Other than tedious admin tasks for China (0f which there are many), today has been mostly spent getting myself into knots in preparation for my viva. A few things which I thought I understood in perfect detail have just dissolved before my eyes in chaos and confusion and the things that I was hoping to get a handle on this week which I knew I didn't understand seem to be running away from me, never to be comprehended. I would be panicking if I hadn't fallen into a complete state of lethargy. Unfortuntely this work-phobia has become so great that I may just tidy the house in order to put of the inevitable. Anyway for now, I'll put on another photo which was the view from my hotel room in Denver. I spent June in Bounder Colorado on a summer school for postgrad string theorists which was an amazing month. Learnt a great deal, met a lot of excellent people, many of whom I'm still in contact with, ate and drank a lot, and came back completed exhausted but enthused. Having travelled across the pond, I took advantage and had a couple of days staying in Denver which I would only recommend doing if you're within a couple of hours drive. They're building a new wing to the Denver museum of art, designed by Daniel Libeskind which is going to be stunning but it will be a little while yet until it's complete. This is what it will look like:












Anyway, from the hotel room as well as seeing some great storms over the foothills of the Rocky mountains, there were some magnificent sunsets. I never managed to get a photo of the lightning but I did get this photo of a sunset with the Rockies in the distance:














Anyway, there may be more Bounder photos to come at some stage. Brian Powell has a lot of good photos on his webpage, the link to which is on the right. Right...to house duties.