Pubs and Clubs

I've never been a big fan of "The OC", unlike some of my friends. However, even I've heard this song... which is apparently the theme song or something. I knew the OC was popular... but I didn't realize how popular until I went to Park End at Oxford one night and... well...

Oxford clubs, at least the ones I frequented, were somewhat different from the ones I was used to. First of all, pretty much everyone who went was a student at the university. Second, the weekend started on Wednesday nights. I think I went out on more Wednesdays than Fridays... no idea why. Many of these clubs played, at least in one room, a kind of music referred to as "cheese": basically, a kind of 80's/90's pop mix that included lots of familiar songs that pretty much everyone knew the lyrics to. You could easily go most of the night without hearing one hiphop song. My friends and I had a great time (except for the price of drinks... the pound hurts as much as it sounds).

But one of the most amusing moments was this one night when they played this song from the OC... All the dancing slowed or stopped. And a club full of British students started drunkenly singing along. As the song reached the chorus, nearly everyone was belting out the words.... "Calilforniiiiiaaaaa.... CALIFORNIAAAAA....!" I mean, people sing along all the time... but never with such feeling and...well, feeling.

For a slightly homesick California native, it was quite the treat.