Ready, set, ......

.......goooooooooooooooo......

So I went to the annual tortoise race at Corpus Christi College yesterday. You know, the usual! It was pretty funny; their was an older "Master of Ceremonies" and as he started to announce this music like Chariots of Fire came on. I guess they were pumping up the tortoises-those poor things didn't really seem to know what was going on. There were about 15 tortoises in the "race" which were accompanied by their "trainers" who went around and said how old their tortoise was and what their fastest time was. The first one was Zoom and his record time was 10 minutes. HA! One of the tortoises was 70 years old! There was also one human participant with a big tortoise head and he had to eat a head of lettuce before he could start racing. So they all started with their backs together and then let the tortoises loose. Zoom lived up to his name and went dashing for the lettuce. But just when he was about to win he turned sharply to the left and was just kind of wandering right next to the lettuce. So some other tortoise took the glory. The "Master of Ceremonies" came over to where I was standing (where Zoom had taken a sharp left turn) and literally said "did Zoom stop short of the lettuce?"  These are words I thought I would never hear! So poor Zoom didn't win and I can't remember the name of the tortoise who did. Enjoy the pictures! I love the one guy who is whispering motivational cheers in his tortoise's ear. :)

Island Living

This weekend I went to the Isle of Wight with Tom and a couple of our friends. It was gorgeous and we got really lucky with the weather. We drove through the New Forrest to get there and there were ponies, donkeys and cows just hanging out by the side of the road. At one point we had a face off with a Shetland cattle (like those cute cows with the furry bangs that I saw in Scotland) I'm trying to get my camera and not really realizing that it is a bull with big horns and Tom is like, um, we should probably go. :) We went on a really long hike on Saturday that was gorgeous. We walked right past a heard of cattle and I got a little nervous and wouldn't look them in the eye. We hiked through gorgeous countryside and then had lunch outside at a pub in this little town that had a jazz festival going on that day. We fed trout during lunch which was awesome. You could buy fish food from the pub for 50 pence. Sunday we had another nice hike and headed back. It's kind of hard being back at work today. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Before and after...

Ascension Day is the only day of the year when people are allowed on the lawn of the front quad. A class from a local school comes to catch the pennies that our students throw from the tower. The kids were so cute. Apparently, they threw £30 worth of pennies off of the tower. (so basically 3,000 pennies) I know you like my math skills! :) Here is a before and after shot of the kids waiting for the pennies to be thrown.

Only in Oxford

I hear myself saying this phrase a lot. I've had two "only in Oxford" situations this week. My first one occurred this morning when I received an email from the porter in the lodge that asked me to kindly remember to park my bike with the staff bikes and not with the fellows' bikes. I forgot I was a lowly staff for a minute. Shame on me! The second is when I was asked to take pictures and witness a Guinness World Record scrabble attempt by one of our students. Apparently, he will simultaneously be playing 75 opponents at the same time. Good times!

Ascension Day...you know the usual

Just your usual Thursday in Oxford...


Thursday 9th May (tomorrow) is Ascension Day and there will be much going on in College to which you are all welcome. Much of what will happen is unique to Lincoln so well worth witnessing:

 

9am Sung Eucharist in St Michael at the Northgate (The College Choir will sing Victoria Missa O Quam Gloriosum and Finzi; God is gone up)

 

9.50am The Beating of the Bounds. The Parish will gather outside the Church to mark the boundaries of the parish, these markers are found in places as varied as the City Hall and Marks and Spencers.

 

12 Noon the Boundary Marker outside Hall is marked.

 

At around 1pm pennies will be thrown from the Tower in Main Quad to children who will have gathered on the lawn.  Ivy Ale will be being served.

 

7pm The Choir will sing Madrigals from the Tower.

Too hot to handle

So I just saw a title for a headline that said "scorching hot weather over the bank holiday weekend" Bless the Brits-it is going to be about 70 degrees out and they consider it scorching!!! Just thankful for the sun! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

May Day

So May Day was a funny thing of beauty and drunkenness. The boys choir sings at 6 am on the top of Magdalen Tower and they sound amazing. They then say grace and welcome in the spring

. It was a beautiful experience-minus the guy beside me who almost peed on me. I think he thought he was being pretty subtle and peeing in the bushes where no one could see him. He basically was on the edge of the street and did a little pivot to the right and peed on the wall which then ran down the sidewalk and almost got me. So many people are drunk because they all stay up the entire night. I on the other hand am now a super responsible person and woke up early to see it. I know you are all impressed. The one picture is of the Magdalen Tower and the other is of the Morris Dancers who have a little parade down the street and dance after the singing.