The morning sun is shimmering through the dining room flooding it with warmth and light.
This is a vast improvement of the weather of two Friday's ago as we walked the streets of Oxford.
We had to wrap up well but still enjoyed the experience. Apparently all our most promising students would study in France back in the days before cornflakes, colour telly, computers and karaoke.
There was a spat between the two sovereign heads...not for the first time I suspect, resulting in France spitting their dummy out along with our students.
Thus Oxford was born and quickly became the new centre of academia and all things fine.
This of course may not have been the case...it's just my interpretation as I shuffled behind a multi-national mix of tour junkies following our pidgeon toed but excellent guide.
Who'd have thought there was such a connection to our most prized of cities. I was only really interested in 'Inspector Morse' and where they filmed but I certainly got more than I expected.
We trundled every street as if it was Venice and learned loads about the place. My favouite building was the Radcliffe library. I really felt something for Dr John Radcliffe.
Had he lived, he would have been 302 years older than me.
Apparently he was just a humble Yorkshireman born in Wakefield who graduated from Oxford and went on to become the Royal 'Diagnostic' Pysician to William 111 and Mary. In 1707 he was worth £80,000 ( started out charging 20 guineas a go).
He died in 1714 in Carshalton (I passed my swimming test there in the '60's) and bequeathed £40,000 to the university to build the library.
They started building immediately after the funeral. The sad thing was that he didn't even see the plans.
The building was the first circular reference library in the country and is widely regarded as the hub of oxford university. The place certainly left an impression on me...it's incredibly beautiful.
I can't help but wonder how much £40,000 back in 1714 is worth in current money.
Tomorrow I'm looking forward to decorating our hall at a total price of a few quid. Life is good.
Speaking of French connections...Frederick ( our exchange student from France way back in the 80's) has made contact. I'm really looking forward to 'catch-up'.
I'm off for a slow walk over the field to work now.
The Radcliffe library...note the twisted bikes in the foreground.
The french word for library is la bibliotheque
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