Adventure to Oxford.

On Sunday morning I received a phone call from my older daughter. She and her boyfriend had tickets to see Michael Palin at the New Theatre Oxford. If you don't know this British comedian, actor, writer and traveller you can find out more about him here and here They had planned to travel to Oxford by train and set off to the station to catch an early train. Unfortunately the train was delayed and when it did arrive it only had half the number of coaches it should have had. It was very crowded, unpleasantly so and they got off the train. Katy rang me to tell me what was happening and the idea for an adventure was born. I had planned to do some work and then a little sewing but I can't remember visiting Oxford before and I do like to make sudden decisions to do things. Katy and Olly caught the tube to our house and the four of us set off in the car.

Oxford isn't far outside London, in fact only about 60 miles from where we live. The journey is an easy one along the M40. The weather was good and the journey passed quickly. Whilst driving along the motorway we saw several Red Kites.

I've tried on many occasions to get a clear picture of these birds but always failed so this is taken from the www.rspb.org.uk.

The journey was uneventful and we found a parking space easily. We didn't plan to visit anything in particular but to treat it more as a reconnaissance visit for a longer trip in the future. Whilst Katy and Olly went to the theatre we planned to walk around Oxford and also to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. As the shops were still open we spent a little time window shopping. 

We were a little surprised to find that the Christmas decorations and lights were already up (but not switched on) A couple of the hotels were putting their Christmas trees up as we walked past.

I always like finding out who was born or lived in a place and as we walked we came across this plaque to Dorothy L Sayers. She wrote a series of crime novels about Lord Peter Wimsey as well as other novels, plays and translations.  I've only read the Lord Peter Wimsey novels but I love her varied storylines. Oxford boast many famous writers amongst its past (and present) residents including C S Lewis, and J R R Tolkein, 

I was going to take photos of the Bodleian Library and the Ashmolean Museum but I'd forgotten that I used my camera a lot last week and so my battery was totally out of charge. We walked down to Folly bridge over the Thames and the Bridge of Sighs. It was a really lovely afternoon and evening.  We're going back to visit again and this time I'll take lots of photos. Because of our adventure I didn't get any more stitching done.

Today is day 3 of the Halloween Haunts blog hop. The featured haunts today are;

Quilt In Piece
The Quilting Queen Online
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Apple Avenue
Quilt Doodle Doodle

Featured haunts on Wednesday 21st October are;

Tea Time Creations
Grandma's Stories
In The Boondocks
Just Because Quilts
Just Let Me Quilt

Fly over on your broom sticks to see what folks have been busy making.

I'm going to settle down and get on with some stitching this evening. I hope you've had a little sewing time today.

Lyndsey