Here in the UK, or more specifically in the city in which I live, we have what is called a Balloon Fiesta. That is, or was, an occasion where lots of balloons gather and are flown often in an attempt to advertise the company that owns or funds the balloon in question. It can be quite interesting seeing some of the shapes that appear. This year I noticed one in the shape of a fire extinguisher, and last year there was one shaped like a house. You get some strange balloons around.

Of course, now that people have realised this is an occasion where lots of money could be made it has become more of a large, corperate fair which charges extortionate prices for the simplest of things and hardly lets you move without encounterting an easy opportunity to lose all your money on something. True, some of the attractions are quite good. The Waltzers and Dodgems are always fun (although dodgems are nowhere near as good as they used to be) and some of the food is alright I suppose, but it's still waaaaay too expensive. I was quite surprised, perhaps unrightly so, to find a 'cash van' in the area. This is a cashpoint on a van which charges £2.75 for every transaction. Sadly I had to make use of this.

The space allocated for balloons must be only a third of that given for everything else, probably a lot less. For something with 'balloon' in the title there was a noticeable lack of them. I remember going when I was much younger and seeing balloons everywhere. You could go up and talk to the crews and everything. I remember being terrified by a balloon wandering around shaped like a green dragon.

Despite all that, it still manages to be fun. I guess it helped that I was with friends, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Yes I may have spent too much money, but it didn't seem to matter at the time. There was even a tent up for EA where we got to try out the Spore Creature Creator. My friend made a dinosaur-like creature with two heads, a mace on its tail and four arms. It was awesome!

There was also an XBox 360 simulator and a Nintendo tent advertising Wii Fit. I gave both of them a miss. The Playstation 3 was absent for some reason. Not that I care about the PS3. I think it's better they weren't trying to inflict it on the poor people there, to be honest.

Thursday, the day I went, was the first day of the Fiesta. There's a good reason to go that day, as they have something called the 'night glow'. This is lots of balloons being inflated and 'lit' intermittently to music. As the name may suggest, this happens when it's dark. It looks great! I seem to remember it being better last year, however. I dunno. Nevermind that, it still looked awesome!

The whole event was a lot of fun and I look forward to going again next year! I did bump into a couple of other friends there who mentioned the possibility of arranging a trip with people from school today, but given it's 4:40 in the afternoon already I don't see that happening. Not sure I'd go either, as it's not cheap. Sure I may have managed to get my friend to pay me the £80 he's owed me for months yesterday, but I'm also trying to save up for a laptop which, if you're as fussy about specs as I am, do not come cheap.

On a final note, party rings taste goooood.