Abingdon

What a busy day! I managed the tiniest of lie-ins before taking the tube to Tottenham Hale station, where I absentmindedly tapped my debit card upon entering the overground station, which may well prove to be a hugely expensive mistake. Transport for London have made a big deal out of encouraging us to use debit cards instead of Oyster Cards, but when errors are made, it's much more difficult to get refunds. The man at the station said I needed to call TfL and my bank, but when I phoned TfL, I was told that nothing could be done until 24 hours after the incident. Yawn.

I was at Tottenham Hale on my way to Bishop's Stortford, where I was meeting my brother who took me to Thaxted where, after a sandwich, a piece of cake, two cups of tea and a two-hour sit-down, I borrowed the parents' car, and drove 100 miles through sheeting rain and traffic jams to Abingdon in Oxfordshire where I was helping out on a quiz.

That just about sums my day up. The quiz was at Abingdon School and went very well. My friend Claire was there. She was one of the producers on our wedding. Her team came second by one point. They were leading all the way through, then utterly tanked the sports round!

I'd never been to Abingdon before. I had no concept of the place. For the longest time, I didn't know if it was Abingdon or Abington. Then I realised Abington was in Northampton!

The drive home was lonely and long and seemed to involve driving through a never-ending rain storm. They say another gale is on its way. What will this one be called? I guess, after Doris, it needs to start with an E. Emma? Esmeralda? Estelle? Ermentrude? Time for bed.