High Street and Cornmarket

Oxford ROCKS. That is all I have to say.

My room? Fabulous.
My college? Cozy, historic, lovely gardens.
My internet connection? On its way, which is why this comes to you from the High Street (more specifically, from an internet cafe).

If you want to see where, exactly, I am, you can GoogleEarth or MapQuest both Corpus Christi College, Oxford (OX1 4JF) or Number 60, the Iffley Road, Oxford (my residence).

Give me a month to settle in and then come visit. But bring a coat, because it's only September and brrrr! is it a bit chilly already.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me.

This is a disjointed post. But I haven't had lunch yet, even though it's 2 in the afternoon. So obviously that explains everything.

DC

Hey cognoscenti - update from the road:

Hanging out in the room, taking a break. Today and yesterday have been fantastic; the Marshall folks have arranged a series of speakers who are either former Marshalls themselves or have some connection to the program. We've heard from Tom Friedman, Bruce Babbitt, Dan Yergin, Richard Boucher, and Jeffery Gettleman...with more tomorrow. Awesome. Makes me a little reminiscent for the days when I was sure I would go into public service/public policy...

The people here are great - they come from all different backgrounds, and very few (this year, although I am told it is not always the case) are in the humanities. Most are going into International Relations, medicine, or the sciences. I think there are five or six music/lit/history folks. Regardless, they're a very easygoing and friendly bunch - none of the fake niceness required to make friends at all. Plus, everyone seems pretty interested in other fields and areas, too, so even if I don't know anything about oncology I can hang out with the medical folks and have a good conversation about any number of things. Awesome.

Okay, that's it for now - more updates to come.

North, South, East...and what was the other one?

A week of orientation begins when I fly to DC tomorrow morning. By Friday, I will be the most oriented darn person you'll ever want to meet. Blogging promises to be sporadic, as I have none of the following:

- a steady internet connection
- a room at Oxford
- a clue about where that room will be
- any information on whether or not that room is internet ready

Since this is turning out to be a list-y post, here's the Reader's Digest version of what I'll be doing this week:

- hearing a lot of people yak at me
- meeting the British Ambassador
- riding the London Eye
- touring the Houses of Parliament
- attending a Q&A at Parliament with Lord Stratford of Stratford
- realizing that Lord Stratford of Stratford (aka former Labour MP Tony Banks) is a loony:

MP bemoans 'tedious' constituents

Former sports minister Tony Banks has delivered a parting shot to his constituents by branding their problems "tedious in the extreme". The Labour MP, who is quitting at the next election, said constituency work sometimes made him feel like a "high-powered social worker". However, he said he would miss being chairman of the Works of Art Committee. Mr Banks, MP for West Ham, in east London, made his comments on BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster on Saturday.

'Intellectually numbing'

Mr Banks has spent more than two decades in Westminster and will keep on working until the general election, expected next May. He said: "I most certainly won't miss the constituency work. I've got to tell you that honestly.

"It's 22 years of the same cases, but just the faces and the people changing. I found it intellectually numbing, tedious in the extreme.

"It might sound a little disparaging to say this about people's lives and their problems and we did deal with them ... but I got no satisfaction from this at all. I really didn't.

"And all you were was a sort of high-powered social worker and perhaps not even a good one. So I won't miss that."

Mr Banks has been a colourful and outspoken character since his arrival at Westminster in 1983. An avid animal rights supporter and Chelsea fan, he was made minister for sport in Tony Blair's first administration.

But his frank comments have often landed him in trouble. He once described Tory leader William Hague as a "foetus" and upset Anglo-Canadian relations by calling the Canadians "dickheads" over seal culling.

Mr Banks told the BBC that he would miss his role as chairman of the Works of Art Committee, which looks after historic paintings and sculptures in Westminster. He said he found his art committee role "straightforward fun" which gave him "intellectual enjoyment".

'Gravy-train'

Mr Banks said he realised it was time to leave Westminster when he started asking himself "Why am I doing this?".

He had become increasingly annoyed by media reports suggesting MPs were enjoying a gravy-train existence, he said.

He said: "You are working your nuts off and you are getting abused by journalists. I have got a very thin skin on these things. And it really has annoyed me.

"I'm going to leave the House of Commons with overdrafts in all my bank accounts, with hardly any savings.

"Now, I'm not complaining about that because I represent an area where people are very poor, but you know.... that was a personal thing that really upset me."

(27 November 2004, BBC News)

Blogging Britain.

Countdown until:

Washington, DC Orientation: 11 days
Arrival in London (more Orientation): 14
Arrival at Oxford: 16
Start of Michelmas Term, 2005: 33