Still in Cambridge
My friend and I took a walk from Cambridge to Grantchester yesterday, to have tea at The Orchard which is apparently this famous place where many famous people have had tea, but that I've never heard about. (Not that I'm a standard to judge by.)
I've been told there's this very well known poem by Rupert Brooke where this tea garden is mentioned which I read yesterday. I'm posting an excerpt of it under the cut which I found incredibly funny.
God! I will pack, and take a train,
And get me to England once again!
For England’s the one land, I know,
Where men with Splendid Hearts may go;
And Cambridgeshire, of all England,
The shire for Men who Understand;
And of that district I prefer
The lovely hamlet of Grantchester.
For Cambridge people rarely smile,
Being urban, squat, and packed with guile;
And Royston men in the far South
Are black and fierce and strange of mouth;
At Over they fling oaths at one
And worse than oaths at Trumpington,
And Ditton girls are mean and dirty,
And there’s none in Harston under thirty,
And folks in Shelford and those parts
Have twisted lips and twisted hearts,
And Barton men make Cockney rhymes,
And Coton’s full of nameless crimes,
And things are done you’d not believe
At Madingley, on Christmas Eve.
Strong men have run for miles and miles,
When one from Cherry Hinton smiles;
Strong men have blanched, and shot their wives,
Rather than send them to St Ives;
Strong men have cried like babes, bydam,
To hear what happened at Babraham.
But Grantchester! Ah, Grantchester!
There’s peace and holy quiet there,
Great clouds along pacific skies,
And men and women with straight eyes,
Lithe children lovelier than a dream,
A bosky wood, a slumberous stream,
And little kindly winds that creep
Round twilight corners, half asleep.
In Grantchester their skins are white;
They bathe by day, they bathe by night;
The women here do all they ought;
The men observe the Rules of Thought.
They love the Good; they worship Truth;
They laugh uproariously in youth;
(And when they get to feeling old,
They up and shoot themselves, I’m told)...
The Orchard was really nice and beautiful. The cakes were tasty, the scones even more so.
And once again we had a very sunny day. My friend's boyfriend picked us up with his car, so we didn't have to walk back (which takes about an hour). And on our way back Let's Hear It For The Boy played on the radio and me and my friend's boyfriend sang along. Very loudly. Which I found hilarious. So, all in all, I had a very fun day.
I've been told there's this very well known poem by Rupert Brooke where this tea garden is mentioned which I read yesterday. I'm posting an excerpt of it under the cut which I found incredibly funny.
God! I will pack, and take a train,
And get me to England once again!
For England’s the one land, I know,
Where men with Splendid Hearts may go;
And Cambridgeshire, of all England,
The shire for Men who Understand;
And of that district I prefer
The lovely hamlet of Grantchester.
For Cambridge people rarely smile,
Being urban, squat, and packed with guile;
And Royston men in the far South
Are black and fierce and strange of mouth;
At Over they fling oaths at one
And worse than oaths at Trumpington,
And Ditton girls are mean and dirty,
And there’s none in Harston under thirty,
And folks in Shelford and those parts
Have twisted lips and twisted hearts,
And Barton men make Cockney rhymes,
And Coton’s full of nameless crimes,
And things are done you’d not believe
At Madingley, on Christmas Eve.
Strong men have run for miles and miles,
When one from Cherry Hinton smiles;
Strong men have blanched, and shot their wives,
Rather than send them to St Ives;
Strong men have cried like babes, bydam,
To hear what happened at Babraham.
But Grantchester! Ah, Grantchester!
There’s peace and holy quiet there,
Great clouds along pacific skies,
And men and women with straight eyes,
Lithe children lovelier than a dream,
A bosky wood, a slumberous stream,
And little kindly winds that creep
Round twilight corners, half asleep.
In Grantchester their skins are white;
They bathe by day, they bathe by night;
The women here do all they ought;
The men observe the Rules of Thought.
They love the Good; they worship Truth;
They laugh uproariously in youth;
(And when they get to feeling old,
They up and shoot themselves, I’m told)...
The Orchard was really nice and beautiful. The cakes were tasty, the scones even more so.
And once again we had a very sunny day. My friend's boyfriend picked us up with his car, so we didn't have to walk back (which takes about an hour). And on our way back Let's Hear It For The Boy played on the radio and me and my friend's boyfriend sang along. Very loudly. Which I found hilarious. So, all in all, I had a very fun day.