Hardly soft

Our second full day in Oxford was just as busy as the first. The main highlights were going around New College with a friend of Imo and Ed's and then being allowed to step on the grass outside Magdelen College to play croquet. In true tradition of me not quite adhering to the challenge, this is my contribution for soft. I took a stack of photos of us playing croquet and wandering around the colleges, keeping an eye out for soft things. We were looking at the cloisters at New College, where parts of Harry Potter were filmed (this is quite near the tree under which Malfoy was turned into a ferret), and were discussing how weathered the stone looked. As I walked away I heard a tour guide telling his group about the very soft stone used for this particular building. It seemed appropriate.

A couple of others joined us for croquet, and we teamed up girls v guys. At first we were playing very politely, but complaining when the boys used dirty tactics. Then we had a chance for revenge and it all went very well indeed, ending with a definitive win for us. I won't say we didn't crow quite a lot. In the evening we went for a drink in the college and met a few more people before wandering back to the hostel, stopping for chips on the way. It doesn't matter how much (or little) you've had to drink, fresh hot chips at midnight are always appealing.