Show & Tell: Morning

Morning has broken. That's the first thing I thought about when I read Saltistjejen's theme (our hostess for the month of March).


Thought this particular version about lent/spring was fitting since I really hope spring (morning) comes soon after the long winter (night).

That song used to end all parties at St Antony's College (my Oxford college). The thing is that we had to end all parties at 1am due to the college's location in a residential area. Didn't really feel like morning at 1am...

We had a lot of fun at St Antony's Late Bar. We were considered the party college, at least as postgraduate colleges go. It used to be pretty crowded on a regular Friday bar night but it was especially so on Saturdays when there was a big party (about once a month).

Sometimes it would be a fancy dress party:

And every year there's a Ball (I was on the Committee one year):



The Hilda Besse, or the Hilda Beast as it's more commonly known, is not a looker from the outside (though listed and can't be torn down - it won an architectural price in the late 1960s) but it's functional, especially for parties.



The ground floor of the building houses the Late Bar (or Buttery as it's called during daytime when it's used for seminars), a TV room and a couple of smaller meeting rooms. Upstairs has Hall, i.e. the eating area/canteen, also used for fancy dinners (so-called High Table) and big parties, and kitchen.



The second upstairs (which is a smaller area, as Hall has very high ceilings and is open all the way up so-to-speak) has the Junior (JCR) and Senior Common Rooms (SCR), Junior for us students and Senior for professors et al. (at other colleges which have both undergraduate and postgraduate students - St Antony's has only the latter - the JCR is for undergrads and Senior for postgrads and the rest). Concrete doesn't look so good on the outside but inside the mix of cement and wooden floors is actually quite alright. Especially with some art and Persian rugs on the walls.

So despite its name I have some pretty good memories from the Beast!

Sorry if I digressed a bit too much from the subject... :)

All own photos except for the one of the Hilda Besse building which comes from Flickr and St Antony's College