Hey, good lookin'

I took my car to the body shop at 9 am, as agreed, and called my insurance company to arrange the cover for the courtesy car only to find that their computer system was down and I would need to call back an hour later. Grrrrr.

So I returned home in my car and then took the dogs and Son2 (as part of his rehabilitation) to Radford Park for a walk, where we saw this chap. Apparently there is a large feral population of about 7000 Mandarin ducks in Britain now. Now I know he's there I may have to go back and stalk him. Another view of him here.

Armed with the courtesy car details, I rang my insurers from home when we got back and managed to get through and arrange the cover. I then returned to the body shop to find that the fax confirmation hadn't come through. Grrrrr. So I called my insurers to chase it and spent 20 minutes (though it felt longer) on hold listening to some appalling jazz type music. Meanwhile, one of the receptionists managed to get through and discovered that my insurer's computers were down again. Grrrrr. So the body shop have kindly put me on their insurance until things are sorted out and I can now get on with my day.

SON1'S BLIP
SON2'S BLIP