Friday, September 23, 2016
OxfordBits and Bobs: An Amazingly Varied Second-Last Day in Oxford
I had the best day in Oxford today!
Seriously! Each day seems to have been better than the former, but today,
somehow seemed exceptional.
Morning Chores and Rituals:
I awoke at 6.00 am, as usual, which is
wonderful because it is amazing how much I manage to accomplish even before the
sun is up and while everyone else is having a lie-in. I washed and started on
my chores for I had a heap to do in preparation for my departure—alas, all good
things have to come to an end.
So first off, I did laundry and while the
machine was running, I blogged. When that was done, I sent off the scholarly
essay to the academic journal—the one on which I have been working for the past
few days. Next, I caught up on email—work-related and family-related. Next, I
chatted with my Dad and my brother Russel in Bombay and got all their news.
When the machine stopped running, I
organized my breakfast—the last two pieces of bread went into the toaster and I
ate them with jam and coffee: once again I am trying to finish up things in my
fridge. Simple but satisfying. When that was done, I got out the drying rack
and laid out my laundry for drying. Most of it was quite dry already but I
decided to wait an hour before I ironed out the heavier ones,.
Next, I had a very important call to make
to Virgin Media regarding my UK phone. I was worried as I had an issue to
resolve with them and I have to say that I had the most splendid service from
their attendants who patiently helped me out with my problem in the most
courteous way. By the end of a 20 minute call—and they offered to and did call
me so that my phone charges were not accumulating—they resolved my problem to
my fullest satisfaction and brought me the peace of mind that had been alluding
me for the past couple of days. A million thanks, Virgin Media and Mr. Branson:
you will have my undying gratitude forever.
More
planning for the day ahead was accomplished before I returned to the kitchen to
take charge of the ironing board and do a spot of ironing. Most of my lighter
tops were all ready for the next phase of my journey to London and thence
forth. The heavier leggings and my windcheater I laid out for some more
sunning. Because yes! The sun was out! After three days of overcast skies, I
greeted it like an old friend…and all the more because I did want my clothes to
dry. One of the things I have discovered about the UK (that we take for granted
in the US) is that few people have a dryer in their homes. They have washers
but they place their damp washing out on lines to dry in their gardens or they
use drying racks indoors to get the job done. I don’t recall how long it is
since I have dried my clothes in this way. When I had lived in London, a few
years ago, I had a combo washer-dryer in my kitchen, so I never needed to use a
rack. Next door, there is a major renovation project going on as my hosts’
immediate neighbor recently passed away and her children, who had inherited the
home, have decided to flip it before putting it on the market.
Oxford Real Estate:
I am astonished by the price of real
estate here in Oxford—prices have gone up so much that these houses in modest
Grandpont (a 10 ten minute walk south from Christ Church College along the
Abingdon Road) which were once considered working-class housing for the staff
of the Oxford colleges, are now the most coveted bits of real estate by yuppies
who are flocking to live in the chic university town. Their recent wealth
acquisition has caused prices here to skyrocket so much so that this little
terraced house (row house) that has three small rooms downstairs (a spare bedroom
that I occupy, a living room and an eat-in kitchen) and two small bedrooms and
a bathroom upstairs are now on the market for 575,000 pounds. That is pounds, people!
So it is the equivalent price of homes that in Southport, Connecticut, would include a
family room and a separate dining room, a large eat-in kitchen, a study,
another full bathroom and a half-bathroom (or powder room) and a deck with at
least a quarter acre of property. Hard to believe!
The street on which I am staying—as I
said, modest working class housing in the Victorian Age when it was built—houses
the renowned novelist Margaret Drabble just a few doors down, and then two doors
down from her, lives the mother of Cheri Blair, former First Lady of the UK! So
there you have it: I am on a street in which celebs live!!! Wow! I have
absolutely loved my time here and despite the knocking and hammering that has
gone on next door as the refurbishment continues (since I am out before the
workmen arrive and do not return home before their departure, but for one day
when I worked at home in the morning), they have not bothered me at all. What’s
more, there is a meadow at the back of the house in which dogs and their
walkers start their day and which the sun’s rising rays gild warmly each dawn. Just
gazing across that meadow from the upstairs bathroom window makes me feel
spiritual. And not a few feet away, is lovely Hincksey Park with its duck pond,
prancing dogs (some off leash) and the delighted shrieks that emanate from the outdoor
swimming pool. Truly, this is my idea of England and I have reveled fully in
it!
