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I bought a big and joined the circus.


puddlethumper

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On 10/13/2022 at 6:32 PM, puddlethumper said:

I'm not sure how you could steal it. So I'm here till Sunday guarding a temporary roadway.

Had to come through a bit of LEZ to get here but there is a way to avoid paying which I can't put on a public forum. 

I worked for EVE Trakway, you'll be surprised how much gets stolen, and yes they'll turn up with a flatbed and hiab to steal it....

Showman's are exempt from the LEZ but you need to pay and reclaim it.

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  • 1 month later...

As I said, I'm not going to do a write up of every move as they all become a bit similar but the move from Southampton to Brighton is worth a scribble. As normal an advance party went to Brighton on Sunday to mark out for the tent. On arriving at Preston Park we encountered a number of our friends* the travellers, about 10/12 caravans and vehicles. A distinct lack of pickups was noted. More SUV's, small vans and a couple of campers all of which were no more than 3 years old. I don't know how to do links and stuff coz rubbish on computers but if you look at Preston Park you will see at the entrance there is a triangle of tarmac and this is where they were, mostly, parked. This will become relevant shortly. 

When the advance party arrived, consisting of Steve's Peterbilt and his brand new living trailer, me and my heap, and another RV, we were immediately surrounded by about 10/12 traveller kids. I was left by the vehicles to keep an eye on things while Steve, site boss, and Geoff, site mechanic, went to set out. I couldn't understand much of what these kids were saying, sounded foreign to me, and they were all yacking at once. Caught a couple of them trying to steal the chrome wheel nut covers off the Peterbilt. Eventually they fucked off to annoy someone else. Stayed the night and the next day back to Southampton. Bunk wagons arrived about 10am so there was always going to be someone to keep an eye on things.  That next night, as usual, I started setting out the water supply at about 2 in the morning and finishing at about 6. There was, maybe obviously, a lot of interest in what I was doing. Small van driving around on the field  shining headlights in my direction. Everything arrived during the day and into the night as usual. Well, the generator and workshop trailer didn't arrive in one piece. Jonny, Hungarian electrician, lost two wheels off one of the axles on the trailer about 30 miles from Brighton but carried on dragging the axle with sparks flying about that several people flashed him about. How he didn't notice the sparks and the trailer leaning to one side nobody knows. Maybe Hungarians don't look in their mirrors. So now Geoff, mechanic, has to sort this out before the move to Cardiff this weekend and sourcing parts is a major head ache because the original supplier doesn't have parts anymore. The hub is cracked all the way round and the hangers have been dragged on the road and are totally fucked and only one wheel was found. Pics below.

I've got some stuff to do so tune in later for another enthralling*  episode involving the travelling community.

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1 hour ago, Mally said:

I can see this being a chain the axle up at one side stick the one wheel on so it looks good, but clear of the road and carry on regardless for a while.

 

Probably what will happen. Getting some hangers tomorrow, hopefully. Unfortunately the stud threads are a bit* fucked. Geoff reckons he can re-tap them a bit smaller and fit smaller nuts.

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The Travellers part 2. Everything was pulled on to the site on Monday night apart from a truck and trailer which was picked up on Tuesday morning arriving at the site about 1.30. The distance from the road to the edge of the field is no more than 50 metres. Ivor, who was driving, asked a traveller to keep the kids out of the way for a few minutes because the machine was coming to pull it on to the site. Unfortunately during those 50m a child decided to hang on to the trailer on the side that Ivor couldn't see as the truck was at a slight angle. Result was that an 8 year old boy sustained some serious injuries. There is a report in the Argus if you look for, Brighton: Boy, 8, hit by lorry in Preston Park. It doesn't tell the whole story. The police arrived in great numbers and even still Ivor had to stay in the truck with a Police Officer in the passenger seat for his safety as the travellers were going a bit ape shit and trying to get at him. Two or three traveller blokes turned up in the tent, which was being built up, with iron bars looking for Ivor but hurriedly left when confronted with a bigger number of workers with bigger pieces of metal. Eventually the police got them all to hitch up and fuck off although a police presence was kept at the park till the following evening. I had to go down the Police station, where Ivor was making a statement, with his passport and some other bits and take him to Gatwick for a flight to Norn Iron to get him away. The circus got two security guys in for Tuesday and Wednesday night but we were all a bit on edge as you can imagine.

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Well, that went well*. When I rang for assistance they said, when I was some where safe for somebody to change the wheel to let them know. Blown tyre was the offside outer so they wouldn't do it on the hard shoulder. Going up the hard shoulder was interesting* as there was a couple of places where there wasn't one so I had to stop and wait for a gap in the traffic to be able to use lane 1 which, luckily, at that time there wasn't a lot. Assistance said I would have to wait 60 to 90 minutes, which I have heard before and don't believe, and someone would ring me from a breakdown company. While I was waiting, and having a cuppa, I thought I would help things along by getting the spare out which is difficult as it is in a side locker on a shelf at the back. Managed, with a lot of effort, to get it out and then decided to get the hubcap off, bolted on. Then the phone rang and it was, I don't know, whoever was going to be arriving sometime in the future who kindly informed me that there was no one in the area who could help. Great ! Looked like I was going to be there all night. Decided at that point I would have to struggle and do it myself. Take into account that I am 70 years old and not as supple or as strong as I used to be and  certainly didn't relish the idea. At all. But means must. I have a jack strong enough but the means of getting the wheel nuts off is far from ideal as it is a very big spider with a couple of steel tubes for leverage and it wouldn't take much for things to slip and cause some injury. After a lot of jumping on the tubes I got the wheel off. Got the spare on by using a long crow bar that I had and quite a bit of sweat. Cracked it up and then had to get the fucked wheel back in the locker. Much sweat and struggle. Got to the Cardiff site at about 4.30 and went to bed. Couldn't sleep so got back up and put the kettle on and that is my tale of woe. What a bugger.

