Cambridge

There was a possibility that I might go to Cambridge University when I left school at 18. It would have probably involved studying at Cambridge for two years 'pre-clinical', and then transferring to a London Teaching Hospital for the final three 'clinical' years. Bristol University, on the other hand, would involve five years in one place. Bristol was ranked as the top medical school in the UK at the time. Both my parents had studied medicine at Bristol. So that is where I went.

But Cambridge always sat in my mind as a 'road not taken'. 

In an earlier blog entry, I wrote about an incident at Cambridge in 1968, which contributed to a number of different things later, such as my interest in psychiatry, and sailing to New Guinea.

I booked a room in St John's College, just above the Bridge of Sighs.

Cambridge has gorgeous architecture, the most beautiful city I have seen on our trip. Some of it is quite breathtaking.

St John's College

King's College Chapel

King's College

The Senate House, site of strange rituals at graduation time

St Catharine's College

Students from Peterhouse College setting out for a night on the town

King's College

Trinity College

The Colleges often have beautiful gardens

Fitzwilliam Museum

Punting on the River Cam. My attic room has the grey windows at the top of the picture, slightly left of centre. 

My room

View from my window at dusk.

Bridge of Sighs

I had a few fun encounters in Cambridge; raves with various people I bumped into. An academic vet who is a Fellow of St John's, a theoretical physicist who was here for a reunion, and a long rave with a philosopher about the philosophy of humour (and many other things).

The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival was conveniently on, and I went to an hilarious performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in the garden of St John's. (Photography forbidden).

To round off my cultured Cambridge experience I went to a live 'Rocky Horror Show'. Also hilarious, with a lot of audience heckling and cast repartee.

The weather is mostly warm, Wimbledon has just been played, there are lovely raspberries and strawberries to eaten with ice-cream, and England won the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

The Wimbledon final was heartbreaking for fans of Roger Federer. He got to a point when he was serving at 40:15 with two championship points to play, and still got beaten by Novak Djokovic. He did play some lovely tennis over the course of the tournament. Here are some of his top shots.