Dreaming of Freedom

It’s wet and a bit windy here in Gothenburg but still pleasant to walk the streets and see the lights reflecting off the puddles and the river. I’ve just spent a very a pleasant weekend at a free software conference at Chalmers University. There were quite a few interesting talks and ideas flowing and everyone was enthusiastic about using open source code which was nice.

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It’s a damp autumnal day in Gothenburg. The leaves have turned yellow and red and the bush outside my window is thinning to an alarming degree. The sky is heavy with clouds and there is a invigorating freshness in the air. I got back here yesterday after whizzing all over the Eastern region of England. I spent a day in Market Harborough quite happily wandering around all the little shops tucked down alleys and round corners. The library there lets you use the internet all day it would seem so I spent a few happy hours there too.
Back in Norwich for the weekend I managed to catch up with old friends and meet little Liberty for the first time. She is without a doubt the cutest baby in the world and I spent a good deal of time on Saturday night ahhing over her tiny fingers and chubby cheeks. To finish off the all too brief time in England I went back to Cambridge and spent lots of time in Kettles Yard - a little yet wonderful modern art gallery attached to a most interesting house that has been donated to the University. You are perfectly welcome to go in and sit down among the art and treasure objects of its past owner and read a book or sketch a drawing. There is a wonderful homely atmosphere there. I also wandered in and out of the Fitzwilliam which has so much to see that you just want to return. The center of Cambridge is lovely to wander around and the market is great. It’s quite amazing being so close to the fantastically old buildings, it gives you the most amazing sense of continuity and security.
I stood watching the grasshoppper clock opposite Kings College - a definite favourite among the tourists and had the sense of being enveloped and awed by human desire to explain symbolically. You get this feeling there often.
There are scores of museums and places I haven’t been to and so I think a return to Cambridge is inevitable.

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I arrived in England last night and it was drizzling. I’d forgotten all about English drizzle. But luckily by the time I got to Cambridge the weather was ok and today you wouldn’t believe how glorious it’s been. I have spent the whole day wandering around Cambridge city centre and it’s such a lovely place. I popped into the fudge shop opposite Kings
College to try the toffee fudge, wandered around the market and then went into all the really Englishy shops that I might have been missing! I then met up with Tim and had a tour of some of the Colleges here. It’s great walking round with a student. They just flash their card and you get instant admittance. So I got to see inside Kings College Chapel - which is so old and holy that it almost makes you believe again as well as a whole host of colleges with forbidding porters at their gates. I think my favourite was Queens College which has the loveliest little courtyard.
Of course I had to go to the FitzWilliam, which is a gem of a musuem. We spent some time looking at Picasso’s stuff and a weird collection of Dutch paintings.
Cambridge is absolutely packed with students, they spill off the pavements looking frightfully clever. The first years only arrived yesterday so they still look a little nervous. The veterans of a year or more loudly discuss tests, questions and other such academic things. The vibe is totally different to my own university town where it was rare to hear students discussing work of any kind.
What I love most is the old buildings. The place is literally steeped in history and tradition. Everywhere you look there is something old and venerable… here is the (descendant of the) apple tree Newton sat under and there a 16th century rood screen.

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