Newly filed bunny; Oxford; other people's DVDs

Harley duly had his surgery last Friday, and by the time I arrived home in the evening seemed pretty much back to usual, though he didn't eat properly until Saturday afternoon, meaning that Ruth had to feed him through a pipette with some vile-looking food supplement supplied by the vet. We are hoping that his newly-shortened teeth will now enable him to eat lots of hay, as proper bunnies are supposed to.

Saturday was spent painting the attic wall white as part of the whole attic workroom plan. I have to say it does look brighter.

Travelled to Oxford on Sunday for a farewell dinner with Janet and some of the other former Progress South Central staff before Janet’s impending departure back home to New Zealand. I travelled up early and went for a bit of a walk, turning left off Hythe Bridge Street by the ‘dead end’ of the Oxford Canal and walking up past some surprisingly scruffy narrowboats to Isis Lock, the canal's southernmost lock (pictured), where I crossed and continued up the towpath to Aristotle Bridge. Turned off and had a meander around Polstead Road and other smart streets including the elegant Park Town, before heading to the Jam Factory on Hollybush Row to meet the others for lunch. Janet and her partner had already had to move out of their rented flat and were staying briefly with her brother before leaving the UK later this week to tour Europe for a few weeks before returning home.

During lunch I finally returned Godfrey's copy of Tony Richardson's 1961 film A Taste of Honey, which he lent me at least two years ago and I only got around to watching the previous evening. Verdict: OK but a bit over-studied, and rather hammered home the general bleakness and poverty of the surroundings and the characters' lives. However, Godfrey, who is much more of a film buff than I am, reckons it was an important film for British cinema, and he's no doubt right. Now Ruth and I just have to watch Helen's copy of The Princess Bride, which she rashly lent us at a dinner party about a year ago but which Ruth has consistently refused to actually watch, preferring things involving crime-fighting and lashings of gore. However, I shall feel too guilty to return it if I haven't actually watched it, in case I am questioned on my favourite bits (apparently it's Helen's family's favourite film).

Next week marks the start of the little 10-credit OU course (or perhaps courselet) I have signed up for, Design and the Web, part of the Technology Faculty’s Relevant Knowledge series of short courses. Have done the preliminary reading and the icebreaker. As I already know something about writing web pages, I'm not expecting all of it to be very demanding, but figure I might learn something.