I'm back in Oxford after my holidays in Scotland. It was wonderful to get to rest and be refreshed by the fellowship of old friends (to say nothing of lots of sleep)... but it was time to return and hit the books for a good two weeks before term starts. It took me a couple days to transition into a reasonable schedule and get in the rhythm of working again... but I am making headway at last.
Finally- a room with a view! My window is still bedecked in scaffolding, but I am enjoying a stint with a clearer view: I rented my room for term times only, so during these breaks I have to move out. Loretta has gone home to visit her family and been kind enough to let me stay in her room whilst she is away. Conveniently, I am able to move back into my room directly before she returns. I am enjoying being able to see properly out a window at last... one of my dearest hopes for 2016 is for the scaffolding to be removed from Wycliffe Hall.
Still traces of the festive holiday warmth around Oxford- at least on the door of the University Parks North Lodge, the entrance right behind Wycliffe Hall where I enter the park for walks on fair days.
I marked my return to town with a coffee and pastry at Maison Blanc, the french cafe down the street which my friends and I frequented last term. ALL i feel like eating is coffee and pastries in this weather... sigh. There are so few hours of daylight that the sun is always low- it legitimately always feels like its coffee and pastry time.
I bought some vegetables. I am trying very faithfully to eat them.
Most of my time is spent in front of this pile, however. Its material for an essay project I have undertaken on the topic of Christ in Dostoevsky. Its quite a task... nonetheless, I am hoping to have it drafted by the time term begins! Only a few of my classmates are in town and Wycliffe Hall is empty and silent- so I have had few distractions and already covered a lot of ground. This week however, the hum of activity and necessity of normal social interaction will gradually increase as the offices reopen and students trickle back. My days as a scholarly hermit are numbered...
