So today I pop round to a local mobile phone shop and say I'd like him to flash the memory. Well, that's what I said when I got a word in edgeways, between him answering the phone to someone else, trying to get the bloke out the back to talk to the person on the phone, the word 'fuck' being used (in my line of 'business' we don't use that in front of the customers. Mainly because the customers are retired vicars in the main.), and so on. Anyway, he says it'll cost £20 to get it flashed and that it needed an version upgrade anyway (which it wouldn't if it were working, because I'd have done it myself). Then two minutes later he says it'll cost £25. When I press him on this he says he doesn't know, and maybe it'll cost £15, maybe £25, and prevaricates. Except that he writes £25 on the tag on the phone.

I don't pursue it any further, because it's not getting anywhere, and my inner voice is shouting 'would you be this contemptuous of a white person' so loud that despite the fact that I would, I just don't press the point any more. The whole issue of who'd set up an independent mobile phone retailer except for a hyperactive low concentration 'look, shiny' status obsessed kind of person means that there's no chance of finding somewhere where I can drop it off and say, "look, I know it may or may not work, but could you try flashing the memory for me, and if that doesn't hold then fine" and "I know it only takes ten minutes to plug into your machine and flash it, but I'm fine to pay the going rate for it", so they don't feel the need to add eggs and milk, but it's not possible.

And, I suspect, because people like me want to get the best from their gadgetary indulgences, not profitable. Maybe if I lived on a quiet village green somewhere, then there'd be a friendly and intellectually able shop somewhere I could go to. And the local computer people are friendly and able to sell me what I want and talk about stuff and what performs and realise that people don't need bling all the time, especially if bling is noisy.

And for the third status-soaked consumer good in my life, the car, I do have a knowledgeable enthusiast who can talk about stuff, and being an erstwhile 2CV racer, can't be called status obsessed. Stupid manufacturer's stopped treating you like knowledgeable and able consumers, though. No more downloadable parts diagrams unless you pay €1000 a year. Still, I didn't need them to fix the front door lock in the end, so now I can unlock from the right side again. The right side being the driver's side, and the right side for the driver's side, of course.

Title in USian units: Virtual no-wipers. Excellent. I'm really pleased about this, and can't quite tell why. Except maybe I've been undereating a bit so the semi-colon's a bit less overtaxed.

Cycling: I got my mountain bike out of the loft where I'd been storing it on the assumption that impromptu rides in winter weren't that likely, and that I probably wouldn't be partaking of any night riding on the way back from work. Such assumptions are self-fulfilling, of course. But it meant that on Sunday evening I went out for a nice half hour pootle that was, at points, pretty exhilarating. The stuff between the motorway and the railway in the map is great fun, and pretty scenic, being the settling ponds for the motorway drainage, and popular with herons, as well as having a rugged bumpy path. Map at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1018818 . Anyway, apart from the rear shock being flat, my bike's in great fettle, and still as much fun as you'd expect a 12kg dual suspension bike to be. I'm off out on it in a bit, unless I decide to use my other bike and buy food while I'm out.

And yeah, I'll leave my diarising there. I was going to put this in the hole, but I guess I don't need to now I've censored myself, out of boredom. Post this: