#and saw the fountain where Saint George proposed to feed the carp with Harriet's crushed meringues

[o-uncle-newt]

I WENT TO OXFORD

It was rainy but basically perfect- and now I have a question.

Anyway, first thing I did, while waiting for my Bodleian tour to start, was do the (very quick) "Harriet finally goes up like straw" walking tour, from the Broad Street gate of Balliol to New College Lane just past the Bridge of Sighs. It was excellent.

Below is the first photo I took- of the intersection of Broad Street and Catte Street (in my copy of the book spelled Cat Street), or the Holywell Corner, as Harriet calls it. This photo is how Peter and Harriet would have seen it, though presumably at night time (and I guess, potentially, on the other side of the street). From here, they'd cross ahead and to the right, and walk on the left side of Catte Street a few yards to New College Lane.

For those who like me have memorized the last page of this book- does anyone notice anything interesting?

I'll set the scene- they're walking back, and Peter drops that

'I have been afraid,' he said simply; 'because I knew that from anything you said to me here, there could be no going back.... But I will ask you now, and if you say No, I promise you that this time I will accept your answer. Harriet; you know that I love you: will you marry me?' The traffic lights winked at the Holywell Corner: Yes; No; Wait. 

Wait what? What traffic lights?!

I can confirm, I walked on all sides of that intersection and couldn't find a traffic light or any indication that one had ever been there. No traffic light, no pedestrian stoplight, no nothing.

I have to assume that, however much Sayers might like metaphors and allegories and such, she wouldn't invent a traffic light for the sake of one. But maybe she did? Or maybe one did exist in 1935 and has been since removed in the name of some kind of renewal project? Is it related to the New Bodleian (now Weston) library being built starting in 1937 on that corner, or totally unrelated?

I'm not going to pretend that any of this matters, just say that a) I am always interested in things like this, whether they are important or not, and if anyone knows please tell me and b) it's a tribute to Sayers that so many of the scenes in the book felt so vivid that seeing the locations in person felt like returning to them- and that something feeling even slightly off from that could be jarring.

Bonus photo, to thank you for bearing with me- picture two Senior Members of the university closely and passionately embracing just past the bridge over there.