Savouring the Summer Sun, Snails and Serendipity

Hello. I'm awake at the moment, having not gone to sleep since I got back from having pizza with people from the CIO team this evening. At evening I saw about five people I haven't seen for a year or more. Some such as Tiffer and Amy have returned to roost in Cambridge, some such as Stephen Clark (whose wife Elizabeth's Xanga site I've just found on Google) were making a flying visit (literally, being on the way to America). It was wonderful to catch up.



This afternoon I went out walking by the river in the sun, savouring the dry crisping grass of Midsummer Common. Earlier I went to Jesus Green for lunch with some American associates of mine, and found a most picturesque snail on one of the grapes I'd bought from Sainsburys. Harry has a great post on slugs (which are not quite the same as snails).

Since last time, a lot has gone through my mind, not all of general interest. Highlights of things I've done include the college May Ball, where it was great to see numerous people I know including some who left last year or longer ago and who came back especially. The ceilidh was especially enjoyable, as ceilidhs generally are, since there's no pressure to be a particularly accomplished dancer and exuberance takes you a long way.

I've also attended various goodbye events with people who are leaving, which were sad yet happy occasions (oddly, it seems I have more friends leaving Cambridge this year than last year when I graduated).


It was also lovely for Trudy and myself to meet up with Jameela (an American academic friend we connected with by serendipity/providence) for dinner in the wonderful flat she was provided with by Wesley House. The aesthetic arrangement of the food was admirable. It tasted good too.

For those interested in such matters, the Australian theologian Leon Morris died recently aged 92 (he also has a Wikipedia entry). He was one of the first residents of Tyndale House in Cambridge (where he was later warden) when he was working on his doctorate, which became the seminal work The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. If you follow the link there's a tribute from Bishop John Taylor of Cambridge as well as a more 'official' obituary.

Due to disserting I may not post here much over the summer, but from time to time it makes a nice break.

"You can dispute about everything with equally convincing arguments on both sides, even about the problem whether everything is disputable on both sides"(Protagoras)