Crumpets and Figgy Pudding

Our first Christmas in Oxford!  Kate arrived a week ago, my sister 3 days ago, and James today -- on Christmas Eve. It is wonderful to have the house full and to have all safely gathered in.  Nine Lessons and Carols at Christchurch; Christmas Pudding; rain instead of snow; wrapping presents to raise funds for the Oxfordshire Domestic Shelter; Christmas Crackers; some serious Boggle; and the Queens speech on Christmas day.   New traditions blending with old.  The best part: sharing this time with family!  Happy Christmas as they say here in England.

The tree at the courtyard of the Bodleian Library

Christchurch Quad

Christchurch Hallways

Tree in Christchurch Great Hall

John and Kate at "Hogwarts"

The Great Hall was the inspiration for the dinning hall used in the Harry Potter movies.

Recent Wanders

I had the great delight of having Rachel Sorensen come for a visit -- our first house guest.  

She was a terrific sport putting up with my novice driving and ignorance as a tour guide.

  We had lots of fun exploring nearby sites.

 We visited Bath and toured the 2000-year-old  old Roman bath ruins.  We also enjoyed Bath's lovely Christmas  Market.

Oxford had a Bright Light Night where the Christmas lights of the city are officially illuminated.  

There was a parade with luminaries like the one above.  It was charming.

These are the cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral.  They were used as a location for filming the first, second and sixth Harry Potter films.

To the Manor Born:  We visited The village of Bampton in Oxfordshire that was used for filming the outdoor scenes in Downton Abbey,  most notably St Mary's Church and the village library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital.  

Waddesdon Manor is a Renaissance-style château built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to display his outstanding collection of art treasures and to entertain the fashionable world.  Overt the years it has been the sight of many films and TV programs. It is owned by the National Trust and they go all out at Christmas decorating a wing of the Manor for Christmas tours.  

Switching to the Left

I've made the switch!  I now drive on the left, in a manual car that has a stick shift on the left.  It was daunting at first.  The hardest part about learning to drive confidently on the left is relearning one's deeply ingrained instincts.  The car mirrors aren't where I'm used to. Looking over my left shoulder when I'm backing up doesn't feel natural. And passing on the right just seems weird.  The other hard part is knowing which lane to be in.  Most intersections here are round-abouts, some with several spokes that branch out from the circle.  I'll admit I've circled around a few round-abouts more than once, trying to get into the right light for the spoke that I want.

I have a new best friend to help me with the driving.  I haven't named her yet, but she has a lovely accent and is very patient with my when I miss her instructions and take the wrong turn.  She's called a Sat Nav here,  and a GPS in the U.S.    I used to listen to NPR every time I drove somewhere in the U.S.  Here I listen to a voice telling me that there is a round-about in 300 yard and that I want to take the 3rd exit in the roundabout.

Why do the English drive on the left?

In the Middle Ages you kept to the left for the simple reason that you never knew who you'd meet on the road in those days. You wanted to make sure that a stranger passed on the right so you could go for your sword in case he proved unfriendly.

This custom was given official sanction in 1300 AD, when Pope Boniface VIII invented the modern science of traffic control by declaring that pilgrims headed to Rome should keep left.

The papal system prevailed until the late 1700s, when teamsters in the United States and France began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses.

These wagons had no driver's seat. Instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team.

Since you were sitting on the left, naturally you wanted everybody to pass on the left so you could look down and make sure you kept clear of the other guy's wheels. Ergo, you kept to the right side of the road.

The first known keep-right law in the U.S. was enacted in Pennsylvania in 1792, and in the ensuing years many states and Canadian provinces followed suit.

In France the keep-right custom was established in much the same way. An added impetus was that, this being the era of the French Revolution and all, people figured, hey, no pope is gonna tell ME what to do.

Later Napoleon enforced the keep-right rule in all countries occupied by his armies. The custom endured even after the empire was destroyed.

Grey is the New Blue

We are now official residents of Oxford.  We arrived back here last Wednesday morning after a crazy month of travel in the U.S. and Mexico. We were too late for Halloween but in time for Guy Fox day and the “Bonfire Parties” (complete with fireworks).  It was a nice welcome.  We moved into our new home  and camped in the empty house for two days until our shipment arrived, right on schedule.

It is a bit of a challenge moving into a small English home that has very little storage space.  I’ve been spoiled with walk-in closets, basement storage rooms, enormous bedrooms and garages, and bathrooms and kitchens with lots of cupboards.  Despite the lack of space, closets and cupboards, the house is going to be just fine.  I’ll just have to get creative regarding storage.  Isn’t that what IKEA and the space under beds is for, after all.

We’ve already met two of our neighbors.  Across the street is a lovely older couple who have Italian students boarding with them.  Next door is a young family with two adorable kids -- they  already had us over for dinner.  We have felt warmly welcomed.

Our next hurdle is getting broadband at home, a car, and car insurance.  Everything here is a huge puzzle to figure out –nothing is straightforward like we are used to in the U.S. That is part of the fun and challenge.

So that’s the news from the Paddock in Kennington.  It is beautiful here -- Fall in its glory.  I am learning, though, that grey is the new blue.  It has been grey since we’ve arrived.  I better get used to it.

A New Home

We’ve been in Oxford a month now and have accomplished a lot.  We found a home that we move into in November.  John has had a great start to his work at the Said Business School.  We’re starting to make friends and create a sense of community.  And we are figuring out, bit by bit, how things are done here.  We each bought a bike; we can go anywhere on the buses; and we’ve even successfully navigated the UK banking system.  It might not sound like much, but to us it is success!  

     Our New home: 12 The Paddock

A few things I’ve learned this past month:

-It doesn’t always rain in England.  We’ve had a month of glorious weather!

-People are genuinely kind here

-Everyone thanks the bus driver when they get off the bus (people here are polite)

-Brits think American accents are charming in the same way we think British accents are

-Some of the countryside is so picturesque that I keep thinking I’m on a BBC production set

-I love Oxford, but I’m not so crazy about the empty nest.  I miss my kids!

-Skype truly is miraculous

-It feels good to have a steep learning curve again.  Everything is new and needs figuring out. 

Not your ordinary college cafeteria

Students at the various colleges here at Oxford eat their meals in their college Great Hall.  The Great Hall at Christ Church College was used as inspiration for the Hogwarts dining hall in the Harry Potter films. The staircase leading up to the hall was actually used in several scenes in the films. 

You are being watched

As I walk around Oxford and the  the Colleges, I often get the feeling that I'm being watched.  When I look up, I indeed see faces "watching" me.  All over Oxford's buildings are gargoyles (technically 'grotesques' as these don't spout water) - some in the shape of faces, some animals, some entire people. Many of them are quite funny looking.  I hear there is one that is even picking his nose but I haven't been told where.  The challenge is to find it among the thousands of gargoyles that watch over this city.

High Street, Oxford

Punting on the Canal

What?

I thought I spoke English

4 days in Oxford and I realize I don't really speak English after all. So far I've learned that a dual carriageway is a divided highway; an articulated lorry is a tractor trailer; and a detour is a diversion. 

This week a letting agent asked me if my husband was a medical doctor.  I replied no.  She then ask if he was a D Phil.  Again I said no.  "Then what kind of doctor is he?"   I didn't know that in England a D Phil is a doctor of philosophy, or, in U.S. English, a PhD.  

I thought I spoke English.