Search: Jude the Obscure, and the weird, beautiful graveyard in Jericho.
― Chris, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Destroy: the Zodiac starting and ending all its gigs ridiculously early (some people on the Clinic list were going to come across to see them on Thurs but they probably won't because of that). The way everybody in the music scene just sneers at you if you're plump and big-haired and they think you're not indie enough even if they like Oasis, Placebo and Menswear and think Massive Attack are the future of dance music, but then that's what scenes are all about, I guess, plus this is more a reason to hate myself than anyone else. Groups of French schoolkids taking up the entire pavement and wearing fluorescent anoraks and rucksacks. The university computing course, heh. Prices, especially of accommodation and booze. And really I think all of George St except possibly the Grapes can go now Chalky's and Haagen-Dazs have gone. But mainly the way I don't live near enough any more (see wished destruction of accommodation prices and moans elsewhere about unemployment) and there's no bloody public transport. Grr!
― Rebecca, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― gareth, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― jellybean, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Chris - you say destroy the students and the tourists, fine, but surely we should also destroy all the annoying townies?
I like the funfair.
― DV, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Were they really in the old First Division 15 years ago? Good grief.
― Robin Carmody, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
The STUDENTS, on the other hand...
― Chris, Sunday, 3 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
"Zoe Samuel, an undergraduate at New College Oxford, wrote to our letters page recently arguing that student poverty has been 'exaggerated' because students waste vast amounts of money on cigarettes and alcohol. But how much does the Hon Zoe Samuel - as she is properly known - know about hardship? She is, after all, a daughter of Viscount Bearsted and [a] direct descendent of the founder of Shell Oil."
Throw a stick at Broad Street and you will hit a dozen arrogant sanctimonious fools such as the "Honourable" Zoe Samuel. At least they don't wear their hair in dreads and consider themselves "alternative" like the new tall elegant rich kids in Brighton.
― Chris Sallis, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Ciao.
― Citizen Sallys, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― electric sound of jim, Monday, 4 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― CarsmileSteve, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― That one guy that quit, Friday, 30 March 2007 15:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― That one guy that quit, Friday, 30 March 2007 15:06 (seventeen years ago) link
What should I do in Oxford/Oxfordshire today?
There are probably only so many times I can walk around Otmoor.
― djh, Sunday, 15 January 2012 10:45 (twelve years ago) link
Wittenham Clumps is good for a walk:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittenham_Clumps
― good luck in your pyramid (Neil S), Sunday, 15 January 2012 12:02 (twelve years ago) link
Megalith Hunting at Wayland's Smithy!
(turn right at the White 'oSs)
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Sunday, 15 January 2012 12:13 (twelve years ago) link
There was talk recently of doing another rolling psychogeographical ramble on the Upper Thames. Do any of that lot still post/read ILX any more? Mark H, are you around? I can't remember what Johnney B calls himself these days. Dutch Rhubarb Wars? Anyone?
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Sunday, 15 January 2012 12:26 (twelve years ago) link
*I* can't remember what Johnney B calls himself these days and he's told me twice in the pub already. Any more times and he'll think I don't listen to him or something.
I've been meaning to sort out a walk from Abingdon south towards Dorchester for some time now (Wallingford might be too much of a trek, I'm not sure). Mrs Genie would be up for this too, I'm sure. This would involve getting the Oxford Tube or train to Oxford then a bus to Abingdon first but these are super mega quick, at least at weekends.
― Grandpont Genie, Monday, 16 January 2012 11:54 (twelve years ago) link
How far is Dorchester from Abingdon? How far is Wallingford? (I've looked on googlemaps but it's hard to tell) I don't think I've walked any of that bit of the river. That seems like it's a hop to Wittenham Clumps from Dorchester, though, which would be good.
Could you meet us at Oxford because you know what I'm like with local busses? Do you have a good map? (Trying to do walks without Ed and his million maps has been, um, problematic.)
Maybe I should just email people who don't post to ILX any more but ugh, herding cats. Really want to do this, though, it's been far too long.
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Monday, 16 January 2012 12:21 (twelve years ago) link
National Trail's a good website for this sorta thing:
<a href="http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/thamespath/downloads.asp?PageId=70">National Trail</a>
so 13.5 miles from Abingdon to Wallingford but with Dorchester a useful stopping off point for Wittenham Clumps.
I'll have to check to see if my Ordnance Survey map covers that area. Actually *finding* the OS map may be a bit of a problem since we moved house.
