Planned But Not Really

The Bridge of Sigh above New College Lane.

Care for a Bath?

Shuttled from Bristol, Bath and Oxford in 4 days. Each city distinct from each other. It’s surprising how different people are. Something I thought I would never be able to pick up, what not being just 3 months in a whole new world. Bus drivers tell you a lot about the people in the city I suppose. With that, Notts tops all the other 3 in terms of friendliness.

Enough about people. Highlights of Bath are the unmistakable Roman Bath and the posh Victorian architecture of the residential area. Since it’s the birth place of Jane Austen, Bath pays homage to its very own literary genius. There’s a costume museum displaying costumes worn in films adapted from her novels. Min Ying and I had a go with corsets, available to be worn by visitors.

Bristol is damn hilly. Serve me right for not believing her when she said it was. Don’t lug heavy bags when traveling in Bristol by foot. We trudged uphill, mind you a very steep one, only to find Cabot Tower shut. According to Min Ying, a student in Bristol Uni, it’s the best place to see the whole of Bristol. It’s a bigger town compared to Notts, with better high streets and Wisteria Lane like houses only more formidable looking. The city itself is neither new nor world, since a lot of it was destroyed in air raids of WW2; most of its buildings are reconstructed. But Bristol Cathedral is a must see of course.

We got lucky in Oxford. Asyraf met up with his Sunway mate who’s in Trinity College. Hence, we entered the dining hall of Corpus Christi – yups! the dining hall in all the Harry Potter movies. We also went to the pub frequented by J.R.R Tolkien and C.S Lewis – The Eagle & Child. It’s said that Tolkien challenged Lewis to write a book about Christianity that would sell, and he did, with the Narnia series.

Christmas was amazing simply because it was totally unplanned. I got invited by a family in Grantham (birth place of Isaac Newton) to spend Christmas with them. Ended up spending the night there. Woke up on Boxing Day to watch the annual Hound in Belvoir Castle and its surrounding area. Traditionally hounds would round up foxes but not anymore since it’s banned. We saw Princess Diana’s sister on horseback – horses are used to lead the hounds.

All in all, it was good to experience the traditional British family life. I still haven’t done my boxing day shopping and yes, the studying for January exams. Also, how do you study when you see snow for the first time?

Not to late to say Merry Christmas everyone!


Current music: John Legends’s Ordinary people