***
Wednesday brought the first day of Torpids, the major rowing competition for Hilary term. Harriet met Ola, Caroline and Josh at the Porters’ Lodge, so they could visit the river and watch Ben row for the college. Her friends’ smiling faces mirrored Harriet’s own excitement at the prospect of both the racing and the chance to spend some quality time as a group.
The walk to the boathouses involved following the river along a path shaded by overhanging trees. Swans and geese swam in the water and squirrels scampered in the trees and, despite the chilliness of the March afternoon, the bright and clear sky suggested that summer was on the way.
Before they could even see the boathouses, the usually tranquil area reverberated with the cheers and shouts of the spectators. They crossed a bridge and the trees thinned out to reveal a wide towpath filled with overexcited students in various colleges’ hoods and scarves. They walked almost to the end of the path, where their college’s boathouse teemed with people, then climbed the boathouse stairs to watch from the balcony. They each bought a large glass of Pimm’s. The rowers warmed up on the path below, their tight Lycra outfits showing off bodies honed by weeks of training.
“How lucky am I?” Caroline said, pointing down at Ben, who looked very fit as he stretched.
Harriet knew very little about rowing, but a little prompting from Caroline helped her to follow proceedings. At the start of each race, about ten boats lined up in single file with a gap between each one. Once the race began, all boats set off at once, the objective being to ‘bump’ the boat in front, either by literally bumping into it, or by overtaking it, at which point both boats would stop racing.
There were some spectacular collisions and some tense moments. Ben’s boat started in third position in their race, behind Christ Church and Oriel. When Lilith’s boat began its race, the entire boathouse screamed, urging them on. Oriel managed to stay a good way ahead at the front of the river, making it neatly over the finishing line, but Ben’s boat bore down on Christ Church and at the last minute managed to bump them. The boathouse erupted in cheers.
Caroline ran down to meet the returning rowers and give the exhausted Ben a congratulatory kiss. There would be rowing for the next three days, and each time, the boats would start in the positions they’d finished in the previous day, meaning that tomorrow Lilith would be starting second ,with Oriel behind them, desperately trying to bump them and regain their place.
The first day’s result didn’t really mean much, but success was success and the students welcomed any excuse for a party. Harriet bought another jug of Pimm’s to share, and a bottle of cider for Josh. The bar could barely keep up with demand. Barely anyone seemed to be in the mood to go back to college and do some work.
Harriet took the drinks out on to the balcony and watched Caroline and Ben embrace down on the path. Ben looked flushed with success, and had ripped off his top to show off his astonishing muscles.
If only Tom could have been there. So much happened at night in Oxford that she often forgot that they could never be together in daylight.
He’d have loved this. He’s very loyal to the college, he used to row, and he adores a party.
Her victorious mood plummeted as she thought about Tom’s pictures of his human student days decades ago.
It must hurt that he can’t get involved. It hurts me that we can’t just stand here and enjoy the atmosphere like a normal couple. It’s going to be worse come Trinity. All the punting and picnics would have been so romantic, and as the days get longer there’ll be less time that he can be around at all.
“I’m going back to my room,” she said to Josh, who had been standing silently beside her whilst she brooded.
“Really? It’s so nice here, and you’re hardly going to have time to come back down tomorrow. Besides, you’ve just bought a round.”
“I know; I’m just suddenly not in the mood.”
“I’ll walk back with you. You look exhausted. Don’t wear yourself out too much with this Union business.”
Harriet considered protesting that she wanted some time alone, but decided that maybe some company would be nice after all. It had been too long since she’d had a proper conversation with Josh. Her relationship with Tom hadn’t exactly soured their friendship, but it had certainly strained it, and the misunderstanding at the bop hadn’t helped matters.
“So what’s wrong?” Josh asked once they were far enough along the river path that the crowds of people had thinned out. “And don’t say nothing, I saw you staring into space.”
Harriet shrugged.
“Is it Tom?” he asked, not quite managing to keep the hope out of his voice. “He was conspicuous by his absence today. I mean I know he never knowingly gets out of bed for a lecture, but even most of his sort managed to find the energy to come out for Torpids.”
Harriet presumed that by ‘his sort,’ he meant lazy posh boys rather than vampires but the comment still hit a nerve.
“I guess he was busy,” she said, wanting to change the subject. “There isn’t a problem there. It’s just all this Union stuff stressing me out. The election’s tomorrow and every time I think about it I feel slightly sick. I’ll be so humiliated if I lose.”
Josh gestured to a bench by the river, and they sat down. He put an arm around her in a friendly manner. “You listen to me Harriet French; you are not going to lose. Everyone likes you, you’ve put in tons of effort, and all your friends are going to be out there campaigning. Between Ben’s rowing and school friends and my music people and Caroline’s theatrical types and glamour girls, we’ve got it sewn up.”
“What about Ola?” she asked, smiling.
“Well she’s quiet, but she’s well liked around college. No one could object to her. I reckon she can help you with the down to earth people who just want a quiet life, and I’d say they’re one of the hardest groups to crack.”
“Don’t forget to ask people to vote for Edward and Harry and Priti and Sameer,” she said half-heartedly.
Josh was stern. “Harriet, we’re voting for you and campaigning for you because you’re our friend, but I think I speak for us all when I say we don’t give a damn about slates and Union politics. I’ll help you. The rest of them, forget it. Anyway, if I bother to vote for President at all, it’ll be for Julia. I heard her speak at the debate a few weeks ago, and between her looks, her voice and her arguments she blew me away.”
Harriet smiled. She wondered whether Edward would consider her trying to set Josh up with Julia to be treasonous.
“Right, let’s get you back to college. No doubt you’re out again tonight.”
“Yes, Law Society drinks followed by Park End,” Harriet confirmed.
“As I thought. In that case, I insist that you have a nap first before you collapse.”