pubs

one of my coworkers sent me this link to peculiar british pubs, and asked if i'd been to the eagle and child, the pub in oxford that is on the list.  i have, though i almost didn't go there - it's the most well-known pub in oxford because j.r.r. tolkien and c.s. lewis (and probably other people so fancy that they used only their initials) used to eat and drink there, so it felt like a touristy thing to go there.  and i tried (somewhat successfully) to be as un-touristy as possible.  while we ate lunch there, probably five different groups of tourists came in, took pictures, and left, all without having a drink.  and in a country where it is totally appropriate to have a pint of beer or cider at lunch, this is silly.

i went to the eagle and child (aka "the bird and baby" if you want to sound like you are cool and local) with my friend anna (hi anna!) and two of her friends in this weird convergence of two worlds.  anna was flying through the uk last july on her way to zambia, where she has been living and working this year.  and i was in the uk.  she and i live about 400 miles apart in the us, and here we were in the same place thousands of miles away from that.  she met up with some friends for a couple days, and they came to oxford to sight see, and to see me.  we drank beer, ate lunch, bought caramel digestives (the best cookies EVER), and walked around, and it was fabulous.  anna was a year behind me at duke, but a year or two older than me in age, and we liked to call her grandma.  she and i played rugby together and became really good friends and she is wonderful and we miss her now that she is far away.  but she comes home this summer and that will be very exciting.  i don't think our paths will pass again in oxford, but i'll cross my fingers that they will.

bottom line, though - the pubs listed in the article i linked to at the top are really interesting, and you should waste time looking at them.  that is all.