It's cuh-razy that a whole decade's passed since the y2k fiasco. So much has changed in the past ten years with a lot of firsts--driving, voting, loves, college, jobs--and though god only knows what lays in store for the next ten, it's pretty safe to say that a lot will change again--another graduation, hopefully a proper job...and what else?
Anyway, we forge forth into the new decade from what was, for the majority of the past two weeks here, a very snowy Oxford.
It started snowing the night after I returned, thankfully after I'd sorted out errands and groceries and necessities for hibernation.
And the city was just under a blanket of snow. That's a sizable amount, even by michigan eskimo standards.
Funny thing about snow in England: it doesn't happen, which means that when it DOES happen, the country goes batshit crazy and just shuts down. For ten days. The colleges, the libraries, the shops , the schools...everything just stopped. It took several days for the main roads to reach some semblance of being cleared, and our road just never got plowed at all. Which brings me to...
the sidewalks (it has nothing to do with the pictures presented, just a bit of dramatic pause).
NO ONE CLEARS THE SIDEWALKS. It is utterly absurd. Apparently, unless you're going to return the sidewalk to its original pre-snow condition, with no remnants of snow or ice, you better just not bother at all. You CAN be sued for making an incomplete attempt (the assertion is that it's worse to walk on partially cleared sidewalks than never cleared), but if someone falls on your walk and you've never so much as laid eyes on a shovel, you're good.
End rant. Wacko reasons aside, this made it incredibly hard to navigate the streets even after the worst of the snow was over. Most of us just stayed inside for about ten days, venturing out only when absolutely necessary (i.e. ran out of provisions). Myself, I lounged about in my red snowflake flannel pajamas and busted through the entire series of West Wing.
Oh, but the day after it snowed and the entire country was shut down, I ventured out with my friend Ella and her cohort of teacher friends who were all off school, and we went to the University Parks, which were absolutely packed with snow-crazy Brits bulding snowmen (and just big balls of snow) and having snowball fights. It was pretty endearing how excited everyone was, actually, and how they all took to the streets like kids on a snow day to play in it, because at home it takes so much to actually shut EVERYTHING down that I don't think I've ever seen something like this, grown adults acting like giddy children on a city-wide scale.
Now, though, the snow has melted (in a period of about two days, surprisingly), the grass is green and temperatures are in the high 30's to mid 40's. I am perfectly content for this to be our winter weather.
Okay, friends, I've just given you a giant weather report, which should tell you how much I've really been up to since I've been back. What a gripping life I do lead.
My few, paltry activities have included aforementioned snow playing and West Wing marathon (is there something more intense than a marathon? it seems like a weekend stint would be a marathon, but 10 days warrants a bit more), a few social events with class and college friends, and a LOT of theory paper writing that I fully and reproachfully neglected over break (but I'm not even a little bit sorry). Pretty good, actually, just really unproductive. Again, I remain unapologetic.
Things to look forward to in 2010:
--Women and Politics option course--yes, this is a moment of nerdery but I'm excited to have a class on something I really like (no offense, rubbish feminist theory and methods course, both of which sucked more because of how they were run than the actual subject matter) with a supervisor who seems promising. Plus this is my ONLY class, which meets for one hour four times total. So not a lot of class time (but don't worry, there will be a lot of independent work on option readings, essays, the 10,000 word option paper, and oh yeah, the minor matter of the dissertation, whose deadline looms ominously on the ever advancing horizon)
--Gil's visit Feb 13-20, including Valentine's day in London and some quality time here at school.
--Duane and Becky's visit Feb 27-March 6, including a trip to Dublin, a few days in Ox, and some day trips around England if we can swing it.
--Heroes and villains bop, Feb 1. I'm thinking of resurrecting the sarah palin costume/persona, and leaving it ambiguous if she is my hero or villain (probably because it's a complicated answer).
and lots of others.
That's it for now. Oh, and happy one year obama-versary tomorrow!
xoxoxobama,
Amanda
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