Despite
my hesitation about travelling by train from Paddington for
the first time since the disaster I decided to do an explorer
day with London walks. So we set off to Oxford in the first
carriage no less. We arrived an hour later and boarder the bus
for a look at the real countryside. Autumn is a great time to
go to the Cotswolds. The trees were just starting to turn so
everywhere was glorious colour. Sometimes you see pictures in
books and magazines and you have a mental idea of how something
will look, well a thatched roof cottage in the flesh doesn’t
compare to pictures in books. It was breathtaking. The skill
involved is immense and people actually still live in this lovely
cottage.
We ambled
over a farm including two stiles. I felt like I was back home.
But then the reality check, some 14 century ruins. It was Minster
Lovell hall. Lovell was the family that owned the area. The
ruins seemed quite well preserved.
Back down
the road and our coach was waiting to whisk us to Burford for
lunch and antique shopping. The Americans described it as cute
but I’d say quaint. This was a market town in earlier times
but now specialises in crafts. It also served up the best fish
and chips I’ve had since I was home. The Cotswolds name
comes from sheep pen hills. A ‘cot’ was a sheep pen
and ‘wold’ a hill.
Oxford is
the town of academia. And you got that walking around. There
was amazing architecture everywhere you turned. The school system
is very different to New Zealand. You may only apply to three
universities a year. You do this before you take your ‘A’
levels. They interview you and then specify what three grades
you need to get in. However if you apply to Oxford you cannot
apply to any other universities that year, as you then have
to apply to the separate colleges in Oxford. There are 39 choices.
They do not specialise in any one subject so you can choose
using league tables. Of course you need to be pretty brainy
to get into the best college for each subject as they get to
be very picky. After your excepted you have to go to one tutorial
a week, which involves you and your tutor. They set a 2000 word
assignment and the next week you read it to them aloud while
they discuss what you’ve written with you. All this does
not count towards your grades. You sit exams at the end of the
year. If you pass you’re a second year, if not you go back
and do the year again. No exams in second year but 10 three-hour
exams are waiting for you at the end of your third year. If
you don’t pass these its too bad, that’s it, game
over. You never get a second chance. Of course if you pass its
all glory and honour then. The colleges are amazing. They have
a formal dinner every night that you can go to. You have to
wear your gown and you are waited on. The hall looked lovely.
They also had a chapel (university traditions came from the
church). This chapel is at New College. The stained glass has
just been cleaned but is original 14-century glass. It was taken
to York and each piece was removed cleaned and replaced. A lot
of painstaking work but certainly worth the effort. Its kind
of nice to see a place that still runs on time honoured traditions
even if a lot of people complain about stuck-up oxford graduates.
I guess they are just jealous.
February
16 - 18, 2001
Gavin and
I celebrated our engagement in Oxford.
As we hired a car we had a lot more freedom. On Sat morning
we walked around Oxford. We found a really nice personal shop
and after a bit of indecision decided on a solitaire diamond
which is .4 of a caret.
On Sunday
we went for a drive around the Cotswold area, but unfortunately
it was so foggy we couldn't see a thing in the countryside.
We did love the little villages though. Unfortunately I became
quite sick on Sunday and ended up spending 3 weeks off work
as a result.
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