A perfect night
We've been having the most unbelievable scorchers for the last four days - it's been up to 32 degrees at times! I've been sweltering in the shop, but not as sweltering as Steve has been in the hospital, which has no air-con! Probably because they're so used to it being freezing. Or because this is Bungland. Who knows.
But anyway, we celebrated the amazing weather the other night by going to an outdoor production of Romeo and Juliet at Wadham College. We went with a bunch of Kiwi friends and our new South African friends Jann-Hendrik and Sam. Wadham was stunningly beautiful, like most of the colleges, and we went out onto the velvet-soft lawn (I have no idea how they get lawns like that, but it must take a LOT of work) and sat on blankets drinking wine as the sun went down in long golden shadows. I've never particularly enjoyed watching Shakespeare, but this was absolutely sublime. The best Mercutio and Nurse that I've ever seen, and the set was beautifully simple. As the sun set and the moon rose, all these insects surged towards the stage lights, so that it looked as though there were hundreds of fireflies sparking around the 'stage'.
At the end all ten of us went to the pub until midnight and talked about everything and nothing, then we and Sam and Jani walked down the Broad in the dark and the balmy summer heat. I took my shoes off in preparation for the 40-minute walk home (only Steve and Sam had their bikes, Jani and I had bussed in and the last bus had stopped) and had one of those truly heart-stopping 'Oxford' moments - the dark, the moon, the heat, the Sheldonian to my left and the whole wide Broad glimmering in the streetlights, and the prospect of 40 minutes' barefoot walk in the fragrant night. Then the last bus pulled up and Jani and I jumped on and Sam and Steve biked home. What a night though. Steve was saying this morning that it will be a memory that sticks with us for years, and I think he's right.
Wadham College at 7:30pm.
Mercutio:
Romeo & Juliet saying goodbye...
.... and dying (if only someone would re-write it...)
The moon over Wadham courtyard as we left.
But anyway, we celebrated the amazing weather the other night by going to an outdoor production of Romeo and Juliet at Wadham College. We went with a bunch of Kiwi friends and our new South African friends Jann-Hendrik and Sam. Wadham was stunningly beautiful, like most of the colleges, and we went out onto the velvet-soft lawn (I have no idea how they get lawns like that, but it must take a LOT of work) and sat on blankets drinking wine as the sun went down in long golden shadows. I've never particularly enjoyed watching Shakespeare, but this was absolutely sublime. The best Mercutio and Nurse that I've ever seen, and the set was beautifully simple. As the sun set and the moon rose, all these insects surged towards the stage lights, so that it looked as though there were hundreds of fireflies sparking around the 'stage'.
At the end all ten of us went to the pub until midnight and talked about everything and nothing, then we and Sam and Jani walked down the Broad in the dark and the balmy summer heat. I took my shoes off in preparation for the 40-minute walk home (only Steve and Sam had their bikes, Jani and I had bussed in and the last bus had stopped) and had one of those truly heart-stopping 'Oxford' moments - the dark, the moon, the heat, the Sheldonian to my left and the whole wide Broad glimmering in the streetlights, and the prospect of 40 minutes' barefoot walk in the fragrant night. Then the last bus pulled up and Jani and I jumped on and Sam and Steve biked home. What a night though. Steve was saying this morning that it will be a memory that sticks with us for years, and I think he's right.
Wadham College at 7:30pm.
Mercutio:
Romeo & Juliet saying goodbye...
.... and dying (if only someone would re-write it...)
The moon over Wadham courtyard as we left.