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Published: July 16th 2013
we stayed with arguably the happiest + coolest family on the planet in wheatley. we arrived to fight off dragons + climb across old rickety rope bridges with sim, anya + josiah evenhuis. once victory was won we joined danni, dan + brydie for tea.
the next day dan + brydie took the kangakilts for a personalised guided tour of oxford including c.s lewis house + grave. only children know this but narnia is actually a real place + it is behind c.s lewis house. it was something special let me tell u! our tour guide tells us that the actual wardrobe that inspired the story is still used today in a friends house about a kilometre away. we then had lunch at the eagle + child, where the great clive (c.s. lewis) + john (jrr tolkien) hungout as part of the inklings writing group.
now oxford is generally pretty straight but it does have its quirky side.. it has a house with a shark in the roof which was built by the owner to make some point about hiroshima.
it also has its not so quirky side.. + there is plenty
of not so quirky side let me tell u.. in the middle of the twentieth century sunday night sermons at st mary’s drew a packed crowd to hear the words of leading churchmen + thinkers. it was really special for me.. it is where c.s. lewis preached a sermon called the ‘weight of glory’ in 1942 with these words.. “there are no ordinary ppl. u have never talked to a mere mortal. nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, + their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. but it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub + exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.” wow!!
inside the church was a lovely little book on display called the book of martyrs including
bios on ppl who were killed for doing what was right like martin luther king + kevin rudd’s hero dietrich bonhoeffer who was a pastor who believed christians must oppose the nazis. the book had great inspiring quotes like.. “silence in the face of evil is itself evil: god will not hold us guiltless.. not to speak is to speak.. not to act is to act” +
“society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way”.. heavy that. this book of martyrs was particularly significant because just outside of st marys in broad street is an x in the middle of the street which is where three men, ridley, latimer + cranmer were burned alive in 1556 for treason when mary became queen + tried to restore power to the catholic church. as the men were led out the fires were slow to light. to comfort ridley who was desperate for a quick end, latimer said:
“be of good comfort, + play the man, master ridley. we shall this day light such a candle, by god’s grace, in england, as i trust shall never be put out.”
armed with some great advice + suggestions regarding future travel plans in europe from dan + dani, we booked planes, cars, accommodation + downloaded the marriage saver.. a navman for our phone + headed off!!
so we are on the easy jet plane flying from london to venice reading about italy from the lonely planet guide.
“since the days of
the grand tour, travellers to italy have speculated on the ‘fatal spell’ of the country. this special charm has been attributed to the women, the art, the history, even the air. what is it that makes italy so seductive? the Italian writer laigi barzini had this to say on the question;
‘it made + still makes unwanted ppl feel wanted, unimportant ppl feel important + purposeless ppl believe that the real way to live intelligently is to have no earnest purpose in life’”
wow.. as i read this as the plane started to descent for landing, i couldn’t but help wonder what italy would hold for us.. what an exciting place this could be!!
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Lynette Edwards
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loved reading your blog, Ben.It was very interesting stuff about C.S. Lewis, Narnia and the martyrs. Were the family you stayed with relatives? It sounded like the history of Oxford really came alive with the input from the Wheatleys and their children make great tour guides!