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This is a close-up of the stencil graffiti in Oxford that I posted in my last entry.  Earlier this year, Oxford Inciter reported that an Oxford graffiti gang was rounded up by the police. 

Here are some more examples of graffiti in Oxford: Political Statements, The Ox, Chapel Street Stencils and Saks (all from Flickr).

Some stencil art which was spotted at a hole in the wall in Oxford. Apparently the words “This Xmas” are obscured by the pink poster above the Santa. Indymedia has some other Oxford graffiti photos (This has links to a further 8 pages).

Graffiti removal is a headache for the Oxford City Council.

The Oxford Student writes informatively on graffiti at Oxford University:

All across the city, in every corner of the university, students are busy scribbling. Against the ravages of infrequent but devastating paint jobs, the threat of fi nes for defacing books and the onset of the Hilary term (when overcast is a good day and rain a constant threat) they put down their thoughts in pen, pencil and chalk on the toilet walls, library books and pavements of the city.

Deriving from the Greek ‘graphein’ (to write), and passing via the Latin ‘graffi to’, our own anglicised ‘graffi ti’ is instantly associated with the urban art that symbolised the hip-hop fl avoured New York of the 1970s.

The accepted wisdom says that an anonymous local delivery messenger in Brooklyn began to scribble ‘Taki 183’ whilst delivering documents around the city, and soon a number of copycat ‘tags’ (an acronym for Tuff Artists’ Group) began to appear, a much needed means of self-expression for alienated, under-privileged youth. The fact that Oxford has a graffi ti culture is perhaps a little odd.

You can play the candidate match game to see which candidate you should naturally support in the 2008 US Presidential Elections.

This is Mukhwas or pan, an Indian snack.  The word pan can have many meanings, for example it refers also to the Greek god of nature.

This is the tourist bus at the Broad Street stop. A reviewer in 2005 commented that:

Touring around your native city may seem like a busman’s holiday (ho ho!), but on a clear day, an open top double-decker bus is an invigorating place to be.  Should April showers strike, the driver has a plentiful stash of plastic macs.  One full tour lasts one hour and you are free to hop on and off to your heart’s content.  Younger passengers are kept busy with free activity packs, which include felt tip pens and their own ‘passport’.  Guests from out of town provide the perfect excuse for taking a tour; the live guide speaks in English but taped commentaries are available in German, French, Spanish and Japanese.  I join the tour at the railway station but you can climb on board at over a dozen sign posted stops around the city centre.  The Sheldonian theatre, Queens College and Christ Church are the most popular major stops.

Our Guide, David, is a mine of local information with specialist knowledge of archaeology and paints a vivid picture of Saxon ‘Oxenford’ with its four gates and its city wall (see the remains in New College garden/the back garden of The Turf Tavern).  He makes many suggestions for diverting things to do in Oxford, and advises on current exhibitions and museum opening times (many with free admission).  Spending the day as a tourist in the city in which you live is liberating, and I discover some museums for the first time, such as the Museum of History of Science on Broad Street (which houses in its basement the chalk board written on by Einstein when he gave a lecture here).  David introduces our courteous driver, Widge, who is to be congratulated on giving us such a smooth and steady trip, and who reassures us that City sightseeing/Guide Friday buses use ‘green’ low sulphur fuel.

The tour bears jewels for young and old alike.  Christ Church appears in the Harry Potter film, whilst Inspector Morse fans may recognise the Randolph hotel from the TV series.  Local details that feature in Lewis Carroll’s books are mentioned (such as the Treacle Well at Binsey, the stuffed dodo museum piece and the ‘Old Sheep Shop’, aka ‘Alice’s Shop’ on St Aldates).  Having a live guide, as opposed to a recorded commentary, brings the cityscape alive and makes our afternoon.

There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of cycle parking in Oxford, unlike car parking. There is a Park and Ride scheme but this is not convenient if you are dropping off a student with laptop, bags, laundry and assorted paraphernalia .

I drove bluemeanie up to Oxford today. Once again I was impressed by the number of people cycling around. It reminded me of a typical (continental) European city but without the trams or buses. Nonetheless there is a hop on hop off tourist bus that does the sounds. I’m tempted to ride it to hear the narration.

There was ice on the windscreen this morning for the third day running.

21.10.2007: Oops and I had to manually “activate” this post - which I made via my mobile phone - which I forgot to do till today.

I took this photo in the middle of the night of a dark tree in order to check the qualities of my new camera phone. A good quality camera will show little “interference” (often in the form of white dots) in the dark parts of the photograph where there was no light available.

I was pleased with the result.

This is a shop in Sevenoaks, with a punny name and with one of those nasty flash-only websites with the annoying animations. 

I have forgotten where I found this iron bridge over the road. But it wasn’t Ironbridge. It might have been on the way to Oxford (from London).

According to the Oxford City Guide:

St Michael at the Northgate is a church in Cornmarket Street, at the junction with Ship Street, central Oxford, England. The church is so-called because this is the location of the original north gate of Oxford when it was surrounded by a city wall. Dating from 1040, it is Oxford’s oldest building. The church tower is Saxon.

The Oxford Martyrs were imprisoned in the Bocardo Prison by the church before they were burnt at the stake in what is now Broad Street nearby, then immediately outside the city walls, in 1555 and 1556. Their cell door can be seen on display in the church’s tower.

Besides for the cell door of the martyrs, the tower also hosts an exhibit of church treasures, John Wesley’s pulpit, William Morris’s marriage certificate, a 19th century chiming clock, a set of churchwarden’s accounts from 1437 and a charter of 1612 bearing the seal of King James I.

The tower also offers a good view across what Samuel Johnson referred to as the “city of dreaming spires”, and boasts a number of famous visitors including William Shakespeare.

There are currently restrictions in Surrey on the movement of livestock in response to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among cattle, but the latest news is that these are to be lifted from Monday.

There’s an interesting article on the BBC about travelling by airship.  I have read for years that this old form of transport is on the cusp of a come-back, and I hope that it’s true. Not least because my old friend, Robin, is working very hard to make this a reality.  He’s behind the Yahoo group AirshipWorld which is organising a conference next year.

This group was formed to discuss the First International Airship Investors’ (IAI) Conference, now to be held in Berlin in 2008. We also invite all airship enthusiasts, fans, engineers and potential investors to participate; to ask questions, and to positively assist with transformation of the airship industry into a major aviation factor in the 21st century.

“ ...it is given unto a few good men to dream GREAT dreams !”

AirshipWorld now has a website and blog too.

Was here again last night at the Deli Wala restaurant in Southall.  It was a less raucous evening because the usual crowd of boppers weren’t there.

A comparative photo to illustrate the fog.