Yeah, that worked well. Let's try that again...

Click here to view attached image.

Doc...for my Death Worm presentatrion I have actual Trinitite...actual Pieces of Ground Zero...a Gieger Counter and a vial of real Duterium (heavy water) also the signature on some papers of the discoveror of Heavy Water. (authentic)

This way I can WITHOUT LIEING make the claim that this 'STUFF' is absolutely authentic! A broad gesture to cover the Zibit as well of couse allowing them to dance the mind dance.

Glad to see you used the idea finally! I told you it works!@

Been hard at it for the past 5 days Bridgwater Street Fair, this one is yonks old and always a burster.

Going to post off topic now,,,with interesting finds for those of you who Zibbit in a Popup.
Yes this has been gone over before but think this will interest >>> Useing a commercial standard Popup with a heavy duty Marquee canvas as sidewalls.
1) the sidewalls standard with hooks at the top and eyes along the bottom edge,,enable the wall top to be hung on the popup criss cross members (May have to open the hooks a bit to work,,but they do).
2) the eyes at the bottom of the walls are at 18inch centres and can be stacked down with hefty pegs.

Result >>> a popup which will stand up to very high gusts >>> Quicker to erect etc.

Its not my idea,,but have used another unit now for some time which is as described above,,,another plus is sheeting 3 sides only, then at night when the idiots are about,,you just take your table and zibb out, leaving the whole thing open so they can see there is nothing in it to rob. The fact that the 3 sides are made up of just one heavy sheet also saves wear on velcro and zipps and of course easy to replace / repair should need arise. Stakes at 18inches will deter anyone from getting under the tilt when open,,,so that`s one problem sorted.Downside of course is the initial costs of an extra £300 plus for the heavy grade, but I truly think it`s worth it.

Also found out a way to display in a 6 feet frontage with no popup at all. This happened when a forty foot market stall booked into a thirty foot paid for pitch. We had to show in a 6 feet frontage,,,so neccessity became once again the mother of invention!!! May pass this on someday...

Down the road,,,Ken.

So everyone is having a stress free season then ? No stories to tell ! Here is one to make your toes curl.
Not posted for a while, due to high pressure of end of summer run and Xmas follow through work.
Of note the Portsmouth Historical Dockyard Extravaganza was a great sucess, with our performing Fleas scoreing very highly at each of the 15 performances given.With the audiences of well over a hundred crowding around, it was hard to understand the volume of response received as goodness knows how those at the back saw anything at all.

While their, an escape was planned to take place on the HMS Victory. A spread eagled escape from the ships wheel which should have gained good press.In order to be authentic we carried out research into this,,,only to find out that the ships wheel on board was in fact a fake! The real mc`coy was moved to the Victory Museum and presented under security conditions for display.Photos and useage were banned.We did it anyway and don`t ask how!!!

From Portsmouth we were booked right through to January with the Lapland Leisure Themed Park near Ringwood.
Doing street work and fire / stunts to draw the crowds with a 20ft selling pitch thrown in for good measure.
With the selling period being so long we had to invest in huge stocks just over £8700 prepaid stock was loaded before we even left for Portsmouth.The idea was for an overnight switch from performance vans to trailer units then straight down to Ringwood for an early opening.

What followed was a nightmare.

Too long and detailed to outline here, so Google Lapland at Ringwood and see the local and national press coverage for this event. The whole thing has turned into a battle ground with Santas little helpers under attack, Santa got a punch on the nose, the Police,County Councils,Health & Safety,RSPCA,Animal Rights,Inland Revenue and Fraud departments all into the fray!!! So we made a calculated withdrawal.

We have lost over £10,000 in expected revenue, been unable to refill the months gap which meens fees of another £5000 have been lost.So we will be unemployed until the end of February!!!
No, being self employed we are entitled to no benefit,,,,but we are the proud owners of huge stocks which include 1000 boxes of Goshman 2" sponge balls!! Haha gotta laugh or I cry.

So please send me the samaritans help line number or buy these %^**** Sponges.

On with the Show.
To be continued!!

Ken.

1:50 pm GMT saw the Lapland show closed down.

None of the Elves,Entertainers and gaff lads will get any payement.

The 50,000 odd pre sold tickets will not be cash refundable.

I bet Bankrupt claims are already in and the directors been paid off in five figure sums before disclosure.


The Fun Fair is coming down with their Xmas wages now nil.

We are not the only ones hit hard there are many more than us who have lost out through this scam.

If I ever get to catch up with the gaffer,,,,he will take the place of the Fairy on my Xmas Tree.

See National, International and local TV / Press coverage for hourly updates.

Yep If been side swiped>> The Kon of Kondini has been returned and bitten me on the ASS!!

Later,,,,Ken.

Take care in knowing that you are safe and able to perform. And you showed the royal family your strange thing, something that most could only dream of doing then retiring the next day, knowing they couldn't do any better. But you push on and inspire other performers to keep at it no matter how bad the jerks (the Café won't let me put a litany of nasty words instead of jerk) sideswiped you. And those jerks better pray that the police get them before anyone they swindled.

And as much as this sucks, you do have to laugh when you read this in the newspaper, then shudder thinking about how Mum and Dad are going to explain that to their little children.

Today families were arriving to find the entrance coned off. A woman from the park shouted through the fence: “Santa's gone home, Santa's f-----g dead.” -- The Times 12/5/2008


Michael

Interestingly, I found nothing searching on "Lapland at Ringwood", but “Santa's gone home, Santa's f-----g dead.” took me right to the story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7768957.stm

The Staffordshire Lapland is the second one to fail. If you Google Lapland Ringwood then at the last count there were 10 pages of moans!!!

As Santa is dead we are having Xmas at Easter !!!

