everywhere is balanced there like a rainbow above you

[This is the tale of Wednesday, my second day in Oxford. Also, I've now added lots of pictures to the post about my first day at Oxford, so please go and have a look!]

After I did my writing on Wednesday morning, we were going to go and tour around various Oxford places, and then go to the market and meet Steven there (Jane’s crazy friend from Singapore, the one who barked like a dog in the previous post…) and then go to Evensong at Christchurch Cathedral and then eat dinner with Steven at Christchurch because it’s his college.
This was the plan, but it took us longer to get out the door than we thought so we just went right to the market, and were a little bit late, but Steven was just wandering around paying no attention to the time so that was all right.
The market was outside, and full of all kinds of things – fruit and fabric and books and jewelry.

We wandered about and spent a long time at the used book place, looking through the books old and new for treasures.

I knew that I would know when I found the right book(s) to buy, so even though there was a book that was a reprint of an old book of Celtic fairy tales, it wasn’t right, and neither was the book of stained glass patterns, even though it was so pretty. So I kept looking. And then I found a little blue hardbound book – The Woman in White. It was a serial story that had run around 1900. And that was right. And I found an old recipe book, but I don’t know what year it’s from because the page was torn, but it has recipes for lots of old English things, the kind of things you read about people making in books.
I also bought a large red book called The Miser’s Daughter that sounded very interesting when I read the beginning and also had illustrations.
So after I pulled myself out of the books, I found Jane and Steven buying fruit, and joined them.

Jane and I walked back to the MCR to drop off the fruit and books so we wouldn’t have to carry them around all day, after telling Steven that we’d meet him for Evensong at Christchurch. So we went back, and dropped off the things and had tea.
Jane took me around some other places in Oxford after that – to the Bodleian library and the Radcliffe Camera, and some other beautiful buildings that I don’t recall the name of.

Jane wrote out this sign!

We made it back to Christchurch in plenty of time, and got the porter to let us into the college – Jane unconsciously switched into an English accent, which is what usually happens when she wants to ask someone a favor, and waited for Steven. He came right on time, and we went into the cathedral.

[This picture was actually taken on a different day, as it was both too dark and too solemn for picture taking that night. But it's the same place.]

It was smaller, I think, than Peterborough cathedral, but sort of warmer – maybe because it was candlelit. And a man who was sitting on the end of a row – the rows face in toward each other – let us in because there were three seats. And then we sat softly, and the man made sure I knew which book to use. And we waited for the choir and clergy to come in.

They walked in, all in their robes, and we stood up, and then when they had taken their places they sang the beginning of the liturgy.
It was all sung, and on the hymns the choir – all men – sang in such soaring interwoven harmony that it was as though we would fly.
I like kneeling in church. I am more a Baptist in theology than in practice, I think. Of course, I also like dancing in church, so…
The man next to us bowed his head when they said “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,” just like the monks did at the monastery in Three Rivers. I wanted to ask him where he found that practice, but I was too shy.

After Evensong we went and waited in the entry of Christchurch Hall where dinner is. And then when it was time they opened the huge wooden doors.

And oh my, what a place! So big and dark and full of candles! And three long rows of tables, and Steven took us right up to the far end of the first row, and there was the high table! And that’s where the professors sit!

They came in also and sat down, and I thought I had surely been transported to Hogwarts. There were poppyseed rolls and butter there for us (real butter; it’s always real butter in England), and I was very hungry and ate mine quickly. And just as I was telling Steven that I felt like I was at Hogwarts and that the plates were magically going to appear, a plate full of food was set under his inattentive nose by a swift and graceful server.

“Like that,” I said, laughing. It was the appetizer course of breaded mushrooms and tomato and lettuce salad, and it was very nice. When that was done, they swept it away, and we waited for the main course. When the main course first arrived, I found it amusing

but it turned out that the side dishes were to be served family style from dishes they set right afterward.

Bangers and mash, what-what? Quite.

Did I mention last time that English sausages are much nicer than American ones? And the mashed potatoes were excellent. And I even liked the onion gravy/sauce/whatever it was.

They brought out more sausages for us after Steven requested them, but I could only eat my two.

Steven was wearing his Oxford robe and looking very Hogwarts-y.

Jane and I:

Then, a sort of raisin bread/cake, with warm vanilla custard to go over it, for pudding.

The whole time I kept turning and staring at the high table. I kept thinking I would see Dumbledore or Madame Trelawney.

Oh, and there was a sweet little girl, about eight I would say, who was sitting next to me. She spoke with an English accent but the lady she was with spoke with an American one. So I have no idea what their story is.

When dinner was over, and I was saying how it had reminded me of Hogwarts, Steven asked if I’d like to see the Gryffindor commonroom. I just looked at him for a moment, because he’s a dreadful tease and I assumed he was just pulling my leg.

But he said, “No, really! There’s a graduate commonroom and everyone calls it the Gryffindor common room. And it’s in Einstein’s old rooms.”

Well, this was clearly not an opportunity to be missed. So we went. And a couple of Steven’s friends were there, watching a rather funny silent movie that some other friends had made. So we watched it, too.

Then Steven took us to the study room, and we hung out in there and chatted for a bit, and I succeeded in convincing Steven to come out to “Siberia” – which is what Steven calls Summertown, the district where Jane lives, because it’s so far to the north side of Oxford – for making brownies and maybe watching a movie.
That was a merry walk. Steven is so delightfully off the wall. He says the most ridiculous and funny things, but never off-colour, and he just makes me comfortable because if he’s being crazy I can be crazy too. So I said, “I feel like singing something dramatic.” So I broke into “The Climb” but neither of them knew it and I teased Jane for living in a hole. And then Jane and I sang Reflection from Mulan and Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid.
We stopped at the MCR for a break and I don’t remember if we had tea or just sat for a bit, or maybe they had tea but I didn’t feel like it? I don’t remember. But we didn’t stay too long before continuing on to Jane’s flat. We stopped at Tesco for – what did we stop for? Steven bought orange juice… oh yeah! Of course! Eggs and oil for the brownies!
So we went back, and made brownies. They turned out very light and cake-ish instead of brownieish, and a little dry. (What did we do wrong, mother?) But only a little. Definitely still delicious. Michael was there so we gave him a brownie, too. And then we were going to watch a movie, but I was sooooo sleepy and couldn’t hide it so Michael was like “she is falling to sleep, no, no, I think we will not watch a movie.” And I was too tired to object. So after we had our brownies he headed on out and we went to bed.