Wednesday, Jun 24, 2009
Oxford

For some reason, I did not sleep well at all last night—I mean not a wink! Could have been nervousness or excitement about the fact that after working at this for such a long time, I would finally be in Oxford again on attachment to St. Antony’s College where I have the position of Senior Associate Member for the summer. I had set my alarm for 6. 15 am but I don’t believe I slept for more than 2 hours. No wonder I was still bleary-eyed and dazed when I awoke at 5. 45 and decided to have a shower, get dressed, finish the last bits of my packing, eat my breakfast and leave.

Journey To Oxford:
It was 6. 45 when I left my Farringdon flat. I took the 63 bus from Farringdon to Fleet Street from where I boarded the No. 11 directly to Victoria Coach Station. I arrived there at 7. 30 am, well in time for my 8 am departure. The coach was empty but just before it left, I was joined by a lovely black lady in the very front of the upper deck where I parked myself and hoped to sleep once the bus left the city environs. Her name was Ranti and she happened to be an Oxonian too—she had read English at Magdalen graduating about 12 years ago. It was a meeting that was taking her back to Oxford and at the end of the chat we had en route, she offered me a lift to my new lodgings at Norham Road in North Oxford from St. Clements where she would be alighting. I thanked my good fortune at such a helpful encounter and tried to catch some ZZZZs as our bus ate up the miles.

My New Digs on Norham Road:
An hour later, we were alighting at St. Clement’s and Ranti’s colleague Cat arrived in her car. Less than 5 minutes later, I was ringing the old-fashioned pull bell at Norham Road and was greeted by the couple who run this lodging for international scholars who come to Oxford to teach or do research. Mrs. Longrigg showed me to my room—a darling little Sun Room on the ground floor decorated in pink—a very feminine room indeed. Sunlight flooded the space from the wide windows and I found myself looking into a room with a narrow single bed, a bureau-desk with a chair, a very comfortable sofa chair, an armoire, a chest of drawers, a small table with a TV set on it and yet another table with a microwave oven, and a tray for tea and coffee. Unbelievable how much furniture was stashed in this tiny room—and yet it all seemed to work. It was very English indeed, the feel of well-worn furniture that spelled scholarly pursuits. I like it immediately even though I thought the fact that my bathroom was one floor below in the basement was a bit odd—but then I did not share the bathroom with anyone and had it all to myself (which is a big advantage, I guess, though I am not the sort to spend oodles of time in a bathroom).

Getting on at St. Antony’s College:
As soon as I registered and paid for my stay, I left the house without even unpacking and rushed off to St. Antony’s College to meet Julie Irving who is in-charge of the SAMs. She too put me through the formalities but we ran into a snag when she needed a real passport sized photograph for my official Oxford University ID card without which I cannot use the library or computer facilities. Well, I had no choice but to get to the City Center (a good ten minute walk away) to have a picture taken at Boot’s. Only Boot’s no longer have this service so it was off to W.H. Smith and I was four quid poorer after I had my picture taken and printed.

Instead of going straight back to the college, however, I stopped at the Oxford Information Center to find out about travel arrangements for the next few days as I do wish to cover some local sights when I am not in the library or drafting my lecture. I found the assistant very helpful and I left with maps and time tables for local buses and trains as well as the tickets I had booked earlier on the phone for the two walking tours—“Inspector Morse’s Oxford” and “Pottering in Harry’s Footsteps”. With all this information under my belt, I headed back to St. Antony’s. But Julie was at lunch at the Buttery which is where I headed too for I was suddenly starving. One large plate of salad later, I felt deeply fortified. Julie had already given me my Dining Hall card, which allowed me to take meals in the College Hall, and I joined a large group of students and faculty for my first meal there.

The Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum:
Then, it was time to go out and explore a bit of Oxford on what was a brilliant summer’s day. Skies were a piercing blue with loads of cushiony clouds and there was just that slightest bit of a breeze stirring the leaves on the trees. Just beautiful! I recalled the last time I had traveled to Oxford in mid-December of last year when I had arrived to tour St. Anthony’s and finalize arrangements for my attachment here. How bleak it had seemed! It was dreadfully cold and rainy and the entire atmosphere was so depressing that I seriously wondered whether I would enjoy my stay in Oxford. But after just ten minutes in the city of dreaming spires, I was left in no doubt whatsoever. I am so excited to be back here again to roam the familiar streets to which I became permanently endeared in my youth that my heart is exhilarated at the prospect of spending the next few days among these beloved buildings.

The golden tone of the Cotswold stone of which these buildings are constructed glowed warmly in the afternoon haze as I found my way along Parks Road to the Oxford Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum—two of the museums that I was determined to see on this visit because, somewhat incredibly, I had never been to this part of the city before. It was an episode of Inspector Morse that had actually introduced me to this rather unconventional space in Oxford and since the museum was closed for a while for renovation and has just reopened, I was determined to make a visit there a priority.

What a coincidence that I saw two Museums of Natural History (one in London and one here in Oxford) pretty much on two consecutive days! This one too is an imposing Victorian edifice with columns and pillars and a turreted façade. Its vast central hall, just like the one in London, is filled with dinosaur skeletons though its most impressive exhibit is the skeleton and stuffed Dodo that I realized (ignorant me!) was actually a real bird and not a mythological creation! The Dodo really did become extinct—hence the famous comparison, “As dead as the Dodo!” Lewis Carol included the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland because he often brought Alice to this museum where they would pause at this very same showcase and comment on the strange bird!

But my real interest in coming to the Pitt Rivers Museum was to see the famed shrunken heads and these were at the back in the adjoining building (the front building, the older one, contains the dinosaurs and the Dodo). The actual Pitt Rivers Museum contains the anthropological collections of thousands of pieces of a man named Pitt Rivers who donated it to the University on condition that a building should be constructed to house it and that the curators of the museum should also be involved in teaching about the cultures represented by his collection. It is impossible for me to explain how varied and fascinating this collection is and, no doubt, it would take a whole day to inspect every object carefully. Instead I headed straight to the shrunken heads and gazed in awe at the five real human male and female heads in the showcase representing people who had been killed and whose heads were preserved by a method of shrinking that involved the removals of the skulls and the brains, the slow heating of the features by the use of hot pebbles, the sewing up of the mouth and other rather bizarre procedures that reduced the human heads to the size of small tennis balls—hence shrunken heads. Needless to say, these were the most popular items in the entire collection and these cases attracted many visitors.

When I finished perusing these cases, I returned to the Museum of Natural History to take in the Charles Darwin exhibit entitled “In His Own Words” which celebrates the second birth centenary of this renowned naturalist. There were loads of pictures, pages from the first edition of his Origin of the Species and other important publications and all sorts of memorabilia that would fill any student of science with delight. I spent about a half hour looking at this exhibit, then simply had to take a break somewhere as my lack of sleep had made me feel exhausted.

A Nap in the University Parks:
The University Parks provided the perfect spot and there under the shade of a spreading oak, I lay down on the springy grass, closed my eyes and took a 20-minute nap that was most refreshing and rejuvenating in the midst of a number of folks who were sun bathing. Then, I returned to my house on Norham Road and took a second 20-minute nap, awaking only at 5. 30 pm. to unpack. I was disappointed to discover that though connected to the wifi network, I wasn’t able to pick up my mail and I called my IT friend Tim in London to request him to help me establish a connection. However, despite working on this issue for almost an hour, we were unsuccessful and decided to wait until I can get help from the owners of this home, perhaps tomorrow.

Dinner and the First of Many Walks in Oxford:
Then, I dressed again and set out for an early dinner in St. Antony’s Dining Hall—I ate cod in a lemon sauce with a huge helping of peas and green beans—a very healthy meal indeed and when I was done, I badly needed to walk it off. And so I took the first of what I know will be long voyages of discovery on my own two feet.

This evening, I started off at Carfax, but before I arrived there, right outside the Ashmoleon Museum, I found myself dodging hundreds of youngsters in costume, all piling into coaches that were parked along St. Giles. None of the Halloween parades I have attended in New York City had anything compared to this riot of color and style in the costumes that these kids were wearing. There were monks, priests and nuns, flapper girls, all manner of animals and birds, even a bride (who turned around to reveal herself as a young man complete with moustache!). When I asked one of them what was going on, she told me that they were headed towards a party to celebrate the end of their freshman year at Oxford. The theme of the party was Heironymous Bosch’s famous painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights” which Llew and I had seen at the Prado in Madrid a few years ago. This explained the weird clothing! Suddenly, all these surreal scenes I was seeing around me made complete sense. Good Old Bosch! I asked the student where they were headed and she responded, “We really don’t know. None of us knows where we are going”. Ah, one of those Mystery Bus Tours! How marvelous! Oh to be an Oxford undergrad again to take in these end of term do’s–garnering memories that will undoubtedly last a lifetime!

I then walked down George Street to find out where the bus stops are for the trips I shall be undertaking in the next few days. Then, I continued on the same street to a part of Oxford that I had never seen before—the Railway Station as I needed timetables for a journey to Stratford-on-Avon and back. That task accomplished, I took another unknown path, past the Oxford Castle (which I saw for the very first time) and arrived at the mall shopping area (of course, all shops had closed for the day) which I do not believe existed when I was at Exeter.

I was aiming to reach Christ Church Meadow for a stroll to the banks of the River Thames (which is called the Cherwell–pronounced Chawell—in Oxford). But it was already close to 9 pm and the Meadows were due to close in five minutes. I decided that I would return earlier on another evening and instead sneaked my way into Christ Church College to hear Old Tom, (the bell in Tom Tower) toll 101 times at exactly 9. 05 pm. This was a real hoot and I recalled a scene from the film Chariots of Fire where a group of Oxford undergraduates attempt to race around the quad five time before the bell finishes tolling 101 times! I also had the opportunity to take in the magnificent fan-vaulted ceiling above the staircase that leads to the Dining Hall which is one of the finest in the city—though I know that this is probably on the Harry Potter Walking Tour as it became the model for the Dining Hall at Hogwarts, I was glad to have this opportunity to take pictures of this largest of Oxford Quads from many different angles and in rather good light, considering that it was past nine. This is, to my mind, one of the best parts of summer in England—the fact that daylight can still be discerned close to 10 pm!

Then, I decided to get back home and as I picked my way along Banbury Road, I thanked my lucky stars that I have been handed this marvelous professional opportunity to return to Oxford after 22 years—this time not as a student but as a scholar—and to walk in the footsteps of my youth. The city is gorgeous—as glorious as I can remember—and I know that the next few days are going to make me feel as if I am in Heaven!