Day 47: This Is A Strange Place

I went for a short run this morning with you-know-who down to you-know-where and came back to do a bit of work on my final supervision paper. Today was also the Fitzwilliam Museum's 200th anniversary, so I went down in the afternoon to have a look around.

Despite the fact that I walk past the Fitzwilliam Museum every day to get to class, I'd never been inside. It was surprisingly grand.

There was also a fair variety of work there, from gaudy golden Italian stuff to realist landscapes and van Gogh, though I did skip the Egyptian exhibit because I don't think I've quite recovered from the mummies at the British Museum.

And then I went out to watch the Morris dancers.

I'm still not entirely sure my memories of the following half-hour aren't the result of some elaborate hallucination.

"This is a piece of British culture," Sir Andy had said earlier, "You must see it."

I don't know what was the most bewildering--seeing old dudes with flowers in their hats and Santa's sleigh bells strapped to their legs wheezing and jumping around looking like I'd have to call 999 any second, or the other old dude going around and alternately whacking people on the backside and tickling them with this weird stick-thingie (I got tickled with the weird stick-thingie. The LA in me had a fist cocked before I realized that maybe slugging a sixty-year-old dude might lead to trouble), or the one dancing dude who tripped over a pram and fell on a baby, or the simple fact that there were two accordion players, or the stick-whacking, or the handkerchief-waving--

What the heck did I just watch?

Somewhat dazed, I staggered back to King's to get a bit more work done (it didn't happen).

Since this is the last week in Cambridge for one of my friends, I decided to go to formal at Pembroke just as kind of a good-bye dinner. I complain a lot about his disgustingly cerebral jokes, but I really did appreciate getting to know him, and having a partner-in-crime with whom to suffer through interminable philosophy lectures was an added bonus.

He's also a a (fantastic) singer.

(Of human trees.)

But I won't embarrass him on here by posting that amazing video I have of him at open mic. Man, that was glorious.

Instead, have three misfits.

(Chairs are for standing.)