See, I knew OJ had been quiet for too long. And then slowly but surely, a few more Dayorama posts emerged from him. Coupled with Amy's usual consistency, I was horrified to find the sea of my green-tinged posts, to which I had become accustomed, turning to mauve and sky blue. But our only other indication of where he'd been all this time was the mention, in one post, of the Facebook.

For those not in the know, it's a community website where you can put a little profile up and add all of your old friends from uni to a little list on that profile. You can also create groups.

And now I know that the true master has returned to form. OJ has created an entire group dedicated to Caecilius, star of basic Latin textbooks and a source of much intrigue when we had to learn Latin at school. As I recall, Caecilius had the minor misfortune of living in Pompeii around about the time of that rather large eruption, but in the months running up to it we grew to know and love his whole family. Most of whom were then wiped out.

Still, it brought back a cherished childhood memory, and now any Facebook member from Oxford can join in the fun. As OJ writes on the group page: 'Caecilius est in horto. Caecilius in horto sedet. And don't you forget it, buddy.'