Definition: Catching a crab

Hello All!

Sorry for the lack of posts. Between rowing and preparing for what Oxford calls a 'transfer of status' (meaning I will go from being a probationary DPhil to a full DPhil) Hilary term has been really crazy and not a lot of time or curling up on the couch. After the transfer stuff is taken care of life should be a little less hectic.
Anywho, several of you have asked me to explain what 'catching a crab' means. It is a rowing term which according to Wikipedia:

'A rowing error where the rower is unable to timely remove or release the oar blade from the water and the oar blade acts as a brake on the boat until it is removed from the water. This results in slowing the boat down. A severe crab can even eject a rower out of the shell or make the boat capsize (unlikely except in small boats). Occasionally, in a severe crab, the oar handle will knock the rower flat and end up behind him/her, in which case it is referred to as an 'over-the-head crab.'


Basically its a mistake which can happen to any person in the boat,  the rower who improperly placed their blade tends to be knocked flat and can occasionally literally eject the rower out of the boat. So on the first day of Torpids in Mansfield W1 seat number 4, the person in front of me caught a crab. Here are some pictures to demonstrate.

This first picture is all of us rowing

The next picture is nicely labeled :). Notice how seat 4's blade is not going into the water straight!

Now you see 4 getting throw back by her own blade! :(

Anyone in the boat can catch a crab and when that happens the person behind the 'crabbed' rower (in this particular case it was me) must also drop out. First, so that they can help the other rower get their blade back into position and secondly, because the balance and steering of the boat are thrown off when one rower drops out! I hope you have enjoyed learning a little bit about rowing!

Cheers!

Torpids 2012

Mary just finished four days of rowing. These races begin with boats from the different colleges lined along the bank of the river Thames with a couple of boat lengths between each boat. At the start of the cannon all boats start off with the objective of bumping the boat in front of them and not being bumped by the boat behind. By bumping the boat in front the crew moves up in order for the start of the race on the subsequent day. In this way there is a continual ranking of the college rowing crews that continues from year to year so that the boat order at the end of this Torpids will be how the crews start the Torpids of next year.

A small clip of one of the races.

The men's first boat or M1 going in from racing while the women's first boat or W1 heads out

The rowing team. 

Guy Fawkes

Hello All,

Yesterday was 5 November which for the English is rather a big day. Known as Guy Fawkes' Night or Bonfire Night here in England, it commemorates the discovery of the plot to blow up King James I and Parliament in 1605. Guy Fawkes was a member of the group planning to incinerate the House of Lords, he was caught and was to be hung, drawn and quartered. . . well you can read about it all  here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes
 Anyway, every year on the night of 5 November, the English have fireworks and burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes. At Oxford it was held in South Park which is just around the corner from my house. A group of about ten people from my college gathered together to experience Bonfire Night. It really had a small fair feel to it, the event started at 5pm and there were several rides and multiple food stalls including one which sold a nice mulled wine. 
 Normally, the effigy is life-sized, generally old clothes stuffed with straw or paper but in Oxford there was something a little different.

It was quite larger than life-size! Before the burning, however we were treated to a fireworks display!

It went on for about half an hour and then they set fire to the effigy.

It was quite an interesting experience and somewhat creepy to watch this huge figure go up in flames. One of the hands came slightly detached so that it was just hanging by a few strings completely untouched as the rest of the figure burned. After the effigy had mostly burned they set fire to a large pile of wooden crates behind it.

It was quite  massive fire. All in all, however, everything was over by 8pm, which seems earlier but there were lots of families there so I guess they do not want things to go too late.

Overall it was an interesting experience but not quite as wild as I was expecting. It was, however, fun to see one of England's more famous holidays and how Oxford celebrates it. 
Photos are courtesy of my friend, Jen, since my camera's batteries died and the ones it did take were not very clear.

On a side note, I will be in a novice rowing race called the Christ Church Regatta in two weeks time. It runs the Wednesday to Saturday of 7 week. Or for those of you in the States that is Thanksgiving week. I hope we do well! We tried rowing with all eight rowers yesterday, which is tough to begin with since no one is balancing the boat so any mistakes from any of the rowers can really upset the balance of the boat making it difficult to get a good stroke in. Still, it is a lot of fun and I am enjoying it immensely. Some of my non-rowing friends have promised to come cheer us on, so I plan to have one of them take some pictures for my lovely blog!

