Two more

This morning I breakfasted with a small group that included a strange man with long golden braids all over his head - one of those people whose gender is unclear from a distance - every group like this must have at least one - and an elderly British gentlewoman who's been coming to Oxford for these classes "since after the war," she said. Jerry, who had met her last year, says she's around 96 and still going strong! She's studying Irish literature this time. "So far," she said gently," it's all about Oscar Wilde." I think they'll move on to Joyce as the week progresses.

The second encounter was at lunch with a man whose eyebrows were startlingly bristly and dark, and who sat hunched down in his seat, but proved to be delightful. He lives in London and advised us when next we visit to remember to look up. Lots of decorative elements at the tops of buildings, "from a more leisurely age." He also pointed out that while London is changing all the time, the pubs and the churches tend to stay in place, so go to them for history. He's studying Beethoven, the one course that is full up.