Going Back in Time?

Number one son now has a study overlooking Quad. It has been carved out of the old Lawrence dormitory. Of course, as a Hailey boy I had little to do with the Quad Houses, but I did once or twice go into the long dorms, and those with sharp eyes can see in the new arrangements the columns which still support the roof. Originally Wilkins' East India Company College provided university style rooms. I guess one can get an impression of what they were like from Downing College Cambridge, also by Wilkins in the Grecian style, where the students live in almost square high ceilinged rooms with large windows.

That's pretty much what the Lawrence study is like - though it is shared for two. The more senior boys have smaller rooms; but at least some modern Haileyburians live in spaces like those of the Guv'nors of old.

Keep off the Grass

It will soon be Speech Day. It is one of the rare days when I walk on the grass, making the journey from the Master's Lodge to the Sports Hall where the speeches now take place. It still gives quite a frisson as walking on the grass is Not Done.

We always think of Quad as having manicured lawns. There is some work going on at the moment to sort out the edges of the Blades which are in a bit of a bad way.

As the picture shows there was a time when the grass was not kept as short as it is now.

Before the days of modern lawn mowers short cropped grass required a great deal of labour. Or sheep.

Dardanelles

It has been nearly a week since I posted, for which I am sorry. A busy patch has kept me away from the blog.

Gerald Wilson said that he had heard of a ghost of the Lower Dardanelles. It is a bit of a spooky corner I suppose. I confess that I had forgotten the name given to the passages between Quad and Little Quad. I am told by my spies that it is yet another bit of Haileybury nomenclature which has faded away.

To my mind the Upper Dardanelles is a more atmospheric corner.

Lower Dardanelles

Lower Dardanelles 

Upper Dardanelles

Upper Dardanelles