Oxford Literary To Do's

 

What to do, what to do with all that time in Oxford...

When I share with someone how I love to spend a week or more in Oxford, I can almost predict their next question - they will ask "what do you do in Oxford?"

I kind of chuckle in my head, as I can imagine myself in their mind, as one who twiddles their thumbs in a dreary Oxford with rain and stiff, studious folks sitting over pots of tea and reading books all day. To me, this is perfection (except the stiff part) and if that's all I did I would be very pleased. However...that's not what days look like. 

How do I succinctly explain that I pretty much live out my very favourite things crammed into the days I am there. Most things are literary focused - this might include (but is not limited to):

 - Browsing at all the bookshops sometimes more than 2-3 times - including Blackwell's, Waterstones, Oxfam charity shops (two locations), Bodleian Shop, St. Phillip's Books, etc.
 
- Sitting in various coffee shops enjoying a flat white and/or pot of tea whilst filling up my journal pages with scribbles, notes, poems, observations. If extra time is available, cracking open a book is absolutely possible.  This could include - The Paper Boat Cafe, Black Sheep Coffee, Jericho Coffee, Vaults & Garden, Weston Library, The Missing Bean, etc.

- Attending author talks (Oxford Literary Festival) - this year it included the fabulous sessions with Chris Riddell, Alister McGrath, and Tom Holland. Locations are as inspiring as the talks - in the Weston Library, the Divinity School, and the Sheldonian Theatre. In addition we went to a special reading of a full John Donne sermon from 1631 (60 minute sermon) given at Lincoln College Chapel by the professor Peter McCullough.

- Attending concerts/orchestra events - this includes the wonderful Lenton concerts in Queen's College Chapel and stumbling upon a rehearsal for a Spring orchestra concert in St. Mary's University Church.

- Wandering the historic and amazingly beautiful narrow lanes that weave through Oxford City Centre, just taking in all the architecture of the city and colleges. It is the most pleasurable city I have ever been in to just wander around with no actual agenda.

- Visit beautiful museums filled with collections or art, artefacts, science, natural history, manuscripts, etc. There are too many to name, but The Weston Library exhibits are always so well done, and The Ashmolean is a favourite large museum I visit almost every time.

- Entering colleges and gardens to explore and admire - dreamily take it all in and imagine myself there. Again, there are too many to name here, but there's always something new to discover.

Dreamy Oxford Spring

 

The fairest of all rivers sent a voice
That flowed along my dreams.

(William Wordsworth)

I am not sure I could imagine a more lovely example of English Spring than here in Oxford. Between the Oxford Botanic Garden and Addison's Walk in Magdalen College, the dreams of Spring are on display. Held in tension with the finiteness of their being - knowing that in a few weeks' time it will all look different.  Doesn't that make it even more beautiful? The temporary nature of nature invokes a sense of longing to be present to enjoy the present that the season provides. It's a feast for the eyes. Spring is the star of the show.

On the grounds of Magdalen College is a path that loops around the water meadow (about a mile around), with the option to veer off (over a bridge) into the Fellow's Garden. Inside the Fellow's Garden was the greatest expanse of daffodils and the Oxfordshire flower, the elusive Snakesheads Fritillary. Finding these blooms (purple heads dropping decorated with checkerboard print) is like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. But we saw large patches of them blanketing themselves along the River Cherwell. How delightful that was. I did not expect there to be so many of these wild blooms.

Whilst walking, I imagined C.S. Lewis exiting his rooms from the New Building, tramping along the paths of this walk on a quick jaunt around the water meadow in the Springtime, noticing the birds singing with eager hearts - was it in the early spring days walking these paths that he composed his poem "What the bird said early in the year"? When the days were still cold with icy winds coming across the city? 

I look across the water meadow back toward Magdalen Tower from the far side of Addison's Walk with dreamy notions, fusing the past into the present. For a short time I share this space, these paths, these trees with the past, and feel the gifts of the present. I feel privileged to be standing there. To breathe it all in. I don't want it to end.

Across the street from Magdalen is the Botanic Garden (oldest botanic garden in the UK, established 1621), a lovely place to walk around and enjoy the huge variety of plants, trees, blooms, and glass houses (filled with all kinds of warm weather forest, desert, and lush landscapes). It's nature-lovers' paradise, this area of Oxford, tucked away from the busy-ness of High Street, these locations hold some dear spots in my heart. My very first visit to Oxford with my brother included a walk around Addison's Walk and a wander around Magdalen, and included tea and scones from the kitchen eaten outside at the tables by the river (near the loading area of the punts, which can be an entertaining view point). And coming back again and again, Oxford doesn't change in that light. It holds all these charms as it did fourteen years ago. That's part of what I love about jolly old Oxford. 

Footsteps in Oxford

 

I am walking in my own footsteps along these familiar Oxford streets. The stones are wet from overnight rains and puddles form (offering mirrored reflections of dreaming spires).  The sprinkles still fall every now and then. A cold breeze dances along the ancient stone walls of buildings and swiftly cascade around corners. I feel a sense of awe every time I turn a corner with the wind, no matter how familiar it all has become for me. Familiarity still inspires awe. It is what I take with me back home when I have to leave Oxford.

Not only do I walk in my own footsteps around Oxford, but I walk in the footsteps of those from history, recent and ancient. These familiar streets were once familiar to them. I am graced with the ability to gaze upon the same stone structures in admiration, the same dreaming spires, and same buildings holdings thousands upon thousands of books. It remains unchanged since those days. I am standing in places where a shared collective movement of ideas and knowledge have fused into history. 

I am here again, feet tramping along the cobbles. A visitor, true, yet at home in many ways, as a place such as Oxford offers me all the things that could fill my days. I look at all my favourite sights with fresh eyes as if for the first time. My eyes pan the expanse in front of me wherever I happen to be. The Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Square, Turl Street, Brasenose Lane, the Bridge of Sighs, The Sheldonian Theatre, St. Mary's University Church, High Street, Broad Street, Blackwell's.

These words and names fold seamlessly into the vernacular, used multiple times daily as I become a resident for a short period of time. The city becomes my city. We greet the same people working at Christ Church as we go into Hall for breakfast. The commute for the morning is the same. Coffee shop afterwards. Favourite places for meals frequented. Browsing the bookshops and finding wonderful treasures. I breathe in the city of Oxford, watch the Spring flowers open into bloom, and pull my scarf around my neck as I prepare for another jaunt down the streets. Crossing paths with myself, I am back and forth amongst the narrow lanes. The echoes of my footsteps are particularly pronounced walking through into the old Bodleian quadrangle, where signs stand to remind everyone "silence please" for a working library surrounds you. Literally the books are on all sides, even belowground. The best reminder in the world.