Dreaming spires

Had a day off work and have just returned from a lovely day in Oxford, ambling through the city and meeting up with old friends still there. Though I studied and worked in Oxford for - gulp - 8 years, I still get a little tingle of awe every time I return. It's a city I still cannot take forgranted.

When I was nine, my family visited this city of dreaming spires (I fall for this cliche every time, sorry) as tourists and I remember standing in the middle of Radcliffe Square, gazing round at St Mary's Church, the Bodleian Library, All Souls college and the Camera dreaming of medieval monks scurrying to class on foggy mornings and the clippety-cloppety hooves of horses, never really imagining that one day I would have the privilege of actually studying there. I also remember cycling through the Square at 5 in the morning, late for rowing on the Isis and not a bus or car in sight and having a surreal moment when I truly believed I had been transported back to the middle ages. The city still surprises me like that. Thank goodness.

To cap a perfect day, I had the pleasure of sharing the bus back with a beautiful young Anthony Kiedis lookalike. Siiiighhhhhhh.

Related links:
+ University of Oxford
+ Some photos of Oxford (taken by me today)

Other links today:
+ Critique magazine's special on writing
+ Did the man who wrote The Merchant of Venice and created Shylock actually meet a Jew? (Reg. req.)
+ Will Wright on The Sims 2. I'm fascinated with this game although I never have the patience to play more than 10 minutes of it.