Thesis

21-26 April 2013


I ended the last post rather abruptly. I realised I could never get in an account of the final week leading up to my thesis submission in that post. I apologise for the length, and possibly dullness of this post. It's probably here for my sake more than anyone else's that I have this account of this week. I promise that the next post will be more like the other posts, covering more interesting events (with photos!).

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Thesis and syntax-related books

As the deadline* for my submissions loomed, so did my stress levels. I spent much of the Sunday of first week, working on my syntax essay. I thought I'd finally come up with a decent account of the data I had been looking at. On the Monday, I sent a copy of it to my tutor, fairly pleased with what I'd done. I hoped that it would only require minimal corrections to polish it up and that could focus on my thesis for the rest of the week.

On the Wednesday, my syntax tutor sent a copy of my essay back to me with comments. She wasn't satisfied and recommended some major revisions. In particular, she didn't like the fact that I was wavering between two alternative explanations and suggested that I pick one of the two and go with it. I was very reluctant to have to do that, since I knew neither explanation was without problems. I thought it would be in my interest to show that I'd thought through both alternatives rather than only one. It took the rest of that afternoon, not a few tears, and a walk outside, to convince myself that it was not a lost cause and I could make the necessary changes. I reluctantly cut the one of the explanations almost completely from the essay and just focussed on the other. This had the added advantage of cutting down my word count (which was slightly over the limit) and, after reading up a bit more, I was able to strengthen the analysis I'd picked significantly, while still pointing out its flaws. This was probably the toughest moment of submission week, but I somehow got through it.

In the mean time, I was on the final stages of my thesis; really just polishing it up and finalising the introduction and conclusion. At about lunch time on Thursday (the day before it was due) I printed out a full copy of my thesis, all 78 pages, and began to do a complete read through. I had been doing most of my work in my room in college, so, having gone to the the linguistics department to print, I stayed there to work on my edits for a change of scenery. My plan was that I wouldn't go back home until I'd finished the read-through, made the necessary corrections and printed the final copy. The read-through took a few hours longer than I had expected. It was sometime near 6.00 pm when I was done reading and marking corrections on the printed copy. I decided I had better go home and at least have something to eat before continuing. So I took all my stuff back to my room (I lived about a two minutes' walk from the department) and continued my work there.

I made myself microwave porridge for dinner because it was quick (with the plan to make scrambled egg on toast later), and proceeded to transfer my corrections from paper to computer. I could tell that the stress and shortage of sleep that week was getting to me when I added far too much salt to the porridge. It was horrible, and under normal circumstances I would have thrown it out and made more, but I ate it anyway. The transfer of corrections also took far longer than I'd anticipated, and finalising the bibliography was also quite time consuming. I think it was around 11 pm when I was finally done and happy with my work (or too exhausted to care any more). I could have waited until the next day, but I wanted my thesis printed just in case anything went wrong. I also had to have it bound before submitting it, and had been so busy worrying about getting it done, I hadn't quite figured out how and where I would have it bound.

I headed back to the linguistics department (using the side door because the front was locked by this time). I made my way around in the dark until I could find a light switch, and printed out the two required copies of my thesis. Then I headed back home (narrowly missing tripping down a couple of steps in the dark). It had started raining very lightly, but I had my thesis in a plastic folder so it was safe. I got home, relieved my thesis was done, but unable to relax as I still needed to finish my syntax essay.

The original plan had been to have my thesis printed out by about 6.00 pm so I would have the rest of the evening to work on the essay, but, well, things hadn't exactly gone to plan. It was looking like I'd have to pull the first all-nighter of my academic career. Finalising the essay (but not the bibliography) took me till about 3.00 am, when I had a quick shower. By this time, I did not feel like going downstairs to the kitchen to make my still-overdue scrambled egg dinner, so I used up some cold meat I had in the fridge on cream crackers. I then did a proof-read through, before working on and completing the bibliography for my essay (which again, took quite some time). Satisfied at last, and certain that I had multiple back-up copies, I finally climbed into bed at about 5.00 am. I set my alarm for 7.00, because I still needed to print my essay, get my thesis bound and buy envelopes in which to put the pieces of work I was to submit.

