when i was in the city of dreaming spires recently, i never had put my hopes up of spotting jonny greenwood queuing up for a pasty, as much i expect to catch ed vedder driving his pickup by if and when i go to seattle. i have been to oxford twice four years ago, and it was for situations where i was placed under much duress, i dare say. not in the mood for photos then. in fact, i had no blog nor digital camera then.
the last time i played tourist in oxford was in 1988 when i, along with 70-odd of my compatriots in this little-known programme, wandered along the streets and college quads in awe with our little compacts. we were then told, you must apply. there went one of the slots in our (then) UCCA forms. only 5% of us were deemed diamonds in the rough in the eyes of the colleges, eligible to don black robes for dinner and finally graduate in a ceremony spoken in a language long dead. me? i applied to john cleese’s old college in a city in the east. no prizes for guessing which one i am, diamond or rough.
we got into the city about three-ish, and i knew there won’t be enough time to really go about the town. the colleges weren’t open and i didn’t think the lads wanted an in depth view of the college grounds. suffice to say, all five of us felt how unimpressive sheffield is, compared to this place. there were a few tourists along with boxing day shoppers. the shopping precinct wasn’t much to shout about. besides, we weren’t here for that anyway. however, none of the official university shops were opened. could do with a souvenir hoodie to add to my TCD and amsterdam uni set. no, i don’t collect leather bookmarks or decorative tea fricking towels.
by the time it was dark and all was shut, it was decided that dinner was to be at the usual in nottingham.
_______________________________
some of you may know why we were so far away from sheffield that day. i think i didn’t spend as much as some of my friends. i was well-behaved. really.
happy, yet well-behaved.
