back in london, i am feeling appropriately chillaxed for a man coming off a fortnight's break. finishing off my online test today adds to my satisfaction. i have done a lot of thinking about the end of the big p, and all in all a la recherche is quite the most lovely book i know. the final volume adds only a little to the plot, but the satisfactory hint of an ending at the close of the fugitive is delightfully expanded. it goes on a bit about the theme which everyone always bores on about in respect of proust: that of memory and history in cakes (and the rest of the world of sensation). it also shifts focus from albertine to the rest of the novel, which is ultimately necessary. i am off to make a salad and be generically smug. this will surely not last for long.