A Spell of Good Luck

Since I've written last I've been exploring London, then in Bath, and now in Oxford. This weekend was a story of luck--or, in other words, ending up with (mostly) terrific experiences in Oxford despite realizing I had not done enough research at home about what to do here. This weekend, it turns out, was Oxford Open Days, a weekend set aside by the city where many of the colleges and historical sites are open to the public so that the residents have a chance to see inside the university that dominates the city without paying £3 a pop for admission to the grounds of each of the colleges.  In addition to free admission and extended hours at many sites, there were free tours (which I didn't hear about early enough to get reservations), a big band playing in All Souls College (I heard Summer Loving from Grease and a few other tunes before the band packed up at 4:30) and ghost stories in the Court Room at Town Hall (which I got to with plenty of time to get a spacious seat). I had more good luck this afternoon.  I had just resigned myself to a stool in a corner of the Eagle and Child when the table right under the plaque about JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and the Inklings used to meet to chat weekly.  Guess where I sat? Also, when I got to Christ's Church Cathedral for Evensong service, I learned that this weekend was the first weekend that the choir had returned from break.  I really enjoyed hearing them in that wonderful acoustical space! Now, not all my luck was good: today's exploration of British cuisine didn't go so well.  I ordered a 'Ploughman's Cheese Salad' for dinner and ended up with several large wedges of cheese, two onions, an apple, and a bit of lettuce on a plate.  I won't make that mistake again!