Amelie's found her sticker! Apparently Chloe was sitting on it. Which might explain all the fluff stuck to the other side. Frankly, even I haven't got such a hairy back. But either way, it was in Am's bedroom all along, hidden amongst Chloe's furry nethers, from where Amelie bravely retrieved it this morning. I scanned it for posterity, gave it back to her, and she stuck it on her top. Whereupon it fell off, and she lost it again.

But on the subject of NHS acts of bravery, I passed a Unite demonstration outside the hospital yesterday lunchtime. They handed me a leaflet entitled 'Support NHS Workers Defending NHS Pensions', so I smiled and said that I would. Their slogan was 'Pay More, Get Less, Work Longer', which describes my life with Amelie, so I have a lot of sympathy for their cause.

As it transpired, however, I need a lot more than a street corner demonstration to defend my pension. I need a bomb-proof safe and an armed security guard with a rabid dog. I returned to work after lunch to find a letter waiting for me from the Salary & Wages Department. Apparently they've done "an audit of the pension bands" (which involves listening to The Rolling Stones and Bowie), which has revealed an almighty cock-up on their part. It seems that since June of last year, they've had me on the wrong pension band, which has resulted in me underpaying them by almost two hundred quid.

Naturally, as the mistake was entirely theirs, and I'm in no way to blame for the error, they're demanding every penny back. So for the next nine months, I have to repay £21.18 a month. Plus the £21.18 I should have been paying since June. Meaning that I'll be forty-two quid worse off than I thought I was. It's a case of pay more, get less and work longer. I feel like picking up a placard immediately.