Paraskavedekatriaphobia.

Well, I’m not howling at the moon, but I ought to be. If Friday the 13th isn’t bad enough in itself, then dark hours of paper-writing certainly are. It’s been a long week, and a long day, and in the absence of rhetorical structure, I’ll resort to the fine art of list-making.

Monday: Paper due. Four hours of class. Two hour bus ride to London. The Merchant of Venice at the Globe. Home at 100 hours.

Tuesday: Four hours of class. Laundry day (finally!). Now my pants don’t walk by themselves. Debauchery into the wee hours that earned us a reprimand in the next morning’s “Paniculum” newsletter.

Wednesday: Departure at 1500 for Stratford. One hour bus ride. One hour session with the actress who played Lady Macbeth. Absolutely mesmerizing performance of Richard II, starring Jonathan Slinger as a captivatingly debauched and humanely fallen Richard. My only notes on Gaunt’s “This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England” speech was: WOW. The man gave all 38 lines from a wheelchair. Also, the actor playing Green was very pretty.

(Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Loafers all were enjoying a special High Table dinner with the director, screenwriter, and producer of a new film version of Brideshead Revisited currently being filmed at Lincoln College. Which means that there are two very adorable young actors shooting a scene involving drunken vomiting into someone’s dorm room (fiction?) here this week. Of course, I haven’t seen them at all, but the place is covered with all sorts of camera equipment, &c. &c. Also, though she is not in the scenes being shot here, the film stars Emma Thompson. So I’m keeping my eyes peeled for it-boy celebrities.)

Thursday: Stratford from 930 to 1900. Visit to the Shakespeare Center Library (yes, that is the First Folio, kids), two hours of class on Richard II, a session with the brilliant Mr. Slinger, who makes rolling up his sleeves look like an act of religious devotion, followed by tea at my professor’s house, which was the first time I have seen a fruit other than an apple or banana all summer. Blackberries, strawberries, melon, cherries, and grapes: it was like I was recovering from scurvy. (Malnutrition joke courtesy of Kris, who else.) Then, back home for another cream-and-potato dinner concoction, followed by trivia night. I am proud to report that our team, A Wilderness of Monkeys (five extra credit points on your next quiz for finding the allusion), tied for second place with a few clutch answers, losing only to a team that was obviously playing with too many people. Good times, for sure.

And now, paper-writing. Sigh. But tomorrow a trip to the Cotswolds. Keep your eyes peeled for picturesque English countryside.