Well, a fantastic, though for me somewhat blurred day yesterday. It was great to see lots of friends, in a lot of cases for the final time before I head off. After much tea, cake, flapjacks and entertainment from scurrilous friends we headed off to Freud's. This is one of the most interesting venues in Oxford. It's a converted church, they serve decent food, good cocktails (mohitos aside) and has a great atmosphere. On a Sunday afternoon, it's a great place to come for a decent coffee and a good quiet chat or just to read the paper. They have salsa lessons during the week and often great bands. Though I petered out by a little after midnight the music was passable but it's often great.

It was also Ben's birthday (a very happy birthday and good luck for his exams on Monday) and there were a lot of others who came along after the meal, a few of whom I hadn't seen since school (seven years and counting). With the Beijing trip becoming seriously imminent, it was good to speak to Jim and Christian who both cycled there from Streatley (near Reading) and subsequently cycled across North America. UK-China took five and a half months and they got in some pretty tight scrapes including several occasions where Jim should have bitten the dust. Their website is well worth a look. Jim is a legend in the history of Abingdon school with the most outrageous end-of-school stunt of all time.

I was also pleased to be able to show Tim that I really had completed his challenge of getting the word 'titivate' into my thesis. I figured there's no point in doing these things by halves so the word is on page two, a page with only 14 other words. Anyway thanks to this his wothy marathon charity is a little better off. All the best for the New York marathon which Tim leaves for on the 3rd of November.

Anyway, I don't have any photos from last night so I'd really like it if people could send me some that I can load onto this page.

All in all a great night though I have lost my voice entirely today, it's well worth it.