Before going to the Blair Horse trials, I had attempted to ask for a loan on the ZOPA site. They're quite a modern money-lending and investing website, where people can invest in other people asking for loans. For ultimate transparency, my idea was to create a so-called 'listing'. In a similar way to posting an item for sale on Ebay, the idea is to write an article on what you need money for and at what rates you're looking to buy. Unfortunately, my listing wouldn't post. On the return from Blair, fortunately it did - last week Monday night I published the listing. It'd be up there for a week exactly, ending on a Monday evening so plenty of lenders on ZOPA would have time to decide.

Today, at 18:39 pm, I got the good news: the listing was ended successfully. I got the bike loan, and at a better rate than I had asked for at that! It's been a while since I've had anything to write home about.. But I'm so excited now I nearly fainted.