Pages from the Oxford Book of Tourists
Monday 15 April, 2019
Attitudes

I once made an American tourist very happy. I walked near her with my camera, and pretended to take her photo. I then told her that she'd been specially selected to feature in the Oxford Book of Tourists. She was ecstatic. I did more for the Special Relationship that year than anybody else except perhaps Tony Blair agreeing to support whatever war the US wanted to get on with.

That was a practical joke: as far as I know, there is no Oxford Book of Tourists. At least, Google finds only two occurrences, both mine. But I think there should be, on the same principle that one can learn about other parts of the solar system by studying meteorites. Here's a group of tourists that I photographed in Ship Street in Oxford yesterday:
Group of drab tourists in Ship Street, Oxford.

And here's a collage of tourists made last September, from my photos here:
Groups of drab tourists in central Oxford.

Chromophobia, it seems, is world-wide.