Introduction to Daily Life in Oxford
When experiencing a foreign country, you go through three phases: first, a tourist, then a student, and finally a transnational. When I came to England as a tourist in the mid-1980s, I brought with me a vision of what England was like. This vision was based on films, novels, and travel guidebooks. We spent most of our time in London seeing the major sites, eating fish and chips, and having afternoon tea. And I thoroughly enjoyed this. However, by the second week of Michaelmas term at Oxford, I began to see the cracks in the pavement, literally.
The sidewalks were not poured concrete; they were made out of paving stones, which buckled and became wobbly. On my first trip to the Bodleian Library on a rainy day, I stepped on one of the loose stones and was submerged to my ankle in water. After some trial and error, I learned where to put my foot in order to avoid a dunking.
The Great Storm of 1987
It is a cliché that the English love to discuss the weather, and occasionally there is something dramatic to talk about.
On Friday, October 16, 1987, I said in an audiotape to Kent Gulley, “I was up all night last night, partly because of jet lag, partly because the wind was just incredibly wild. I heard on the radio today that it was the strongest winds that could be remembered in the southern parts of England. It was at hurricane levels in some parts of the south. In London, they said that over a thousand trees in Kew Garden had been uprooted, including a number of quite rare trees. The Underground was only operating at minimum level and there were a lot of trees down. I guess I was a little nervous so maybe that is why I couldn’t sleep as well. The wind was frighteningly strong. I did remember that last year there was a tree that blew down in the Fellows Garden, so I was a little worried about the trees in the Warden’s garden and the Quadrangle, wondering whether they would stand up. I heard that thirteen people died because of trees collapsing on buildings. I’m not sure what you can do to protect yourself against that, other than living on a moor.”
According to the Met Office, “The 1987 storm has been referred to as the worst storm since the Great Storm of 1703 and also as a once in 200 year event.” About 15 million trees came down. The Met Office was criticized for failing to warn the public about the impending storm. In particular, TV weather presenter Michael Fish told the viewers on the evening before the storm that there would be no hurricane.
The Great Storm of 1987 has made various appearances in novels and dramas, including an entire novel In the Kingdom of Air (1994) by Tim Binding.
One notable feature of daily life in England is the Shipping Forecast that is issued four times a day.
Daily Information
In 1986, there were two sources of information about what was happening in the Oxford (both are still in existence). The first was a broadsheet (essentially a poster) called Daily Information, which was posted in the Lodge each day. It had information about practical things like jobs, accommodations, and tutoring, but I mainly used it to find out about events, concerts, and lectures that were taking place. An early morning reading of the Daily Information might alter my day as I picked out things to do.
The second source of information was the Oxford University Gazette, which was published weekly during the academic year. It is the official record of the University of Oxford, so it publishes regulations, minutes of meetings, job vacancies, awards, and times and locations of public lectures. It also lists short-term accommodation information, if you want to visit Oxford.
Lecture on Classical Indian Music
Perhaps it was Daily Information or the Oxford University Gazette where Malki found out about the lectures on Classical Indian music. During second week, Malki left a note in my pigeonhole at the lodge. He asked if I was doing OK (after what had happened at the New College sports ground) and invited me to go to the second of four lectures on Indian Classical Music.
The lecture was held in a building on Walton Street that I thought was the Oriental Institute. Malki introduced me to Mark Stone, who was working on a PhD at the University of London. I wondered if he had come to Oxford to attend this lecture, but it turned out that he preferred to live in Oxford.
The second lecture was on the topic of ragas. Ragas are a type of music that has no direct equivalent in European classical music. The raga (literally meaning “to dye or color”) is meant to evoke a mood, desire, or feeling. Because of this, certain ragas are played at specific times of the day. A list of ragas by time of day can be found at "Indian Music Ragas and Time Association." Rather than talking about ragas, have a listen to “Tilak Kamod,” an early evening raga:
Many of the things I wanted to learn were outside the prescribed curriculum. Malki offered to teach me how to speak Urdu, the national language of Pakistan. So we agreed to meet at the lodge of Keble on Wednesday, at 5:00, of third week.
As I said in the title, this is an introduction to daily life in Oxford. It will take me year to really immerse you in this world. And at that point, I will be able to explain what it feels like to be transnational.
Enjoyed this!