the partys over

melt's off in china, jesse's back in austin, and the sun has reappeared again. suddenly practical and driven again. budget to adhere to! marketing to do! mphil to start!

perhaps its the brightness creeping through the damp into my head. or that i've dried out a bit in the alcoholic sense. or that all the exercise is finally bringing my spirits back up.

the weekends ride to the north downs was glorious. it's always boring for the first 80 minutes, until when, right after cobham, i turn right at the pub, suddenly i'm on a one track road surrounded by fields and hedges. sun, butterflies, horse&riders, ockham's dog show and country fete. the smell of cows. quiet forests with ancient oaks. hills where i stop the 20 minute uphill slog to gaze back at london's towers, 30 miles off under a crystal blue sky.this goes on for another 4 hours, until i decide my legs have had enough, coast the 10 miles downhill into some town, and catch the train home.

texas reunion

his highness rocked up yesterday morning and proceeded to do very little other than look surprised at my accent every 5 minutes, making everyone laugh in the process. aspHalt. duylinh looked confused by the ursuline girl in london. mel landed later in the rain.

there's little talk of past and future, instead endless self-refrencing; she said he said. the weather and the tube. made worse as la contessa and melt and i communicate dialy - text, phone, skype, email, mental telepathy - and consequently our conversations are criss crossed with what we said last week and laced with light emotional refrences. intimate, endless, and layered with a solid base of shared understanding and knowledge.

tonight, we're cooking for 14. conversation should improve with more strangers.
hungarian cherry soup as a starter (cherries pitted), 8 pounds of chicken thighs, lots of vegetables and duylin's ingenuity served as a main.