The year winds down

I can't believe my first year in Oxford is over. Term officially ended on 15 June and I leave for South Afric on 1 July. The last couple weeks of term were spent finalising my topics for my thesis and syntax essay. For those interested in such things, my thesis is going to be an analysis of Hellenistic Greek word order from a Minimalist perspective and my essay on Afrikaans negation. I'll be working in particular on my thesis while I'm at home over the summer/winter.

Speaking of "summer", the beautiful week of warm and sunshine I mentioned in my previous post lasted a whole nine days. After that things turned cold and wet and have been fairly miserable since then. We've had a few bursts of excessive rain. On three separate occasions, there has been pretty bad flooding in different parts of the UK. Thankfully, Oxford has not suffered. In between, however, there have been a few warmer days and patches of sunshine, but maximum daytime temperatures have mostly stayed below 20°C, occasionally getting as low as 15°C.

The first weekend in June was quite a fun one as it marked the Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth's 60th year as Queen. It was an extra long weekend with holidays on the Monday and Tuesday but, as Oxford doesn't take holidays off, we had to continue working. I did manage to watch quite a few of the events on TV, however, which included a Flotilla Pageant of over 1 000 vessels down the Thames on the Sunday, a concert in front of Buckingham Palace on the Monday evening and a thanksgiving church service on the Tuesday morning. On the Sunday afternoon we also had an MCR (college graduate community) "garden party" to mark the end of term. Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain that day so we had to move it indoors. At one point, we did have to go out in the rain for our annual group photograph. It seemed like a typically British situation with us standing there on the photo platform in the pouring rain with our umbrellas up. We had to put down our umbrellas for the photo itself so all got quite wet. The only thing that put a damper on the Jubilee celebrations was that after spending an entire afternoon standing on the royal barge on a rainy afternoon (following the Queen's example), Prince Philip took ill and had to be taken to hospital. He missed the Jubilee concert and thanksgiving service. Thankfully, after a week in hospital, he recovered enough to spend his 91st birthday with the Queen and his family.

I've done a fair bit of "Narnian" stuff the last couple weeks. On the last Tuesday of term I went with a small group from the CS Lewis society on a walk through the Wytham Woods near Oxford. The walk took about two hours and ended at a pub where we had dinner and from which we took the bus back to Oxford. One of the fun moments was when we crossed the Swinford Bridge which is one of the last remaining private toll bridges left in England. Thankfully, they no longer charge pedestrians to cross the bridge, though it would probably have been only a couple pence considering how cheap the toll on vehicles was.

View of Oxford from Wytham Woods     

Wytham Woods     

Wytham Woods     

Swinford toll     

Swinford toll house

The highlight of the last few weeks was when I went with Bethany (my friend whom I stayed with in Sommerset) to watch a new theatre production of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in Kensington Gardens. We met in the Gardens at about midday and had lunch at a nice Italian cafe nearby. It was a moderately nice day with intermittent sun and cloud and quite a strong wind. After lunch we spent some time watching the swans swimming in the lake in the Gardens before making our way to the temporary theatre where the play was to take place. The play was quite different to what I expected, but very good and very loyal to the book. I have written a review of the play for the Narnia fan site that I belong to, The Lion's Call, which you can read a copy of on my other blog on the link below:

Narnia Show in Kensington Gardens - a review

Swan lake

Pavilion next to theatre

Bethany and me

Writing a message from TLC

Inside the pavilion

The 360° Theatre

Squirrel in Kensington

Kensington Palace

This last week, I have been making the most of my final days in Oxford by doing some of the things I've been wanting to do but hadn't gotten around to yet. On Sunday 17, I went punting with a group of guys from the Worcester CU. A punt is a small boat that sits quite low in the water and is driven by a pole (kind of like a gondola). That evening we had a Linguistics department end-of-year barbecue.

On Tuesday, one of the rare sunny days, I went to the Oxford botanic gardens with another CU friend, Catherine. They are a lot smaller than Durban's botanic gardens and don't really have a place for picnics and such (there are plenty of other places in Oxford for that). Many of the plants, especially those from more tropical climates, are grown in Green Houses. I was really exited to see a number of South African plants or plants we have in our garden back home.

