Emmanuel

IT'S CHRISTMAS.

This part of December is definitely the best, Christmas day has average written all over it. & true to tradition, i'm coming down with something. 

Tonight we had a Christmas dinner on our floor, which was really, really nice. In the proper sense of the word. Crackers, a proper roast, & a really lovely group of people; i suddenly realised that we rarely do anything as an entire group. Hats off to Jo, for her marvelous culinary skills. In all honesty, i owe my cooking advances to her.

Yesterday i made one of the best decisions ever; at about 2 in the afternoon,  i was sat in an MUN meeting, everybody talking about the Christmas party we were going to that night, me humming a Christmas carol...

I found someone to buy my ticket for the night, legged it to Marble Arch, & jumped on the Oxford Tube. I got to town by about 4.30, & all the shops & cafes were already emptying, ready to close. How very bizarre. I was really hoping to catch Greg yesterday, as i didn't get to see him last time, but this plan fell through. Not good. By the time i do get to see him it'll be about 4 months, so i'm looking forward to it. So anyway, i rang Rachel, from school, to see where she was at, to get ready to go to the Oxford High School Carol Concert....!

We met up in Borders (since when is that closing?? Where am i going to waste time in now??),  & while Rachel bussed to Summertown, i decided to walk under the pretense of 'no money'. In reality i wanted to take it all in, absorb Banbury Road beauty. 

We got there & following a couple of scathing looks from parents, suddenly realised i'd rocked up to Church in a denim minidress, & as if to make it better, improving on its straplessness... by wearing a backless top underneath.

Slow clapping time.

So, first impressions over, we went to sit up on the balcony, which is reserved for old girls, but is rarely filled by them; as i remember usually only a couple of people turn up.We filled up a couple of rows (:

The service is definitely going to stay one of the most beautiful memories i'll ever have.

The acoustics are amazing from up there, the songs were more beautiful than i've ever heard them sung & i felt so proud to be stood up there when the congregation turned around to see who'd come back as we sang the old girls verse.

I wish i could have recorded it & play it over & over again in my mind. It was so perfect, really haunting, but gorgeous.

I think i cried a little.

A lot.

We went out to dinner at Brown's afterward, which, typically, gives you an 'artistic' excuse for a meal, in a really amazing atmosphere to make up for it. It was nice, a little weird though. My friends haven't really changed, at least, the 6 who were there last night, but it's weird how different our lives are, & how in not too long we'll be pretty much worlds apart.

I headed back at about 10, got here at midnight, & suddenly realised how much i missed everyone's company here too. This is what i mean about being torn. & how i realised that i might, maybe, just about, love it here.

To top it all off, i definitely win at receiving postcards...

Firstly, i'm the only person i know here who gets them at all.

Secondly, the other day i found 3 postcards in my pigeon hole, not having got any for a good while.

One was from Sophie in Cambridge.

The next one i looked at was from Greg- i looked at the picture straight away because he'd told me it would 'truly sum up Oxford':

"See what i mean? That's Oxford now all the best people have disappeared!"

The whole thing made me smile.

Next, a postcard from Iara!

"Orchid! The front of this postcard represents how i feel when i think about how far away all my friends are."- hang on.

Flip over the postcard.

It's the same gargoyle.

One of the highlights of my life, methinks.

Sleepytime (:

Orchid.