Heatwave!

Well, not quite. But summer has definitely arrived to Oxford and boy has it arrived with a vengeance! Last week was still all gloomy skies and jacket-wearing weather, and then on Tuesday...boom! Sunny blue skies (there's been nary a cloud in sight!), an almost hazy kind of...erm, haze in the air, and this being England of course, the humidity has been cranked up to 300%. The heat itself isn't bad at all - we've been hovering around the mid-20 degree Celsius, which is normally ideal. However, throw in the humidity and unrelenting sunshine (I know, I can't believe that I'm complaining about sunshine of all things), and the result is one sweaty, sticky student making her way to tutorials and libraries. And, as air conditioning is nowhere as prevalent on this side of the pond, plus the fact the average age of buildings in Oxford is "oh, a couple centuries old"...well, let's just say that libraries are currently HOTspots in more ways than one.

Oh, sunbeams, I have missed you! (Although I hear that
absence makes the heart fonder...?)

My fellow lawyers M & S went for milkshakes and dinner post-faculty photo.

Speaking of the faculty photo... 

Squeezing some 200-odd law grad students on a bleacher on a hot, humid day?
Logistically entertaining, physically...intimate. 

Of course we had to take our own photos too!

Also, I had forgotten how far North latitude-wise Oxford is, at least compared to Montreal. As a result, the sun rises and sets at surprisingly early and late hours - this week, it's been around 5am and 9:30pm. 9:30pm, already in May! It's not quite Sweden of course, but still amusing for myself. My days feel so much longer! (Unfortunately, that has not correlated into more productive days...huh.)

Summery, colourful punts at Magdalen Bridge.
Picture taken at 9pm - look at all that light!