Day 4 (Sunday)

Today was better than I could have ever imagined. Niaz (from the University at Belfast) called me in the morning and suggested that we go to Grantchester, a town about a mile away to our south. I called him around 3pm in the afternoon, thinking that we should go while the sun was still out. (The sun had not been plentiful over the first three days I was there, and even when it had come out it was highly unpredictable.)

Niaz first took me to the back of the Center where the garden was and told me that he had some secrets to share with me. He brought me over to an apple tree, which had some small apples that were half green and half red. They turned out to be very good, in spite of their appearance. He then showed me a fig tree, hidden among the other plants, and we grabbed some fresh figs too, for the road. He told me not to share what I now knew about the garden with the other fellows--little did I know he had other secrets for me.

We headed out to Grantchester by way of Grange and Grantchester Roads. Niaz pointed out a popular and well-known bar called the "Hat and Feathers". We continued walking out of town and into the countryside, which presented us with nothing but a winding road stretching out to nowhere. We walked a ways down the road, past some rugby fields, and talked about our own "stories" until he stopped me. "Do you see the river down there?" he asked me and pointed out into the distance at the Cam. "There are people walking there." I could see some people strolling around and figured that it was a shortcut some locals took on the way between towns. I was about to make a joke about walking across the farmers' crop fields to get down to it when Niaz crossed over a small drainage ditch and began walking across someone's recently tilled farmland in the direction of the river. After about a half mile we came to a small barbed wire fence which we proceeded to jump. Niaz had apparently forgotten to make the turnoff we were supposed to have taken. But we came up shortly to the river Cam which looked beautiful in the sunshine. It was surrounded by lush, green grass, covered in spots with bright green algae, was bordered by weeping willows and other full bushes. It was winding very peacefully through the meadows in the bright sunshine, disturbed only by ducks and a swan. It was quite a sight.

Niaz told me that he liked to bring the fellows down here occassionally for a barbeque, and he would sometimes fish here as well. We talked about the various uses of the Cam at this section, where the town had preserved walking land along the river. Apparently the locals often come down to it to stroll or camp, or to swim naked at a certain section in a certain time of day. The path along the river went through many different fields: some held cows that were grazing and lounging in the sun, some had trees that lined the path, and some contained higher grasses and pheasant. We eventually came to the most popular spot where a lot of people were sitting in lawn chairs and enjoying the scenery. When I thought this was the end of our journey, Niaz led me up the hill so that we could go have some afternoon tea at a teahouse. We crossed over another wooden fence through some trees, and came upon a place which is famously known as "The Orchard". I found myself in the middle of a large apple orchard where a large number of locals were sitting around small tables in old-timey cloth-and-wood lounge chairs taking afternoon tea.

The only building present was the medium-sized wooden teahouse which also held a pastry buffet. Niaz and I got some food and drinks, I had my first English tart, and we went out to grap ourselves our own table in the orchard. Niaz handed me a brochure about the Orchard's history, and I discovered that it had once been the stomping grounds of Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster (novelists), Betrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein (famous philosophers), Maynard Keyes (economist), and Rupert Brooke (poet). This group had all been friends, and they used to come to the Orchard as students. Apparently, Brooke and Virginia Woolf used to swim naked in the spot on the Cam that Niaz had pointed out. (Apparently, Lord Byron had also done the same thing as a student there).

After a relaxed and enjoyable conversation in the Orchard, Niaz and I eventually headed back to Cambridge by way of Grantchester town. The town had a few well-preserved old buildings, one with a thatched roof, and some popular, old-looking bars. While Niaz chided me for not talking more time to look at the historic buildings, I assured him that I would be back. As we headed back out of town, down the winding road, we saw a farmer's dog was playing in one of the fields as the sunlight turned golden. We kept walking, past various English meadows, and we continued the conversation.

Day 5

I began the day with a meeting at Barclay's bank to set up my banking account here. The young guy who interviewed me and took my information was helpful and THOROUGH. The meeting took about an hour. Next I spent a few hours finding necessities at the pharmacy and grocery stores, and finally arrived back home in the early afternoon. Read quite a lot in the afternoon on non-governmental organizations in international law, which is also the title of a text written by Anna-Karin Lindblom, a Special Adviser in human rights issues in the Ministry of Justice Division for Democratic Issues in Sweden. She was a visiting scholar here at one time and actually wrote part of the very long book I am now reading (circa 500 pages) while she was here.

At 6pm I went downstairs for our barbeque with the members of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (baically the British State Department) who are visiting the Center this week. I spoke with Harriet Cross, a woman about five years older than myself who is about to become a "First Secretary of Human Rights" within the UKMIS, or UK Mission to the UN. This means she will be representing the UK government on issues of human rights in the United Nations Office in NYC. Her past experience has been as _____ and she has visited the holding centers in the UK for suspected members of terrorist organications, examining and reporting on their conformity with the appropriate UK human rights standards. She has also done some work on indiginous societal issues within the UK. I also spoke for a short time with one of the legal specialists of the Office about Darfur and causes for the failure of the AU mission there. Also met Elanor, one of the current diplomats to the Falkland Islands, and with John Barker, a lecturer here who worked on the South African Constitution and has worked on a number of sustainable development project. I look forward to speaking with him more about his past and present projects.

Day 6

Today started off well. I am still adjusting to the jet lag, believe it or not, but otherwise I got a good start to the morning. Went down to breakfast where the group made plans for Professor Komori's send-off tonight at a very visible wine bar in town. He has been to the Center 3 times over the length of his career, and he is about to retire soon from the school's of law and policy at Hokkaido University in Japan. I did some more reading from the Sustainable Development Law book, as it is a subject I am fascinated with and may be interested in writing on it. Accompanied David, a public international law professor in Barbados, and his girlfriend Nikolai (who has worked in the Attorney General's Office for Jamaica and is now getting her LLM in international business relations from one of the London Universities) on a visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum downtown, a famous museum (I gather) which held some very interesting items (which I may or may not talk more about later). I stayed just a bit, though, because I wanted to get back to do more reading and join in the afternoon lecture for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on international environmental law, a subject I did not take in law school but am interested in learning a little more about. The lecture will be giving by a professor from the London School of Economics.

Later that evening...

Attended the seminar on international environmental law and also learned a bit about refugee law from the British perspective. Talked with a researcher from the commonwealth office from West Africa about his use of NGOs. Also learned during the lecture that James Crawford, the director of this center, was lead counself of three major environmental law cases, two of which went before the ICJ (international court of justice). That's three major cases out of the nine landmark cases that were mentioned!

Also talked with John Barker, a fellow here who was one of the three main people at the heart of the drafting of the South African Constitution) about that experiene. Mentioned Professor Malherbe, a South African professor who came to IU to speak when I was president of the international law society. Had a long discussion with Professor Barker about problems with the South African Constitution and Iraq.

Hello!

Hello to friends and family. This is my first blog. I am seeing how it works. So far so good. I'll get back with you soon!