London Postcard

On a rented computer, so a swift recap of odd details with likely little time to give links for things, so when in doubt, Google them yourself and have fun.

Monday off to the airport with the students, many parents and family in attendance, so feeling the reins of responsibility rather heavily. Ran into Paul, our friend who owns his own island in the Hudson (there's a write up of that on the blog somewhere). So we chatted a bit and then it was time to get the students on board. Off to Philly and another layover where the airport was shutting down. Still 9 students, so that was a plus. On board and on our way with much excitement and eventually, snoring and drooling and sleeping (at least on my part). Through passport control -- not the group line either, so they all got their passports stamped.

Tuesday already by then; we eventually got all the luggage -- poor Pat must have had the first bag on the plane as it was the last one off. Stops at the cash point and then on to the tube where I bought them their Oystercards. We jumped on the Picadilly line and went all the way to Russell Square. Two blocks and we were at the hotel -- the Tavistock is way better than the industrial Royal National. I gave them an hour or so to unpack, then wrangled some lunch which we ate with Gandhi in Tavistock Square. Then we swung by the British Museum so they could ooh at the Great Hall (which really is magnificent) and find that the entire medieval wing is closed off now -- crap. I walked the jet-lagged crew as far as Trafalgar Square, pointing out landmarks along the way, then we jumped on the tube and went to Hyde Park where we walked form Speaker's Corner to Peter Pan, then back to the Lido for hot drinks (the day had turned chilly and they were flagging fast). Dinner with some of the students, admonishing all that they had to stay up until at least 10pm.

Wednesday the hop-on hop-off tours and boat to Greenwich, where one student already gave her preentation. I jumped on a train back to meet my pal Paul, the Holy Dragger, where we had a few drinks and the students kept stopping to ask me questions because I foolishly chose a pub near the hotel.

Thursday, we went to my pal James' school and my students met his and had a good time talking about their expectations of one another and were given English food in a blind taste test. And we all said, "Happy Birthday, James!"

Today I am heading off to Hanwell to see the Brookses which is always enjoyable. I have spent the shockingly surprising way of shopping for books, which as usual means a lot of reading and perusing and a little bit of buying. Next week is theatre, this weekend more visits. If I have time and inclination, I'll write more, but London calls...

You can see the students' own comments and pictures here.

On the Road

In anticipation of my travels, here's a raven from the Tower of London, snapped by Richard Seaman, the Flying Kiwi.

NEWSFLASH! Gene-Gene the book reviewing machine has an essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, but you have to have a subscription to get past the wall.

I'm packing (well, obviously I'm typing, but you know what I mean) and getting ready to go this afternoon. Let's hope the weather holds -- it's clouding up at present, but scattered storms shouldn't pose a problem.

I'm looking forward to sharing some of my favorite spots with the students and, of course, seeing friends while I'm back in London (yes, yes, I'm sure I'll also be visiting friends like Skoob and Quinto, too, not to mention the various Oxfam Bookshops...).

Not sure how much I'll be able to post while traveling, but I may be able to sneak in a little writing now and then at the British Library.

Congrats to the joey Zone!

Walking down the aisle to accept his certificate today, all hail the joey Zone! Graduation day is when everyone gets medieval.

We survived the first step in moving. Big thanks to Robert who patiently stood by as we debated and divested and sorted the storage space. Glad hugs to Miss Wendy, Faye, the Queen of Everything and Johnny 10X (and Marko, thanks for the badges by way of the QoE!). Strange to always run into folks we know at the pub Friday night, when we haven't lived there in four years, but hey -- that's Willimantic! At least they had some porter and we found a table despite it being packed.

Now I just need to finish editing this essay so I can send it off and go to Britain with a easy conscience.

Vecchia Zimarra

Off to Connecticut tonight to empty out the storage space. I shall have to sing my goodbyes to the things we throw away (may they be many). But I'll think about that later -- work to do now and anyway, I should be thinking about seeing friends tonight (a much more pleasant thought).

I woke up thinking of Dorothy Parker:

When I am sober and the grass springs up green,
I will tell you the meaning of miracles you have seen.
When I am tipsy and the grass has grown brown,
I'll explain why good intentions usually drown.

I looked into extending my trip, but purchasing a one-way ticket for a different date would cost over $1100. Yikes. Maybe next year when I am not taking a group of students to London (I swear), I can have more free time.

Ack

My hairdryer started on fire the other day: it's been that kind of week. Sparks flew, smoke rose and I yelped.

Last day of teaching for week one of the summer intensive. Monday we're off to London. I will not think of all the things that can go wrong, or how much writing I have not been doing. I have an essay to finish revising by Monday. Yeah, somehow -- I had thought I was too late already to submit this essay, but I ran into the editor of the journal at Kalamazoo, who hailed me across the Valley III lobby with "Where's my essay?!"

Tomorrow we're off to Connecticut for the stressful work of emptying out the storage space and -- inevitably -- moving some of it to a storage space here. When I return, there's moving. Maybe I can change my ticket...

Monster Folk

The monster folk are organized! See their blog -- join their ranks. This may be a new land speed record for acceleration from idea to committee. Partly this is due to the early deadline for Kazoo session proposals (tomorrow). I've already faxed off mine for Medieval Popular Culture.

Random Thoughts

Why, oh why, did I agree to do this summer class? Still getting details settled. At least the airfare and hotel should be all set, but the money never goes quite as far as you'd hope. The Globe hasn't called me back but they said they would hold the tickets even if their credit card service continued to have problems (just like last year). And yes, I did get tickets for Midsummer Night's Dream and not Lear, although I may go to that myself afterward. But for some of them it may be the first time to see real theater -- let's go for the magic rather than tragedy.

I am still determined to write that Nick Lowe musical one day. Every time I hear Mary Provost, I see the shape of it in my head.

I'm not even going to mention moving...

Yet a little thing like hearing Queen's "We are the Champions" on the way to campus can lift my spirits a little. Just as well -- it's Arthurian day in our swift run through the Middle Ages (a thousand years of literature in three weeks -- ha), so I will be playing clips from Holy Grail and the Gawain films as well as yes, A Knight's Tale.