PHOTOS - Christ Church with their money and huge campus...

Top: The porters here wear bowler hats and all the cutlery and crockery have Ch Ch printed on them.
2nd: One of the many stained glassed windows in Christ Church Cathedral. It is the only cathedral in the world which doubles as a college chapel and is also the largest college chapel in the world. Perhaps I got this from a brochure...
3rd: Pictures of benefactors and past students. King Henry VIII went here and I think Elizabeth I threw a bone or two their way.
4th: Tom Tower, the bell tower of Christ Church which rings 100 times on the first Thursday of each month or something like that. I will try to get the full story and then throw on an addendum. Ah yes, and Christ Church time is 5 minutes past GMT... only in Oxford.

PHOTOS - Oxford Parks II

From the top: The cricket pavillion at the Oxford Parks - they have a pavillion - should be good times come summer. I had a try out for the Oxford Blues last weekend and kept pretty well, but not playing for so long has made me a little rusty. I think that it went down well enough as they asked me to come back next week. There was a tall chap there from St Lucia, full of pent up West Indian aggression who gave me a bouncer at the throat for my first ball. He was quick, very quick... after I had batted I rolled the old arm over with the gentle off spin. I started with a beamer, all be it at a grand speed of 85 km/hr. He laughed, I laughed, all was good.

Middle: The road to... more road. There are heaps of these little strips which makes for some comforting walks to clear the brain. Occaisonally these stealth runners jog up behind you and give you the old side swipe. You yell at them for their impudence, but their iPodded ears cannot hear.

Bottom: Punts... for punting. Summertime diversions.

PHOTOS- Oxford Parks I

Like the furry little chap up above, I have been hoarding these photographs. They were taken in autumn when the cold and wet was yet to arrive, and form a memory of those good times when I didn't have to worry about frostbite.

The groundskeepers here are just as protective of their grounds as at the ANU, in that they will chase you off with a pitchfork and/or release the hounds on you. Except here they actually take care of the pitches, and so if one Oval gets mucked up on Saturday, they will work tooth and nail to make sure it is right for the Tuesday match.

I met one of the groundsman yesterday. With Bertie, an Australian, I went to the Balliol cricket nets for a hit and the groundsman came bounding over saying, 'Oi, oi, oi. What's all this then guv?' At least that is how it played out in my mind. He explained that he didn't want people tearing up the run-ups to the nets before the season, which was fair enough. We asked if we could stand inside the nets and have 'throw-downs' to each other and he said.... "Well... no, no you can't." He then talked on an on about when he used to play cricket, workplace health and safety, football scores for the past 18 years and how he used to tie an onion to his belt, which was the style at the time.

PHOTOS - views from a Tower II

Here are a couple of panoramic views of 'The City of Dreaming Spires' which is what Oxford is affectionally known as. Not Cambridge - we don't talk much about the C word here.

Here is a photo of the mighty Radcliffe Camera, taken from the Tower. I don't actually know what the building does.... but whatever it does it is doing it now.

The walkways were pretty narrow up on the Tower, and for some reason there was a altophobic American tourist up there. She kept saying, "Oh my gawwd, it is so high", while holding onto the walls for grim death. Well, apart from her I didn't meet any other Nobel Prize winners, which is a pity, but I did have this chap to keep me company.

Before I am 'automatically logged off' I should post this, then get back with the QUODs for this week.

PHOTOS - views for a tower

Well, it would appear that the last batch of photos managed o replicate itself and appear twice. No matter.

Things here are going well. The singing rehearsals for RUDDIGORE are going well, although with 13 days till we start, the rehearals have already clocked 4 hours in length... and they won't get any shorter.

