Oxford 12: 'Pudding'

On Sunday, the OSAP group went down to the Historic Dockyard at Portsmouth to see a bit of the British maritime tradition. 2005 marks the 200th Anniversary of the British victory over French Napoleonic forces at the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805). The appropriately named HMS Victory—Lord Nelson’s flagship in that historic engagement—is docked at Portsmouth and exploring it was a thrill. We also saw the HMS Warrior and the remains of the Mary Rose (built between 1509-1511).

On 05 November 2005, we visited the Black Country ‘Living’ Museum, a reconstructed mining town portraying life during the Industrial Revolution.

On Friday, 18 November 2005, I went with some students to the Trinity College Guest Dinner. Most of the colleges host a guest dinner on Friday nights to which students can bring friends and family. It was probably the most authentically British meal that I’ve had all term (‘authentic’ in the kinds of food).
Fortunately, I knew before coming that black pudding was not a ‘pudding’ according the conventional American understanding. I’m not quite sure where I learned that, but I did; and it’s a good thing. One might well have mis-taken the dark speckled cake for chocolate and discovered the misconstruction only after the first bite—with no small degree of alarm. The pudding was not bad by any means, though it was rather bland. It was only after dinner was over that someone told us that black pudding (also known as ‘blood sausage’) is made of congealed blood—generally from a pig. But it tasted alright.
There was also steak and chicken liver and a parfait (which was nothing like and much better than what they serve at McDonald’s). It was an interesting experience.

On Thursday, 01 December 2005, I will be performing in the New College Chapel with the New College Wykeham Singers. The theme of the concert is English Anthems and Motets 1500-2000. Our repetoire includes pieces by Benjamin Britten, Thomas Tallis, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being able to do even a little music here in Oxford. And for anyone planning to study music in England, remember that they use different terms to designate note value:

Whole note – Semibreve
Half note - Minim
Quarter note - Crochet
Eighth note - Quaver
Sixteenth note – Semiquaver