In 1860, in the US, it took months for a letter to be delivered from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast. It could happen in less time, but nobody was really sure if the stagecoach was able to make the journey in Winter.

Apart from that, stagecoaches couldn't outrun Sioux Indians on horseback. What they would do to defend themselves was to have somebody travelling beside the driver, and the guy would have a shotgun to, em, deter Indian attack. This where the phrase "riding shotgun" came from.

A guy called Benjamin Franklin Ficklin had a slightly different idea. What if, he reckoned, what if it were possible to run from the East to the West coast all year round? What if it were possible to run horses at full gallop, instead of stagecoaches?

He had this idea of relay stations - every 10 miles along the route - where riders could change horses. Instead of making it big, make it big from lots of small parts. This meant that the rider would always be riding a horse at full gallop. He would carry a mail sack, a revolver, and water - nothing else. The horses would be small - about 14 hands high - no bigger than ponies. The Pony Express was born.

There is controversy about who was actually the first Pony Express rider. What is not in doubt, is that on April 14 1860 - less than 11 days after leaving St. Joseph Missouri, the first Pony Express arrived in San Francisco.

This approach to bizz-ness - doing something that has never been done before, but doing it in an uncomplicated way involving making it big from small parts, has occupied a lot of my time since coming back from Morocco. It is the basis of a proposal we are putting together for the outsourcer.

So today, my ageing friend, myself and Jolly Ollie spent a day in front of the whiteboard working on our proposal. Me in a sling, my ageing friend sat on his arse on the floor and Jolly Ollie hammering away on the laptop. About 11 hours we were at it.

My ageing friend was looking for a nice strap line: "Choose us because ...". I wanted him to put in "because we work through shattered collar bones whilst being out of it on morphine" but he didn't think that this was a good selling point.

There were two slots on Tuesday for presenting the proposals - one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Mr Happy bagged the afternoon slot - like all sales people, they wanted to pitch last. We told the outsourcer about my operation on Monday, and that I may not yet be out of hospital by Tuesday, and they gave us a slot on Wednesday instead - without us even asking for it. That'll be Fate deciding that she wants us to pitch last then.

If we nail this, it will be a small miracle - albeit a well-deserved and had fought for miracle. We have the best solution by far, and probably the cheapest, but we are competing with people who wear sharp suits and who talk a good game.

Going for my operation on Monday, I'd rather have a chain-smoking doctor who is shit hot, than some snappy-dressing dolly magnet who is really not that good. Hopefully the outsourcer will have a similar view.

My ITM sent me some pics of Morocco - which I'll get posted up here. Billy sent a great picture of himself decked out as Mother Theresa, at the same time as sending a nice picture of the crack of Oz's buttocks - builder style. Brought a smile to my face.

I'm kind of worred about the operation on Monday - never having had an operation before. There's a million things that can go wrong apparently (there always is) but if you sepnt your life thinking about this stuff then you'd never get out of bed. It just needs to be done - there is no way that this bone is going to heal by itself. Thank you for your messages of support and stuff.

So, into hospital on Monday. Operation. Out Tuesday. Recover. Putthe suit on, and go and pitch for a 6-figure piece of work on Wednesday, complete with steel pins in my shoulder. You couldn't make it up. I am doing the presenting - and am under strict instruction to keep it serious - no jokes. And I was going to tell my favourite one about the hooker with dysentery. It'll have to wait. I will open with "No comments about Barry Sheene or Metal Mickey please" and take it from there.

The Pony Express always got through. So will we.

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