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Published: December 1st 2006
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T-Rex
Oh the lovely T-Rex! ....home of the English Dictionary
Well, at least one of them. Teehee. Okay, first of all, lets start with the apology. I'm sorry this has taken a month. I've had plenty of time and merely lacked the inclination. I hereby promise to be more diligent in future. Promise. I won't describe what we've been up to in Oxford in quite the excruciating detail you've become used to with this thing, but I'll still tell you a few stories.
First of all, Oxford. It's a beautiful town. It's old, it's so very old. Just a few facts - All Souls College was founded in 1428. That's almost 600 years ago. There is a tower on Cornmarket that is nearly 1000 years old. That's really old. It can be a little overwhelming, but it makes a city like this a real joy to just wander around. I think Jen and I have probably only just scratched the surface of Oxford's 38 colleges. One often finds them simply by accident, down little side streets and alleys. I really like it here. Don't know if I could live here, I have a few issues with Britain still, but I think I'm going
to enjoy being here for the next 12 months.
Our first week was taken up with mostly finding our feet and getting some much needed rest. We began the arduous task of finding our way around in a city where we intended to live and just seeing what was out there. We started the tedious task of visiting recruiters and really beginning to test how far a pound really goes. We're eating pretty good dinners for about £4, which is not too bad at all. We visited the Radcliffe Camera, which is a magnificent building. Sadly, like lots of the University's loveliest buildings, it's not open to tourists. They say "Reader's Only" to which I say "What am I? Chopped Liver?" Jen was in work within days, and so we held out for the weekend, when we crashed out for a bit and then wandered into Jericho and visited the Natural History Museum and the Pitt-Rivers Museum. The Natural History Museum here is magnificent - probably better than the one in London. It has a great collection of fossils and a whole tank full of Malaysian Hissing Cockroaches. Now that was pleasant, I can tell you. The Pitt-Rivers is
The Thames
or the Isis. Dunno why they insist? possibly the most eclectic collection I've ever seen. Reminiscent of the V&A, the P-R has an incredible collection of what can only be described as stuff - artifacts relating to magic in Britain, model ships, Hawaiian cloaks, firearms and shrunken heads. The shrunken heads (of men, monkeys and sloths - apparently a good substitute) were quite creepy.
Hmmm.....what else have we done? On a whim and a nice day, we wandered down to Sainsbury's and got some travel munchies and wandered up the Thames towards a little place called Wolvercote. On the way up we had the pleasure of admiring one of the oldest meadows in England - it has been grazed for over a thousand years! Amazing....we stopped to watch a couple of boats traverse the locks onto the river and admired the remnants of a ruined abbey. After crossing the river and walking through a town called Wolvercote (I will probably never mention it again) we came back down the Oxford canal. It's a beautiful walk through the northern 'burbs of Oxford, although there are some really really weird people living down there. Really weird. The kind of people that abuse council workers. Loudly. In front of
Christ Church College
Founded by Henry VIII y'know others.
We met up with Grace when she came up to visit a friend and had a very pleasant day a-wandering the city. I had my first real Cornish pasty and boy oh boy was it good. We visited the botanic gardens and also Exeter College. We weren't able to visit the Fellows Garden (by all accounts quite lovely) as people were filming a show called Inspector Lewis. The astute amongst you will have already realised that Inspector Lewis used to be Detective Sergeant Lewis, sidekick to John Thaw's Inspector Morse. We were able to see the truly beautiful Exeter College Chapel and it was stunning. Absolutely stunning. We spent the evening at the Ashmolean and it has a unique collection - some amazing Egyptian artifacts as well as some beautiful Greek and Roman statuary. I also had my first British ale. It was very very tasty. It helps that room temperature was still bleeding cold. I think I have gained a small insight into British beer now, and I shall try more soon enough. It makes a bit more sense now, being flat and warm. Surprised? I was.
I enjoyed my first Rememberance Day Sunday. It was
Oxford Graffiti
Only in a university town. And Jen and Grace and I! definitely an interesting experience. It wasn't as poignant as a Dawn Service and the parade was taken away from thanks to the sloppy drill of the Army. Navy and Air Force cadets. But, it is nice to know that military marches are the same the world over. Weyhey!
So now I am firmly ensconced in a job with a company called Powwow who sell and maintain watercoolers. It's not terribly exciting or interesting, but it's a useful step on the employment ladder I guess. It certainly beats working for Sainsburys, and believe me, I considered it! Jen is also working now. She suffered through a month of temping, doing all sorts of strange jobs and is now on a 6 month contract with the one-time home of Samuel Johnson - Pembroke College (coinkydink? I think not!) and enjoying working for the University. We have also moved into a house in a little town to the north of Oxford called Kidlington. It's about 10 minutes by bus and maybe 30 by bike (I bought a bike!). We're living with Michael and Laetitia, a French couple who are pretty much doing the same thing in the UK as we are. He's an engineer and she's a beautician and we're very similar. We all get on really well, which has made this very easy. The day we came up to see the flat we intended to stay for half an hour and left after 4. Good omens, I reckon.
So Ruth is coming up to Oxford this weekend and we're going to visit the Bodleian and probably Christs College and then we'll head down to London next weekend for a show and some shopping. Should be fun. I'll tell you all about it soon enough. Sorry I've been a bit slack with this, but we finally have broadband in the house so I promise I'll be better.
Talk soon,
Take care everyone,
Al
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Ruth
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The Bodleian rocks!!
Hey guys - thanks so much for Saturday I had such a great time. The Bodleian was AWESOME!!! I love Oxford - thanks for showing me and my family about a bit.