isis and iffley

if you walk under the rain, it is easy to think for a bowl of hot noodle soup. hmm…

last saturday i walked alongside the river isis, from the floyds row in south oxford, downstream to the village of iffley. with ben and rangga. three of my countrymen trying to defeat the cold shower of november rain. no one carried any umbrella.

on our left hand side, the river. rowers from different colleges were seen practicing hard to get prepared for the next month's championship. all wet. on our right hand side, meadows. cows, horses, swans and empty fields with occasional bushes. the horses are bigger than those you see around ganeca street of bandung city.

we walked to reach the site of a very old water mill of iffley. built in the 11^th century, survived for eight hundred years of grounding malt, barley, corn and other cereals, the mill was burnt down in 1908.

at the end of our trek, we arrived at a lock next to a small chapel where the mill used to be located. it’s called mill lane, close to the site of the 12^th century norman parish church st mary the virgin.

i know that not everybody loves rain. but among those who love it will understand how it feels to smell the crisp air. the sound of raindrops, the dark misty sky, the chilly air and the good companies… the place has just some resemblances to an empty street i used to visit in lembang of west java. some pine trees would make it looked more similar.

niki, you would love to be here.

isis is the origin of thames river. if you follow the stream, it will eventually take you down south, there where you can find london town...