Monthly Archives: July 2024

Z has a jolly in Cambridge

As far as my father was concerned, it was the Other Place, the village on the Cam that wasn’t worth noticing, so I never went there until after he died. I don’t know if it’s the same now but, 50-odd years ago, the Oxford/Cambridge rivalry was real.

Today, I went with the local Nadfas group there – I still call it Nadfas, but it changed its name a few years ago. We went to the marvellous Kettles Yard and then to Kings College Chapel, with a leisurely lunch between and a stroll afterwards. So beautiful there. When cousins Rhonda and Victoria visit, I plan to take them there. They’ll be bowled over.

They’ve got unfortunate timings for their plane journeys. I don’t know when they’ll arrive on the 31st, but they leave Heathrow at 6.30am on the 13th August. I just can’t inflict a train journey, arriving at midnight, on them so I’m hoping to have a couple of nights somewhere nice, within an hour or two of the airport, to drop them off – probably still around midnight, but at least they will have had a good dinner and not a long journey before their start – and then carry on westwards to Pembrokeshire for a few days. Anyone got any thoughts? I’m wondering about Salisbury, but maybe somewhere closer? Just a few good places to see, arriving lunchtime Sunday 11th (I’m planning a family meet-up on the Saturday) and leaving late Monday night. It’s tight timing, so maybe nearer here, as then I won’t be doubling back. Oxford? Or maybe, making the Cambridge visit on the way and staying near there for a couple of days. Really not sure, at present.