I also have something which is like an A-Z of all Oxfordshire, which is useful but somewhat frustrating, as there are pages which have VIRTUALLY NOTHING ON THEM.
E-mailing always good, belt and braces approach. Or e-mailing, ILXing and tweeting, belt, braces and piece of string approach.
― Grandpont Genie, Monday, 16 January 2012 14:11 (twelve years ago) link
oops, where did that semi-colon come from??? whatever....
― Grandpont Genie, Monday, 16 January 2012 14:12 (twelve years ago) link
Blimey, 13 miles might be a bit ambitious. Now I see why you wanted to make Dorchester the destination.
Is there a bus back from Dorchester? And more importantly, is there a pub? I suppose we can just cart a bottle of brandy up the hill and drink on the Clumps.
I don't actually know that I have anyone's current email address any more. Perhaps if we just shout "ASTON TIRROLD!!!" 3 times aloud Johnney B will reappear.
(Or perhaps we should start a new "Rolling Psychogeographical Walking" thread for ppl who don't care if Oxford is classic or dud.)
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Monday, 16 January 2012 14:22 (twelve years ago) link
(revived for the weekend)
― djh, Friday, 20 January 2012 18:36 (twelve years ago) link
Any one recommend any walks within an hour's travel of Oxford/Kidlington?
― djh, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 23:45 (eleven years ago) link
was peppers burgers once an entirely different phenomenon or what
― Yorkshire lass born and bred, that's me, said Katriona's hologram. (thomp), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 23:53 (eleven years ago) link
It's changed hands at least once since this thread started. I went a few years ago when it had just reopened with new management (there was a tick-with-biro poll on the wall about whether to keep selling burgers or to do kebabs instead) and it was distinctly lacklustre so I've never been back, but I think it's changed hands again since.
I'm going to guess it's not what it was, but what it was was from a different time before meatwagons and the rehabilitation of the burger anyway.
Someone told me the new Byron's burger place on George St was good but I haven't got round to it yet and am additionally suspicious because a) it's on George St and b) there's a p. huge student discount, but I'm not a student
(looks upthread, winces, scrolls back down, never speaks of it again)
― a panda, MalmΓΆ (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 14 November 2012 10:39 (eleven years ago) link
You can get a fair distance in an hour! But how about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittenham_Clumpshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffington_White_Horsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernwood_Forest
(Just places I used to as a kid, too young and too long ago to remember details of actual walks)
― Dog the Puffin Hunter (ledge), Wednesday, 14 November 2012 10:54 (eleven years ago) link
places I used to go. Or get taken to, rather.
Thanks Dog the Puffin Hunter.
I ended up on a circular walk from Icomb (which I suspect is just in Gloucestershire rather than Oxfordshire).
Bernwood Forest looks intriguing.
― djh, Wednesday, 14 November 2012 20:09 (eleven years ago) link
Where should we go within 90 minutes of Oxford, in the next three days, that won't be flooded?
― djh, Saturday, 29 December 2012 18:47 (eleven years ago) link
Otmoor supposed to be good for starlings/murmuration at the moment - apparently from 1530 onwards.
― djh, Monday, 31 December 2012 17:10 (eleven years ago) link
Oh yeah, I definitely want to see that someday.
― ledge, Monday, 31 December 2012 17:42 (eleven years ago) link
They may have gone ... we saw an owl though.
― djh, Tuesday, 1 January 2013 17:18 (eleven years ago) link
The in-laws want to stay in a hotel for their anniversary treat.
Due to their not great health, it would be ideal if it was some where with downstairs rooms and within about 20 minutes of North Oxford (so we can take them out in the day).
Any suggestions?
― djh, Saturday, 9 March 2013 22:54 (eleven years ago) link
No mention in this thread of the Oxford comma?
― Aimless, Sunday, 10 March 2013 04:48 (eleven years ago) link
I always thought this hotel looked nice... http://www.bathplace.co.uk
At least from the outside anyhow - I've never actually been in. It's on a lovely street though.
Plus it has ground floor rooms and is in the right end of town for your requirements.
― Barnaby, Hardly, Sunday, 10 March 2013 10:14 (eleven years ago) link
Thanks Barnaby.
― djh, Monday, 11 March 2013 17:50 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i have a friend who puts her parents there, it's supposed to be really nice and cute
― caek, Monday, 11 March 2013 18:04 (eleven years ago) link
Or anywhere between, say, Summertown and Woodstock?
