Random Bit of Home

It’s 10:46 a.m. on Wednesday the 22nd and I’m on a train to Southampton from Oxford. Stopping in Oxford was completely unplanned, impromptu, and good for the spirit.

The original plan from Liverpool was to bus it straight down to Southampton on Sunday but I got word from the friend I was to meet that a family issue had come up and would it be alright if I didn’t come till Wednesday? What to do what to do till then!

So I called a friend who lives in Oxford, James Kanimba. I arrived Saturday evening after quite a long bus ride and had an evening to catch up with him. I then sent a text message to another James (James Appell) who lives across town in Jericho (the funkier artsier part of Oxford) to see if he wanted to have lunch on Sunday. He was totally game saying Seba was coming in, but other than that he was free.

What? Seb B was gonna be in town? From Argentina? On Sunday?! I had not expected to run into him until May when I arrive with Lydia and Lori because first week doesn’t start until the 27th. So not only did I get to have a fabulous lunch with James A and some of his house mates, I got to see Seb B.

How glorious.

We all had a delightful picnic in the park over in Jericho and Monday we all got down to business. Sort of. James and Giorgia (James A’s house mate and Seb B’s best friend from Austria’s Italian girlfriend) have 3 weeks left to finish their master’s thesis. Seb B had to move back into his room and I had paperwork for Aix-en-Provence to print out, fill out, and send out. I also shipped 19.88 kilos worth of luggage home for way too much money. I should have donated the whole lot to the Salvation Army. Ugh. I hate stuff. Things. I’m sick of having so many things. But that’s for another blog post ☺

Anyway Tuesday I swung back by HMC where more and more people were showing up. I went to visit Sue Killoran, my favorite person at HMC Ever. I wanted to give her a hug and ask to use the printers in the library (which is formally called Tate Library). I poked my head into the library office and there she was. Guess what else was sitting pleasantly in the library office? The Yucca Plant. :D It’s taller than I remember and it’s leaves are happy and lush! I could be more pleased about the Yucca Plant.

Sunday evening there was talk of flying to Spain for 3 days before I had to be in Southampton. We almost did. But reality set in and we all just decided to stay in Oxford and get some work done. We decided to take a day trip on Tuesday though. It was either going to be asparagus picking or punting. The U-Pick farm wasn’t open yet and no one really seemed too keen on punting so James A and I decided to take a short train ride to Kingham (about 25 minutes west of Oxford but still in Oxfordshire) for a country ramble.

We made 2 tuna salad sandwiches, had some hobnobs (excellent cookies) and a bottle of water. We wandered through the countryside all afternoon. We found a couple bridges over a stream or two where we threw dandelion flowers into the water to see who’s would move fastest. Best 2 out of 3. I ended up winning but it wasn’t really a competition. It was just lovely to watch little yellow dandelion flowers float down a shallow brook.
We recited children’s poetry because, why not on a beautiful warm sunny clear day in the countryside? We decided that we probably had the same book of poetry when we were little. We also burst into song quite frequently. Everything from children’s songs to hymns to Disney and many parodies as well. Wanna know a fun game? In every song that uses the word “love” replace it with the word “lunch.” It’s especially good with Beatles songs:

“Lunch lunch lunch…All you need is lunch, ba ba ba ba ba”
“Can’t buy me Luuu unch”
“And then while I’m away I’ll write home every day and I’ll send all my Lunchin’ to you”

We probably played the love/lunch game for a half an hour or more.

Some time between pinching my finger in a gate and finding a tree with roots that extended out over the widening brook that we could sit on, I got a phone call from Seb A. Where are ya, he wanted to know because he was in Oxford. A day early! I had already come to terms that I would miss him by a day so it was brilliantly unexpected!

So after wandering around the countryside all afternoon we found a very twee hotel/restaurant to have not quite a full pint. “Twee” is my newest English vocab word. It basically refers to anything so sickeningly sweet and quintessentially English. Like doilies and maybe afternoon tea parlors. James A loves the countryside but he admits a lot of it’s pretty twee. He’s from Leeds by the way and we couldn’t help but absolutely revel in the beauty of the green fields, the 2 herons we saw swoop around us, the tiny white daisies and patches of dandelions, the absence of city sounds and the fresh air.

Absolutely relaxing. Pleasant. Delightful. Delovely.

So I went for a burrito at 7 with Seb A. Ah! It was awesome! We made some tea and sat in the JCR! We went on a walk through the University Parks just before dusk! Fabulous! The whole world is awake and alive!

I couldn’t believe how beautiful Harris Manchester was. I thought it was stunning in the winter but springtime is overwhelming. The boughs of the giant tree that first greets you when you walk into the central courtyard were heavy with cherry blossom flowers. The walkways and yard were decorated with fallen pink petals and they’d blown into the doorway of Morrison.

I cut Seb B’s hair for the 2nd time. I thought about letting him cut mine, but decided to get it done in Briton with Flick.

I love Oxford. I can’t wait to bring Lydia and Lori there May 13th.

I think I’d trade my summer in France for another term at HMC.