…I went on a ride with no seatbelts. And lived to tell the tale.
THE best ride that stands out in my mind is one I went on with my dad when I was quite little, maybe seven years old. We had this thing, you see, going on fairground rides together.
As the oldest child, with my brother only about two at the time, it was clearly my duty to remain a tomboy and go on scary rides with my dad. I was happy to rise to the challenge.
Back to the ride. It was called The Drum. Picture something like a circular cake tin in shape, with mesh walls. The walls had little padding bits on them – at adult head height, not mine. But I was still allowed on.
Then imagine that the cake tin is on a kind of spike. The cake tin spins round, faster and faster, then the spike lifts it up and it tilts. In mid air.
The only thing holding you up at that point is centrifugal force. Which is clearly pretty good at sticking you to the wall when you’re going fast enough.
I wonder about it now – whether you would still be allowed on. It was the early 80s – people hadn’t really started talking about fairground safety at that time, I don’t think.
So we went on the drum. I think it was maybe the last thing we went on that day. I was (am) into rollercoasters, so speed and movement were fine by me.
I don’t know how high it lifted up. Enough so that it could tip the drum part without it hitting the ground, at least. And so we hung there, in mid air, going round and round.
I don’t entirely remember the feeling – but I do remember the back of my head being uncomfortable against the mesh walls. I’m not sure that I would have gone on again straight away – but I must have enjoyed it to remember so many of the details.
I’ve been on some rollercoasters since – or rides where they suddenly drop you in something like a cable car. But I still reckon the drum was the best.
I tried hunting for some more information, and found that in some versions of this ride, the floor dropped away too…but I think the drum part stayed put.
I feel like there ought to be a bit more to the story than that. In my mind, I have a montage of film clips about fairgrounds, with big wheels and mysterious gunmen, and maybe even Jaws from James Bond. I can’t quite remember.
None of those – thankfully. Most likely to be somewhere near Scarborough, not necessarily a hub for scary fairground rides. Better known for donkey rides on the beach and then still genteel hotels near the front. (They may still be genteel. I haven’t been back in a while.)
Once, at an amusement park…only once. But once is enough to remember.