Dickens Birthday Dinner

Kevin and I smarted up and walked over to Trinity Hall. It wasn't very cold but so windy I thought we might blow away. We found the group in the small but lovely dining room with three tables set for formal dining, tall silver candlesticks mingled with thin glass vases of daffodils.  Wine was being served and we mixed. I knew Ian Gordan, the treasurer of the group. He was handsomely attired in Scottish Formal. We met his wife a Radcliffe graduate and Kevin had fun talking with her. A tiny lovely woman named Mary Elspeth was especially friendly. We talked about names as I liked hers very much.

The dinner began promptly at 7:30. There was a seating chart and Kevin and I were at separate tables. And, after the main course, people changed seatings so everyone had different dining partners. There was a program and after each course some entertainment. The readings were excellent. Michael Slater, a well known Dickens scholar, read from Our Mutual Friend, chapter IV, a very funny description of the Wilfers anniversary dinner.

The other speaker was Michael Rogers who was interesting but said something disparaging about American scholars of Dickens (more to come about this).

My dinner partners were delightful. One, a professor at Anglia Ruskin, the second university in Cambridge, and the other a retired English professor (you can see I am hanging out with compatible people). There was also a woman from Brittany. She was interested in American politics but she also pointed out the trend in Europe to produce conservative throwback politicians who want to get rid of the EC and move backward. There was also an interesting expat from Philadelphia , a big fan of Walt Whitman as well as Dickens.

I enjoyed a fascinating conversation with the older retired English professor who talked about growing up in the UK during and after WW II.  He said he owes his good health to Hitler because of his was, food, especially white flour and sugar, was scarce. He ate mainly locally grown food and is a very healthy octogenarian! (This was also the time when American soldiers were "over here" and complaining about British food.)

After the toast to the Queen, he talked about her and what a marvel she is. She was quite a beauty in her youth--he had seen her in person and said that photographs never did her justice. He praised her for being such a gracious  and dutiful servant for the country.  I asked him what he thought had formed her for her job as queen. He wasn't sure but he said that she had know she would be queen since the age of ten. She was prepared. He added that the others in the Royal Family, especially Camilla, followed the queen and were outstanding in promoting the good of the country. And the English newspapers are full of the support that the Royal Family gives to charities and museums and art openings and music events, and hospital events,  and all manner of public events that make it a better country.

He went on to describe her as absolutely inscrutable. Unless, she has kept a private diary, no one will ever know what she thinks of anything. She is a blank page.

Then we had a good time joking about the things she could write, the secrets she could expose, the gossip she could tell, the fools she could out. It would obviously be the best seller ever!

The dinner was delicious (Kevin and I both had fish and lamb),  the program stimulating, and the conversation engaging--an excellent evening!

We walked home toward midnight in a heavy rain pour and were completely drenched when we  finally arrived home. The Lord and Lady (our masters at Wolfson College) were on bicycles!

Footnote--as we walked down King's Parade, I was laughing about our predicament and passed a well-dressed man who said to me, "Well, you certainly look cheerful."

He looked slightly familiar, and I asked, "Did you just come from the Dickens dinner?"

He said, "Yes, I was the speaker."

And I answered, " Oh, yes,  you were the one who disparaged American scholars."

And he said, only slightly befuddled, "But I don't mean just Americans, young British scholars tend to do the same." And, then he gave an example of a young Brit scholar who tries to show that Dickens is homosexual.

Anyway, I wish I had not said that as I will see him on Monday when we meet again to discuss Our Mutual Friend.