I am living in a tiny dorm room for a month. The man in front of me picking up hid key asks if there is air con. The receptionist says there’s a window you can open. As I trail through a maze of corridors with 2 backpacks I wonder if I truly needed 3 […]
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I felt inspired by too much time in coffee shops due to the grey skies (the weather has been so random!). With so much time people watching I penned a small selection of poetry during a 30 day challenge to put smiles on peoples faces (and help us all brave the weird weather!). A […]
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Apples are the most sociable fruit. Bobbing up and down in water they are ducking apples used by kids for Halloween games. If fruit trees are inherited in a garden there’s often story to dig up from the past. New varieties pop up in old gardens all the time! One of the joys of growing your own fruit is that you get to eat […]
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Barmouth is a coastal town in Wales. The sands dune down to the sea and a succession of plants through time have colonised the salty land. My first school field trip measured the number of wriggling Nereis worms we found in each of the quadrat metal squares we flung one by one into the air. […]
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On a muggy day the history of the architecture in a University town can feel at odds with what is going on the world. The Palladian architecture in the shot below can seem detached from our fast paced disposable living. In the background is the Radcliffe Camera, a building of Oxford University designed by James Gibbs […]
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Britain seems to be facing a long goodbye with the EU and the European group itself seems to be changing. Obviously Britain is still ‘in’ Europe geographically.. No one can change that but everything else seems to be in flux. A hearty (British?) Breakfast seems to be in order. As I type with the news rapidly firing off […]
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A major exhibition to mark the 400th year since Shakespeare’s death (May 3, 1616) opens in the Weston Library, Oxford and is proving popular with the city’s tourists and locals alike. The Shakespeare exhibition at the Weston gets to the beating heart of the author with important texts displayed chronologically. Arguably the most important is the […]
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Oxford’s Literary Festival began 20 years ago and has been housed in many different locations. Inspired by the poetry that is soon to dance upon the stage of the Festival (April 2nd) I stand with a coffee and watch as the tents are put up in the Old Schools Quadrangle. The workmen look to be making the most of a break in the […]
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Winter Solstice in the UK today has arrived along with lots of blue sky. The Christmas Markets nearby are more fun with the milder weather so it is great to spend time gazing at the craft stalls and carousels. I spent the night in a medieval Estate house, now a hotel, and got […]
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When the Danes invaded England around 800 AD the Saxon King Edmund fought to maintain the fort at Bury (in the East of England) and alas he ended up slashed by a Viking sword. His head was said to be found in a nearby woodland and was fiercely guarded by a wolf. Saxon soldiers battled the […]
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