― djh, Thursday, 14 March 2013 20:47 (eleven years ago) link
Sorry in advance for repeatedly hijacking threads with holiday requests.
A slight change of plan to the above: we're looking for a weekend break for the in-laws. They are suggesting the Cotswolds. Due to their health, they'd need a downstairs room. In an ideal world, they would enjoy evening entertainment of the Sinatra-impersonator type but that isn't essential. Ideas on places to stay and place to visit (given mobility is an issue) would be appreciated.
― djh, Tuesday, 16 April 2013 20:02 (eleven years ago) link
Anyone?
― djh, Thursday, 18 April 2013 17:35 (eleven years ago) link
the cotswolds are a mystery
― jonathan livingston seapunk (c sharp major), Thursday, 18 April 2013 17:55 (eleven years ago) link
Anyone walked the Oxford Canal north of Banbury? Trying to work out where is manageable to walk to to fit with public transport.
― djh, Sunday, 2 February 2014 12:14 (ten years ago) link
I can't believe it's been two whole years since the last Oxford walk. We didn't even climb the lumps, we just shuffled quickly past them in the dusk on the way to find a bus.
― a small viking themed quasi illegal outdoor rave I was DJing (Branwell Bell), Sunday, 2 February 2014 16:03 (ten years ago) link
Any nice places to ear near The Ashmolean?
http://www.ashmolean.org/
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 9 May 2014 12:00 (ten years ago) link
xyzzzz__ if you like Italian why not try Strada in Little Clarendon Street? A short walk from the Ashmolean, up the other end of St. Giles. Was there a week ago for lunch, it was great:
<a href="http://www.strada.co.uk/italian-restaurant/oxford">http://www.strada.co.uk/italian-restaurant/oxford</a>
for traditional pub fare, there's always the Eagle and Child, in St Giles itself.
Are you going to the Cezanne exhibition?
― Grandpont Genie, Friday, 9 May 2014 13:05 (ten years ago) link
I used to work at the Eagle & Child.
― Angkor Waht (Neil S), Friday, 9 May 2014 13:06 (ten years ago) link
Hi Grandpoint - yes I am. Eagle & Child looks ok.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 9 May 2014 13:52 (ten years ago) link
I met Stevie Winwood and his wife in there once.
― Fizzles, Friday, 9 May 2014 13:59 (ten years ago) link
which I bet was nice :)
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 9 May 2014 14:07 (ten years ago) link
Repeated ahead of the bank holiday weekend:
"Where should we go within 90 minutes of Oxford, in the next three days, that won't be flooded?"
― djh, Wednesday, 20 May 2015 20:10 (nine years ago) link
The starlings are incredible at Otmoor, at the moment. I reckon you need to be by the hide/reed beds by 1500.
― djh, Saturday, 2 January 2016 20:21 (eight years ago) link
What would someone standing on the Water Eaton Park & Ride bridge, over the A34, be hoping to see? They were there, with binoculars, for at least four hours today.
― djh, Thursday, 25 February 2016 22:59 (eight years ago) link
weird wide loads being delivered to didcot?
― π ππ’π¨ (caek), Thursday, 25 February 2016 23:28 (eight years ago) link
Seems the most likely answer.
― djh, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:25 (eight years ago) link
Anyone care about the proposed erosion of Green Belt around Oxford?
― djh, Monday, 19 December 2016 21:08 (seven years ago) link
i am pretty much pro housing development all the time, anywhere anyone wants to. and the university has serious medium/long term problems if it's not allowed to develop out or up. but i haven't lived in oxford for years so would be interested to hear what's new.
― π ππ’π¨ (caek), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 00:14 (seven years ago) link
http://www.cpreoxon.org.uk/news/item/2581-consultation-on-cherwell-local-plan-part-1-have-your-say
― djh, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 07:45 (seven years ago) link
you don't think it's important to keep some green spaces in cities?
xp
― heaven parker (anagram), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 07:54 (seven years ago) link
There's always the traditional plan of just bunging another 20,000 houses in Bicester and hoping for the best, of course.
― carson dial, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 09:55 (seven years ago) link
imo you can't have a green belt the diameter of oxford's and such a low limit on building height without it become a sclerotic tourist trap where only students and the fabulously wealthy live. green belt or height limit: POO.
