OXFORD. So good they called it Cambridge and TED.♦
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Tag Archives: North Parade
Of North Oxford’s blackbirdsO
I SHALL MISS the songs of the blackbirds when I move out of here. The ones that cluster around the Oxford Violins shop don’t sing like your average blackbird. Some of them, instead, open their beaks to deliver a bar or two of classical music – it could be Mozart, it could be Beethoven, and they finish off their songs with a peculiar trill that I haven’t heard any blackbird anywhere else deliver. No threnody here – they are all delightful tunes and as there are plenty of magpies round here, they must ever be on their guard against rapacious egg thieves. Here’s some shots I took on this beautiful spring morning. ♥
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Tagged beethoven, blackbirds, magpies, mozart, North Parade, Oxford, Oxford Violins, threnody, violin shop
It’s St George’s Day at the Rose and Crown
ALTHOUGH only a wee timorous beastie – a Jock like me – would dare to enter the wonderful Rose & Crown on St George’s Day, I was accompanied by a tall Englishman so that was OK. ♦
Oxford Council needs a kick up the slush
IN CENTRAL OXFORD today I was quite horrified by the lack of gritting the local council had achieved since the snows fell earlier this week.
It’s like they’ve done practically nothing – so pedestrians are sliding and falling like ninepins and on Cornmarket the shops should be held up to ridicule for not lending a hand.
Just here, on this corner, I had to act fast to steady an old lady who was going down big time. Her hubby said: “This is a disgrace. We should vote this lot out.” As a voter, I agree.
But surely the shops on Cornmarket could have done a little better too? Or are they just in it for the money, honey? ♥
My wheelie bin has done a runner while feeding frenzy goes on
WHERE, OH WHERE is my wheelie bin? It was there, and now it’s done a runner. I don’t understand why someone would want to nick a wheelie bin.
And, meanwhile, there’s a feeding frenzy going on, just yards away from the scene of the appalling theft. The seagulls have landed. ♦
UK carpeted in snow. Minus 18C in Oxon
NICE THAT NASA is looking out for us. It is really cold here. According to the normally unreliable BBC we are only two degrees Celsius warmer than the South Pole. It’s summer there, mind.
The NASA shot, taken today, is here. Oxford is between Birmingham and London. I’ve turned the freezer off, all the gear in there is in the back yard. ♣
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Tagged Birmingham, London, NASA, North Parade, Oxford, Oxfordshire, South Pole
North Parade gets a bucketful of barf*
HOW PRETTY the snow is. And how cold and wet. We had, I dunno, about eight or nine inches here in North Oxford yesterday.
Here’s some views of North Parade about 8:10AM this morning, plus what it’s like down my alleyway. But first, a desolate Woodstock Road around 8:15AM. ♥ *Barf – Hindi for ice, snow.
There’s snow and darkness out there
NORTH PARADE – dateline January 5 2010 and not a creature is stirring not even a mouse out there.
The view is of snow, snow and more snow. BBC Weather, it say: Heavy snow and -4 degrees Celsius. Poor birds! ♦
The geese I never snapped
WHAT A PITY. I looked out into a cold and very frosty Oxford dawn and thought how beautiful the trees looked covered in the hoar.
Thought to myself, “I should really take a picture” and then the Skype messages and the emails rolled in.
Something attracted my attention though. I looked out to see a formation of geese, flying very low over North Parade, and headed straight across the top of my house.
No camera. Damnit! But magnificent to see the creatures. They must have been flying from Port Meadow, just beyond Jericho, probably not in search of the pond the frozen duck was on Christmas Day. μ
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Tagged Christmas Day, cold and frosty Oxford dawn, geese, hoar frost, latency, North Parade, Oxford