gritting The Road Of Oxfordshire

With the snow that we had over night the County Council is not taking any chances with the temperature staying low over night, and the chances of snow high again, so the gritters were out this afternoon spreading the salt on the roads. This truck was seen here at the on the round-a-bout at the A34. Lets hope that we don't get a lot of snow like the rest of the country is experiencing and if we do that we have been prepared so we don't have the same problems.

Lost In The Centre Of Oxford

You often see people with maps out trying to find there location on maps all over Oxford. Sometimes if they are looking particularly lost I will offer assistance, and point them in the right direction, however this couple appeared to me to be capable of working out there location.

Christ Church Meadows

With a maximum temperature in Oxford today of -1℃ and a minimum of -8℃ I had to try and capture the coldness in todays photo. There was lots of Christmas activity in the city centre, however I think this photo taken while walking around Christ Church Meadows with my Brother-In-Law shows the nip in the air the best. No snow in Oxford just a covering of frost and the frozen water in the stream in the right hand corner. Still it was nice to get out and show him around Oxford.

Christmas LIghts Have Been Turned On

Last night the city centre was packed with people who had come into the city centre to be apart the city's celebrations and witness the Christmas lights being turned on by Kevin Whately, Colin Dexter and Laurence Fox. Broad Street was closed and an Christmas market moved in, the city's Christmas tree was lit up in front of Balliol College. Reading in the paper, the council estimate that about 20000 people turned out for the celebrations this year. You will see more photo of the lights later, cause the ones down the High Street are great.

The Pillowman New Theatre

Went along to see The Pillowman, directed by Charlie Parker at the New Theatre tonight, and I must say the whole production was a beauty. The cast did a fantastic job, the lighting and sound was just bang on, and the whole experience of being on the stage and close the actors was very new, well worth the ticket price. It is a short run, so do yourself a favour and go see it.

Students Demonstrate At Radcliffe Camera

Mounted Police stand by next to the Radcliffe Camera after students from both of Oxford University's took control of the historic building as a part of a national demonstration over the governments increase of tuition fees. Reports say that about 300 students stormed the building taking the police by surprise, however when I was in the area there were a large number of police around the building with what looked and sounded like a rave taking place inside the Radcliffe Camera. More photo's here.

Holloway Stores

Oxford Mail, the city's daily local newspaper is advertised on Holloway Stores. The spelling of the stores name is slightly different to the spelling of the road which the store is on, Hollow Way, which means, a sunken path or road. Both spelling are acceptable, but it is interesting that the store has a different spelling to the maps of the area. There is evidence that Hollow Way may have had Roman origins.

Cold Day On The River

I am not sure who I would like to be, the guys in the boat receiving the instructions or the one on the bike cycling along side giving the advice, either way it was cold for both today. The river was very busy with teams still learning the ropes of rowing. Not many leisure craft out on the water today, did not see one, only plenty of college boats out getting ready for the racing season.

Rainy Bear Lane Oxford

Rainy and cold that is all I am going to say about this photo taken this afternoon in Bear Lane from King Edward Street. Lots of students running about trying to get out of the rain and wind, and I don't blame them, it was very unwelcoming weather wise today.

Foggy And Cold In Oxford

Winter is here. Today we had a very thick fog over Oxford all day, and it was strange as it cleared and then kept coming back all day. The temperature was very cold this morning, just below zero which did not help the fog I am sure. I took this photo of this tree in the park with all the fog around at about 11am and the fog was still very thick.

Missing Items

Am I the only one to wonders, how when you see an odd article of clothing in the street? Like this morning I was walking along the Banbury Road and I spotted this single slipper/slip on shoe. I then started to think, where in the other part of this pair? Who's shoe is it? and the most pressing question, how did it get in the middle of the path? I would anyone like to have a guess at how this shoe ended up here?

Opps, Little Bit To Close

If you where stuck in traffic this afternoon around St Clements this may have been in the reason. I am not sure exactly how one of the cities new "Green" buses ended up on the footpath, clipping the side of Hamptons, but it did cause traffic to build up on all the road leading to St Clements.

Armistice Day Observed In Oxford

Armistice Day was Observed across Oxford today commemorating the end of World War I in 1918. It is nice to see the large city and county memorials around the country honouring the men who never returned with the names of local men, however I have started to notice other memorials around. List of names who worked for different organisations, member of sporting clubs, college students and staff, railway employee etc, and this one listing name of men from the Oxford Post Office who went off to war and never returned. It is comforting to know that these names are still displayed around for all to see and reflect when visiting these places.

Would be interested if you have seen a small memorial in your work place or other area.

New Bins In Oxford

These bins have been in place for about a week now, but have not been put into commission yet with the orange liners still over them this afternoon. I am not sure why they are not in use, maybe council are waiting for the Mayor to come down and "Officially" put them into use. These guys are in St Aldate's and I am hoping that they will be available to use shortly, will try and find out the cost of these new bins.

Call Of Duty Black Ops On Sale At 00:01

I am not a gamer, but I know a couple of my regular readers are, and I also know that they will be up in the early hours of the morning to be to be one of the first to get their hands on a couple of the latest action online game. For all those you have stayed up all night to get a copy, have you played it all night? I am not sure of the HMV is a good one or not? Enjoy.

Busy Park End Street By Night

Park End Street, is where most of the city's clubs and late night bars are, and on a Saturday Night this street can be very busy. You would think that with the nights getting cooler that the ladies would be dressing a little warmer, but no fashion is fashion and skirts must be short for this area of town!

Harcourt Arboretum

I know I know that the Harcourt Arboretum is just outside my guild for the photo's of this blog, but I am going to make an exception for this photo, as it is an extension of Oxford Universities Botanic Gardens just off the High Street.

Harcourt Arboretum is about 150 acres of former garden that was once part of Nuneham House, which has a connection to William Harcourt who passed his estate to the Archbishop Harcourt of York, in the 1800's.

This Arboretum is part of Oxford Universities Botanic Garden, and can be visited for free throughout the year, I have not been to the arboretum for a couple of years now, and I think I should spend an afternoon there shortly, this photo was taken as a quick stop while driving back to Oxford this morning.

Autumn Leaves And Thatch Roof

Windy today in Oxford, blowing all those Autumn leaves around, noticed this leaf in the fork of a tree while out walking around Oxford, and when I took the photo I noticed once I got home that there was a thatched roofed cottage in the back ground.

Cath Kidston Oxford, 6 Broad Street

We have a new retailer in Oxford, I think the store opened last week, but I have only just spotted it today, it is a large Cath Kidston store. I did not go in to have a look around today might go and have a look later in the week. Cath Kidston is a is designer, you may have seen her very popular shopping bags and kitchen apparel, and I am sure will be popular with the oversea's visitors to Oxford. It is just up from Boswell's on Broad Street, so it is in a very good location to get all those visitors to Oxford.

View From Krispy Kreme

If you are in Oxford city centre and need a space that is not as busy as most of the coffee shops are in Cornmarket and High Street, I would head over to the Oxford Castle and find the Krispy Kreme shop. They have great doughnuts, never tried the coffee but I am sure it would be fine, but the best of all, they have a large upstairs area that is always empty, and you also get a view of Nuffield College.