Friday, August 2, 2013
Oxford
Tearing All Over Oxfordshire:
Today
was quite extraordinary indeed! For one thing, I have set an all-time walking
record having covered 12 miles in a single day! And I never expected my day
would shape the way it did but then that’s what being spontaneous and ‘in the
moment’ is all about, isn’t it?
So I awoke at 7.00 am, showered,
dressed and breakfasted at Sue’s generous table with muesli and yoghurt and
bread and marmalade and coffee and then blogged a bit. At 9. 40am, I began my
walk from Grandpont to Oxford City Center to meet Tony at Blackwell’s at 10.00
am. Being a retired don (a professor of Oxford), he has privileges that allow
him to take visitors into New College (where he taught Chemistry for 20 years) which
reputedly has one of the prettiest Oxford campuses and was the site of many of
the Harry Potter film locations.
A Tour of New College, Oxford, with
Tony:
Indeed, New College is marvelous and
historic and although all the Oxford Colleges are, this one is special because
it is constructed on the ancient walls of the City of Oxford which are
preserved and inspected each year by Oxford’s Lord Mayor to ensure that they are
in good repair! Indeed a scaffolding a ladder are installed with much pomp and
circumstance to enable him to climb to the top to make his pronouncement! This
custom derives from the purchase of land by the founder of the college Robert
Pope, who was informed by the City of Oxford that he could have the land to
found a college provided he maintained the walls “in perpetuity”. He agreed!
Hence, this unique custom.
Tony was a fantastic guide—indeed he
is an insider who took me through the chapel with its fabulous carved stone
figures on the reredos and its stained glass window designed by the 18th
century’s Joshua Reynolds. We were unable to see the Dining Hall which is under
renovation but we were able to access the gorgeous gardens with their perennial
flower beds that feature in many a movie. We also saw the huge mound that was
built after the moat was dug out for New College has an amazing sunken lawn. To
access the mound, there is a steep flight of stairs and up those we went. Yes,
we did see the famous quadrangle with its cloisters which is the scene of a
famous episode in the Harry Potter film that has to do with the breaking of a
wand. We walked through them and enjoyed the views from all the angles of the
university’s many towers and turrets and spires. It was fabulous and I felt
very privileged to enjoy this amazing tour and I was grateful to Tony for
making the time to guide me and provide so many entertaining tidbits.
Off on a Walking Tour of Oxford:
Tony said goodbye to me and I
sauntered off to see the Tourist Information Center when I discovered that free
two-hour tours of Oxford were being offered by young guides. I have taken these
tours in Berlin and Amsterdam and I can say that they are fascinating. How
could I forego the opportunity of taking one of them?
So off we went and, of course, there
were so many new things I discovered. For example:
1.
The exact spot at which the three martyrs, Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley were
burned at the stake for heresy by Bloody Mary was not where the Martyrs
Memorial currently stands but on Broad Street near the entrance to Balliol
College. It is marked by a few stones in a cross-like pattern.
2.
The five floors that comprise the tallest building in the quadrangle of the
Bodleian Library are in the following patterns: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic,
Corinthian and Composite.
3.
The Bridge of Sighs was built in Oxford simply because there happened to be one
in Cambridge and Oxford fancied it.
4.
All Souls College only admits people who are already specialists in their fields.
They must hold graduate degrees and come there to do research.
5.
Pubs in Oxford were divided among those frequented by Town Versus Gown. The
King’s Arms is a Gown Pub.
6.
Sir Christopher Wren, one of Britain’s greatest architects, invented the system
of Insurance after the Great Fire of London, before he rebuilt the city.
7.
It costs 9000 pounds for a year’s study at Oxford today.
And
so it went. I enjoyed the tour immensely and when it ended, poked my head into
Brasenose College where most of the early episodes of Morse were shot. Graduation celebrations were in progress, so I
made myself scarce having taken a few pictures. Indeed, I was fortunate to see
a typical Oxford scene with graduates in their black gowns and their mortar
board caps which allowed me to take a few interesting pictures.
I then popped into the Wheatsheaf
Passage to find out who had taken over the premises that belonged to the
hardware store called Gill & Co, which was had closed, four years ago,
after 500 years—and I discovered, to my horror, that a Nail Salon called Oxford
Nails had been installed there! Horrors!
A Bus Ride to Woodstock:
It wasn’t the last bus to Woodstock
(the name of the first Colin Dexter Inspector
Morse novel which became an episode of the same name) but it was an
afternoon one that was filled with young Asian students off to see Blenheim
Palace (which is in Woodstock). Since I had seen the palace twice before and
merely wanted to wander around Woodstock, Sue, my friend, had instructed me on
the existence of a small nondescript gate. This allowed access on to the
Blenheim Estate to the townspeople. It would allow me to walk on the grounds by
the lake without needing to pay the hefty entry fee for the palace
I bought a day pass (7.50 pounds) for
the bus and took the S3 Stagecoach Bus to Woodstock (it was headed to Chipping
Norton in the Cotswolds—which I felt strongly tempted to reach!). I was
informed by a resident on the bus that it was not a village but a town—indeed,
he said, it is the smallest Town in the United Kingdom by royal charter. He
told me the townspeople feel very offended if you call Woodstock a village.
