Data processing

Quiet please -- this is Mystère making sense of his new world. We took him out onto the terrace a couple of times yesterday for a supervised look around, and this morning he was let out to explore a bit more. He swiftly leapt over the not so catproof fence and headed out on a tour of the neighbouring gardens, which I found slightly alarming. But after a circuit of both sides of the houses, lasting about half an hour, he eventually reappeared and flung himself awkwardly back over the fence when he spotted a dog in the street. Having established the geography, he then spent some time sitting on the table on the terrace surveying his surroundings.

This was all very exhausting. After his third foray he willingly came back in and flopped down on my desk; I could almost see the little map centre in his brain processing all this new information. He hasn't done much else all day.

We hired a couple of bikes today. I haven't been on a bike for more years than I care to remember, and I didn't learn to ride one till I was 23, so I am not very confident. I was rather glad when the bike I kept at Oxford station got stolen, because the traffic used to terrify me. But here there is no traffic, and cycle tracks everywhere, so even I can cope. We cycled up to the zigurrat, but it was overcast and we were too early for the sunset anyway. So today's blip is zzzzzzzz....