LIKE many parents I headed off to the fun fair with the kids this week.

They might as well take £40 off me at the gate and send me on my way.

I like the fair. I love the noise, and the smell of the popcorn.

In fact, the people who work at the fairs are quite simply the friendliest people around.

But £1.50 for a kid’s ride just killed me.

I have two kids and, before I knew it, they had raced through that twenty pound note I had in my pocket.

They were given a budget but, 16 minutes into the visit, that budget went to pot.

For a moment I felt like it was October 2008 and I was working in the banking industry.

It was time to dip into the emergency fund, kept aside for the chips, and the hook a duck.

Soon enough the full forty pounds was gone, and I hadn’t even entered the arcade to put ten pence into that machine that goes forwards and backwards.

I can understand prices have gone up, and I must say the adult rides, at £2, are great value for money.

Compared to Blackpool, the adult rides are pretty good for what you pay.

But I am an adult who does not go on the adult rides.

I stand and watch my kids go on the small rides.

On top of that it was cold… man that wind is a killer.

On that note, it seems some people just can’t wait for the summer to start.

I was driving through Darwen yesterday and I saw the bravest guy in Lancashire.

Well, he was brave or stupid.

Dressed in nothing but a T-shirt and shorts, he sauntered down Blackburn Road as if the summer had well and truly arrived.

The bitterly cold wind didn’t seem to matter to him as he was in a world of his own, listening to his music on his funky headphones.

I know the sun might be out, but to hell with the temperature, I’m wearing my shorts and T-shirt, and there is nothing anyone can do about it!