Thursday = the new Friday

It's hard to believe that I've already finished four weeks of law school. It's been quite an adjustment. Not only is the workload very intense (11-hour days plus homework most evenings), but little things like doing laundry and tidying the flat now seem to require a lot of advance planning. Anthony has been so supportive, quietly assuming significant portions of housework and helping me plan the weekly menus.

One my favourite things about my new schedule is that the Law School has concentrated all the teaching into four days, leaving Fridays free. The demands of the course are such that most Fridays will have to be spent working, but it's really nice to have control over my time -- to sleep in a little, catch up on household chores, and work from the comfort of my own dining room. It also means that when we face the double-hitter of the land law lecture (2 hours) followed by the public law lecture (2 hours) on Thursday afternoon, we can say to ourselves: "It's almost the weekend!" Hence the title of this post.

I recently joined the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple (one of the four Inns of Court). All English barristers are required to belong to an Inn, and they also take a significant role in the training of young barristers. The Inns are very much like Oxford colleges in the heart of London. They host formal dinners in hall, maintain excellent libraries, and have their own chapels and choirs. Last Friday I went down to do a bit of exploring. Here is the Inner Temple, viewed from the Strand:

They have a beautiful garden:

This is Pegasus, symbol of the Inner Temple:

They even put Pegasus on the drain pipes (I love this -- he's also on the parking bollards):

This is Temple Church, shared between Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and consecrated by the Knights Templar (for whom the two Inns are named) in 1185. It boasts one of the finest choirs in London:

The library is beautiful -- fully paneled in oak, with 12-foot bookcases forming alcoves along the walls, a balcony down each side, tall windows, chandeliers, and dark blue carpeting. Just the sort of library I dream of having in my house someday. Student members of the Inn are entitled to take lunch in hall during the week, so I might spend some of my Fridays working down there, savouring "the last enchantments of the Middle Ages" and remembering Oxford.