The last visit was with my second daughter just after my youngest daughter had started living in Oxford. I was anxious about her; What place did she live in? or Could she get along well?
I hardly had the background knowledge of Oxford, London, and the U.K. at that time. I had just thumbed through a few travel guidebooks during the outward flight. My youngest daughter who had just started her life in Oxford didn't have any room in her heart to welcome us or guide us around the city. There was no building named Oxford University and I noticed a few dozen colleges in the city. Because of that reason, I just visited some tourist spots in Oxford on the last visit.
While I had been seeking a useful guidebook for understanding the history of Oxford City and the education system of Oxford University, an ad in the newspaper caught my eye. The ad said that the memoir about life in the U.K. written by the present Ten-noh would be republished with a new book design 30 years after the original publication. Promptly I uttered "That's it!" and I ordered it from Amazon. I read the memoir repeatedly taking notes, writing in the margin what came up in my mind, and attaching postits. Lastly I compiled my destination list. The memoir was one of good reference materials, though the contents were basically of nearly 40 years ago.
(Vocabulary)
preliminary [background] knowledge 予備知識
outward flight 行きのフライト
because of that reason そのようなわけで
memoir [C](フォーマル) 思い出の記, 追想録 [＋memoir about]
publication [U] 出版, 刊行
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