Cambridge, among Other Things

Last week at Hornsey was a nice-change: low-key interspersed with moments of success. Mostly. I spent much of the week doing classroom observations of about 15 Yr 8 (so, 12-13 yr olds) girls who had been referred to Behavioural Support for our group work sessions. We began group work with these girls on Friday--Davinia (a Behavioural Support staff member) and I are running them together. Next week is Hornsey's half-term break, and when the girls come back the following week we'll begin meeting about twice a week. The workshops are designed to help the girls understand how to recognize and control their behavior; they have been recommended to us because they have some behavioral difficulties but are not so far gone that they need to be put on Behavioural Support's intensive monitoring system. We're hoping to rein them in before that happens; this is an intervention of sorts. The briefing session went well; they were mostly cooperative and many contributed.

And Jade, one of my most frequent charges, completed her English coursework and was successfully entered for her English GCSEs! Her last assignment was an essay on Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and she willingly sat down to write it while I supervised. Her final essay was almost entirely original (she, along with many of Behavioural Support's students, has a bad habit of plagiarizing. I don't think they beat it to death here the way they do at home, and I have to fight them out of this tendency). It included brief moments of very basic analysis, but even very basic one-sentence analyses are better than plagiarized summary. And she came up with those analyses herself. The following day she even sat down to proofread the essay, with my help, and made the changes without protesting. As a bonus to my ego, Jade told Davinia during a one-to-one check-in session that she enjoyed working with me.

Friday after work I originally intended to get a half-price ticket to Les Mis, but I decided against it because I was exhausted and didn't really think I had time. Nonetheless I did not want to go right home, so I went to wander about Westminster instead because the sun was breaking through the clouds and I knew it'd be gorgeous. And it was.

After taking some pictures, I went over to Westminster Abbey. I still have not been in to see Poet's Corner, and the Abbey was already closed for visitors when I got there late Friday afternoon. However, I was just in time for the choral Evensong service, which is free. I went in. Evensong is a traditional Anglican (Church of England; Episcopalian in the States) service. It's rather short and usually sung rather than spoken. It consists of a recital of the Lord's Prayer, some spoken prayer by the officiant, a couple of Psalms sung by the choir, two short readings by the officiant, some sung prayer, and closing prayer by the officiant.

It was my first foray into the Abbey. Although Poet's Corner wasn't accessible from where I was, there are dozens of tombs and memorials lining the wall of the Abbey along the way from the door to where the service is--most notably Sir Isaac Newton's. The Abbey itself is beautiful, a solemn and stately sort of beautiful. It truly is, in the most literal and true sense of the word, awesome.

And I won't even bother to attempt to describe how magnificent it was to listen to the male choir's pure singing in that ancient sacred space. Their clear voices were the only music in the service. Those of you who know me well know that I like Gregorian chant; this was like live Gregorian chant but cooler because they sang in a lovely old form of English--it was Modern English, but with the occasional Middle English word or syntax slipping in (so...an early 16th century version of the psalms, perhaps? sometime thereabouts). I had goosebumps throughout much of the music. It was one of the more remarkable hours of my life.

Saturday I woke up early for a day trip to Cambridge. The train left Kings Cross at 9:15 and I was in Cambridge by 10:05. The train station was a bit more than a mile outside of the town centre, but it was a lovely morning and the twenty-five minute walk was enjoyable. The sun was out, the wind was gentle, and it was warmer than it had been in a while. If Oxford was a literary pilgrimage for me, Cambridge was a scientific one.

As I approached the town centre, I wandered into an open college purely at random; I just noticed that its gates were open and went into the courtyard. It turned out to be Christ College, where Darwin had studied. There was a plaque of Darwin, showing his familiar old likeness. There was also a very cool, life-size bronze sculpture of a young Darwin on a park bench with a stack of books. I was pretty excited.

Once in the busy town centre, my first stop was at the TI office to get a spot on a walking tour--I haven't yet done a walking tour that wasn't worthwhile. Cambridge, like Oxford, is very dense at its center, with streets barely wide enough for cars and always flooded by pedestrians and cyclists.