After a shower, just a little later, I
left my house. Today, I did not make or carry my own sandwiches because I
thought I would eat a Full English Breakfast as advertised in the restaurant of
The Mitre Hotel that is at the end of Turl Street and the High Street—that would
be my brunch. So, off I went, along the Thames Path (that I am also delighted
to have discovered) picking and eating blackberries and pausing to take
pictures of Folly Bridge and other vistas that greeted me. It is little things like
this that fully lift my spirits when I am in England and make me feel as if I could
stay here forever.
Coursing Through Oxford:
I bought the postcard from the shop I have
been promising myself I will visit and then here, roughly, is how I spent my
last day in the university city:
1. Stepped
into Alice’s Shop that has sprouted
for Lewis Caroll fans who make a pilgrimage to it in the same way that I go to
Morse and Lewis locations. Caroll was a mathematics don and his stories grew
when he went boating on the Thames with Alice Liddell, daughter of the Dean of
Christ Church College which is right across the road.
2. Into
the restaurant of The Mitre Hotel on Turl
Street for breakfast. Alas, it was 11.45 and they stop serving the Full English
at 11.00! Well, then, I would return on the morrow…
3. Attempt
to get into the Bodleian Library’s Duke
Humphrey’s Library. Highjacked as there was a massive Hollywood shooting
crew at the venue and Radcliffe Square was closed to through traffic. Lots of
people milled around with cameras trying to catch a glimpse of Mark Walberg who
was shooting a sequence for Transformers—the
next edition! I am unfamiliar with the action-packed film series as it is not
really my cup of tea.
4. Walk
around the Square to get to the Bodleian. On the second floor, where Duke Humphrey’s Library is located, I
discovered that I am not allowed inside unless I check my bag into one of the
lockers below. It is a magnificent medieval space. While the Radcliffe Camera
where I have been doing my research for the past two weeks was built in the 18th
century’s High Baroque vein, this is Elizabethan—and to proclaim that fact
there is a bust of Thomas Sackville of Knole House in Kent, favored courtier
and adviser of Elizabeth I. I decided I would get back again tomorrow after I
have left my bag behind. This is the most filmed space among the Oxford
libraries and has stood in for the library at Hogwarts in all the Harry Potter
films and in one episode of Morse and one episode of Lewis. No photography is
allowed, however, so a trip to the Bodleian Library Shop was next.
5. Visit
to Bodleian Library Shop to buy
postcards of Duke Humphrey’s Library and the Radcliffe Camera. Came out with a
Thank-you card for my hosts and a Welcome to the UK card for Chriselle (who had
arrived safely in Scotland and was enjoying a whirl around Edinburgh).
6. Visit
to The Museum of Science. This museum
is free and I have been promising myself I will go in here. Today I did. It is
a small museum: a basement, and two floors, but the building is of great
significance as it was the original Ashmolean Museum—before the grand
Neo-Classical edifice was built. Inside, the biggest attraction is Einstein’s
blackboard which still carries an equation in his own handwriting based on a lecture
he was invited to deliver at Oxford in 1931. There are also dozens of
astronomical items, astrolabes and the like and, for science geeks, this would be
Paradise. I took in a few of the more interesting items and left.
7. Hunger
pangs were beckoning by that point—it was almost 2.00 pm. So in I went to Sainsbury and bought myself a baguette
with chicken and bacon. It was huge—I ate half of it while sitting on the steps
of the Martyrs Memorial overlooking the Ashmolean and the Randolph Hotel (something
I have also been promising myself I will do).
8. Went
into Marks and Spencer on Queens
Street to buy a dessert for my former landlords, the Longriggs who had invited
me for drinks to their place at 5.00 pm. I picked up M and S’s new Chocolate
Fondant and Williams’ Pear Tart which my friend Rose had served us for dessert
at her home, a couple of weeks ago.
