This morning I was up ...

... dressed, in St Eloy, done all my shopping and back home before I've usually crawled out of bed on a Saturday. LIDL was having a special offer today - car radio CD players with SD card fittings, similar to the one I bought ages ago and which I fitted to Caliburn, but also with Bluetooth mobile phone connection.

Using a mobile phone in the van is almost impossible so a Bluetooth connection has to be really good. The oyster that I use isn't up to it, unfortunately, so I'm keen to see how this works. And in any case I've been after a 12-volt CD player for the house for ages and 've not seen a good one, so 'll simply use the one out of Caliburn and fit it in a box.

So that was the reason I was up and out of bed at 07:50. These radios sell out quickly and I wanted to be there at opening time and luckily there were still a couple left. So what with this and the Ryobi stuff I bought in the States that's my Christmas presents to myself all sorted out.

But the drive down to St Eloy was ... errrr ... difficult in -4.4 degrees and a heavy snowfall. we are having an impossible November, aren't we? And although the day improved a little and we even had a little sun, it's still flaming cold and not likely to improve. I spent almost all of the day up here with the fire on, watching a couple of films and sorting some papers. And it seems that I spent much less than I thought in North America - what with the Canadian dollar being at about $1:39 to €1. That's a nice surprise.

And I had the final bill from Avis Car Rentals about the excess mileage - I have to pay them the sum of $0:00 within the next 14 days. And laugh as you might, I did know someone in Crewe in the UK who received a bill from the Electricity Board for £0:00 in the 1970s. He ignored it, and then 14 days later he had a reminder. He ignored that too, and a couple of weeks later he received one of the famous "red letters" saying that if he didn't pay the sum of £0:00 within the next 7 days they would disconnect his supply. He sent them a cheque for £0:00 and heard no more about it.

Perhaps I ought to do the same.