I had a brilliant day today. It started off with my Protect the Human T-shirt finally coming through from Amnesty! I was beginning to worry it had been waylaid. Amazingly, it actually fits me quite well, so I look forward to wearing it next term for Amnesty things (I've applied to join the committee).

It was my friend Will's birthday, so five of us Oxonians descended on London. It was good seeing them again, even though it's only been a day since I got back. We went to Camden, where I had quince juice for the first time - it is amazing and honeylike.

We went to loads of vintage clothes shops. I bought some brown suede shoes with leather soles for £15, which was amazing because I've been looking for shoes for ages. It's hard to find my size anyway as it's halfway between child and adult (5.5). Additionally I hate branded trainers and wanted something to wear casually that looked reasonably good and hadn't been assembled in a sweatshop, so it was a dream buy overall.

My friends bought bizarre things, including stripey dungarees and a one-piece purple pop-art suit. Will, who doesn't believe in gender differentiation, kept trying on women's boots although he wasn't happy with any. I love my friends. :D

So, my quest for nice footwear can finally be laid to rest, my allegiance to Amnesty can now be worn, and the insanity of my friends remains unabated. All in all, life is great. Oh, and in addition I'm receiving a free book on the history of French from some retired bloke in Oxford, yay. :D

I went off to London yesterday to meet up with Mirel and her brother Vinay (whom I met at an Indian camping thing a couple of years ago). It was really great seeing her in person again after all these months so we planned (or rather, did not plan but intended to have) a busy day looking around London. It turned out to be a fantastic day to go, and not just because the weather was amazing.

Firstly we went to the British library and looked at some old Beatles stuff - mostly the original versions of songs written on anything from envelopes to birthday cards! There were also loads of other cool things in the library - 9th century bibles and Hitler stamps and old Buddhist texts. Worth a look if you're in London and like that kind of stuff

After that we went to Mirel's workplace - she works in some barristers' chambers. So I got taught a lot of stuff about how one becomes a barrister in the UK - it's so steeped in tradition that it reminds me of Oxbridge.

Then we went to the Thames, and this really made the say because it turned out that this weekend was a huge arts and culture festival on the Thames! Literally gigantic, spreading all the way along one bank of the Thames with all kinds of things going on, loads of music and foreign food stalls and jewellery and all kinds of stuff. There was a little "New Europe" area with lots of East Europeans singing traditional songs or dressed up as knights or whatever. I got loads of free stuff in the Europe section - a tiny, tiny (literally about an inch high) book which contained the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, some booklets on how the EU works and what it does (which I'll read soon), a booklet of basic phrases in all the languages of the EU (sadly excluding Norwegian) and, for some reason, a free pedometer. And there were two tiny beaches as well, so we went to the beach in the middle of London! And there was a gigantic boat race going on! Something like 275 rowing boats, some tiny bathtubs with 3 people, some huge 20 man crews, all racing along the Thames! There were also loads of street performers - bubbleologists (yes, that's what they call themselves) and dancers and moving statues and such. And, on top of that, there were loads of unofficial alternative kids to watch, skateboarders and BMXers doing stunts and some criminally hot guys doing incredible multi-backflips onto the beach from the steps leading down thereto. Overall it was a stunning festival, remarkably well put together with something for everybody. If only we could have stayed longer, of I could go back today - it was so big that we only got to see a small portion of it.

On the way back, we passed a memorial to the International Brigades in the Spanish civil war, so naturally I had a couple of photos taken. Although I haven't really been a communist since around the age of 14 or 15, I still have a deep respect for the communists of the Spanish Civil War and the French Resistance and other Resistance groups. I'll never understand schizophrenic Anglo-Saxon foreign policy though. How is it that communists fighting fascists in Spain were heroes, but communists fighting fascists in Chile were villains? Yes, the two events fell on either side of WW2, but the monument to the International Brigades was put up in 1985, when the UK surely still distrusted communists.

Also, the centre-spread of the Guardian yesterday was a diagram of how taxes in the UK are spent, which I'm going to keep. Out of £586.4billion, only £4.7bn goes on student loans... we could easily, easily afford free education again. *grumble*

In conclusion, a fantastic day which I got a lot out of, in memories as well as material things.