure gate windows. I arrived back in Glasgow at 11:30 am on the 2nd of December and was greeted by my family at the airport. When I got home there was a hot bowl of home made soup waiting for me.

After all's said and done I was glad to be home, even if home was -10 and under a foot of snow !

a fairground life (belated New Year)

In the blink of an eye Christmas and New Year are only a memory. As you all know I never wrote anything, not the OZ special or a year round up, Why?, I really don't know, I do know I didn't feel that there was anything worthy of re-capping on for 2010. Mean while things have been running as usual, up at 8am on New Years day after 4 hours kip to go to the secc and change a couple of ballraces. Exactly as we did in 09, then up this morning at 8 again and went in and changed another 3. We are running short on stocked spares so hopefully we will get by until everything gets back to work on Wednesday. Yesterday was a bit slower in the secc. The (mainly) Asian visitors turned out for the Carnival and things were quiet except for a scuffle around 9pm that saw at least one youth huckled out by Police, while the security dispersed the other hundred or so onlookers. The only annoyance we had was three youths that we put off the ride due to behaviour. It started off with throwing about a slinky spring while the ride was going, we stopped it and asked them to put it down.(to prevent it getting trapped in the workings, and possibly hurting somebody) This they did but started spitting from height to amuse themselves instead, so that was that, ride stopped, down and off. Not that it seemed to concern them in any manner. Skyliner C has been the main man over the past week and he has compiled a list of the top secc gripes. Quite amusing so when he finishes we'll get them posted up. We have several signs up in the paybox to try and smooth the day out-secure valuables, seating requirements, etc, etc. I said to "r" this morning,"we need a new sign for the paybox window, WARNING-CONTENTS UNDER HIGH PRESSURE!" LOL.

Mean while back at the Mall, I finally got the water lasers thawed out after a week. I had to put an electric blow heater in to thaw the ice. It was solid and 6 inches thick!

Belated New Year Greetings and we'll get the OZ entry up, .......sometime.

pict is bro's dodgem, never had time to get a couple from inside the secc and there are a few changes worth photographing. They also have a stand with old photo's on from the Kelvin Hall and SECC early days.

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.