A porcupine plays the piano, we give the tips for Saturdays TV racing and we have an interview with a great photographer.

With the Hovis brand being swallowed up this week, I’m overcome with northern nostalgia. Who can forget that proper little nipper, off down’t hill on his delivery bike, legs akimbo, wi' a basket full o' loaves on t' front in’t basket. Off to t' shops, no doubt, and all to the sound of Colliery band, and then straight back 'ome for his breakfast; fresh Hovis smothered in dripping. Proper tasty, that. Them were t' days, eh? Well according to Ridley Scott in 1973 they were.

There’s decent racing today, with titles that remind us that we are about to turn the corner on Summer. There may well be some old Berkshire saying that tells us so. “On Hungerford Day, Frosts aren’t far away”. In Hovishire up North, I’m sure it is often said in the Dales, “When St Wilfred rides; it’ll snow on’t hillsides.”

That, and the endless emailed advertising fodder about football, tells me that bloody winter comes. Do I want a bet on the top goalscorer in the Midlothian League? Who will have the most number of yellow cards? Relentless. My plan to clean up football and the ethos that it is OK to cheat, would simply be at the end of the season, to ban the player with the highest number of Red Cards in each division for life. We could bet on it perhaps…

Did I mention we made another profit last week!

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Talking of winter, some of you may well be thinking of slipping a pair of swimming trunks, or the old leopard skin mankini, into the carry-on, and heading off to the Indian Ocean, especially Sri Lanka, India and Mauritius. Just be aware that Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne infection, has broken out and cases are now appearing in the UK among travellers to those parts. It is a bugger, with symptoms including a sudden onset of fever, usually accompanied by joint pain. Most people recover fully within 1 to 2 weeks, but in some the joint pain can persist for months or even years. There are only two approved vaccines, and they are available to buy – following an assessment by a healthcare professional – privately from travel clinics.

• IXCHIQ® is available for individuals aged 18 to 59 years old

• Vimkunya® is available for individuals 12 years and older

I can do no more. I might also add, although it is beginning to sound like a Public Health announcement, that if you are popping over to see your dealer in the South Americas, Oropouche virus (OROV) from midge bites is also on the increase. Do not panic. On the upside, Dengue Fever cases in the UK are down so far this year!

The Racing Post doesn’t give you that sort of info now, does it?

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As some of you might know,