I accidentally in your base

When I notified my car insurance company of my new address, they nicely doubled my insurance premiums. Given that my insurance was around £1200 a year already, this was particularly painful.

A quick phone-around yesterday turned up a number of better quotes, and I've taken the second-cheapest as I'm familiar with the company and know they have a good reputation for insuring modified cars. In fact, they're going to insure me cheaper with some engine modifications I have planned than NU would without them (NU actually refused to insure me at all with the engine mods, which is why they haven't been done already).

So... Norwich Union, £2374.50, with £650 excess. Adrian Flux, £839.00, with £200 excess. Not a bad saving for a few hours of making phone calls - shame I don't work 3-day weeks every week, I could actually catch up on all my hideously overdue personal admin stuff.

On which note, I'm off to the Co-op bank next, to get some documents witnessed so I can move my current account to Smile. Abbey have pissed me off one time too many this year. Well, more like a dozen times too many, come to think of it.

Oh, in other news, flying last night was excellent fun - I swooped around a lot on my front, and continued the slow process of being more in control of my backflying. Helen did even better, having one of those sessions where all the flailing half-control of previous sessions suddenly clicks in your muscle memory and you leap forward in skill and control. We came out full of adrenaline and endorphins and popped into a nearby Wetherspoons to fuel our well-exercised bodies with MEAT (and stuff). Unfortunately the food coma and the adrenaline comedown all happened at the same time, on the train home, so that was less fun. On the bright side, I didn't have to get up this morning. Yay for four-day weekends :)

The Good

Last night, libellum and I went to Belgo Noord, a Belgian eating/drinking place in Camden (just south of Chalk Farm tube station). ZOMG. You must go. For the odd person like me who isn't too interested in beer, they have fantastic food - we had mussels, steak, lobster, and pheasant, accompanied by chips (with frite sauce, nyom) and garlic mushrooms. There wasn't a single thing on that list that they didn't cook to perfection. For the rest of you, they have a list of beers that borders on terrifying - especially once you start looking at the percentage of alcohol in them. If that's not enough, the prices are fairly reasonable, and the service is incredibly good. Extremely recommended.

The Bad

This morning I tried to pay for £18 of groceries on my debit card, only to find that it was rejected for 'insufficient funds'. This was quite unexpected, so I phoned up Abbey and asked for a run-down of transactions since payday. It turns out my card has been cloned. Again. By the same people, or at least, they've spent money on all the same websites and phone top-ups as last time. Fuckers.

I've been quite careful about where I use the debit card since last time this happened, and particularly in my area as I know it was cloned by someone around here last time. This means that I'm almost positive that it's the shop straight across from my flat, which is really disappointing because they seem like nice guys.

The Ugly

Just got back from the gym. I am very unfit. Oog.