My Grand Tour of British Rail ‘National Rail’ stations has seemingly been resumed for the summer! Luckily I agree with Sanna – travelling by train is the best – so I highly enjoy it. Over the past few days I’ve been at Lucy’s, from whence we made an expedition to Worcester yesterday. (I really should have twigged before now that at the heart of every Somewhereshire is a central Somewhere, but never mind. I’m not a shire-dweller.) It was a lovely trip, and in our quest for free activities we took in the River Severn, an art gallery and Worcester Cathedral – although in this last place we spent a worrying share of time in the gift shop. Sitting alongside a book attacking Richard Dawkins was a hefty tome detailing the Church’s approach to homosexuality, with contributions from various different authors and bucketloads of scriptural quotes to feather out their chapters. I take quite a bit of pride in knowing that I could outline my entire ‘approach to homosexuality’ on the back of a napkin, although in the light of the embarrassing backwardness we’ve had to witness this week it obviously hasn’t sunk into everyone yet. Grrr!
We’ve also whiled away the hours playing the London Underground board game which Lucy got me for my birthday 
Bit perturbed that TfL have classified this as part of the ‘childrens’ section though! It’s clearly a very mature and advanced endeavour, despite unforgivably cropping the Tube map to the exclusion of Willesden Green.
Tomorrow I’m back on the train to Shoreham to see Joe’s motherland and take part in what promises to be a highly exciting village fête! I hope you’re ready for us, Kent…
Things are too good at the moment! After the May Ball I went home for two nights to spend my birthday with family, which was really lovely and included a traditional meal at Pizza Express, surely one of the best places in existence. After a gentle day of watching new Futurama – new Futurama! – receiving generous gifts and satisfyingly getting Katie her computer back from the dead, I returned to Cambridge this morning for a final night in my beautiful room. And was met with even more amazing things! Top of the list must be this indescribably awesome dartboard:
Yaaaaay!
I can tell that Oliver and Abi absolutely slaved over the making of this, and I’m thankful beyond words. Love it! Everyone else also got me brilliant presents and cards: a plump biography of London from Owen, and a Doctor Who game and Tube book from Sophie, Irfan and Joe. Thank you all! Also pictured below are my sexy cards, from Daily MWail parody to a Doctor Who badge bearing one…
So me that it hurts
Mmm… my cake!
Before I go and picnic in the sun, I would also just like to say thank you to everyone who has e-mailed, commented, Facebooked or even sent real cards (you know who you are 
): I love you all and will get round to replying to everyone as soon as I possibly can! I hope all students especially have an amazing summer which is pleasingly free of work stress…
Genuine enthusiasm time: 2008’s Caius May Ball – City Lights – was one of the best experiences in my entire life, ever. Sure, we’d heard that May Balls were something special to look forward to. The eye-watering ticket prices do suggest that it’s going to be big. But it’s impossible to fully describe what they’re really like: extravagant, amazing, luxurious, decadent, wonderful. We arrived at 8pm for champagne before dinner at 9pm… and by ‘dinner’ I mean a fabulous five course meal lasting two hours accompanied by white wine, red wine, dessert wine and port. And then, armed with a beautifully designed programme, we had the entire night to explore what was on offer in the college grounds and rooms. Which was more than anyone could possibly take in over just one night! From bands such as Supergrass and British Sea Power playing on stage to burlesque, jazz and blues performances. Magicians, clairvoyants, comedians and mind readers. Classic interwar films in a cinema, rides, games and dancing. And all through the night, unlimited – and free! – food and drink: martinis, Pimm’s, beer, larger lager, wine and much else besides – including tea! – alongside crepes, seafood, candy floss, doughnuts, ice-cream, chocolate fountains and, again, just about everything you could wish for. We partied all night until the survivors’ photo at 5.30!
Hurray! Rides! See more in the photo gallery!
There are so many magical moments from last night, a few of which are captured in my photo gallery which will be accompanied by Facebook photos shortly. It can’t tell the whole story, however, of how wonderful it was to enjoy such an amazing party and round off a year of uni with so many good friends – and Lucy. So if you ever get the chance, don’t turn down a ticket to a Cambridge May Ball!
