A few responses to Jaime's posts

A few belated thoughts.

On the question of wave energy, there have been tide mills in operation in London since Roman times. The Romans may not have been producing electricity, but it was wave energy put to good use. According to Wikipedia, the first excavated tide mill was in Strangford Lough, which isn't far from where Ben K's Julie comes from.

About your friend, Lauren. I had always thought this was cousin Lauren (nee Callahan). From something you said about being in sophomore year together, apparently not?

Evie is welcome to make contributions to the Found Fund when she is ready. For now, I think candy is a pretty good cause. But if I bring along some candy next time, perhaps the choice won't be as difficult.

Oxford revisited

Susie, Mom and I went up to Oxford in Susie’s purple Nissan Micra this past weekend to spend the day with the Itens. As the disstupid amongst you will have surmised from the title, it was not the first time I had visited.*

*I’m reading Nicholas Nickleby at the moment. Has anyone else noticed how round-about Dickens’s style is? Instead of saying “he was thinking about Smike”, Dickens writes: “[h]e sat in a musing attitude for some time, regarding Smike occasionally with an anxious and doubtful glance, which sufficiently showed that he was not very remotely connected with his thoughts”.




Remarkably, for me, I remembered to take (and use) my camera. I had intended to post my photos in this blog, but I am prevented from doing so by my own manifest disintelligence: Tired of carrying my camera around all day like a Wally, I thought I would be Clever and slip the camera into Susie’s bag, unnoticed. But at the end of the day, I forgot to retrieve the camera. Like a Wally. By now Susie’s probably flogged it on the grimy streets of Tower Hamlets. But fear not. I’ve plundered some photos my mother posted on Facebook, so the less verbally-inclined amongst you can still follow our adventures in narrative pictorial form.

We started off with a tour of Ben’s and Jaime’s place at Wolfson College. The flat is surrounded by family-friendly facilities (including safety gates for families with small children) and beautiful gardens. And the River Cherwell meanders along the borders of it all. Inside, the flat is spacious, with a large and functional kitchen, a light, airy sitting room and roomy sleeping quarters (with a view!). (I can’t help sounding like an estate agent right now. Sorry.)

I was particularly delighted by the signs everywhere reading “RIVER DANGER”. Given that Oxford is spiritual home of mediaeval English literature, this presumably refers to the threat posed by Grendel’s mother or similar.

For lunch we walked to the King’s Arms, one of the better pubs for food in the centre of town. I wasn’t about to repeat the mistake of a fortnight ago, when I marched everyone into the wilderness but failed to produce the fish and loaves. The King’s Arms proved a good choice, although curiously everything was served with salad on top. Including the pizzas.

While hovering outside the pub before continuing our tour of Oxford someone spotted a 20 pence piece on the ground beneath one of the picnic tables. An ingrained sense of social decency prevented any of us from collecting it for the Found Fund, as this would have involved crawling on hands and knees beneath a table full of revellers and physically lifting someone’s shoe out of the way. In anticipatory compensation for this failure, the Itens had produced a 10 Euro cent piece. (This has been noted in this week’s draft report to head office.)

We toured Oxford, stopping in at the Turf Tavern and the Bodleian library (pictured), and going round Merton College, where we saw Mob Quad (pictured), Fellows Quad (site of the annual Merton Time Ceremony), and the gardens. After this we visited the Covered Market for coffee, and then made our way back to Wolfson to crown our visit with a game of Pooh sticks and a tour of Wolfson’s grounds.

Flat for sale + I'm up to date

No, it's not snowing here at the moment, though it is pretty cold. But it's a nice picture.

I'm selling my flat. Or at least listing it. If you want to see the most perfect flat. In the world. Ever. You'd better see it soon. I know I've uploaded this photo before.

In other news, I read everyone's most recent blog entries. I can particularly recommend Brad's last two, and Jaime's, too. What's up with Jennie and Ben and Ben? At least post a couple of amusing pictures.

Found

Those of you who have any regular contact with Julie’s father, Barry, will be aware of the significance of the Found Fund. Instituted some nine years ago, the Found Fund is the brainchild of Barry and his friend, Ian, and it is dedicated to putting ‘found’ money to good use. Each Wednesday Barry and Ian meet to compare their findings for the week, and once or twice a year they select one or more charities to donate their cache to.

The rules are simple, but rigid. Only money which is genuinely ‘found’ may be accepted. ‘Found’ money may include coins (and smaller notes) found on the pavement or in the road, pennies at points of sale (in shops), money which has fallen behind the seat on an Underground carriage and any other money where the owner genuinely cannot be traced. Donations cannot be accepted. Money which falls from the pocket of the person in front of you in the queue is not ‘found’. And £10 notes found in the back of a taxi, alas, should be given to the taxi driver.

Over the past nine years, Barry and Ian have raised (literally) over £900 ($1,800) for various charities through the Found Fund.

This last month I was admitted to associate membership of the Found Fund, London branch (I would scan a picture of my certificate, but I don’t have it handy). In the past four weeks, I have found over £9.49, as well as $0.01 (Canadian), €0.05 (Euro) and 0.20 Mauritian rupees. I’ve done this with the help, increasingly, of two colleagues at work who have joined in the effort.

Finding money is addictive. It is also competitive. I walked out at lunch on Tuesday with one of my colleagues, looking for coins. I spotted a 5p. She didn’t.

So, if you would like to join the ranks of the shameless filthy street grubbers, let me know, and I’ll funnel your legitimately found money to HQ in Bangor. I always credit my sources.

In response to Jaime and Mandy

It’s not just the Canadians who are outcasts, Jaime. You'll discover that you will be deprived of US sites when in the UK, too, not surprisingly. But on the other hand you’ll have the BBC iPlayer, which is super cool, and not available outside of the UK!!

Mandy, the only other pictures in my workplace are shown here. I just liked that picture of you.

For Jaime

If we have the same calendar, Jaime, I don't know what that says about your veggie credentials...

For Mandy

Ok, I probably missed the reason why we're all being so nice to Mandy. Not that we shouldn't be nice anyway. But not to be left behind, here's a photo of my desk at work.