The Wind in the Willows

This morning I found the most beautiful place in all of Bath-- the towpath. I woke up to find the sun shining and the weather warm enough for a tank-top (provided I was keeping active). I remembered the other day Jonathon mentioned that a great place to run was the towpath, so I went to his office in Nelson House to ask him how to get there. It's about a two minute way to the towpath from Nunes House, which is excellent. I had to go up some steps and through some mud and I was beginning to mourn for the cleanliness of my shoes when I emerged at the most quaint little area full of bargehouses and ducks and swans all sitting and swimming gracefully along the canal. I have never seen anything so extraordinarily beautiful in my whole life-- or maybe I have, but nothing that looked straight from an English children's book. It's an eight-mile loop, so I only went about a mile and a half or two on the path before turning back, but I plan to go the entire loop before I leave here in May. I also plan to go for a leisurely walk with my camera soon, instead of a run. I really never thought I'd find any place for running that I liked more than Duke of Gloucester Street, but I was mistaken.

I wish I could describe everything more vividly to you in words, since as of yet I have no pictures. All along the path are rushes and barges and lots of people out running, or walking their dogs. There was a little old English man with his dog and he looked so picturesque. The barges are low in the water, and they have little pipes on top, and several of them were sending out puffs of delicious smelling steam-- people cooking their breakfasts on their barges. The canal was completely calm, save for the v-shaped ripples left behind by the swimming ducks, who always look so determined. Here and there a swan glided silently by. Occasionally I passed a little house or small pub area. At one of these I got off the towpath and went down into the little village area-- called Bathhampton, in this case. There was an old pub called "The George" by the towpath and a small Anglican church, probably dating from the 1700's, across the street. I went over to the church and wandered among the gravestones for a moment; it was so peaceful in the sun with the birds chirping and a slight breeze. A man tending the flowers around the graves told me that the church was open, should I care to go in. I did. It was the most beautiful small parish I've ever seen. It's like a great cathedral on a mini-scale, and something about it feels so joyous. I wish it was closer to Nunes House so I could attend regularly, but it was quite aways down the towpath. I continued past the little town and out past all of the houses into the rolling hills surrounding Bath. Here even the spread of barges grew thin, and fewer people were walking, and there were fields of sheep across the canal. I decided I should probably turn back, or I would never make it back to Nunes House in a reasonable amount of time, and I do have a lot of reading to do today for my classes.

I want to live along the towpath. I want to write along the towpath. I feel that one's imagination could really spark in such an environment; I really thought that sort of place existed only in the past or in the rose-colored imagination of an author. But there it was, just waiting for me. And there's still so much more of it to explore, and so many paths branching off of it.
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I had my tutorial at Oxford the other day. Oxford is a much different city than I imagined it would be. Instead of a slightly bigger version of Williamsburg, Oxford feels more like New York, except behind the walls of the colleges, where it looks like you've stepped into the early Renaissance, owing to the architecture. I was at University College, where Leslie teaches. I have my tutorial with another student, named Greg, so he and I managed to find our way to the college and Leslie met us in the main courtyard. The tutorial itself was alright-- easy this week, because we hadn't a paper to present. Next week either Greg or I will read our papers and discuss, and then Leslie will collect the unread paper and grade it himself. I rather wish I had my tutorial alone, though. Greg is nice, but I feel like that isn't the point of a tutorial. Oh well, at least I get to experience Leslie Mitchell, and that is an experience. Last week he argued why democracy was a stupid system of government, and I must say he made some excellent points.

In other news, they want us to get involved with the City of Bath by volunteering or going to the Uni and meeting people, which is all well and good, but the things for which I want to volunteer don't want me-- you have to fill out an application to cat cuddle! Seriously? I'm waiting to hear back about volunteering in the Bath Abbey shop or at the Heritage Vaults, both of which sounded nice. I'm thinking if it doesn't pan out I'll just do Bath my way, instead of trying to fit some criteria that I've never fit very well.

Well, that's all for now. Off I go! Time to read!