Footloose in Cambridge

Benson and Mallory Court at Magdalene College

There are two 17th century characters who are hard to avoid around here; Samuel Pepys and Oliver Cromwell. Both have very local connections in Brampton and in Cambridge.

For the first time since Christmas, Hanna and I had an afternoon in Cambridge on our own. We drove straight into town and parked at the Castle Mound, by the registry office: No traffic jams, no hold-ups, and no parking charges either. It was also a beautiful day with bright, clear, blue skies following a moon-lit night of frost. The low winter light showed off all the details of the architecture around the colleges and the city centre. Pink blossom was falling from the cherry trees by St. John's College and we saw snowdrops in the churchyards.

St. John's College on the Cam.

We didn't really have a lot on our agenda; just one item to exchange and a birthday present to buy, but I'm sure Hanna wanted to check out any bargains in the sales. I mostly wanted to stay outside with my camera, so that's why I got way-laid only five minutes into our visit. As often happens, I found the gate to a college was open and just strolled inside. I obviously look like an academic, if not a student so I (1950) passed un-challenged into Magdalene (1428) and then St John's College (1511) grounds.

The first yellow crocus flowers nodded in a forlorn way on the frosty lawns in front of white half-timbered houses on one side, and brick halls on the other. The white buildings In Benson and Mallory Court belong to Magdalene while the brick ones house the students of St John's.  As always, I caught sight of water and was off on the hunt for reflections, views and possibly fish.

The River Cam runs along behind all the colleges and it's always fun to catch a glimpse of it. There is history everywhere; Isaac Newton discovered gravity nearby and John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress here. No buses, taxis or cars were in sight; just an out of season punt with a guide and blanketed tourists on board. I later discovered that Samuel Pepys attended Magdalene College and that the college library holds his diaries and papers. Oliver Cromwell went to nearby Sidney Sussex College where his head was eventually buried. The whereabouts of the rest of his body is uncertain.

Punts for hire at Magdalene Bridge.
Before the university came, this was the focal point of the city.

I found Hanna back on the road at Magdalene (pronounced Maudlin) Bridge where I took a picture of all the vacant punts. In  summer this is the busiest spot in Cambridge and a great place to watch people falling into the river after colliding with other punts or with the bridge itself. We have seen show-offs pole-vault from their boat onto the bridge, run across the road and then drop back into their punt on the other side. This takes a lot of practice and is not as spontaneous as it looks. Of course, the tourists love it, especially after a few drinks so it's a great way to impress a foreign girl if you are local lad.

I escaped again while Hanna looked at clothes. This time I popped into one of the two remaining record stores in town, though I believe HMV owns them both. (Do you remember the old "His Master's Voice" record label, with the dog and the gramophone?) FOPP Records still feels like an independent record store and has masses of CDs, books and DVDs at reasonable prices, though they can be found cheaper on-line. The atmosphere is great because of the staff, the clientele and the stock; they just don't sell games and that keeps the riff-raff out! It's serious music store. I like to keep them in business by buying CDs, so it's an act of charity, not just a purchase..

St John's College Chapel (1866)

I have pretty well abandoned folk music these days, despite the fact that I used to be a folk musician. However, my interest was re-kindled at Christmas when my son Nick bought me a pristine vinyl copy of the Incredible String Band's "1000 Spirits or The Layers of the Onion". He bought it for the album art, for me to frame, but I put the record on the turntable and was immediately transported back to my student years. In fact, though I never owned a copy, I used to perform 2 songs off that album for about ten years. "The Hedgehog Song" and "Painting Box" joined my other Incred's offering of "Log-cabin Home in the Sky" amid  versions of Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention and Copper Family songs. I pounced on a CD copy of "1000 Spirits" and then my eye strayed to the jazz section next door. I don't listen to much jazz these days, but really, it's jazz that gives me the most buzz when I have the time to listen properly (i.e. when my wife is out.) I spotted a CBS box-set containing all five Mahavishnu Orchestra  albums and just couldn't resist. (I know you all hate this stuff, but I can't help it. I think John McLaughlin is brilliant.)

Hiding my contraband in my pocket, I rejoined Hanna for more shopping, but we soon parted again while I looked for a Nikon camera to drool over. I must be the last person on earth to learn that the Nikon factory in Thailand was wiped out in the recent floods. That explains why the shops are full of Canon cameras and not Nikons. Everyone has sold out. I tried a second-hand dealer and found a few good Nikons for sale, but learned another sad truth; I simply can't afford one. The cheap ones have small sensors, only slightly bigger and better than the cheap bridge camera I use now. If you want a full-sized 35mm sensor, you move up from hundreds of pounds to thousands of pounds. Maybe I'll go back to film! After all, the whole point in upgrading is to recapture the intense Kodachrome colours I used to get from my old Nikon SLR.

Market at sunset.

Our carers go home at 5, so we grabbed coffees and cinnamon rolls on  the run and headed back to the castle mound, which predates the entire city. I snatched a few photos on the way, but the light was fading fast as the temperature dropped. We sipped and munched our way home and were greeted by happy carers, Joanna and Shirley, and by a very contented Dan who had spent the afternoon playing with ice in the back yard.

Note: Pepys and Cromwell both lived on the Hinchingbrooke Estate just a mile from our home. The house now forms the sixth-form block at the school that our son Nick attended. Dan goes to Samuel Pepys' School in St Neots which lies just off Cromwell Road. Both men gave names to almost everything around here, especially pubs. "Sam and Ollie" went to the St John's Elementary School in Huntingdon which is now the Cromwell Museum. Pepys' house is actually in Brampton where we live and Cromwell's later home, now a museum, is in Ely. Both men attended the university in Cambridge and Cromwell went on to be the Member of Parliament for Huntingdon and then Cambridge. I never actually met either of them.

Editor's Note: I think sometimes you are not so much writing a blog as emptying your pockets!!!  And NOT the Mahavishnu Orchestra - please, no!!  I need to go borrow Harriet's sound proof headphones. Hxx