Lord Mayor's Parade

Today was the Lord Mayor's Parade in Oxford. The City Council announces this event as a day for residents and tourists to celebrate the history of Oxford. The Parade was led by John Goddard (left corner photo), the new Lord Mayor, and it ended at Bonn Square, which is just a two minute walk from where I live so I decided to see what this was all about. Quite often I like local traditions but to be honest this one didn't appeal to me very much. It was a bit of a mess, there was no atmosphere and the decorations at Bonn Square and Oxford Castle looked rather poor to me. I did like the idea of the Royal Airforce raising money on a day like this for cancer research and Help for Heroes but the parade itself just didn't have it for me. You would expect the city to do more to represent itself towards its residents and tourists, especially with the events taking place at the Oxford Castle/Bonn Square area, a part of the city centre which the City Council wants to transform into a modern, vibrant and stylish city quarter. Maybe it's something to think about today for the new Lord Mayor while he enjoys one of those cute cupcakes, which did look great!

P.s. for those of you who are interested, i've placed the Summer Eights 2010 photo's on Picasa, click on this link to see them.

St Edmund of Abingdon

I now live in Oxford for more than 6 months and I've seen most of the main attractions in the city. I'm not a big fan of places that attract a lot of tourists; now I've seen those places I start to look for little hidden gems in Oxford. Quiet places, sometimes right in the middle of the city centre near High Street which have that special atmosphere which I can barely show you via a photograph. One of those places is the churchyard of the Parish Church of St Peter-in-the-East. It forms part of one of the university colleges, St. Edmund Hall (their library is housed in the church). Today's photograph shows the seated statue of St. Edmund of Abingdon in the churchyard. You easily pass by this statue when you walk at Queen's Lane (at least I didn't noticed it the first couple of times) but it deserves much more than that: it's a beautiful statue in a special place.

How colourful can a boat be?

Percy is away for a few days so I will be posting again until he's back. Today (Saturday) was the last day of summer eights week. As a hobby photographer I quite enjoyed these four days. Especially the first three with lots of sun, exciting rowing races and interesting outfits from some of the eights. I don't know whether these suits made the boys from St. John's College row faster but they certainly attracted my attention on Wednesday. I must admit that it wasn't easy to choose what picture I would post from the hundreds I made at the river bank during this week. Why I picked this one, I don't know really. I could have pick the fastest boat, but I decide to go for the most colourful one I guess.

P.s. if you like to see some more pictures from summer eights week 2010, just let me know so I can publish some of them elsewhere on the internet.

Great View Of Oxford

This is a great get away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre, and it is only 3km from Carfax. You can see the city skyline in the back ground, on a warm summers afternoon like we are having today I would recommend to anyone wanting to get away from it all and have a nice lie in the grass with a great view of Oxford get up to Boars Hill. I was up this way looking at these cows, they look like they enjoy the views.

Cycling NOT Permitted, Pushing Only

Was down in University Parks this afternoon to watch Oxford v Middlesex's first day of cricket, not looking to promising for Oxford, Middlesex declared on 399. Anyway I noticed this sign on my way in to the Parks, a notice of temporary change to park rules. It states that there is going to be a trial change to the rules for bringing bikes into the park, which means that until the 30th of September you will be able to push your bikes around the grounds. I will let you know what happens after the trail, just as I was taking this photo about three people cycled past me..

Early Morning At Abingdon Road Allotments

After the great weekend weather wise it looks like that we are going to have a great week as well, was up and about early today, took this photo at about 5:30am while down the Abingdon Road. Not a sole at the allotments at this time of the morning, but I bet that it will not be to long before a few of the gardeners arrive to avoid working in the warmer parts of the day

Keith On The Road Cycling Around The World

How about this for an adventure, Keith Miller has given up his day job to take two to three years out and pursue his dream of cycling around the world. You have to admire this guy for taking this step, and I wish him all the success in what is going to be his greatest adventure for sure. I was in central Oxford the other day when Keith was having a few photo's taken for his great website, and took a couple myself. Have a look at his site from time to time, I think he was planning on leaving the UK today.

Last Night At The OFS

Tonight will be the last night that the Club at the Old Fire Station (OFS) will be in operation, the city council did not renew the lease with the current operators and the final night will be tonight. I am not sure how long this club has been on George Street, but there is always a queue to get in on Friday and Saturday nights when I walk past, so I can only imagine that tonight will be busy with people who have a connection with this club over the years. Have you been to the OFS?

