Arcadian

To Oxford, today, to fulfill the last remaining item of my mother's will: delivering her copy of Philip Sidney's 1613 Arcadia, which she left to St Anne's, her (and my) old college.  My father thinks that he bought this from a stall in Leather Lane around 1950, where there were all kinds of things on sale that were probably looted remnants from bombed-out houses.  This has a faint pencil mark saying that it cost ten shillings.  It was hard to say goodbye to an old book-friend (and no, it wasn't as though I ever sat and looked at it, really, but it was something that had always been there).  But now it will be among St Anne's rare books, where it will be properly looked after, and where - my mother would have liked this, a lot - it will be seen by students studying the Early Modern period with a professor who loves to show them - well, what old books are like.

The library and development staff looked after me extraordinarily well; giving me a tour of the very covetable new library - including the roof garden, complete with mosaic.

The biggest drama occurred when the door to the Senior Common Room jammed after lunch - we'd been drinking coffee in there - and we all had to exit through the window into the flower bed.

For good measure, here's the view from my hotel room window: umbrellas, yes, but excellent architecture ...