Ballots, Bonfires and Battles

This past week has been momentous with the election of Obama as president.  I stayed up all night Tuesday to watch the returns.

Late that evening I made my way done this narrow alley, Frewin Court, off the Cornmarket Street.

And up to the Oxford Union Society.  They were hosting an all night election party.  CNN was being broadcast in the bar, but it was too crowded to find a place to sit, even  at 4:00 in the morning.

So, I made my way up to the McCormick Room where they were offering free food and drink. (I thought I might something to keep myself awake.) Besides, this was the only room where I could find an outlet for my laptop.  I spent the next several hours watching the New York Times map turn blue and listening to the commentary on WPR.  Most of the rest of the people in this room were students there for the all night party.

I ended the night in the library where the BBC was being broadcast on a large screen.  I joined a couple dozen other expats.  When Obama was announced the President-elect a cheer went up from the group.  We stayed for another hour to listen to the speeches.  I made my way to the bus stop to catch the 5:50, was home by 6:05 and promptly went to bed, sleeping until almost noon.

The next night the Brits were so gracious that they celebrated our election with bonfires,

Sparklers for the children,

And fireworks.

Actually, November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day, commemorating a foiled plot to blow up parliament five hundred years ago.

Sunday we observed the Day of Remembrance. In the US we call it Veterans Day.  They take it more seriously here, probably because both world wars were fought much closer to home and at least during WWI, they lost more men.  All over Great Britain, villages, towns and cities held parades and tributes to the fallen and those returned from war.  I did not attend any of the parades, but others did and have posted photos.

At eleven o'clock, the nation observed two minutes of silence.  The church leaders even arranged the church service so that we could join in this communal remembrance of soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom. A fitting ending for a week full of political and patriotic events.

Spider webs

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago and meant to put them up on Halloween.  Every autumn a common spider weaves webs all over.  These webs were all along the walk to the bus stop one morning.

Sidewalks, Pavements, Footpaths

I did not do anything touristy this week end.  I am saving my energy to stay up overnight on Tuesday to see the returns come in.  I did bring treats for the Friday afternoon tea at the office. In honor of Halloween, I told the story about the Golden Arm.  I am not a very good story teller, but my colleagues enjoyed the experience.

But I thought you would still like to see something of Oxford.  So I have developed a photo essay of sidewalks or pavements as they are called here. 

Another word that is used in Britain is footpath.  I have seen it on barricades telling pedestrians that the footpath is open during construction.  More often the word is used in a more technical manner, meaning a path from one place to another that is open to the public by virtue of it having been walked on by the public for a set period of time.  One of colleges closes for one day each year so that its grounds will not be deemed public footpaths.  The path which this sign indicates runs from near my house to Port Meadow, part of which is called Wolvercote Common.

The regular pavements that run along each side of a city street are usually quite narrow,

except when they are very wide like these that along the main shopping district.   As you can see, construction is is going on here.  Rather than a couple of guys with a truck of concrete, here the city employs at least half dozen men laying down a bed of sand, leveling it, and placing the paving stone evenly, cutting them to fit.  More labor intensive than in the US, but a beautiful result.

More often the pavements are an amalgam of overlapping asphalt.  When the neighborhood needs a new wire put in under the pavement, the workers cut a narrow trench down the middle, place the wire in and put more asphalt, resulting in something like this.

Walking through Magdalen College, where S. C. Lewis taught, is a memorable experience.  For one thing, the covered walkway was paved with stones that were not entirely even to begin with and have become more so over the years since they were put in in 1474.

Behind the Sheldonian in the center of Oxford, you can find this example of a cobblestone walk.  I found it incredibly difficult to walk on and this is a relatively even pathway.  If it were worn unevenly, it would have been worse.

Some of the pavements are even paved with wooden blocks.  This example can be walked on at Blenheim Palace.  I was intrigued to see the actual tree rings in the paving blocks.

All in all I have enjoyed walking the pavements of Oxford and environs.  Next week I will tell you about my experience of watching the president being elected.  I will be watching with other ex-pats and local Oxford students at the Oxford Union Society.

A retreat day and other travels

On Sunday I was invited to lunch by a couple from church.  They live in Wheatley.  After lunch, we went for a walk around the village.  One of the major points of interest is the one-man lock up.  This was used in the 17th century for those convicted of drunk and disorderly conduct. The unique building is located on the edge of a playground, an incentive to get the kids to behave.

The local post office won a prize as one of the best post offices in Britain a few years ago.

Tuesday morning I left home early, took the bus to the center of Oxford and transfered to another for a trip to Stanton St John to spend a day on retreat.  The bus ride was an experience in itself.  The driver knew all the regulars.  At one point we waited for nearly five minutes at a stop.  After a while, I saw an elderly woman slowly making her way down the street.  The driver knew the woman was making her way to the bus and was waiting for her.

The trip only took thirty minutes. I got off the bus and entered a small village in the English countryside.

I walked through the village and down the road tree-lined road to Stanton House. (My room is actually the one shown in the publicity photo.)  

I came around a bend in the driveway and saw the house.

