Thursday: Chuck and I got the last tour of the season of the Merton library which claims to be the oldest library in continuous use in the English speaking world. They have a first edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but not on display since there have been some recent unpleasantnesses. Seems people have come in and ripped pages out of manuscripts - ancient maps are especially attractive - so all the first editions are in safe keeping. Some books back to the 1200's - only one of which we're allowed to see up close, if not touch. Many of the book spines have their years of publication. I find many from the late 1500's and early sixteens. The smell, the feel of the place, the cast of the light through the leaded windows is something akin to what religiosity must induce in those so induceable. What thoughts have been thunk in these small upper floor rooms in the past 700 years. The vibes are as palpable as at Buchenwald, or the Viet Nam wall in DC, but here the vibes have a deep, calming, almost joyful effect.
Out to dinner at Loch Frye with the peeps the girls have been railing at. Rather mediocre food and service, but that's the first gripe with either since arriving. Have begun ordering off the menu that entree whose description has the most words (in English, mind you) i don't understand in the context. Usually ends up being some nether part of a normally uneaten small animal, with lots of cheese. Gopher Anus Miribilis Gustatorius. Not glorius.
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