Awake too early
This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 4am, got dressed and cycled through the dark and the early-morning birdsong to town. It's the 1st of May, and Oxford goes totally nuts on the first of May. I always wanted to see the choral singing from the top of Magdalen Tower, which is an ancient tradition and which I first became aware of from the movie Shadowlands, about 15 years ago. So I cycled in in the pitch black, parked my bike and walked down the Broad to the Radcliffe Camera, and from there out to the High and down to Magdalen Bridge. As I walked down the Broad almost alone at about 5am, I noticed that all the doves were wheeling in a great cloud in the centre of the street. The sky was lightening to purple and watching this mass of white birds alone in the street was just awesome.
The singing began at 6am and I got a good spot on the High in view of the tower at 5:15. Steve showed up at about 5:45, having slept later than me. We watched the sky pale as thousands upon thousands of people crowded into the High, doing conga lines, handing out coffee, flowers woven through their hair.
After the singing we walked down the High and watched the Morris dancers in front of the Camera as the golden light spread over the eastern sides of the buildings, then went back to Magdalen Bridge and saw a student make the traditional (very dangerous) plunge from the bridge into the muddy Cherwell, undeterred by the officials calling "When you get paralysed, don't come crying to us," and the elderly gentleman in a suit and tie in an inflatable dinghy making dire threats from the water. The BBC was there interviewing the cold and muddy non-paralysed jumpers. This was apparently the first year in the last six years that a student has not been taken to hospital with a spinal injury! The bridge is 25 feet high and the water is six feet deep, and still they jump...
Then Steve cycled off to a 13-hour day and I went wandering around the quiet cobbled back streets, listening to Lohengrin on my ipod and soaking in the beauty of Oxford. Then I had a coffee and almond croissant in a little coffee shop on the High and read Vogue. A lovely day, and all accomplished before 8am! Sorry, not much quirk in this entry, I'm too tired to be quirky.
The photo below was taken about 5:30, as everyone gathered for the singing. There were twice as many people as you see here up the High behind me.
Below: light dawning on the Camera with the Morris dancers below.
The singing began at 6am and I got a good spot on the High in view of the tower at 5:15. Steve showed up at about 5:45, having slept later than me. We watched the sky pale as thousands upon thousands of people crowded into the High, doing conga lines, handing out coffee, flowers woven through their hair.
After the singing we walked down the High and watched the Morris dancers in front of the Camera as the golden light spread over the eastern sides of the buildings, then went back to Magdalen Bridge and saw a student make the traditional (very dangerous) plunge from the bridge into the muddy Cherwell, undeterred by the officials calling "When you get paralysed, don't come crying to us," and the elderly gentleman in a suit and tie in an inflatable dinghy making dire threats from the water. The BBC was there interviewing the cold and muddy non-paralysed jumpers. This was apparently the first year in the last six years that a student has not been taken to hospital with a spinal injury! The bridge is 25 feet high and the water is six feet deep, and still they jump...
Then Steve cycled off to a 13-hour day and I went wandering around the quiet cobbled back streets, listening to Lohengrin on my ipod and soaking in the beauty of Oxford. Then I had a coffee and almond croissant in a little coffee shop on the High and read Vogue. A lovely day, and all accomplished before 8am! Sorry, not much quirk in this entry, I'm too tired to be quirky.
The photo below was taken about 5:30, as everyone gathered for the singing. There were twice as many people as you see here up the High behind me.
Below: light dawning on the Camera with the Morris dancers below.