It’s the end of May, 2018, and I’m just about to complete my penultimate year of University. I’m sitting at home when I get a message from Alex.
“Been going on some nice walks. We should go on one when ur done”
I respond.
“Yeah that sounds dope”
And so, a week later, we head out on a walk, heading eastwards towards the outskirts of York. The day is fantastically warm, which is refreshing after the brisk few months that have just occurred, which included snow in April. It’s also great to talk to someone after spending hours in labs revising or doing coursework.
After an hour or so, we ended up on the University’s East Campus and decided to walk to the lake on campus. Something that I’ve never done before.
Both the West and the East Campus have lakes on them, and the one on the West Campus is extremely easy to get to. There are footpaths surrounding the perimeter and it seems that the whole of the campus is essentially built around it.
The same cannot be said for the East Campus lake; there are a few paths to it and it’s surrounded by not exactly the friendliest terrain to an average pedestrian. The earth around it includes some bumpy bits of land, a few streams, some marshland, nettles and other bits of sharp shrubbery. What I’m trying to say is that it was a mistake to wear shorts on this day, my legs were constantly attacked by whatever plant they came in contact with.
Once we got to the lake, we were greeted with a sign. I can’t remember what the exact wording was but it essentially said something along the lines of
“No humans past this point. Breeding ground for rare birds.”
And so with that, we turn around, one hundred and eighty degrees, and our eyes meet the sparse, yet modern buildings of East Campus. However, there’s something different about this view. We can also see an Ali Baba at Constantine College and so naturally, we walk over there to investigate.
Once we arrived, I bump into my friend Jamie, who’s on the Constantine College committee and explains to us that today is ‘Constan-chill’: a summer party day on at Constantine which is free for everyone, regardless of whether you are a member of the college (which neither me nor Alex are). With this news, we decide to exercise the privilege. We went on the Ali Baba (which paused at the top for an eerily long time), ate free popcorn and drank free slushies, I won a game of darts and won a lollipop as a prize and we played on some inflatable games. The whole event was great fun, however I feel that the live DJ blasting out loud techno was a bit misplaced for a 2 p.m. fair.
After that, we went our separate ways (via Greggs), and I was more than content with the day. It was an awesome surprise and a great way to round off a lovely walk.