The flight itself was uneventful but not very restful - i.e. a typical redeye flight. I arrived at London Heathrow on Tuesday morning at 10:10 AM or so - slightly ahead of schedule. The airport is remarkable easy to navigate for one of its size and it's not long before, baggage in hand - 'on back' rather - I manage to figure out how to buy credit for my phone and find my way to the bus to Oxford. The first of these endeavours is rather pointless for while I now have credit for my phone I have so far been unsuccessful in navigating the delightful German maze designed to guide me to actually activating the credit I had purchased. The second endeavour went splendidly and before I knew it I was fast asleep and on my way to Oxford.
After an hour on the bus I wake up to find myself at the Thornhill park and ride, the first of the Oxford stops and the one where I was supposed to disembark. Off I go, and since I can't call for a ride from my rather useless cell phone, I grab the payphone in the station to overpay for a free ride from my delightfully British cousin in law. The rest of the day is dedicated to not falling asleep. While recovering from jetlag as quickly as possible is a noble goal, this is an awefully torturous way to go about it. I don't recommend it.
A friend of Caroline (my cousin) and Andy's (her husband and my chauffeur) showed up at the door later that afternoon to stay for a couple of days. Sam (the friend) certainly added to enjoyable atmosphere of the house - as Irishmen are wont to do.
If memory serves, my crusade to stay awake lasted until about 9:00 PM. The surprising thing is that I was up again at 7:30 the next morning and out the door for a run by 8:30 AM the next morning (read more about that here). The rest of that day - Wednesday, in case you're keeping track - was, like Tuesday, dedicated to staying awake whilst watching as much FIFA world cup and Wimbledon as can be crammed into an afternoon.
I decided to make Thursday into my Token Tourist Day and made a trip down to London in which I was very un-tourist-like and spent a grand total of under £25 on the bus fare to and from the city and Lunch combined. I spent a grand total of £0 on anything else more extravagant than a trip to a tiny public washroom. I won't dwell more on this trip here asAttackpoint already has five whole paragraphs and a google map dedicated to the subject.
Friday was my Oxford Day. I tried to be scholarly but was told that that really wasn't necessary. And this from a couple of Rhodes Scholars too! It turns out Caroline knows Mary Eaton, the registrar to the Rhodes trust so I e-mailed Mary who e-mailed her assistant who e-mailed at least three (that's how many I heard back from) Canadian Rhodes scholars letting them know I'd be interested in meeting with them. I ended up hooking up with two of them and we had a grand old time sitting on the grass drinking milkshakes and generally coming to the conclusion that Oxford was better known for its well manicured lawns than its engineering programs.
Note the remarkably well-kept lawn, fancy college buildings and people. On the left is Annick Labadie whom I met for lunch and on the right is Wojciech Gryc who came straight from the gym for a few good laughs and a milkshake.At this point I tire of my blather. I could keep going but Attackpoint has been keeping score along the way so if you really don't feel satisfied by the measly amount I've written here see here.
Alas my taxi to take me to the bus to take me to the airport to catch my flight to take me to Copenhagen to get me to my girlfriend is due to arrive soon so I must say adieu.
Tune in again soon for the next instalment of OA.
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