The Head of Oliver Cromwell

So I actually accidentally already posted something entirely in Estonian here a week or so ago, because I got this blog mixed up with my personal one. I did at first think "why so few posts?", and then it took me a while to ponder over when did I write the draft for "San Francisco/Flashbacks to Childhood", until the name "Adam Hood" finally convinced me that this is not my blog.

Anyway, I can't really blame LMF for so few posts, as I haven't been writing any updates myself either. Partly because I've been busy and partly because I was ashamed I wasn't leading a life as excited as I had planned.

My summer in England is drawing to a close, and judging by the weather here, the summer is already over. The smell of autumn is in the air... I am very excited, since the days of Spanish weather here were dreadfully hot, and England is finally what I had promised myself it would be: grey and rainy! 

I have four days of school and exams left next week. On Thursday, we will have the final formal hall dinner, and on Friday, I'll pack and panic, and fly home (with a 2-day stop in Latvia). "Film and Theatre Journalism" had the final exam today, where we basically wrote a news article about the "new" season at the National Theatre in London. Afterwards, there was a "tea party" to celebrate the end of the course. Despite the name, there was less tea than at the Boston Tea Party (and I doubt anyone wanted to drink that salty tea either), but plenty of cake, biscuits and some fruit.

So "Behavioural Ecology" is the only course I have left next week, apart from some leftover deadlines. I'm already starting to miss Cambridge. The number of tourists has decreased significantly in August, and the town is really breathtakingly beautiful. I will miss the ducks and the cows a lot, too. 

We saw "The Crucible" with Zizz on Saturday, and it was quite spectacular. Richard Armitage (the lead dwarf in "The Hobbit") was great, although so were the rest of the cast. I assure you my assigned reviews were far more thorough. 

Plans for this weekend include mostly Ely, £3 there and back by train, that has a wonderful cathedral, an old town centre and the Oliver Cromwell museum! For context, Oliver Cromwell was the most exciting part of 8th grade History. He was the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, but in my opinion should be mostly known for his posthumous execution. 

His disinterred body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, and then thrown into a pit. Cromwell's severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. Afterwards it allegedly was owned by various people and was publicly exhibited several times. In 1960 what the owners had claimed to be his head was buried beneath the floor of the antechapel of his old school in Cambridge. The exact position was not publicly disclosed, but as noted below a plaque marks the approximate location.

Wikipedia

An oval plaque at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge says:

Near to this place was buried on 25 March 1960 the head of OLIVER CROMWELL Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England, Scotland &Ireland, Fellow Commoner of this College 1616-7.

The whereabouts of his head are also news to me, so you can imagine that Sidney Sussex is now also among the places I plan to visit before I leave. (It's right next to Sainsbury's, the local supermarket that is renting its space from Trinity College).

When the last time we met at the Blue Chicken with Zizz (a sculpture in front of the National Gallery), then this time we had agreed upon Platform 9 3/4.  Most of the trains from Cambridge to London go to King's Cross. Trains are cool.

There's a bloke whose job it is to hold the scarf up

A lot less crowded at midnight

Enjoying the sun in Pembroke

King's College (this grass you cannot walk on)

And now it's time for dinner at Pembroke. With so many flights and bus rides to come next week, I will hopefully be able to write one more post before it's time for the new semester to start. I mean it would obviously be a pity if there were no more random Oliver Cromwell facts on the LMF blog to come.