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On 5/11/2023 at 7:45 PM, puddlethumper said:

The Travellers part 2. Everything was pulled on to the site on Monday night apart from a truck and trailer which was picked up on Tuesday morning arriving at the site about 1.30. The distance from the road to the edge of the field is no more than 50 metres. Ivor, who was driving, asked a traveller to keep the kids out of the way for a few minutes because the machine was coming to pull it on to the site. Unfortunately during those 50m a child decided to hang on to the trailer on the side that Ivor couldn't see as the truck was at a slight angle. Result was that an 8 year old boy sustained some serious injuries. There is a report in the Argus if you look for, Brighton: Boy, 8, hit by lorry in Preston Park. It doesn't tell the whole story. The police arrived in great numbers and even still Ivor had to stay in the truck with a Police Officer in the passenger seat for his safety as the travellers were going a bit ape shit and trying to get at him. Two or three traveller blokes turned up in the tent, which was being built up, with iron bars looking for Ivor but hurriedly left when confronted with a bigger number of workers with bigger pieces of metal. Eventually the police got them all to hitch up and fuck off although a police presence was kept at the park till the following evening. I had to go down the Police station, where Ivor was making a statement, with his passport and some other bits and take him to Gatwick for a flight to Norn Iron to get him away. The circus got two security guys in for Tuesday and Wednesday night but we were all a bit on edge as you can imagine.

The cynic in me wants to say that the travellers are after “ kompensashun”…..

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  • 4 weeks later...

Moved from Cardiff to Greenock last week. Took my rig up which took 9 hours. Bit of a trek. Five of us flown back to move more circus shite. I had the pleasure* of driving an Iveco, sorry @Cavcraft, with trailer which I thought would take the best part of ten hours but after setting off I was glad to find that the governor had been removed so it would easily do 65mph. Not that I did that of course, nor did I get it up to 70 a couple of times. Anyway it was the middle of the night and not much about. Found out the next day when I mentioned how well it went with the resident mechanic that the pump had been, erm, tweaked. Took eight and a half hours to get here which is pretty good going. Hopefully I'll get a go in it again. Have a couple of pics of the offending article. As you can see a fair weight to shovel along. Not bad for a 22 year old wagon.

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4 hours ago, puddlethumper said:

Moved from Cardiff to Greenock last week. Took my rig up which took 9 hours. Bit of a trek. Five of us flown back to move more circus shite. I had the pleasure* of driving an Iveco, sorry @Cavcraft, with trailer which I thought would take the best part of ten hours but after setting off I was glad to find that the governor had been removed so it would easily do 65mph. Not that I did that of course, nor did I get it up to 70 a couple of times. Anyway it was the middle of the night and not much about. Found out the next day when I mentioned how well it went with the resident mechanic that the pump had been, erm, tweaked. Took eight and a half hours to get here which is pretty good going. Hopefully I'll get a go in it again. Have a couple of pics of the offending article. As you can see a fair weight to shovel along. Not bad for a 22 year old wagon.

 

 

In fairness, the E15 will do a lot more than 65-70MPH. They'd allegedly* rest as far as the needle would go without too much trouble, and often did. The E14 on the other hand would take about 17 weeks to get to 50mph and use several hundred gallons of diesel to do so.

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On 13/05/2023 at 09:58, Rocket88 said:

The cynic in me wants to say that the travellers are after “ kompensashun”…..

You don't think the serious injuries, of a small child are their concern, just the potential payout ?  I'm inclined to think they are angry at their own lack of child care and looking to transfer the blame. 

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3 hours ago, New POD said:

You don't think the serious injuries, of a small child are their concern, just the potential payout ?  I'm inclined to think they are angry at their own lack of child care and looking to transfer the blame. 

Quite possibly…. But some members of the “ travelling community “ aren’t above using some very nefarious methods to squeeze a few bob out of anyone…..

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  • 3 weeks later...

A minor update. We are now in  Inverness for a week. I left Dundee at 10.30 and watched the sunset on the way which felt a bit odd heading northish and the sunset in front of me. Although the light stays on the horizon till sunrise, which isn't far off from where it went down. Me and Zena, Ukrainian performer, drank some Ukrainian brandy, well, that's what he called it,  while watching it. Anyhoo, I'll put a few pics up as we all like em. Built 3 showers in the Vecco truck last week that turned out pretty good. Don't know if the pics work so well in small spaces. Also, with help from Jeff the mechanic, redecked the low loader with 6 grands worth of wood, not quite finished, a couple of strips to go on yet. Looking tidy.

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