Ritual

I want to put it on record that I think Neville Longbottom will turn out to be the real hero of the Harry Potter books. But I probably won't get much time to read the last one tomorrow, because I might have to go and do some Latinate magic of my own. A certain fellow is stuck in Crete, and needs someone to stand in for him and say
Dignissima domina, domina procancellaria, et tota academia, presento vobis.... &c &c.
Gestures of doffing, finger-clutching, and hand-clasping, together with flamboyant yet shabby robes, complete the thing; I will not, however, have a wand. I dislike rituals intensely.

This is why, O Cambridge dweller, you should always have things definitely planned, preferably taking place far away, for every weekend; if you don't fill up your own time someone else will find something for you to do. Next Saturday I had made plans, and it's only because of that that I got out of giving a paper about something completely random at ten days' notice. This weekend I was not so wise.