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There was something in the air in Oxford...

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Berhael
Post subject: There was something in the air in Oxford...
Posted: Sat 11 Aug , 2012 9:04 pm
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I've been to the 10th anniversary TORC moot in Oxford today; as I've been doing for the last 5 years, I've only done it as a day trip (partying at night in student halls is hard when you have a baby or two ;) ), and Dan (Mr Ber), Alex and Ada came along. Alex and Dan spent most of the day in the Natural History Museum, the Pitts-Rivers and the Ashmolean, as Alex loves visiting museums (I'm so proud :D ), and Ada came with me to meet the TORCers and to visit Tolkien's grave at Wolvercote cemetery. The atmosphere there, with the golden afternoon sunshine and summer breeze, was beautiful. :)

But what really surprised me was that, when we came back home, Alex asked me to start reading him The Lord of the Rings. :Q I didn't particularly tell him that Oxford was the city where LotR was written; he's curious about LotR, mainly because of Lego, but I haven't gone all LotR geek on him (yet), and he didn't come to any of the Tolkienish activities we did today. So I just have to assume that there was indeed something in the air in Oxford today that made him think of this story he's only heard vague references about. :)

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Jude
Post subject: Re: There was something in the air in Oxford...
Posted: Sat 11 Aug , 2012 9:36 pm
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I wish I had been there! Next year, for (almost) sure.

So are you going to read it to him?

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: There was something in the air in Oxford...
Posted: Sun 12 Aug , 2012 2:39 am
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That is lovely, Ber! It's just the kind of thing that warms the cockles of a mother's heart. :Wooper:

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Post subject: Re: There was something in the air in Oxford...
Posted: Mon 13 Aug , 2012 12:37 pm
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I was very disappointed to miss this year also, particularly when I heard you had visited Tolkien's grave (which I wanted to do both times I visited) and particularly when I heard I missed your recitation of Namarie, which was one of the highlights of Edinburgh for me. (Although it was a private performance as the two of us were climbing to Arthur's Seat! Or actually, I think we were descending...)

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Berhael
Post subject: Re: There was something in the air in Oxford...
Posted: Mon 13 Aug , 2012 8:44 pm
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Yes, I started to read "A Long-Expected Party" and after a while switched to "Concerning Hobbits". I asked him a couple of times if he was getting bored (he was playing with his toys in bed) but he asked me to keep reading. The next day we watched a bit of the extended edition of FotR, but the Black Riders frightened him a bit too much so I think we'll shelve the film until he's a bit older. I caught him drawing a hand covered in scaly armour later, and when I asked him who it was he said "the Black Rider". :D

I've given him my Burger King LotR figurines: Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli and Frodo. He loves getting them out of the boxes and playing with them. I find it hilarious to hear him muttering to himself "Where's Legolas? Ah... here's Legolas" etc. :D

My visit to Oxford was very brief. I was going to join ArPhy's tour/mystery crime walk, thinking it would start around 3pm-ish, but they set out from the Eagle & Child a bit after 1:30, when we had just arrived; Alex and Ada needed to eat, so we had to skip the walk (and instead eat in a crowded McDonalds full of tourists :roll: ). Alex wouldn't have lasted more than 10 minutes on the walk anyway, he was much happier seeing dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum and ninjas at the Ashmolean. :D

So all I did with the group, really, was to meet up with Alys and The Angel (and meet their gorgeous 5-month old son, Nate) and then most of the rest of the group started coming back from the walk: Jaeniver, Satch, Pandora, truehobbit, Tosh, heliona, wilko, Gungnir and family, niniel*... We hopped on a bus to Wolvercote cemetery, and found the grave, which had lots of little mementoes that people had left: from hairbands to a CD of a band called Olorin. The best one was a drawing someone had made of Beren and Luthien lying together on their grave, it was actually a very nice piece of artwork.

:oops: Reciting Namárië seemed fitting for me, as it was the end of the moot for me (Ada was getting fractious, and Alex was by then completely museumed-out) - probably the shortest moot I've ever had! But it being the 10th anniversary, I couldn't not go. I hope to be able to attend for at least 2 days and one night, maybe next year, or the year after.

I remember reciting it en route to Arthur's Seat... or was it coming down? My brain is a sieve. It's a gorgeous poem to recite, the words roll so well, although of course it's a sad topic.

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"The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born [...] Your life, as you know it... is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk... and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life."


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ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject: Re: There was something in the air in Oxford...
Posted: Sat 18 Aug , 2012 2:59 am
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Berhael's elegy turned a visit to a graveside into a moment of grace and dignity. I shan't forget it. Nor shall I forget the tiny trinkets on the grave that spoke of so much love. One metal tag simply said, 'Thank you'.

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Berhael
Post subject: Re: There was something in the air in Oxford...
Posted: Sat 18 Aug , 2012 8:25 pm
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That was lovely, wasn't it? Simple and honest.

Thanks for your kind words. :oops: I know not everybody loves cemeteries as much as I do (must be the latent Goth gene), but I thought Wolvercote looked particularly serene and beautiful last week.

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"The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born [...] Your life, as you know it... is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk... and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life."


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