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Published: October 9th 2007
Up about 30 minutes after the local free-range roosters started crowing. Turned out they rise a little late around here, as it was 9am. Actually we were initially quite awake at about 2pm when a load of boys camped next to us, came home from the pub, probably after watching the Rugby Union (which finished at around 4pm here).
Got away at 10.20am and being a Sunday, there wasn’t as much traffic as normal on the motorway. The AA notes recommended the 100 miles to Oxford was a 2 hour trip. It was spot on, and an almost flawless driving display. We knew the camp was adjacent to the park and ride on the south side of town. We drove down Abingdon Road looking for the sign, and when we got to the park and ride, figured that we were lost. We pulled in to the park and ride and looked at the camp site information I had downloaded off the internet. We sat there, and then saw a sign to our left pointing to the camp site. These camp sites all assume that the only people who want to know where they are, are people coming in to town,
and not those people who drive through !
We booked in and got the last spot. Then threw some sandwiches down our throats and we were getting off the bus in town at 1.30pm. We arrived on the South side of town and walked back down to Christ Church College, or as Thomas said, Harry Potters House. We got there at 2pm and the dining hall opens at 2.30pm so we had enough time to check out the cathedral and grounds before getting to the dining hall spot on 2.30pm. The aroma of lunch was still heavy in the air and the crowd was absolutely packed in. We were all ushered in an anti-clockwise fashion around the centre table. It is much like the view we got in the HP movies. The walls are covered with famous old boys that we have already met, like, the owners of Castle Howard, Scone Palace and the like.
From there, we headed up town to check out the numerous other colleges and old buildings and shops. The posh level was as high as we have seen all holiday. College students poncing around with their look-at-me latest fashions, or in one case,
wearing her college robe ! If all else fails, a college sports uniform always helps, as does a bike. There is definitely a meeting of the money and glamour genes here, a little like back home in down town Subiaco.
After a couple of coffees, we headed in to the nearby Ashmolean Museum, which is the oldest Museum in England. It has a great collection of art, porcelain, instruments, silverware and art from Greece, Egypt and China. Many of the exhibits were off limits due to refitting. Never mind, because I was keen for us to get on to the University Museum of Natural History. Once we got there, we only had 30 minutes to check out the dinosaur and other displays on the ground floor. The kids were blown away and Tanya wished we had not spent so much time at the café and Ashmolean, even though she was in no hurry at either of them. Apparently my fault for not telling her what was here, and because I figured the best way to go, was to work from South to North. Anyway, the kids cashed in at the shop and we walked back through town to one
of our bus stops.
Back at the camp site at 6pm and spag bog in house again. The kids favourite, and one of the easier meals to prepare in a camper.
Weather today was cloudy and cool with a max of 17. Mild tonight and sitting in the warm camper in T-shirts. Everyone counting down till Tuesday. Weather tomorrow is fine but a front is moving in and the forecast for London on Tuesday is showers so we may get wet on the way to the London Eye and when we go to pick up the last of our souvenirs.
Kids are sitting here writing in their journals and comparing the most number of Sting Nettle stings they have ever got at one time.
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