Oxford in the Rain

It's the week before fresher's week here in Oxford, and it's starting to feel like fall. Today was very wet; it rained heavily most of the afternoon and even hailed for a few moments. I ventured out of my house for only a few hours, in order to purchase my hideously expensive and hideously ugly academic dress. This consists of:

1. A gown that makes no sense. It is basically a sleeveless, knee length coat with a high collar in the back that surrounds my neck, and two streamers actually coming off at the shoulders. These hang in the most awkward fashion possible. Insane.
2. A mortarboard cap. This is also completely nonsensical, as I am never actually required to wear it. Instead, I have to carry it about with me whenever formal wear is required. What on earth do I need it for at all then?!
3. A black ribbon tie, which, apparently, no one is sure how to tie correctly. Hmm.
4. Sub-fusc. This is the clothing I am required to wear under my robes on all formal occasions (formal dinners, appearances before the president and vice chancellor, exams, and matriculation). Sub-fusc consists of: a white button-down blouse with full length sleeves and a collar, a black skirt or pants, black shoes, and black stockings (if I am wearing a skirt). Academic dress favors black rather heavily. Not very helpful for being seen on a bicycle when riding home at night.

I'll try to get some pictures of myself in this ridiculous getup soon.

At any rate, I managed to make my purchases and get home without becoming too soaked. Thank goodness for my Berkeley instinct to always carry an umbrella, even if it looks as though it isn't going to rain. Bay Area residents know not to trust a clear sky.
The rain actually gave everything a kind of homey feeling. As I picked my way home through the puddles (there was a big white puddle outside of the Inorganic Chemistry department that I skirted very far around), and past the animal rights protesters outside of the University Pathology labs (when are people going to admit that they'd really rather have that polio vaccine than a free monkey? I'm not for animal cruelty, but frankly, we're all hardwired to value our own lives more than those of other species), I realized that I am starting to feel like someone who is living here, not just staying here. Perhaps that is partly because I am now able to get home by three different footpath routes without once consulting a map, meaning that even on a rainy day I am able to get home with relative ease and dryness. Bravo, me!