Meanwhile let me leave you with a few other updates.
Yesterday I took a walk along "The Backs". This is a part of Cambridge where a number of colleges, which are situated side by side, back up onto the River Cam. It's really a lovely area because there's the river, with a number of bridges crossing it, areas that look like pastures, and also the colleges' private gardens. Some of these are labeled "Fellows Gardens" and some are "Scholars Gardens". Neither kind is open to the public. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is but obviously, there is one. :P
You can get more information on the backs here.
Here's a picture that I took from a bridge behind King's College.
And here's another that I took, also from the bridge. It's of two guys punting down the river. They're going in the direction of Clare College, which is next to King's.
After I'd done strolling along the Backs, I considered making like a student and sitting down for lunch in one of these richer colleges. But I chickened out. (Sad...) I guess I'd rather wait until I had some accomplices. I know the students here all go around eating at different colleges, not only for a change in menu options but also just to see what the different colleges are like, but as I only have a lowly visitor's card, and am not even myself studying here, I don't feel that secure going alone. At least if I go with a bona fide student, it'd be more legit.
Anyways, when I got home, I did - what else - but read my book. The Subtle Knife was really good!
We saw on one of the noticeboards that there was going to be a quiz night in the club room and thought we'd go take a look. We asked the other Sainsbury peeps if they were interested but nobody much was. So we went alone and found a handful of people sitting around talking quietly while a lone guy up front spun some tunes. A few more people arrived but still, there was nothing discernible going on. Okay, we should have asked the DJ guy what was going on but we were a bit shy! So, under the pretense of buying Pepsi and making conversation, we ended up asking the guy who was manning the bar. Sneaky sneaky! Anyway, he said that basically it was a bunch of different categories that you answer on paper in groups of 2 to 10, and that the best team wins a prize. He recommended that we just join a group. So after listening for a bit and finding that we really could answer some of the questions, we did join a group. Two guys sitting on their lonesome. Turned out they were both medics - one was from Cyprus and the other from Bulgaria. I can't for the life of me remember their names. (I think one was "Yevoli" but I can't be sure. The other name was something very Greek sounding.) Anyway, another Medic, Chris joined after and it turned out that the DJ guy, Mark, was also a Medic.
So, we answered the questions, and then there was a swop of papers, and a marking thingy and guess what? We ended up placing second - only one point behind the group that came first! The third place group (of about 10 people) got a box of chocolates, second place got six ₤4 vouchers at the bar. (Yes, I know that was a Lira sign but Sameer did something to the keyboard and now I can't find the Pound.) First prize was a couple of bottles of wine, which wouldn't have been much use to us anyway, so I guess that one point was for the best.
Unfortunately, the vouchers were only valid for that night. Realizing that we probably wouldn't be able to use all of it in one sitting, we offered them to the other guys but they said no thanks, that we should go ahead and use it to stock up on munchies. So off we went to the bar and bought as many smoothies, J2O (juice), chips, and chocolates as ₤8 could buy us.
And here's a picture of the stash. We've been slowly working our way through them since. ;) I think we'll be back at quiz night next week again.
3 comments:
Wow! 8 squids used to net a heck of a lot more when I was in London. Guess Tito Mboweni has an effect no matter where you go! ;-) I'd forgotten how picturesque the UK was...thanks for bringing back some awesome memories with your photos. Glad you guys are all settled in and really enjoying the updates!
Reminds me of a Laragh quiz night that happened one time, except I didn't really know any of the answers I don't think. Looks like a nice little stash you got there, but the bottles look like they'd contain some kind of sauce, rather than juice - kind of strangely shaped. Do they have any new flavour Doritos there btw? This just reminded me now of a packet of Doritos we have stashed in the cupboard, which I'd forgotten about until now, so thanks for the reminder ;) And thanks for the pretty pictures too :)
Oh, well technically there was one more smoothie but we gave it away to a friend. And we ate one of the packets of Doritos post-haste!
Well, I'm not sure if it's a new flavor per se but I certainly haven't seen it in SA - it's called Chilli Pepper or something like that. That's the red packet on the left in the picture. It really was nothing to write home about. The Tangy Cheesy is still better.
Also, the J2O bottles are shaped more like beer-bottles. They're sorta like Liqui Coolers. Apparently if you're ashamed of not drinking beer, you can pretend with a nifty beer-shaped bottle of juice and additives. :P
Also Sals, I have more pics but just haven't had time (ie computer-time) to post them. I think I need to do it while Sameer is asleep or occupied with other things.
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