'Where We're Going, We Don't Need Roads'

With no cycling, F1 or Champions League football in the last seven days my focus this week has been on the London Stock Exchange.

No, really.

Every month for the past 3 years I've been investing a small sum of money from my wages into my employer's share scheme.

The scheme matures today (1st February) and I will either get all of my investment back plus interest or, and this is what I'm hoping for, I can sell my shares for a tidy profit.

At Christmas the shares were dong very nicely and I worked out I was in line for a £750 profit and, in my mind at least, I've already spent that money:

1. an HD television - although I still think it's a case of the 'emperors new clothes'
2. a shed - I'm at an age where I need a shed
3. a bike - I've wanted a bike for a long time and now (see 2) I'll have a shed to keep it in
4. a tattoo

A week ago the shares fell to the point where it was looking like I would make a £550 profit - or, more to the point, I had lost £200.

By the end of the week my loss was £250 as the value of my shares fell once again.

This morning as the shares opened my investment took another hit and in the space of a month I have lost £300 and they haven't been sold yet.

Do you remember the scenes in Back to the Future where Marty is holding a photo of his family and, as time passes, they slowly fade? That's how I've felt.

My picture of 1. a tv; 2. a shed; 3. a bike; and 4. a tattoo, is slowly fading.

I've long since waved goodbye to the tattoo and I said to myself that I'd be satisfied with just the tv, shed and bike.

Towards the middle of last week the bike started to fade to the point that on Friday evening all I had left of it was the front wheel and the pump - this morning even those have gone and the shed is looking vulnerable.

I'm now telling myself that if I really must I'll consolidate my losses and 'settle' for 'just' the tv.

And as much as I remind myself that I haven't actually lost anything, that it's effectively like being given a new 32inch wide screen high-definition television for free, it doesn't feel like it.

That's the last time I plan.