Cambridge

Yesterday, we left London, ready to take things at a slower and more leisurely pace. Little did we know.

The train trip was only an hour. We could connect with the train at our own home port of Farringdon and we had first class tickets, a bit silly really given that we would only be on the train for just over an hour. FIrst class means you get a small table in front of your seat and an antimacassar behind your head. Not a great deal more of creature comforts I would have thought than the riff raff in the other carriages.

The trip was uneventful, as you want them to be. We arrived at Cambridge about 11am and well ahead of our official check in time of 3pm. However, the good woman who owns the joint said she would clean it quickly and we could have it as soon as she was finished. She would message us.

Thus, we hove to, and carted our bags bearing all our worldly goods to a cafe that she had recommended, the Hot Numbers. Fortunately we did not have to wait long for a message and the walk to our apartment was literally around the corner. She arrived as we did and she showed us how the new fangled app works which allows us entry to and from the apartment. We dropped our bags and left her to it.

The next thing to do was to go and organise the rental car. It is a truth universally acknowledged, or should be, that car rental companies will do you over, in some way. Ethics? Nah. Morality? Absolutely not. Being flexible with the weary traveller? Forget it. This happened last year, and they -ucked us over again here in Cambridge. You can use the m or the f for the elision in that word as you please. I know which one I use.

By the time we had sorted out the apartment, we got to the car rental at 3pm rather than the agreed time of between 12 and 2pm, a range of time I might add that was always an estimated time of arrival, not a horological moment set in Cambridge stone.

No, sorry, you are late. You have forfeited the deposit you have paid and the car you asked for is no longer available. Since you booked through a third party and not directly with us, there is nothing we can do for you to amend the booking. All we can do is to upgrade you and you'll need to pay the difference for the cost of the better vehicle. Enter a Mercedes Benz, which was just about the only thing they had left. Needless to say, the upgrade cost us a pretty Cambridge penny.

If ever you see me contemplating hiring a car in the future, feel free to kick me where it hurts.

At the end of the day, we found Cambridge's main pool and took ourselves for a much needed swim; this to calm the nerves and wash off the stress of the day as well as the heat and the humidity. The pool was large by any standard and in a dedicated building with lots of facilities. It was most welcome.

Today, in the early part of the morning, we did our best to outwit, rather unsuccessfully I might add, the need to pay excessive parking fees. Street parking outside our building is only free after 5pm and there is no other parking around. Thus we had to go to a large shopping mall, basically adjacent to the University district, and park the car there for the day. Expensive.

Accepting the uncontrollable is one well-known way to lower stress. It's good modern psychology and the Stoics believed it too in Ancient Greece. We parked the car, left it to accrue its hours, and headed for the fudge shop where we were to meet up with our tour guide. We had purchased tickets to do a two-hour walking tour of the University ending inside Kings College Chapel. Our tour guide was a Classical scholar, Dr Sonya Nevin, part-time lecturer and published author.

Sonya was fabulous. She started off by explaining the University of Cambridge college system, where the many Colleges are independent autonomous bodies who all teach much the same subjects (courses) with a few exceptions. The University proper handles admissions, enrolments, fees, graduations and the like.

The University began in the year 1209 with Oxford academics fleeing Oxford due to the riots between locals and the unversity; 'town and gown' riots. Enough of them settled in Cambridge to start the first College.

We heard so many wonderful stories today. We heard so many famous names. We stopped for a pint after the tour in the Eagle, the pub where Watson and Crick announced their discovery of the workings of DNA. I had an Eagle DNA ale.

We leaned against the wall where Christopher Marlowe had his digs and saw many of the famous Colleges, many in their medieval glory. It was a fabulous tour and Chris and I both felt we had very good fortune indeed to be led by such an intelligent and informative scholar.

Of course, the famous Kings College Chapel is very special in this place. It is beautiful beyond ordinary architecture, its vaulted ceiling both geometrically perfect, aesthetically gentle and architecturally marvellous. The dark panelling of the choir stalls where the boys sing their Palestrina and their Allegri all have candle holders and must look a sight. A Rubens painting as an altar piece stands wonderfully at the front of the chapel.

There is way too much to see here in Cambridge, especially in the limited time we have left to us. There are galleries and museums attached to most of the Colleges so you'd really need a considerable time to see it all.

The weather has started to break today. Only about 20° today, ominous black clouds, but still high humidity. England's heat wave is just about over. As is our time in Cambridge. We are very glad we came.Read more