On Wednesday, I spent the evening with the other linguists from my year as we got to meet Maryanna's parents, who have come over from from the USA. On Thursday morning, I met them again and went with them to Magdalen College where another linguist, Prerna, who is at that college, took us up the Magdalen Tower (the tallest tower in Oxford). The stairway up was a narrow steep spiral one with about 115 steps, but the view from the top was spectacular and made it worth it.

Magdalen Bridge

Maryanna and Prerna

Magdalen College     

       Oxford City Centre  

Tower stairs

My main plans for the coming week are to get things packed up. I will be leaving most of my things in Oxford at a friends' house and  am currently going through the arduous task of packing my things in boxes. It's a weird experience for me. I've never moved house before (except coming over here, which involved packing just one suitcase with the necessities and buying what I couldn't bring over when I got here). Now, for the first time, I'm actually having to pack things in boxes. And I need to decide carefully what I will take home because I will have no access to the things I leave for two and a half months. It's not a fun task, but it's a necessary one.

So, I now head into my final week in Oxford (for a while). I can't believe how quickly these last ten months have gone. I have seen and done and learnt so much. But I really can't wait to get home and see my family and doggies again (or in the case of Jackson, for the first time).

Of Wales, dragons and things that breathe fire

As I mentioned in my previous post, because I'd be missing the Olympic Torch relay in Oxford, I decided to take a trip to Cardiff to see it there. It turned out to be a really great trip and I enjoyed it immensely, although my feet were completely exhausted from the amount of walking I did the two days I was there.

Before I get to the trip itself, an update on the weather. After weeks of truly miserable weather (as  attested in my previous post) it seemed to remember that it is actually supposed to be summer here and we had the most amazing nine days of sunshine with maximum temperatures ranging from of 24° to 27° C. Considering that the preceding weeks we were lucky to get anything over 16°, you can imagine how exciting this was. On Sunday 19 July, we had had a Church picnic to which I wore a long-sleeve shirt, tracksuit top and coat (and still froze, I think the temperature was somewhere between 6° and 10°, with an icy wind). The following day was still overcast and about 18° and from Tuesday onwards it simply sky-rocketed over the 20° mark. For the first time since early October last year (baring one exceptional day in March), I wore jeans (I've been living in corduroy trousers the last few months) and t-shirts (hardly needing even my "summer" jackets with them) and found myself at a loss, having not brought a pair of sandals over with me. It's amazing what a bit of sunshine and feeling the sun and wind on your arms is like after months of being all covered up. Worcester College was completely transformed during this time with the lawns full of people out in the sun studying, socialising and having picnics.

On Thursday 24 in the afternoon, I left for Cardiff in this lovely weather and bright sunshine. My train arrived at Cardiff station a couple hours before I was due to book in at the guest house, so I took the opportunity to wonder through the shopping centres and found a pub with a Welsh-sounding name where I had an outdoor supper of fish and chips. I also bought myself a pair of sandals, succeeding in finding something sufficiently comfortable to walk around in the next day (ones that wouldn't require being "worn in"). I arrived at the guest house sometime around 7 pm (still in broad daylight). The room was small, but comfortable and neat with free (but intermittent) wireless internet connexion and a TV. I flicked the TV onto a Welsh channel (just for fun to listen to) and tried to make plans for the next day.

Cardiff Station - bilingual signs

Church guest house where I stayed

Church guest house

My room

The torch was only arriving in Cardiff at 5.30 pm, so I had the whole of Friday to do "touristy" things. One of my friends from the Worcester CU, Carwyn, lives in Cardiff, so he had given me some tips on what to see. He mentioned an open-air museum (the second largest and second oldest in Europe) called St Fagan's. It is a little outside the city but I looked up the bus details online and figured out how I could get there. After provided breakfast at the guest house, I made my way there. I got there a bit before it opened (at 10 am).

