My Chisel-Wielding Brother

Somehow at dinner we were talking about Oxford's New College, which is called new even though it was founded in the 14th century. "Oh!" I said, "you know the gargoyle on the office wall above the computer? It's from New College. The summer that Alex was 2, my parents and brother and sister came to the UK. I spent my birthday in Oxford and Uncle Rob gave me one of the New College gargoyles as a present."

I descended briefly into reverie, remembering how happy I had been to see my family. I loved living in the UK but it was lonely and no mistake. The train trip from Edinburgh flew by, even with Alex in my lap and his younger brother, in utero, kicking us both all the way. We went punting on a glorious summer day, and we saw an outdoor production of Midsummer Night's Dream in the New College Gardens. Toddler Alex did not appreciate Shakespeare, so I spent most of the second act away from the performers, near the chapel. I remember the bats were out in force, swooping down on their suppers, but they were up high enough in the purple twilight -- up by the gargoyles, which are the small round things where wall meets roof in this picture -- that they were fun to watch and not alarming. Afterward we ate real ice cream, Ben and Jerry's Phish Food. In 1999 the UK was an ice cream wasteland. Ben and Jerry's was available here and there but it cost more than $7 per pint. We had no money for extravagances, so it had been a long time since I'd had good ice cream. Yum, I can almost taste it now.

In this welter of happy memories it took me a minute to notice that my 12yo was making a strange face. "How," he asked, "did Uncle Rob get the gargoyle off the building?"

A replica, I hastened to tell him. It's a replica of a New College gargoyle.

Comments

[Lilian]

hahahaha! thanks for the good laugh after midnight! Ah... how I want to take my family to the U.K.! and Europe! and so many places! sigh... :)

[Pigwotflies]

He he!
If I'd known you then, I'd have told you to go to G&D's in Oxford, on Little Clarendon Street. They have the best ice cream in so many different flavours. Definitely as good as, if not better then, Ben and Jerry's. :)

[Elle]

I spent the summer of 1997 as a college student on an exchange program at New College. Loved the garden, loved the chapel, loved everything about Oxford. Thank you for bringing back some happy memories.

[mandamum]

And I spent the fall of 1997 in London on exchange, walking across Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to get to class each day.... I don't remember missing ice cream, but had fun trying to find other ingredients or recipes to use with the ingredients I had to hand.

I brought home an ad that asked, "Have you a head for Rummikub?" that showed a head made of Rummikub tiles--my family's type humor about one of my family's favorite games :)

[Rob]

Wait, you still think it's a replica?