Not my average day, I was pulled out of bed this morning for an unexpected, but not unappreciated massage. Jono has some kind of assessment, and despite Mike agreeing to be the subject, he never showed, so I was the new guinea pig. It's pretty cool watching the day start out the window as you get the crap pummelled out of your back, but I felt better for it after, and despite the painful bits of it, it was mostly relaxing.

Next stop was the department. Being the degree show tomorrow and all, they needed us to remove the work so the kit could be disassembled and shifted to Hollywell Park on the other side of the campus. I am required there at 8am tomorrow morning as I have been allocated as part of the 'Electricals' Team which means I get to plug things in and hide cables all morning.

After this, Jon took me back home to drop off some stuff I'd put in the boot, via Subway and some people watching through the town. The jeweller managed to rip me off by charging six quid for a battery change (I think that's pretty steep) and I headed back home. Being that Swan had just finished his final exam, Devito and myself then went back into town to meet him for a casual half at Wetherspoons. It was only after waiting for ten minutes with our drinks that we got a call from Sean, "Change of plan, we're in The Griffin, come over..."

It turns out they had already got their round in, and being in a particularly stubborn mood (we had a great table in the garden) we made them come and join us as soon as they could. Mike and Jono also turned up and we talked football and living abroad before I had to depart early to demonstrate to Rosie how to upload her website (no, no, I have no responsibility for this).

Jon had invited me, Rosie and Andy to go and watch him play chuckers in Rugby. For those people who haven't got a clue about the game of Polo (having never played it myself, and only witnessed it for the first time today, this is my somewhat potted explanation), a chucker is a quarter of a match, seven minutes long, but in the plural, is also a term used to describe a practice session. After a somewhat belated start, we watched the sun go down as the eight players knocked the ball back and forth down an enormous pitch. I used the opportunity to play with a sports scenario on the Canon (I purchased a lens hood the other day) and despite being told that polo is notoriously hard to shoot, was quite impressed with myself. That said, the fact I didn't have a telephoto did mean I could only take action shots 50% of the time, but it didn't seem to matter. A warm Bud finished the evening (I also sampled Yerba Mate, pronounced Mat-ay, an Argentine way of making a bitter tea in a wooden vessel which is sucked through a metal straw. Quite nice really) and I'm now back in Lufbra.

Yesterday evening Sean, Devito and myself went to see the Da Vinci Code. Weak in parts, the screenplay was sometimes patronising (you do not need to explain to anyone what the common usage of P.S. is etc) and Hanks' performance was tepid. For me Ian Mackellen was the most impressive and although there was some deviation from the book, it didn't ruin the film. On the whole it was still a good watch, but I would give the rating "Could do better".