King's Views

Kings College - like a lot of Cambridge buildings - has great chunks of scaffold spoiling the view right now.

So note my raw photographer's cunning in eliminating the unsightly object making use of the handy tree. Almost indetectable.

King's Parade has now hit the calm-before-the-storm stage. Plenty of tourists are still around, but a tiny fraction of the height of summertime language student 'n' tourist frenzy. Lots of students about to arrive, though - quite a few are to be seen making scouting visits with parents in tow (or, more probably, the other way round). I'm very probably taking the Cambridge University BTh, but continue to take the view that nothing's certain until it's certain. If I do, though, I'll be a member of one of the colleges, although it's Ridley itself and the wider Federation that will be the centre of life and study. (Who takes the role of the Klingons, I wonder?)

Meeting assorted Ridleyites (Ridleians? Ridlish? Ridlonians? I must ask), one of the choices seems to be how much to get involved with college life, and one of the temptations is to end up in an ordinands' ghetto, thus using the crucial formation time here in Cambridge to lose all touch with real life! There's a benefit in being in Cambridge already, of course - we already have a group of friends, neighbours and school gate acquaintances. I hope I will get to enjoy a bit of college life, though I realise that 'mature students' have a cloak of invisibility to rival Harry Potter's when around straight-from-school undergraduates. (Nice to have a chance to sport my MA gown at the odd formal dinner, though ;) ).

Here are my resolutions to give me some chance at least of mixing in a bit at college:

• I must resist the temptation to cap every student's travelling tale with one of my own from somewhere more exciting or six of my own to show range of experience
• I must resist the temptation to gloat over those juggling student loans when we CofE ordinands are funded (and indeed I got a student grant first time round)
• I must resist the temptation to name-drop people and places and companies from the last 20 years in order to compete with the energy and fresh-facedness all around
• I must resist the temptation to try and relive student life first time round

I'll let you know how I do with all those!

Back to the view at King's.

Another alternative to photography is to use the digital dexterity of my photo editing software. Guess which object it removed for me, and with what it replaced it when I asked (nicely). No peeking at the first picture, mind.

It's a wonderful thing, technology, isn't it?

Right. Back to work!