St Fagan's is an open-air museum which houses relocated buildings from various places, covering a long period of Welsh history. There was a small reconstructed Celtic settlement (all new but built from archaeological and anthropological evidence), a medieval church, numerous farmhouses, mills and a tannery. There were also operational crafts shops in archaic style: a baker, a tailor, potters and some general supply stores. After lunch at the centre's café (a Welsh Rarebit toasted sandwich), I discovered I still had half an hour before the next bus left, so I wondered back into the centre (entrance is completely free, so you can come in and out as you please) and discovered that the St Fagan's castle, which I had thought was some way away from the centre, was actually much closer. I didn't have much time to explore it properly, but the gardens in front of it were really beautiful.

Celtic Village

St Teilo's Church

Baker

Castle and Castle Gardens

I took the bus back into town and made my way to Cardiff Castle which Carwyn had also suggested I visit. The castle has a very long history, including a Roman wall, a Norman keep, a Victorian house and was also in use during World War II. I got an audio-commentary device there, which told me a whole lot about the history of the various parts of the castle. The Roman walls were almost totally rebuilt but the original remains can be easily identified as the stone is lighter, rougher and bordered with red stone to show where it ends and the new wall begins. The house was decorated by William Burges, the same who redid the interior of The Worcester Chapel. I could recognise his style immediately. "Extravagant" is probably an apt description of his style. He was also responsible for the exotic stone animals on the wall of Bute Park next to the castle. These reminded me of the exotic wooden animals on the pews inside our chapel.

Cardiff Castle entrance

Cardiff Castle Keep

Interior of house

Interior of house

Burges' animal and clock tower

 

After I'd finished, I had a bit of free time at the castle before the torch relay. So I wandered around the centre of town a bit, looking at the shops. When I left the castle, I had seen lots of people sitting on the grassy verge picnicking or enjoying the sunshine and thought it would be nice to wait there for the torch. It was arriving in Cardiff at 5.30 pm, but I didn't know how fast it would be moving. I wished I'd brought a book to read while I waited so I went to the Oxfam second-hand bookshop and found Little Lord Flaunteroy (by the author of The Secret Garden and The Little Princess) for £1. Around 5.30, I made my way back to the castle and saw there was more shade on the side (the torch w ould come down that street first before turning the corner into the street in front of the castle). I sat for a bit, reading and leaning against a section of the old Roman wall. As time passed, I moved to the front of the castle and a Chinese girl, who is studying at Cardiff and was also there on her own, came and chatted to me for a bit. By now people, were starting to line the streets so I made my way to the street to get a good view. 

I succeeded in getting a front row view. I had brought with me my South African flag to wave (inspired by having seen on TV people in Cornwall waving their flags the weekend before). Everyone else had British and/or Welsh flags and there were even vendors selling them in different sizes (they were also selling "gold medals"). I'm not sure how long I waited there, but it was far from boring. The atmosphere was one of excitement and anticipation. At various points different vehicles of the sponsors and policemen drove past. There were police in cars, on motor bikes and even on horseback. Eventually, marshals came and put up metal barriers in front of us and started tying Olympic banners to them. The vehicles passing became more frequent. By the time the torch finally arrived, I almost missed it because I was concentrating on the vehicles, and the security guys that run with it. I did realise in time though, and got a few nice photos. And then, as an added treat, instead of turning down High Street away from the castle as I expected, the runner ran into the castle. I had read somewhere that it would go into the Castle for a photo but had forgotten about this. This meant I had time to go across to the entrance of the castle and see it come out again.

Supporters

Crazy South African

Barriers going up

Flag vendors

Coke van

Policemen on horseback

Torch bearer and security

Torch bearer

I was quite far back this time, but caught a brief glimpse. After the Castle, I knew the torch was going to go down High Street and a few other streets before coming back to the street the Castle was in and into the Bute Park next to it. I managed to make my way across to this other point and got to see the torch for a third time, though this time only from quite far back in the crowd, making sure other people who hadn't seen it were in front of me. It went into the park where a cauldron was lit and there was a celebratory concert. Although the concert was free, you had to apply for tickets beforehand so I couldn't go into the park and see that part.

