Travel Journal - Oxford, pt. 2

Day Eight - First day of Oxonmoot. We started with a tour of the Oxford area for mostly the Newbies. We had a special in at the Kilns (C.S. Lewis's house), so we got a special tour, which normally I would've been thrilled about, but the lady was a tad long-winded, which took away from Tolkien. Very glad I got there, though. We did see a few of Tolkien's houses, though, which would've been harder to find on my own. After that we Oxonmooters had special access to the Bodleian Library's Magical Books exhibit. The parts that were Tolkien and Lewis and the like were nice and fun to see. I got a yucky feeling from some of the exhibit, though, as it didn't just focus on fairy tale magic, but also witchcraft type magic. I didn't like that at all. After that we officially registered at Oxonmoot, where Newbies were welcomed with champagne and bacon-flavored Pringles, before a nice dinner. Nice as in a little to fancy for me foodwise, but nice. It was good to meet some people there, too, as I ended up spending time with a few of them throughout the weekend. Granted there was one I would've liked to spend more time with (a Scotsman), but it's hard to make that kind of thing happen when he knows other people there.
Day Nine - Lectures began. One that I found interesting was by a man who has written a book about the idea of kingship as expressed through the writings of Tolkien, Lewis, and Charles Williams. Sadly the publisher did not get the book to the Moot as they were supposed to, so I was unable to buy it. The focus was on the concept of Divine Kingship, including awe, the idea of a king as a creator, and the idea of a king being a servant. The presenter wasn't the best speaker, so I couldn't take much by way of notes, but I have a feeling he'd be a good writer. I suppose it's good that his book wasn't there, though, as there was a room with books for a pound a piece, so I bought my share. The other lecture that stood out was on honours bestowed upon the hobbits, such as knighthood for Merry and Pippin versus the Star of the Dúnedain for Sam. It really was more interesting than it may sound. I couldn't take much by way of notes on this either, though, as the presenter spoke so fast I could hardly catch my breath - I don't know how he caught his. I skipped the party this night, due to bus schedules and the need to regroup. (Turns out that was okay, as Scotsman wasn't there either.)