Downing College, Cambridge

We have had so much rain this weekend. Again this morning we woke to rain and it rained heavily all morning. Gavin took Xena for a walk in the rain which she absolutely hated, but we needed to walk her early as we left the house by 9.30am to fetch Adam and Pip from the airport en route to Cambridge. We had planned to visit Tommy and Adam in Cambridge today so it worked out well that Adam and Pip arrived back from New York at Heathrow as we were about to pass by, so we could pick them up and give them a lift home. They had a fantastic trip and Adam was so enthusiastic about all the science talks he had attended at the conference delivered by leading scientists from all around the world. It gave him plenty to think about as he finishes off his PhD and looks to the future.

It was wonderful to see Tommy again, we have not seen him since the end of September and he has been working very hard this term as this is his final year of his degree. We went out for lunch at a nearby pub, Inca came and joined us as did Adam and Pip after they had freshened up after their overnight flight. The food was surprisingly good! They allowed dogs in the pub so Xena was also with us for the day. After lunch Tommy insisted we all go to Boulders which has the best hot chocolates!

This is Downing College which is the college that Tommy and Inca are at. It is a very beautiful college and is often described as the oldest of the new colleges, as it was founded in 1800. The oldest college at Cambridge University is Peterhouse which was founded in 1284 and the youngest college is Robinson which was founded in 1977.

It was a brief visit but good to catch up again. We had sticky traffic coming home but nothing major, and now before we know it it is the end of another weekend.