I have negelected this blog a little this month, not deliberately, but simply due to the schedule of work. In the last couple of weeks we have been to Durham (5 times), Liverpool, Lincoln, Leeds (3 times), Manchester, Stoke, Glasgow (twice), Cornwall (twice), Newmarket, West Bromwich, Birmingham, Cambridge, Tamworth, Luton, Yeovil, Stoke, Colne, Stockton, Gainsborough, Wakefield and London (twice).
In fact in June we have some 40 odd events, with only 2 of the days on the calander that don't contain an event. Most of these have run smoothly, but we had a little trouble on the way back from the second Cornwall trip, which once again demonstrated the mutual support network that is in place amongst the fairground community. During the ride home a tyre valve on the van began to leak and we had to make ever more frequent stops to re inflate it. Eventually we were forced to pull over on the hard shoulder to change the bloody thing. The van (a modern transit) had a jack handle that unfolded a number of times until it was about 8 ft in length. Unfortunately the extra leverage from this length meant that I managed to snap it in half, with the result that the back wheel wasn't high enough to change, but was far eough off the ground to leave me stranded, with no tools to try and lower the jack back down. Eventually I managed to hammer some chocks under the errant wheel, which gave me enough grip to drive off the jack.
We were now faced with the prospect of paying a tyre fitter an extortianate rate to change a wheel for us. Just as I picked the phone up to call Dick Turpin out, my wife pointed out what appeared to be fairground vehicles, in the distance across the fields at the side of the M5 motorway. I rang my mate William, who was a native of these parts and gave him details of where I was. Luckily he knew the yards I could see and told me who the residents would be, one of which happened to have a daughter married to an operator in my native North East who attends occasional events with us, small world.
We drove into the yard and within ten minutes had the spare wheel fitted and were on our way home, loverly jubberly.
After writing this short piece, I will probably be silent again for a while as the second half of this month will see us in Twickenham, Oxford, Exeter, Yarm, London (3 times), Cambridge, Grantham, Kingswood, Nottingham, Durham, Kimbolton and Manchester!
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In fact in June we have some 40 odd events, with only 2 of the days on the calander that don't contain an event. Most of these have run smoothly, but we had a little trouble on the way back from the second Cornwall trip, which once again demonstrated the mutual support network that is in place amongst the fairground community. During the ride home a tyre valve on the van began to leak and we had to make ever more frequent stops to re inflate it. Eventually we were forced to pull over on the hard shoulder to change the bloody thing. The van (a modern transit) had a jack handle that unfolded a number of times until it was about 8 ft in length. Unfortunately the extra leverage from this length meant that I managed to snap it in half, with the result that the back wheel wasn't high enough to change, but was far eough off the ground to leave me stranded, with no tools to try and lower the jack back down. Eventually I managed to hammer some chocks under the errant wheel, which gave me enough grip to drive off the jack.
We were now faced with the prospect of paying a tyre fitter an extortianate rate to change a wheel for us. Just as I picked the phone up to call Dick Turpin out, my wife pointed out what appeared to be fairground vehicles, in the distance across the fields at the side of the M5 motorway. I rang my mate William, who was a native of these parts and gave him details of where I was. Luckily he knew the yards I could see and told me who the residents would be, one of which happened to have a daughter married to an operator in my native North East who attends occasional events with us, small world.
We drove into the yard and within ten minutes had the spare wheel fitted and were on our way home, loverly jubberly.
After writing this short piece, I will probably be silent again for a while as the second half of this month will see us in Twickenham, Oxford, Exeter, Yarm, London (3 times), Cambridge, Grantham, Kingswood, Nottingham, Durham, Kimbolton and Manchester!
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