Happy 600th Birthday

19 May

Next month I will be going to a university reunion in St Andrews, so I’m in a bit of a state of nervous anticipation. It will probably be great fun but will certainly be a bit strange. I’m hoping that there are plenty of people I know, and worried that there won’t be, but the likelihood is that there will since you have literally scores of friends when you’re at uni.

I won’t tell you how many years it is since I graduated because it makes me feel old (I can still pass for 25 if you squint), but the University of St Andrews itself is 600 years old! Or 601, 0r 602, or 603, depending on how you count it. Things were a bit complicated at that point in the middle ages. Anyway, it’s been celebrating its 600th birthday over the last couple of years, and the culmination is this year, coinciding with my reunion and making me feel comparatively young.

One of the wonderful things about St Andrews, though (and I could write you a very long list) is that nothing really seems to change. A few months ago I saw a video by the St Andrews Christian Union and it looked so like the time that I was there, and all the people looked so similar, that I found myself expecting someone I knew to wander into shot. Then this week I discovered The Other Guys, a male voice choir, and their mash-up St Andrews Girls (based largely on California Girls by Katy Perry). There was one piece of slang that wasn’t around when I was there (“schweffing”), they seem to drink gin and juice rather than G&T (unless gin and juice just scanned better) and obviously the names of the bars have changed, but otherwise everything was exactly the same. Of course, the normal laws of physics don’t apply in the Bubble, so I shouldn’t really be surprised.

Anyway, I would invite you to have a look at St Andrews Girls by the Other Guys because

1) you can download it to support breast cancer charities

2) it’s hilarious if you know anything about St A’s – and pretty funny even if you don’t

3) these boys can really sing. Really. Some of them could, and should, go professional. You saw them here (or rather, on YouTube) first.

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2 Responses to “Happy 600th Birthday”

  1. Dulcie August 13, 2014 at 6:43 pm #

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