THE BOAT RACE ..........

Before I start, I would like you to know that you are lucky, or not so lucky, depending on whether you are interested or not, to have got this post !! I'll tell you why at the end.

The idea for a rowing race between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge came from two friends - Charles Merivale, a student at Cambridge, and his old schoolfriend, Charles Wordsworth (nephew of the poet, William Wordsworth) who was at Oxford. On the 12th of March, 1829, Cambridge sent a challenge to Oxford and thus the tradition was born, which has continued to the present day. This year's race was held last Saturday 3rd April. We have always supported Cambridge, as we live very near to Cambridge and my brother-in-law studied there.

The Oxford crew are always in dark blue and the Cambridge crew are in light blue. Cambridge hadn't won for the last two years, but are winning overall.

The race passes many London landmarks, one lesser known one is the Harrods Furniture Depository. It was built in 1894 and was the former warehouse of Harrod's Knightsbridge store. Today, it has been converted into 250 'posh' homes called ' Harrod's Village ', for the well-heeled.

Well, this year's race was very close but, Cambridge were victorious. They are now winning 80 to Oxford's 75. The race in 1877 was declared a dead heat. Apparently, the judge, 'honest John Phelps' had fallen asleep under a tree, supposedly drunk, so the race was declared a tie !!

This year's victorious Cambridge crew.

This year's devastated Oxford crew......... and, it is devastating, as they give up everything to train for this race and, most of them never get the chance again.

Tradition dictates that the cox of the winning team is thrown into the River Thames !!

An estimated quarter of a million people watched the race from the banks of the Thames with an overseas audience of 120 million, making it the most viewed single day sport in the world.

Right, now here is my post script. I have suffered the wrath of one of those slippery little devils called oysters. I love them but, over the weekend, one of them didn't like me, and I am writing this post in agony !!!!
I just wanted you all to know, mainly for a lot of sympathy, but also as an apology for not commenting much over the last few days.

I hope that you all had a better Easter weekend than I did,, and enjoyed yourselves.



Jackie

The Orchard, Grantchester, Cambridge..........

The Orchard today. The Orchard 1910


The weather here is absolutely glorious. I don't know why everyone thinks that our weather is so awful. I don't think that there is anywhere better than a hot English summers day. Yesterday was one of those days and I went to The Orchard in Grantchester, Cambridge. The Orchard is a corner of England where time stands still and the outside world rushes by. Apparently, more famous people have taken tea there, than anywhere else in the world.

The Orchard, first planted in 1868, became a tea garden purely by chance. A group of Cambridge students asked Mrs. Stevenson of Orchard House if she would serve them tea beneath the blossoming fruit trees rather than, as was usual, on the front lawn of the House. They were unaware that, on that spring morning in 1897, they had started a great Cambridge tradition. In order to supplement their income, the Stevenson's took in lodgers at Orchard House, and, in 1909, a young graduate of Kings College took up residence. His name was Rupert Brooke, the poet.

Some of the famous people who have taken tea in The Orchard Tea Gardens are:

Emma Thompson, John Cleese, Hugh Laurie, Peter Cooke, Stephen Fry, Tim Rice, Clive James, David Frost, Virginia Woolf, Prince Charles, King George VI etc. etc.

The weather is even hotter today and long may it continue,

Jackie