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Despite my bed feeling more relaxing and softer than usual, I couldn't fall asleep. Naturally! At about 5.30, I remembered I'd meant to have a bowl of cereal before I went to bed (and I was feeling queasy - from some combination of tiredness, hunger and nerves). So I got up and poured myself some Rice Krispies. I can't decide whether that meal counts as a really late dinner dinner or early breakfast - maybe I should coin a new word and call it supfast or something. Anyway, I somehow managed to doze off for perhaps an hour, but woke up again sometime between 6.30 and 7.00. I had some more breakfast (or second breakfast) and coffee, got dressed and headed to the college computer room to print my essay. I had until 12.00 midday to hand my assignments in.

Print-out of thesis

After printing the essay, I would still need to get the copies of my thesis bound. I had briefly noticed that the secretary of the linguistics department had mentioned in an email that the department had a thermal binder, but I was so distracted by my work at the time I hadn't had a chance to follow up on it. I thought it might be easier to take my theses to the printing-and-binding shop just outside of college. I had checked at some point during the night that they opened at 9.00am and decided to head there as soon as they were open. I thought I might find envelopes there too.

But as I paged through the essay I had just printed, to make sure everything was in order, I discovered that I had printed the entire document without page numbers. The tiredness and stress was getting to me again. The printer at college, like the one in the linguistics department, is an industrial style printer-copier, and I had no idea if or how I could run the pages through again, just printing page numbers on the bottom corner. I tried to think where I could find someone with the printer that would let me do that, and decided to go to the linguistics department to see if I could use the printer of a staff member. Neither the secretary nor my supervisor were in their offices that early in the morning, and I began to panic just a little. Knowing I still needed to sort out binding and to buy envelopes, I decided to go to town and come back and sort out my essay's page numbers when there were more people around.

Just as I was leaving the department, I bumped into one of my course-mates, Christelle. I told her what had happened with my page numbers (or lack thereof), and she told me to calm down, stop worrying and just reprint the entire essay using the department printers. I realised she was right, and though I loathed the waste of reprinting, it made the most sense and would mean I had one less thing to worry about. I'd want a copy of the essay for my own records in any case. I also mentioned to her that I was on my way to the printing/binding shop and she asked why I didn't simply use the department thermal binder the secretary had mentioned, since that's what she was going to do. That took a second weight off my shoulders, but I still needed to buy envelopes.

In addition to needing A4 envelopes in which to put my thesis, essay and problem sets, I also needed small letter envelopes. We weren't allowed to have our names anywhere on the assignments, but we also had to have a signed declaration that what we were submitting was our own work. As a result, the declarations had to be in sealed envelopes that would be checked by someone other than the markers.

On my way to town, I met the linguistics department secretary, who hadn't been in her office earlier, and I double checked with her that I could use the department's binder. That confirmed, I relaxed a great deal. She was the second person God had placed in my path that morning to help with the panic I was experiencing.

The envelope-finding trip took far longer than it should have. None of the stationery shops sold single envelopes of either kind and I really didn't want to buy packs of 10 or 20. In the end, I went to Poundland (across the other end of town) where I did end up buying multi-packs. But since they only cost a Pound for the whole pack, I didn't mind the waste so much.

Hot and tired, I headed back to the Linguistics department and got instructions on how to bind my theses. The machine wasn't too hard to operate, but it required patient holding of the document in the machine while it melted and set the glue that bound the spine. And it wasn't guaranteed that everything would stick. The first copy of my thesis came out perfectly. The second, was a flop, and I had to start on it again from scratch. Eventually I got most of it to stick and decided I wouldn't loose marks for a slightly uneven binding. While Christelle worked on getting her documents bound, I put mine into the required envelopes and double checked the (rather complex) instructions on how we were to address them. Christelle also had problems getting her documents to stick. While she tried to get the machine to work, she asked me to help address her envelopes. She had many more pieces of work to submit than me because I only had the syntax option evaluated by written assignment. All Christelle's options were examined by written assignment, hence the extra work due.