Ken

Ken, aren't those round red spongy thing actually Tibetan Wishing Spheres, personally blessed by the Dalai Lama himself and mentioned in the book "The Secret"? You merely have to squeeze them in your hand while meditating about your desires and within a fortnight what you desire comes to you. These sacred wonders were introduced to the West by that noted Tibetan scholar Albert Goshman.

If you hit up all the psychic fairs in the UK between now and the end of February you will be able to move all those sponge balls AND get far more for them than what the punters would have paid for them as magic tricks.

Good thinking Todd,,,trouble is rentals for these are around $700 a day,,,so that`s a lotta balls to sell haha.

Those balls should sell for at least a hundred bucks each, two for $150. And if you grease some of the readers at the fair to "advise" their clients to buy the balls, I think you will have a little bit of Christmas this year.

Santa's not dead! He was in Rumford, Maine's Capital of Magic, for the World's Largest Letter to Santa. This made the Today Show (national news in the USA, to our friends elsewhere).

It's true, no hard luck stories lately, but perhaps next weekend will bring some. Why does Ellsworth, Maine, schedule a street fair the first week of December? I'll be there with the Strange Thing show, maybe breathing fire to keep warm. I hope we don't have freezing rain, anyway.

See you down the road!

Yours,

Paul

But not connected in any way - other than it "looked like some tents in a field".

For the record - the first one hit the comedy TV program "have I got news for you" - so it must have been big news last week.

Ken I need some sponge balls (well not really but I ll take a few packets of fyou - also need to send you some money for the "other thing" you texted me about - erm lost my phone (im a donkey I know!).

Well to update >>> We got space at the Podium Shopping centre in Bath,,,seemed a good venue but turned out to be very light passing foot fall.With the parking @ £30 a day it soon dawned that this was no good.

Couple of calls on, we picked up another Centre (Shires in Trowbridge) After another trial this was another no no. So as they say,,,,As one door closes, another slams in your face!!!

Trying Todds (He wants a razor for Xmas!!)Idea,,,it seems most of the psy shows are fully booked and don't start until February. We have managed to crash into 2, so will heads up on this later.

We have submitted a claim against the Lapland mess up (This was not cheap!)But this will also take time to come through and with no definate result either way, which could still meen we will lose big time.Meanwhile the accounts set up through our business to cover the lost 6 week run and stocking costs have been frozen until the receivers have completed their paperwork (Proberly by the New Year) This action alone restricts most of our tradeing.

So important lesson learnt >>>> don't put all your eggs (Or balls) In one basket !!! Also,,,,dont trust,,,anyone!!

Xmas >>>>>> Humbug.

Ken

Well the Lapland saga is far from dead, with us joining a very long Q trying to get our cash back.

Assets are frozen (Not theirs, they claim to have none) Ours, until the powers that be are convinced that each claim is genuine. This prevents many entertainers investing in this years season as no cash flow is available. Our generators require a service and ticket, Equity insurance dues should have been paid on the 31st December, all the backdrops and props which are re painted and updated before the out are as they were on the last pull down, the 20ft box lorry is still in storage @ £80 a month, no ticket on it as yet and the van is due for its Tax and MOT second week in February.

Not being able to use the float from the bussiness account has put a stop to all preparations, and if we were to source the finance from other accounts the Revenue would queiry it and investigate !!!! So right now were in limbo.

Got a call today from the recievers, warning all of us not to take things into our own hands !!!!

It seems that £500,000 worth of prepaid ticket money has vanished (What a F*****G great trick that was!!!).

On a better note, all should be sorted by the end of March,,,,,ha ha ha,,,,,that gives us 10 days to catch up with all the chores and be on the road.

Showbiz !!!

Heads up on Lapland are,,,we all lost the dosh !! No come back, no justice just F ALL.
On a `lighter note >>> Saw Madame Electra doing her bit for electricity,,,the barker said any one who can remove the keys from this metal plate held by Electra would get to spend the night with her.......a little kid picked up two keys no problem,,,,the barker said >> Nothing << But moved quickly on.What a bummer!

The season is soon upon us, feet are itchy and pockets empty.Still no float cash to cover out costs,,,insurance, rentals and kip houses, so the first weekend will cover the whole year ! We hope. Meanwhile if the old bill stop any of our convoy and check out the tax discs closely, they will find that Robinsons Jam pot lables have a duel purpose!!! Haha, yep been here before.

Had a few pm`s regarding our 2009 show dates, so John has been kind enough to put the list up on Sideshow World.

That saves me fingers here!!

Ken.

Red Nose Day was yesterday so what did you do ???

I of course offered my services for this worthy cause but now the morning after,,,wish I had kept my big mouth shut !

The local British Legion had its fun fund raise and at 9pm I was bound in cuffs, chains and padlocks,,,put into a coffin which was nailed down but not until the whole *&$$! casket had been filled with Baked Beans.

Of course the Great One got out,,,looking a bit like giant orange blob and pleased to have added another £550 to the Comic pot.

This morning, the day after, you might say.

I arose to look in the mirror and see that my skin (All over) Had taken on the colour of a peach.

A phone call to the secretary cleared up the query when it was found that in order to save costs on baked beans they had added water and food colouring to stretch the ammount out !!!! Hence my stained look,,,,,shut up!!

So my good deed, ruined a T shirt, tracksuit bottoms and even gave me peach coloured underwear.

Sure we raised a good bit for charity but $£&&^^*** to next years event.

I shall now be spending a great deal of time with scrubbing brush in hand trying to reach places that seldom see the light of day!!!

Just hope its all off by next weekend cos its the UKEA meeting in Maidenhead and no way is Mr Peaches turning up there in full colour ?

Ken.

Good one!

And the reason you're not making them into an exhibit is...?