I can't say that I have anything too interesting to say today, I'm afraid. I had such a nice, leisurely, non-vacation kind of day. Apart from one notable exception, which I'll get to, it was a day of exercise, answering email, a long lunch, a hair-cut, watching the soccer. I was in a great mood all day simply because it felt good to have such freedom and leisure, and to be able to enjoy it in London - knowing that I have five more weeks of this. Not that I'm showing off of course :)

It was either the heat or the noise, but either way, I didn't sleep well last night and, of course, woke up at seven anyway. I absolutely did not feel like working out, but once I got started, endorphins kicked in, and I started to pick up. I even had a decent run in Russel Square afterwards.

After running, resting on the plinth (spelling? I must either get a dictionary or start using simpler words :) of the statue of Francis, Duke of Bedford. I'm not sure why he's here instead of in the nearby Bedford Square.

The heat had finally broken in the night, and after my run, the rain started. For lunch, I finally found a chicken-caesar salad at a restaurant called Spaghetti House near my hotel. The waiter was a very good-looking, Italian boy, with smooth biceps. And the food was quite good too :) But I'm not sure either were worth the wait while my lunch made three separate trips back to the kitchen before it truly resembled its description in the menu.

Ali the Barber, where I got my hair cut this afternoon. He was recommended by David and Kelvin yesterday. He's worked in the same small barbershop inside a billiards-hall in Leicester Square for over twenty years.

When I was a student in London in the mid-eighties, I used to often come to Leicester Square, the heart of the West-End. Back then it represented, I suppose, the glitz and excitement that was missing from my own life (I was inordinarly shy and studious). I even went to the Empire in Leicester Square to see "Back to the Future" seventeen times. This is probably the most embarrasing self-revelation I've ever made in this journal :) Now, though, Leicester Square seems gawdy and faceless to me.

Leicester Square

David and Kelvin had invited me to visit their offices today, to see their three weekly gay magazines go to press. So, I was shown the various magazine operations by a nice Northern guy (all us Northerners are nice, you know!) named Mike. It was interesting to see how all this creativity gets pulled together weekly by such a relatively small team of young people (including several very pretty men :)

Now I tried to make like Michael Palin and ask intelligent questions, and I hope I didn't make any mistakes in my notes! The three weeklies are "Boyz UK", "Boyz London" and the well-known "The Pink Paper" (They also publish "Fluid" and "Homosex" - they're very busy boys are David and Kelvin!) Finally, I got to see their website, which was lacking only a link to this page :)

The front pages of the three weeklies - works in progress. The magazines go to press today, but won't be distributed until Thursday. Remember, you saw it first here.

Tonight, Max came over to watch the second half of the England game against Rumania. They only needed to draw in order to advance to the Quarterfinals. Although they were actually in the lead at half time, they conceded a quick goal in the second half, and then finally a penalty less than five minutes from the end. It's all over for England - I hope the fans, who've been engaging in the usual drunken rowdiness in Belgium, don't disgrace us further tonight.

Watching, with Max, England lose in what would be their final game in Euro 2000