Okay, it's quite warm here. Certainly warmer than the Edinburgh summer, and warm enough to warrant buying some shorts, which I don't think I've worn since I was about 7. I wandered into a surf-type shop to get some trainer socks to go with my sick new shorts, picked some, and took them to the counter. I gave them to the girl with a smile, and she took them, saying "Needing some new socks?".

My eyes boggled only slightly. "Yes." I gave her my credit card.

"Credit?" she said. Eh? YES1. I signed the receipt and came back to base. After proudly prancing around in my new dude-wear, I fished out a pair of eye-wateringly exciting socks to complete the Bill & Ted look, only to find them still security tagged together. I look forward to explaining this at the shop today.

1. okay, this turned out not to be quite so moronic on her part. Apparently in Oz, one card can access savings, credit and cheque accounts. Chalk one up for local culture...