Dark and Bright

Great colour today just outside of Oxford, the sun was shining on this field of rape seed, but in the back ground it was starting to look a bit grey. Stopped to take this photo as I think it looks great, with a little bit of green, and the smell was strong with all that rape seed.

Oxford United Winners Parade

Oxford United have moved up into the Football League with a win over York at Wembley on Sunday. To celebrate this win there was an open top bus parade for the players from the stadium through Cowley to Broad Street this afternoon. It was great to see so many people out to support the players and management, and join in the celebrations which I am sure the players have been enjoying since Sunday.

Fire At The Eagle And Child

If you where planning on visiting one of Oxford famous pubs this afternoon you may have been disappointed if The Eagle And Child was on your list. This afternoon an electrical fault at the back of the pub started a fire which has closed the pub and caused a bit of damage to the rear of this pub, not sure when the pub will reopen, lets hope it is soon as this is a must stop pub for Tolkien visitors to Oxford.

Oxford v York

If you are an Oxford United fan todays do or die match against York City to get back into the Football League has a lot riding on this final match of the season at the National Football stadium Wembley. Oxford last played at Wembley in 1986 so this will be there first appearance at the new Wembley Stadium, and there are record numbers of Oxford United fans travelling to Wembley to watch the game, however those not travelling will be watching at the city's pubs and bars, I think most will be showing the game. Come on Oxford, let's get back into the League.

Another Piano Loose On The Street

Remember in October last year I took a photo of an old piano rotting away, click here, well this morning I spotted this piano in the street. I am not sure what you would do with an old piano, just push it out on the street for the bin men to come along? This one looked better than the one before, maybe it just needed a bit of fresh air under the tree?

National Doughnut Week

This week is National Doughnut Week so with this in mind I wondered in the Oxford Castle site to visit my local doughnut store, Krispy Kreme. I was talking to the staff and they did not know about Doughnut Week, so I am not sure if Krispy Kreme are supporting this cause, hope they are, as they have the best doughnuts. I did not get the chocolate sprinkle one in this photo, I got my favourite, guess

Arts Week In Summertown

If you are hoping to visit the arts weeks exhibitions this is the flag you need to look out for. Most of the venues are the homes of the artists making arts week a unique opportunity to talk to the artist about there work. There are many artist all over Oxford participating in this great event, have a look at the Arts Week website for more information. This flag is out the front of Francesca Shakespeare from Oakthorpe Road.

Francesca Shakespeare

Busy Oxford Kebab Kid

Kebab Kid just off Gloucester Green is always open and more than not always busy. Not a big Kebab fan myself but found myself at this all night take away in the early hours and managed to be served very quickly with a nice Chicken Burger Chips, lucky I had a friend with me who paid for me as I did not have the funds to complete the transaction, very embarrassing.

Oxford Votes In The General Election

Polling Stations across Oxford where busy today as Oxford voted in both the General and Local elections, this station in New Inn Hall Street central Oxford was very busy when I went past. This election has been said to be the most important election in British History as there is now three party's running for power in Westminister with the Liberal Democrats becoming a more prominent force after the three TV debates.

Unidentified Bird

I am not that great when it comes to birds, so I am hoping that a visitor to the site will be able to tell me what this bird is called. I spotted it today in the Castle Mill Stream behind the Castle Complex, it can stand still for what seams like hours before moving or catching a fish. I think i saw it in the same location last year, not sure if it is migratory or not. Nice to see wild life so close to the city centre.

Back To Business After Bank Holiday

After a nice Bank Holiday weekend it was back to business as usual in Oxford High Street today with weather that we would have liked to have had over the weekend. Plenty of postcards out the front of the Newsagent today on the High Street for the tourist who are visiting.

Bank Holiday Monday Equals Rain

What a funny old day it has been today in Oxford, rain then sun then rain again. In away I wish it would just do one or the other and I don't mind which one so that I can then make plans. Plenty of visitors in Oxford today but with this unpredictable weather most of them will have there umbrellas out like this couple on the high street.

Might go and watch Neil Robertson V Graeme Dott at the world Snooker Championship down the pub, I am sure you know who I will be backing.