Time was ticking (it had passed 11.00am), but Christelle wasn't panicking and I followed her lead. What neither of us realised was that she was going by the wall clock in the room where we were, which was between fifteen minutes and half-an-hour slow. She suggested, since things were taking so long, that we order a taxi to take us to Exam Schools. I know I can do the walk from the Department to Exam Schools in 15 to 20 minutes, if I hurried, but a taxi should make it much quicker. At about 11.35 (or perhaps a minute or two late), the taxi arrived. But when the taxi driver heard where we were going, he pointed out that there was no way he could get through Friday midday traffic in Oxford faster than we could walk it. Many of the streets in central Oxford are closed to vehicles or one-way, meaning the taxi trip would not be direct. We should have figured this out beforehand but, well, it had been a long week. The taxi driver offered to take us as far as Broad Street (a street taxis could not enter) and we could walk the rest of the way. This did save us some time, and we all but ran from the corner of Broad Street to Exam Schools (dodging tourists), getting there just before 11.55 by my watch.

Walking round Worcester the evening of submission

I thought once we got to Exam Schools, all we'd have to do was hand over the documents and be done. But when we got there, we discovered that there were forms to fill out. Among other things, they asked for us to fill in our exam candidate number. I hadn't memorised my number, and there had been no instructions to write it anywhere on the outside of our envelopes. So the only copy I had of it was inside the envelopes, now sealed. I was loathe to tear them open and have to reseal. When one of the officials keeping an eye on us, learnt of my dilemma, she told me to stop worrying (knowing how close it was to the deadline). She said that there were few enough of us taking the course, and they could look up my exam number and fill it in for me. I should just take my documents to the submissions counter and hand them in. That lady was the third God-send of the day.

I went to the counter and someone there started to put up a fuss about me not having my exam number on the envelope (something that no one had requested before then; it was for the form that I needed it, not the envelope). My watch by this time was reading 11.59. Someone else behind the counter, overruled the instruction, however, and they handed me a receipt to say my documents were submitted at 11.55. Both my watch and the clock at exam schools read 11.59, so I can only assume that their time stamp was 5 minutes slow to benefit students who were so close to the deadline like me.

As we left exam schools, it took me a while to realise that it was all over. I felt sort of numb, and wanted to laugh at the same time. It was bizarre. A week of stress, a night of no sleep (or only one hour) and a rushed, chaotic day will do that to you.

We headed to a pub for lunch where we were to meet up with the rest of our course mates and celebrate our submission. After hanging out together till about 2, I headed back home. I had one of my rather bad headaches from a night of no sleep and all the anxiety that had piled up. I tried to take a nap, but the headache and adrenaline were not much help. I might have dosed for about an hour before waking again.

That evening Emily and I celebrated by going to Pizza Hut for pudding. I had a banoffee cookie ice-cream sandwich. On Saturday evening, we went out to the Inklings' pub, the Eagle and Child, with some a couple of our friends. We also celebrated with Mary by watching five episodes of Doctor Who between Friday and Saturday night. Emily gave me a mini daffodil plant and a sachet on which she'd cross stitched a hedgehog pattern as "thesis completion" gifts.

Gifts from Emily

Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who helped me with (or put up with me while I was working on) my thesis, and to give praise to the Lord for the many ways in which he helped me get through the difficult patches and how he provided for me on the day.

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* I've mentioned this before, but as a reminder, my Master's course consisted of 5 components: a thesis (max 25 000 words), three specialist options and a general exam paper. The specialist options could be examined by written submission or exam. The written assignment/s were due at the same time as the thesis (the first Friday of the first week of Trinity Term in my second year) and the exams were set for the end (8th week) of the same term. My specialist options were Syntax, which was examined by written assignments (a 5 000 - 7 000 word essay and a "problem set"), and Historical Linguistics and The History and Structure of Ancient Greek, which were both tested by exam. As a result, in the first week of Trinity Term, to which this post refers, I was working on finishing up my thesis as well as my syntax essay and the problem sets. They all had to be submitted in sealed envelopes to Exam Schools (a building in Oxford used for lectures during most of the year, and exams at the end of the year) by 12.00 pm (midday) on Friday 26 April 2013.