― π ππ’π¨ (caek), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 14:00 (seven years ago) link
the limitation on building height is a bit crazy -- the tallest building in Oxford is the spire of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin at 55 metres, completed 1641! Next up are the two residential tower blocks in Blackbird Leys, both at 48 metres, completed 1962. If it was OK to build tall buildings in the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, then why not today? It's a nonsense.
― Grandpont Genie, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 14:27 (seven years ago) link
- I imagine that within two decades Oxford will just meet Bicester except perhaps broken by the Oxford-Cambridge road link (I haven't been able to work out the imagined/proposed route for this).
― djh, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 20:35 (seven years ago) link
Bicester is currently nipping at Chesterton's ankles, so I can see that.
(on my annual visit home and seeing what's changed)
― carson dial, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 21:20 (seven years ago) link
Any suggestions for good things to do in Oxfordshire on ... well, tomorrow?
That's a vague question, I know.
― djh, Saturday, 3 February 2018 21:42 (six years ago) link
Or any weekend, for that matter?
― djh, Wednesday, 7 February 2018 19:24 (six years ago) link
I occasionally swim in the Thames in Oxford, at the midpoint(ish) between the Trout and the Perch pubs, from the opposite bank to Port Meadow. Are there nicer bits? I'm wondering if there's anywhere slightly north of the Trout??
― djh, Tuesday, 24 July 2018 22:46 (five years ago) link
No help here, though we did swim a very short walk north of the perch last summer. As children we used to swim virtually right in the middle of town, by the old railway bridge south of the ice rink - can't imagine anyone doing that now.
― home, home and deranged (ledge), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 08:32 (five years ago) link
i swam in the river at the bottom of port meadow on the way to the perch. also probably not a good idea in 2018.
― π ππ’π¨ (caek), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 15:36 (five years ago) link
Ta.
Why so, Caek?
― djh, Wednesday, 25 July 2018 16:45 (five years ago) link
river traffic is up i think and that's already a very slow bit of the thames, so i'm assuming there's more diesel in the water? but maybe its fine!
― π ππ’π¨ (caek), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 16:54 (five years ago) link
new westgate centre: classic or dud? i'm no lover of shopping centres - stratford westfield is my idea of hell on earth - but i don't hate the new westgate. maybe it's because i visited in summer and got to appreciate the light and the views over the town, maybe it was the appealing mystery of trying to figure out how it fitted into the old westgate (visiting for the first time from the south entrance, one level below the old westgate and through what was the no-mans land of the multi storey car park, was very confusing). or maybe it's just an improvement on the extension of the centre that has appeared remarkably consistently in recurring dreams of mine over many years, a long wide dark tunnel, largely empty and somewhat ominous, stretching out over the oxpens road.
― home, home and deranged (ledge), Thursday, 26 July 2018 09:54 (five years ago) link
Westgate: I sort of ... can't be bothered with it.
― djh, Sunday, 12 August 2018 15:29 (five years ago) link
well fair enough it is just a shopping centre. I'm probably a wee bit more interested because it's not so far from my parents/my old house & route into town, and it is at least an improvement on a car park.
― home, home and deranged (ledge), Sunday, 12 August 2018 15:54 (five years ago) link
I could see how it would be interesting in a "route into town" sort of way. It doesn't suit me as it has pulled stuff away from my route to/from work and, I suppose, the feel of it isn't very me.
― djh, Sunday, 12 August 2018 18:08 (five years ago) link
I have a table at the Oxford Guild of Printers Wayzgoose at the Headington campus of Oxford Brookes this coming Saturday, if any of you fancy coming to say hello:
https://www.wayzgoose.info/events/oxford-guild-of-printers-wayzgoose/
There will be quite a lot of very brilliant printed matter on display, also a table with me sitting behind it (I'm "The Half Pint Press").
― Tim, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 14:25 (four years ago) link
Couldn't decide on a better thread to ask this but any idea how long Covid-19 tests are taking in Oxfordshire, specifically the Oxford Parkway site?
― djh, Thursday, 1 October 2020 19:50 (three years ago) link
Gah! 5+ days, seemingly ...
― djh, Saturday, 3 October 2020 15:50 (three years ago) link
anyone here from oxford & environs, what do *you* call the M40 cutting on the way to london officially known as the "Aston Rowant Cutting, also known as the Stokenchurch Gap or Aston Hill cutting"?
