There's a neat article about tea in the New York Times this week. Who would have thought Portland, Oregon is supposed to be a center of tea culture in America? I did really like the idea of publicly-held, color themed tea parties - perhaps I can pick this up later in the year, green tea in green clothes in Green Park, and, who knows, a one hour tea party on the Eye or something. (Oooh, also, neat article on Vietnamese lotus tea on the Tao of Tea website - who's going to buy me some?)

Also for my West Coast friends: let me know when your packages show up. We sent out about six of them, and I'd like to know if you're getting them!

Proust - well, I didn't make any progress on it while I was gone, so I'm just now up to page 145. I did get copies of Proust's Way: A Field Guide to In Search of Lost Time (by Roger Shattuck) and Alain De Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life while I was gone, too, so I have some hope for better understanding of the book, not that I think I'm struggling in particular but you do know how pizza is better with some parmesan on top ...

Play reading in Streatham tonight (clicky for details), who will I be seeing there?