We are again in Cambridge, at Clare Hall, and so very happy to be here. Our flat is small but perfectly formed, and right next door to last year's. The college feels like a kind of home. A few days after we arrived I ran into a friend in the common room who enquired whether I had enjoyed my vacation. I blinked, uncertain how to respond. Then a friend in Toronto sent an email asking if we were 'back in the UK now'.
Where is 'back'? What is 'away'? Also, when will it stop raining?
Meanwhile, husband is busy delivering the 2024 Wilde Lectures at Oriel College in 'the other place', as Oxford is (sometimes) known. Last Wednesday he gave the first in a series of four talks he has called 'Religion Refracted and in Motion: On Pilgrimage in Present Times. I accompanied him on the three-train journey from Cambridge to Oxford in order to cheer him on, to see various friends, and to dream among the spires.
Simon spoke brilliantly, as ever. Three more lectures in the next three weeks. Highly recommended if you're in the neighborhood! (Wednesdays May 8, 15, 22 at 5:15 :)
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| At Oriel College |
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| The Newman Oratory in Oriel's chapel |
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| Lecture Number 1 |
A postscript: his first talk was entitled 'Trivial Religion? From Liminal to Lateral'. I don't know about religion, but it was certainly not trivial to arrange our absence from Toronto, and we owe deep gratitude to the lovely people staying in our house and looking after our pets.
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