9. Into
the Covered Market to try to find
some fresco paintings that my hostess Susan had told me about. Alas, I could
not find them and, when I inquired, none of the salespeople around seemed to
know anything about them. So that one mission remained unaccomplished!
10. Into
the Radcliffe Camera for two hours of
reading at my favorite carrel in the Upper Gallery. Thankfully, the film crew
was just wrapping up. I got pictures of some of the props they used—very fancy
cars, for instance. Then, into the library I went and there I stayed as a means
to carry on with my notes and reading and to give my feet some much-needed rest
(because I had been pounding the pavement since 11.30 am). It is truly the best
refuge for inside you find silence and studiousness. I can’t help looking around
at my fellow-scholars and thinking: One of these might be a future Nobel Prize
winner!
11. At
4. 15 pm, I left the library and walked down Parks Road to get to Rhodes House. This mission put me in
search of another William Morris Tapestry that supposedly hangs inside the
venerable building. Five minutes later, I was there. It happened to be the day
on which the new Rhodes Scholars of 2016 were moving into Oxford and getting
orientation tours. The sweet porter not only allowed me in but led me
personally to the tapestry. It is called ‘The Romance of the Rose’ and while
the cartoon was created by Edward Burne-Jones, its woven interpretation is by
his friend and fellow-Pre-Raphaelite William Morris by his company called
Morris and Co. It was just lovely. Although sunshine bounced off the glass
which made it difficult to take pictures, I did the best I could. I also realized
that the Tapestry was presented to Rhodes House by Herbert Baker, architect of
the building. Now Herbert Baker has an Indian connection: together with Sir
Edwin Lutyens, he is the architect of New Delhi! I was delighted to make the discovery
that Baker is the architect of the unusual Rhodes House with its rotunda and
its spacious galleries and its lovely garden behind, Meanwhile, being inside
Rhodes House, I had a chance to poke around: I saw the grand Dining Hall with
its curved High Table and its oil painted portraits of Cecil Rhodes and his colleagues
who instituted the international Rhodes Scholarships.
12. I
walked on, past University Parks and Keble College to arrive in North Oxford which is so well-punctuated
by massive Victorian Gothic houses, most in solid red brick, multi-storied and
accentuated by turrets and stairs and other charming architectural
embellishments. I loved every second of that walk especially along Norham
Gardens which was the setting for a wonderful novel I had chanced to come
across at home in Connecticut, called The
House in Norham Gardens by Penelope Lively. Because I had lived on Norham
Road myself with the Longriggs, I had snapped up the book and then given myself
up completely to the thrill of reading it. Set in a similar home to the one
owned by the Longriggs, the story unfolds when young Clare comes to live with
her ageing blue-stocking aunts in a rambling three-storey Victorian house whose
attic is filled with relics from the past that help her unravel the mystery of
their lives. For that reason, it was a thrill to walk down Norham Gardens and
arrive at Norham Road where the sunroom I had once occupied during an earlier research
stint at Oxford is located.
13. Lovely
visit with the Longriggs. They are a delightful couple, now facing old age
stoically but with the kind of dignity that comes from a lifetime devoted to
scholarship. She was a don at St. Hilda’s College, he was an English and History
teacher at the Dragon School which is right behind their home on Dragon Lane.
It is one of the best-known and regarded public schools in England, difficult
to enter and hard to pay for—annual fees run to 30,000 pounds a year! Mr.