Mid-Michaelmas Update

I've been back in Oxford about a month and a half now. It's been a very busy few weeks. During the weekend 27-30 September the Christian community in Oxford ran a number of events to welcome international students to Oxford: a free diner and two paid-for cream teas with guest speakers. I volunteered to help host a table at the dinner and the Friday cream tea. It was a great opportunity to meet new students and welcome them to Oxford. It turned out that one of the girls at my table both days is a literature student at Worcester college.

The following week was "freshers" or "noughth" week at Oxford. This involved a number of social events to meet up with the new students in college. There are four new linguistics masters students at Worcester this year (which is exciting since I am the only one in my year).

On the Saturday of noughth week, one of my friends from primary school, Lauren Pearce, came to Oxford and I took her on a short tour around the city. She and her family were having a holiday in London after being at a family wedding in Ireland and they came to Oxford for the afternoon. We went up the University Church of St Mary's tower to get a bird's-eye-view of the city. If you've been following my blog since last year, you'll know that I have already been up three towers in Oxford: Carfax (the popular tourist one which I went up with my dad when we first arrived last year), The Saxon Tower (which I took Sarah Docksey up when she came to visit last year) and the Magdalen College tower which Prerna took us up when Maryanna's parents were here in June. After doing these four, I think the University Church tower wins the prize for having the best views of Oxford. Magdalen comes close, but the beauty of St Mary's is that it looks down into a number of colleges including All Souls, Brasenose and Exeter with their beautiful quads as well as the splendid Radcliffe Camera (which are on the whole prettier from above than the roofs of buildings). I think as an architect, Lauren particularly enjoyed seeing Oxford.

 

Term began officially on 8 October. I don't have a lot of lectures to attend this term, but there are a few that I missed during Michaelmas term last year because of timetable clashes. These include the Introduction to Philology lectures, a Homer and Early Greek class and a class on Greek Dialects. I'm also continuing to attend the weekly Philology (Historical Linguistics) seminars which are themed "Towards a synchronic grammar of Proto-Indo-European". In addition, I have weekly individual tutorials this term. So far I have been having tutorials for the exam paper I will be writing on The History and Structure of Greek. I have written an essay on the Greek Middle Voice and another on the Greek dialects. Currently I am looking at the tenses (in particular the different tense stems).

During second week, one of the American ladies from the Narnian web community I belong to, The Lion's Call, came to visit Oxford with her husband. We met at the Eagle and Child (the Inklings favourite pub) for dinner, and I showed them around Worcester College including our lovely chapel. We had considered going up to the Kilns, CS Lewis' home, but there wasn't enough time for that. The two of them had taken themselves on a tour of Oxford during the day while I was in lectures and were immensely pleased that they not only got to see where Tolkien's room in Exeter College had been, but the girl who is staying there now let them take a photo of the inside.

 

I've made a couple of great new friends in the Worcester CU. Emily is doing her year abroad, studying Linguistics and Philosophy. She was naturally "introduced" to me every time another CU member learnt she was studying Linguistics, until "have you met Sonja?" became something of a joke between us. It turns out and is also a fan of CS Lewis. Mary is a first year biology student and shares my fondness of hedgehogs. If you should hear us simultaneously break out in to a squeal of excitement or an "awww!", it's probably something hedgehog related. They are both in my CU small group together with Emma, another graduate student (yay!) doing Mathematics.

