Monday 16th February 09

A swift start to the day, as had to take my bike into Cycle Heaven for an overhaul and then get to the station for soon after 10.

My bike needed coaxing down to town... no acceleration at all... a real problem! But I did slowly get to the shop and showed them the problem. The front cog teeth were worn down into spikes, meaning a new cog and chain were necessary. I had noticed a loose spoke.. on closer inspection, it was obvious that it had pulled free of the wheel hub, which had broken... How DO I do it? However, the hub is under warranty and they'll send it back to the manufacturers who will (probably and hopefully) decide to replace it. So I left it there in good hands and walked up to the station.

I got the 10.26 to Middlesbrough, and at 11.30, met Andy from the BBC, who is doing the Inside Out segment on an experiment to see if someone could live on £1 a day for a week. The subject of the experiment is John Foster who is a radio presenter on BBC Tees, and I met him next, the meeting being filmed by the same cameraman who did the Yorkshire Inside Out piece in 2007. We then headed to a Thomas the Baker shop which does the reduced price bread, known as Yesterbake, where we did some filming, and then onto a veg shop where John was unable to get any cheap veg, so no filming there. Onto a park where I was lucky enough to find some edible mushrooms and John and I did an interview about the connections between his experiment and low carbon living.

Then John went home (on his bike... actually a borrowed bike as he hasn't got one!) and I went with the two Inside Out chaps to a noodle bar for a late lunch.

I got the 3.50 train back to York... I slept on the train, headache throbbing, very tired.

Collected my bike from Cycle Heaven and cycled home... lovely to have such a responsive bike again!

I went straight to bed as I felt very tired and unwell. Slept til after 8 and came down to spend some time with the family but I don't think I was much company. Headache all evening. Didn't eat as felt sick. Dosed up on painkillers, which didn't work.

Good to see Justin Rowlatt back doing Ethical Man on Newsnight... he's off to the US to 'save the world' apparently! Good luck to him!