Who's gonna drive you home
Mar. 8th, 2004 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
j4Sorry I didn't make it to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spb's party. Feeling too anti-social for partying, and far too tired to sacrifice all Saturday night's sleep.
Decided to go and visit my parents instead. It's a 2-hour drive, nearly all A14 and M1, first time I'd driven that far on my own (and first time I'd done motorways on my own). I didn't get lost, I didn't do anything stupid, and I did get a chance to listen to lots of tapes (The Shamen, "Boss Drum"; Alisha's Attic, "Alisha Rules the World"; Mary Chapin Carpenter, "A Place in the World"; Kate Bush, "The Kick Inside").
As always, I felt my spirits start to lift a little as the landscape started developing contours. Cambridge's flatness really does depress me; I need mountains in my life! In the meantime, though, even the rolling Wolds country helped a little bit, especially with the setting sun pouring red-golden light over the fields and hills.
My parents fed me nice food (tuna steaks marinaded in lime & ginger, with new potatoes, asparagus and broccoli) and lots of wine. We watched "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", and bits of the Old Grey Whistle Test on DVD; and we talked, and generally just relaxed. I got plenty of sleep, and then spent Sunday sorting out Stuff in my room. Sifted through heaps of paper and threw out loads of rubbish: council tax bills from rented house in Oxford; letters about fire extinguishers in College; heaps of random crap from St Aldate's, etc. Also put aside piles of books to go to charity shops.
Most of the stuff I've got rid of was Oxford-related -- papers from my time as a student, or books that I bought because I thought they'd come in useful some time while I was studying English. Somehow I feel as though I don't need to hang on to it all any more. I'm still hoping to go back Oxford in the not-too-distant future, but if I do it'll be on different terms, for different reasons. It won't be to reclaim the opportunities I missed as a student, but to start a new chapter of my life.
spb's party. Feeling too anti-social for partying, and far too tired to sacrifice all Saturday night's sleep.Decided to go and visit my parents instead. It's a 2-hour drive, nearly all A14 and M1, first time I'd driven that far on my own (and first time I'd done motorways on my own). I didn't get lost, I didn't do anything stupid, and I did get a chance to listen to lots of tapes (The Shamen, "Boss Drum"; Alisha's Attic, "Alisha Rules the World"; Mary Chapin Carpenter, "A Place in the World"; Kate Bush, "The Kick Inside").
As always, I felt my spirits start to lift a little as the landscape started developing contours. Cambridge's flatness really does depress me; I need mountains in my life! In the meantime, though, even the rolling Wolds country helped a little bit, especially with the setting sun pouring red-golden light over the fields and hills.
My parents fed me nice food (tuna steaks marinaded in lime & ginger, with new potatoes, asparagus and broccoli) and lots of wine. We watched "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", and bits of the Old Grey Whistle Test on DVD; and we talked, and generally just relaxed. I got plenty of sleep, and then spent Sunday sorting out Stuff in my room. Sifted through heaps of paper and threw out loads of rubbish: council tax bills from rented house in Oxford; letters about fire extinguishers in College; heaps of random crap from St Aldate's, etc. Also put aside piles of books to go to charity shops.
Most of the stuff I've got rid of was Oxford-related -- papers from my time as a student, or books that I bought because I thought they'd come in useful some time while I was studying English. Somehow I feel as though I don't need to hang on to it all any more. I'm still hoping to go back Oxford in the not-too-distant future, but if I do it'll be on different terms, for different reasons. It won't be to reclaim the opportunities I missed as a student, but to start a new chapter of my life.
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Date: 2004-03-08 08:50 am (UTC)I know what you mean. I grew up in north Bucks, where there aren't any mountains, or even large hills, but where the landscape goes up and down all the time. (It's where the Thames and the Great Ouse both have sources.) At least here on the Cambs border at Royston, we've got some decent ups and downs behind us - you can supposedly see Ely Cathedral on a clear day from the top of the Heath.
But it did feel weird coming back from the week in Switzerland to suddenly not see snow-covered peaks any more.