Back around the time I went to Romania, I had £100 on my credit card statement that wasn't mine. When I got back I filled in some forms, and for the statements I got in June and July I didn't pay that £100.

They did say originally that when I got back I should get my card stopped, but I had a dead phone line to deal with, so couldn't ring them anyway, and since it looked like a one-off, I didn't bother with it. I've only just learnt the number (although the number on the back still eludes me).

In my weekly post I got a credit card bill, on which they charged me interest, even though they promised they wouldn't. So I rung them up, explained this to a lackey and got put through to the fraud department. I explained it to them and they put me through to the fraud aftercare department. The woman there told me that nothing had been done with my dispute because I hadn't blocked the card. Which was nice of them to tell me.

After asking her the question three times, I established that I don't need to pay the interest. I then had to ring another number, which after pressing various buttons got me back to the same department I rang originally. At this point I couldn't be bothered with going through the whole thing again and just told them to block it, which they did without asking any questions (apart from the same security questions the fraud aftercare person had asked me).

In theory a new card will turn up in 4-5 days. But with the constant postal strikes in Oxford and the national strikes, I reckon it'll be a good two weeks. So I am currently credit card less, which is good in a way, but I was thinking of buying myself some prescription goggles (any recommendations of where to get them from?) and booking myself in a hostel in Cardiff for my cheap long weekend away at the end of September, that will also feature some Rotaract stuff.

Interestingly, the fraud aftercare woman was really, annoyingly polite. She asked me if I minded her asking me some security questions. Now I wonder what she would have done if I'd said yes?