Oxford

Foremost, thank you all for your posts and comments - as your words of encouragement are warmly appreciated.

The last two days have been a treat for myself and Thomas, having the opportunity to catch up with old college friends as well as spend an evening back at Oxford. However, before I left for those occasions I did a one mile swim in the Harbor without a wetsuit (as I didn't have time to dry it out). I did a fair amount of shivering afterwards and was numb for some time - thus gaining a real appreciation for the protection that is neoprene.

I believe that Thomas already wrote about my friend Pippa's birthday party, so I will fill you in about our night at Magdalen College in Oxford. My old biochemistry tutor, Dr. Robert Gilbert, put us up in a beautiful guest room in the Cloisters. We then met Dr. Gilbert, as well as a few other fellows (or professors) and the Dean of Divinity, in the Senior Commons Room for a high table dinner of goose and pheasant. It was a candlelit multi-course dinner. It was a most beautiful evening to be able to catch up with Dr. Gilbert as well as discuss a host of pressing issues in Britain and the US. After dessert and coffee, Dr. Gilbert took us through a trap door into the old college library to see the classical texts of Newton, Hooke, et al., and we topped the night off at the Bear Pub - an Oxford establishment since 1270. The experience brought back found memories of my time abroad, and Thomas hopes to also spend some time there (or possibly Cambridge) next year.

We arrived back in Dover yesterday afternoon and have checked into a local youth hostile. It is definitely the cheapest accommodation yet, and its biggest perk is the community kitchen. I went for a swim last night in the cold and rain, and we are both becoming quite used to these miserable conditions - which just happen to be quite rare this time of the year. We then cooked a pasta dinner back and the hostile and enjoyed being stationary for a bit.

The plans for today are quite optimistic, considering that we finally have blue skies (however, the duration that they will last is very unpredictable). We are going on a hike up to the Dover Castle which over looks the Channel, and I plan to splash around for 2-3 hours afterwards. We must commence our journey soon as the skies will inevitably turn on us.

Tomorrow afternoon we plan to jettison over to Canterbury to see the finish of Stage 1 of the Tour de France. We'll post again when we are able to get back to the library. All the best.