Oxford Road

... remote farming country. We saw Aborigine (BCF) on moorings, also a boat called Esther, with the T shaped like a cross - possibly BCF candidates? We arrived at Thrupp and David and Anne came and collected their gazebo, bricks and other things that we had transported from Banbury, to save them carrying them to their car. We joined them later for an enjoyable meal at their house. Wed 7th Oct A cloudy day as we cruised south from Thrupp past all the people living on their boats. We ...

On Monday morning we checked out and then went to Venice Beach and Santa Monica where we shopped some more. We then took the car back and went to the airport. The flight left at 17:35 and was just over 9 hours. We arrived home yesterday at around 11:20am UK time.

I am shortly off on a trip to South China and will be using Travlepod to keep a blog again. I have added a few names to the mailing list and kept the old ones too. If anyone would prefer not to receive notifications of my travels, please let me know and I will take you off the list!
All the best
Helen

... starting up the Napton locks. A very pleasant afternoon, chatting to other boaters on the flight. Hazel's back still playing up. We stopped two locks short of the summit for the evening. There was a lovely sunset, but it was hard to find a gap in the hedge for photos. Hazel fed us very well, finishing with some huge baked apples with custard! Thu 1st October Cloudy to start with. James went for a walk to find the remains of the engine house. Parts of the path were completely ...

... by Charlie Kaufman. If you've seen other films written by Kaufman, such as "Being John Malkovich" or "Adaptation," I hardly need to say more. If you haven't, however, it is sufficient to say that "Synecdoche, New York" was one of the worst possible movies to see for a light-hearted, easygoing night with friends.

Yesterday was the first day of classes at St Edmund's Hall, affectionately called "Teddy Hall." I'm not entirely sure where the "Teddy" comes ...

... and her daughter Julia at Merton College where she is a fellow. She is a friend of Michael's and former colleague at McKinsey. She gave us the grand tour of the gardens, the chapel, and the quads followed by coffee and a biscuit in the Junior Common Room. As all colleges are restricted, this was a real ...

... people we met at the end. At least this congregation didn't automatically despise us for our obvious accents and constant confusion. We were informed of a few new cafes and walking paths to try, and departed satisfied.  On a side note, one of the best parts about being here so far is the group of 15 other APU students I get to laugh, live, travel and study with. My four roommates are spectacular and I look forward to the unbreakable bond we will have by ...

... here is "all in good time," but I will adjust to that as well. Now to the news... Last night I went to formal dinner for the first time, which was the best meal I have had here since my parents left. It is the little weekly traditions here that give Oxford its quirkiness. The best part of the weekend was the Champagne Reception, where everyone got very dressed up and drank an unending supply of adequate champagne in the Church at Merton. A lot of fun. The biggest ...

... and it would be worth the shipping costs for a normal one. Be interesting to see what our water bill is like but all utility bills are quarterly so we won't see that for a bit. In fact all their bills are quarterly which is kind of weird and could lead to some fun surprises. The boredom is something to be cured but hopefully a job and some more travelling in the near future will cure that. Other than that were having a blast and things are going great. The stresses are ...

... about 9am, I think - Clifford, the warden, a pretty cool old dude; the two girls from the family, 14 yr old Sarah and 10 yr old Katie; the curly haired Victorian who talked incessantly because he knew everything and had done everything and had an opinion about everything, whose name we never got around to getting...; and the whole place, really - Jordan's was pretty much the epitome of what I thought ...