Life's about experiences. These are mine.
It’s that time of year again when places that would normally be off limits to the public throw their doors open and let us in. It’s time for the annual Heritage Open Days. In every other year that we have attended an event during the period, and we have been attending now for seven years, …
Continue reading “Oxford Open Doors, Heritage Open Days 2026”
As the weather is taking a break from being in the 30s, we decided to get in another leg of the Thames Path. Because of our desire to only use public transport wherever possible, we chose to only go as far as Eynsham today. This is because to get home (and therefore back to the …
Continue reading “Thames Path – Day Seventeen – Oxford to Eynsham”
Another leg of the Thames Path checked off ✓. This time an 8.5 mile quiet and rural stretch bookended by Abingdon town and the city of Oxford. Here One Minute, Gone the Next For the first time since we started walking the path, we were joined by some friends on this stretch. They kindly offered …
Continue reading “Thames Path – Day Sixteen – Abingdon to Oxford”
This is an awful thing to say, but Reading is really easy to get away from! It is incredibly well served with transport links to the M4 to the south and rail links which lead pretty much anywhere. One such destination is Oxford, which is only a cheap 20-minute train ride away. It is a …
Continue reading “Oxford – Radiohead, Le Carre and Treister”
Late last year we went to see War Horse at the theatre in Oxford and agreed that while it was beautifully staged and technically executed it was hardly an uplifting tale. We both came out feeling a little flat. That is not a description that could be applied after seeing Joseph. 50th Anniversary This was …
Continue reading “Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, New Theatre, Oxford”
For many years we have been coming to Oxford and wandered past the Bodleian Library, an not overly attractive building in my opinion, but had never been inside. I discovered that they ran guided tours around the library of 30, 60 and 90 minute durations and we had booked on the hour long tour. There’s …
Occasionally I book up for something simply because it looks interesting and it is easy to get to – probably the only two criteria for me for a visit. So it was that I found myself in Oxford, close and cheap to visit from Reading by train, to visit the “Labyrinth: Knossos Myth & Reality” …
Continue reading “Labyrinth: Knossos Myth & Reality, Ashmolean, Oxford”
We are lucky that Reading is so well served with transport links. It is particularly easy to get to today’s destination, Oxford, by train within 20 minutes. The train today was surprisingly busy and, unfortunately, I had got on the carriage with the bloke with the very loud voice. He was telling everyone, whether they …
Occasionally I do something that I do not think that I can convey the awesomeness of through my words alone. A trip to the Mini factory in Oxford is one such trip. Nevertheless I am going to give it a go. The tour is made up of small groups of no more than 15 people. …
Continue reading “No Ostriches were Harmed in the Making of this Mini”
30 years ago I went to what was then the Apollo theatre in Oxford to see Marillion. This was during the Fugazi tour when they were still in their ascendancy and Fish wasn’t writing songs like Lavender. I remember the beginning of the gig very clearly. The set had a raised stepped gantry in the …