Bank holiday's provide a wonderful opportunity to annoy your children, especially, if like me you visited Castlewellan horse fair andspent the day ignoring their carefully crafted arguments. Other dads may have spent £1200 on a 2 day old donkey and with a bit of spitting and slapping hands may have significantly reduced the asking price.The price to be fair included its mother but as I pointed out, did not include a load of hay, a field to keep them in and whatever else donkeys need. As the day wore on the crowds increased and the animals got restless in the hot sun, the traders had a difficult job trying to show off their beasts to potential buyers.

Children wanting to stroke every horse cant have helped. Nor artists like myself attracted by the mix of colourful characters and horses. You cant stay in the fields every day, a neighbour I met remarked. I didn't see any animals actually being sold but I'm sure afew changed hands, the traders weren't standing about all day for nothing. I certainly didn't buy any but I was persuaded to buy an oldHayes car manual dating back to the seventies and a few tools I might need sometime. The kids settled for coloured arm bands and 'crazy frog' t-shirts before changing tack with 'if we cant get a donkey then what about a horse'. Fortunately my daughter who rides horses was not with us or the combined pleas of all my children may have proved too much. With the amount I'd spent on junk perhaps I should have bought a horse but with my lack of equine expertise compared to the characters round here, they could have off loaded a small 'horse' with very long ears and a cross on its back.