On yer bike

I'm very pleased that I've managed to cycle to work every day this week. The weather has been pretty good (although it can be a bit chilly in the mornings) and now Hannah's at secondary school there's no need to ferry anyone to school in the car, so I've been taking advantage of it.

Even today, when the cold that's been hovering around me for the last couple of days descended in earnest.

Remember the Sinclair C5? I saw one of those heading the other way one morning this week. Now that's a blast from the past.

Useless shops

It's not just markets that are useless. Shops are going the same way.

The local supermarket has gone steadily down hill over the last few years. (It's only a few minutes walk, so is the obvious choice for most of our shopping.) There are two obvious things that have happened:

• The choice has shrunk dramatically
• Many of our favourites can no longer be found

Suppliers don't help out. The 'new improved' recipes they offer taste simply awful. They can't resist destroying a winning formula.

The same is true on the High Street. I decided to go into Cambridge after my Birthday to go round the shops and treat myself - and came home empty handed. The choice was dismal, and the couple of nice items of clothing I found weren't available in my size.

There are all these worries about the economy going into recession, but stores aren't helping themselves by not selling goods consumers want and not having stocks of what they do.