When I heard that the latest Ashmolean’s Live Friday event was titled ‘Wilderness in the City‘, I knew I simply had to attend. After all, ‘Wilderness in the City’ could describe my very existence –  a nature-obsessed climber girl with a penchant for everything metropolitan and sophisticated.

I like a nice balance.

It turns out that ‘Wilderness’ is not just a theme, but a festival: ‘A Celebration Shaped by Nature, a Landscape Transformed by the Arts’.

Banquets, feasts, gastronomy, tented theatre performances, cirque, opera, talks (including one by Oxford’s Astrophysics department), a lakeside spa, woodland medicine walks, and that’s just a small fraction of the majestic list.

!!!

Okay going on next year’s calendar for sure.

This evening was a taster of the upcoming festivities. Where, may I ask, would be a better place to break in my Fluffy Green Thing from the Fe-Line Frock Swap and my new rabbit socks from Top Shop?

[nowhere].

I did not envision wearing both rabbits and pandas on my feet at once, but these exciting things happen with a limited wardrobe. Fabulous randomness.

Jenny and I created unicorns and dragons (uhh guess who drew which) in a psychedelic underground chamber of music. That night, I realised the supreme importance that colouring has in my life [to be continued…].

The fairies were out for sure, and the museum’s usual inhabitants danced along, bathed in Emerald City green, a luminescent blend of fantasy and nature, affirming that such a balance is well, ideal.