FED - #OUFamily

Tonight, as the setting sun catches the OU logo on the Berrill building at Walton Hall, OU staff up and down the country will start major merriment to celebrate the ancient rite of FED. Incantations will be said to strange deities such as Ratatosk who was blessed with the power of prediction and cursed to always be incorrect. Circe, another sacred deity, will ceremonially crash. Rather like Easter the exact date of FED changes. Unlike Easter, this change might occur at any time so we all have to be ready to put up our gaily decorated FED trees at a date later than previously announced.

There now follows a period in which people play ceremonial games of TSA – the origins of this game are lost in the mists of time but they are the source of much ribaldry and delight. The game is played by someone contacting someone else and bartering over groups of students. They reach an agreement and the first round is finished. The next round commences when either party decides that they want to barter again so contact is made and further bartering commences. A good game of TSA might last for many rounds and might involve a number of people sticking their oar in to throw out any previous agreements and take the game back to the beginning. The rules of TSA are less clear than those of Mornington Crescent, it's such fun. In olden times games of TSA were played in medieval halls in places such as East Grinstead or Gateshead or Bristol and they involved lots of pieces of paper. These games became too easy so now they are conducted by fewer players over larger distances and often with more room for misunderstandings – this is a metaphor for progress. 

TSA games run through the next major date in our calendar, FRD, until a few hours before F&N. Of course everyone aims to be done well before F&N but some players like feeling the raw excitement of a late round of TSA. Like FED the date of FRD can flex but it follows FED....... eventually. 

Those who have followed my blips for a while might wonder whether any Yalding is involved, I'm afraid that there are no records of even a minor Yald in recent years.

So if you know people who work for the OU this is the time when they will be enjoying FED; wish them well and give them space