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First Easter Break
09 April 2015 22:27


In the first part of our Easter break we had a couple of days in Oxford. We got a good deal on a luxury hotel about 15 miles outside the city. I even broke my habit of a lifetime and used the leisure facilities (pool, sauna and steam room). I haven’t been in a swimming pool for almost as long as I haven’t been running, and have never before used a hotel’s leisure facilities. In fact, I have stayed in a hotel two or three nights a week for six weeks and not even known where the leisure facilities were.

Saturday we had a day walking round the city. We were in the centre by 9.30 which is a great time to be there as it’s too early for most tourists, and the shoppers have gone to the shopping area (wherever that is). The High was almost deserted. We climbed the tower of St Mary's Church (you are allowed to – I don‘t mean we did a bit of aggravated trespass) where you get great views of the city.

After that we walked through the Covered Market, back up The Corn and down St Algates to Christchurch which is a college and a cathedral and a chapel all at the same time, which must get a bit confusing.

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Botanical Gardens. I last went there with my grandmother in the early 1970s. Back then, there has been something on TV about venus fly traps and I’d wanted to see one.

Then we went on a punt for an hour. Yes, of course I can punt – sometimes in a straight line. I didn’t fall in and I didn’t lose the pole (thought there were a few worrying moments when the pole was more firmly stuck in the mud than I had expected).

When we picked up the punt the boat-hand asked if I’d done it before.
“Yes, but not for a few years”.
“Do you need a refresher?”
“Make sure you are going in a straight line when you push, and use the pole as a rudder?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s about it”.

The other important advice is “never give up the boat for the pole”, which is pretty much a lesson for life.

There were loads of police in Oxford – more than would seem necessary for an Easter weekend. We wondered what was going on, but then hit one of those small world moments. CGF knows just about every mother within a 60-mile radius, and one of the police officers was a mother, so it was no surprise that they knew each other. I’m joking; of course it was a great surprise when the two saw each other in a place where neither expected the other to be. Turned out that there was a demonstration march taking place, and Oxford police had drafted in police from other forces to help assist with the crowd control.

Sunday morning we went on a grave hunt and found the respective graves of Tolkien and Churchill (and of my grandparents, who are buried in the same graveyard as one of those two).

And finally, because we were close and they didn‘t seem to be charging admission at the gate, we sneaked into the grounds of Blenheim palace.

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