When in Rome... (or England...)

It was time to do something very 'English'. One of those quintessential activities you engage in that make you think "Wow, I REALLY AM in _____". So I went with my housemate Richard to "The Boat Race". This is the annual Oxford-Cambridge rowing dual on the Thames. A little trivia for you: they've been doing it annually since 1856, except during the World Wars. For those of you who read/watched The Social Network, this is the race that the Winklevoss twins trained for, and lost. Hugh Laurie, of House fame, also rowed for Cambridge in the 1980 race.

Anyway...

As everyone does, we picked up a few cans of beer on the way down to the water. Once we reached the park and cracked them open, I noticed the police wandering around. Worried about my open-can-in-a-public-place, I tried to hide it a bit behind me. Not to worry, Rich informed me - while it IS technically illegal to be drinking beer in a park, it's all just kind of ignored until you do something REALLY stupid. Excellent!

Getting closer to race time, Rich and I headed to the waterfront. While he is a 6'7" giant of a man, I am considerably shorter and wanted to be right near the stone wall so I could see. Because I'm me, I started talking to some random people once we got there, and we became fast friends. With the addition of a friend of Rich's, the five of us were feeling the excitement of the crowd and getting anxious for the race to begin!

To pass the time, I started looking around me, doing a little good old-fashioned people-watching. It was impossible not to notice these guys first:

Amidst the crowd, they were dancing up a storm. Bedecked in their hats and prize ribbons, with bells strapped to their shins, they were making quite a ruckus. Apparently young children in England are taught the traditional dances, much like Canadian children learn to square dance and do the Maypole.

Next, as the crowds crushed in around us, I couldn't help but notice this guy:

Seriously? You came to this very busy and public event, stood about three people back from the edge of prime viewing area, and brought a book to read? Ah well, to each his own, I guess!

Some people were really serious about getting the best seat in the house. And apparently they felt said 'best' seat was up in a tree:

After much standing about, craning my neck to watch the preliminary stuff on the massive screen, the race had begun! The tension was palpable. People in London take this seriously, especially if they have personal ties to either school. Having no such ties myself, it didn't really matter to me who won. But, having done a little research before the event, I knew that Cambridge was favoured to win, that they won last year, and that they had won more past races (80, to Oxford's 75). So I decided to root for the underdog.

About 30 seconds after mentally making this decision, and JUST before I had a chance to open my mouth and make it very well known who I was favouring, I began to notice the large crowd of men to my right. Who were very clearly, very LOUDLY expressing their support for Cambridge. Hmmm... better keep my cheering a big more vaguely generic, then!

About 5 minutes after the race began, the boats were in view of our spot along the river. 30 seconds later, they were not. Unfortunately, because of the venue of the race, you can really only see them that long. That's why they have the giant screens set up as well - so you can watch the rest of it!

After the race, we (and every other person who had been watching the race) headed to a pub for a couple more pints. All-in-all, an excellent day! And I feel like a Londoner! Thanks for taking me out, Rich!


Oh... and Oxford won. Hooray!