Quick post
Just a quick post because the household is going to bed and I need to be quiet and not tippy-tapping all over the show - our friends Michelle and Alex are staying with us for a week or so and today was their first day in Oxford. They went flat-hunting and then I took them down to the Isis at 5pm where the finals of the Oxford Eights were happening. The river was full of brightly coloured boats and rowers, with crowds of students overflowing the college boat houses.
Eights is an elaborate system whereby you have to bump the boat in front of you, then they're out and you're in and this goes on until there's a supreme winner. It was incredibly boisterous and complicated and English - as was the cricket team in gleaming whites unconcernedly playing a match in the field adjoining the river. Then we saw a duck building a nest with a styrofoam Big Mac container. So you know, a day of spectacle all round. Here's a clip of the men's final, the last race of the day.
It's been the most beautiful stupendous weather, hot and golden and I had to go out and buy two pairs of sandals this morning so I could wear a skirt finally. Then we went to the pub with M&A and two other Kiwis, and had battered cod and hot toffee pudding then walked home through the pink and grey sunset. A great day.
Eights is an elaborate system whereby you have to bump the boat in front of you, then they're out and you're in and this goes on until there's a supreme winner. It was incredibly boisterous and complicated and English - as was the cricket team in gleaming whites unconcernedly playing a match in the field adjoining the river. Then we saw a duck building a nest with a styrofoam Big Mac container. So you know, a day of spectacle all round. Here's a clip of the men's final, the last race of the day.
It's been the most beautiful stupendous weather, hot and golden and I had to go out and buy two pairs of sandals this morning so I could wear a skirt finally. Then we went to the pub with M&A and two other Kiwis, and had battered cod and hot toffee pudding then walked home through the pink and grey sunset. A great day.