Oxford Has Gone Halloween Crazy

Is it just me or has this whole Halloween thing gone global on a massive scale. I have never seen so much Halloween themed items in stores, business, and houses as I have this year. Everywhere I look it is Halloween. Is it getting bigger with each passing year?

Carfax Tower Closed

One of Oxford's most central tourist attractions has closed for renovations. Carfax Tower at the corner of Queen Street, Cornmarket, St Aldates and High Street, has a noticed on he door saying that the City Council have closed the 13th century tower to the public for renovations.

14th Oxford Beer Festival

This weekend at the Oxford Town Hall there will be 160 ales and ciders ready for you to taste, as the Oxford Beer Festival is on all weekend. As a part of the festival in Cornmaket this afternoon Hook Norton Brewery had there original horse and carriage which was delivering barrels of there ales to the festival.

Pension Rights For Gurkhas

Today in central Oxford there was a group of Gurkhas out in Queen Street asking the public to support them by signing a petition to send to the Prime Minister. Set up at both ends of Queen Street the group of about 10 Gurkhas had a lot of support from the busy shoppers in Oxford, in the time that I was in the street there was always someone signing.

Oxford Bus Users Forum Meets This Evening

This evening in the Oxford Town Hall members of the public are invited to have your questions answered by the people who run the buses. It will be an open forum to answer any and all concerns you have about the service you are receiving or not receiving starting at 6pm. Free transport to the forum would have been a nice way of getting the numbers up, just a suggestion.

Thorncliffe Road Closed For 4 Weeks

This morning Thorncliffe Road in Summertown was closed and will remain closed for four weeks while the road is resurfaced. There has been a sign warning this in place for about a month, so you had been warned, it must be a big job to close the whole road for a month. Parking is going to be a little harder in Summertown for the next month.

The Shadow Of Me

We had great light today in Oxford, so I decided while out for a nice walk in the sun to take a photo of myself. In the five years that I have been taking photo's for this blog, I don't think I have taken one with me in it, and posted it, so here it is. Percy with the Sun behind him.

Change At The Duke Of Monmouth

The Duke of Monmouth on the Abingdon Road is having some major work done on it at the moment. There is a large wire fence all the way around the building and a sign saying, Meet and Eat are looking to recruit staff with a contact number. Not sure how big this change is going to be? Will there be a name change to this old pub?

New Turl Street Kitchen

Noticed this trendy little cafe had just opened up this week at the Broad Street end of Turl Street, it is called the Turl Street Kitchen. It has already got a strong following and it has only been open a couple of weeks if that. Not been in yet, but could not resist snapping this photo with the sun streaming into one of the rooms and all the reflections. Will have to pop in and see what all the talk is about.

Classic Oxford Scene

Not sure why I took this today, I was just sitting in the sun enjoying a couple of minutes rest and started to play with the camera. Took a couple of close up shots of these rocks to experiment with the camera, when I liked a couple of them with the Bridge of Sighs in the back ground.

Carrot Cake At The Marker

Great little cafe in the Oxford Covered Markets with all the best cakes, would have fancied a nice bit of carrot cake, but could only stay long enough to get a photo from the window. I will be back!

Early Morning Rugby Breakfast

With the Rugby World Cup being played in New Zealand this year, most of the games have been played early in the UK. Across Oxford a few pubs and clubs have been opening early to get this trade. This morning I was at the Oxford University Club on Mansfield Road to watch the Australia V New Zealand game. Good crowd in attendance, with a nice breakfast being served.

Oxford Canal On Sunny October Day

Walking along the Oxford Canal on the way to the train station I just had to stop and try and get a photo of how wonderful the canal looked. It was go peaceful down by the canal on the walk, you could think you where miles from anywhere, not yards from busy George Street.

Cath Kidston Bike Seat Covers

What a great promotional tool for a place like Oxford with all those bikes in the city centre. Today I noticed that most of the bikes in the city had a very colourful seat cover on them, in the typical Cath Kidston style, with a message about a promotion that was happening in the store. Having a seat cover in the Autumn and Winter is a great idea to keep your seat dry, so I think this may have worked well.

Reflection From The 2C To Kidlington

Reflections on both sides of this photo, taken when the sun popped out this afternoon just as I was about to get on a bus towards Kidlington. The bus and the bus shelter provided a great reflection with the busy Cornmarket packed with afternoon shoppers in the centre. The guy on the left in the bus window has a few bags of shopping, hope that he was close to finishing his spending spree.

Katie Price Leaving The Oxford Union

Not the best photo I know, but this was taken just as Katie Price left the Oxford Union after speaking to Union Members. Katie Price's appearance at the Oxford Union generated a lot of interested from the press with about a dozen photographers standing in the road and around the St Michael Street entrance to the Oxford Union. I arrived just as it was all about but over, only seeing Katie get into the car and speed off. I am sure this will be in all of the Oxford newspapers tomorrow.

Sunset At St Giles

Walking in St. Giles this afternoon as the sun was setting near the Oxford War Memorial, the light was just right to get a photo of the light from the buildings and capture the movement of the traffic. Love this time of day, when the business of the working day has just slowed down a little and most movement is for pleasure or leisure.

Nationwide Moving To A New Store

There has been a lot of work behind this hoarding for a few months now however it has only been in the last week that it has had the Nationwide logo's added. Before this it was just plain white and there had been a lot of talk about Queen Street Traders that perhaps H&M would be moving in, but no it is Nationwide moving from one side of Queen Street to the other.

Posters On Market Wall

Down on the wall connecting The Golden Cross and the Cover Markets there is a "Poster Wall" where you can post posters displaying your up coming events. You see everything here, trying to get your attention , I have taken a photo of this wall before, I picked no poster to focus on with this photo, just the word Oxford. When I got home and looked at the photo, I see that the poster was advertising the Oxford Leider Festival which is on next week, I have not been to any of these festivals in the past, but I think I might try and get along this year to see what it is all about.

Police Promote Bike Identification

Last year the police recorded 2023 stolen bikes in Oxford and only managed to to reunited 79 bikes stolen with there owners. With that figure in mind and the number of new students in Oxford this week, the police have been promoting placing a UV marking on your bike. This will assist in helping get your bike back should it become a victim of this popular crime in Oxford. This photo was taken outside the Oxford train station, there is a website in Oxford to report stolen bike on, called My Bike Been Nicked Oxford, which was set up by a resident who was feed up of his bike been stolen, which I think is a good idea.

Might Be The Last Sun We See For Awhile

The setting sun lights up Broad Street this evening after a week of great sunny warm weather in Oxford. However we have been told that this is the end of the good weather and from this evening things are going to quickly drop to more average Autumn temperatures, dropping from our maximum of 27c today to about 18c tomorrow. I think most enjoyed the great weekend weather that we did not expect to have so late in the year, back to normal tomorrow everyone.

Making A Protest Banner

Out early in St Giles Oxford on a Sunday morning a group of NHS workers waiting for a bus to take them on the four hour drive to Manchester to take part the TUC demonstration. This protester was making last minute adjustments to her placard while waiting for the bus to arrive.

World Wide Photo Walk Oxford

Was lucky enough to be able to participate briefly in the Oxford's World Wide Photo Walk which was organised by Glyn Dewis who is on the left. Glyn organised a great walk around centre of Oxford and it was great to meet fellow photographers while walking around Oxford. I could only stay for a little while but had a really nice experience. Thanks Glyn and all those who I spoke to for a great afternoon, and if you are interested in photography have a look at Glyn's Blog, wow.