It is quite possible I would buy ice if I were an eskimo, if the kids next door were selling.

It must be school holidays.

Our street has been the epicentre of a cash-making frenzy. A market stall sprung up next door offering "hairdressering", and my door bell has been rung numerous times a day by short salesmen offering to walk my dog or wash my car. The light posts are plastered with texta-drawn signs advertising "shops" with opening hours between 4.30pm and 5pm daily, and I was accosted on my driveway by my three young neighbors trying to sell me a hat.

I did actually buy a hat. The offer was one for 20c, or two for a dollar.... I just picked one. Obviously. If I find myself in need of another, I will wait until tomorrow, lest they try to convince me it is the second hat in a two-hat deal.

Here is a photo of the aforementioned hat. Not following any sporting team in particular, and not particularly interested in their kind offer of a "GO TEEM" hat for a fence sitter like myself, I chose a Bulldogs hat in celebration of Panzer Pansy. (One week to go until she arrives!) I wonder if the Bulldogs merchandising department know that they have been undercut?

I am very happy to encourage budding entrepreneurship, but this time round I'm sticking to buying goods, not services.

I've learnt my lesson.

Last holidays I did actually agree to a car wash, but when they took to the paintwork with a green kitchen scourer (!) the damage done ended up being far more expensive than the $1 car wash price.

All this money-making reminds me of a rather unsuccessful dinosaur museum I opened as a child, with the only exhibit being a dinosaur made of cardboard tubes and tissue paper.

Did you get up to anything to make cash as a kid? There's a week of holidays left, I'm sure the mob knocking down my door would appreciate some new ideas.