The Ferris Wheel stil turns in many English Seaside towns..

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robingoodfellow · M

I love a ferris wheel

devonman · 61-69, M

It looks more appealing after dark .

yunnaf · 70-79, M

@devonman I've never ridden a wheel at night. I imagine the view is of all the lights from below, buildings and street lights. Is the thrill of the ride the different at night than during the day?

devonman · 61-69, M

@yunnaf it’s just for display after dark . Part of our enduring fascination with ‘ illuminations ‘

yunnaf · 70-79, M

I think you are a fan of merry go rounds, another spiining round object, like the spinning door at 10 Downing St. Are they still popular?

devonman · 61-69, M

@yunnaf I think the door will continue to spin at Downing St . .
Lager observation Wheels are increasingly popular ..

ArishMell · 70-79, M

It was always called a 'Big Wheel' in Britain, as that one is, and they do remian popular.

The North Atlantic Drift brought the word 'Ferris' across the ocean. Though to be fair that is the name of the inventor.

I wonder what the show-people call these machines? Their names for various rides (their generic term) in their somewhat closed world are not quite always the commonly-used ones, and they should know!

Remember those Royal Mail stamps some years ago, that featured a very stylised gallopers set? I think it was meant to commemorate the fairs tradition. Oh dear, oh dear though: the artist had evidently never been to a fair, because the stamps depicted the ride revolving the wrong way, anticlockwise (left to right)!

devonman · 61-69, M

@ArishMell To those that operate them they are just ‘ Wheels’

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@devonman Thankyou.

I've seen occasional copies of The World's Fair (show trade newspaper) and glossy magazines like Old Glory, showing a definite trade vocabulary, as in any trade.

I think a lot of ride types must have been named by the manufacturers who invented them.

emmasfriend · 46-50, F

I have been on the London Eye, which is enclosed, but never on one in the open air

SW-User

Just don't like the download crowd near it

Birdbox1986 · 31-35, F

Never been on it and we have it here in Brisbane city

devonman · 61-69, M

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

@devonman Thank you.

There's a similar one on Weymouth Sands - along with a load of other fairground rides oddly taking over a subtantial part of the town's primary attraction for holidaymakers..

devonman · 61-69, M

@ArishMell Not been recently . I guess the council just wants the rent .

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@devonman I think so too! To be fair one thing the rent subsidises is a daily, early-morning beach-cleaning during the Summer, using a special raking and sieving machine towed by a tractor. It picks up far more beach-users' litter than seaweed or flotsam.

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