A Golden Afternoon

Twenty years from now, today will be a day that I'll wish I could relive.

It was just a good day from beginning to end.

I got to start out the day babysitting, actually. I babysat Dr. Kerry's daughter because he had a meeting. I got to push her around in her "push-chair" and we had a splendid time at the playground. We played on the swings, we built "nests" out of leaves and sticks . . . it was a lot of fun. I love playing with little kids, because then I can really act my age. I'm really seven-years-old at heart. And his daughter is so cute! Afterwards, she said she wanted to take me home. *heart melt*

The day just continued to be good after that. I was finally able to play Pooh Sticks on the Cam! For those who do not know about this game, let me enlighten you: Pooh Sticks was started by Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends. The rules of the game are very simple: Each person (or stuffed animal, in Pooh's case) picks a stick, and then on the count of three, everyone throws their stick over one edge of the bridge. The first stick to reach the other side of the bridge wins. It's a great game to play at the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA.

Did I mention that A.A. Milne (who wrote Winnie-the-Pooh) attended Trinity College at Cambridge? Yeah. Pooh Sticks had to be done.

Get ready, get set . . .



Go!



The water wasn't moving very fast, so we had to wait awhile for our sticks to emerge from under the bridge. We thought we lost them for a moment (especially because people were punting), but they came through. And mine was ahead! So, I won Pooh Sticks on the Cam. My life is now complete in so many ways.


I win! :)

We then went over to the King's Fellows' Garden and played croquet. I didn't win (that honor falls to Camille, the "Poision Queen"), but it was very fun. There's something so satisfiying about playing croquet in England. And don't let the croquet stereotypes fool you. It isn't always a gentleman's game. It can get quite brutal. But it's always fun.

A group of us also went to see "The Taming of the Shrew." There's a Cambridge Shakespearean Festival going on right now, and they put on the plays in the college gardens. So I sat on the grass.
Friends

The play was good . . . a bit risque, but it's Shakespeare, so I expected that. And I'm glad that I didn't live in the sixteenth-century. But the actors did a really good job. They broke the fourth wall a couple of times (i.e., one actor who wasn't speaking came and sat next to us. Some other girls by us gave him strawberries to eat.), so that made it really fun and unique.
I also saw one of the best firework displays I've ever seen. They did a show at the King's College Backs, so we were really, really close to the fireworks. The reaction of the crowd (including my own) was great. We were all remarking how it reminded us of "The Count of Monte Cristo" or "The Lord of the Rings." There were some spectacular fireworks. I certainly enjoyed the show! Apparently it cost twenty-thousand pounds. Um, wow.
After the fireworks, a lot of us wanted something sweet. (Tangent: Some blokes asked one of my guyfriends where he was going to get drinks. He replied, "I'm going to the grocery store." The Englishman promptly replied: "You should really get a drink." We thought it was hilarious.) So, we went to Sainsbury's. And got ice cream. There was a "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" deal for Ben and Jerry's, so we got four of them, and then ate it all. It was heavenly.
I love life.