Upon arriving in Oxford we crawled through the streets toward our disembarkment spot. At one point I caught out of the corner of my eye a pile of rocks, only to look closer and see that it was actually a very old house.

There was a single window on the wall facing our bus, and a guy was standing there looking into a mirror, tying a Windsor knot... And I wondered with amazement at how many other men, through how many years and years, had stood in that house, by that window, getting ready for some academic function.