Farewell

This is a day I said some goodbyes.

This is the last day of term for many undergraduates at Oxford. More importantly, it was the day of the Oxford Tai Chi on Ice: a Tai Chi social where we first went ice skating. We went at the teatime session which started at 6pm. This was nice as it wasn't too crowded, and unlike the session straight afterwards, it wasn't full of rude chavs. It had a nice family feel and generally was good. It was a lot of fun, with Captain Anal (who had been coming to Tai Chi for the past month) and his girlfriend coming, and even Jenny who didn't come to skate, just came along to watch. We had some beginners who managed very nicely and improved a lot.

At the end of the session, on leaving, we ran the gauntlet of the line of chavs waiting for the disco session. They started taking the piss out of my hat. I walked past and stuck my hands up in a victory salute, which seemed to work well. There is a certain amount of their mocking which only works through trying to embarrass the victim. My tactic seemed to work rather well I think.

We had a hell of a time trying to find somewhere to eat, as we were a group of eight. After we were turned away from a variety of places, we found ourselves at Pizza Hut, where I shared a stuffed crust with my brother. I was amazed at quite how greasy and salty the pizza was.

Dessert was ice cream at the St. Aldates branch of G&Ds. I had an excellent Greek yogurt and honey flavoured ice cream. We sat around chatting and doing silly swapping of glasses. It was a very enjoyable evening which was full of general high spirits, and friendly banter and violence.

When we said goodbyes, I realised that this may be the last time I see many of them. There aren't any classes during the holidays and I should be long gone by next term. It was quite sad to say goodbye to them one by one. I genuinely hope to drop in to Oxford on a Monday evening, which should allow me to visit the Tai Chi sessions.

I walked towards the lab where I had left my bags and bike. The outgoing president of the society, his girlfriend and her house mate were going in the same direction. The girlfriend was trying to persuade the president to come to a "bop" (a disco/party type thing) at my old college, where she and her house mate currently are. He was reluctant, but when I accepted their invitation to join them, and dragged him in, he joined us.

It was a strange feeling walking through the old college. It had changed heavily, not least as it was covered in scaffolding. The bop itself was themed as "ASBOs and OAPs", so dress as a young chav or and old person. It made me feel old. The music had changed heavily too. When I was there, it was a cheesy pop music fest of classic delights such as Steps, S Club 7, Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Kylie, ABBA, and such like. I was expecting a more up to date version with some of the old classics, and replaced by McFly, Girls Aloud and PussyCat Dolls. Sadly, there has been a bit of a backlash against cheesy music, so it was much more R&B songs, and people trying too hard to be cool.

It was somewhat disappointing, and as I didn't know anyone except the three people I came with, it wasn't much fun. I spent the time chatting to the president, which was really enjoyable. I had mostly come along as a "say Yes", but was enjoying chatting to the president who was a very sorted, calm and centred individual who I admired. I found that he too had suffered from depression for two years, and so his life and situation that I admired came from the strength he developed through adversity. It also pleasingly showed that I could come out of it all stronger than I started.

I was pleased to see that one bop tradition hadn't changed. All the college bops ended on the song "Free Nelson Mandela" by the Specials, despite Nelson Mandela having been freed many years previously. During this song, people get onto friends shoulders to dance. This is where the president did join in with his girlfriend and I do think they did both enjoy the experience. I ended up not taking part but did just throwing myself in and dancing as there was enough space due to the double decker nature of the dance floor.

I was glad I went back, but it really proves the proverb that "you can never go back" or "you can never cross the same river twice". I've been away a few years and it's all changed beyond recognition. It was fun, but I can never have that time back, which is why I need to try and enjoy every moment of now, as I'll never have this moment again either. I need to try and treat life as its own miracle and get as much out of it as I can. Always.

I said goodbye to the president, his girlfriend and her housemate. I was sorry to see them go, especially the president who I really do admire. I tried to let them all know how much I appreciated their company over the past term, but I don't know if I managed it.

I walked to the lab, and rather enjoyed the peaceful quiet roads which gave me time to be with my thoughts. I've been tapping away at the computer attempting to type this blog. Am now thoroughly tired as it's gone half past two in the morning, so I think I'll go home now and go to bed.

Goodnight my friend, especially my friends from Tai Chi. I'll miss you all, and really hope to see you all again soon.

Love

AcidCat