Mornings and memories

I dug out the lurid pink and blue roll mat last night, I remembered that when I had used it before I could not sleep because I was too hot. It struck me that seeing as I had been rather cold for the last few nights it would be worth investigating how it worked in cold weather, the hope was that it would be warmer to lie on than the thermarest. It was! I hardly woke up due to being cold at all, and had a rather decent nights sleep. It uses up the same space as the thermarest, cost a fraction of the price. The pink and blue roll mat does not self inflate though, in fact it does not inflate at all; the thermarest seems to be constantly punctured so I'm not so convinced that there is anything so special about self inflating mattresses. Apparently roll mats (non thermarest) can be used as a splint in case of broken bones so I think I might change to using roll mats for the rest of the winter, not that I intend to break any bones of course. The only problem is that it is bright pink and bright blue. The last few months has necessitated that I become a morning person and so I have become so but I am not yet enough of a morning person that I can deal with bright pink first thing in the morning. Not that it would particularly matter during the week at the moment as it is still dark when I get up but at the weekends its plenty light by the time I get up.

This morning I got up at about 9am and had to hide the fluorescence under my sleeping bag as I paced up and down to keep warm whilst deciding what to do with the day, a lack of water, a backlog of emails and a rugby match to watch dictated that I come into Oxford. A relaxing walk through the woods revealed sites that I don't notice in my rush to the bus in, at best, half light. There are buds on the trees I had not noticed before and a closer investigation reveals just the beginnings of a hint of green in the bud. Spring is on its way. Today is a good day.
It's odd coming back to Oxford and no longer being a student pretty much everywhere I go brings back memories. Today for example I was walking past a walled quod that has only two entrances, both of which get locked at sunset. A group of people were in their one evening after a cocktail party and so were all dressed up in black tie and cocktail dresses, not the sort of attire that lends itself to climbing over walls should they get locked into the quod. They got locked in and spent the best part of an hour trying to figure out how to get out, they had no mobile phone reception. Eventually they attracted the attention of a friend of mine who was passing by on the road outside and were insisting he helped them escape. After a couple of valiant attempts to scale the wall from his side in the hope he could pull the prisoners up he had to admit defeat. "Find a lader" he was instructed from the other side of the wall. Easier said than done at about 11 O'clock on a Saturday night, or so you would think. At that moment two of his friends staggered out from behind the corner of the school of geography all kitted out to break into Trinity College ball, dressed in black tie and carrying a ladder between them. In next to no time the prisoners were released.