After that, I went back to the centre of town and found a place to have pizza for supper. By now my feet were really sore, especially my heels and I regretted a little that I was wearing new shoes (although I don't think my others would have been much better). I made my way back to the guest house at about 8.30 pm, still in full daylight. I discovered I had a bit of mild sunburn on my arms, either from walking around St Fagan's or from standing in the sun so long waiting for the torch. Who would have thought I could get sunburnt at 6 pm in Wales?

There was to be a second leg of the torch relay at Cardiff Bay the next morning. I had decided I wouldn't bother going to the bay to see it again (6.30 in the morning is a little early), but then learnt that Matt Smith, the current actor playing the Doctor in Doctor Who would be the first bearer in the morning. I have a lot of friends who are big Doctor Who fans and I have been watching reruns of it on BBC. They had evidently kept this secret until a couple days before. There was an episode made a few years back in which the previous Doctor goes forward in time to see the opening of the London Olympics and ends up carrying the torch and lighting it at the games. A couple weeks ago there was even a petition going around Face Book that the previous actor (David Tennant) be the final lighter of the Olympic Cauldron. I didn't like the idea, since the person who lights the cauldron (at least for the Summer Games) is always a sports person. Doing a leg of the relay, however, is a different matter. Matt Smith is possibly the better choice as he did at one stage want to pursue a career in professional football. The series is also filmed in Cardiff, so it made sense that they had him running with it there. I was at a bit of a loss as to whether I ought to make the effort to get up and try find a bus to the bay in the hopes of a brief glimpse. I know I have friends who will find it hard to believe I turned down the opportunity. But in the end I did. It had been a long day, and I knew how short a period of time you get to see the torchbearer for. And I'd seen the torch three times. I did, however, set my alarm early to watch it on TV. They didn't show his run live, but they interviewed him beforehand, and I saw the recording of him running later on in the day.

Video - Matt Smith running with Olympic Torch (BBC)

I can say, however, that I was in Cardiff the same day Matt Smith carried the torch and I actually went down to the bay later on in the day (to see the bay itself, not just because the torch had been there ;-) ). After breakfast, I told the owner of the guest house that I wanted to go see the bay (I'd heard it was an attractive active waterfront and my train only left later in the afternoon). I was planning to take a bus, but he told me there was a water taxi that went down the River Taff into the bay. The trip in the taxi was quite exciting. At one point we had to slow down because we were passing the Paralympic rowing team who where training on the river. That kind of made up for the fact that I was missing out on Summer Eights, one of the big inter-college rowing events in Oxford, by being away for the weekend. They bay was nice, although it didn't have as many shops as I'd hoped - mainly restaurants. It was another beautiful day, though, and walking along the waterfront watching the water was really pleasant. Cardiff almost feels a little bit like Durban (certainly a lot more than Oxford does) being also a coastal town and more modern. The weather might have had something to do with that, though, and I may not feel the same, should I see it in more typical British weather :-P

Paralympic rowing team

Cardiff Bay

Mermaid Quay

Norwegian Church

After lunch at the bay, I made my way back to town, in a "bendy bus" (London has double-deckers, Cardiff has bendies which are like two single-deckers joined with a flexible connector). There was still some time before my train ride and I was exhausted (my feet were bugging me again, this time in my normal takkies), so I rested for a bit in Bute Park lying on the grass. The park was bustling with people enjoying the weather and some of them were having "barbecues". Eventually I had to go back to the guest house to pick up my luggage and get to the station. I had a long wait at Cardiff station as my train was delayed by half an hour (due to engineering works on the line). When the train arrived it, was at a different platform (the one behind us, so it was easy to get there) and it didn't have a Coach C (which was what my ticket was booked for). I got on anyway and found a free seat.

Bendy bus

Bute Park - barbecues

Bute Park

Cardiff Station

And that was the end of my trip to Cardiff. I didn't realise it was possible to do so much in two days. I wish I could calculate how many miles I walked over that weekend. I had a really great time and am so grateful I had the opportunity to go. I thank God for helping the plans go smoothly and keeping me safe on this, my first trip completely on my own.