I'm currently reading 1421, The Year China Discovered the World by Gavin Mensies. Excellent read so far. I wanted to read this book as soon as I saw the review when it was first published. Alas, it was only available in hardcover at $25! What a pleasant syurprise to see it on sale in paperback in Oxford. I scooped it right up.

Wandering about Oxford was a delight. I took lots of photos of the old college buildings and crooked narrow streets, poked about the old covered market and chatted with farmers and shopkeepers and bought strange but tasty cheeses. Alan and I and a bunch of the other programmers had a great curry dinner at a restaurant called Chutneys. I still owe Francis a copy of the infamous Exhibit A photo; Alan tells me Francis is fretting over it. It's nothing really naughty, given that it was taken at the ACCU speakers' dinner in front of several hundred people, or behind them as the case may be. Next year I'll take all the photos myself, thank you very much. I'm constanly surprised at what lousy photographers most people are.