Calling (ex) Oxford people

[karohemd]

Can anyone explain what these people were thinking?

Update: Der Spiegel has the appropriate headline "Brücke der Idioten", i.e. "Bridge of Idiots". ;o)

Comments

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

"Jumping into such a shallow river, which is also full of rubbish, is madness."

Difficult to argue with that! I don't remember anyone doing this back in my day... for one thing, it always seemed to be cold and miserable on May morning, not like this year.

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

A few people did, I think, but not all that many...

[neilh.livejournal.com]

Its a tradition to pursuade new students that its traditional to jump into the river on may morning, then go and watch them hurt themselves....they also have angels in the tower singing a soundtrack for the whole thing.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Now that's just evil. ;o)

[mobbsy.livejournal.com]

I suspect, from what friends have said about Oxford May Day celebrations, that one or two small glasses of sherry may have been consumed beforehand.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

How much do you have to drink before your sense of self-preservation gives up? I can't.
The mind boggles...

[chrisvenus]

The thing to bear in mind is that from above you probably can't see that the river isn't very deep. Also that you can't see any junk on the bottom of the river. That and if the person in front jumped off and there isn't a hushed silence then they coudln't have died or been badly hurt, right?

They really need a better awareness campaign before may morning. If nothing else signs up as you get near to the bridge saying "Last year ten people jumped and sustained serious injuries. Do you want to be one of them this year?" or even just "The water is 3 feet deep. The bridge is 30 foot high. You do the maths."

Instead they just have local radio saying "Police are asking people not to jump off the bridge because its dangerous" and that is pretty much all the warnings people get. If you've not heard the horror stories then you don't actually have much reason to think its a bad idea.

Oh, and of course, several thousand people cheering you on... Peer pressure still works, however much you like to think it doesn't. :)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, ideally with photos and x-rays of open fractures etc. :o)

I'm probably immune to this, they would need to physically pick me up and throw me in. There've been things in the past I was ridiculed/shunned for, just because I was playing it safe. *shrugs* I'm still alive and well, so what?

[chrisvenus]

Well yeah, clearly not everybody would. I'd certainly not jump off without an official saying it was a good idea (fear of heights helps here). However, in 12,000 people finding a dozen who think it would be a laugh to jump doesn't sound that ridiculous.

[kyrthira.livejournal.com]

Eh. If the river actually had depth, I'd say they were thinking of having fun. When it's so shallow, though, I just have to say 'I do not believe they were.'

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Not only shallow but littered with all kinds of crap (bicycles, shopping carts etc.).
What gets me is that people kept jumping despite those who had jumped before injuring themselves. They must have been really drunk.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

The power of 'everybody else did it so I should do it too even if it kills me' is very strong in the majority of Oxbridge students. I didn't think it was that strong though.

[toxicpixie.livejournal.com]

I like to think of it as Darwinian evolution in action. Sadly, they'll probably graduate to become captains of industry, media manipulators or high ranking civil servants.

*sigh*

Nathan, the Toxic Pixie

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Or lazy layabout bums...

[toxicpixie.livejournal.com]

Same thing, isn't it?

Nathan, the Toxic Pixie

[deborah_c]

The Cherwell is on occasion very nearly deep enough to get away with jumping. On this occasion it was much less nearly so, apparently. It's been going on for many years; it certainly used to happen when I was in Oxford (at school) in the late 70s/early 80s.

As for "one or two sherries", back then May Morning wasn't a bank holiday, and watching my teachers trying to make it through the day with appalling hangovers was entertaining enough. Several of the pupils at my school ended up having their stomachs pumped on occasion... I imagine the students were probably more practiced, but just as drunk.

And for what it's worth, I knew quite a number of Magdalen choristers, and "angels" is not a word I'd have chosen to describe them, despite any passing appearances :-)

[vyvyan.livejournal.com]

I remember this tradition being reported (along with warnings) on Radio Oxford in the early 80s - like deborah_c, I went to school in Oxford (but had no wish to remain there for university!).

Trinity College in Cambridge had a similarly risky tradition up until quite recently, in which all the freshers would attempt to run round Great Court while the bell tolled for midnight, right after the Matriculation Dinner at which said freshers would have got very drunk, and while still wearing formal garb, trailing gowns and inappropriate footwear. Older students and fellows would cheer or jeer from upper windows around the court while this took place, and occasionally throw flour or water (just to make the cobbles an even safer surface to run on :-) I believe the Great Court Run has been banned now, at least in that form, following several injuries caused by falls/trampling underfoot.

Although it was a very silly and risky thing to do, I must admit that I took part in it when I was a fresher too...

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

That sounds far less dangerous than jumping from a high bridge into a very shallow river, though.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

That sums up one aspect of the difference between Cambridge and Oxford... that, and they pole from the safe end of the punt there, rather than the power end.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

How does that work? How do you steer when you're in the front?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

*grins*
No, I mean you have the punt pointing the opposite way.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Aha.
You learn something new every day, especially when you know lots of people from all over the place. :o)

[vyvyan.livejournal.com]

It's not usually quite that shallow, though. Since, AFAIR, there are warnings given about it even when the water is much deeper, it may be that the people who jumped didn't realise it was so much more dangerous this year. (I agree though, I don't know why they would carry on jumping even if they could see previous jumpers being carted off by medics!)