Longrigg taught both Hugh Laurie and Emma Watson among a host of other
luminaries that have made a mark for themselves in the world, such as the
novelist Val McDarmid who wrote the series of detective novels, Wire in the Blood (the TV series of
which I have enjoyed very much with Llew). The Longriggs always make me feel
very much at home. They lay out drinks (pink rose wine that was simply
deliciously light) and nibbles that were all fish-focused as she is a staunch
Catholic (he is C of E). I discovered also that the Catholic Church in the UK
has brought back the No Meat on Friday rule with which I grew up in India (the
US has not revived it yet). Hence, there was taramasalata, potted shrimps,
whole peeled shrimp, shelled “cockles” (what we call clams in the US) and
guacamole with crackers and chips (truly a feast for the seafood lover). We had
so much to chat about, so much to catch up on. My beloved former landlords have become
dear friends and I never leave Oxford without making the time to see them. It
is links like these that bond me to such locales and make me feel the sense of ‘coming
home’ each time I visit. Of course, we took pictures (as I always do with them)
as I toured my former haunts: (my former room was locked as it is occupied by
some other lodger today), the vast dining room in which I had breakfasted each
morning with other scholars (as the Longriggs only take in academic lodgers),
the garden where I had spent many a happy summer’s afternoon. It was just the
most charming visit and I had a thoroughly grand time as we caught up on all
the happenings of the past few years as it has been three years since I last
saw them (but about 10 years since I had lived in their home).Incidentally, they informed me that homes such as theirs in North Oxford, now go for three million pounds and are being bought up by Chinese tycoons. They have a sixteen room house--four floors with four rooms on each floor! Go Figure!
14. A
Visit to St. Antony’s College was next. I have been elected to the position of
Senior Associate Member at this college (about 10 years ago) but the secretary
whom I know well has been on vacation for the past two weeks. Hence, I did not
stop in to say Hello to her earlier. However, as I will be returning here in
January to give an invited lecture myself during their graduate seminar, I took
a tour of the lovely premises and many pictures. St. Antony’s, being one of the
more recent colleges to be built, has a mixture of architectural styles—from the
older Victorian stone structure that comprises the chapel to the very modern
auditorium and buttery. It has fountains and gardens and lovely lawns (as all the
colleges do) but being secluded on Bevington Road, it also has its own
ambience. It specializes in South Asian Studies which is why my forthcoming book
shall be featured in a graduate seminar here in January.
15. Dusk
was falling rapidly when I left St. Antony’s to walk along the Woodstock Road.
I had a couple more stops to make en route.
16. Visit
to the former Radcliffe Infirmary. I stopped here to review this space
in which my beloved Inspector Morse breathes his last. In fact, Morse’s death episode
is one with which I can identify on many levels: he pontificates at the Victoria Arms pub (in Old Marsden) where I
had once taken my hosts Susan and Tony for dinner; he collapses outside the
chapel at Exeter College where I have frequently attended services; he is
declared dead in what used to be the Radcliffe Infirmary and County Hospital. A
few years ago, the area was closed down for refurbishment and I am very pleased
to say that it is very attractive in its new avatar. The Chapel of St. Luke is
now exposed as is the Radcliffe Observatory (another episode of Morse was set
here). The lovely stone fountain of Neptune in the main courtyard has been
retained although the vast parking lot has gone, its place taken by a new glass
wing. The entire place is now occupied by the Humanities Department but I am
thrilled that the original façade of the Radcliffe still stands as a testimony
to the past. Oxford now has a new hospital--the John Radcliffe Hospital.
17. A
visit to the Eagle and Child Pub.
Next door, past many Oxford churches (the First Church of Christ Scientist, Blackfriars
Church, the Oxford Oratory where I heard Mass on Sunday) is the pub that was
made famous by the Inklings—C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends who
nicknamed it the Bird and Baby. They
held weekly meetings at this pub that still commemorates their presence with
various blackboards that remind us where they sat and what they discussed.
18. Back
home along the Abingdon Road as night swiftly fell. It was dark by the time I
reached home at 7. 45 pm but I had gone through one of the most varied and fulfilling
days I have had since I came here.
I ended the day with dinner—I was tired
and hungry and intended to finish my food in the fridge. I ate the last of my
Lamb Jalfrezi with a slice of toast and devoured another chocolate éclair (I am
becoming dangerously addicted to these!) as I watched New Tricks on TV. Then, I folded up my laundry, started on a bit of
packing of my back pack and when much of it was done, I got into bed and went
to sleep at about 9.30 pm.
I looked forward to my last day in Oxford tomorrow
when I shall try to cover those bits I have not yet done.
Until tomorrow, cheerio…
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