The talk at King’s College London seemed to go down quite well. Lunchtime talks can be a bit rushed but there was a really good turnout and some good questions. Nice lunch with some very good MA students afterwards. Thanks to Richard Schofield for the invitation.

Then went to the opening of Exhibition Road. I had a media invite to this (not sure why – this blog?), and since I was actually staying in Kensington, it seemed worth doing. Boris Johnson was doing his standard Boris act – it is an act, the bumbling fool thing, because he’s clearly very smart – there was the band of Welsh guards, and a mechanical elephant. Not sure quite why, and rather disappointingly it was driven – it didn’t walk. (I think I was expecting something like out of the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back.) For those that don’t know, Exhibition Road runs past the Natural History, Science and Victoria & Albert Museums, and links South Kensington with Hyde Park. The Royal Geographical Society is at the north end. It’s been completely resurfaced, and a lot of the buildings have had their facades redone. It’s not pedestrianised, but the idea is that cars are limited to 20 mph and it is a more open public space.

Then met up with an old friend for dinner and a movie – The Descendents. It was good, although difficult not to think it was George Clooney reacting to the events of the movie, rather than George Clooney acting as somebody to whom the events are happening…