A new week

I spent the weekend with good friends who live reasonably close to Oxford, and though I am not one for cities generally, we spent a while absorbing the sensations that make Oxford a unique and fascinating place. Although dominated by the colleges, the city is a bustling melée of tourists, locals and academics all going about their business, blending into a continuum of humanity surrounded by history.

We took lunch in a pub called the head of the River; there were many students there, who had just finished their summer examinations. At oxford the students wear formal dress, including gowns, to sit their exams and they sat around in clusters, clearly overjoyed to have finished for the year. No doubt within a few days they will scatter to their homes around the world and the city will be taken over by the tourists once more.

I enjoy watching people, observing the dynamics of groups and while observing these bright young things, it struck me how privileged they are to be able to study in such a rarified place with the intellectual elite. Those with high intelligence always seem to look different to the rest of us, there is something in the eyes that seems to set them apart and clearly there is a cultural gulf that lies between the poles of society.

I was never smart enough to go to such a place, though I have attended courses there, and in that short time became aware of the unreality of it all. Students generally live in a world that is neither one thing nor the other. They are cocooned from the realities of life and that is probably more true of Oxbridge than most other centres of academia. I have no doubt that those that attend appreciate their time there, but I wonder if they realise just how lucky they are?

It is good to see the change in the ads. I hope this will encourage more clicking as things seem to have calmed down again.
May this week be a kind one to you.