Cambridge

Getting up & watching Rugby World Cup matches in a cold lounge wasn't the best step for my health - but thankfully it's only a two or three day cold. So when I found Mum's day-trip (put on for the Study Abroad students) to Cambridge was on Sunday, a plan to go up & see her & the town was hatched rather hastily. As it turned out, Trish was keen to go up as well so we ended up driving. Cambridge is another one of those places I'd been meaning to visit for a while & hadn't quite had the opportunity or sufficient motivation to do so.

It's a much more compact town than I remember Oxford being, mostly devoid of parking - so the Park & Ride just off the M11 was most handy. We met Mum just as she was finishing up her lunch & heading off on a walking tour. With a week of settling into uni & organising all sorts of things, she is doing well if a little tired - I imagine it will be nice to have had classes finally start today. Trish & I wandered around a bit down twisting cobbled streets & through courtyards - getting a good look at Christ's College Chapel, crossing the Cam a few times & stopping to watch the novice punters doing their utmost not to fall in the river or knock themselves out on low bridges.

Meeting Mum again there was more wandering around spotting various famous colleges - a few I must admit I only had heard of from watching University Challenge a year or two back. There were people everywhere, being a weekend in very much a tourist town - I'm glad my university was overcome by sightseers, although Massey doesn't exactly have much on Cambridge otherwise. It was pleasing to see bikes almost everywhere - although it did seem that their primary purpose was to clutter railings, we saw proportionally few being ridden.

Mum rejoined a very large group of foreign students to make sure they didn't miss the coach back to Colchester & we continued back down the motorway to visit Trish's (& Mum's for that matter) cousin Carol & Barry for a huge roast meal, a catch-up & much family history. Another pleasant little outing, even if it wasn't the best recuperation plan.