My mum sent me this picture of a very young Christopher Phin gamely riding his (probably brand new) Skatebike. For those sorry souls amongst you who don't know what a Skatebike is, it's basically a three-wheeled unicycle. (I know, I know...) The two font wheels are skateboard wheels (you can see the cunning behind the name now, can't you?), and you lean from side to side to turn. Huge, huge amounts of fun, and I wish I still had mine.

Jenny finds it hilariously indicative of my very slightly left-of-centre upbringing that when the time came for all good primary school children to sit their cycling proficiency test (the first taste of exam pressure in those days), I was unable to, owning only, as I did, a Skatebike. Ho hum. I am therefore one of a very, very small minority of young adults who do not possess the fabled cycling proficiency certificate.