Last weekend, Tim from CU had a fancy dress birthday party with the theme "London Underground Stations". I had no idea how that was supposed to work until I looked at a list of the stations and saw Paddington on it, which made me think of going as Paddington Bear. I already had the right coloured blue coat and could get away with wearing my pink gum boots (wellingtons). I was looking for the right kind of hat, when I remembered that "teddy bear" hats are a phenomenon here. So I ended up buying a cheap teddy hat from Poundland (where everything costs a pound) and making him a red hat out of the socks I got for free on the Virgin Atlantic flight over. I bought some toggle buttons to add to the coat, and made a "suitcase" out of one of my boxes I'd used for storage when I went home. I was worried that my coat would be too warm to wear (since it was my really warm one), but it turned out that temperatures were down to 4°C that weekend, which was annoying in general, but handy for my costume. It did get a little warm indoors, but I could keep the coat on long enough for people to see my costume. One of the guys, David, also went as Paddington, but since we did our costumes quite differently, it didn't really matter.

Me (Paddington) and Mary (Chalk Farm)

Me and David (Paddingtons)

Me and Tim

Sometime over last weekend, I picked up my second cold of term (I had "freshers flu" during first week). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to shake it and am still feeling congested and coughing. Hopefully it won't last much longer.

And that pretty much wraps up the last few weeks. I can't believe we're half way through Michaelmas Term already. It's Guy Fawkes on Tuesday and the big bonfire and fireworks celebration is happening tonight, but I guess I won't be going with this cold. The Christmas lights have already gone up in the streets, though they won't switch them on until December. I suppose I should start thinking about putting up my Christmas tree again (yes, the one with the cheery fairy lights that I only took down in June). Clocks went back an hour last week, so it's now starting to get dark decidedly "early".

Until next time, I hope you are all doing well, and thanks for your continued support and prayers.

... And back again

South African winter's passed and it's back to the UK where wintry weather reigns (or rains) eternal. The break was really good. It was lovely to see the family again and meet Jackson (our new dog) for the first time. He's really lovely (except that his colliesh nature means he nips visitors' legs, mistaking them for sheep) and a good addition to the family. Somehow he recognised I was part of the family (from seeing and hearing me on skype - or recognising my smell from my bedroom?), and decided I didn't need herding.

Jackson

Everyone back in the UK is asking what I did over the "summer". I guess a (summery) summary  would be: hung out with family, especially mom, took part in the TLC Summer Challenge (in which we read through The Silver Chair in a week and wrote reflections on each chapter - if you're curious, you can read mine here), watched Olympics on TV (I saw all of our medal races), did some Greek text analysis for my thesis, read stuff for and tried to come to grips with my thesis and syntax essay topic, visited friends at UKZN (my old uni), finally went on the Moses Mabida stadium arch skycar (from which there's a cool view of Durban and the sea), watched Paralympics, went on a family weekend away to the KZN Midlands and tried to get as much sun as possible. I was most impressed that we had a couple days of over 30°C weather in August (which is still technically winter). One day even may have topped 40°.

Moses Mabida Stadium

View of Durban from Stadium

Family trip in the Midlands

Natal Midlands

I departed for the UK on 11 September (the safest day of the year to fly(?)). I decided to take the shorter, more direct flight this time which meant flying up to Jo'burg (my first domestic flight ever) and then heading from there to Heathrow where I arrived at about 7 the next morning. I preferred having one longer (11 hour) leg to two short ones (7 and 9 hours via Dubai), and I even got a teeny bit of sleep (maybe half an hour - an hour at the most). I flew on Virgin Atlantic. It was pretty nice - their food wasn't quite as good as Emirates but the service was good in general and there were lots of empty seats (including the one next to me).

I arrived in Oxford around midday on 12 September and got the key to my new room in Franks Building, which I'm very happy with, despite the higher rent. I only got my boxes back from Tam 'n Heather's place the next evening. This meant eating out for a day and sleeping in a sleeping bag at night, but that was okay.

On Friday 14, I left Oxford again (having hardly unpacked anything) as the Worcester Christian Union had a weekend away (called "House Party" - the official UK term for such CU events). We had an amazing time catching up and preparing for the year ahead, studying the bible and worshipping God. We stayed at a converted vicarage at Viney Hill in the Gloucestershire countryside (an extremely pretty part of England). One of my highlights was going through a walk in the Forest of Dean (which I believe is one of the oldest and largest forests in England). We were only on the outskirts and following well defined paths and roads. But it was still really amazing to think that when I read about such places as a child, I never dreamt I'd ever find myself actually walking in the English countryside. It was about as believable as finding myself in Narnia :-P.