I was shown to my room, named as you can see.  Just down the hall I had use of a well-appointed kitchenette with coffee, tea and snacks available. Each person was given a tray enabling them to make their own breakfast and take it to their room

After I had settled in, I took advantage of a walk around the property.

I went past a couple of horses in front of the house. When I went by the fence, they came over for the carrot I did not have.

On the side of the pasture, water flowed from the rocks

The floor of the forest held other treasures, like these toadstools.

The artesian well water is directed through a series of ponds. Sitting under the willow trees, I relaxed to the sounds of running water, cackling ducks and squawking geese.

Returning to the house, I shared a very good dinner in the company of the other guests.  After dinner three of us spent some time discussing contemporary Christianity in Britain.  Interesting.

Early the next morning I left the grounds and walked past the Honeysuckle Cottage, a quaint abode with window boxes and thatched roof, and made my way to the bus stop and a trip back to Oxford in time for another day of work.

Salisbury Cathedral

We arrived in Salisbury on a beautiful sunny autumn day.

Inside I marveled at the columns, high windows and the magnificent vaulted ceilings.

The tour included the old as of pennants that were in tatters.  The tour guide indicated that the really old ones were captured from the White House during the War of 1812.  

and the new of the a baptismal font that was dedicated two weeks ago.

The old:  Bishop's seat 

And the new:  This is the east window, Prisoners of Conscience, that was installed in 1980.

I also went to the Chapter House.  I could not take photos there, but I enjoyed seeing one of the original copies of the Magna Carta.

After the tour of the cathedral, I sat on the Close for a while.  This view shows the restoration that is taking place.  On the other side of the building the park area was well used by families enjoying the sun and the grass.

I started to town for coffee and on my way out of the Close, I saw this sundial on the side of a building.  The quote at the top is "Life is but a walking shadow"  The dial also give the day of the year in the horizontal lines.

Once I got to town, I saw this butcher shop.  During the few minutes I sat there, the window was often obscured by waves people looking at what they could buy.  The building is obviously at least Victorian.

I then went to the Salisbury Museum that had a wonderful collection of costumes through the centuries which included stumpwork embroidery.  I did not take photos of the clothing because the flash would not have been beneficial to the preservation of the cloth.  I did take this photo of the interactive corner where children could dress up.  The museum had several other interactive centers for other exhibits.

I then returned to the cathedral and took a seat in on of the choir section (or quire as they spell it) for Evensong.  The wood on these seats is from the 1300s. The tags indicate the areas in Britain that support the cathedral. The carvings over the seats are the bishops who have served through the centuries.

On my way out, I took this photo the cathedral lit for the night.  The building, inside and out has been well photographed. If you would like to see other images you can go here or here or here.

An Eventful Weekend

This weekend ended up being full of quite different activities.  Saturday morning I took the inter-city bus to Woodstock to hear P.D. James and Kate Summerscale discuss the genre of true crime and mystery novels.  I thoroughly enjoyed and even had P.D. James answer one of my questions.  She claims that her characters do not surprise her, but that by the end of writing a book, they are more fleshed out than when she of them in her original plan.  

She autographed a copy of her most recent book for me and I told her that the videos of her books had helped me recuperate from major surgery. (I watched six of Dalgliesh videos in one week, several of them six hours long, when I was recovering from knee surgery.)

The discussion took place at St Mary Magdalene, the Episcopal church in Woodstock. When I first entered the church, I was overwhelmed by the spectacle of the hundreds of hand-stitched kneelers in a myriad of colors and designs.  It took my breath away.

Many of the kneelers have Christian messages.  Some of them represent the beauty of nature, birds and flowers and so forth.

And some of them commemorate particular people such as the Duke of Marlborough.  St. Mary Magdalene parish includes his family home, Blenheim Palace, so this is his church home.

At the end of the discussion, I  wandered around outside.  Someone pointed me to the Norman door.  

I went to an antique show and bought Farmer Giles of Ham, a book by J.R.R. Tolkein.  Then it was time for the bus back to Oxford.

After feeding the dog, I made my way down the road to the community orchard for the Wolvercote Apple Festival.  At one of the booths, sponsored by the Nature Society,  I discovered that standard acorns in England are more oblong than the ones in the US.  I also drank some fresh pressed cider, or apple juice as the Brits would say. (Cider in Briton is an alcoholic beverage.)  The Victorian variety was thin and slightly sour.  The other one I tasted, from an apple variety I have forgotten, was much fuller and sweeter and had a slight pear taste.

This one of the trees in the orchard full of fruit.  I found the Falstaff variety to be sweet with a very tough skin.

Saturday evening, I read several chapters of The Private Patient, by P. D. James book.

On Sunday, after church, I took the London Tube, a bus line to London, to its first stop, Lewknor.  St Margaret's Church was hosting a green festival and dog show.  I bought my weekly supply of vegetables and cheeses, sampled a bit of expertly prepared venison, dined on an organic burger and home-made dessert, and finished it all off with a glass of very good local wine.

Outside, the dogs were patiently waiting for the show to begin.

Soon they were put through their paces. They and their young owners all received ribbons.

After the show, I walked back to the highway to catch the bus to Oxford where I  had chicken mai fun at the Noodle Bar and went to the evening service at church.