WE'RE such a friendly bunch in Lancashire ...well most of the time anyway.

Last week at Pleasington I was truly honoured to have got a helping hand from Eric the referee because I had no idea how to put the new nets up...and that's from a man who never gives you anything on a football pitch.

But being polite and well mannered has its limits.

Okay, I agree that we should be as helpful as we can to fellow human beings, and animals for that matter, but the thing that I have found annoys almost everyone is being taken for a ride.

The other day I was standing in a queue at a supermarket.

It was long queue, one of those where the senior citizen at the front delves deep into her purse and counts her pennies to pay for her can of beans. It's not her fault I suppose, it's all she could afford on a state pension.

And to my surprise a woman in her mid-20s pushed all the way to the front.

But the guy in front of me didn't seem to care. In fact he was overjoyed at the fact and seemed quite flattered she'd picked his checkout.

Do you know why he didn't care? Because this woman was good-looking.

As if that gives you the right to push to the front. If you have a pretty face just pick the queue where some idiot thinks you'll give him your number afterwards.

Now I'm as courteous as the next man, but the most annoying thing in the world is some woman who uses her good looks to make you do it her way. What about the principle of the matter? If there's a queue, stay in your place.

Everyone has things to do and places to go but most of us manage to stick it out.

Try it...go on...I dare you. Next time you see me standing in a queue somewhere, try pushing in front of me and flashing me your pearly whites. See what happens.

And it's not just in the supermarkets where we're getting hoodwinked. It's happening every day on the roads too.

Too many times I have had to wait behind some chap who thinks the woman with the flowing dress is worth letting out of a side street because she's all that.

It's not fair. If she gets that treatment so should we - those of us who wait patiently at every junction for an opening that never comes.