A Day of Homage and of Buses

Though my focus is on mathematicians, a goal on this trip was to spend at least a bit of time visiting places related to writers who have been influential in my life: J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.  I put it off to the last day because both of these locations were too far to walk to, and I am not a fan of buses, but the last day arrived, and it was time to do it or not.  Tolkien is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, north of town.  It's nice that they have markers like the one above to help people find his grave.  I've been in a lot of cemeteries over the last 6 years since I started my journeys, and sometimes I can find what I'm looking for, and sometimes I can't.  To find a single stone in acres of ground can be pretty tough.

Beren and Luthien

I can very specifically remember my brother reading Tolkien's work when he was in elementary school and I was in junior high.  I have to credit him for turning me on to Tolkien.  I still remember hearing him talk about the Hobbit and mentioning "Smaug," and I, not having read it, thought he was saying, "smog."  I was wondering what air-pollution had to do with it.  I think that the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was the first purchase I made in an actual bookstore (as opposed to school book orders through Scholastic).  All these years later, here I am paying homage at Tolkien's grave.

Obviously I'm not the only one who's been here recently paying homage.  Mementos of flowers and currency have been left - including not just British coins but also Euros and currency from Viet Nam.

Many cemeteries I visit in my travels are closed to additional burial because they are so old that they are full. Those cemeteries feel like historic sites. Wolvercote is very definitely an active cemetery, so there was a very different feeling here than at a place like Old Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh, which goes back hundreds of years, or Highgate Cemetery in London, which is from the Victorian Era.  I spent some time here at Wolvercote reading memorials on other graves - spent quite a bit of time in the children's section and shed more than a few tears.  I saw a number of graves that were newly filled.  As I walked over to one of these to pay my respects, I noticed that it was that of Tolkien's youngest daughter and that she had passed away earlier this spring.  It's about 30 yards from her parent's grave.  Normally I post a LOT of pictures from cemeteries because they feel historic.  At this one the grief felt too fresh in much of what I was seeing, so I'm holding back a bit.Having paid my respects here, it was time to head back into town and then catch a but out of town in a different direction to get to Lewis's home and grave.  As you can see below, I have a very sophisticated system for figuring out bus routes!

I stopped back in town for a bit of lunch (lasagna at Pizza Express again) and then grabbed a bus on the High Street to make my way out to Lewis's home and grave in Headington Quarry, to the east of Oxford.

This is The Kilns, the home where C. S. Lewis and his brother lived for more than 30 years.

Here is the blue plaque near a side door of The Kilns honoring C. S. Lewis.

Just beyond The Kilns, on what was also Lewis's property, is what is now the C. S. Lewis Nature Preserve, which consists of a lake (filled in clay pit) and the land surrounding it.  If you enter the path and turn to the right you will come across a  brick bench that Lewis built and on which he and Tolkien sat and talked at times.  What I wouldn't give to have been part of one of those conversations!

I sat here for a while, but, as usual, I didn't leave myself enough time to really savor it, and that was too bad in this particular situation.  I think that this spot was the most peaceful, restful, calming sites I encountered throughout the entire trip, and I would have loved to have sat here for a couple of hours just relaxing and enjoying the natural world, and maybe doing just a bit of journaling as well.

As well as taking the still shots, I did take a short video (under a minute) as well, mostly to capture the sounds as well as the sight.  Hearing the birdsong and the wind in the leaves was really wonderful, and I had the place all to myself.

Next it was a 10-minute walk or so to Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry, which is the church Lewis and his brother attended and is also where their grave is.

It was raining a bit at this point, and I'd hoped to rest inside the church for a few moments, but it was locked.  I have been inside before, six years ago, and there is a lovely Narnia window that I would liked to have seen again as well.

Given that I'd been here before, and given that the church yard isn't that big, I was surprised at how long it took me to find the grave, but finally I did.

"Men must endure their going hence."

I took the picture below so that if I am able to come aback again someday I will know the location!

It was time to head back to town, but, apparently, the bus drivers didn't have the same idea I did.  There is supposed to be a bus (more than one bus) heading to the town center here every fifteen minutes.  I stood here by myself for 35 minutes with no bus showing up, and I was getting a little worried that I'd have to sleep by the side of the road in the rain or something.  Finally a couple that looked like locals showed up, and that gave me hope.  If locals were heading to this bus stop, there must be a bus coming eventually!  I think I scared them a little bit with how enthusiastically I greeted them and how frantic I must have come across.  I explained myself a bit and pointed at the sign that gave the bus times.  The guy (an older gentleman) said very calmly, "Well, I'm not sure if it's term-time, but if it isn't, the U1 buses don't run as frequently."  I'm guessing "U" stands for "University," but still, the sign gave bus times; my phone gave bus times, and it wasn't just the "U1" that was supposed to be showing up.  Am I the only out-of-town visitor in Oxford?  Why is an accurate time-table for buses not available?  This is one of the reasons I do not like relying on buses!!  (Oh, and on this excursion I had to cross this four-lane road with no crosswalk 3 times.  Can you see the bus stop on the other side of the road just beyond the round red sign in the middle?  That's where I got off the bus on the way here and had to cross the street like the guy in the median is doing.  Then to get from Lewis's house to his church, I had to cross this road in a different area about a half a mile away, and then I had to cross is back in order to get back here - just FYI if you're ever thinking of making a Lewis pilgrimage.  Unless you have a tour guide with a car or take a taxi or something it probably isn't going to be the easiest excursion.) 

The visits above were actually the last two items of my day.  I had started my day in the History of Science Museum, but I figure I put mathy-sciency stuff up here in nearly every post, so it was time to start with something different today.  The blackboard below has been preserved by the History of Science Museum and contains notes by Albert Einstein from a lecture he gave in Oxford on May 16, 1931.

I also found items relating to "my" mathematicians.  One item The Holy Table of John Dee (given to him by the angels).  It's actually a marble copy of the wooden original.

Napier's Bones (rods), which I'm finding in every science museum - which is AWESOME!  They really were in very widespread use for hundreds of years, so, many of them still survive.  The next two pictures are of Napier's Bones.

And there was a mathematical models case that I would love to have for my classroom or office!

And there were cool sundials with multiple faces for use in different parts of the world.

And, as at Greenwich, there was a nice display of historic hour glasses.

Here too I'm holding back on posting.  I took pictures of SO many things, and I didn't even really look at all that was available here.  The museum has a small feel to it, but it does contain three floors, and there's really quite a lot here.  If I'm ever back in Oxford I want to spend more time in this museum, really taking it in.

Below is a closer view of the display case above, showing the pocket sundials.  They had these in the gift store as well, and I decided to buy one as a souvenir.  

I don't normally buy souvenirs because I'm always traveling as light as possible, and because my memories act as my souvenirs, but I went all out on this trip and bought three things.  The sundial is on the left, bought here at the Oxford History of Science Museum.  The item in the middle is a perpetual calendar, that I bought (appropriately enough) in Greenwich earlier in the trip.  The item on the right is from the gift shop of the Bodleian Library.  The token on the key chain is exactly the same size and shape of a one-pound coin, which is what is needed to use a locker in the Bodleian Library.  Normally you put in a one-pound coin, and it is refunded when you put the key back in and open the locker.  Of course if you've spent all your one-pound coins, you're out of luck!  So I spent two pounds to get a replica of a one-pound coin, but since it's not a real coin I'm in no danger of spending it, and it says "Bibliotecha Bodleiana" on it. I just couldn't resist.  I actually used this token for my locker on my last visit to the Bodleian, and I hope it might work as a "good luck charm" to bring me back there some day!  Well, I can hope, can't I?