Too Darn Hot!

Back in London, I reunited with several friends from the Women's University Club who were gathering for our two-week courses at the International Summer School in Cambridge.  Of course, it is impossible to stop over in London without seeing a play, visiting a museum and going to a good restaurant.

On Friday night, several friends and I saw a new play called Pressure, a wonderful production created by, and starring, David Haig as Dwight Eisenhower's weather forecaster for D-Day.  It's a terrific story, as we all know, and beautifully dramatized in this spell-binding production.  On Saturday, Miriam managed to get me a ticket for the Monet and Architecture exhibit at the National Gallery.  Although Monet in particular and the Impressionists in general are thought of as landscape artists first and foremost, this exhibit explored Monet's fascination with structures from simple farm buildings in his early years to the magnificent series of the Cathedral at Rouen and the Houses of Parliament in London.  Apparently he worked on dozens of these later canvases all at once, adding bits to each as the hours of the day progressed and the light changed.  Our final evening included a celebratory dinner at Nopi, Ottolenghi's outstanding London restaurant.  We shared a variety of small plates that were absolutely outstanding, including the ever-wonderful truffle polenta chips, roasted eggplant, zucchini and edamame beans, roasted beetroot salad, some mackerel done on a grill and a beautifully prepared bavette of beef.   An exquisite chocolate confection topped it all off.  Every time I go there, I just think "Wow!"

Selwyn College's brown lawn

It was warmer than usual in Stratford and warmer than usual in London, but by the time we arrived in Cambridge, it was just too darn hot.  England has had a month of extremely high temperatures and no rain.  Cambridge, which is always green and often quite chilly because of its proximity to the North Sea, was shockingly brown.  No green grass and many flower beds turned over and abandoned.  And because of its almost invariably moderate temperatures, it is supremely un-air-conditioned.  After a month of temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s, the class rooms and dorms were sweltering and the dining and lecture halls were ovens.

Suzy and the 13 fans

Suzy Lantz, the leader of these trips, had arrived a few days before and discovered only one shop in Cambridge that still had any fans at all and they were all small personal fans -- but better than nothing.  So on Monday afternoon, after my classes, she and I headed out to buy up whatever was left.  By then, even that shop was sold out too so we took a taxi out to big box heaven on the outskirts of town to a place called Wickes and there found a sufficient supply of 12" oscillating table-top fans for the whole group.  So we bought 13, called our beloved Panther Taxi Company to send a van, and returned triumphant!  We left one in the Selwyn Porter's lodge for a member of our group staying in another college and managed to get the remaining 12 to Suzy's room using two hand trucks, only to discover that they were not assembled inside the box.  We helped each other figure out how to do that and then, while the rest of us were attending our evening lecture, Suzy put together the remaining 10.  She was the heroine of the day and many were the huzzahs celebrating her accomplishment!  A better sleep was had by all.

I like my two classes quite a bit.  The first, taught by Seán Lang is on England at War:  From Wellington to Churchill.  Lang is a wonderful story-teller, as I discovered last year when I studied the French Revolution with him, and always well-prepared.  What a surprise to discover that his brother Aiden has just become the director of the Seattle Opera.  Small world indeed!  My second class, Living Film, taught by a film-maker and lecturer in film named Fred Baker, is also excellent.  He began with some scenes from a documentary he created titled "Shadowing the Third Man", which is a retrospective on that great film.  The camera work is just wonderful and I hope to be able to find it when I return to Seattle to watch the whole thing.  He's also shown us bits of other movies, a Chinese film with the (English) title "I'm in the Mood for Love" and a German film called "Run, Lola, Run", which has one long scene of a girl running that is absolutely the most thrilling thing I've seen in ages (think of great chase scenes like in "Bullit" only this isn't a chase).  I must find that one too.

In spite of classes and lectures, there's also been time to do some shopping in town, have tea at the Orchard in Grantchester, visit the Fitzwilliam Museum and Kettle's Yard, and just enjoy this charming town.  Another home away from home.