Well, well, well. Live and learn, eh?
Wandering about the Blenheim
Estate:
I wandered around the town at will
and enjoyed its lovely shops, Council Hall, Parish Church and cobbled lanes
before I followed Sue’s instructions and found my way on to the Blenheim Estate
together with joggers, walkers, babies in strollers, dog walkers, etc. I was
already pretty beat by this time but pressed on in order to walk over John
Vanbrugh’s famous Bridge over the river Glyme that flows through the estate.
Soon the beautiful outline of the palace came into view as did a multitude of
sheep. It is very bucolic indeed just as its landscape designer Capability Brown
had intended it to be. I rested on a bench for a bit, did a few stretches and
after five minutes, continued on my walk to the bridge. I got into conversation
with a lovely lady who told me that she walked on the estate every single
day—all the way to the entrance of the Palace. Finally the tall monument came
into sight and a little later, I was on the Bridge taking a few pictures of the
gorgeous building behind me—the work of the great John Vanbrugh who also
designed Castle Howard in Yorkshire.
I did not linger longer than a
couple of hours (during most of which I walked) as I had a long way to go. You see, in the
morning, I had finally managed to make contact with Austin Fuller, the son of
my Hall Stewart Stan Fuller who had mentioned to me that my old friend, now 81,
was in a Care Home for the Aged in Witney. He was doing poorly and I felt that
having the opportunity to meet him, I should try to do so.
On a Mission of Mercy to Witney:
So, when I felt I had enough of
Blenheim and because the sun was much too oppressively hot anyway, I made my
way back to the town, found the bus stop and a bus that went directly from
Woodstock to Witney and with the instructions and directions given me by
Austin, off I went in search of Stan.
I hopped on a bus going from
Woodstock to Witney and, on making inquiries inside the bus, discovered that
there was a young chap who was headed exactly to Madeley Park on which estate
my friend Stan was resident in a home for the aged. I asked if I could follow
him there and he readily agreed. The bus ride took about 25 minutes and just before
we got to Witney Town Center, we hopped off.
Then began another long walk of 25
minutes to get to the Home. It was hot and there wasn’t a bit of shade. I felt
as if I was in the midst of nowhere and was grateful for the company of the
sweet guy whose name was Leigh. We kept up a cheerful conversation until we
reached the venue where my jumping over hoops seemed so worthwhile. All I have
to remember is the look on Stan’s face when he saw me because he had no inkling
that I would be arriving to see him. It was, therefore, a mission of mercy. I
was pleased to see that my friend was mobile, not in pain, still his smiling
self and although a bit forgetful, still very much in control of his faculties.
He is not happy about being in the place and preferred to be at home, but he
also told me that he had recently fallen from the bed at 2. 00 am and lay on
the ground for 2 hours in the middle of the night before help arrived. He had
to be hoisted from the ground in a mechanical hoist. Ever after that he has
slept in an armchair out of fear. Old age is no fun, for sure.
I stayed with Stan for almost an
hour, then started the long trek back to the Town Center for the bus. I got
lost and that added to my walk but at least I had a chance to see some of the
factories that produced the famous Witney woolen blankets of which Stan was so
proud. At that point (about 5. 30 pm), I realized that I hadn’t stopped for
lunch and that I was starving. Needing something mobile, I found a vast
shopping mall which contained a Marks and Spencer place from where I bought two
sets of sandwiches. I wolfed them down in the bus that came trundling by in
about 10 minutes and just before 7.00 pm, I was back in Oxford again after what
had been a truly tiring day.
Back on the Coach to London:
I
bid goodbye to my friends Sue and Tony in whose home I had been so comfortable.
Although they urged me to eat dinner before leaving, I did not want to reach London
too late—so I left at 7. 20, rode the Stagecoach bus to the Gloucester Green
bus station in Oxford, hopped on to the 8.00 pm X-90 coach to London and
arrived in Victoria at. 9. 45pm. I did not get a 44 bus to Battersea until 10.
10 but by 10. 30 pm, I was with my friend Roz who had cheese and leek quiche
and salad ready for me with a lovely cold lemonade Perrier.
Whew! I was knackered, let me tell
you, and ready to collapse. But at the end of the day, it was worth the time
and trouble I took to see an old friend who was extremely kind to me so many
years ago.
Until tomorrow, cheerio!
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