The Vicarage

Forest of Dean

The walking party

Old church

I came back to Oxford on Sunday afternoon and spent most of last week unpacking, settling in to my new room and relaxing. This week I'm back to work on my Greek analyses and readings. There are still two weeks till term officially kicks off, but there are a lot of events for new students (some of which I'll be at to welcome them) so it will be a fairly busy two weeks.

Somerset

Lanacashire in the North; Somerset in the South. I'm doing pretty well touring England these holidays. For the Easter weekend I went to stay with Bethany, one of my friends from The Lion's Call, the Chronicles of Narnia forum I belong to. I was mainly looking for somewhere to spend Easter, not even knowing which county she lived in, but I ended up having a great weekend of touring around Somerset and seeing places I'd only ever read and dreamed about in real life.

On Friday, I left Oxford at 8.00 am. Since I had to switch trains in Bath, and Bethany had already offered to take me to Bath one day, we decided to meet and spend the day there before heading to her town. We started out at the Roman Baths. After having studied Classics for four and a half years, it was really exciting to see a real Roman bath complex. I couldn't help but think of the description of Quintus going off to the baths in Rome in my Latin text book. The baths were more than just a bathing and entertainment area; they were adjoined to a temple of Minerva Sullis (an amalgam of the Roman god of wisdom and her Celtic counterpart). They had uncovered some of the remains of the temple and the sacrificial altar which (like the altar of burnt offering in the Jewish tabernacle) had been located in the courtyard of the temple. After that, we went to the Jane Austen museum in Bath. It is located in a house that is very similar to the one she lived in with her family (the actual house is privately owned). It's a smallish museum and we had a brief talk on the history of Jane Austen and her family and her connections with Bath. The museum had various displays about what life would have been like in her day. We got to try on some 18th C bonnets.

After a toasted sandwich lunch at a small restaurant/pub, we wondered around town, visiting various shops. At around 5.00 we headed back to the station to catch the train to Bethany's town. She lives with her dad Simon, sister, Abigail, and their black spaniel, Ollie. It's the first time I've had a dog to pat since leaving home and Ollie looks a lot like our Juliet, with longer, curlier hair. I'm pretty sure Julie has some spaniel in her though her face is very clearly dachshund.

Roman Bath

Roman Bath

Temple Pediment

Reconstruction over remains of altar

 

       Jane Austen bonnets

On Saturday, Bethany and her dad took me to Glatonbury and Stone Henge. To understand the significance to me of visiting Glastonbury, you need to know a bit about my interests in King Arthur. During high school, I read a series of book by Stephen Lawhead called the Pendragon Cycle. They are set in the dark ages of Arthurian Britain. Much of the story takes place in Glastonbury (the "Glass Isle") where the Fisher King (an Atlantean survivor and Merlin's grandfather) sets up a kingdom with his remnant from Atlantis. The later books are about Merlin and Arthur himself. These books led to a phase during my high school career when I was really interested in King Arthur and the history of the legend. This culminated in me doing a research oral (speech) on him for English class in Grade 11. Outside of the book series (which is rather imaginative in it's links with Atlantis), Glastonbury has long been associated with the history of King Arthur and of early Christianity in Britain.

The old Glastonbury Abbey (occupied between the 7th and 16th centuries) is associated by legend with the site to which Joseph of Arimathea supposedly came, bringing Christianity to Britain long before the first Roman missionaries arrived. In the grounds of the abbey, is a thorn tree that was said to have been planted by Joseph himself from his staff. The current tree is a descendant of the original. We happened to arrive at the tree while a tourist guide (in Saxon dress) was explaining to his tour group about it. He said one of the interesting things about the tree is that genetic tests have shown it is not of the local thorn variety but more closely related to the type found in Palestine. It is possible that it was brought over during the Crusades to substantiate the legend associated with the place. Another interesting thing about the tree is that is is said to flower every Christmas and Easter. We were there on Easter Saturday and while it was not in full bloom, it was certainly flowering. Of course this is not unusual since it is spring. The tour guide claimed, however, that he has been there at Christmas time and that it does flower then.

