A new hat.

Grinding my teeth.

I have not sent many really shirty letters in my life even through 2 divorces, but I have today.
I'm in the process of taking my private pension and I understand annuities and the open market.
I asked for about 6 quotes and had a flurry of emails and offers from open market providers. The pressure they put you under is quite high because the commission they make is high.
I went with a company I knew the name of and trusted so went ahead with the release notice. They are now making me an offer less than the original quote. I know the market moves from week to week and the quote was based on a round figure and the pot is not an exact round figure, but the new quote has come in quite a bit different. Hence a very angry letter, Email, which is recorded on file.
No swearing mind, just polite reason.
I'm thinking that a fatter commission has been offered for the lower quote. On the bottom of the letter I put 'Copies to.............' and put my accountant and solicitor.

Olympic torch.

The Olympic torch comes to Tyneside today, It's persisting down. ? what to do, cold on the Quayside or at home with a bottle of wine and England v Sweden on the TV.

The push bike.

I was flying along the road to the dentist on Wednesday, head down pumping away when all of a sudden the back wheel started going all over the place. It was tight for time so I went down a side street and locked the bike to some railings. As I hurried down the road I got on the phone to Mick, he had the van. Luckily he was only about a mile away and just finishing a job, so he went round and picked the bike up and took to my house.
The lock was one of those crappy combination locks so he did not need a key.
It's not a bad area, but by chance I had done a job on that street a few years earlier for a bloke that had been jailed for armed robbery, yes I do know some strange people.
Anyway I wanted the bike safe, it's expensive bike.

Singing.

I'm singing on Sunday and have been asked to do 'With a little help from my friends' Joe Cocker style, Kevin is doing the guitar and backing and I'm doing lead and mandolin. It's doing my head in, it takes a lot of effort to get a song right. I may chicken out.

The new hat, and the beard (16 days old).

This is the new hat, it's better in real life. I love it.
Also I have regular beards and never keep it more than 3 weeks. They are very uncomfortable and grey, but I get tired of shaving, I could take hormones.
The wall is not that orange, the camera changes things, that's why I hate taking pictures of my drawings.