Part II of my two-part series on famous academic pubs: the Eagle in Cambridge where Watson and Crick first announced that they had worked out DNA's double helix. They have a plaque on the facade of the pub, and it is literally footsteps away from the old Cavendish lab where they worked. I passed the pub on my way to Trinity College. Once at Trinity, I beelined for the famous Wren Library, where I knew that they were cool manuscripts on display.

The Wren Library (named for the famed Christopher Wren, who designed it) is now one of my favorite places. The atmosphere reminded me more of an old cathedral than a college library. There were large high-set windows, and it was a rather small room by library standards. There was one sort of large aisle flanked by bookshelves and desk areas. Each of the bookshelves was topped with a stately marble bust of everyone from Socrates to Dryden. Every book on the shelves seemed to be bound in ancient cracking leather. There was a large sculpture of Lord Byron at the end of the library. Along the aisle were large display cases covered in heavy red cloth, which you pull back to view the works on display. The displays did not disappoint; most impressive was the display on Sir Isaac Newton, who had both studied and taught at Trinity. There was a 1st edition of his Principia, with his own hand-written corrections. There were also some letters of his, where his diagrams and calculations were clearly visible. Apart from the Newton stuff, there was a Wittgenstein notebook, a couple of pages of the Winnie the Pooh manuscript (A.A. and Christopher Robin Milne were both Trinity students), a Byron manuscript, a 1st edition Shakespeare, and a nice collection of early illuminated Bibles. Noticeably missing were the John Milton manuscripts that I had heard were on display here; they had been removed (for some very important purpose, I'm sure). The picture here is of Trinity's courtyard; the library had a strict no photo policy.

I reluctantly left the library, but the bright sunlight outside was nice consolation. I went out the back of Trinity College, to the banks of the river Cam. This area was known as "the Backs"--one can stroll along the river and admire the backs of all the college buildings, and they're just as gorgeous as the fronts. Along the river I felt like spring was rushing in; there were small patches of little blooming flowers, and the sun's beams were brilliantly reflecting off of the water. The ground was damp and muddy, but not the dreary sort of winter mud--I was reminded of the Cummings poem where he describes Spring as "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful." It was a lovely walk; I meandered about the riverbank until it was time to go back to the TI for my walking tour.

The tour was quite good. A good portion of it was spent in King's College Chapel, Cambridge's most famous building, and for good reason. I've posted a couple of pictures, but they definitely don't do the place justice. It's the textbook example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture, and the fan-vaulted ceiling is the most perfect example anywhere in Britain (the only country where fan-vaulting can be found). The chapel's stained glass is purported to be the finest in England. One of the most striking features of the chapel is the very darkly stained oak organ screen, which stretches across the chapel to separate the antechapel. The gold organ pipes are gorgeous against the oak. As if all of this weren't enough, the Ruebens painting "Adoration of the Magi" adorns the altar. While we were there, the whole place was full of sunlight as well. Truly stunning.

The tour went over a few other colleges, too (there are 31 Cambridge colleges total). All were pretty, but none more impressive than King's or Trinity. We went to Trinity College chapel, which I had not been able to go into on my own earlier. The choir was practicing while we were there, and I have pretty much run out of adjectives for beautiful.

Afterwards, I went to get a late lunch/early dinner before my 5:45 train back to London. I tried to go to the Eagle, but I was in the awkward time slot of post-lunch and pre-dinner, so they weren't serving dinner. I went to the pub next door instead, which was quite good--even if the structure of DNA wasn't announced there. I returned briefly to the river for another look at the Backs before leaving town for the train station.

I think Oxford was cooler, but I also have a stronger attachment to Oxford. Cambridge was certainly prettier and less touristy. The colleges seemed a bit more receptive to visitors. It was also more condensed than Oxford--it was easier to get around to everything on foot than it was in Oxford.

Next weekend, I'm going to visit Normandy. I'm leaving the UK on Wednesday night and taking a ferry across the Channel. Looking at my calendar makes me feel like my semester here is nearly over. When I get back from France, I have just four days before I leave for my ten days in Ireland. Once back from Ireland, I'll have a little over a month before flying back to the States. Surreal.