After a late night/long morning of reading and
thinking, when one begins to find one’s self staring fixedly at the corner of
the mantelpiece as though to extract answers from the wood-grain, it can be
helpful to take a walk. Nothing too
jarring, mind - if you’re studying Truman Capote, Central Park would be just
right; if Dostoyevski, take a brisk trot around Red Square.
Since I’m spending a lot of mental time this summer in
Middle Earth and Narnia, my favorite is Addison’s Walk right here at Magdalen (named
after an Oxford Fellow who taught here in the early 18th century,
though the path has been there since the 16th). It’s a lovely, level
path around an island in the middle of the Cherwell River, and (in addition to
being absolutely beautiful and stunningly peaceful) it’s where C. S. Lewis
loved to walk (with the likes of J. R. R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson). It’s easy to
see how these walks led to thoughts of elves and Lions, Ice Queens and Ents.
Here’s what I walked through today.
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| The Delphiniums are blooming |
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| River Cherwell = Ratty's Hole? |
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| There are long cascades of helicopter-seeds hanging from the trees. |
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| Comfy seat? Or cunning trap? |
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This is in the Fellows' Garden. I'm sure there's a Maths Professor behind it.
This is probably a Geome-tree (one with square roots). |
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"Seriously? You're naming your hero Bilbo?"
"Hey, it's better than 'Clive.'" |
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| If the tales are right, this gate leads to something bad. |
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| "The road goes ever on and on . . ." |
