Oxford pics - finally!

I really didn't take many pictures while I was in Oxford. However, I did take a few.

Here's a shot of me at the Eagle and Child Pub. This is where Tolkien and CS Lewis hung out for lunch every Tuesday. They were part of a literary group that called themselves the Inklings.



The only real concession to the fact that Tolkien and Lewis hung out at this pub were these rather amateurish collages. That was a bit of a disappointment; still, we soaked in the environment. Literally. With a pint or two.



This is a picture of a few of the Australians who joined us. Nick, on the left, was Boromir. I said that Clive, in the middle, was Pippin, because he was mischievous and tended to get into trouble (he was the one who peddled the whiskey the night I had a bit too much to drink), and Jeremy is on the left - a decent chap and a sea ice specialist.




This is another shot of the night at the Eagle and Child. Warrick is on the far left, Tavis (who organized the workshop) is in the middle, and Tom, my colleague from PSU (now at Oxford) is on the right.



My colleague, Tom, just bought a house on Kingston Road in Oxford. We had dinner on his patio one night - his wife, Tia, who is a Fellow at Oxford, cooked a wonderful dinner (Thanks, Tia!!). The other interesting coincidence was that Tom and I discovered we had the same birthday - and he's one full year older than me. Tom has completed placename studies among the Tlingit in SE Alaska. I used his research (as well as Basso's) for the basis of my King Island placenames work. Now, we're working on a collaborative grant related to Alaska Native corporations. I didn't take a great picture. Gak. But proof that I was there, eh?



Okay, that's it! Sorry there weren't more ... I guess I was too busy looking around and working to take pics!

Hmm . . . note to self: Do not try to keep up with Australians!

I'm sitting here at the Holiday Inn Heathrow, watching TV for the first time in days! I just finished watching Loch Ness with Ted Danson and now the Scorpion King is on! I haven't cruised through the channels to find something else yet.

I got to London this afternoon after having breakfast with my colleague, Tom, and walking around Central Oxford some. I managed to find a DVD video set that Eddie wanted - videos of Mr. Men and Little Miss.

Yesterday, I had dinner at Tom's house. His wonderful wife, Tia, made dinner: dumplings, noodles, red and yellow peppers, Szechuan tofu, and chicken. We hung out on their backyard patio. It was a relatively warm evening.

I spent most of yesterday resting and recovering from a night out at the pubs the night before. After our meeting finished, we went to the Lamb and Flag for a couple of pints, then to another place that had a nice open courtyard where I had the requisite fish and chips and another pint or two, then we went to another pub on George Street - where I only drank water - and then back to our rooms where one of the Australians invited a few of us back for a "nightcap". It was a shot of whiskey. I hate to admit it but I was a little worse for wear Friday during the day. I told the Australian that he was a bad influence. I will say, however, that it was quite fun hanging with this group of academics - there were Australians, Scottish, Irish, English, a Croatian and Canadians in our group, in addition to me and Tom (Americans).

Our two day meeting was interesting and now we will see what happens and how we will move forward. At the very least, we may meet again in a year or so - perhaps in Auburn, Scotland, where several people now work. I learned a lot about the Law of the Sea and how the various Arctic countries are delineating their territory in the Arctic Ocean. There were other presentations on maritime law. In essence, I think what we aim to do is to do research relating to the opening of shipping lanes in the Arctic Ocean. My own personal goal is to figure out how to empower indigenous communities in the Arctic when these shipping lanes open up because of climate change. We'll see what happens.

I did take pictures, but not many. I had visited Oxford four years ago - just for the day - so I didn't really do a lot of sight-seeing. I was more interested in learning how people live here. But I will post what I have soon.

So, back home tomorrow . . . I need to catch the 4:15am shuttle for a 6:30am flight to Amsterdam - then back to Portland. I hope I can sleep on the plane!

The Eagle and Child Pub

I leave Monday at noon to fly to London, then I will take a bus to Oxford, England. I arrive in London at 9am on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, I will meet with my colleague Tom - thankfully, we can check into our rooms by 10am, so I hope to get to my room, rest and then shower before meeting Tom.

Then, our host says that he plans to go to the Eagle and Child Pub at 7pm on Tuesday, in case there are others of us who arrive early and want to go to a pre-workshop event. Then, he said "where we can soak up the atmosphere of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis".

Well, that caught my interest - I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan. I don't know how many times I read the books (and while the films did a fairly good job, I was terribly disappointed in how much the director fudged the story line in terms of the love story between Aragorn and Arwen; there were other inaccuracies of the films which pissed me off, but the scenery and the creation of the characters were spot on).

I also enjoyed the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and read some of the series, but not all.

Apparently, Tolkien and Lewis with some others would go to this pub and hang out. They called themselves "The Inklings" and it was quite a literary place to be.

How cool is that? I got to admit . . . sometimes, I love my job!! (Yes, I do have to do a presentation . . . but I'm not gonna stress about that. It'll get done. But going to the pub where Tolkien went ... very cool.)