Woodstock Road Car Wash

This place is always very busy even in the rain, Hand Car Wash behind the now closed Woodstock Arms Pub. Long operating hours for the staff, 8.30am to 8pm 7 days a week!! Not sure of the prices but, I think I should have asked, might find out tomorrow.

Colourful Oxford

Thank you Tim for posting great photo's while my MacBook was away having a little speed bump. I will have to catch up with you and buy you a beer, maybe at The Turf, as your photo was great!!

Noticed a few colourful visitors to Oxford today, maybe they are off to a few of the events of the Oxfringe Festival, I have seen a few at the OFS last week, great events. Going to the Comedy Night at Dukes Cut on Wednesday Night, should be a laugh.

Shying away from the tourists

The weather is getting better and the number of tourists in the city increases every day. I try to avoid them whenever I can, because somehow they often annoy me. Maybe because they slow me down when I'm in a hurry or just because they are having a holiday while I'm not. So what I try to do is use some shortcuts between major streets in central Oxford. One of them is Queen's Lane, which has some great views, as you can see at the picture above. Not a lot of tourists know this, so you can enjoy this view while walking in this historic street without facing legions of tourists. Now, I must admit that at the north-western end the lane continues as New College Lane. And that's where you can find the Bridge of Sighs, one of Oxford's most popular tourist sites. So in the end you will have your daily portion of tourists....

Beer barrels at the Turf Tavern

I need to drink beer

As I'm doing my taxes...

Can I deduct that?

If you take a look at this picture you would probably think that a lot of people are preparing to do their taxes already. I came across this Haiku last night at the Beer Haiku Daily. It was the first time I read a couple of these Japanese poems and some of them actually made me smile. There are even Haiku's with some good advice:

A bit of advice

If you want to drink all day

You must start early

Another rainy day in Oxford

Surprise, surprise! We've had another rainy day in Oxford today. The city was grey, dank and gloomy. So I decided I wanted to cheer you up a little bit with this lovely picture I took yesterday when Spring was asserted itself. So for those of you who have had enough of the Winter, Spring is on its way!

Logic Lane covered bridge

A couple of weeks ago Percy blogged about the Bridge of Sighs, probably one of Oxford's most iconic sites and most likely Oxford's most famous covered bridge. Less famous and certainly less photographed is the small covered bridge at the High Street end of Logic Lane. I like the idea of a covered bridge, sneaking from one building to another without anyone outside seeing you. This particular one has a very big advantage compared to the far more popular Bridge of Sighs: you won't find legions of tourists queuing to take a picture.

What an inspiring place to play rugby

Yesterday's comments showed the right answer, he is indeed standing at the roof of Blackwell's Art and Post Shop, which is situated at the corner of Broad street and Turl street. Next time I will come up with a more challenging question! I wasn't able to make a picture today because I'm moving home so I've used an old picture I took last November. Tonight the final match of this year's Six Nations Championship (rugby) will be played in Paris, where the French will try to beat England to complete their Grand Slam (win the competition by beating all other teams). This picture was taken at the meadow behind Merton College and this must be a great and inspiring place to play rugby as an Oxford student. I'm sure some of them will watch tonight's game hoping they will ever play in the Six Nations Championship for their country.

What's he doing on the roof?

I'm going to keep my post very short for today. This picture was taken today in Oxford and I wonder how many people have any idea where this is? Good luck, leave your answer in the comments and I will post the correct answer tomorrow.

Late blooming daffodils on an out of time place

One of Oxford's most out of time places is the cemetery of St Mary Magdalen's Church at Magdalen Street. The cemetery is situated in the city centre and during the day lots of cars, buses, bicyclists and pedestrians pass by. It's as if time stood still within the fences of this graveyard. The atmosphere gets even more serene when the night falls. I took this picture around 9.30 pm tonight just when it started to rain, so by the time I got home I was soaking wet. By the way, as you can see in the front of the picture: Oxford has joined the nation's "disaster" of late blooming daffodils. I found it rather funny to see how much attention the media in this country spend on that subject in the last couple of weeks.

A dog's footprint

I took this picture near Port Meadow and it reminded me of an article I read a couple of months ago in a magazine. According to New Zealand researchers, the ecological footprint of an average dog is almost twice as big as the eco footprint of a big SUV. I'm not a scientist so I can't judge whether this study is correct or not but it does sound pretty remarkable. Anyway, the bigger the dog (or SUV) the larger the eco footprint. Will we see a green eco trend in 2010, owning a chihuahua and driving a Toyota Prius? Who knows...

"Art" under a bridge

Clayton from Toronto left a comment asking whether I would post some photo's of the old bridges around Oxford. I guess that today's photo isn't exactly what he was expecting because this isn't really an old bridge (don't worry Clayton, I will devote a post to the old bridges soon). The photo doesn't even show the bridge itself, just what's beneath the bridge. In this case some graffiti under the railway bridge near Roger Dudman Way.

I don't know if the pigeons who like to sit on the steel beams appreciate this kind of street "art".

Whether you think this is art or not, is up to you...

Sweets at High Street

About two weeks ago I got an e-mail from Vanessa saying that the empty shops at High Street are gradually filling up. She picked Mr. Simms as a good example. Last week Percy rightfully wrote that you should avoid High Street by car because of the works. If you like sweets, or would like to be reminded of the good old days when you visited a sweet shop as a child, I suggest you pay a visit to Mr. Simms at High Street (opposite Merton Street). But do remember Percy's advise, don't travel by car. Otherwise your sweets might have a bittersweet aftertaste....

