I’ve got my library card!

I know what some of you are thinking: Mark has lost it; he’s all excited about getting a library card.

Well, I didn’t get just any library card today. I got a reader’s card for the Bodleian Library and other Oxford University libraries. And I started using it right away.

The Oxford U libraries are amazing. I thought all the good stuff was going to be hidden back in the stacks where they have to be requested. I had no idea how much is out there on open access shelves. And a lot of it is really old. Just one example was a huge set of English statues going back into medieval times commissioned by George III and printed in the early 19th century. I almost felt like I was doing something wrong taking one off the shelf and looking through it. You know I handled that book carefully.

I looked around and studied in different reading rooms until I konked.

After a deep nap, the sunny afternoon made me want to go outside. So I walked down some nature trails to North Hinksey to look at the 12th century St. Lawrence parish church and to eat at Fishes.

Something I very much like about the layout of Oxford is that even in the middle of it, you’re only a short walk away from pleasant nature trails well away from the cars.