A Funfair Adventure in Cyprus Part one

We were on a high for the time being.

November 1999

With the bonfires behind us it was time to pack the ride in readiness for Cyprus. Since we would be living there for 5 months we had to take all our clothes and the children’s Christmas presents. Far too much to take on a plane so it was easier for it all to be packed into the ride. The ride I was taking was on a 14m artic trailer and there was plenty of room inside for the luggage. My wife’s parents were coming also to help us in Cyprus, probably because they would miss their grand children, especially “w”, who was only 3yrs old. To increase our earning potential we borrowed a hoopla stall and a market stall. I didn’t have a game to go in either of them. Since other showmen had booked stalls earlier I would have to invent something different to get a plot on the fairs. I can’t remember how I got the idea, it was throw the ball into the bin game. Easy you think? Not with the bin lids hinged and a motor fitted to open and close them rapidly. So a trip to the iron mongers for 6 galvanised bins with lids, another to the scrap yard for 6 windscreen wiper motors and I had the major components. It was quite simple, hinge the lid at one end and connect a rod from the lid to the wiper motor inside. Select the desired speed and power it from a 12v battery charger. Hey presto! Ball in the bin game. To make it harder I gave the bins assorted hardboard teeth to narrow the opening and named them accordingly- jaws, vampire, smiley etc.. As for the market stall game it would have to wait. There were some rumours that the Cyprus project was having problems recruiting operators to go, so we went to see Mr “A”. He told us everything was o.k and that he had several European showmen lined up to go, he even had video of their equipment. One thing about Mr “A” he could sell sand to the Arabs, so being reassured we continued with the project and put everything else on hold, including our new caravan renovation. We only had enough to spend on either the boat fare to Cyprus or the renovation work, we couldn’t afford to do both and we still had our holiday to go on. Off we went to sunny Spain still feeling on a high… a week into the holiday and we got a call from home, it seemed the trip was to be delayed, then later we heard it was cancelled. I felt gutted, it was at that moment I know how much I really wanted to go. All the family were on a downer and it did affect the holiday spirit.