African Drummers In Bonn Square

Seen at Bonn Square, this troop of drummers/dancers from Africa. They where busking and attracting a large crowd with all there drumming and yelling, plus it was a nice day in Oxford so there was a lot of shoppers in town.

Australia V Ireland In South Parks AFL/GAA

Saw a hybrid game of Australia Rules Football and Gaelic Football played between students from Australia and Ireland in University Parks today. Apparently this match happens every year, with Australia defending there title, at the break Australia was behind, not sure of the final results, but I will post when I find out. Good to see this mixture of game being played in University Parks.

OU10 WKX

Been a little while, but I spotted my first 2010 numberplate today. I think everyone knows about my obsession with numberplates, this post is a regular when I spot my first new plate.

Christ Church College

This afternoon I had to call into Christ Church College for work just as the sun was starting to set in the quad, the light looked very good with the grey rain clouds in the back ground. It has been a while since I have been down St Aldate's and into Christ Church College, nice part of town.

NHS Cowley Road

This is a relatively new NHS centre on the Cowley Road, I am not exactly sure what services they provide at what looks like a Super Centre, but I am sure it is more than just a local doctors surgery. Well done to Josh who correctly recognised the top of Waterstone building on Cornmarket yesterday!

Clear Chilly Day In Oxford

I love a nice clear sky, this morning we had a very clear day in Oxford, which meant that the temperature was a little on the chilly side. I am not sure if I should tell you exactly where this was taken, maybe I should ask you all to guess? New poster up on South Parade you can have a look at it.

HIgh Street Works Continue....

Posted a couple of photo's a few months ago of the works on the High Street, well today they are still digging up the High Street as you can see from this photo, they are up around King Edward Street near Oddbins. The street is a real mess at the moment, it is not good for the traffic in the High Street, both the pedestrians and the buses, I would avoid at all cost until these works are completely finished.

Rowing excitement at 2010 Torpids

Today was the last day of the 2010 Torpids. It was the first time I saw a rowing race in Oxford so I didn't completely understand it, although I had read the rules for a so called "bumping race" on the Internet. The weather wasn't superb: a bit cloudy, quiet cold and windy at the riverbank but the excitement and atmosphere made you forget about that during some of the races. I wasn't able to watch it all day so I don't know who eventually became "head of the river" but what I do know is that I'm already looking forward to the Summer Eights races in May.

The Lamb, the Flag and the Passage...

One of my favourite pubs in Oxford is the Lamb & Flag at St. Giles. The pub is managed and owned by St. John's College, which is well-known as (one of) the wealthiest and biggest colleges in Oxford. Last night I heard a funny story about St. John's owning this pub and the fact that the college is so wealthy. Everytime St. John's pay their academic staff they will visit the pub and spend some of their salary on drinks or some food. Now I heard this happens so often with some staff members that a big part of their salary flows back to college immediately (it's like you give them something and take it back after a couple of pints). I can imagine that some staff members' partners don't like this very much. They might pay a visit to the pub to see if this story applies to their husband or wife. If so, staff members: you can run away via the back of the pub using the Lamb & Flag passage....

A little pillar box history

This may seem an ordinary pillar box to a lot of people, certainly to the one(s) who have put some graffiti on it, but it isn't. This is one of only eight Victorian wall post boxes in Oxford. As you can see the pillar box has an inscription VR. This stands for Victoria Regina, meaning that it was placed during the period when Queen Victoria reigned the United Kingdom (1837 until 1901). This particular pillar box was first listed 121 years ago, in 1889. For the people who want to make a good impression on others by knowing pillarbox history facts here is a list of inscriptions and their meanings:

E VII R = placed during Edward VII (1901-1910)

GR = placed during George V (1910-1936)

G VI R = George VI (1936)

E II R = placed during Elizabeth II (1936-onwards)

Almost beaten by a squirrel

I was hoping the weather would be as nice as yesterday because I wanted to go to University Parks today but unfortunately it wasn't. It didn't prevented me from going and I have to say that I don't regret my choice. I couldn't choose what picture to post so I made another compilation with things that I found interesting. You can cleary see that Spring is coming in University Parks because of the snowdrops and the fact that the University Parks staff are working hard to prepare the Parks for the new season. At the rear of the Park you can see that the river Cherwell has a very high water level at this moment. I haven't seen it this high since I live in Oxford. The little fellow at the left corner on my picture almost drove me nuts today. It took me about 10 minutes to make a picture of him. When I was standing left from the tree he moved to the right, and when I moved to the right he moved to the left side! We kept on playing this game for a couple of minutes and I was thinking:"look at yourself, at 25 you're playing a game with a squirrel who is about to beat you". Luckily for me he had a weak moment, probably because he saw some nuts.....

Gloucester Green Wednesday Market

Good evening everybody, Percy has asked me to help him out this week and of course I said yes to his request. This evening I took a picture at Gloucester Green. As you can see everything is ready for Wednesday's food market. I always buy my fruits and vegetables at this market for the whole week. I'll probably be thinking tonight about what to eat this week so that I'll know what to buy tomorrow. The stalls will stay at the square for another day after tomorrow because there will be an antiques market on Thursday. As I will be posting a couple of times this week, is there anyone who has suggestions or requests for some of my next posts?

New Cornish Kitchen Open In Oxford

Well, just walking down Queen Street this afternoon and noticed a new store in the Clarendon Centre, Cornish Kitchen. They are selling Traditional Cornish Pasties, and I think they are going to do alright, great location with street front onto Queen Street, lets hope they do well. Haven't tried them yet, but I am sure I will soon, let me know what you think if you have?