Blogs from Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 4

Listened in on a few more talks this morning before getting out of town to clear my mind. Headed a couple of hours North to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's home. What to say about this place? It is a place that feeds off the tourist dollar, sucking tourists dry. And the trouble with this is that I'm not sure if Stratford is actually historic or not. It's a place custom-made to please the unknowing, docile tourist. But is there any actual history to all those nice, rebuilt Medieval facades? I don't know. But Shakespeare was born here, and I walked through what I guess was his house. Whether or not he would recognize it is up for debate. The great sight in town, in my opinion, mainly because you just can't really alter it, is Shakespeare's grave in ... read more

It's a small world, after all .... It's a small world, after all..... It's a small, small world! Well, if you believe the disney song .... but, it's all a matter of perspective. Sometimes it's too big and other times tiny and insignifcant, and then there are times that you cross time zones in a couple of weeks and feels like something in between. The reverse culture shock, after arriving in London made me laugh. All of a sudden seeing all of these "foreigners" in one space in all their different shapes and sizes. But, within an hour of arriving, familarity kicked in, and after an evening of spritzers with sally jones, by the time I arrived in Oxford, I was struggling to remember that I actually live in Malaysia. It took me an evening, and ... read more

Day 8 – Oxford Our month long road trip began today. Yippee! We headed back to Heathrow to collect our hire car. A very nice one too. So modern that mum and I sat in the car for 5 mins before we could work out how to turn the park brake off so we could actually move forward. Hehe! I’ve been doing all the driving so far but with the in-built sat nav I’ve not had a problem finding my way. There are a few strange road rules but I think I got away with it. I’m dreading finding a ‘magic roundabout’ though. Seriously… google a picture of one. The conversation in the car is interesting. This is what mum might say within a 1 minute period ‘30, it’s 30, camera, camera coming up, ... read more

They say that heaven is an English day in springtime. If that's true, spring for us began on May 1st biking over the rolling Lanbourn downs, home to English horse lovers for thousands of years at least since prehistoric people carved horses into the chalk soil by removing the overlying soil. The oldest of the white clay white horses is so big that the best place to view it is from the air. As we cycle through the Vale of the White Horse on our way to Oxford we encounter riders, trainers and horses of varied hues and sizes. The skies are blue, the hills are gentle and our smiles are everpresent. As we roll into the city it doesn't take long before another version of heaven engulfs us. Oh to be student in this bastion ... read more

Oxford's boat race names (Torpids, Summer Eights / Bumps, Isis Skulls, Christ Church Regatta) still make me twitch, though I twitch nowhere near as much now as when I rowed and when I saw the race names on the calendar in the training room. The names still conjure up memories of English sport for the privileged; cricket, hunting, fly fishing and rugby union. Such sports need expanses of cared for English landcape in which to play - a stretch of river, a lake, a cared for pitch, an expansive Downton Abbey estate. The need for a groundsman and / or someone to look after the kit and tackle. Rowing, always visually beautiful in summer also has a winter beauty that is rather sadistic. It's cold and wet season loveliness is in the knowing that "this will ... read more