A curious evening in Oxford

[Child of the 7th Age]

Squatter,

I read this some time ago, and was absolutely enchanted by your tale, but have only got around to responding now.

I have been to England and Wales any number of times, though sadly not in recent years. I spent my junior year at the Unviversity of Wales at Cardiff, and also worked as an au pair down in Kent for a while, plus several summers in the Public Records Office and British Museum on my disseration.

Out of all that, you'd think I could have gone and done what you did. But I didn't, and I wish I had. But I did see a Hobbit exhibit that was put on in the Bodleian Library over 15 years ago. So that's the closest I ever got to feeling I could almost reach out and touch the man himself.

I bought a poster from that exhibit and had it framed. It still hangs in my house--the one with Bilbo on top of the barrells.

sharon