It was our last week in Limassol (so I thought) and we spent a few days in Nicosia looking for our next hotel, but there was only one and it was very expensive (£50) night. This was the hotel everyone had stayed in 3 years before on the first trip to Cyprus. Then it was being redecorated on one wing. This wing was closed to the tourists, but the showmen struck a deal with the hotel manager to let the rooms on one side of the wing at a reduced rate. No such luck this time. We thought we would all split up and rent private apartments around the city. This was concerning on a security issue as we had to leave everything in these apartments while we were out. Some of these were in less than appealing conditon or areas of the city. We were having good nights in the hotel in Limassol and eventually decided to stay here and commute (56miles) to Strovolos near Nicosia every day for a month to the fair.
The weekend that we pulled down in Limassol the Irishman had been asking if anyone could build him a stall. As I was handy with the power tools, he was pointed in my direction. He wanted a basket ball game stall constructed of box iron so it was easy and quick to erect. Much along the lines of a market stall, just on a bigger scale. Luckily I had brought my chopsaw and welder with me, I was short of cash so asked him to provide all the materials and I would do the work for £200cy. I started the day after we pulled the rides down and were waiting to go to Nicosia.
Nicosia March 1999
As business wasn't as good as many had wanted, a couple of the Dutch games were leaving to return to Europe for the summer and do their fairs there. This was going to leave a couple of holes in the fair, so the Irishman (in partnership) with Hank asked me to build a basketball game. Hank had been minding the lucky numbers game (make 21 with lucky dip numbers) this had been taking fortunes compared to the rest of us. Since the games returning to Holland would need their transport this left Hank and the Irishman with no way to transport the trampolines to Strovolos in Nicosia. They went around looking for a private lorry driver to do it for them. The day we left for Nicosia I was driving along the motorway and passed a TIPPER lorry full of TRAMPOLINES!!!. It looked like a load of scrap! When it arrived at the fair site they unloaded it- no sorry, they didn't unload it- you guessed it THEY TIPPED IT OUT like you would a load of sand! I though to myself it must be scrap now. I had visions of all the irons being bent and twisted.
We were next to a crossroads in an industrial area outside Nicosia. The place was called Strovolos and we were told it was full of refugees from Farmagusta and Russia.
There was a small house behind the fairground and a crop field across the road. Mr “A” decided to let Eric build up the typhoon first as it took him two full days to do so. We would get set tomorrow. That evening the Cypriot who lived in the house returned home to see the fair positioned behind his garden. That was that-he complained to the local mayor to have us moved away. Mr “A” and George tried to reach an agreement with him, but to no avail. It seems the world is the same all over- “everybody loves the funfair, but not next to my house!” Now we had nowhere to go. For the next three days Mr “A” and George looked for an alternative site. They ended up with the crop field across the road from the original site. To get it Mr “A” had bought the crop, paid the farmer to clear the field of it and then had to buy the roots because our heavy vehicles would damage them. The field looked very soft and soily. The dust was unbelievable. The lorries were sinking into the soft soil and on top of that we were warned to watch out for poisonous snakes! Poor Eric had to pull the typhoon ride down again and move it across the road, the Irishman and Hank had to carry the trampolines one piece at a time across the busy road into the field.
At nights we were leaving the fair unattended, so the security were put on 24hrs now to stop any thieving. Since it was 56 miles everyday to commute, the first night open my mother in law stayed in the room with our daughter “w” at Limassol. That night we opened and at 8pm the fair was mobbed and we were short staffed.