Because everyone will rave about the main bands playing, I thought I’d share a little glimpse of my own personal little highlight from the night: Kitty La Roar and Nick Of Time. Here they are performing a mashup of Shaggy and Robbie Williams… great fun
Oh, and I’ve just turned 19! Hurray
Cheers, Owen!
Phew. I have just enjoyed the most rewarding shower, a lovely long, hot and strong affair. The Garden Party – which has been causing Abi and I great stress over the past week with a particularly hairy ‘we have no barbecue?’ few days towards the end – came off without a hitch. Despite a weather forecast of showers the rain held off, albeit threatening us with drops once or twice before deciding to be generous and give us sun. Many thanks are in order too: to Abi, obviously, to Owen, who did a fantastic job as head chef behind the barbecue despite not even being a historian, to Oliver and Joe who gave us loads of time rather than standing back and watching us struggle, to Sophie for her (wifely) moral support, to Tom, Felix and Richard for lending us their expertise gleamed last year – and, in Richard’s case, mixing our Pimm’s! – and to GCSU and the porters for everything. And to everyone who came, too! Hurray!
And everything turns out alright
Sorry about the poor quality photos, but they’re better than nothing and – as Owen put it – we wanted something to prove that it happened. Event management is hard though. I don’t know how my mother – or Nic – does it 
In fact, it wasn’t until it was all over that I suddenly remembered that it was Doctor Who tonight! So now Abi, Oliver and I have our evening’s entertainment all planned out too yay!
At this exact moment in time I feel slightly off: not, you may argue, the best time to be writing a blog. I think I blame GG for unwittingly fostering my current mini-addiction to Motorcycle Emptiness, but there’s also the weird realisation that as this term draws to a close that’s a whole year of uni over and done with. A whole year! Where on earth did all that time go? My final essay is a bit of a strange one, too – though quite fun at the same time – full of high-concept ‘history’ on ‘everyday life’. If people had been publishing blogs consistently across the twentieth century it would be a lot easier to write, that’s for sure.
I do look forward to the Caius History Society garden party on Saturday, largely because Abi and I are in charge of organising it and it’ll be a relief to see it through. We felt like real Apprentice candidates in Sainsbury’s the other day buying up supplies, half-expecting to see Nick or Margaret in the corner muttering sarcastically about some huge and costly mistake we were making. However, I do want to stress that at this point our (fully accounted) costs are coming in squarely on budget! So even if it is a disaster, it shouldn’t be an expensive disaster
Ooh – y’know what, blogging actually does improve my mood and I feel significantly better than ‘slightly off’ now. Isn’t that reassuring? It’s a rollercoaster emotional ride, this blog. Ooh and I’m suddenly reminded of one of the odd little moments of my day which deserve eternal preservation. As I was walking along this afternoon, in my own little music-enhanced world, I noticed some unexpected eye contact was occurring with a woman who – at a guess – would be in her mid 50s. And she was talking to me, too? Hmm, this could be important – what if she was seeking shelter from the Vashta Nerada in the sunlight? – so I paused whatever I was listening to and asked what was up. “Oh, I just noticed that that man riding his bicycle” – and she points to indicate said bicycle speeding into the distance – “had a rather impressive white beard. So I shouted it to him as he rode past.”
Now, I would love to say that I responded with some sort of quick witted response, or even something vaguely audible at all. Like “I suppose he’ll be hair today and gone tomorrow!” – although on reflection that rather implies that the man with the impressive white beard was also fast approaching death, so perhaps not. But you get the idea. Instead, I just stood there smiling in a look of utter confusion, unable to quite process the fact that a stranger was talking to me on the street without demanding my phone. She seemed to sense this, and kindly added “I’ve been outspoken all my life you see, so I’m not going to stop now.” Well, good on her! And indeed I managed to squeeze out “I think that’s a great way to live!” or something, before the awkward silence re-emerged and I waited through just enough seconds of yet more awkward smiling before I could politely walk on. But thank you, outspoken woman. You’re a fine example to us all.
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