May day eve

May day, for asome absurd reason, is the biggest eventt of the year for Oxford. It results in partying all night, jumping off the main bridge into the river at dawn (although police now cordon off the bridge) to prevent bodily harm. Alas, with a coursework due on Tuesday (I have to get over 80% to secure a first for this subject), and an independent study due in later next week, and an exam the following week, it is all getting a bit close. Do I go out? It's the last May day in Oxford for me...

Well, books aside for a bit, nip over to Tesco for some dinner, and Paxman interviewing Brown at 8.30pm. Then, i'll decide.

Age of Austerity beckons, Asia and Africa call

With the lib dems fighting back heroically, it looks set to be a definite hung parliament. Whatever the politicians say, taxes will have to go up soon, to avoid an insomountable debt mountain to build that would more than likely to end up like Greece.

I love England, especialy Oxford, and can think of very few better places to study than the UK to get international exposure/experts in all fields. But to work, I don't think so. Taxes going up, costs here, bills there, not to mention the freezing weather, all points to go travelling I think. Flights booked to India in ~August, which I am looking forward to, and then hopefully a bit of travelling around the region, then Africa next year.

In the meantime though, there's much work, and play to be done...

Egypt

I met the family in Egypt for a week over Easter, for what was supposed to be a surprise. However, the surprise was spoiled the night before!

We stayed at the Hilton in Cairo first night which was great, then left first thing the next morning (family only checked in at 4am) for the aiport and a flight to Luxor. Luxor was very hot, and spent the affternnon looking around the temples of Luxor and Karnak. We cruised down the Nile (upstream-one of the few rivers to flow upstream from north to south). Cruised to temple of Enfu, then Aswan was the final stop. A tour of the dam, perfume factory, and other tourist attractions. The cruise was absolutely fantastic. The days were very hot, but were spent in the lovely cold swimming pool, snoozing in the air conditioned rooms, or reading on the deck. Early evening from about 4.30pm to 7pm was probably the best time, as the sun started to go down and the heat began to lift. Food was brilliant with a full course buffet three times a day, and tour guide, Khaled, very good too.

We flew back to Cairo, in what started as a shaky start on the Embraer-could think of just about any place in the world to crash than the Sahara desert! In Cairo, we checked back into the hotel-temperature about ten degrees cooler in Cairo. Went to the Cairo Museum to see Tutankhamen's tomb treasures, then a cruise in the evening and after the family flew back to Harare, I stayed the night then left crack of dawn to the airport and back to Heathrow.