Ecuador Reunion, Long Conversations

It was just your usual run of the mill weekend. Friday was guest night, and I had a large group of people over, seeing as Douglas had two places that had to be filled. Peter, Jamin, Xinhui and Elly all came, along with Gillian and myself. It was a enjoyable enough meal, with a really lovely soup, and pheasant for the main course, though it was a really hot evening, making formal wear quite uncomfortable. After guest night, wandered off onto the lawns where it was the first night's performance of the Cavalcade, set to mark Trinity's 450th Anniversary. All said, it was supposed to be quite a big thing, involving such things as Morris Dancing, a specially written play about Cardinal John Henry Newman, and a Trinity Anthem, written by an old member whose son, Jason, is also currently studying at the college, and who is an orchestra conductor in Germany. I was disappointed to have missed both performances due to guest night on friday and the Ecuador reunion dinner on Saturday, but all told I heard that it was great fun.

Friday evening was spent in a long conversation with Xin Hui, whom went back to my room for a cup of tea with us having failed to find the rest of the people after guest night. It was one of those really random conversations which ranged from everything from Singapore politics, the predeliction for teenagers and especially Singaporeans to gossip, why guys always seem to be 'looking' while girls are often not, and lots of similar things. I do quite enjoy these long drawn out conversations that seem to stretch indeterminably into the evening. The previous Wednesday I had one with a bunch of Trinity people, in particular, Jason's father, who was here to specially conduct the Trinity Anthem. This was something that I had definitely not done often enough this term.

Saturday evening was another night out, specifically at Thirst for the Calvacade after party, but before that we had our Ecuador reunion dinner at YY's house down Cowley road. It was wonderful food again, and it was especially nice to have Debbie, Andrea and Justin's company as they had come down from Exeter and London respectively. It was definitely nice to see Zing again as well, as I had hardly seen her all term. It was lovely having delicious home cooked food - especially local food, as well as such fine company to enjoy it with. As per usual, I fulfilled my role, which was to provide the beverages for the evening, which was two bottles of wine - one a nice chianti, another a sauvignon blanc which was actually surprisingly dry. But altogether a most enjoyable evening.

Sunday was a late morning, followed by my first punting outing of the term - with Mary, YY, Andrea and Justin, just nice for a single punt. Went down the Cherwell around Magdalen bridge and past St Hilda's, an area I had not previously punted around as last year our punts were based off the river near LMH. It was a wonderful experience, with nice weather, and it was lovely seeing the ducks and swans all out on the river. One marvellous site was seeing a duck build a nest on a bunch of floating twigs on the river. All in all, perfect proof of the maxim from the Wind in the Willows that there is nothing half as much as fun as messing about in boats. Later on, had Andrea over for formal hall, but unfortunately missed the beginning due to the fact that there was some strange firm alarms. Not the best hall, but still I think that it was quite a nice experience. So all in all, your typical Oxford weekend - full of good food, good wine, and of course, good conversation.