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Just to let the faithful bloggers know, I have arrived home! I'm not tired at all, but I expect the jet lag to hit like a ton of bricks!

Goodbye England!

Today is my last full day in London, and then I head for home tomorrow morning. Thanks to all who kept up with my travels on this blog!

Oxford

Finally made it to Oxford on my last weekend in England, after a coach ride that included clipping the mirror of a parked car. But the driver let me on for student concession and saved me $6, so we will not speak a word against the driver! I really love Oxford, just wandering around and popping into museums here and there. The Bodelian Library Museum had a fascinating exhibit on Dante, Bocaccio, and Petrarch, with scads of 13th century illuminated books present too. I kept trying to imagine myself going to school at Oxford, because after U of C it was probably the PhD program in which I was most interested. Blackwell's book, music and art shops alone would make Oxford a destination!

Matins or Members Only?

To my fury Blogspot deleted a pearl-laden post I made about this Guardian article, an intriguing and counterintuitive question about whether the turn to the eucharist in the past century has not come with unforseen problems. The Guardian article asks whether the church wants commitment or numbers, positing that when the typical weekly worship for most Anglican churches was not a eucharist but rather "morning service" (the office of Matins, filled with hymns and psalms but no recitation of the creed and no need to declare oneself as a communicant), the churches were more full than they are now.

I tend to doubt the central implied premise, that people would cheerfully come to church each week if only they weren't required to BELIEVE anything, that people really just want to "do their duty" and avoid theological contestations. I know there are sometimes concerns that eucharists take longer than Matins (which by the by is NOT my experience), and I think the RCC churches filled to the brim on Saturday afternoons show that people seek times for worship more convenient than Sunday mornings, but the idea that participating in a eucharist may be too much commitment for many Christians strikes me as the most dangerous of slippery slopes. In fact, the next ledge down might be that denominating ourselves as "Christians" is too exclusive, in which case we've lost the basics just to add a few more warm bodies.

But this article did challenge me to reflect more; just as the Christian churches have turned to the eucharist, the more "conservative" form of weekly worship, so too have the great monotheistic religions all turned to more fundamentalist emphases, with rather destructive results for the world. What I notice most about this here in London as I hang about with young people is a common reaction of turning against religion overall, of adopting the "coexist" mentality that looks at all religions as doing more harm than good in the 2st century. I don't think Matins over Mass is going to do much to change that.

Tube Strike

This doesn't affect me much since I am so athletic that I walk to and fro work every day (pauses for compliments, general well-wishing), but it is a big issue for my collegaues who now need two hours to get to work one way. Yesterday people left at 4:00 to catch the last trains before the strike began at 6:00 p.m., and it is scheduled to linger until Thursday I hear.

Diana Day

Friday August 31st was the tenth anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and while I was embarrassed to see Americans quoted in the press as saying they arranged their vacations to be sure they were present for this, I have to admit I was a bit interested and even sat in the Clock House pub stealing glances at the memorial liturgy on telly. I went to Kensington Palace and took in all the flowers and messages at the gate. Let no one say England is not a free country--a few of of the messages were very uncomplimentary to the Royal Family! I took a snap of one that seems to express the middle ground most English seem to feel:

Long Live the Queen
Diana Forever
King Charles/Queen Camilla NEVER

Also walked to the famous memorial fountain in Kensington Gardens. It is not at all the type of monument I was expecting, no grand scale as the fountain of even a small Italian piazza would have, just a circular granite trough with two waterfalls. My very first thoughts were shockingly catty, even for me: "Expensive and disappointing, like Diana herself." But I have to admit I am still a fan of the Princess, specifically for being the first royal to include queers in her court in an official and respectful way and also for being the first celebrity to kiss babies with AIDS and demonstrate convincingly that one would not contract the virus doing so. Also I must say the memorial fountain lacks the pizzazz of a grander edifice but stays with one longer--as a work of art I like it far more than my original reaction.

Holland Park

This was a must-see for me simply because of the Absolutely Fabulous television show, where the lead character Edina Monsoon is constantly pointing out her residence in this posh neighborhood and is furious when anyone mistakes her address for the nearby but far less fashionable Sherpherd's Bush. It really is the Beverly Hills of London--huge mansions with enormous courtyards, Rolls Royces and Daimlers on every street, the most luxurious Tesco Express supermarket I could imagine, and a very upscale, brainy bookshop. The park itself is lovely and combines formal gardens with pure wilderness, as well as its famous population of peacocks.

Portobello Road

This weekend I wore my Reeboks to shreds and gave myself a blister to boot, trooping in Notting Hill to see the famous Portobello Market. I was sorely tempted by an antique map of Northern Ireland, only £20 ($40), but then I remembered that I am an impoverished PhD student and chose to shop in my price range (an Italian language copy of Stephen King's Cujo for only 50 pence--a buck!). People constantly asked me for directions or to take their photos, which made me feel both authentically English-appearing as well as kindly.