I've been very remiss in not writing in here. And I should this week because I have nothing on. At all. Except for going swimming, probably on Wednesday, with my new prescription goggles, which is quite exciting.

Today I took my car for my first MOT & service. I've heard all sorts of horror stories of the amounts people have paid so I was expecting something horrid. When I went to pay, since the garage shuts before work finishes, my boss said he thought I'd be lucky if it was less than £200. It was £186. So far less than I was expecting, which is good. I haven't completely killed it in the year I've had it!

Yesterday I went to Birmingham to meet someone I know through The Bill fandom. I've only been to Birmingham a couple of times since they built the Bullring and it's completely confused me. We did walk all over the place, some of it in the rain. We found Forbidden Planet and where Toys R Us used to be and where the Lego shop used to be. The latter was particularly disappointing.

We did go to the BBC shop and studios, which was unexpectedly cool. They had some Shaun the Sheep stuff, which I didn't need. Upstairs you can see where they record The Archers and where people sit in the newsroom behind where they broadcast. They fit an amazing number of people into a small space by judicious use of flat screen monitors and tiny desks.

In the Bullring a thing was set up with trampolines that people could go on attached to bungee ropes. The trampolines weren't really for bouncing on, it was the ropes attached to them either side that made them bounce as high as the next floor. Later on, some girls were doing somersaults on them, which was quite cool. I feel sure that that sort of thing would have made me throw up.

I was quite impressed that I got a seat both ways - it doesn't seem to have occurred to Virgin trains that people might actually want to get on them. Well, no, that's not true. It's that people want to go in that direction and they're the only train company that do. They do tend to be on time more often these days, but instead they have fewer trains going to fewer places and with fewer carriages. On balance, I'm not sure that's a win.

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