On another side note. I will be attending my first Oxford Black-Tie Ball on 3 December. A whole group of my college friends will be going and it promises to be lots of fun!



Must get back to my schoolwork! Cheers!

The Lakes District

Hello All,

Sorry, I have not updated in a while but I have not just been sitting on my little loveseat! I have been busy finding my way around the various reading rooms in the Bodleian Library, joining my college's novice Rowing team, and buying a bike. 
Last weekend, I had a Black-Tie formal dinner at my College on Friday night, followed by a Champagne and Chocolate reception. My friends Elise and Jason came down from London that night. The next day we went to the Lakes District, a beautiful region in North-western England. 
Here is a sampling, of the beauty of the area. 

 We saw Windermere and Grasmere lakes...."mere" is an Old English word for "sea, lake" so that was neat to see for me. We also stopped and saw a stone circle at Castlerigg.

It was a long but fun day!! I hope to post more on rowing and my new bike soon!

Off to Rowing!
Cheers!

Matriculation

Hello Family and Friends,

Well, I am official member of the University of Oxford, now. There is a ceremony called Matriculation in which all the students are required to go upon embarking in the studies at the university. The ceremony officially makes us part of Oxford! The ceremony opened with some Latin

"Scitote vos in Matriculam Universitatis hodie relatos esse, et ad observandum omnia Statuta istius Universitatis, quantum ad vos spectent, teneri." (‘Know that you are today added to the Roll of the University and bound to obey all the statutes of this University so far as they apply to you.')

And was followed by a short speech by the Vice-Chancellor. For this ceremony we have to wear our robes and a special code of dress known as "sub-fusc" Here is an example worn by yours truly with and without the robe.

  

I felt somewhat like a waitress. The boys, are luckier and get to wear tuxes, which makes them look like James Bond. :)

 The Streets were full of all us students, going to matriculation. The place they hold it is only so big so they actually do the ceremony over and over again throughout the day.

 Proof that I do have friends and these particular two (Jennifer and Peter) are Mansfield College Medievalists like myself! And yes, Peter is very tall.

 A brief glimpse inside the Sheldonian Theatre where we were matriculated. Unfortunately Mansfield College was the last one in and had to stand on the floor while everyone else sat. Felt slightly like we were on trial!

 Random picture of some boys after the ceremony back at the college (and after the offical pictures were taken). From left to right Karl (N. Irish), Stephen (English), Cameron (Aussie) and Aled (Welsh-also my college parent).

 Relaxing after a hard day of matriculating and waiting for the pizza we ordered to arrive. We were also enjoying the very unusual warm sunny English weather!

 Peter demonstrating the post-matriculation relaxation.

 We went out for drinks and dinner and more drinks after pizza!

 Hope you enjoyed this brief tour of matriculation. For more pictures (and evidence that I have been making friends) please see my Facebook page!

 Cheers!!

Links and Cameras all rolled into One

Hiya,

Just a short little note. I have wandered into the Bodleian (one of the most famous libraries in the world)! As long as I have my student ID with me I can get into these amazing buildings! That's right, the Bodleian is in more than one building, plus they keep the majority of their books in cold storage off-site facilities so you have to request that they be brought to the main buildings. I've also been into the History Faculty Library. Yup, my department has their own decently sized library! There are books all over the place! Which I'm sure makes some of you ill to think about. ;) Especially since I have spotted no couches on which to take a brief break from the books!
Yesterday, I went into the part of the Bodeian called the Gladstone Link, its in the basement and actually linked the two main buildings. I did not take any pictures but I found some images online to give you an idea.

This is the interesting hallway you have to walk through to get to the "Link" rooms where all the books are. The ceilings are very low, so beware if you are claustrophobic!
 
This picture is not from the Gladstone Link but it gives you an idea of what the bookshelves look like. They are moveable! You turn or crank the handles on the ends of the book case in order to move them over (after checking to make sure there is no one in the isle you need to close). Its quite an interesting experience!



Today, I went to the building known as the Radcliffe Camera (also a part of the Bodleian Library). Here is a picture.