You don't always know what'll get you.
But sometimes you do.
Indirectly, this whole adventure was launched two years ago when The Man and I took Thing 6 to London and Paris to have a look around. Thing 6 wanted mainly to look at English and French girls and Magic Cards (not necessarily in that order), but I wanted to take the train to Oxford and see The Bodleian. THE library. Oxford's main library. The best library in the whole wide world, not to be all fan-girl about it or anything.
They humored me (they do that) and when we got to Oxford I actually ran ahead of them (and I am not one of Nature's runners) to get there first. Oxford is a fairyland anyway - all that glowing sandstone and all the dreaming spires - but in my imagination the focus had always been the Radcliffe Camera. This is the building that most people think IS the Bodleian (if they think about it at all), but it's one small part of a structure that sends out underground tentacles into the surrounding buildings and has warehouses of books all over the place. (In Latin a "camera" is a room, so there's a little English self-deprecation for ya free of charge. If this place is a room, I'm a supermodel astronaut who doubles as an Olympic swimmer.)
And I couldn't go in.
I'm sure if you're reading this you've heard the story already - how usually they let tourists into the library but that day they had something going on in there and it was closed, and how I didn't find that out until months later - so I won't go into it here. Except to say this:
BITCH, YOU ARE MINE NOW.
I got my Bodleian library card yesterday. Here they call it a Bod Card, and as I am an Oxonian now I suppose I must do the same. They don't just hand them out, either. When you are accepted to a school you must send the University passport-style photos of yourself, and when you pick it up you must show ID, and you must take the following oath:
I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library.
They take this card very seriously, and there's a solemn little ceremony (very like a citizenship ceremony) beforehand, in which the Head Librarian (in full academic dress) gives you a little speech about the history of the Bodleian, and how the library works, and why it is important, and what is expected of you. Of course it won't surprise any of you to know that the moment we walked through that door that was blocked to me two years ago I started crying. I mean I wasn't honking or anything, but there was a distinct lack of communication between the brain saying OH MY GOD DON'T MAKE YOURSELF LOOK LIKE A TOTAL RUBE and the tear ducts saying OH HI I GUESS WE'LL LEAK ALL OVER, IS THIS A GOOD PLACE? Also most people got their cards from the group leader (who is great) but I got mine from the Head Librarian and my voice shook all the way through the Oath, and she was delighted and said "congratuLAtions!" when she handed me the card and afterwards told me where there was a very interesting display of C.S. Lewis (or maybe it was Tolkien, she couldn't remember).
Everybody else just treated it like another day at the races. Their loss, man. Being cool is for the birds.
The Bod Card does more than give you access to Every Book There Is, it serves as a key-card to get you into buildings all over campus. In fact, the only way to discern it from Charlie Bucket's Golden Ticket is that mine is mauve.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a book report to write.
But sometimes you do.
Indirectly, this whole adventure was launched two years ago when The Man and I took Thing 6 to London and Paris to have a look around. Thing 6 wanted mainly to look at English and French girls and Magic Cards (not necessarily in that order), but I wanted to take the train to Oxford and see The Bodleian. THE library. Oxford's main library. The best library in the whole wide world, not to be all fan-girl about it or anything.
They humored me (they do that) and when we got to Oxford I actually ran ahead of them (and I am not one of Nature's runners) to get there first. Oxford is a fairyland anyway - all that glowing sandstone and all the dreaming spires - but in my imagination the focus had always been the Radcliffe Camera. This is the building that most people think IS the Bodleian (if they think about it at all), but it's one small part of a structure that sends out underground tentacles into the surrounding buildings and has warehouses of books all over the place. (In Latin a "camera" is a room, so there's a little English self-deprecation for ya free of charge. If this place is a room, I'm a supermodel astronaut who doubles as an Olympic swimmer.)
And I couldn't go in.
I'm sure if you're reading this you've heard the story already - how usually they let tourists into the library but that day they had something going on in there and it was closed, and how I didn't find that out until months later - so I won't go into it here. Except to say this:
BITCH, YOU ARE MINE NOW.
I got my Bodleian library card yesterday. Here they call it a Bod Card, and as I am an Oxonian now I suppose I must do the same. They don't just hand them out, either. When you are accepted to a school you must send the University passport-style photos of yourself, and when you pick it up you must show ID, and you must take the following oath:
I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library.
They take this card very seriously, and there's a solemn little ceremony (very like a citizenship ceremony) beforehand, in which the Head Librarian (in full academic dress) gives you a little speech about the history of the Bodleian, and how the library works, and why it is important, and what is expected of you. Of course it won't surprise any of you to know that the moment we walked through that door that was blocked to me two years ago I started crying. I mean I wasn't honking or anything, but there was a distinct lack of communication between the brain saying OH MY GOD DON'T MAKE YOURSELF LOOK LIKE A TOTAL RUBE and the tear ducts saying OH HI I GUESS WE'LL LEAK ALL OVER, IS THIS A GOOD PLACE? Also most people got their cards from the group leader (who is great) but I got mine from the Head Librarian and my voice shook all the way through the Oath, and she was delighted and said "congratuLAtions!" when she handed me the card and afterwards told me where there was a very interesting display of C.S. Lewis (or maybe it was Tolkien, she couldn't remember).
Everybody else just treated it like another day at the races. Their loss, man. Being cool is for the birds.
The Bod Card does more than give you access to Every Book There Is, it serves as a key-card to get you into buildings all over campus. In fact, the only way to discern it from Charlie Bucket's Golden Ticket is that mine is mauve.
