I went back to Oxford a week into September, and was very happy to be back. I spent September living in 2 Holywell Street. Anna and Susie came back shortly after I did and moved into Manor Place.
I enjoyed those weeks - I spent much of the days in the OUSU offices doing Freshers' Fair things and then had the evenings free to watch telly/otherwise relax, though I certainly remember spending a lot of time recruiting stewards for the fair by email in the evenings.
The amount of politicking that went on was amazing - it was common knowledge that Will was going to run for OUSU President, and that Nick (one of the Assistant Business Managers - responsible for getting advertising) was going to help him with this. It was really quite amusing. I did think about running myself - but decided against it because (a) I wasn't sure I'd get permission, (b) even if I did, my degree was rather important and I wouldn't have wanted to endanger it by not working that term, (c) OUSU sabs are paid very badly and are expected to work very hard - far in excess of their contractual hours, (d) I'd left it far too late - those that were running had planned their campaigns over the summer vac - I guess I could have done the planning a campaign thing, but what's rather important for OUSU elections is that one has several committed 'activists' to put posters in other colleges etc/hack people (eurgh - I don't particularly like that concept, it makes me cringe. I tend to think that if your policies are good and you've done your best to publicise your campaign with posters/by participating in hustings, then activists talking to people as they're trying to vote shouldn't be necessary. Your campaign ought to be able to stand on its own merits, not need people to persuade people on the point of voting that they should be voting for you).
One of the consequences to being in the offices so much over the summer vac is that you get drawn into doing things that aren't strictly Fair organising, but are necessary to the smooth running of the office. The day when I was left in the offices by myself - except for one of the Sabs doing casework, to deal with a delivery for the shop, the ringing telephones and the personal callers kind of stands out as explanation of why it's such a pressurised place to work.
Worthy of mention is obviously 11th September - Will, Eleanor, Colin and I were on our way back to OUSU after meeting with the gentleman in charge of the buildings in Schools (no that's not an oxymoron) when someone stopped us in the street and said 'a plane's crashed into the WTC' - this was at about 2pm.
We get back to the office and turn on the radio and listen - we hear that one tower's collapsed and then the other. The internet was being very slow/not really working at all, due to the huge loads on it, there wasn't a telly in the offices and I didn't have an accurate mental image of the WTC, so it wasn't until I saw the pictures later that evening that I really understood the enormity of what had happened.
As the month went on the days spent in the office chasing things up got longer and longer - it's always the way with something like FF. On Friday of -1st Week the tickets finally arrived at about 5.30pm and I began to sort them into envelopes for the different Colleges (there has to be a better system for entry than issuing tickets - I'd have thought just looking at people's Bod cards would be sufficient, and would have the added benefit of stopping second years getting in....but as is always the way, until you've done it once, you don't know these things). I was thinking that there was no way I'd ever manage to finish doing them that night - there must have been around 8 000 of them, and I had to count them by hand, since they'd not been sent to us in marked bundles.
I was in need of a break and checked the voicemail on my room phone - and discovered a message from Anna asking me to phone her. She sounded a bit upset, but I thought I knew why, so when I phoned Manor Place and spoke to Susie, I was stunned by what they told me. Joe's cancer was terminal, he had less than a month to live and the Warden had invited us round later that evening. This was all the more shocking because the last I'd heard from him was an email saying 'see you in 0th week'.
I was so shocked by what I was told that after that conversation I actually went back and carried on counting out tickets for fifteen minutes or so, before I did anything else. Then I told Colin, poor, poor Colin.
That weekend was very odd - thoughts about Joe consumed me from morning to night and didn't do my sleep much good either, but I was numb, everyone else was crying, but I couldn't.
The Monday morning was hard - I went to OUSU and people were expecting me to make decisions! I'll never forget how kind Antonia was that morning - she asked me something and I said 'I'm not thinking straight you're going to have to speak to Will.' and then she just listened to me for ten/fifteen minutes. I was grateful to everyone else - particularly Will for forcing me into doing things that morning. Being made to carry on with life immediately isn't best for everyone, but it worked for me.
The Tuesday was similar - I guess I was getting quite concerned that I was still so utterly numb, but I knew that it wouldn't last forever. We worked very hard that day, giving out stall holder passes and doing other bits and pieces. That day is noteworthy because of two emails I received, one from Mike. He'd been asked to steward the fair and sent a jokey response back. I let rip and that was the beginning of a great friendship. That evening Eleanor, Colin and I went for a drink at a local cocktail bar. I should have known better - I only had one, but that was enough. When I got back to my room I saw an email that caused me to burst into almost hysterical crying for hours.
On the Wednesday we went to Kent to visit Joe. That was a pleasant day and extremely good for me - he was content and didn't appear to be in too much pain. If you have to go, that's not a bad way to go - that was my lesson for the day.
Thursday and Friday I was running Freshers' Fair - err 'no, you may not give people stickers', 'no, you can't go in while you're eating', 'it's not my fault your phones don't work in Schools and you're going to have to wait till I have a steward free for someone to take you in'.
My ability to persuade people to steward for us was invaluable - we had plenty of people helping throughout both days. By the Friday evening when we all ended up at the Turf we were exhausted. I'd been half expecting an all night celebration type thing, but we disintegrated fairly quickly. I think the Thursday & Friday were the first nights I slept properly since learning about Joe because I was physically exhausted.
Then term began properly. I was doing Labour law and EC Social, Consumer and Environmental law that term - these were the first subjects I did that I had chosen, and for the first time in a while I actually enjoyed my work. I continued the mentoring I'd started the previous term.
Joe died on 18th October. The following Friday we went to Kent for his memorial service. It was moving and strangely carthiatic. The day before this service I saw this article and while I was rather irritated by it (owing to being quoted out of context/not being contacted before it was published), I was fairly unpeturbed by it, becuase Joe's death was a very levelling experience.
On Sunday 5th Week, my two college children - Jess and Tom stood for my job as Charities Rep - I still remember blushing with embarassment when Jim asked a question along the lines of 'Are you going to follow Karen's lead and actually do something with a committee post?'. That was also the night I practically singlehandedly abolished the post of Women's Officer. Even I couldn't believe it when the motion passed nem con. As helpless as I was when it came to Joe, I was immensley powerful within the JCR; I'd picked a motion that I knew people would be sympathetic towards and submitted it to the meeting at which our new women's officer would have been elected (so I wasn't removing someone competent from a job). I was angered by the OxStu's coverage mainly because no one had contacted me about it.
Kate ran the Merton ball in 7th Week. Anna and Susie both got involved with the ball committee and were very busy with it. I remember the night as a somewhat lonely experience - there were lots of people about I knew, but no one I was particularly close to, so I spent the time wandering from room to room seeing what was happening. It was surprisingly warm for a night in November - I made it through the night to the survivors' photo before wandering off to my room.