Three Months in Albion

The view of Corpus courtyard
from the Parker Library

27.06.12 (Cambridge, UK) - I spend most of the day at the Parker Library, collating MS 100, examining MS 92, or the Chronicon ex chronicis of Florence (or John)of Worcester, a long chronicle that incorporates bits of the Vita Afredi alongside Frankish chronicle material.



At lunch time, I walk back to the Barlas' house. Along Victoria Avenue, the park is quiet, the caravans are gone, and amusement rides at Midsummer Common that towered into the brooding English skyline dismantled, the travelers having moved on momentarily from this East Anglican town leaving the scars of fleeting entertainment etched into the perennial grassland. Rented bikes with handlebar baskets roll along the route toward Chesterton while daily walkers and picnickers can be seen in their work attire coming from or going toward distant shops in the heart of Cambridge City.

When I arrive at the Barlas' home, I say hello but that I'm not staying long. I'm only planning on eating and then dealing with some business with a room deposit for my stay near Oxford. I make some leftover chicken and rice dish, swallow a few glasses of apple juice, and I'm back out the door. I must walk over four miles each day. It's approximately thirty minutes to Corpus Christi by foot, and then sometimes I get lost (and take longer). I do that walk two or four times a day, too... I swing into a post office and try to figure out a Giro Bank Transaction, but I am unsuccessful. I tell the clerk that I will try again tomorrow with a Money Gram.

Back at the Parker Library, I talk to Suzanne about this Giro Bank thing, and she says she can take care of it. She guides me through Corpus, through two gardens, and then out the back door of the College, a secret entrance that is so innocuous that when I turned around to see the door it vanished before my eyes. The clever passage put us right near the market. Once at a Barclays Bank, we easily make the money transaction and that sets my mind at ease.

When we return to the Parker Library, I ask to see the old Parker reading room, and Suzanne obliges me.

The Parker Library reading room, once used often, now it's a tourist destination. The new reading room is just downstairs.

The room is about thirty yards deep, smelling of used leather and parchment, of old age and wisdom. The vaulted ceilings are gold and crimson, on the far wall is a portrait of Archbishop Matthew Parker. Under each of those green tarps are rare books or manuscripts on display. Suzanne takes the tarps off and shows me manuscripts from as early as the 8th century. The manuscripts are gorgeous (and I wish I could have shown you them all!). A great many are illuminated with stark red and green inked images and designs. Some have flawless gold leaf still decorating their pages. 


That evening, I meet up with Ahron at the Portland Arms. When he arrives, he hands me a weighted white plastic bag.


"I got something for you," he says. 

I look and there are three books inside. There's one on the legendary King Arthur by Steve Blake and Scott Lloyd, there's a faux leather book by Arthur Bryant on the English nation, and a more elementary book called "The Medieval Scene" by R. J. Unstead that has some cool pictures and summaries of many of the development of the English nation. Ahron tells me that I might find something to like in each of them. We have a few beers and some chili fries. Ahron is a former gamer, and so we have a lot to talk about. Throughout the discussion, he tells me of the virtues of Dark Souls for the Xbox 360: that it's really difficult, not like those hand-holding borefest games that companies usually put out, it's mature and expects you to be, and that it's really damn good fun.

(Photo taken later that evening)

After we finish the fries, we head into the pub and watch some of the game. Ahron leaves after 8pm, and I stay to watch the Spain v. Portugal game. It's a fierce contest and the game is level at 0-0 at full time. It's still level after two periods of extra time. The shootout is close, but Spain goes through on a mistake by Bruno Alves (he looked REALLY tired). Ronaldo doesn't even get to shoot; for some reason they were saving him for kick taker number five.

Quite the day. Until tomorrow... 

Heading home.