derbyshire is cold

especially when you're living in a refurbished old farmhouse in the hills. i thought, mistakenly, that the next several months would be a relief from snowy-ass new england. it is, to the extent that it's different, and there isn't really snow. but oh, it's a DAMP cold here. it gets in your lungs. and at my family stay, it was the kind of thing you imagine Cathy died from on the moors (that, and a goddamn broken heart). i wore two pairs of socks.
so i was at Peep-O-Day Farm (not really a proper farm) in Chinley, Derbyshire, with a family of four plus a dog. it was great fun, actually: warm, comfortable people, lots of wine, and a little friendly sightseeing in and around the area. our first full day there, all the families got together with lots of kids and as many dogs, and we went on a walk through Lyme Park. the weather was awful, but this was amply made up for by the fact that we were walking around PEMBERLEY. yes, from the bbc version. yes, i have pictures.
was there a lake, you ask? there may have been one or two. the dogs got very muddy after the walk, so they had to bathe in the lake pictured here. i will let you imagine, or recall, who else might have gone for a swim in this particular lake.


enough about the family visit. i am, actually, at oxford, and have been for just about 48 hours. it was a gorgeous day when we arrived and there might have been tears in my eyes when i walked through the gates of my college. the next time the sun is out, i will trek around with my camera everyone can get a sense for Worcester. let me just say now that there are two families of ducks, who quack outside my window in the morning and putter around the Pump Quad.