Glastonbury Abbey Ruins

Lady Chapel (site of first church)

Glastonbury Abbey Ruins

Joseph's Thorn

In addition to the legends associated with Joseph of Arimathea, there is a site within the abbey where monks digging in the late 1100s claimed to have found a cross with an inscription declaring that this was the burial place of King Arthur. A coffin was also supposedly found with bones of a very tall man and a woman. Both have long since been lost and it is largely thought to have been a hoax (the abbey was in need of money), although it seems there was a real (forged) cross and coffin which have both been lost. The cross was lost in the 18th century but pictures of it remain.

The town of Glastonbury itself is quite strange. It seems to be a tourist centre for New Agers and every second shop is a fairy or crystal shop or the like. I imagine this has something to do with the legendary status of the town and possibly the connections of Merlin via King Arthur. So skirting the shops and town, we made our way to the abbey. The ruins of the abbey are quite substantial, the abbot's kitchen being the most complete section. After a picnic lunch in the grounds of the abbey (in a light rain shower that had kindly stayed off until then), we made our way to the Glastonbury Tor.

Ruins

King Arthur's grave

Abbot's kitchen

Picnic spot

Arthur's cross

The tor is quite spectacular, and a steep clime but well worth it. It has a good view of the Somerset plains. Historically, the plains would flood, making the tor an island. Even today, there are canals draining water away as part of the plains are below sea level. At the top of the tor, is a tower. This is the remains of the church of St Michael that was located on top of the Tor. The tor in it's island state has been associated with the legendary Avalon.

Glastonbury Tor

Sommerset Plains - view from Tor

At the top

St Michael's Church

After descending the tor, we left Glastonbury and made our way to Stone Henge. It is no longer possible to go right up to the stones but there is a marked of area and path surrounding them which make for good viewing. We were unable to get audio commentary devices as they had run out of English ones. At the time we thought that rather odd, but there were many American tourists who were clearly using the Easter weekend to make their visit. The stone circle seemed slightly smaller than I'd imagined but I think that was partly because of the distance we were from them. Interestingly, there is a kind of lichen growing on them, making them a lot greener than I would have thought. We saw two types of "wildlife" near the site. Crows, actually sitting on the stones, and sheep being herded nearby. The sheep are apparently a common site as the tourist shop was selling mugs with pictures of the stones and sheep among them. Apparently someone thought it would be funny to sell tourist paraphernalia with the motto "Stone Henge Rocks". It doesn't strike me as particularly appropriate, however.

That evening we had take-away chips. Bethany had the more usual fish with hers but I decided to try battered sausages, apparently a "thing" here. We also watched on DVD How to Train your Dragon, one of those films I've been wanting to see for a long time, but had never gotten around to.

On Easter Sunday we started out going to Bethany's church, an Elim Pentecostal. After that, we took a trip down to the coast and I got to see an English beach for real this time ;-) We went to a nice pebble cove known as Lulworth Cove, with chalk cliffs. The sun came out while we were there which was really nice. After that we walked across to Durdle Door. It was the second steep walk of the weekend but worth it again for the view. Durdle Door is a limestone rock formation carved out by the sea

Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove

Looking back on cove - walk to Door

Durdle Door

Bethany was working on Monday morning so I headed back to Oxford. I had to catch three trains. Unfortunately I had a 40 minute wait at one of the stations (with the trains running on bank holiday services) but it was nice and cosy inside the station. I managed to make all my connections and arrived back in Oxford around midday.

In all it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Great thanks to Bethany,  Simon and Abigail for putting me up for the weekend.

Bethany and Simon outside house

Ollie

At Lulworth

Eric the Red

Fond Farewell

Disclaimer: most historical, geographical and other facts are written from memory of things I've heard and read and may not be thoroughly accurate. Please don't quote me on them ;-)