Err… so I didn’t ride my bike back from Béziers to York. I had a twinge in a knee after some local rides around Carcassonne. A knee injury had kept me off the bike for the first four months of this year and I thought discretion was the better part of valour. When I got back home and did some cycling I concluded that the cartilage was probably alright and the problem was elsewhere and less serious. However I had to make a decision in France and I don’t regret the decision. The scenario I dreaded was being a long way from a connection to an airport with no bike box and needing to abandon.

Leaving France had other conflict. Our Chinese car had a flimsy rear parcel shelf that I detached when we collected it and I never put back into place as I carried a large box or luggage in the rear compartment and there was no need to restore it. On handing back the car to Alamo I subsequently got an email telling me that they were going to debit €1,500 for the ‘broken’ tray/shelf. They would then find how much the replacement costs and return the balance! Given that I’d not broken it and that I’d barely touched it I was a little vexed. My error was not putting the back seats back up and placing the shelf back into place. Obviously the tray must have been damaged, in a minor way, by a previous driver.

So I called up the airport car rental office from York the next day and had a conversation with the chap ‘on the desk’. I dreaded trying to have a conversation as this was quite a technical conversation and English wasn’t their first language. My contact was a nice chap and although the language barrier didn’t help I managed to explain the facts. The upshot was that a day or two later they emailed advising they’d drop the claim. Phew, Tony était un garçon heureux.

So back in Blighty there wasn’t a convincing excuse to not continue with a project alloacted earlier in the year by Anna of reorganising my office with all its LPs and CDs. I scouted about the internet to see what furniture was out there and then worked out what I needed. My Swedish friends, IKEA,  came up trumps and several hours were spent indulging in the joy of flat pack furniture construction but I’m pleased with the results.

Listening to The Ashes cricket on TV or the radio has been enthralling. It’s been an exciting series with England always pressing and, frankly, providing all the excitement whilst the Aussies appeared to hang on and tough it out. Clearly the first two Tests were decisive for the Aussies and the result and overall they won the Ashes but drawing the series was the very least the English enterprise deserved.

Something that has to be done but makes my heart sink is renegotiating my Sky subscription. The charges rise during the contract and Sky offer new lower deals in the interim and if you don’t go ‘through the treacle’ of haggling then you can end up paying nothing like the market price. Independent surveys confirm that you have an 84% chance of Sky reducing the cost by picking up the phone. A few months ago I took exception to a Sky monthly broadband charge of £35.50/month. This they wouldn’t properly reduce and so I moved it to PlusNet for £22.99/month. So I girded my loins to discuss my TV subscription currently at £78/month (including Sports, Ultra HD and Netflix.)

After 30 minutes on the phone it was reduced to £67/month with a £20 ‘admin charge’ for 18 months going forward. I mentioned I’d seen the package at £46/month on the internet. (In fairness it wasn’t like for like but it was close.) I was advised this wasn’t Sky Q through a satellite dish ie. my arrangement but through streaming on the internet and was another department. “Transfer me to this department please…” Mark after another long wait came through and costed it on Sky Stream and said my like for like package would cost £70/month with a £39.99 ‘admin charge’. “OK Mark transfer me back, I’ll take the £67/month”. “Oh, I can’t transfer you back but I can make that change for you”. So I could hear tapping and he came back and said “In fact I can do it for £57/month.” “Seems good but is it on Sky Stream?” “No, it’s on Sky Q”. I thought what’s not to like? So he proceeded to implement this change and then came back and said “I’ve seen a deal on Sky Sports and can knock another £2 off to make that £55/month and no ‘admin charges’”.

Frankly after over 57 minutes on the line I was delighted but it’s an arrangement that favours those who have the energy and tenacity to go through all this faff and palava. Those who probably can’t afford it are still paying a higher monthly charge.

When I was working as a tour guide in the south west in June I came across ‘Just Stop Oil’ protesters blocking a road in Bradford-on-Avon. It was lunchtime and they caused a traffic jam, which was a pain to innocent folk trying to go about their business. Protesting is legal but laws get changed in Parliament; so contact your MP. Stopping people going about their everyday business including getting to hospital, providing care or the difficult business of making a living in a world where moving around is vital is unacceptable to me. More to my taste is the other tee shirt.

I was sad to see the death of Sinéad O’Connor. Nearly all the obituaries of the media concentrated exclusively on her crusading and fragility. She was indeed an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church and various other conservative Irish attitudes and laws. However, the reason we’re talking about her was because she was an exceptionally unique talent. I have 10 of her albums and whilst knowing of her ‘wild child’ persona the reason I and others elevated her to icon was not because of her politics or convictions but because of her outstanding catalogue.

For the record it’s nice to record a family photo taken in The People’s Republic of Reddish of the family on a recent visit by my niece, Victoria, and great nephew, Henry, from Savannah, GA.