Most evenings I sit here on Jessica’s couch, after having had a lovely dinner with my people, and I wonder: what shall I write for the blog tonight? Hmmm…I know; I will ask my people.
Me: Jim, what did you like about Oxford today?
Jim: I liked the view from the, I can’t remember what that thing was called. And the, uh, streets and the ancient walls and the wide-open green fields on that one part of the walk and that river.
Jessica: All that stuff?
Jim: Yeah.
Me: Jessica, what are your thoughts? What should I write about?
Jessica: Ummm…we had good Indian food with Jen. You went to The Eagle and the Child. Don’t you have an inkling? Mother! You owe me fifty dollars for that. Just kidding. Mom, I’m not very exciting right now.
Jim: About what?
Jessica: I’m not feeling very exciting right now for her blog inspiration.
Well, that was good for a start. It got me past the blank page, anyway.
So, this morning we trained to Oxford, which got its name from the place where the oxen forded the river. Seriously. With no firm agenda and no entrance tickets, we wandered around and looked at stuff.
While inside Jim’s building with the pretty views, called the Sheldonian Theater, we were swallowed by a tour group. Strangely, this was a good thing, as we learned lots. The views were from the cupola, 114 stairs above the main theater floor.
Oxford is, as you well know, a scholarly place. It is comprised of several colleges, such as Christ Church, Balliol, Magdalen (say maudlin), Merton, Lady Margaret, and such. Visitors can tour a college, sometimes for a small fee.
Visitors can also rent a punt and punt around the river. (I just used that word as a noun and a verb. Is that okay? I’m too lazy to look it up.) Supposedly, punting is harder than it looks, but I don’t know why. These are punts:
All in all, Oxford is a beautiful town and today was a sunny, warm day. Normally on a sunny, warm day in a faraway place Jim and I would get ice cream, but neither of us was feeling it. So, we hopped a train back to Reading. Got milk, walked home, bough milkshakes from the coffee van across the street, took naps, ate Indian food with Jessica and Jen from Los Alamos. Thus, our day is done. My people are in bed. The sun has set. Good night, all.