It's Something New Day here in Harlaxton. Everyone in the group is off on some adventure for their free weekend. Some are going to London for the weekend. Others are heading north to Edinburgh. I'm catching a train in two hours, bound for Abingdon, Oxfordshire and my college friend, Kristin. I met Kristin at Gannon University sometime around 1979. We were both English majors, and we both worked on the student newspaper. I can remember taking several classes with Kristin, including one where we read the same Hemingway novel I'm teaching now. I've been having flashbacks to that class all month, hearing an old professor, Dr. Smith, circa 1980, whispering in my ear about some classic American novel or another. I'm looking forward to catching up with Kristin and reminiscing. It should be fun!
********
Well, here it is several hours later. Since I wrote the paragraph above, I've taken a train from Grantham to London, had a hilarious Tube ride or two to Paddington station, and took one last train to Oxfordshire. The hilarity of the Tube ride had to do with the fact that I solicited random strangers to tell me how to get to Paddington from King's Cross. I'm such a trusting little traveller. It worked, so I guess it wasn't such a bad navigational method, right? Of course, I took such a circuitous Tube route, that I almost missed my connecting train. I ran (and I mean that literally) through Paddington, and by the time I was sitting pretty on the train, I was sweaty and red faced. Charming.
Kristin met me at the Didcot Parkway station, fed me dinner at her lovely house in Abingdon, and then walked me along the confluence of the river Ock and Thames to the local pub where we spent a couple of hours laughing about our memories of college. She's signed us up for a waking tour of Oxford tomorrow that I'm really excited about. I've wanted to see Oxford for ages, but I've never made it there. She also told me some very valuable information. I should NOT be tipping bartenders in pubs. What do you know?! All in all, this has been a great day in the UK.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment