I'm Grumpy in the Rain

It turns out that all the movies are right: it rains all the time in England. At least in Oxford. I had to wield my umbrella at least five separate times today - I got slaughtered on St. Aldate's Street but it. And then everybody has so many umbrellas that you can't walk abreast on the sidewalk. And your pants get dirty. And your bag gets wet. Deep down I am still cheerful but I wish I didn't have anything else in my hand. Oftentimes it's so windy (think the scene in Sense and Sensibility where Marianne falls down and hurts her ankle and Willoughby rushes by on a great black horse and carries her in his arms...with no Marianne or Willoughby or horse...just fierce gales and pounding rain) that my umbrella will turn inside out a la Laura Dwyer.

It does make everything so beautifully green however. There are ponies that we see on our way to Wycliffe; lampposts built in the middle of a meadow. I'll put in pictures some day soon. Today I had one class and it was Fantasy and we discussed the Chronicles of Narnia and it's racism, sexism, sometimes curious theology, allegory etc. All of us were a little walking wounded because those characters have been living, breathing members of our families for the last sixteen years. It hasn't changed anything for me; I still love them. I am a little more embarrassed of the C.S Lewis-cult that Americans have. Trying to airbrush out the tweed and pipe and pint, when those were the things he loved best and they were good.

Britain's just gone Smoke Free on July First and so there is no more smoking allowed in public places which is nice for most places but it makes me sad about pubs. What are pubs but places nice old men can have their pipes? Lewis and Tollers would be outraged.

I found a nice bookstore (second hand mostly) called St. Philip's on St. Aldate's Street near Christ Church and it specialises in theology and history. Kristin, Patrick and Dr. Hartley would DROOL at this treasure hoard. I got away with Lewis's essays on fantasy and story (for a class) and some other little trinkets. But it was fantastic. This is a great city for books. How am I going to bring them all home?????