All In The Golden Afternoon

This past week was paramount of English perfection. We had just switched classes so our work load was not terribly heavy and the weather was not speciously beautiful nor was it dismally gloomy. Wednesday was one part sun and two parts cloud for our trip to the Trout for one part Pimms, two parts lemonade. Stevens led us all the way out of Oxford, through a kissing gate into the countryside where we were traipsing along the River Thames, dodging among cow patties. The further we walked, the more the sun seemed to shine, and by the time we reached the Trout we were quite out of breath beginning to break a sweat. We sat around picnic tables next to the river relaxing, and watching a single peacock strut around the lawn. The pitchers of Pimms were delicious and absolutely refreshing. It is a lovely honey colored drink made from a British liquor called "Pimms", flavored with lemonade and garnished with strawberries, oranges, cucumbers, and fresh mint. I can't wait to make it when I return home. Hopefully Pimms is sold in American liquor stores!

The Trout Inn on the River Thames

The next day, we were all welcome to a reception preceeding a talk by Shakespearean actor Patrick Knox, before High Table dinner. Mr. Knox was a very entertaining speaker who explained to us the differences between acting in modern-day theaters as we know them, and acting in an open-air theater such as The Globe in London. He invited a few of us to the front of the room to read lines and play parts as he demonstrated his points. He was a truly engaging speaker and I had the pleasure of sitting next to him at High Table that night. Prompted by my questions, he said that his favorite character to play was Puck from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" though he also enjoyed playing Hamlet very much. "Though he is so often depressing..." he added in an afterthought. I agreed and also said that I quite dislike Hamlet's whiny attitude and that if it is truly necessary for him to kill his foul uncle, it oughtn't take him a whole play to do so. Of course, Hamlet is one of my favorite plays by Shakespeare. I love it when the characters get under my skin so much. Hamlet and Macbeth. Ohhh, Macbeth, how I despise you so...We also discussed books, my English major, etc. I told him about how I've read a lot of older classics such as the Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost, and I'm looking forward to modernizing my studies in the upcoming semesters. We talked about Hardy, Conrad, and Keruoac. He had written a thesis on Keruoac! He told me about his book club and their current project: Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna, about Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Trotsky. Mr. Knox was rather unfamiliar with Frida Kahlo and listened as I described her horrible medical condition and agonizing emotional instability with a husband such as Rivera. It was the longest intellectual conversation I had had in awhile and my head was spinning by the end of it, but it was such fun!

We traveled by bus to London on Friday morning to spend a few hours in the city before a showing of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" that afternoon. Mary Frances Dunlap and I wandered around Burrough Market for hours sampling cheeses, and olives and just enjoying the bustling atmosphere of the market. For lunch we ate veggie burgers and salads (once again taking advantage of the plethora of available vegetables), and I also bought some olives to snack on later and some olive leaf tea to bring back home.

Produce at Burrough Market

The production at the Globe was fantastic! The wives of Windsor were very merry indeed and had the audience laughing the whole time. It was really neat to be in a bright, open-air theater, able to the audience members, the set changes, etc. The actors must really project to be heard throughout the entire theater. At one point a helicopter flew over The Globe and the players were practically shouting! At least in Shakespeare's time they did not have to worry about aviation disturbing the show. I am quite glad I invested in a cushion at the beginning of the show as three hours is a long time to sit on a hard wooden bench.

Inside Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

We returned to Lincoln College for an amazing pizza dinner in the Junior Common Room. Many of us hadn't had pizza in months and we ravenously devoured fifteen boxes of pizza in a half hour. Although it was a Friday night, some of us were not really in the mood to go out to pubs and clubs so we stayed in the JCR and watched Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday. Watching two and a half hours of the Colisseum, Mouth of Truth, and gelato made us so excited for our visit to Rome on the continental tour!