I’ve got a lot of admin to be done in the next week or two and I have made a start on it. This may not sound impressive. It isn’t impressive. I’m taking it as an achievement as it’s better than I’ve managed for a while. Next, I have to sort out various insurances, mainly the cars and holiday insurance – I usually have an annual policy, but last year’s was worldwide, which I don’t need at present. And I got free breakdown cover last year for the electric car, which runs out soon, so I’ll have to add that. This means phone calls, which I’m not fond of making.
I’ve bought an electric bike. I’ve been meaning to do that for a while too. I went over to the next small town and saw a helpful chap called Mike, explaining that I needed to be guided through the process and saying what I did and didn’t need – this is mainly that I need to have something sturdy enough to do all my shopping with. So I’ll have nice big panniers and a front basket, as well as a new lock, approved by insurance companies. I will insure it.
As I have all these insurances coming up, as well as Council Tax, Water Rates and so on, I transferred money from a savings account and promptly forgot about it. “Who on earth is paying me £3,000?” I wondered, when I got the notification and it took me some time to realise it was me.
Could I recommend AutoAid breakdown cover? Not as cheap as it used to be, but cheaper than others (unless you get a very special deal, but that won’t be repeated the next year): https://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk/
Although… as you are looking for travel insurance as well as breakdown, it might be worth your while considering a FlexPlus Account with Nationwide, which for a monthly sum (£13) gives you all this, and also mobile phone insurance. You don’t need to do anything other than have the account, or to use it for any otehr purposes than this. Also, you neveer need to remember to renew them all as it just carries on!
https://www.nationwide.co.uk/current-accounts/flexplus/
thanks, BW, I’ll look into those.
I hope this electric bike is good for you, and I’d like to hear from you how it works in practice. I am toying with the idea of buying one for myself, but can not come to a conclusion. My “normal” bike needs to see a repair shop for an overhaul / refit. I miss using it.
I sometimes need a bit of “Anlauf”, warm up, before I can make phone calls. Usually I reach operating temperature after a few minutes.
It was the enthusiastic recommendation from Sir Bruin and the Small Bear that convinced me, as well as that of Tim’s brother and sister-in-law. In truth, I’ve been meaning to get back on my bike but I’m somewhat out of condition and lazy too, so I need some encouragement. It’s a long time since i biked everywhere and I need to get going again before I’m too old to start.
The phone calls are never as bad as I think they’re going to be, but that doesn’t help next time.