Greetings from the depths of the Bodleian Library back at the end of March when I was spending my days collecting books to read and explore. It gives me great joy to be able to return to these amazing libraries and this history-laden city of Oxford.
I have been absent for a little bit but I'll be sharing more of my Oxford time researching and attending author talks - those ancient stone walls of Oxford lined with books and history were calling me back. So I took a trip to spend time over there, digging into the library books and the spaces, familiar to me and yet always full of surprises.
I am back at the Radcliffe Camera - to the upper level which circles the rotunda. Up here the beautiful dome is closer but still like a sky realm above, full of dreamy notions. I pick up a latte from Theo's Cafe on my way in, made in my Bodleian Keep Cup to bring up the circling stairs all the way up. But first, I grab books from the underground level (Gladstone Link) that I requested to have delivered, and carry them up to the upper Rad Cam.
I select a seat near the railing because it's early, 9:30 am, and it's not busy yet. Though we are getting close to Holy Week and the students clear out for Easter holiday, which means the libraries are not nearly as busy, much to my delight.
I had a good sleep and breakfast from my lodging in Somerville College this time. Staying in a new building only a couple years old, right behind the library, so I get to see the books in the windows as I come back to my room each night. The warm glow of the library lights brings all the cosy vibes. As I ate my breakfast in hall at Somerville, enjoying fried eggs, baked beans, hash brown, tea, and fruit, I could visualize the ghost of Dorothy L. Sayers and her friends chattering away over breakfast in the same hall, as she did her undergrad right here back in 1912-1915. Social being that she was, I can see her dressed nicely with the current fashion giggling with her friends in the all-women's college (it's now co-ed).
I walk into the center of town to get to the libraries, as Somerville is a bit north, so maybe a 15 minute walk will get me there. I do get a little bit distracted along the way. The Oxford Oratory is right next door, the best Oxfam bookshop is on the way (yes I stopped a few times), and the Ashmolean Museum is always tempting to pop into (I did pop in, but later on in my stay), but when I have a mission to get to the library for research, when I know my requested books are sitting there waiting for me, I have a focus and do not dally.
That morning, I went down to the Gladstone Link, the two-levels underground and I went to search for a couple books from UBHU-M96-E, I noticed a couple days in a row the same old gentleman was sitting at a desk at the end of the movable shelves facing the wall, leaning back in a chair with a hardback book open with his one hand. He looked very content, as if he was reading a novel, and maybe it was, not a student but a pleasure reader in his tweed jacket and trousers.
I wondered if he goes there every day to read (history? theology? biography?) there in the lower level deep underground like in the quiet care of contemplation. Maybe he's just here for a couple days for meeting or the literary festival. Does he stay long? Is he an author? Is he passing the time before meeting with someone? It has me all curious, and I want to write a story about him. Maybe he's a professor. The possibilities abound.
But I have research to do, so I rotate the shelves to open the aisle, find my books, and climb up to the upper Rad Cam.
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