Sometimes you're the mouser, sometimes you're...

.... the mouse.

Yesterday I was the mouser.

Insurance cheque for my nicked bike came in over the weekend, together with a mystery extra cheque. I queried it, being the honest chap that I am, and after 15 minutes of explaining how it didn't make sense, and 5 minutes of being on hold while the girl on the end of the line phoned around, I was told in no uncertain terms that it was correct and I should just cash the cheques.

Then popped those in and asked how long they would take to clear, was told Friday, which seemed a bit long, but lo and behold that afternoon I checked online and my account had them showing already.

Then I found out that the company who makes the frame I was replacing, which I found out last week was discontinuing the frame and who I had contacted asking if they could put one aside for me, but who hadn't confirmed, then said on their website over the weekend that the frame was discontinued and no longer orderable, had put the very very last frame they had aside for me.

THEN I get an email from the editor/owner of the Ride Journal (which has once before printed an article I wrote on Cycle Speedway, together with a few of my photos) saying that a piece I'd sent last minute on the bike thefts had made the cut for the next issue.

So yeah. Good day.

Fast forward to today, and it's still going swimmingly. Order a few of the parts for the bike now the cheques are in; find out from a lab down south that I do indeed have indications of food intolerances in my blood and did I want to go ahead with the full test to see just what and how bad (this is a good thing, it's expensive, but I'll know exactly what it is that ails me and can adjust accordingly, and the majority of people can actually go back to what was causing the intolerance at a later date if they do it correctly); start ordering a few more of the parts, taking advantage of an online discount that means I can save some of the insurance money, and....

Card declined. I call up, seems it's a random security check. Half an hour later I'm off the phone and yes, my first order goes through. Then. Card declined. I call again, and it appears that my account is showing £0 available. Which is odd as I look at my account online and can quite clearly see a nice sum in the black.

And then it dawns on me. Those cheques. They're showing in my account balance; they're not forming part of the available balance... What a frankly crap system that is... Thankfully I'm paid tomorrow, so I can take advantage of the online order discounts (which run out tomorrow) and have the money from the cheques make its way into my account later in the week. But quite simply Grrrr!

Or Miaow.

Or squeak.

Or some bloody animal sound, you know what I mean (speaking of which, yesterday was the first time I'd ever seen/heard What's the Fox Say - what a bizarre, and strangely hypnotic, video, not to mention song).