Rugby could be going better, after our 49-nil drumming we forfeited our next match. We had only 12 men available which although is enough to start, would be a burden too great to carry. I was all about it, injuries or not - it would be the ultimate fairytale story, finishing with a glorious win, possibly cause by a young Australian player making a break from his line and dashing with all the speed in Christendom, the hundred metres, not needing to evade defenders as his sheer pace would sort him out, to score the winning try. Alas my Hollywood ending with violins going and that terminally ill child in the hospital making it out to see the game and getting miraculously cured at the end, was not to be.

Here are some photos, part I perhaps, taken from the Tower at the Church of St Mary Magdalen... this 'Magdalen' is actually pronounced 'MAG-DA-LEN', not to be confused with Magdalen College ['Mord-lin'].

The one at the top is Exeter college and bottom one is All Souls, with the most cutthroat entry of any of the Oxford colleges.
But more on that later.
More photos.

PHOTOS - Matriculation part I

Haha, it would appear that the illness affecting my posting of pictures here has taken its medication, plenty of bedrest and is now back fighting fit.Matriculation was a while ago, but there you go. One needs to attend this ceremony to be formally admitted into the university. About 80 years ago there used to be an exam at Matriculation: to get IN to the university you needed to sit an entrance exam, in the previous year say, then sit another at Matriculation to make sure that you hadn't lost your touch. They got rid of that, and their was much rejoicing.So now it is largely ceremonial, the students get a big photo taken at their college and then troop down to the Sheldonian Theatre for a brief service conducted by theVice-Chancellor. The actual service was over in about 5 minutes, then we hit the pub, which was supposed to open at 11, but we talked them around to an hour earlier.I must say that there is nothing like a hearty, flat, warm, slightly-tasting-of-meat- English ale at 10:15 in the morning. Fortunately at 11 back at Balliol was a brunch put on in the MCR, in which I was able to atone for the beer with smoked salmon, finger sandwiches, and all of those little things, of which you need to eat about 20 to feel satisfied.We went to BEERFEST in the afternoon, where you pay a nominal amount [which goes to charity] and walk around sampling beer for an afternoon. The return journey wasn't as linear as the one setting out. I still have the glass, and intend to build up a set over my time here.There were some hardcore people there from the Campaign of Drinker's Rights, or something. People grumbling that pints are not always full pints, and that glasses should be made bigger to acommodate for the head of teh beer. I have been on the lookout for that in pubs henceforth, prepared to demand the extra 3.33% of beer that was ommitted. Crafty devils.

PHOTOS - Matriculation

Haha, it would appear that the illness affecting my posting of pictures here has taken its medication, plenty of bedrest and is now back fighting fit.

Matriculation was a while ago, but there you go. One needs to attend this ceremony to be formally admitted into the university. About 80 years ago there used to be an exam at Matriculation: to get IN to the university you needed to sit an entrance exam, in the previous year say, then sit another at Matriculation to make sure that you hadn't lost your touch. They got rid of that, and their was much rejoicing.

So now it is largely ceremonial, the students get a big photo taken at their college and then troop down to the Sheldonian Theatre [top] for a brief service conducted by the Chancellor. The actual service was over in about 5 minutes, then we hit the pub, which was supposed to open at 11, but we talked them around to an hour earlier.

I must say that there is nothing like a hearty, flat, warm, slightly-tasting-of-meat- English ale at 10:15 in the morning. Fortunately at 11 back at Balliol was a brunch put on in the MCR, in which I was able to atone for the beer with smoked salmon, finger sandwiches, and all of those little things, of which you need to eat about 20 to feel satisfied.

We went to BEERFEST in the afternoon, where you pay a nominal amount [which goes to charity] and walk around sampling beer for an afternoon. The return journey wasn't as linear as the one setting out. I still have the glass, and intend to build up a set over my time here.

There were some hardcore people there from the Campaign of Drinker's Rights, or something. People grumbling that pints are not always full pints, and that glasses should be made bigger to acommodate for the head of teh beer. I have been on the lookout for that in pubs henceforth, prepared to demand the extra 3.33% of beer that was ommitted. Crafty devils.