Short news round-up
Por fa', disculpeme for my virtual absence on this blog; geen bericht goed bericht, but still this doesn't bode too well. So, here's a short news round-up:
A bit more elaborate: last Tuesday I went to Oxford with Anna & Joost. Oh! the joy of finally leaving the Megacity London to make an Inklings & Lewis Caroll pilgrimage and visit that time-capsulated Anthropology Museum, the Pitt-Rivers. The road there was not entirely without problems (where does that bloddy bus leave ?!?), we eventually got there around 9 in the morning (involving me getting up at 5:30 and A&J having an overnight Exeter-London bus). After some confused wandering about the first stop is the Lewis Caroll shop, where the original Alice used to buy candy and where they now sell diverse Carolliana. I am sure Anna will report on this extensively in her own blog, after someone special left this country.
Some further wandering led us eventually to the Bodleian Library, keeper of the Codex Bodley / Zouche-Nuttall (text / example pic), one of the few surviving Meso-American codices, on which they had a great book that for some reason I didn't buy. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. I now know it is all on the internet as well :-)
Lunch was at the Bird and Baby, or Eagle and Child pub, where Inklings-literary club met. All in all, I can see where Tolkien got his inspiration from in Oxford, it is almost commonplace now, but true: the colleges create a magical athmosphere, somewhere where you can point at the diverse races of Middle Earth: the chapel at the Bodleian Library was distinctly Elvish, although most colleges had more late-Numenorean aspects (think: Gondor). Apparently this tower is Sauron's Temple in Númenórë that inspired its downfall.. I imagine the tower used to be black before it was cleaned by the Heritage Industry. (who's laughing? Tolkien is serious business!! Oh, who am I fooling.)
The Pitt-Rivers Museum is, as I said Frozen in Time by the will of the late name-sake General Augustus Henry Lane Pitt-Rivers, who wouldn't allow any change to the set-up after his death in 1884. Unfortunately, his ideas on the linear development of humankind are somewhat out-of-fashion nowadays ... What's left is a fascinating place choke-full of objects that we all know from cartoons on the savages, including shrunken heads, scalps, decorated blackened skulls, 'magic' items, a 14th C. "hand cannon", and hawaiian feather capes. Imagine a high hall with barely any space for movement, according to the website introduction:
Your Weekly Anthropological Observations:
Today: Cycling in London
Por fa', disculpeme for my virtual absence on this blog; geen bericht goed bericht, but still this doesn't bode too well. So, here's a short news round-up:
- This morning my brother left for Buenos Aires, Argentina, his blog is up now (see right as well).
- Sony is an Evil Mega Corporation (EMC) whose CDs you should all shun (download 'em instead, I'd say; if you're interested why: clickery 1 & click part 2 to be continued, no doubt. Oh, and beware, these links might be info-overload if you're not really interested)
- London is sunny & cold, no snow though, gloves dearly missed.
- My posting of svenska MP3s has at least led to one person stealing an album.
A bit more elaborate: last Tuesday I went to Oxford with Anna & Joost. Oh! the joy of finally leaving the Megacity London to make an Inklings & Lewis Caroll pilgrimage and visit that time-capsulated Anthropology Museum, the Pitt-Rivers. The road there was not entirely without problems (where does that bloddy bus leave ?!?), we eventually got there around 9 in the morning (involving me getting up at 5:30 and A&J having an overnight Exeter-London bus). After some confused wandering about the first stop is the Lewis Caroll shop, where the original Alice used to buy candy and where they now sell diverse Carolliana. I am sure Anna will report on this extensively in her own blog, after someone special left this country.
Some further wandering led us eventually to the Bodleian Library, keeper of the Codex Bodley / Zouche-Nuttall (text / example pic), one of the few surviving Meso-American codices, on which they had a great book that for some reason I didn't buy. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. I now know it is all on the internet as well :-)
Lunch was at the Bird and Baby, or Eagle and Child pub, where Inklings-literary club met. All in all, I can see where Tolkien got his inspiration from in Oxford, it is almost commonplace now, but true: the colleges create a magical athmosphere, somewhere where you can point at the diverse races of Middle Earth: the chapel at the Bodleian Library was distinctly Elvish, although most colleges had more late-Numenorean aspects (think: Gondor). Apparently this tower is Sauron's Temple in Númenórë that inspired its downfall.. I imagine the tower used to be black before it was cleaned by the Heritage Industry. (who's laughing? Tolkien is serious business!! Oh, who am I fooling.)
The Pitt-Rivers Museum is, as I said Frozen in Time by the will of the late name-sake General Augustus Henry Lane Pitt-Rivers, who wouldn't allow any change to the set-up after his death in 1884. Unfortunately, his ideas on the linear development of humankind are somewhat out-of-fashion nowadays ... What's left is a fascinating place choke-full of objects that we all know from cartoons on the savages, including shrunken heads, scalps, decorated blackened skulls, 'magic' items, a 14th C. "hand cannon", and hawaiian feather capes. Imagine a high hall with barely any space for movement, according to the website introduction:
"The Museum is a fascinating place for those studying changing historical attitudes."well, indeed!
Your Weekly Anthropological Observations:
Today: Cycling in London
- Most London cyclists dress like they are practicing some sort of olympic sport, bearing a backpack with, presumably, their normal working dress.
- Taxi-drivers in London kill and are more numerous than in the NL, hence more dangerous.
- Busdrivers, idem. also rather universal
- Dutch tourists remarking "Hé! Een fiets!" when you, a compatriot, pass by... How should one react in such a case, one wonders.. please discuss with the person sitting next to you.
- I took on wearing a reflective shirt to not die.
- There actually are cycling lanes & a system of routes of sorts that lead you through backalleys with less cars. This also results in often losing one's way thanks to defective sigb-posting, so you end up on Oxford Street after all...
- Cycling on Oxford Street is NOT funny ...
- In Hyde Park is quite cool, though.
- English cyclists go about bend over their "handlebars" ("fietsstuur", wat een stom woord in het engels, i.m.h.o.) because the concept of "Omafiets" is unbeknownst to their minds. Pity the poor savages...
posted by Isalicus at 20:09
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home