Evensong and everything closes
Yesterday was pretty normal, though a little depressing. I woke up and turned on my lights, which didn’t come on but flashed off. I figured the bulb burned out, so I went downstairs and found the light bulbs. I changed it and it still didn’t turn on, although the first one was broken on the inside. So now I figured it was a fuse. I read with the lights off and my window shade open for a while but it was cloudy outside so that didn’t help much. I was trying to wait and see if one of the guys could tell me how to work the fuse box. None of them were up by noon, so I found the fuse box and looked up. One switch didn’t say on so I flipped it up and then went upstairs and tried the light. It worked. So I felt proud of myself. Then I explored some and found that the door next to me is unlocked. So I went into the room. Nobody is staying there, but the bed is made and everything so I guess Marshelle could have slept there. It is bigger than my room, with a bunch of shelves, a bigger closet, a dresser, and more windows. I’m apparently the only person who didn’t get a dresser. I keep my clothes on a bookshelf. Definitely got the worst room.
I finished all my tutorial reading so now I just have to take notes on the questions and then find a book on anti-globalization to recommend to my tutor. I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish it in two days, but I’ll try. If I don’t, I think he’ll understand since we’re meeting a day earlier than normal, although I’ve thought about asking him if we could normally meet on Wednesdays instead so then I could have two good days of reading before the weekend when I will be travelling, so then I won’t have to think about it as much then. I finished Hitch Hiker today too. After a lunch of cheese and crackers and peanut butter and crackers, I read it to take a break. It was very good, although the last book seemed almost like it didn’t fit in with the other three, but it was still good. I’m glad I got to read those books. I might try to read some more Douglas Adams too.
After I finished my reading from my textbooks, I tried to figure out routes for getting to Bath with my Britrail pass. I think that’s where I’m going to try to go this weekend. I also tried to figure out how I would get to the airport on time Tuesday morning without having to stay over night at a hotel. We’ll see if that works out. Places to stay are very expensive here but I might just have to use the last of my money on that. There’s one way I can do it overnight, but I won’t get any sleep, but I guess maybe I would be able to sleep on the plane ride home then. We’ll see. After this I started reading my last article, but I didn’t finish it because I left early for Evensong, so that I could stop by the library.
That would have been great because I would have returned Hitch Hiker and gotten a new book to read last night before I went to bed. Only thing was, the library was closed, as was everything else. Even Borders closed at 5:30. I think there was one cafe that I saw that was open and the fast food restaurants. I considered stopping in KFC just to wait for Evensong. Then I decided I would just head to the church. I got there a little after 5:30 and the guy at the entrance, motioned to me and asked me what I was doing. I said I came for Evensong and he said that he couldn’t let anyone in until 5:45, even though there was a sign facing outwards that he was standing next to that said, “Church now open for worship. Evensong 6:00.” He said go get a cup of coffee and come back. I wanted to tell him 1)I don’t drink coffee and 2)Nothing is open. Instead, I left and walked very slowly around Oxford, where it was already dark of course and looked in windows of shops where the lights were still on to show their displays but nothing was open. I walked slowly for 15 minutes and wanted to cry but told myself I couldn’t because then I would look silly with red eyes going into the church. I finally I headed back to the church.
There was a new guy standing there. I said I was there for Evensong and he pointed me to the church. I walked in and was greeted with a sign that said, “Church open for worship 5:30. Evensong 6:00.” Which just made me more mad at the guy. I sat down in a row with one other guy sort of sitting in the middle. I sat sort of in the middle, though not next to him, but not on the end. After a couple minutes, the guy scooted all the way down to the other end of the row. I guess he didn’t want to sit next to me, which just made me feel all that much better. Then a lady came and sat between us and then he scooted down again so he wasn’t on the very end. He definitely didn’t want to sit next to me. I don’t know why, but it added to my mood. Later some other people came and sat on my other side so I didn’t feel quite so bad about myself. The service was really nice and cheered me up a bit. Quite different from my no music Catholic services. I think if I’m in town, I’ll start going to Evensong as well as Mass.
At the end, I walked out and saw that my iPod was in the red on the battery so I figured it would die on the way home. Surprisingly enough, it didn’t. I went by Tesco’s because I was hoping to get a frozen pizza for dinner, though I was doubting that it would be open, but I had thought on the internet it had said it was open fairly late, even on Sundays. It was closed, closed at 4. So I came back and ate Ramen noodles. Although I had to find a clean dish first. There were none, so I had to wash a nasty one. Even one of the dishes that was in the clean dishes thing was not clean. The guys here are sort of nasty, which I guess maybe all guys are when they live together. Two sinks are full of dirty dishes, plus dirty dishes on the counters beside the sinks. I just wash my own dishes because I’m not about to wash their’s since they eat there every night so they have dirty dishes every night, whereas I only eat there on the weekends. However, I can’t even wash my own dishes in the sinks because they are so full. I washed them in the bathroom sink. But anyway, there were no clean bowls and you sort of need a bowl to cook Ramen noodles, so I scrubbed one, which took a while to get clean and then made my noodles, thinking that guys are disgusting. Not the best substitute for pizza, but it was all I had. I did call down to our farm and talked to a bunch of my relatives, which was really nice to hear their voices. I wished I could be there with them but I’m glad I got to talk to everyone. It cheered me up a little. My mom said she would send me another book so I could read the book that I was saving for the plane ride home. So that gave me something to do at least.
After I talked to everyone, I walked downstairs to wash my face and smelled hamburger. It smelled really good and made my stomach feel sorry for itself again. Beef Ramen noodles don’t compare to hamburgers. Oh well. I e-mailed Kyle and asked him to call me when he got in so he could make me feel better. I guess there wasn’t that much to put me in a sad mood, just a lot of little things put on top of each other. Anyway, I read and went to bed at 11. In Britain, nothing opens before 9:00 a.m. I’ve found, sometimes not until 10. And almost everything closes, except the American companies, by around 5:30 at the latest, on Sunday even earlier. And then Borders closed too, although I don’t know if that was normal or not. I guess it’s a difference between our cultures, but when you’re working until 6:00 at night on studying things, it makes it quite inconvenient to not have any way to buy food, except by going to a kabob van, Burger King, or KFC. And I guess Starbucks stayed open until 6 or 6:30 but was closed before 7. I just don’t know if I can get used to that.