― ledge, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 19:52 (two years ago) link
this: https://goo.gl/maps/9wAaamF8GKA23j456
― ledge, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 19:54 (two years ago) link
"The Cut" is what we called it (I'm originally from Bicester)
― carson dial, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 20:20 (two years ago) link
What I really want to know is, does anyone call it chicken shit canyon, or similar? Supposedly because they sprayed the sides with the stuff to help grass grow and stabilise it. Don't know where I picked up the name from, I remember a teacher calling it chicken muck pass, not sure if he was bowdlerising it for our benefit. This information isn't on Wikipedia, I feel it needs to be saved for posterity but there are only a handful of references on the web in a couple of random forums.
― ledge, Wednesday, 22 September 2021 20:40 (two years ago) link
morning bump for this crucial investigation.
― ledge, Thursday, 23 September 2021 07:58 (two years ago) link
Any recommendations for Oxford(shire) Brutalist/Modernist buildings?
I've had the slightly wine-fuelled idea that I should compile myself a tour.
― djh, Wednesday, 20 October 2021 20:16 (two years ago) link
St. Catherine's College, the Denys Wilkinson Building, the Garden building at St. Hildas, the Florey Building, the Margery Fry House for a start?
― carson dial, Wednesday, 20 October 2021 20:42 (two years ago) link
DWB is a banger
wolfson college too?
― π ππ’π¨ (caek), Wednesday, 20 October 2021 21:32 (two years ago) link
Maybe a little recent for you but the Bishop Edward King Chapel, Ripon College (in Cuddeston, just outside Oxford) is somewhere Iβd like to visit.
― Tim, Thursday, 21 October 2021 06:58 (two years ago) link
St Cross building?
― woof, Thursday, 21 October 2021 09:39 (two years ago) link
Wadham college library?
Not brutalist but tooling around in google maps I just noticed the Blavatnik School of Government building next to Freud on Walton St which is pretty neat and passed me by (unsurprisingly as I haven't lived in oxford for over twenty years).
― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Thursday, 21 October 2021 10:50 (two years ago) link
There was a time (when I first moved to Oxford) when I thought Frevd's was a place of wonder. And then it suddenly seemed to be a waste of an amazing space. Haven't been for years, so don't know how it is currently being used. I guess it is airy?
― djh, Thursday, 21 October 2021 19:03 (two years ago) link
I was never 'cool' or clued in enough to go there much at all, glad it's still there though.
― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Thursday, 21 October 2021 19:21 (two years ago) link
This looks good for mooching:
https://bluecrowmedia.com/products/modern-oxford-map
― djh, Saturday, 17 February 2024 10:50 (four months ago) link
looks good, I bet there are some hidden gems. the monstrously mysterious denys wilkson building may have been a formative influence on my penchant for brutalism, along with the nazi fortifications in guernsey, where we often holidayed.I was disappointed to find out (online, not in person) that the nosebag had closed. is georgina's in the covered market still open? google says yes but no reference on the covered market website.
― organ doner (ledge), Saturday, 17 February 2024 12:10 (four months ago) link
Did my PhD in the DWB. sat at the top of the tower for the last year.
― π ππ’π¨ (caek), Saturday, 17 February 2024 13:31 (four months ago) link
was it a phd in opening a dark portal to the non euclidean realm of the elder gods?
― organ doner (ledge), Saturday, 17 February 2024 13:47 (four months ago) link
I was disappointed to find out (online, not in person) that the nosebag had closed. is georgina's in the covered market still open? google says yes but no reference on the covered market website.
Was never a fan of the Nosebag and didn't mourn its passing.
Georgina's is still there, although the character of the Covered Market is very different now, ledge. There are two pop-up pubs now, for example.
Oxford Cheese Company is my main reason to visit it these days.
It's great that the Grapes is back open on George Street, complete with 3D bunch of grapes sign. Too bad they've taken away the wooden divides, but they now have a turntable and a stack of records which you can leaf through and ask them to play.
― Grandpont Genie, Saturday, 17 February 2024 14:33 (four months ago) link
― π ππ’π¨ (caek), Saturday, 17 February 2024 14:45 (four months ago) link
x-post - the Covered Market is a curious thing. Like, there's a wine shop (an off-shoot of Eynsham Wine Cellars) and a pizza place side-by-side, with shared tables and a seeming agreement that you'd probably buy from both ... but it doesn't quite work with the utter grimness of the nearest toilets.
― djh, Sunday, 18 February 2024 21:59 (four months ago) link
Did anyone buy that Modern Oxford Map? Going to make it a mission to take one photo of everything on there.
― djh, Wednesday, 26 June 2024 19:47 (yesterday) link